Deliver the Goods

One of the challenges in selling more products is getting your orders out to your customers. I've recently started a new tactic that is working well for me.

I send an email to my customers on my closing date and I let them know that I will be handing out orders from my house. Here's a sample email:

"Dear Penny,
Thank you for your Avon Order! I know you're going to love your products.

Your total is $40.34.  You can pay with cash, credit card or a personal check.

I'm going to be home on Monday evening from 6pm to 9pm bagging up orders and passing them out to anyone who stops by. I'm making some chocolate chip cookies, too!  If you're free, why not stop by to pick up your order and grab a few cookies. It will be great to catch up with you, and if you have any questions about the items you ordered, I can help you out.

Let me know if you'll be free to stop by,

Stay Beautiful,
Nick"

When Penny stops by, she'll pick up her order, I'll entice her with cookies, I'll show her the newest catalog with the great deals and maybe get a new order. I'll also have products out that she can sample and maybe even have a "cash and carry" area available where she can make an "on the spot" purchase.

Don't Be Your Own Best Customer

Buying your personal products from Avon is a super benefit. Having those products count towards your goals is super, too. However, when you've become your own best customer, it's time to re-evaluate your business.

Are you not looking for new customers? Are you buying products just because of the discount? Are you trying not to disappoint your upline so you're purchasing goods to boost your bottom line? Sure, we all need certain products, but when your total is greater than all of your other sales -- you have a cash flow problem.

Budget yourself a small amount each campaign. $10? $25? $40? Only you can determine what the correct amount is for you. Stick to that.

Challenge yourself: "If I sell $100 worth of products, I'll allow myself to purchase $20 in good for myself," or some similar reward.

If you were a pizza shop and you were your only customer, how long would your business last?

How to Use LiquaTouch Samples

Give someone a perfume sample and what's the first thing they do? They rip open the package, smash it into their nose and take a deep WHIFF!  Then, after getting a nose full of strong alcohol scent, they toss the fragrance sample aside.

Teach your clients how to use the LiquaTouch samples for greater sales success!

Slowly open the packet. Make it an enticing experience for the client. Shake it slightly to scent the air her and then remove the scented pad from the packaging and place it on her wrist. Cover the fragrance sample with her other hand for roughly 15-20 seconds; this is long enough to warm the fragrance to release its bouquet. Uncover the wrist, remove the pad. Have them wave their wrist a couple of times slowly in front of their nose to get a true fragrance experience.

You Do NOT Need a $150 MakeUp Case

As soon as I joined Avon, I hurried out to eBay and purchased a very nice, but very expensive professional makeup case. This case was designed for professional makeup artists and I wanted to show a level of professionalism. At $150, it was an investment that I was willing to make.

Shortly after receiving it, I filled it top to bottom with samples, bottles, brochures and everything I could. Immediately I learned that it was too heavy to lift by the handles on the case and the wheels on it were too small. After trying to make it work for me for 3 months, I ditched it.

While strolling at my local Pat Catan's craft store, I found a rolling craft cart. It was nothing more than a big plastic milk cart on heavy duty wheels, with a canvas covering with multiple pockets. These posckets held 5x more than the other case that I had and it was far more durable. And at $29, it was a much better bargain.

Two of these cases are all that I need for a tradeshow. One case carries everything that I need for a party. The one in the picture is similar to the one I have. The one in the Amazon ad is the one that I have, but I paid a fraction of that amount.

Long story short: Find a tool that works - not a tool that impresses.

Use and Appreciate The Tools You Have

I want an iPad. I really want an iPad.

At first, I justified that I wanted an iPad because I would use it for my Avon business. I would use my iPad to create labels, send emails, and connect with my customers. From the day that the iPad came out, I could see myself toting this electronic wonder around and showing off the marvel to astonished women as we found the perfect shade of lipstick for them.

Then I did something that I rarely do: I thought about this purchase from a business standpoint. I already have a laptop and a netbook. I bought the netbook last year for this very reason. The netbook now sits in my basement where I do nothing more than run labels on it. I took it to a coffee shop a few times, but it mostly sits downstairs, waiting for a label to be run.

I don't need a new iPad. I just want one. Would it make my work easier? Perhaps. But the truth is that I have a tool that can do everything the iPad can do, and I don't need to spend $600 for a device to just print some labels and send emails.

What I need to do is to utilize the tools that I have. Make them work better. Understand their potential. Tap their full capabilities.

What tools do you have that you don't use? YourAvon.com? A laptop? Motivational recordings? Customer lists?

Gratitude News

OK - So Avon didn't send me $247 like this picture.

However, I did receive $90 from Avon yesterday. $30 for signing up a new recruit and training them to be a productive team member. $30 for a 2nd recruit. $30 for team unit sales.

It's great to come home and see your work paying off.

Free Online Bookkeeping - Outright.com

 Is your business growing to the point where it makes sense to keep track of your expenses for next year's tax time?  Don't want to pay for an online bookkeeping service like Quicken?

Take a look at Outright.com. I've been using it for several months and it fits my needs.

From their website:

Streamlining the work involved with working for yourself, Outright.com will help you pay the right taxes, simplify record keeping, and keep your business on track and growing. Created after watching entrepreneurs struggle to capture business deductions, mileage, and manage contractors and believing you spend way too much time and effort on the least enjoyable part of your livelihood, Outright's goal is to make it simple; free bookkeeping on auto pilot to get you the right answers, right now.

Outright.com is completely free. Set up your account today and get your business in order.

Brand Your Books

There's plenty of talk over the last few years about branding. Your Avon business should be no different; you should be branding your business. Yes, you're selling Avon products, but the reason people keep coming back is because of you.  I'll talk about branding your business in upcoming posts, but let's talk about one of the essential business tools: your brochure.

Most reps hand write or stick a label on their Avon brochures and end there. I put a label on the back of the book that includes the closing date, my phone number and how to order online. However, on the front of the book, I place another label with a small picture of myself (real or animated), my contact info and a tag line, "Nick The Avon Man".

I toss a lot of books and many of my customers don't initially meet me face to face. However, when they pick up my book, they immediately see who the seller is, they see what sets me apart from the other reps (The Avon Man), and they get an idea of what I look like from the picture. That brochure now no longer sells just Avon -- it sells the person who is selling Avon.

Why should your customers buy from you instead of from another Rep? Who are you? What makes your stand out? And do your customers (both current and potential customers) know that?

HOWTO: Campaign Planner

Powerful Language to Explode Your Networking Business

I'm a big fan of Networking University and their free online classes. I'll feature their classes here from time to time.  Yes, they're really free. Running about an hour in length, it's a good way to keep motivated and get some insight into our our work.

Register HERE for  Powerful Language to Explode Your Networking Business

			Presenter: JULIE ANNE JONES Language is power and your language reveals much about you and your intentions. How aware are you of the words you choose to use to communicate, but also of the way you’re communicating, especially with potential business leads? During this course, you’ll learn simple tools that will help you make a mental shift regarding how you communicate. You’ll learn why it’s not about you, and how making it all about the person with whom you’re communicating always brings you what you need. Julie Anne will also share some scripts that will teach you through examples how to move from asking to offering. Finally, she’ll talk about how improving your listening skills can change every interaction you have. Course Benefits: • Get clear about what effective communication actually is • Learn the one simple shift you can easily make right now that will change your communication results dramatically • Find out how not to approach a potential business partner and why the questions you’re probably currently using in interviews aren’t working • Learn a simple formula for making those dreaded phone calls • Get a few simple listening skills that will impact your entire communication style.		When: Wednesday, April 7, 2010 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM PDT

HOWTO: Finding Product Info & Product Ingredients

HOWTO: Finding Tools and Resources

"The only way to succeed is to be remarkable, to be talked about. But when it comes to a person, what do we talk about? People are not products with features, benefits, and viral marketing campaigns; they are individuals. If we’re going to talk about them, we’re going to discuss what they do, not who they are."

- Seth Godin

I'm about half way through Seth's amazing new book, Linchpin, and I don't want it to end. I feel have my own theories about work, I call it "the Mary Poppins" theory, but that's for another post at another time.

Godin challenges each of us to become Linchpins, indispensable and remarkable artists who bring something special to the job.  Can there be a Linchpin at Avon? Absolutely. I'm sure there are several. Are there Linchpin representatives? Without a doubt.

I'm sure you're fine with learning how to be 'remarkable', but how does becoming an artist make you feel? You don't have to pick up paints or a soldering iron to be an artist -- you just have to do something remarkable and give it away. Terrific customer service? That's an artist. The ability to help a customer find the right product? That's being an artist.

Without giving too much away, I urge you to pick up the book or the audiobook (read by Godin) for the full, thought-provoking experience. I got my copy at the library, but I will be purchasing my own copy for my permanent library.

Welcome.

I’m starting this blog for other Avon sellers and for people interested in selling Avon. The goal is not to make product sales; I have plenty of customers who helped me achieve Presidents Club status in my first 7 months of selling Avon.

The reason I started this blog is to help motivate others and to make your work more productive by showing you the in’s and out’s of the YourAvon.com tool as well as some other cool tools I’ve found online.

This stuff all works for me. Adapt the pieces that work for you into your business.
When one of us succeeds and that person helps another, we all succeed.