Need extra money? Have you ever thought about joining Avon ? Maybe you want to make a little extra money or maybe you just want to get your personal Avon at a reduced price. Regardless of the reason, let me explain a few things about Avon before you whip out that check book and sign on the dotted line.
Avon is a 125-year-old Fortune 500 company with a long history of doing it right. Started in 1886 by David H McConnell, Avon has progressed from a book company offering housewives a vial of perfume if they bought a book, to a ten billion dollar company offering beauty, fashion, gifts, kid stuff, and yes… fragrance. As any representative will quickly tell you, it ain’t your grandma’s Avon anymore!
Cost of joiningAvon
If you are looking to make money in a direct sales company, Avon is the best known. It cost less than $20 to join Avon and you get everything you need for the first two campaigns. Your startup appointment kit includes a booklet telling you about Avon and how to get started. You also receive ten brochures for the current campaign and ten for the next campaign. Also included are demo books, although these are also online. You will also receive a cloth-type carryon bag, along with a box of samples. If you join online the appointment kit will be mailed to you within a few days. If you join face-to-face with a leadership representative, the kit will be given to you at the meeting. You will be told how to access YOUR website and how to get started taking online classes on placing orders and so forth.
WhatAvonexpects you to do
1. You are required to place an on-time order every campaign. You are given a first campaign due date based on how you sign up. You then place orders every two week on the same day of the week, unless it is adjusted for holidays. The date the order is due is shown on your website.
2. You are required to pay for your order on the time it is due. In some cases you are required to pay for your order in advance or pay a deposit before the order is shipped. Your credit limit is shown on your website the first few campaigns. If you follow the rules your credit limit will be reviewed each six weeks and adjusted as needed.
3. You are required to purchase brochures to show your customers. Each brochure is good for the campaign and in some cases; the brochure can be used for three campaigns. At about 179 pages each campaign, Avon has one of the largest sales catalogs in the world.
Note: you are not required to purchase demos or to carry an inventory.
What you can expect fromAvon
1. You will earn up to 40% commission on your first four campaign sales. Or up to 50% if over a certain sales level;
2. You can purchase demos at 40% off and purchase brochures and sales tools at cost. The only thing you are required to purchase is brochures every campaign.
3. You can purchase specially reduced priced bundles of products you can sell instantly to your family and friends to make extra $$$
4. There are always ongoing incentives to earn prizes: Since Jan 1 of this year, I have earned a TV, a shirt, a bag, a purse, body and bath products, door prizes and more. A rep just won a car at the regional conference. $5,000 and iPads are part of a current incentive.
5. You will have FREE online training; FREE sales meetings with door prizes &etc; FREE seminars, luncheons, and more… Plus some FREE sales and training tools.
6. In some districts, the manager lets you earn “mad money” to spend at special auctions put on by the district manager to get rid of her demos and other special prizes ‘” These are great fun. Note: Mad Money is play money you earn for taking stock ups, attending meetings, having a birthday, or just any excuse the DSM will use to help you earn M/M.
8. You can have your own website ‘” hosted and maintained by Avon ‘” to sell to your family and friends out of town or out of state
9. Everything is done online: place orders, pay for orders, process returns, take training, &etc.;
10. You will also be eligible to purchase group rate insurance, mutual funds, savings accounts, phone service, &etc.;
11. There are many ways you can sell Avon . Start out selling to your family, friends, and/or co-workers. Ask for referrals from your customers. Do you like to party? Then do party plan sales. Fundraisers are also set up in the system for easy access. Online parties and fundraisers are also available for you. Tiny Tillia baby registers are also available for you or your customers to use. The online website is maintained by Avon . The cost is minimal if you use it.
Avonis a Fortune 500 company
If you have read the May 2011, Direct Selling News, you know that Avon is listed as #1 in the direct selling industry, with a 10.3 billion dollar wholesale business. The business is conducted primarily person-to-person by their 6.2 million representatives. You will be joining a 125-year-old, Fortune 500 company that has over one million representatives in the United States with over five million reps world-wide. Avon is in over a hundred countries including England , France , Spain , Mexico , and Japan .
Listen carefully to what you are told by your sponsor
Before you sign up, be sure you understand what is being told you. You might want to talk to other “active” representatives about their business. Never talk to an in-active representative unless they retired after years of service. Be aware that with all direct selling companies YOU are the one in charge of YOUR business. If you make money it is because of YOU. If you fail in your business, again it is because of what YOU wanted to do.
You need to be an independent self-starter
Avon allows you to set your own work schedule. They do not require you to attend meetings or purchase a set number of products. However, if you want to earn money, it is to your benefit to attend meetings and learn from the other representatives what they do that works for them. Buying demos does help, but again, it is up to you. I like to buy the fine jewelry ‘” real sterling silver or gold ‘” and flash, flash, flash. What I show, I sell. It is just that simple. But I never buy something I don’t want or can’t use for myself or sale later.
The one piece of advice I can give you ‘” from personal experience ‘” is to never sign up under the district manager. They normally have four hundred or more representatives they are responsible for, plus they have to crunch the numbers to make the money to keep their job. You want someone that will take you by the hand and show you how to make Avon work for YOU, as well as keep helping you every step of the way. So ask around BEFORE you sign up. Once you sign on the dotted line, you are stuck with that person. The only way to get out from under a bad leadership rep is to quit for at least six months and then rejoin with someone else, but by then you have lost your customers… unless you become a helper for those six months to the rep whose team you want to join.
Leadership
If you decide to get into recruiting and training, then Avon is one of the best at rewarding leadership reps. All Avon representatives are required to sell the product, but it is a minimal amount compared to some other companies. As a leadership representative you will earn from recruiting, training, and from downline sales. However, you can not make money without helping your team members make money. It just doesn’t work that way. If you “sponsor” someone into the business, you are responsible for teaching them, encouraging them, and generally making sure they make it in the business.
If you become a Unit Leader with more than five representatives in your first level team, then you are eligible for an online sign up appointment website. Having team members living in all parts of the country, you will need to train your team members in many different ways. I train my team members in person with face-to-face meetings when possible, as well as by phone, text, email, Facebook; just whatever way works for them. So, you use whatever works for you! Whichever method you choose, just remember to keep in touch at least weekly.
If you become a Unit Leader with a Unit Leader in your first level team, then you are eligible to receive leads to people that have called or submitted an online request. These leads go to the next eligible leadership rep in rotation. The district manager gets the first five leads, then the Advanced Unit Leaders get two each, then the Unit Leaders get one each. Then the cycle starts over. Do not put in a lead request if there is someone you want to sign up under as you don’t know who will get your contact information.
If you are not serious about joining Avon , please DO NOT put in a lead request. But if you do, please answer the phone or email and talk to the leadership representative. We really don’t have to time to deal with jokers!
Requirements to joinAvon
To join Avon , you must be over 18 years of age, you must have a driver’s license or picture ID with your current address, you must have a Social Security card, and you must have an active email address. You should have a debit or credit card or a pre-paid credit card. A credit card is required for online signups.
MyAvonTeam
As of May 2011, I have been in Avon six years. I normally sell at the Honor Society level (over $20,000 a year) and I have reached the leadership level of an Advanced Unit Leader with more than sixty-five representatives in my team. My team members range in age from eighteen to seventy-five and from high-school drop-outs to college graduates. Most of my team members are women, but I do have one good man and several husbands that help their wives by delivery brochures, or orders. If you decide Avon is for you, I would love to have you in my team. You can find me online doing what I do best, teaching and encouraging my reps with articles like these. Or check out my website for more information on ordering products or how to join me in Avon . See you at the top!
