Build A Fabulous Foundation Part 1

I always find that the beginning of a new year gives us a chance to re-evaluate our businesses (if we are an established rep)or give a new representative the motivation and spur to think "how great can I make this business this year?" It's a time to make goals, figure out what planning you need to achieve them, and then break down the journey into smaller pieces, and work step-by-step towards achieving those goals.

When I joined AVON back in 2006, much of the training was done in booklet form, unlike today's interactive modules online. Most of the info available was to do with either selling or leadership, whereas today we have so many more resources, including the one-pagers about specific products, that are so handy to print out and carry with us, especially when brand new products are introduced. My advice to new reps (and old) is to utilize the resources we have. Use them to further your knowledge. Work through the training modules, many are only 5 or 10 minutes long and easy to digest. One of my mantras has always been "a little and often". This could transpose to working 1 module daily, investing that small slot of time in yourself and your business.

In deciding how you want to run your business, you have to firstly figure out your short term goals, and your long term. I have representatives who came into AVON with one purpose in mind, maybe to make a car payment or pay for a family vacation. I've had others who will join in September or October solely to earn enough to cover their Holiday expenses, Thanksgiving or Hannukah celebrations or Christmas presents for their family. I even have some people who joined simply to get a discount on their own purchases (and, in the beginning, that was me!). You have to decide what you want out of it, and that - in turn - will affect the plans you will make and the amount of time and energy you will put into making it happen.

If your main idea for your business is to sell, then your strong foundation will be your customer base. Since most customers will only place an order once every 3-4 campaigns, my advice would be to aim for 4-5 times as many customers as you want to have regular campaign orders, in order to achieve and maintain your sales goal and earnings possibility.

You may want to explore other ways of selling, not just to the people who you already know. personally. Some AVON reps enjoy group selling opportunities, such as parties or fundraising with local organizations, others utilize creative talents and make gift baskets or assortments and incorporate them into their business. You can choose which additional ways suit you, and add them to your plans.

Find what suits you and work it to the best of your ability to accomplish what you want.

Build a solid foundation for your selling business

#buildingacustomerbase #startingyourAVONbusiness #newyearnewgoals #settinggoalsandmakingplans

Starting Off Another New Year

Whether you've been a rep for years, or have just joined and this business is a new venture, a new year is a great time to make goals and then plan on how you intend to realise them. I always find the process to be self-motivating. It's easy to become jaded after selling for a long period, and a new year provides a chance to revitalize your thinking and approach it with a fresh outlook.

For me, it's a chance to sift through and realise which things have worked for me, and which may not have been as successful. We are all different, and what makes somebody else successful may not suit our personality or talents. For instance, we have a few people on this team who make amazing baskets and gifts, but my talents with those are sadly non-existent. I have followed videos and step-by-steps, but my finished offerings leave much to be desired. Sometimes you have to accept that something is not for you, and that that is ok. Feeling you are a failure, because you cannot utilize a certain way to work your business, is self-defeating. There are so many ways to be successful with AVON, it's simply a matter of finding what works, and is the right fit, for you.

If you've not taken a look at the various training modules in the AVON U, now is a great time to make the effort and see all the new additions, and decide which will be most beneficial to you, and begin to work through them. They are geared towards helping you learn how to work your business, some offer product knowledge, many explain the various processes involved in selling or leadership. There is no "right" way to approach them, although for new representatives, I suggest working through those that AVON have collected together as a starting point.

If this is not your first year, now is also a  great time to begin working on your taxes. By going through 3-4 invoices daily (even allowing for a couple of "just don't feel like doing it today" days, you can have the basics sorted in a couple of weeks, and then it's just mileage, donations and what I call "the small stuff" to finish and be ready by the time your 1099 comes from AVON (if you sold more than $5000) to be ahead of the game in filing your taxes. Even if you don't get a 1099, it's still worth filing, my first year, only 3 months in and hadn't really sold much at all, my deductions for mileage alone was around $600. 

So, I wish you a successful and productive 2021, and hope that you have an awesome year and realize all your dreams!