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

slm6002

Just a quick question - on my order it said that the lace manicure kits were out of stock and no more coming in
(big red cross next to it). On my invoice it says its been charged for. Is it likely to turn up? In the past maybe items have mainly turned up but never oos items before.

slm6002

I am also getting a dorothy perkins voucher - any ideas what this is for / from?

kathcake

Hi I Geek
May I ask why you don't like to give books to old people as the old ladies often do love to have a look through Avon (i have a few on my round) just curious!

Also I'm thinking about Avon parties to increase funds, but my friends aren't particularly keen. Any idea where you could advertise for this that's free?

One other thing I've heard some people mention using Facebook to get customers, I've set up a page but not got any interest! How would you set it up so people not living in your area could order from you and you profit the money without having to deliver the goods? seemed quite confusing to me.

thanks for any help

MarsdenCuckoo

slm6002 wrote: »

I am also getting a dorothy perkins voucher - any ideas what this is for / from?

Avon have various tie-ups organised with retailers (pretty sure DP is one of them but don't have exact details at the mo). At Live Your Dream we were told that Avon had plans for the following:

29 August - 4 weeks TV advertising campaign re. the new Fergie Intense EdP
19 September - 5 weeks TV advertising campaign re. ANew Genics (+ possibly mentioning the Beauty Bonus Bag offer at the end of the advert)
10-15 October Avon are sponsoring ITV's 'Daybreak' competition :j
October - teaming up with very.co.uk so every customer will get a free sample of the new Fergie Intense EdP
Also in October - teaming up with Wallis so every customer gets a free sample of the Anew Genics

There will also be various swooping events arranged with free samples of the new Fergie EdP.

Hopefully with all that promotion our sales should soar!

MarsdenCuckoo

slm6002 wrote: »

Just a quick question - on my order it said that the lace manicure kits were out of stock and no more coming in
(big red cross next to it). On my invoice it says its been charged for. Is it likely to turn up? In the past maybe items have mainly turned up but never oos items before.

Even if you get red crosses it's still worth ordering the goods i.e. in case some are returned before your order is prepped. Just be careful though if you are close to your commission level and you get red crosses - one of my team members fell foul of this and her higher commission level was disallowed. When I queried this, I was told that Avon reserve the right to downgrade the initial order value due to red crosses so always increase your order value if needs be to take account for any red crosses.

Mumto2

slm6002 wrote: »

I am also getting a dorothy perkins voucher - any ideas what this is for / from?

It's an offer for 25% off at D.perkins during a week in September - don't get too excited

lozza1985

Sometimes I think you're talking to a brick wall with avon...OH had a customer order a nightie in C12 - was "to follow". Had my C13 delivery, no nightie, and it wasn't on the invoice as "to follow", or even "no further stocks". No mention what so ever.

So emailed them to find out if it was still on the account as being required....heard nothing back, but this morning had a parcel in the post - and they've sent the 2 quick dry sprays that were "to follow" on OH account (along with a random pack of order forms). Presumably me emailing has just triggered them to send out the items that are down as "to follow".

But still nothing on the nightie!!!!

Shall have to get OH to ring the PC line to see whats going on with it!

I,_Geek

kathcake wrote: »

Hi I Geek
May I ask why you don't like to give books to old people as the old ladies often do love to have a look through Avon (i have a few on my round) just curious!

One other thing I've heard some people mention using Facebook to get customers, I've set up a page but not got any interest! How would you set it up so people not living in your area could order from you and you profit the money without having to deliver the goods? seemed quite confusing to me.

thanks for any help

I've given books to everyone on my territory, but after that first pass I was building up a list (a small one) of "absolute no"s. There were people who'd told me they didn't want any more books who were frail - I don't mean "old" as in in their 70s - more like late 80s and 90s. One wrote their own note even though I had a yes/no form (big sized font). Some had children who happened to be visiting when I collected and they told me it wouldn't be appropriate any more. I even had to call an ambulance out of complete lack of any other option at one house - it turned out she has dementia. Some houses wouldn't answer the door to me (when they were in) and returned the book to me later by leaving it out with the form ticked. So the vast majority of houses where people said they didn't want any more books are places where it would be okay to knock again or drop a card, but at a few I think it would have been inconsiderate (where the husband's told me his wife has died) or distressing to go back.

Amongst the younger oldies I've got a few customers but I've been surprised at how many (not in the frail older group) have still not been interested. Most of my customers are 20s-50s.

Facebook - if you get orders through that they'd still be delivered to you and it would be up to you to get them to your customers. You could either make it clear on FB that you only deliver to certain areas, or you could post orders. Posting could get expensive and eat into your profit, plus there's the risk of losing items and would you reimburse customers their P+P cost if they have a return? Also, would customers pay you via cheque or PayPal? To protect yourself you'd have to ask that the money's in your account before you post anything - strangers might not be so keen.

kathcake

Oh okay! I was always wondering how a few members on this thread make a lot of money through online sales, but they didn't want to disclose their secret!

Any ideas on the AVon parties?

thanks
kathy

I,_Geek

I don't use FB myself, but I think a lot of people use it to connect to people they know/live nearby so the issues I mentioned aren't so much of a big deal. It would be worth trying even if you state clearly you can only deliver in person to a certain area. And then other people use FB to connect to people across the country, charging a flat P+P cost of £2.50 (as one person did) on all orders. But if you've got a lot of customers who all like bubble bath your postage costs are going to soar.

Some people sell on eBay. I do occasionally but I had a look at the prices of some stock I had and worked out my costs and there was no way I could compete with what others were selling for. On some items even if you consider the item might have been free, the seller would still be losing money to sell it.