~Avon Hints & Tips (Part 7) ~

MarsdenCuckoo

ljwari wrote: »

Evening all well what can i say it has taken me sinc 630 to read through this thread lol and im still deciding if to do it or not from what i have read is it worth doing a leaflet drop to see if people are interested before i sign up? i know its a £15 sign up fee but how much are you books and things i didnt find any of that info?! i understand the resrictions that are on here about fees and prices for stuff but i dont mind a dm or something that would be really nice.
Thanks in advance for reading this and i await ur replies xx

Hi and well done you for trawling through this thread.

Don't worry about the set-up fee; it's deducted in two tranches -£7.50 is added to your first two invoices so effectively it comes out of your commission so becoming an Avon rep doesn't cost you a penny. In 'exchange' for the set up fee you get your books free for your first two campaigns plus lots of freebies (provided your upliner guides you correctly). There's also a 14 day cooling off period so.... essentially.... you sign up, get free books, see how many orders you can get.... if you don't even hit MOV (£78) then you just don't bother continuing and you cancel your application. Nothing lost. Win/win in my book! :T

MarsdenCuckoo

Chazolate wrote: »

Thank you both for your replies:). I'd like to get a better understanding of using it as I have been locked out already! It was my second time of going on there and I was trying to find out the house numbers from the report. My ASM had told me the territory she wants the Rep to do, but only the names of the road.

I went on the site, but when I put the postcode in the territory it came up with was different. I clicked off and tried again later, but still couldn't get the right report. Next thing I know it says I have been locked out for 5 days. I phoned the help line and got told off by a very patronising woman! e.g. 'First of all do you know why you've been locked out Charlotte' She said it looked like I was trying to cherry pick territory, whatever that means. She said she would put a note on so I could get back on in 5 days, because now she knows that I wouldn't be doing it again. If it wasn't for the fact that I have put in loads of work and finally have 6 Reps I would have told her where to shove it.

Never been locked out of SMA but I gather this happens if you search for territory without first having had either a lead on your website or having signed up a new rep with a relevant address/postcode.

Could be wrong on this but I gather in the past certain (unscrupulous?) SL's have used SMA to search for vacant territory and then try and find reps to cover it (and/or cover it themselves). In the spirit of having an equal playing field for all, we SLs are only allowed to apply for territory once we have a Bona Fide lead/application from a new rep.

Hope that helps.

Money_maker

DON79 wrote: »

So I sent her a text from the car saying I was here at the arranged time as agreed and she was not at home. She replied her friend had not dropped the money off, her friend was still at work and she was also just leaving work. I am just annoyed at how inconsiderate they are and they continue to be every time they order. :mad:

I am questioning whether I really want them as customers the way things are. When I do deliver the orders, she always sends her son to pay as though she either cannot face me or is holding some grudge after the last time I got stricter over deliveries.

I have to submit my order to Avon tomorrow evening as we are going to be away and also have to pay the bill. I have held off paying the bill as I feel like returning all their products if they do not pay this evening as requested.

SO would you return their order as a credit if they didn't pay as agreed this evening? And would you stop delivering them a book? Also do Avon charge late payment charges as I am yet again outwith the time limit they set for payment to be made?

Thanks.

I would load their order as a returns (if you are unable to cover the payment) so it comes off your balance. I would then advise the customer that I need to return the order in 6 days (or whenever your delivery is) unless payment is made (but I would use some excuse like avon require me to return it or other waffle to make it look as though you have no option).

I would continue to deliver a book as they have decent sized orders. Perhaps drop a note through a day or two before delivery advising when you will be round and the total due.

Don't think one can afford to lose customers at the moment (she says having a fairly poor response so far to C12!).

MarsdenCuckoo

DON79 wrote: »

Hi all - am here for a little vent and a "what would you do?" help please!

basically, I have a customer and her friend who order every campaign - and they are usually orders between £30 and £60. The trouble is that every time I try deliver, I get fobbed off and delayed etc etc - I got a little tough once and it was fine the next time but it's happened again this time.

I arranged to make the deliveries on Monday 27th June in the evening, giving them advance notice. They sent an email saying that they could not take delivery as the friend was away until Sunday and had not left the money. Fast forward to yesterday and I get a text specifically asking me to deliver today at 7pm. I agree etc and all is good. I get in the car and drive there and she is not in! :mad::mad: wasted petrol & time and I had to juggle things about to get there at that time instead of bathing the kids and putting them to bed.

So I sent her a text from the car saying I was here at the arranged time as agreed and she was not at home. She replied her friend had not dropped the money off, her friend was still at work and she was also just leaving work. I am just annoyed at how inconsiderate they are and they continue to be every time they order. :mad:

I am questioning whether I really want them as customers the way things are. When I do deliver the orders, she always sends her son to pay as though she either cannot face me or is holding some grudge after the last time I got stricter over deliveries.

I have to submit my order to Avon tomorrow evening as we are going to be away and also have to pay the bill. I have held off paying the bill as I feel like returning all their products if they do not pay this evening as requested.

SO would you return their order as a credit if they didn't pay as agreed this evening? And would you stop delivering them a book? Also do Avon charge late payment charges as I am yet again outwith the time limit they set for payment to be made?

Thanks.

1. Don't worry about late payment charges in this case.
2. If you haven't managed to deliver goods prior to your next order deadline, apply for credit and package the goods up ready for the carrier to collect them.
3. Advise your customers that unless they arrange delivery/collection of their order by ....(x).... date (2/3 days before the delivery of your next order) then the goods will be returned to Avon.
4. Check out whether the goods are a particularly good deal (in which case you may prefer to keep rather than return them)

Be tough. You're running a business and happy to help your customers, obviously, but draw the line and if they miss a really good offer then hopefully they'll learn next tine that they need to budget/organise their time to accept delivery accordingly.

Chazolate

Tired_Mummy wrote: »

Sorry I'm a bit confused (it doesn't take much LOL) Are you after a territory/address list for one of your exisiting reps so they know what they are supposed to be covering?

If that's the case, go to search (on the left hand side) and then enter your reps account number or surname, when their name comes up in the box below the search box double click on it and it will take the map to them. Their info box should automatically come up, then just click on view territory and it will list it in the left hand side. To get a report you can print (or copy and paste into a word doc) click on Territory Report with addresses (which includes all the house numbers) in the box on the left hand side.

If the territory that has come up wasn't what you were expecting then you'll need to speak to your ASM as once territory is allocated (either by you or your ASM) or they can then amend or add to it.

TM x

It was a new Rep that I had just signed up. My ASM told me what roads she wanted her to cover, but didn't give me all the house numbers in each road. I went on to do what you have just explained, however the Rep wasn't on there at all.

Obviously my ASM hadn't assigned her the territory on the system yet. I thought maybe I needed to do this for her, as I am new I'm not 100% sure of who usually does what. So I put in the postcode and was expecting just to select the territory. However when I put the postcode in it didn't bring up the streets my ASM had asked me to give my new Rep. I was really tired at the time so I didn't click anything else I just exited the screen and left it. I went back to try and figure it out later and did the same thing but I couldn't select the roads she was meant to be doing. So I exited it again.

I think in future I will just ask my ASM for the roads and not bother with the mapping. I explained what happened to my ASM and asked for her to send me the report, so I had the house numbers and she replied saying leave it to the Rep to find the house numbers as she goes along.

DON79

Thanks money maker and marsdencuckoo.

I already have given them 2/3 days advance notice of when I intend to deliver and it doesn't work. Also told them unless I delivered today I would get late payment charges from Avon - waffling a little lol!

needless to say, got another text a while ago with more excuses and still not delivered today. If they do not take delivery tomorrow, then I am putting it through as a credit. But gutting though as it is a £60 order

I could cover the payment myself as already have the money in the bank but I don't see why I should really, especially not for this amount.

I have covered it before when it has been for smaller items only £3 and have even let the customer pay for it the following month but this is way too much to cover.

I need to toughen up really but am too much a softie!

I could keep them perhaps as a lot of it is fragrances which is 2 for £13 and also room sprays at £1.50

I,_Geek

MADDIELAW wrote: »

Hi

Was thinking about doing a leaflet drop around my area before I purchase any brochures.

If you have allocated streets you can canvas them however you like - dropping leaflets, dropping books, knocking on doors. If you'd like to drop leaflets in general around the area where you live you'll have to ask your ASM to allocate some streets where you can do that.

I've tried "contact me" leaflets to re-canvas before and one person rang (who knew they liked Avon). I think asking people to contact you relies on them making the first move and knowing they want to buy, whereas if you give out books and you have to return for them it gives you a better picture of who is/isn't interested. You could include a check-box for them to tell you yes or no, or you could knock on every door if you prefer. People have a chance to see the product range and prices and place an order straight away - all they have to do is put the book outside. Even an expired book wouldn't allow them to order because products might not be in the current brochures and prices will have changed, so they still have to get on the phone.

Tired_Mummy

Chazolate wrote: »

I think in future I will just ask my ASM for the roads and not bother with the mapping. I explained what happened to my ASM and asked for her to send me the report, so I had the house numbers and she replied saying leave it to the Rep to find the house numbers as she goes along.

That's a bit strange, I would have thought that if the ASM wanted the rep to do certain roads, they would have allocated it.

It sometimes is easier to let the ASM allocate (if they are pretty quick at getting back to you) but it would be worth asking her to show you how just in case she is away at any point.

Don't worry too much about the house numbers, the ASM must want all house numbers in the roads covered and then the rep can doorknock/post brochures through to work out which house numbers are interested.

Tiggerlilly

missminx wrote: »

Hi All... Quiet round here recently. Everyone been enjoying the sunshine?
Just wanted to share something I have tried out in case it is helpful to anyone else. I bought the planet spa gift set with all the face mask sachets in it, then split the box and put between 1 and 3 of them in with my customer deliveries (depending how much they spent) so far 3 of them have ordered planet spa from this campaign I thought it combined a nice gesture gift with a way to get them to try it. So far, so good!

I also bought a couple of boxes of these and have given as freebies/samples and yes a few people have since ordered the planet spa products, it was a really good way of getting samples quickly and at a very reasonable price.

lozza1985

Have updated the links again