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

lozza1985

Just to add - it might that although its one road - as big streets can have several postcodes, and streets are allocated by postcode, only one half of the street could be free, not all of it - best to double check the house numbers you get allocated before starting to canvass just in case I have a large road but never had the bottom of half of it until it came free, and that is one Dh account not mine. There is about 4 different postcodes on that street, and the highest house number is about 130 perhaps.

missminx

Hi All, feels like a long time since I've been on here. Hoping someone can help with a working link for C13? Have missed a couple of campaigns and don't have a book. Need to order some bits and POB is being a nightmare. If anyone can help it would save my sanity!

toejumper

think this is the one http://www.avon.uk.com/PRSuite/eBrochure.page?index=1&cmpgnYrNr=201313

mrsc040211

Thank you for the replies... Lots to think about!!
Thinking about it flyers are not a good idea, if I got a flyer - either hubby would bin it, I would forget about it or I wouldn't see it.
Waiting for SL to get back to me about the availability of those streets.

Another quick question :-)

What do you do in these cases (I'm on my 6th campaign)

-house has not ordered in any of the 6 campaigns but hasn't ticked not interested either and always leaves book out

-house ordered the first campaign but hasn't since

- house expressed interest but NEVER but the book out.

-wife expressed interest but then next time hubby says don't bring them!

- newly sold houses how long until I give them a book?

Thanks in advance!!

I,_Geek

What do you do in these cases (I'm on my 6th campaign)

-house has not ordered in any of the 6 campaigns but hasn't ticked not interested either and always leaves book out - you could knock on the door and ask. This has its pros and cons. On the one hand it could save you some wasted effort because some people do just leave the book out without fail, but would never look at it (actually, can you tell it's being opened - if it is that's a good sign). On the other hand, even if you say "Is it okay if I carry on dropping books off here?" and don't mention "because you haven't ordered" the person might feel pressured and say no because they think you're expecting an order pretty soon. Personally, if they've been reading the brochures I'd carry on for much longer. It's when you're dropping a book off that makes it no further than the porch/bottom step of stairs, that's it's most likely a waste of time.

-house ordered the first campaign but hasn't since - absolutely carry on with this one. It's true that some people order once and it's not the biggest order (they didn't stock up), then a year goes by with nothing. Be prepared for that to happen. But it's only been 6 campaigns so I wouldn't say they've lost interest yet. Many of my customers leave it a few months between each order.

- house expressed interest but NEVER but the book out. - some of my customers are like this: they only leave the book out when there's an order (and that's not very often). You could put these people on the backorder brochure so it doesn't matter that you don't get it back. I carry on with these people (if they're not customers) for the same length of time as anyone who said they were keen.

-wife expressed interest but then next time hubby says don't bring them! - depends on attitude of the husband. If you felt uncomfortable it's entirely up to you whether to deal with that again. I know some reps who call on the wife when the husband's a bit of an a**e. You could try calling during the day to catch the woman on her own just to be sure whether that's her decision and he was the messenger or her husband's.

- newly sold houses how long until I give them a book? - I leave it about a month but I don't think it would be disastrous to call earlier. If it looks chaotic (kitchen, bathroom, leftover junk coming out) I'd leave it for more like a month.

Mumtothree3

Okay, DH still very cynical, rolled his at me and said it isn't worth the hassle... as I wouldn't be earning much for time and effort put in.

I Geek, your earnings for 2012-13 are impressive, obviously works out to an average of over £1000 per month. How have you grown your business from starting at £3077 in your first year to this amount?

This is an impossible question to answer, but how much, realistically can I expect to earn at start?

nicki_2

I'm going to be recanvassing using brochures in C16 and have been trying to work out how many brochures to order as I wanted to give everyone a new brochure promoting the Christmas range.

The other day I noticed that some houses that were being built are to the point they have numbers on the door so I was chuffed that I would have 7 new properties on my territory very soon. Then last night I was trawling through local rental sites to see which houses are student ones (I've never got a book back from the 30+ over my roads so I'm not going to bother canvassing them again) and the 7 new properties are student rentals I have 270 properties on my territory, by the time I take out all the student houses, the bad customers who haven't moved, the empty properties and those who have asked for no more since Christmas last year I'm going to have <150 brochures to buy. I guess one advantage is that it won't cost me as much as I thought.

I,_Geek

Mumtothree3 wrote: »

I Geek, your earnings for 2012-13 are impressive, obviously works out to an average of over £1000 per month. How have you grown your business from starting at £3077 in your first year to this amount?

My numbers in the sig are my turnover, not my taxable profits (aka what I have to live off).

Turnover is your total sales. My taxable profits are considerably less (I didn't put them on here because that's more personal, plus they look worse than they really are because I've claimed for every expense I legally can ). Turnover minus cost of goods sold, minus allowable expenses (day-to-day running costs like paper and ink), minus capital allowances (long-term purchases like office equipment) = taxable profits.

A tiny proportion of reps earn something comparable to part-time minimum wage. I'm not among them and I'm still in the top 5% and currently top-seller in the area (it's about 10 miles wide).

I remember being told by the area manager that £200 sales was a nice figure to aim for each campaign (3 weeks). You'll make approx. £50 before expenses, which should be no more than £10 if you don't do unnecessary freebies. So around £40 every 3 weeks isn't to be sniffed at as long as it didn't take too much time and effort (no more than a couple of hours a week). I was getting that level on about my 3rd campaign.

At the start there is effort to be put in and that may not pay off straight away. That's the case for all self-employment. At least with Avon you don't have high start-up costs.

I worked out my hourly rate recently and it was over the minimum wage (just). That's thanks to constantly thinking about how to be more efficient and doing things like printing (some reps are put off because they think it's expensive and will hand-write or stamp instead) and buying more brochures (again, some reps scrimp but that creates more work). I'd say if you need a steady, higher income now then looking for part or full-time work is the safest option. You can always do the Avon on top.

I increased my turnover by asking for more and more streets to cover. Other reps network a lot, too, but it's not practical for me to do that. I was fortunate to live somewhere where plenty of streets were free and enough people liked Avon.

Pips_Mum

This has been my absolute worst campaign since starting Avon 2 years ago, not even going to reach minimum order :eek:

Anyone else found this?

Mumtothree3

I Geek, thanks for your honest detailed reply, really appreciate it :-)