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

lozza1985

Just been popping through my delivery notices to my few customers who don't have notification by text/email (mostly older ladies ) - and one who isn't on my territory caught me for a chat. I've been delivering to her for nearly a year now - she asked for a brochure from me when I did a recruitment stand in town with the area manager last year, she was close to me so I said I'd be happy to deliver to her, she wanted to get a book from someone she knew, as she's partially deaf. She's the only customer I have on that road or nearby.

She had a brochure delivered by another rep (presumably a new rep), so my customer told her she already orders from someone else. THis other rep got quite rude and aggressive, saying that's not allowed, she *has* to order from her etc...in the end my customer had to walk away and go back inside.

Bare in mind my customer is in her 70s and is partially deaf as well.....as she says, even if I stopped delivering to her, she wouldn't order from this new rep if she has an attidude like that as she wouldn't want to have to speak to her again. I had to reassure her that it's ok to order from who you want, this other rep has probably thought I'd delivered to everyone on that road which I haven't, and people can order from any rep, it could be a family member/work colleague.

I guess this other rep wasn't having much luck, and automatically assumed that I had canvassed the whole road (which I never have, it's not my street, and she's the only customer I have on that road)....but it's still no way to speak to another person, particularly if you're expecting them to order from you! It sounds awful, but I hope this rep stops soon - if this is how she's going to speak to people, she's not going to be a very popular rep anyway, and it just gives the rest of us a bad reputation.

I,_Geek

Rude reps - I've heard of this a couple of times on Connects unfortunately. You're just thinking surely they're not going to last long if that's their idea of how to speak to people - customers or not.

If any customers are reading this, be assured that you can choose who to order from. If you're not happy with your existing rep you can ring Avon or do a search online to find someone else. And no rep can insist you switch to them if you don't want to.

Sometimes on Connects reps will be angry (but won't have vented in public) to see as little as one customer on their territory already served - to the point where they say all customers should be theirs. Something to make clear during sign-up or in an info pack I think... It's disappointing, but normal, to find customers served by someone else. As long as you're sure the postcode is allocated to you just work around the other rep and call on their customers once or twice a year to make sure they still have a rep (it can pay off later )

Pips_Mum

Lozza thats really horrible of the new rep :-( As you say the lady could have ordered from anyone, the rep might be disappointed to have missed a Customer so to speak but she should not have expressed it in this way.

I placed my order on Friday in the end, Thanks for the advice all. It was still coming up with zeros but I figured they would sort it out on the invoice by the time it comes to me. I do normally try and put it through on Thursday to avoid the rush but 2 collegues had a book and had said they were definately ordering so I waited............................only to be told they didnt want to order this time after all!

qwertykeys92

~evanesco~ wrote: »

I'm going to have to pay a deposit to get this order released, it's almost at £600 and it's only my second campaign.

Well done, that's amazing!

It gives me a question though - at what point do you need to pay a deposit to get Avon to deliver the order to you, and how much do you have to pay? I'm a little worried as I'm literally starting off with nothing and orders for my first ever campaign are at £350.

:undecided

Thanks!

I,_Geek

Re-canvassed all my houses who said they used another rep and got more unusual/negative reactions that I might have expected from this group. Went to 23 houses and 4 of them were all the same people I spoke to before (i.e. people who used Avon) who were now saying they don't use it, it's not for them, definitely not at all interested. It makes you wonder whether people say "I already have a rep" just to make you go away the first time, not realising it's actually part of your service to make sure everyone on your allocated street who wants to buy Avon can - i.e. we're going to call back eventually to make sure your service continues if your rep stops.

Money_maker

The other way is that customers mark my form with 'no' to seeing another brochure. A year later their neighbour who is my customer, refers them to me and they say that they had no idea that there was a rep and haven't seen a book in years, grrrr. Unless their hubbies get to it first!

I had another rep try to poach on my territory a couple of years back. Cheeky mare told the customer that if they placed their orders with me then it wouldn't be delivered. They basically told her where to go having been buying from me for 2/3 years already.

Muffin86

Hiya!, well i've got anothe customer through fb!! I have to say this is my second campaign but I am LOVING Avon atm, I hope I continue to enjoy it and expand my customer base etc... thanks to everyone on here for getting me started!! xx

lozza1985

qwertykeys92 wrote: »

Well done, that's amazing!

It gives me a question though - at what point do you need to pay a deposit to get Avon to deliver the order to you, and how much do you have to pay? I'm a little worried as I'm literally starting off with nothing and orders for my first ever campaign are at £350.

:undecided

Thanks!

It varies from rep to rep - it all depends on what your initial credit limit is. If you ask who you joined with they'll be able to tell you what your limit is. It increases each time, so usually it's only the first campaign that it can be a problem for - unless you're lucky enough to really increase your sales in your first few campaigns. I shouldn't worry, usually the limit avon gives and the amount it increases to is more than enough.

I,_Geek

Money_maker wrote: »

The other way is that customers mark my form with 'no' to seeing another brochure. A year later their neighbour who is my customer, refers them to me and they say that they had no idea that there was a rep and haven't seen a book in years, grrrr. Unless their hubbies get to it first!

I've had 2 contacts in the last couple of weeks who were people who said no to any more brochures when I first canvassed. To be fair I didn't give the option "I already have a rep" on the form so while some people wrote that on to explain why they were saying no, not everyone did.

I'd already made the decision to re-canvas all houses after 2 years (so 2 years between them saying no and me calling back) but this gives me extra reason to do it - how many others said no but use Avon and don't have a rep anymore?

ruthb2008

Hi Guys,

I wonder if someone can help me.

I've got an item to return, and my delivery is coming on Wednesday.

However, I'm having to get it delivered to work this time, which is a massive site with people who are responsible for dealing with deliveries. I'm not able to ask them to give my package to the courier, so I'm going to have to return it another way.

What is the procedure when returning via Royal Mail?

Thanks,

Ruth