~Avon Hints & Tips (Part 8) ~ Please read first post :)

I,_Geek

Working out stats

Average orders - on an Excel worksheet I've got customers down one side (listed by address), and campaign numbers running along the top. So each row of the spreadsheet is a list of each individual order that house placed. If they don't order anything in a certain campaign the cell is blank.

I'll try and lay it out on here - hope it comes out okay on screen!

House C16 C17 C18 Orders Total Order Average
Main St 1 £10 £5 2 £15 £7.50
Main St 2 £1 £2 2 £3 £1.50

So "house" is at the top of column 1, then C16 is a new column, C17 is in another column and so on... Every time I finish a campaign I insert a new column between the latest campaign and "orders". I use Excel's count (for the "orders" column) and sum functions to do the working out for me.

Underneath the table there's another table that's a summary:

C16 C17 C18
Total £1 £12 £5
Customers 1 2 1
Average spend £1 £6 £5

% of books given out generating an order - this is more basic. I've already got an Excel sheet showing houses down one side and campaigns along the top. I record whether they read the book, didn't read it, ordered, or didn't return it. No figures in this table, but it's useful info to look back on to confirm that, yes, that person hasn't ordered now for over a year. It's useful for seeing who's repeatedly not returning books so I can move them onto backorder, or vice-versa. It allows me to plan ahead as well so if people don't want every book I can cross them off for certain campaigns. Right now I've got columns set up going up to C6 of next year.

So to work out success rate I just count all the books given out in a campaign, and then count all the orders. Then record them in a separate table, get Excel to do the %s and put in a nice chart.

dingdongavoncalling

Hi everyone,

I've had a look through the past few pages of posts but no mention of xmas presents for customers this year....I bet everyone is just much more organised than me! What, if any, gifts have you decided on?

Also, ANOTHER tax question.......I've STILL not completed my tax return it's been dragging on forever but I don't feel confident enough to submit it. I was hoping to go on county council course like suggested but havn't got to one yet. Has everyone just gone through invoices and looked under 'you earn' and added these up? Do you then take off any expenses that are not covered on your invoice? I'm confused and hate, hate, hate tax returns! This is the first time I've ever completed one and would really appreciate some advice

Thanks! Hope all your C18 sales are looking better than mine!! By the sounds of it not everyones doing great.........

missminx

LilMissEmmylou wrote: »

Ok im another qith a returns question, I have my print offs done, box taped up and my returns label on it.... do I have to wait until my next delivery day to return it all? I would quite like to get it in before I have to pay my invoice to deduct it from my total owing if possible. Any advice?

thank you

If you have done print offs, then you have credited them against your account already. If you are unsure, pay £1 off your balance and it will update with the credits etc within a day normally. Then return them when your nest delivery comes, and you won't have paid for them.

trinity_enigma

I am not impressed with Avon. Emailed them on your guys lovely advice to ask them where my immediate replacement was and just got a stock response saying it can take up to 10 days from when I requested it (7/11). I understand that some things can take time but forte life of me I cannot understand how they can get an order for hundreds of products picked, packed, sent out and at my door in a week but one tiny concealer going by royal mail takes two weeks- it's beyond ridiculous!

It's not like it was my fault anyway- they just didn't put it in the box and it's been prepared all week just not sent out- surely a big company like this sends post out daily!

I,_Geek

dingdongavoncalling wrote: »

Has everyone just gone through invoices and looked under 'you earn' and added these up?

On the tax return they'll ask for the following figures:

- Turnover - this is the total amount of money you've taken in. This is added up for you on each invoice in bold at the end of each list of products. Under "brochure price". However, if you've bought products for yourself from the brochure you need to deduct these seeing as you didn't take any money in for them. When I rang HMRC they also said to include the total amount of credits received from Avon in your turnover figure (deduct any credits for personal items, though).

- Expenses - this is one figure and it's the total of:

- How much the items you sell cost you to buy. This is the "your cost" figure on your invoices. Again, don't include the cost of personal items.
- How much money you've had to hand back over to customers (full brochure price) when doing returns.
- Any expenses bought from Avon. Listed under "items with no discount on your invoice".
- Any expenses not bought from Avon like printer paper, mobile phone top-up etc...

Basically, turnover is all your incoming money and expenses are all your outgoings. Turnover minus expenses equals your net income, which is the figure that can be taxed.

If you sell moneymakers, or stock in any other way via carboots or eBay, again keep track of how much you take in for each item and how much it cost you.

I break things down every campaign by running through an invoice, and keeping separate tabs on MMs sold and things sold on eBay. It's easier to break it down like that so if you want to double-check something you don't have to start from scratch.

An alternative is not to remove personal items as suggested above. However, this means you won't have an accurate figure and it will make it look like you've earned money you haven't, leading to a higher tax bill if you get taxed. For example, if I buy an item that's £10 brochure price and costs me £7.50, it looks like I've earned £2.50 on the invoice. In truth, I haven't taken in £10 from anyone and I've just spent £7.50.

I haven't done a course, but would recommend some sort of professional advice (even if it's from a free source like Tax Aid or maybe Citizens' Advice if they offer this kind of thing) if you're not confident in working through an invoice or dealing with figures.

EDIT: The tax return also asks about Capital Allowances, but these are big long-term spends that you probably haven't made.

MarsdenCuckoo

!!!!!!_here wrote: »

1. None really, you're just not an active Rep anymore

2. Yes, if you want to start totally afresh then you really should get a new account number etc (fee is same amount as being reinstated)

Thanks again for your input. So... from the rep's perspective, they are able to order again without a reinstatement fee if they miss 5 (?) campaigns but if they miss 8 campaigns they are free to join another team (provided they're prepared to pay the £15 set-up fee again)?

If you have an 'inside track'.... earlier this week I read on my website that Avon were having an 'amnesty' in C3 by waiving the set-up fee for any 'lapsed reps' to rejoin again although now there's no reference to it at all. Did I imagine it?

Dick_here

MarsdenCuckoo wrote: »

So... from the rep's perspective, they are able to order again without a reinstatement fee if they miss 5 (?) campaigns but if they miss 8 campaigns they are free to join another team (provided they're prepared to pay the £15 set-up fee again)?

If you have an 'inside track'.... earlier this week I read on my website that Avon were having an 'amnesty' in C3 by waiving the set-up fee for any 'lapsed reps' to rejoin again although now there's no reference to it at all. Did I imagine it?

You're just about right with regard to your first paragraph. Miss 3, get removed, and you can be auto-reinstated by placing an order within the next two. This assumes you don't owe Avon any money of course.

The second part I really don't know, though it wouldn't surprise me if it happens.

MarsdenCuckoo

slm6002 wrote: »

C18 has been poor for me as well and also the number of books that i have had back is down - i run current and previous books at the same time to cover a good area, but not sure if i will have enough books for this next camp. Guess we will have to wait and see. Only just made my full discount this time.

Need to do a big push in the new year to try and to improve sales as not really making much after expenses. I hope everyones sales improve soon

Think 'the knack' is to find new customers every campaign. Have also found that C18 has not been good - even customers who normally order every single campaign (up to now) haven't ordered....

Have been concentrating on recruiting but methinks it's time to recanvass! :cool:

MarsdenCuckoo

trinity_enigma wrote: »

I am not impressed with Avon. Emailed them on your guys lovely advice to ask them where my immediate replacement was and just got a stock response saying it can take up to 10 days from when I requested it (7/11). I understand that some things can take time but forte life of me I cannot understand how they can get an order for hundreds of products picked, packed, sent out and at my door in a week but one tiny concealer going by royal mail takes two weeks- it's beyond ridiculous!

It's not like it was my fault anyway- they just didn't put it in the box and it's been prepared all week just not sent out- surely a big company like this sends post out daily!

It happens.... Keep on it, it's important to be pro-active with your Avon a/c rather than just trust that 'everything will be correct'. That particularly applies to your account; make sure you check your invoices properly and be particularly vigilant re. any recharges. It's YOUR business and YOUR responsibility to make sure you pay what YOU KNOW you owe.

iluvfreebies

hi everyone - has anyone tried to use the gamecards to enter for the half a million - when i enter the website i cant see where to enter the code.