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

MarsdenCuckoo

cheltenhamgal wrote: »

Damn that they have put the new promotion on over C1, C2 and C3 those are notoriously my worse campaigns, no one seems to have any money over Xmas and New Year, me included

That's exactly why they do it! :rotfl:Avon, like their reps, need to find some way to keep the customers/reps ordering. Take their lead, make sure you offer special deals in C1-4 and don't miss a campaign yourself either, even if only placing a small order (was told this week that the charge for small orders will be waived in C2 and C3)

KazLA

MarsdenCuckoo wrote: »

That's exactly why they do it! :rotfl:Avon, like their reps, need to find some way to keep the customers/reps ordering. Take their lead, make sure you offer special deals in C1-4 and don't miss a campaign yourself either, even if only placing a small order (was told this week that the charge for small orders will be waived in C2 and C3)

I was planning not to drop books & place an order for c2, as it has to be in about 20th & delivered to me between Xmas & new yr, thinking I've got better things to do! It would then spread the campaigns out a bit & reduce the effect of the short campaigns. It would also mean working for nothing if I don't get over £52 and I'd rather wait til the next campaign & hopefully have more chance of hitting MOV.

Can anyone give me any good reasons for doing this campaign? (I'll start you off with the fact that I have already bought all the brochures without realising which ones it would be!)

I,_Geek wrote: »

Having a bit of an Avon de-cluttering once C1 is over:

- putting 7 customers on "re-canvas" since they haven't ordered for almost a year or longer.
- 1 non-reader also going to RC seeing as I've had them a year
- 8 readers going as well - initially interested but now not even reading or returning books. Had them since at least May.

If they order during C1 of course I'll keep them on but chances are slim. I've worked out the customers I'm moving to RC have brought in sales of £47.35 over 1 year/18 campaigns, and the most recent order was in February 2011.

I'm also going to return a total of 96 houses unless things improve during C1 on those streets. What I'm keeping, according to SMA, should bring in sales of £485, which isn't much higher than what I'm getting. According to SMA the 96 houses I'm planning to lose should bring in £108 per campaign. I've had £23.50 from 1 customer in a year. :eek:

It's at times like this that keeping track of stats pays off and helps you feel sure you're making the right decision.

How do you find out what your houses *should* make? Not that it really matters I guess.

I've been doing Avon for 4 yrs, but only just started doing houses, how many times would you drop a book if its not being read? And when would you re-try?

I,_Geek

KazLA wrote: »

I was planning not to drop books & place an order for c2, as it has to be in about 20th & delivered to me between Xmas & new yr, thinking I've got better things to do!

Can anyone give me any good reasons for doing this campaign? (I'll start you off with the fact that I have already bought all the brochures without realising which ones it would be!)

I've got the same dates and decided to do C2 for several reasons:

- my husband and I don't do a big Christmas, plus I'm already running my round in a "do everything in one go" way so it shouldn't take up too much time. I'll be doing one big collection of C2 books on 19th Dec and that's it. My delivery will arrive when my mum and dad are visiting on 29th (my mum wants to order some things so I'd be placing an order anyway), but I'll deliver to customers on 3rd Jan so hopefully by that day people will be back from holidays, ready for work and school starting again.

- brochure 2 is a good sales book. Avon tries to compete with the high street sales. Some of my customers will be on backorder, though. You could always give brochure 2 out on its own to customers during C3, even if you'd have them on the current brochure normally. Or you could give them brochure 2 and 3 together during C3 - less creative ordering opportunities, though and customers may be confused. If you're starting a new area it's ideal to have certain people on backorder anyway because they don't return books so waiting until C3 to give out brochure 2 may work for you anyway.

- last year I did C2 and it had the same dates. I had about 6 customers, got over MOV, and can't remember big problems delivering (which I did between Xmas and New Year that time).

- you can always ask who wants a book first, or just give them to your most regular customers. I think I'll do the latter because, like you, I've got the books in anyway. My customers all know C1 is the last one before Christmas and I'll clearly put the C2 delivery date of 3rd Jan on their order forms. I don't think 20th Dec is too bad a date to be collecting books, but then I'm talking about established customers who are used to my routine.

KazLA wrote: »

How do you find out what your houses *should* make? Not that it really matters I guess.

I asked for my allocated streets to be sent via e-mail, which means my ASM just copied and pasted the table they're in on screen. This meant I could see not only the streets, but a few other columns showing total number of houses per postcode, how many houses will become customers (always 1 in 3), and what the spend will be per campaign.

KazLA wrote: »

I've been doing Avon for 4 yrs, but only just started doing houses, how many times would you drop a book if its not being read? And when would you re-try?

I drop 3 times and if each of those 3 books haven't been read I put them on the re-canvas list. I re-canvas during May and November because I want to get Christmas orders in if possible. Some reps will carry on for much longer or indefinitely - it's up to you and how long your patience will last. It also depends on if the homeowner said, "Oooh yes I'd love one" when you handed it over. With these I've treated them as if they were reading the book and carry on for around 6 months. Once I've dropped and collected one book I try to speak to the homeowner before dropping another one. My previous ASM said a re-canvas every 6 months would be fine - this was after I'd explained that the houses had been covered quite intensively for the first few campaigns (i.e. I hadn't cherry-picked).

Also give people who can't return books at least 2 chances. It surprised me, but I noticed they were much more likely to turn into customers than those who returned unread books.

Money_maker

Money_maker wrote: »

With Christmas Cards, there are a few customers (that I've been going to for 5 years!) whose names I don't know. They don't put them on the order form and on the odd occasion they've rung up I've forgotten to remember it, doh! Will probably put something similar to 7roland8 above.
Am also planning on doing an A4 newsletter with C1 orders (mid dec) where I can ramble on about:
How grateful I am for their custom
Acknowledge those who have had a difficult year with optimism towards 2012
Ask for telephone numbers to ensure I have them in case of snow or other problems
Push for any more leads from family/friends/shops/workplaces
Remind them that the wall planner enclosed is for them to keep (got a couple back last year!)
Explain that the first couple of brochures for 2012 may come thick and fast

I will then separate into two editions:
One for my besties who will see C2 before Christmas with a delivery date before New Year (never tried this brocure before)
One for my non regular orderers who will see their new brochure in 2012 (will put them on back brochures)

Tried to organise my avon bits the other day and was shocked at how much stock I have from special deals/freebies/creative ordering. Must sort out a list of who gets what and ebay the bits that will fetch a few pounds. I MUST NOT buy in any more bits for pressies:eek:

My date for C2 is 20th December too. Just noticed a fatal flaw in my plan, those who don't order from C2 and don't qualify for C3 - think I may just need to drop a card off separately.

I have around half a dozen really poor customers, in fact I think that 2-3 of them haven't ordered at all this year. Think I will compose a 'last brochure' leaflet to see if they still want a brochure and they're not getting a Christmas Card - so there!:D

joyfull

Hiya Everyone,

Gone a bit quiet here. How are you all doing?

Interested to see how some of you drop customers who 'don't read' catalogue. Must have missed is, but how do you know it hasn't been read?

Had a SECOND spillage in a row (C17 & 18). An entire bottle of Signature EDT emptied itself all over a box. My poor delivery driver was so apologetic even though it was not his fault at all. I had to get up in the night & remove everything within smelling distance as the whole house reeks of it (invoice included).

Rather relieved that the bulk of xmas is behind me, as I find it physically exhausting with all the deliveries. Sales have been pretty good. Now getting a few replacements to deal with though.

I,_Geek

There are a few clues to see if books aren't being read, but it depends on how you prep them. The ones I look out for are:

- no crease next to spine - I only use books once per campaign and sometimes have brand-new books going out as backorder books (i.e. they didn't get used when they were the current books).
- bag still sealed shut with no air in it - when prepping books I pile them up with the seals still open then seal them all up. This means all but the top few books in the pile have all the air squeezed out. You can feel they've been almost vacuum-packed when you hold them, so if you can still feel this when collecting a book it means it hasn't been opened.
- contents of bag still in same order - so in my case the order form is still facing out of the back, the front cover is still facing out the front. If I've put a flyer in with books they also all go in the same place so it stands out if it's been moved.
- note on front not creased - I staple this on and when people put the book back in the bag, and while reading it, they naturally end up making the note look less than perfect.
- if you knock on the door and they turn around to retrieve the book from a big pile of post - pretty good sign it hasn't made it further into the house than that!


Or you could fold a corner in every book, or do page flagging which means the customer has to flatten out the page, then check while you're out or when you get home. If you label order forms you could check at home.

joyfull

Thanks I Geek, that is very impressive detective work. I've 'identified' you in connects (can't remember how now!) & enjoy your contributions on there. I often wonder at why customers (particularly previously good orderers) stop ordering Avon. I guess there must be many reasons...

Mumto2

Does anyone know if the Country Rose towel set & eye-cream (30 days email - available on Weds) for£4.99 is the same towel set that was available in C18 clearance for £6?

So difficult to tell from photo's, but I'm ordering the £6 for MIL, so if I could get a free eyecream that would be fab!

dingdongavoncalling

Just wondering if anyone noticed the tip in the recent hello tomorrow about decanting giant bottles of shower gels, lotions etc into travel size bottles as samples? Just because I remember there was a debate going on a while back about if it was safe to do so etc. Clearly Avon think so!

missminx

Mumto2 wrote: »

Does anyone know if the Country Rose towel set & eye-cream (30 days email - available on Weds) for£4.99 is the same towel set that was available in C18 clearance for £6?

So difficult to tell from photo's, but I'm ordering the £6 for MIL, so if I could get a free eyecream that would be fab!

Order one of each and return the one you don't want /need?