Why Are Sound Business Practices Important????

The answer can be summed up in ONE word.

Success.

Everyone want’s to be successful. Especially when you have people that are
convinced you cannot be successful with a business like Avon.

HOW.. do you become successful with Avon??

It boils down to 4 things, 

Goals for your business
Prudence in your spending
Reliability in your dealings with your customers.
Time to grow your business


Item 1:

Goals for Your Business -

In order to succeed with ANY business, you NEED goals.

What are YOUR goals for your Avon business??  Do you have any goals?? 
Have you even thought about it??

If you do NOT have a goal, set one!

It can be something as simple as… “I want to sell enough Avon to pay for my OWN purchases from my earnings”
OR.. it can be something bigger like … “I want to sell enough Avon so that I can pay an additional $200 a month on my mortgage, cc bill, car payment, etc.”

When you have your goal in mind.. break it down into smaller goals.

In order to have earnings of $200 a month.. I need to be selling in the 40% earnings bracket or higher.

For Example:  using ONLY full earnings items… a sale of $425 (minimum needed to reach 40% earnings).. to your customers grosses you $170 in earnings…. If you have  $30 in sales tools.. and spend 40 in gas for deliveries.. You will have earnings of $100 per campaign… 2 campaigns a month… is $200 earnings a month

Once you have broken your goals down into smaller “Per Campaign” goals.. break them apart so that you know what you need to do to meet those campaign goals.

For Example:  According to Avon.. each customer places orders of $20 per customer per order on average.
So to reach $425 in sales… you will need to have 22 customers ordering…

To break that down even further… If you consider that 1 out of every 4 people you give books to.. will place an order.. You will need to hand out about 100 books… and get 100 phone numbers for courtesy calls before you place your order.
Out of those 100 people.. . if you were giving books to people that were interested, and NOT hanging or tossing… you can prob’ly expect 20 – 30 people placing orders.
Meaning you could have an order of $400 - $600 .. to which you would add your sales tools & personal products.

This example was created using ONLY Full Earnings items, and NO personal products.

But in order to have a SUCCESSFUL business… You MUST have a GOAL for that Business.
And when you reach your goal… set another!!



Item 2:

Prudence in your Spending!!

In order to have a successful business…  You MUST either break even.. with your earnings going back INTO your business… OR… You MUST make a Profit.
If you are LOSING money.. then you do NOT have a successful business YET.

Some tips:

Keep ALL personal spending to a MINIMUM.

Put your earnings BACK into your business for the first 6 months… purchase things that are NEEDED..

Books, Delivery Bags, SOME Samples (do NOT go overboard with samples!), What’s New Bags if you Hang or Toss books.

You do NOT need a LOT of business supplies or fancy advertising.

My personal motto is..
Keep it Simple, Stupid!

Keep it basic and as inexpensive as possible!!


You do NOT need to “stock up” on products. You do NOT need to purchase EVERY sample available. You do NOT need to purchase DEMO’s.

Also.. Keep you personal spending to a MINIMUM.  Set a limit that you are allowed to spend per campaign.
$5, $10, $15 or $20 … and that is BOOK PRICE!! .. NOT your price!
If.. like me.. you use products that cost MORE than that, Anew, etc.

Then.. purchase them.. THEN… subtract what is OVER your limit from future campaigns.

For example:
I use the Anew Alternitive.. which is $32. BUT.. my limit each campaign is $25 book price.

SO.. I order my face cream when I need it.. and I subtract the $7 that I went over my limit from what I am allowed to spend in the next campaign.

This way… you can get what you NEED.. and not WAY Overspend!!

By keeping your expenses to a MINIMUM… you will earn an income from your business FASTER… and reach your goals faster.




Item 3:

Reliable Customer Service!

Our Avon business are based SOLELY on convincing our customers to purchase from US!!

Convincing them that the Avon products we sell are as good or better than what they currently use is only PART of selling.

We HAVE to sell OURSELVES.. and OUR Business!

If we do NOT offer GOOD Customer service.. then you WILL lose customers!!

Good customer service is NOT just offering Discounts or Free items with purchase.

GOOD Customer Service is…

Knowing Your Products!

Know what you are selling.. Know what they DO, what they are FOR, and WHO would be a good candidate for them.
This way… when one of your customers calls you out of the blue, or asks you as you deliver their order what face cream would be good for them to use .. you will be able to ask a few pertinent questions and give them a Knowledgeable answer.


Reliability!

If your customers KNOW.. that you mean what you say, and say what you mean.. then you will gain their trust & their business.

If you are always saying one thing… and doing another…. You will soon find yourself OUT of business!

Unfortunately… Whether we Succeed or Fail.. depends SOLELY on what sort of Customer Service we offer our customers!

If  your customers know that you are Reliable and Trustworthy they will continue to come back to YOU.. even when offered a better deal somewhere else.
There is a LOT to be said about Loyalty, and Good Customer Service is what secures us our customers loyalty.

Something to think about!!



There is a 4th thing that needs to be addressed, when considering building a successful business.

TIME

You will NOT succeed overnight…
you will not succeed in a single campaign, or even 2.

It will take TIME.. for you to build up a customer base, and a reputation with your customers.
If you happen to find an office of 20 people and 10 (or even 5) of them become regular customers,  GREAT.
But that will NOT happen for everyone.

SOME people will find customers right away, others will slog along for a time before they find ANY or Many regular customers.

Does not having regular or many customers mean that your Avon business is a failure?
Absolutly NOT!
It could mean ANYTHING… but most likely it just means that you haven’t
found your “niche” yet. That special group of people that will LOVE the way
that YOU do business.

I found mine in the area surrounding my house. I live in the middle of no-where, there are lots of dirt roads, big dogs & rednecks with guns.

There are exactly 3 Avon ladies that live in this area.

One woman sells ONLY at work (she works in one of the factories in town)

Another woman sells ONLY to the people that she KNOWS (family & friends only, of course she is related to half the population in this area!)

And the last one has been selling for MANY years (25+) and is slowing down, and thinking about retiring, as she is in her 70’s.

Because of this… I have been able to pick up a LOT of customers that were formerly customers of these women.

But I am ALWAYS amazed when people tell me.. “I haven’t seen an Avon book in YEARS! I didn’t even know there was an Avon rep in the area!”
  And these are people that have lived in the area for 30+ years.
This area, and these people are my “niche”.  We are a fit. I know the area. The dirt or muddy roads do NOT intimidate me. Nor do the lack of road signs, etc.

The “in town” reps come out here and get LOST! Then they REFUSE to come out here again.  So… just by living out in the middle of no-where.. I am able to tap into an extensive customer base.

YOU have to find YOUR “niche”…… You WILL find it.. but sometimes it can take some time.  I had been selling Avon for 2 years before I realized that I was sitting on a “goldmine”.
I had been travelling into town.. trying to pick up businesses, and failing. I had customers scattered ALL over the place, and was wasting a LOT of time and gasoline trying to give them good service, but more importantly I was starting to STRESS.

When I found out I was pregnant with my daughter, I started to focus on “Close to Home” so that when she was born, I wouldn’t have to travel far to make deliveries, and they would be easier to schedule.


Now… I am NOT saying that your business might take a while to get off the ground. I ALWAYS hope that new reps find their “niche” sooner than I found mine.
What I AM saying is, if you are getting discouraged, because your order totals are $50 or $100.. instead of the $400 - $600 orders that you WANT to be placing…  DO NOT Give UP!!

My grandpa used to tell me that success was made of 2 ingredients.. 1 part Inspiration & 99 parts Perseverance.

He was right. I get 99% of my inspiration from the Youravon.com forums and  the success doesn’t come until I try those different bits of inspiration and see how they “fit” me and my customers. 

If one thing doesn’t work.. then try something else; and KEEP TRYING until I find something that DOES work.

Building a successful business takes time. But if you can give it the time.. then you CAN build a successful business.

Do NOT, however, compare YOUR business’s growth with others reps business’s. They may have resourse that you simply do not have access to.

A question was asked once, “What is a GOOD campaign?” .. I personally think that ANY campaign that you break even is a GOOD campaign!


With clear set goals, prudent expenditures, great customer service &  a little time,  you CAN succeed!