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

leannemarie18

Can i ask a quick question please and sorry if it sounds stupid, right to keep acount of my earnings and tax etc i no i do my total incoming mone??y (full brochure price) minus my expenses (including buying the products??) is this correct? and am i right in thinking i should do this april to april rather than campaigns 1-18?
thanks.

starrynight23

Hi all.

I've had a little search of the forum and have found a few (mostly very long!) threads about being an Avon Rep. I've gone on their website and asked for more information so hopefully I'll hear back soon and be able to discuss it with someone from the company. I posted a thread about this then realised while having a quick browse through this thread that people post most of their questions on here so I have re-posted. (I'm still getting the hang of this website, can you delete your own threads if you didn't post in the best place like I've done?)

However, I thought it might be a good idea to check in with everyone here. I stay in an area that has a lot of sheltered housing (mainly small blocks of flats, one of which I live in!) and flats. How easy is it to deliver to flats? Do you find that people won't let you into the close and so you don't get brochures back etc? When you start can you request to cover certain areas if they are available (for example if the flats aren't the best idea to deliver to then could I request to deliver to the houses nearby)?

I don't stay particularly close to friends and family and I'm worried that getting them to order might be difficult. I was planning on bringing a few brochures into work. I am based a small office within a large research facility so a few people in my office may be interested and also the reception and cafe that I could hand brochures to. Basically I'm worried about not getting enough custom and therefore the commission being poor and not worth the effort (although I know that the more effort you put in the more you are likely to make so maybe that is not the best way to phrase what I mean)! Could you contact local groups - mother & baby/toddler or student groups or go to local cafes, hairdressers etc? Can you sell via the internet (ebay/facebook/gumtree) and people could pay by paypal? What about buying stock and going to car boot type sales? My mum works as a nurse so I could possibly give her some brochures to take to work

I know... lots of questions! I've found bits of answers to some questions on the first page of this thread (e.g. setting up a facebook page) but there are lots and lots of pages to try to read through and many other threads and I'm still not entirely sure how this would work for me so if people here could help shed some light and point me in the right direction then I'd be very grateful!!! Thanks

leannemarie18

hi starry night.

you should be able to ask about houses nearby if there are any and request this territory i did so with mine i didnt do where i live but where my mum lives.
there are lots of ways you can attract custom in flats, you could try posting a leaflet or buisness card (free from vistaprint with small p&p) and tell people to contact you if they would like a book, some people contacted me informing me they wanted a book.
you could try asking to leave books in any hairdresses etc nearby, you can try friends and family and if you get permission from your boss then work is a good idea.
if you have children you could try at school/nursery.

also as avon set up contains no real money as the £15 set up fee comes out of your first 2 campaigns earnings (£7.50 in each) then you wont lose anything by trying it for a few campaigns.

hope this helps im sure others with more experience can give you some advice as ive only been doing it a few months. good luck and keep us updated with what you decide.
leanne x

starrynight23

leannemarie18 wrote: »

hi starry night.

you should be able to ask about houses nearby if there are any and request this territory i did so with mine i didnt do where i live but where my mum lives.
there are lots of ways you can attract custom in flats, you could try posting a leaflet or buisness card (free from vistaprint with small p&p) and tell people to contact you if they would like a book, some people contacted me informing me they wanted a book.
you could try asking to leave books in any hairdresses etc nearby, you can try friends and family and if you get permission from your boss then work is a good idea.
if you have children you could try at school/nursery.

also as avon set up contains no real money as the £15 set up fee comes out of your first 2 campaigns earnings (£7.50 in each) then you wont lose anything by trying it for a few campaigns.

hope this helps im sure others with more experience can give you some advice as ive only been doing it a few months. good luck and keep us updated with what you decide.
leanne x

Thanks very much leanne! That is a really good idea about putting cards or a notice up about the avon that way if I would be able to find out if people want it or not without potentially losing brochures! And a good idea about asking my boss - I think it is something I should inform my work about anyway if I choose to start it, I'm sure it mentions that in my contract but I will speak to my boss about it next week. I don't have kids which is why I thought about perhaps speaking to the organisers of local community groups (like a mother & toddler group) to see if I could become involved that way.

leannemarie18

Yeah they sound good ideas to me

I,_Geek

Canvassing flats - as long as these are allocated to you (you'll be told where you can canvas when you sign up), and you can get access, canvas with brochures.

Brochures mean:
- people don't have to make the first move to contact you
- people don't have to remember to contact you
- they're less likely to get lumped in with the junk mail flyers (how much attention do you pay to flyers put through the door?)
- they showcase the whole product range and prices
- professional design and printing
- you learn valuable information when dropping them/collecting them in: who's not interested, who get's Avon from somewhere else?

After each drop of flyers then what? Did all the houses who didn't ring not want Avon? Should you leaflet them again next campaign? Canvassing with brochures means your round shrinks over time as you rule out houses, but if you're using flyers you'd need to go to every house every time just in case. Using brochures costs a bit of money at first and you need to take the time to collect them, but that's such a valuable use of your time and eventually it won't take up so much time and you can concentrate on you regulars until your next recanvas.

I,_Geek

leannemarie18 wrote: »

Can i ask a quick question please and sorry if it sounds stupid, right to keep acount of my earnings and tax etc i no i do my total incoming mone??y (full brochure price) minus my expenses (including buying the products??) is this correct? and am i right in thinking i should do this april to april rather than campaigns 1-18?
thanks.

Yes - 6th April (first day of the new tax year) to 5th April (last day) is the simplest way to do it. When you do your tax return it'll ask what your "accounting period" is because some companies will use different dates (1st Jan - 31st Dec for example) but it makes sense for us to stick to the tax year.

Your turnover is your total incoming money that you take from your customers.

Your expenses include the cost price of items you sell on, plus brochures and anything else you need to spend on to run your business.

If in any doubt ring their helpline - I find it's a 5-10 minute wait (might be busy at this time of year because of the deadline for 2011-2012 returns approaching).

lozza1985

Just to add to all the great advice above - as you don't pay upfront, it means you can give Avon a go, and if you don't like it / don't do well, then if you don't submit an order, you won't owe anything. Obviously though - on your first order you're not necessarily going to get a huge amount of orders, as it can take time to build up a good customer base - particularly if you are relying on "strangers" ordering (which most of us do). However, it's pretty rare for reps to make a loss as the costs of starting up are so minimal, and while you can spend extras on samples, free gifts for customers, business cards etc etc, these are all extras, the minimum that you need to spend out on is very low - mainly just brochures, re-sealable bags (so your brochures don't get ruined), and bags to put the orders into. Your brochures will get provided to you for your first 2 campaigns as part of your joining fee.

The best bit of advice - research who to join with before committing to joining anyone's team - ask them lots of questions, if they are honest & open & give the correct answers as to how many brochures you will get provided with (40 in total, 20 for your first campaign, 20 for your second) etc - then they are a great person to join with.

lozza1985

Have updated the brochure links, have up to brochure 5 now.

sampalmernash

lozza1985 wrote: »

do).
best bit of advice - research who to join with before committing to joining anyone's team - ask them lots of questions, if they are honest & open & give the correct answers as to how many brochures you will get provided with (40 in total, 20 for your first campaign, 20 for your second) etc - then they are a great person to join with.

couldn't agree more, just to back that up more, my sales leader is uncontactable, doesn't give out the required books, gives inaccurate info and i hate the fact shes my sales leader. Its the reason i probably wont go into sales leadership myself as for me its a principle, why should she earn even more more money out of me and my team.