How to become an Avon Representative

Is being an Avon Representative a good job?

If the thought of an Avon lady conjures up images of ladies going out in all weathers door to door carrying their sample case, think again. The days when Avon ladies demonstrated lipsticks in people's homes are long gone. It still holds true that some Avon Representatives do go from door to door with the latest Avon brochure but there are an equal, if not greater, number of Avon Representatives who never leave their house, preferring instead to use social media to market their products online. So the job of being an Avon lady is a lot easier since the invention of the internet. That said it is still hard work and requires a lot of persistence in order to build a regular client base. However, once that client base is established the customers tend to be very loyal and provide a regular source of income. Some customers order every month and some order once in a blue moon but overall the earnings average out and are usually consistent month in month out. It's important to point out at this stage that technically Avon isn't a job, as it's a self-employed position and the earnings are actually retail profit made up of the difference between the price the customer pays and the price of the good being ordered from Avon. What does an Avon Representative do? Put simply an Avon representative sells Avon products to customers that she or he has to find herself...or himself, there are a growing number of men who work as Avon representatives. There are various ways to find customers and training on this is given by the company and the person you sign up with Avon under. The traditional way to find customers is to order some brochures and go out posting the books through letterboxes in your local area. A few days later you would go out again to collect the books, hopefully with orders in them, then you simply repeat the process replacing the order form with a blank one. When you join Avon you are given an online shop. All Avon shops in the UK are styled shopwithmyrep.co.uk/(your chosen shop name) so it's worth thinking of a really catchy name for your shop so that it's easy to remember. You would then promote your Avon store online on social media. You can do this by posting regularly on sites like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter about the products and even about the opportunity to work with Avon. Avon makes this easy as they have tools like Avon Social and Avon On where posts are pre-made for you and then it's simply a matter of sharing those posts on social media with a link to your online shop or digital brochure. I already mentioned the Avon opportunity and in common with other MLM companies, Avon has the option for you to introduce other people to become an Avon rep. In this case you would be paid commission by Avon based on the sales of the people you introduce. How does Avon work? The concept of selling Avon is very simple. When you apply you will be assessed and may be offered a credit limit. This is the limit you can order from Avon without paying them straight away. So when you get an order from the customer you don't have to take payment with the order instead you would charge them on delivery of their order. The credit facility isn't always granted and under those circumstances you would need to take payment at the time of the order. If ordering through you based on orders collected in-person by you the customer would pay the retail price (i.e. the price stated in the brochure), you would then order the products from Avon with the representative discount. The level of discount you get will depend on your sales volume across the month (or the quarter when you've been with Avon longer than 3 months). The difference between what the customer pays you and what you pay Avon is yours to keep. The only additional things you need to pay for are brochures (if you use them) and bags to put the orders into when they arrive. There is a one-off fee to get started with Avon After you have placed your order with Avon the goods are delivered to you (free of charge if your order is over £35 in value based on the customer price) 3 working days later. You then have to sort the order out and make up the individual customer orders and take them to your customers. If you have a credit facility you would then need to pay Avon within 13 days of their invoice date.

How much does an Avon Representative earn? How much an individual Avon Representative can earn will depend on their sales volume in the previous quarter and the level of discount given. It can vary between 15% and 32%. These are the discounts at each Avon Rewards level:

• Quarterly sales between £1 and £249 – you’ll be a Bronze Star and get 15% discount

• Quarterly sales between £250 and £549 – you’ll be a Silver Star and get 20% discount

• Quarterly sales between £550 and £1,299 – you’ll be a Gold Star and get 25% discount

• Quarterly sales between £1,300 - £3,499 – you’ll be a Platinum Star and get 30% discount

• Quarterly sales over £3,500 – you’ll be a VIP Star and get 32% discount When you are starting out the discount levels are different as you won't have 3 months of sales under your belt. Sales of 1 to £99 within the same month will attract a discount of 15%, between £100 and £249 discount will be 20%, £250 to £2,999 will be 25% and above £3,000 is 30%. As a Sales Leader (someone who introduces representatives) earnings are unlimited but start off at 3% Coaching Commission based on personal sales of at least £250 and then on your network sales (i.e. the sales of everyone you introduced). Earning can go up to 8% of network sales with an additional 4.5% paid as bonuses. Obviously, the amount you would earn would entirely depend on how many people you have in your team. Realistically, it is hard but not impossible to get above the 25% levels a representative, in fact, most Avon representatives don't get above 20% discount. As an Avon Sales Leader it's easier to make a living doing Avon but you also have to be really good at persuading people to join Avon and keeping them motivated. Avon has always had a very high turnover of reps who start doing Avon and only stick with it for a few campaigns, however, a representative who gets past those first three months do tend to stick with it and become very loyal to the company. How do you join Avon? The joining process is simple. You fill in a form online and then the person who introduced you will arrange a call. During the call, you will need to show identification. (Either a passport or a driving licence together with address confirmation). Then you will choose your starter kit and set up your online shop. You will then be shown where the training is and will keep in regular touch with your sales leader for the first few weeks until you are confident in what you are doing. If you would like to get started with Avon you can join my team here What other companies are there like Avon? Avon of course is only one option if you're looking to make extra cash working from home selling beauty products. There are many others, Body Shop, Oriflame, Younique, Tropics and FM to name a few. It is always worth doing the research before jumping into a network marketing business. With most network marketing companies the discounts and commission payable are very much of a muchness and most companies charge a joining fee or at the very least require you to buy a start-up kit. There is one notable exception that pays up to 48% earnings from the start and is free to join with an optional starter kit at a low cost. If Avon is not for you it may be worth looking at this instead. You can find out more here