Create your own beYOUtiful business. Work from home, part time or full time. Market beauty products to friends, family, neighbors, your community and online!
There is no doubt that one of the most appealing things about an Avon catalog are the fragrance scratch and sniffs! Avon long ago mastered the technology to put a sample of fragrance on a bit of paper and entice us to buy those luxurious scents.
Not only does the brochure have fragrance circles, Avon representatives also have the opportunity to purchase fragrance sample cards to include with brochures and to share with customers.
In the What's New for Campaign 12, reps have a fragrance sample package available.
Starting your own beyoutiful business is incredibly empowering. There are many reasons why you would want to start a direct sales business: flexible hours, working from home, supplementing your household income. And there are just as many reasons why you would want to grow a beauty business: beauty blogging, skin care specialist training, creating relationships. We all have a WHY.
1. Sign up
To start a direct sales business, like AVON, you will need to commit to becoming a representative. AVON has one of the lowest start up costs, only $15 for a starter kit. However, that $15 investment gives a huge return.
It's easy to sign up. Go to cheriefrid.avonrepresentative.com/opportunity/start and step through the easy sign up process. Your starter kit will be sent in the mail and contains 2 full size products, skin care and fragrance samples, Brochures, What's New, and a workbook to get you started.
I will be available to support you in any way. You also have a district and a regional division where you can always go with questions.
Within your representative portal, you can plan your orders, view your account, access your web office to create your estore, manage customers, view order activity, market through the social media center & more.
The New Representative Center is the first place you will want to go for a step by step guide to setup your business. Once you start selling, place your orders through Your Avon, including products your customers have ordered, demos from the What's New, product samples, brochures and sales tools. To login, sign up!
3. Learn
There are three key areas of training that you should pursue: AVON products, AVON processes and business skills.
To learn about Avon processes, you have full access to AVON University as soon as you sign up as a representative. You will also have direct support from me, and there are many rep groups online that you are allowed to join as an AVON representative.
AVON University also offers product training, and learning about products is best done through reading about the products in the brochures and by trying products yourself.
I offer business skills training to supplement your learning and build marketable skills for yourself. These skills include communication, time management, problem solving, organization, technology and soft skills. To start learning, sign up!
4. Market
AVON has 26 campaigns a year, which is every two weeks. New and seasonal products are always coming out, and each brochure offers specials and sales. There are 13 mark. magalogs every year, offering current trend beauty products for a younger market. Outlet flyers provide last chance buys for clearance and previous season products. AVON has recently introduced the AVON Living magalogs, which provide a huge selection of home decor items.
Market Face To Face. Your local market is the first place to go as you begin to build sales. Tell everyone how much you love beauty and that you are now selling AVON products! Give brochures to people you know and meet, carry products and samples with you, and grow your business in person.
Market Online. Create and use social media accounts to share your love of beauty. By selling online, you are not limited to your local driving radius - you can grow your business by contacting customers all over the United States! Share from the social media center, send emails, and every order customers place on your estore gives you earnings, but payments are processed, and the products are packaged and shipped directly from AVON.
This marketing piece is where your business grows. Selling face to face and/or online is where representatives focus their efforts, and there are many opportunities and directions you can take. Finding your marketing groove is one of the most rewarding aspects to building your beYOUtiful business. There is excitement every time you gather orders from your customers, as you look through the exciting What's New demo books, each time you see an order come in "Direct Delivery", when you share content on social media and it gets a like. For every customer relationship you create, your business grows. To begin marketing your beYOUtiful business, sign up!
Marketing is part of my WHY. I love marketing, I have a Master's degree in marketing, and I want to share this marketing expertise with you, too. Another part of my WHY is empowerment. AVON has two strands of non profit causes: breast cancer and domestic violence. As a survivor of domestic violence, I want to empower women who need a boost, who need a helping hand, who need other women to say that life gets better. Through beautyforapurpose.com and avonfoundation.com, AVON is committed to empowering women beyond helping build financial independence.
Direct selling is the business model where products are developed and tested then distributed to customers through direct channels such as independent sales representatives. There are no "middle men" - no large scale distributors, no retail stores.
Avon Products, Inc. products go directly to the customer, either shipped directly when ordered online, or personally via one of Avon's Independent Sales Representatives.
Sales Channels
Direct sellers make sales face to face or online. Personal face to face can be made through a representatives existing social networks (friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, groups, businesses) or by prospecting in their geographic area. Online sales can be made through networks online, which expands a representative's prospecting base considerably. Many representatives choose to sell products using both face to face and online channels.
SLM versus MLM
Single level marketing (SLM) direct selling is where a representative buys product from a direct selling company and sells the product directly to customers, gaining a profit on the sale. Multi level marketing (MLM) direct selling is where a representative participates in SLM and also participates in leadership of new representatives, generally with a commission or an incentive.
Avon's 2014 revenue was $8.9 billion.
Why Direct Selling Appeals to Home Entrepreneurs
Direct selling is a good choice for:
Stay at home moms
People with full time employment who want to supplement their income
Individuals on disability or are retired and may have limited mobility
Retired veterans
Why? Because direct selling has flexibility - you are not confined to specific work hours, driving to a specific location or required to have specific resume skills. It is this flexible alternative to traditional employment options that is probably the most appealing.
In direct selling, there is unlimited opportunity. Direct sales representatives do not have to worry about the product supply chain. In traditional entrepreneurship, the new business has to focus on developing a product or service and identifying the market for that product or service. Product development and manufacturing takes significant time and financial resources. Even a simple at home craft business would have to invest $5000 to $10000 to launch. Direct selling companies typically have a $100 or less investment to launch.
Avon's products include a large, diverse catalog of makeup, skincare, fragrance, bath & body, jewelry, fashion and home, with products for women, men, kids and millenials.
Advantages of Direct Selling
The advantages of a direct selling business model for a sales representative:
Create your own work schedule and hours of effort.
Ability to enter entrepreneurship with little formal training or education
Empowering, especially for women, by creating transferable social and business skills
Low start up costs, low risk to maintain, easy to grow, plus profits are tied directly to effort
Product catalog available with no development and manufacturing investment
The advantages of a direct selling business model for a customer:
Individual human representatives to guide product choices and answer questions
Innovative product choices not always available in retail stores
Convenience and reliability of service (home delivery by representatives or online shipping)
Freedom of Entrepreneurship
Starting a direct selling business opportunity does not require diplomas, certificates or college degrees. However, direct selling often develops those marketable skills!
Communication
Time management
Organization
Innovation and problem solving
Customer service
Technology literacy
Soft skills (creativity, process management, work ethic & social skills)
There are over 18 million people in direct selling. The average cost to start is $100. The risk of loss is incredibly low if you decide to quit. Reasons people are direct selling reps - long term supplemental income, products at a discount, independent entrepreneur flexibility. (DSA 2015 Growth and Outlook survey and 2014 National Salesforce Study).
I just sat down on this rainy day with a hot cup of tea, and flipped through the latest catalog. I chose to add some products to my order that will help me sell more, and I picked a few things just for myself!
Normally, I don't share what I plan, but I'll let you in on this secret. Here's what I'm getting:
Skincare.I'm going to stock up on Anew skincare. It's available at a special representative price, and I would like one of each to have on hand and to share and show.
Body spa. I'm getting some bubble bath at a discount. We go through a lot of bubble bath in my household!
Makeup. I want to test concealers and do a video on concealing under eye discoloration and blemishes on the face. All four concealers that Avon carries is available as a demo, so I'm going to get a few colors of each: Extra lasting, Anew Age-transforming, Cream concealer and Concealer stick. I'm also going to test the Invisible Coverage Liquid Foundation. Foundation can be pretty expensive, and this foundation is normally $12 in the brochure, so getting it for $4.50 is amaze!
Fashion. I really need a new pair of shoes, but I'm going to wait until next campaign to buy myself some shoes.
Jewelry. I absolutely HAVE to have the Inner Wisdom necklace for myself. It's an owl that can be worn as a pendant or as a pin. I am totally in love with owls, so this is a must have for me.
Samples. Finally, there are samples for all four of Anew lines: Vitale, Reversalist, Ultimate and Platinum. The samples are buy 2 get 1 free, and I'm going to start mailing them out, so I really need to stock up. There are 5 in each pack, and there's one pack for day, one for night. So, if I get the deal and I choose all of these samples, I can get 120 samples for only a $16 investment.
This particular catalog has a lot of "Unlimited quantities" so representatives that do table events can truly stock up on product right now!
So, here's the deal: I am looking at the latest Avon What's New. These are demo books that give Avon representatives an advance opportunity to see new products, buy stock to sell, and order products at a discount. Representatives can also order sales tools and samples. New representatives have a limit of 1, unless there are special "Unlimited quantities" offers available.
This is special. Back when I used to work retail, we would get huge books of products to order for the store, and we would get cartons of demo products to see, feel, smell and test before ordering them for the racks. Now, many companies - including Avon - are etailers, and are part of the global ecommerce world. Yet, Avon reps can still get their hands on demo products in advance. Reps can order from a What's New 2 campaigns ahead of when that brochure starts. Take my demo order for example: that is all from the What's New for campaign 4, but I can order it now with campaign 2. Campaign 4 won't launch for me until the end of January. When I used to work trade shows, I would give demonstration of products at the booth, so customers would know how it worked.
The other thing I want to talk about is Avon WEBTV. This is a preview video series that is available on YouTube. It is hosted by Tiffany Bartok, a makeup artist from NYC. AvonWEBTV started last May, and it's a great way to stay in touch with the latest new products, get tips from other representatives and feel connected to other Avon representatives! The Avon USA Representatives web channel is the only place online you can see AvonWEBTV: https://www.youtube.com/user/AvonUSAReps
So, Episode 10 was just posted to Avon's YouTube channel 2 days ago. (I am a YouTube channel addict... as soon as one of the people I subscribe to post a new beauty video, I am on it in no time!) My favorite segment is when Rebecca Luedemann gives us a sneak preview of what's coming.
Plus, you can really interact using the hashtag #AvonWebTV on Twitter and other social media. I try to share my #brochureselfie every campaign using the #AvonWebTV hashtag! So.... another secret? When Campaign 5 launches, I will be wearing the new Perfectly Matte Lipstick for my #brochureselfie because I ordered it in my campaign 3 What's New, and I had time to test it out and shoot a selfie wearing it! (Hmm... what color should I demo?)
It's strange... a few years ago I never would have considered direct selling. I *love* makeup and skin care and bath & body products. I *love* shopping Ulta and Sally Beauty. I have loved pouring through fashion magazines since I was a tween. So, selling AVON has sort of been a natural progression of all the beauty things I've loved for so long.
I'm taking it slow. So many new AVON representatives want things to happen immediately. They want to see success NOW! Me, I'm working it slowly, building a little bit at a time. But, just like a house cannot be built overnight, neither can a successful home based direct selling business. You have to create a strong foundation before you decorate the interior. ;)
I have dreams... don't get me wrong. I want to build a nationwide customer base because I love knowing people everywhere in the country. (my customers shop my estore) I want to have a mobile inventory because I want to be able to sell a product on the spot. (I sell face to face in my community) I want to be able to help domestic violence victims because I've been there. (through the AVON Foundation) I want to continue to develop online tutorials and Pinterent infographics, because I enjoy that marketing aspect. (my AVON Pinterest page) The best plan for me is to build my AVON business slowly and methodically.
Your AVON business is *your* AVON business, and you can build it anyway you want to!
