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

I,_Geek

24 customers out of 67 houses - there really doesn't seem to be a science behind this. 24 is almost one third of 67, and this is how it always works out. 10 houses = 3 customers, 30 houses = 10, and so on... Apparently Avon use data from previous reps but the only data I provide is a customer count every campaign (which includes a few friends, family and network orders) so I don't see how accurate that is. Plus it's odd that all the data always points to 1 in 3 houses being a customer no matter what street you're on...

20-odd customers out of 200 sounds very normal and, since you've not be doing Avon too long, will probably increase a bit. I'm at 16% of houses turning into customers and a rep on Connects reported the same.

When you think about it, 1 in 3, even if some rarely order, is a huge proportion considering Avon's competition from supermarkets, Boots, Superdrug, department store counters, online etc...

lozza1985

Got 2 customer requests through facebook yesterday, so it's definitely worth perserving with, some days I don't get anything, then get a lovely surprise like that - a new customer for me, and one for one of my reps

Muffin86

Lozza im so pleased to hear about fb I have people accept my friends request but no interest really. Will persevere with it! xx

~evanesco~

lozza1985 wrote: »

When you submit the returns, it will tell you how much you'll be credited with. Make a note of that amount. Then when you pay your bill, pay the amount showing minus your credits. It will show that you owe x amount for a little while, then it'll be credited and your account will be clear.

Thank you for this, I'll probably put them on as returns within 2-3 days of delivery to be honest as I absolutely know they're going back.

I placed an additional order on the same day as my order for C5 (I submitted too early and my customer really wanted to place this order, so I've placed an additional and also ordered it again with my C6 so I can return it and gain the commission I missed by placing an additional order, even with £2.50 delivery as an additional, I'll still earn commission), but it hasn't arrived, it's showing as 'prepared' on order tracking. It's been 8 days now, is there any reason why they've held it back?

I've delivered all minus 2 of my C5 orders, one to go out Friday (hopefully) and one to go out next Tuesday (customer gets paid then). I have already hit MOV without even getting brochures back from those customers who ordered previously, so I'm pretty certain I'll hit HOV again. I got my free full size Anew product, it was the Treatment Concentrate which is normally £30, so I was happy with that, I've been getting a few worrying little crows feet, so I'll give this a go :rotfl:

I'm babysitting an extra 76 houses, so some of those with go onto back order for C7, since I only ordered 40 brochures this time, and I've lost 2 as I realised they're unoccupied :eek: after I posted brochures.

I have almost 200 houses now so I've ordered 60 brochures for C8, I'm still full canvassing at the minute, while I get a feel for who's not leaving brochures out, who doesn't want brochures again that sort of thing, I'm hoping to drop back down to 40 brochures by C10, as £9 is a fair amount of commission really.

Not spent quite so much myself this time, I have all my bags etc I'll just stock up on those as and when. I have my Avon days too and all in all I'm pretty happy with my start off, lets hope it stays this way.:T

I,_Geek

A couple of important issues have popped up on Connects over the past day:

Animal Welfare Claims

There was an article in the Daily Mail/Fail, which claimed that Avon has been removed from PETA's list of approved companies because they have started testing on animals. "Avon does not conduct nor request animal testing in order to substantiate the safety or efficacy of any of its products or raw ingredients." Unfortunately a couple of reps have reported that upset customers are refusing to buy Avon anymore and you may be a customer reading this who is concerned after reading the Daily Mail article.

Avon's full response is here: http://avoncompany.com/corporatecitizenship/corporateresponsibility/resourcecenter/policies_and_procedures/animal_welfare.html


Deleting customer details without an e-mail address - please check your "latest news" section on the e-suite homepage and look for "Customer address book - important information".

If you store customer info online (i.e. don't do one big order) each customer needs to have a valid e-mail address. If an e-mail bounces back or there's no e-mail at all, that customer record will be deleted so you need to back up your customer details on a separate system at home (on paper or Excel or whatever you choose).

Avon will be contacting all customers to let them know their info is stored online (to comply with the DPA).

I've never used the "order by customer" system, but if I did I wouldn't be using it at all now. It's a pointless system if you can only enter orders by customer if they use e-mail (followed by a big chunk of order containing everyone else's products), plus many reps aren't happy that the details, which Avon promised were for rep use only, will now be used by Avon (if only to comply with DPA, which is what prevented Avon from seeing them in the first place... :think: I have no idea how the logic works there...).

lozza1985

Additional order that hasnt arrived - id be inclined to say that it's coming by post, if it's showing as prepared then it's not been held back, as then it would say 'held'. I'd give Avon a ring to make sure, and to check when it was posted if its coming by post.

nicki_2

I,_Geek wrote: »

Deleting customer details without an e-mail address - please check your "latest news" section on the e-suite homepage and look for "Customer address book - important information".

If you store customer info online (i.e. don't do one big order) each customer needs to have a valid e-mail address. If an e-mail bounces back or there's no e-mail at all, that customer record will be deleted so you need to back up your customer details on a separate system at home (on paper or Excel or whatever you choose).

Avon will be contacting all customers to let them know their info is stored online (to comply with the DPA).

I've never used the "order by customer" system, but if I did I wouldn't be using it at all now. It's a pointless system if you can only enter orders by customer if they use e-mail (followed by a big chunk of order containing everyone else's products), plus many reps aren't happy that the details, which Avon promised were for rep use only, will now be used by Avon (if only to comply with DPA, which is what prevented Avon from seeing them in the first place... :think: I have no idea how the logic works there...).

I read this news this morning. I've never entered any customers info on the website for this reason. They're MY customers and therefore I won't share anything with Avon unless I have the express permission from my customer in writing. I don't even keep my customers details on the computer, its all paper/index cards or on my phone.

Now I need to go through all my orders and text whoever I can to arrange delivery for tonight. DD threw a hormonal/stress wobbler last night (she's nearly 11 and starting to stress about her SATs in May despite not needing to, but no-one can get that through to her ) so I didn't get out to put calling cards through Means I'll also be working Monday and Thursday night next week :mad:

joyfull

I,_Geek wrote: »

A couple of important issues have popped up on Connects over the past day:

Animal Welfare Claims

There was an article in the Daily Mail/Fail, which claimed that Avon has been removed from PETA's list of approved companies because they have started testing on animals. "Avon does not conduct nor request animal testing in order to substantiate the safety or efficacy of any of its products or raw ingredients." Unfortunately a couple of reps have reported that upset customers are refusing to buy Avon anymore and you may be a customer reading this who is concerned after reading the Daily Mail article.

Avon's full response is here: http://avoncompany.com/corporatecitizenship/corporateresponsibility/resourcecenter/policies_and_procedures/animal_welfare.html


Deleting customer details without an e-mail address - please check your "latest news" section on the e-suite homepage and look for "Customer address book - important information".

If you store customer info online (i.e. don't do one big order) each customer needs to have a valid e-mail address. If an e-mail bounces back or there's no e-mail at all, that customer record will be deleted so you need to back up your customer details on a separate system at home (on paper or Excel or whatever you choose).

Avon will be contacting all customers to let them know their info is stored online (to comply with the DPA).

I've never used the "order by customer" system, but if I did I wouldn't be using it at all now. It's a pointless system if you can only enter orders by customer if they use e-mail (followed by a big chunk of order containing everyone else's products), plus many reps aren't happy that the details, which Avon promised were for rep use only, will now be used by Avon (if only to comply with DPA, which is what prevented Avon from seeing them in the first place... :think: I have no idea how the logic works there...).

I've only ever done one big order too. I'm afraid I don't trust Avon. They, like other huge global companies will go to any lengths to increase their sales. Who knows what they are up to. This is MY business and they are MY customers, gained through a lot of MY hard work.

I,_Geek

Customer details - playing devil's advocate, I understand that Avon are just doing what they have to to comply with the law. If customer details are stored online, and it's the law that they need to be informed about it, then I can see why Avon needs to cover their own behinds if they are legally responsible.

However :
- their statement also says that it's the rep's responsibility to inform customers about what details we hold (whether online on the e-suite or at home). So why can't we do that? Many of us have already assured customers what we use their info for and where we store it.
- they originally said that info on the e-suite couldn't be seen or used by Avon for data protection reasons. If it's still not allowed for Avon to access or use this data, how are they going to e-mail customers to let them know about where their data is stored?

~evanesco~

lozza1985 wrote: »

Additional order that hasnt arrived - id be inclined to say that it's coming by post, if it's showing as prepared then it's not been held back, as then it would say 'held'. I'd give Avon a ring to make sure, and to check when it was posted if its coming by post.

It arrived with the post this morning

This customer details thing is a bit of a pain. I've got mine listed using only their names, it's a fab tool, I can have a printout of everyones order, so much easier for sorting delivery out, and now they're going to stop it. I think it's to encourage our customers to order online from Avon direct. They won't have to pay commission, they'll have less returns to deal with (because many people simply can't be bothered). Call me cynical.