Beauty Blog: What do I do now?

Last week we talked about what happened when you were signed up to become an Avon Independent Sales Representative and how overwhelmed you were leaving that appointment. You had all this paperwork to read, brochures to hand out, samples that you had no idea what they were or what to do with them and you were supposed to go out and SELL AVON! Yea right!! So . . .

"What do I do now?"

Your Avon Account. You start an account on http://www.youravon.com/ by registering. This is VERY simple and only take a couple of seconds. You will go to http://www.youravon.com/, and click on the "register now" button on the right-middle side of the page. Another page will come up asking you for your "District", "Account Number" and the "last 4 digits of your social". All of which will be on the copy of the contract you signed at your appointment or on the back page of the booklet called "Say Hello to a new tomorrow" that was used during your appointment. This is your account where you will submit your orders to Avon, pay Avon for those orders, make returns, check invoices, check your account balance, take training classes and much, much more. Everything is done online these days making it very convenient and easy.

That's it! Now you are an official Avon Independant Sales Representative.

Becoming an E-representative (updated 10-12-11). After you have registered, another screen will come up asking you to become an E-representative. This is where you can sell to anyone in the United States. It is your own personal website for FREE. It used to be $15.00 per month.
There are several advantages for becoming an E-rep.

You can set up separate accounts for each customer
You can print out professional invoices for your customers
You can track your customers purchases and let them know when their favorite products go on sale
You can sell to ANYONE in the United States. They pay for their order using a credit/debit card and it is shipped to them directly. Then your account is credited with your earnings and you don't have to deliver or collect the products.
The more people that buy from your website the more money you earn. For example: If one person orders, you will receive 20% earnings (20% on fixed earning items); if two people order, you will recieve 30% earnings (20% on fixed earning items); and if three people order, you will earn 40% (20% on fixed earning items).
If they are local and chose to purchase off your website, they can have it shipped directly to them or to you with your regular order. If they chose "Rep Deliver", then you will have to collect and deliver that order. Your earnings on the "Rep Delivered" sales will be based on your total award sales for that campaign.

Your Store. Without brochures your store is closed. Take all of the brochures you were given at your sign-up appointment and put your full name, your phone number and your website (if you have signed up as an e-Rep) on them. Now you are ready to start working on getting your customer base built.

Training. Before you do anything, you need to read the information that was given to you at your appointment. Then you need to log onto http://www.youravon.com/ and click on the "Training" tab, then click on "Beauty of Knowledge" (BOK) in the lefthand column, then click on "Training Courses" in the lefthand column. This is where you will find a ton of training classes to take. Click on the "New Representative" tab to start. These training classes are designed to get you started. You should take these classes at your leisure but you should be sure and take ALL of them. Most Upline/Unit leaders or District managers will give special awards or incentives for completing the classes.

My favorite part of the training section is the "Tools and Resources". This is where you will find a lot of great information that will help you keep track, learn about new products, and some tips on selling the products.

Suggested first courses to take:

Getting Started on Youravon.com - shows you around the site, how to find information and resources, place orders and manage your Avon account, plan your sales strategies, develop skills & knowledge to strengthen your sales approach and much more. Check youravon.com often as things will change often and will become a great resource tool for you each and every campaign
Online Orders - explains how to place your orders and submit them to Avon
Money Management - explains how to pay for your Avon order
Calculating your Earnings - explains customer receipts, how to read your invoice and find your earnings levels

There are many more training classes to take but these are the most important ones to take when you are just getting started. I consider them to be MANDATORY classes to take BEFORE you place your first order.

WDYK List. "The what?" Remember the Who Do You Know list that you filled out with the 50 names of people you know? That list.

Now you need to pull out that list and think about who you will go see. You were only given 10-20 brochures to start with so you need to be cleaver to make them last until you can place your next order to purchase more. If you start with your friends and family, you won't have to leave them the brochure. You can just visit with them as they look thru the brochure. Then take their order and keep the brochure to use on the next person.

If you have a job, you could leave one in the breakroom for everybody to look thru. Then they can give you their orders from that one book. If you don't have a job, maybe your husband, boyfriend, friend or family would take one to their place of employment and get orders for you.

What do I do when they want to order? In the kit you were given there is an order book. Take that order book, put the persons name, address and phone number at the top. As well as the Campaign number (which is found on every brochure in the upper right corner of the front page). Then you will:

put the page number, quantity (Qty), product number and brief description with color choice and/or size.
In the "price each" column you will put the price of the item.
In the "total price" column you will put the total price (If they ordered more than one of that line item).
Total the items in the "Total Price" column and put that amount as the "sub total";
Add in the $0.75
Using your local tax chart, tax both the subtotal with the $0.75. (Amarillo tax is 8.25%)
Then add it all together and this is what you charge your customer.

NOTE: Preparing your customers receipt is also covered in the online training course called "Calculating Your Earnings".

Take that order form and enter the information on http://www.youravon.com/ in the "My Orders" tab. If you are an E-rep, then add your customers information and click on "Go". If you are not and E-rep, you will just add all your order forms into one form and then submit them to Avon. I suggest that you take the training course called "Online Orders". Some of the features have been changed but it will give you the basics on how to place your orders online.

What do I do when my order comes in? This is where the fun begins. It's like Christmas time everytime you get your order. You will open your box or boxes to see all your treasures. I love looking thru my boxes to see all the products my customers have ordered. Especially if they order something that I've never seen . . . such as jewelry, clothing, fragrances, etc. This gives me the chance to see things "up close and personal" so that I may be able to tell another customer what they look or smell like. That enables me to give my customers the personalized service they are looking for.

There will be lots of paperwork in your box too. Look over and read each one thouroughly. Especially if you are in the "Preferred Preview Program". When a new product is going to launch, they will send you a flyer telling you what is coming, how much it will cost and when you will receive it. If you do not want the products, you will have to call the number on the flyer to tell them you do not want it. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!! If you do not call, they will ship it to you and you will get billed for it. So make sure you call if you do not want the products.

Processing your Orders for delivery. Step by step instructions:

Preparing brochures - Depending on how many brochures you have ordered, they will probably be thrown in one of the boxes. Take them out of the boxes . . . all campaign brochures, outlets, Mark catalogs and other misc flyers. Put your name and contact information on all of them.
Sorting products - Take your products and sort them according to "like" items.
Customer Receipts - If you are an e-representative, print out your invoices. If you are not, then go to your order book to see what each person ordered.
Bagging the orders - Hopefully, you ordered some bags to place your orders in. I use the clear plastic "What's New Bags" for my customers orders. I like them better than the ugly white bags. For special occasions, like Christmas, I will use the black small tote bags. But they are more expensive. The "What's New Bags" are 50 for $0.75.

Take your customers receipt, pull the items and place them into whatever bag you have chosen to use.
Place a brochure, flyer and/or outlet into the bag
Place a copy of the receipt into the bag
Place a sample or two

Preparing for Delivery - Call your customer to let them know their order is in and what the total is. Then ask them when would be a good time to deliver the products. Or, let them know when you plan to deliver them.
Delivery Day - This is PAYDAY . . . well, sort of. Take your bagged orders to the customer, collect the money, let them know when your next order will be going in and let them know you will "follow-up" with them a day or two before the order goes in. DO NOT leave an order with them unless you receive payment for it. If they pay you with a check, make sure they make it out to you and not to Avon. If they pay with a credit/debit card, you MUST get an imprint of the card, use the instructions on the CC slip and call it in to get an approval code. Then you will have to mail it in a few days before your next order is submitted to ensure they recieve it and credit the amount off of your bill. I personally do not like to take credit/debit cards. That is just more work than I am willing to do. VERY IMPORTANT: If you do decide to accept them, make sure you get an imprint of the card. You can do this by putting the card under the slip and rub a pen/pencil over it until you see all the numbers clearly. If you do not do this and the card has been stolen, YOU are liable for the money that was charged. But, if you get the imprint, then AVON will take care of it. So get the imprint!!!
Deposit the money - We are getting closer to PAYDAY! Take the money that you have collected and put it into a separate bank account or onto a pre-paid debit card. DO NOT put it with your personal money!! This money is 'earmarked' for Avon only at this point. You will get paid in the next step.
Pay Avon - After you have collected all of the money and before you place your next order, you will take the debit card and go to youravon.com to "Pay Avon". Go to "My Account" and click on "Pay Avon". You will see two amounts - 1) "Your amount due with Campaign __ is" and then it'll have an amount. and 2) "Your current balance is" and another amount. This can be confusing but just remember to pay option #1 . . . the one that says "You amount due with Campaign ___ is". That balance may be lower than the other for several reasons to be explained later.
PAYDAY!! - After you have collected the money and paid the Avon invoice, the remaining balance is your earnings. At first, you may not have any earnings or you may even have to pay Avon a little bit of cash out of your pocket. But, don't panic. There are several reasons for this that will be discussed later.

Set goals. Remember when I was telling you that after I had gone to the Avon Conference in Las Vegas, I came home and decided what my dream was going to be and that my goals came later? Well, that was a mistake on my part. I should have not only decided what my dream was but, I should have devised a plan to reach my dream. So almost 2 years later, I am just now setting my goals to reach that dream.

When you start out, your goals can be small and should be made for 2-3 campaigns at a time. For example: I will sell $25.00 to 10 customers in Campaign ___; I will sell $25.00 to 15 customers in Campaign ___; and I will sell $25.00 to 20 customers in Campaign ___. Or maybe you want to just say I will find 2 new customers each campaign. But you need to have some kind of plan.

If you are wanting to earn enough to make a car payment or utility bill or buy something, then use that amount as your goal to reach. Then you would take that amount and figure out how many customers it would take to earn that much money. Let's say you want to make a monthly car payment of $300.00. That would mean you would need to earn $150.00 per campaign to make that payment each month.

Example #1 - this example is based on your earnings DURING your initial 4 campaigns at 40%:

You have 15 customers who order $25.00. That would equal $375.00 in sales. Your earnings on that would be 40%.
You have ordered 20 brochures for $8.20, 2 fragrance samples for $2.00 and one demo product for $15.00.
You would owe Avon approximately $235.08.
Your earnings for this campaign would be approximately $139.92. You are only $10 shy of your $150.00 goal for this campaign.

Example #2 - this example is based on your earnings AFTER your initial 4 campaigns at 40%:

You have 20 customers who order $25.00. That would equal $500.00 in sales. Your earnings on that would be still be 40%.
You have ordered 30 brochures (10 more to gain more customers) for $10.50, 2 fragrance samples for $2.00 and one demo product for $15.00.
You would owe Avon approximately $311.00.
Your earnings for this campaign would be $189.00. You would not only make the car payment that month but you would have $78.00 extra to spend on whatever you wanted.

So you see, it doesn't take very many customers to earn $300.00+ per month. They say that the average customer will spend about $25.00. Sure, you are going to have those that only buy a few dollars and you will have others who buy a lot more. But it averages out to be about $25.00 per customer. So that is what you need to use to base your goals on.

Happy Selling!

Karen Whitney

Next time . . . "Organization is the Key"

To start your own Avon Business for only $10.00, call/text me at 806-674-1542, email me at whitneykt@sbcglobal.net or FB me at either, Karen Ohnleiter Whitney, Avon Cafe or Karen Whitney, Your Avon Lady & Recruiter.

I hope to talk to you soon. In the meantime, check out this blog and my FB pages to learn more about the Avon Opportunity.