Working Your Business

Today's message isn't about color or skin care.  It's about how to keep your business up and running when it's summer/tax time/back-to-school/bad weather.  And it's not just for Avon reps.  Anyone who has a home-based business might learn something here.

In the Avon world, this is supposed to be one of the worst times of the year to get orders.  Kids are just out of school and customers are thinking about everything from the pool to vacations, and everything costs money.  You can change that sentence to fit any "bad" time of the year in your business.  Even "right after the holidays when no one has money" can turn into a decent time for you to make money.

I thought about today because my order gets sent tomorrow night.  I have the same two weeks to sort and deliver my orders that everyone else has.  I've heard people say that they send in an order every two campaigns or even less frequently.  I don't care if you're a skin care junkie like I am or you love every single color item we sell.  You need to send in an order EVERY campaign in order to have what I like to call "continuity".

Are you in direct sales to make pocket money?  Pay the bills?  You can't miss a single campaign.  You need to order your brochures-they ARE your store after all.  If you don't have them, you can't sell.   DO NOT EVER miss a campaign.  In over 31 years I have never missed an order (and yes, life does get in the way, like five surgeries, two kids and their sports lives, my husband's jobs and the usual flu and brochitis) and have never sent in a payment late.

I made PC in six months.  I made HS the next year and I've never looked back.  I have the determination to do two things...be the best sales person I'm capable of being, and make the most money I can.  Can you look at your business and say the same thing?  Maybe you ARE in this for pocket money, and that's great.  But you still need to be an effective sales person in order to keep the customers you have AND the ones you want.

The reason I decided to do this is because last night I looked at my total, and it's about $500 higher than it was last year.  How did that happen??  I work this business.  I contact EVERY customer every campaign.  I see most of them in person and the ones I don't are the ones I contact by other means.  I have cultivated helpers who get me orders in offices that I can't personally get in to.  I usually get about a third of my total orders from helpers.  I sort and bag everything, and it's worth it because even after the discount I give them, I make money.

Please think about how you run  your business.  Do what's  best and you'll end up with your goals intact.  My goals?  At first it was just earning enough to buy the groceries.  As time passed, I paid for a wedding, new furniture for the entire house (bit by bit) new flooring in every room.  Vacations to Africa, Europe and here in the US.  Just because you have a small goal doesn't mean that you can't take it further.

And you know what?  Sending in big orders makes me feel good because I know that in two weeks, I'll have money in my pocket.  Can you say the same thing???  What do YOU do to keep things going during the "bad" times of the year??