Embracing Avon's new business model for the better!
Avon's new business model aligns itself with other catalog and retail companies, where you pay first and then get the product. This does several very POSITIVE things:
1) You have a customer "buy in" -they paid so they will be easier to reach to deliver the product.
2) They paid by credit card - you had the opportunity to use the new credit card sliding technology on your phone (*read below)
3) Their money went right into your business checking so you will not be tempted to mingle funds or use the money for bills instead of your Avon products.
4) As a leader, you will have to make fewer past due calls because everything was paid up front.
5) As a rep, your account will never go on hold for lack of funds.
6) As a rep, your order will never be "late" since you pay for the order the night before you actually place the order - creating a "credit" on your account.
7) You will have fewer returns for unpaid products
8) Signing up for Direct Deposit, when you pay for the entire order, instead of "guesstimating" and being short a few dollars, your commission will flow into your bank account upon billing.
9) Less stress trying to figure out your profit and loss.
10) Credit card processing fees are tax deductible
Let's explore each of these in detail
1) Customer: "But my other rep always let me order and then pay when I get the product...."
That was in the old days. Now Avon, being a 6 billion dollar company is aligning itself with the competition and this will not only help Avon, but it will help us as representatives. I don't like ordering product only to let it sit in the bag on my entry piece by my front door because the person does not have the money until 1) never, or 2) the end of the month. I like my statistics to be high sales and low returns. This old method meant I had to return the product, lower my sales or have discounted sales in my front yard. Now, my customer has a viable piece of the action and is motivated to come pick up her order (for a free item in her bag) or give you a date/time when she can be available for delivery. Never just leave an order on the porch.
2) Representative: "I can now take cash, credit or debit cards and even paypal, right now! How would you like to take care of this?"
On your website, you have always been able to take Direct Delivery orders for UPS - with credit, debit or paypal. Now, technology comes to YOU to make your life easier! You can download many different types of card sliders and the companies send you the device for free!
For local orders, you can take cash, check (if you know the person), any credit card or debit card and the money will go right into your checking account and stay there waiting for you to process a payment for the order to Avon.
3) What is embezzling?
Their money went right into your business checking so you will not be tempted to mingle funds or use the money for bills instead of your Avon products. In the past, Avon would sometimes send you the products, counting on your integrity, that you would pay for them before the day before the next submission down to a zero balance. Now, no one's integrity will be called into question, because there is no opportunity to embezzle the funds. How is embezzlement handled or punished in Arizona?
4) Leader calls reps....
In order for a leader to be paid, her team needs to pay their bills. Therefore, she has in the past had to do collection calls and encourage the reps to be honest and pay their bill. They got the money from their customer, they have the products, they need to pay their bill. The new system will preclude that by much!
5) Representative: "What do you mean my order is on hold?"
In all my years, it has been important to me to never have my order be placed on hold. Yes, I have had to do extra jobs in order to have that money up front, if my customers did not have it - but that is all in the past.
Now, you will collect the money up front when your customer places the order, "Ok, Suzie, that will be 42.54 - how did you want to take care of that? I take credit, debit, cash or because I know you and you are such a good customer, you can drop off a check today before I place the order". Problem Solved.
The night before the order goes in, use your business debit card to pay Avon for the entire order. The next day on Submission day, you will place your order before noon (or after campaign 5 before midnight), then the order will bill out and ship immediately. The difference between what you collected and your bill will be put into your bank account by direct deposit.
6) As a rep, your order will never be "late" since you pay for the order the night before you actually place the order - creating a "credit" on your account.
This is pretty self explanatory. The only thing you need to do is train your customers to give you the orders early so you can process everything early. Sometimes a really good customer will call me AFTER I have submitted my ontime order. I have to weigh whether I will process her order and pay the 9.95 additional fee, (now late), or have her wait until the next submission and try to fulfill some of the order from my stock. It's a juggling act. If her order is big enough, since I am Rose Circle, I get 45% so 9.95 sometimes is worth it.
7) Can I return products that the customer didn't want?
Right. You CAN return them. I am pretty competitive and don't like my sales tarnished by returns, but that is just me! If a customer did not pay you, you can resell it to another customer for 10% discount, you can make a gift basket and take it to an office building, collect raffle slips and give the basket for 20-25 new customer slips, you can return it as well - it's all your call - all your business decision.
8) What is Direct Deposit?
As a leader, I love Direct Deposit. Every two weeks, as long as I keep placing 200.00 orders (minimum) the money gets deposited for monitoring, training and being a cheerleader for my representatives. Now your commission will flow into your Direct Deposit account as soon as your order bills. You will see it in your My Account Summary - so you will know right away - how much did my products cost? (bill) How much did I collect from customers (deposited into my account), check bank account - and How much was my commission?
9) Profit and loss?
Your tax guy will love you!
You can keep excellent records with Avon's business forms found online or you can print this one out, for Campaign 1-14.
10) Credit card fees?
That little slider is free for sliding cards, but the processing fee is about 2.5%. So when I run the card for a 15.00 Representative application, the amount that flows to my bank account is 14.59 - I keep track of the difference and that is added up at the end of the year. .41*(total reps recruited) really adds up!
I hope this has been enlightening and enables you to go forth with great hope and desires for your 2015 business success! Remember -
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