Merry Christmas to all!
I took a short break from blogging due to the pressures of getting items delivered to all my customers prior to Christmas, including the customers who order through the ALANA fundraiser each year. I do that fundraiser to help the foster children supported by Agape of North Alabama twice a year, and it is always a rewarding but challenging event. Imagine having your house overrun with Avon products just as others are beginning to do their Christmas decorating. My decorating gets done in bits and pieces, and my daughter was still hanging ornaments on the tree last night. Today I hope to get a few presents wrapped and put under it!
I still have one or two deliveries to do today, if possible, and some last minute shopping to do. We are going to have a warm Christmas this year, and I really don't mind it too much since we had a few very cold days when I could wear my Christmas sweaters. Tomorrow we go to Tennessee to gather with my hubby's family, Sunday is worship and time at home, and Monday we gather close by with extended family for a good Christmas meal and fine fellowship and games.
I'm combining my downline newsletters for C26 and C1, and will get that written and posted next week. Then I hope to be back on track with my regular blogs, because Avon has some exciting new products coming up as well as a new program for beginning representatives starting soon. The biggest news in Avon for 2017 should be the introduction of a health and wellness section to our wonderful product lineup. I'm pretty pumped up about that!
Do you follow my blog but not my Facebook business page? I post more often there, and share a helpful video now and then. I also post new products on Pinterest, although I fell quite behind on my posting there during the Christmas selling season due to the reasons mentioned in the first paragraph of this post. Some things just have to take a back burner to keep me from burning the candle at both ends during this hectic time of year. I'll get back on track with that next week as well.
I hope you have a very merry Christmas and a wonderful and prosperous new year. Let me know if there is any way I can help you with your Avon needs or questions. I'm here to serve!!
p.s. If you are taking advantage of a little time off from your regular duties and beginning "the New Year's purge," you might want to add your makeup to the purge list. I'll write more about that early in the New Year, but if you are starting early... Avon True Color makeup is better than ever and waiting for you in my eStore.
(This is the newsletter I produce for my team at the close of each campaign.)
Season's Greetings, Cloud Climbers!
I hope all of you have been having a great week. I went and scheduled
a routine medical procedure for this morning, and why I decided that
the middle of my busiest month of the year was the right time for that, I
do not know! 
I think the anesthesia has about worn off now, so maybe I won't make too many mistakes in this newsletter.
I'm sharing the Top Ten in Sales in a little different way this campaign, because I want you to see what I saw when I pulled up the report a few minutes ago...
Yes! Rene Parker
outsold me this campaign!! I'm tickled to see that, because it doesn't
happen as often as I wish it would. I'm always proud to see my Cloud
Climbers doing well, so you can outsell me anytime and I'll be happy for
you. A number of years ago I had another team member, Karen K., who
outsold me routinely, but she gave up her business after a move across
town, job change, etc. Because Rene is now within $400 of making PC
again this year and we have double dollar award sale on beauty products
in C26, I'm confident that she will reach that goal.
Here are another couple of charts that you might be interested in,
showing a comparison between our team sales and our team size for 2015
and 2016.
I had hoped we could increase our team size to 100 members before the
end of the year, but we won't make that goal...until 2017! By the end
of 2017, we WILL have a team of at least 100 members, Lord willing. For
now, additions have slowed just a bit. I still received leads regularly,
but most are just searching for information about businesses and have
not taken the plunge yet. All my leads are kept in an email file and I
contact them about once a month to encourage them to give Avon a try.
We added one new representative during the last campaign, so I would like to welcome Betty Allgood of Hendersonville, Tennessee, to the Cloud Climbers. We wish you many happy days and happy sales as a Beauty Boss, Betty!
Birthdays for December include: Gladys Faulk, Tawana Frails, Susanne Walters, Jennifer Shearer, Amaleia Ruble, Maria Lopez, Lakeesha Acklin, and Lois Johnson. Happy birthday to all you fine Avon ladies! Celebrating an Avon Anniversary in December is Suheidy Colon, who began her business 4 years ago today! Happy Avon Anniversary, Suheidy!
Are you planning to attend the Christmas party for your district, if
there is one? Avon is not having "official" Christmas parties, but I
know that our district has one planned, so I assume yours might too. I
encourage you to take the opportunity to attend any functions that are
scheduled for your district so that you can get to know the Avon
representatives in your area. These are your Avon sisters and brothers
and knowing them can be beneficial to your business and to theirs, as we
all work together toward our goals.
It seems like every few days I am seeing people post on various Avon
Facebook group pages that they have been contacted by a potential
customer with a large order, etc., etc., etc. I'm going to get back to
sending fraud alert warnings to new Cloud Climbers as one of their first
emails from me, but for those who have not been made aware of how
people try to defraud representatives of all sorts of home based
businesses, please go to yourAvon.com and look on your home page, near
the bottom, under My Account, where it says Fraud Prevention Info. You'll find all the information there that you need to be able to recognize these frauds and not get caught up in them.
The most exciting news we've heard from Avon recently is that RepFest
2017 will be held in Nashville this year. I must confess that I have
never been to a convention of Avon Representatives, and one reason is
because they have all been far away. I imagine that with it being this
close, I just may make it this year, and I hope that some of you will as
well. Be watching for more details as time goes by, and keep the dates
of August 5-7 open on your calendar.
Here's a Tip from me that I feel certain I have shared before, but at
this time of year it is particularly helpful. We all know how
disappointing it can be when items we have ordered do not come in on
schedule. Sometimes they are reported as sold out and sometimes they
show as coming after Christmas. Our regular orders are processed and
shipped from the Avon facility in Zanesville, Ohio, but there are other
Avon facilities around the country as well. I don't know where our
orders placed at our eStores are processed, but sometimes when something
is reported as sold out or on backorder through our regular ordering
method, those items will be available at our eStores. You can check to
see if the items are there, use whatever Coupon code is available for a
discount, free gift, or free shipping, and order the item yourself from
your own eStore. You will have to pay for the item at the
Customer Price, because you are your own customer in this case, and then
Avon will credit your account (or whatever method you have set up for
payment) for your earnings on the sale. If you do this, just be
sure that you contact Avon in the way printed right under your "Items
Not Available This Campaign" list on your invoice to cancel the item so
you don't end up with two of them.
Have a great weekend!
p.s. I forgot to include this info in my newsletter when I sent it out to my team by email, but there were 11 Cloud Climbers who had orders at their eStores this campaign. I believe that is a record for our team, so I want to congratulate Ashleigh Downey, Carolyn King, Darren Mannahan, Rene Parker, Katie Peden, Angi Price, Wendy Reed, Sheilia Smith, Virginia Washington, and Susan Watkins for their eStore sales.
I know I don't have to tell you that the Christmas buying season is the busiest of the year for those of us who are selling. And some of us, (me!), also work on fundraisers during this time of the year. I'm lucky if I get my own Christmas shopping and decorating done in time for the festivities, but I enjoy it all!!
I've been doing a fundraiser for ALANA (Association of Ladies for Agape of North Alabama) twice a year for more than 20 years. The orders have been submitted for the fundraiser and will be arriving in just a few days, so things will get extra busy and the house will be overrun with Avon products while I sort, bag, and arrange them to be delivered to the sellers. Orders totaled approximately $2,500, so this group, which I am happy to be a part of, will have a nice chunk of earnings to be used to help the foster children of Agape of North Alabama.
Of course, I'm also working hard to get brochures out and meet my own customers' needs for Christmas, along with supporting my Cloud Climbers team members as they work with their businesses. Speaking of getting brochures out, we are finally seeing an end to the drought across the southeast states, and more rain is on the way later today. So....I must get ready to head out to deliver orders and brochures before it comes! I may not be getting much time to blog over the next few weeks, but don't get worried that I'm giving up on blogging about my business. There will be a lot more information to share about Avon products and the Avon business and I'll be sharing it as time permits.
Don't forget to take a look at the Coupon Codes tab to see current codes for savings, free gifts, or free shipping at my eStore. Right now we are in the midst of 12 Days of Deals, with 20% of a $45 order for Day 4 - Today only!!
