Thursday, September 12, 2013

For Representatives Only...Just for Today

Before I start on today's topic, I want to mention that condensing 90 minutes of video into 5 or 6 is going to be a real challenge.  It's going to be a while before I have it ready to show.  Be patient please!!

Lately I've been hearing so much from people who aren't doing as well with their business as they'd like. With nearly 32 years of serving customers under my belt, I'd like to make a few suggestions.

1)  To be successful in Avon you have to work.  Hard.  Yes, people know all about Avon but most of them don't know about our skin care and color products.  YOU need to learn about them and share with your customers.  Get educated.

2)  Buy brochures.  Every campaign.  Buy at least ten more than you think you'll need.  Don't skip a campaign.  When you do, you miss out on brochures for that campaign.  Once you get behind you'll find it very difficult to catch up.  Even if you're just in this for yourself, show continuity and be consistent in your orders.  Send in your order on time every two weeks.

3)  Wear makeup.  We're a beauty company.  If you don't wear it, you can't show others how amazing our color items are.  If you don't know how to apply it, or aren't sure what colors to use, ask someone.  You'll find someone like me who's very willing to help you earn more money wearing makeup, AND...

4) Use Avon's skin care.  With the introduction of Skinvincible, no one will have an excuse NOT to use our skin care.  We have something for everyone, including those of you who say you're allergic or need extra SPF.  USE IT.  If you do, you'll sell it.  I promise.

5)  Attend meetings.  Attend trainings.  Go to every event you can get to.  I do and I swear that I learn something new every time.  And by sharing with others, we really do learn from one another.  I have a wonderful manager.  Some don't.  But if you share, you'll learn.  GO GO GO to meetings!!

6)  Build your customer base.  The other day someone said they didn't have any orders this campaign.  You need at least three times as many customers as you think you do.  If you have 100 customers, about 30 or so will order.  If you want higher earnings, you need to sell to more people.  Set a goal and make sure EVERYONE on your list gets a brochure every campaign.  (See #2.)

7)  NEVER, and I mean NEVER say anything negative to a customer about this company.  Once in a while we all need to vent.  When you do, make sure you vent to another rep or call your manager if she's someone who doesn't mind a good complaint session!

8)  Always dress as if you're going to run into the CEO of Avon.  I don't mean that you have to dress up formally, but make sure you are NEVER embarrassed by the way you look.  Don't go to the store in sloppy clothes thinking you'll never see anyone you know.  That's the day you run into your best customer OR that woman you've been trying to sell to for the past three months.  About the time you try to sneak in and out of a store, you'll regret it.  Besides...do you really want the clerk that knows you sell Avon to see you looking like something the cat dragged in?  Think about it.

9)  Buy demos and SHOW them.  If someone goes into Macy's and looks at the products there-touches them and SEES them, they're likely to buy them.  If you carry your three favorite items in to see each customer, you can usually sell at least one of them to each person.  And just to make sure your profit stays high, carry only items you earn full profit on.  You'll thank me.

10)  Last, but certainly not least, have fun.  Enjoy your job.  Making women beautiful is a happy thing.  Smile, dress well, wear makeup and talk to everyone you know.  It's easy to drop an "I sell Avon" into conversations.  The holidays are coming and now is the time to build it all up so that in January you'll still have a lot of people on your list who'll buy from you.

Happy Selling!!!


Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Color Clinic #1

Well, the big day has come and gone.

Last Saturday was the makeup clinic that I'd had planned for well over a month.  The Makeup Maven from a neighboring district, Mellisa Brownawell, helped a lot and because she did, I think things turned out really well.

Our DVM was aware that we were doing this but offered us no help or support.  I created a basket to use as a raffle to help defray the costs, and brought some of my own new makeup for the attendees to test (with cotton swabs) if they chose.  Some did, most didn't.  Mellisa did two makeovers and brought all of her own makeup, samples and did a very professional job on each of the young women.

We had two DSM's in attendance and I introduced them as guests.  We had 11 representatives there and one brought a guest.  I'd had RSVP's for around 30.  I was disappointed but the people who were there said they enjoyed it and said it was a great afternoon!!

My manager videotaped the entire thing and when I have a day, I'm going to download it, and edit it down to five minutes.  I'll attach it here, post it on youtube if I can figure it out, and will get it out to several other places.  I know many of my fellow Mavens haven't had much help from either their managers or DVM's and one of the reasons I did this was to show that it CAN be done.

My biggest challenge was this...I had to pay for the location.  I did the raffle hoping to offset the cost.  It didn't.  So financially I took a small hit. Can I charge a small fee next time?  I don't know. I would love to do these throughout the division, with or without the assistance of my DVM, but frankly, I simply can't afford it.  Our division is large-some areas are five hours away-and I can't afford to have someone find a place, pay for it, pay for my samples etc to do small makeovers, and gas for a one or two hours class.  I hope that as this program moves forward, we'll have more suggestions and help as to how to get color information out there to the masses.

I've been asked, as the "skin care guru", to come to a neighboring district to do a class on skin care (not as a maven) but I can also do an hour on color.  Two classes, educating more and more women.  If we can work this out so I don't lose any money, I'd love to do it!!  We'll see how it goes!

Unfortunately, no one took pictures of the event in progress.  Once I do my video, maybe I can take a few stills out to post.  We'll see how it goes.

So one event down.  More to go, I hope!!