Do you recognize the above lines of poetry? They are from The Walrus and the Carpenter, by Lewis Carroll, and I recall learning them in school long ago. Ah, school days, when there is so much to learn. But learning doesn't need to stop when school days end, and I understand that learning something new every day is excellent for your brain. If that is the case, my brain is getting a lot of stretching right now and should be in excellent condition soon! ;) Avon's 2019 Leadership Convention was this past weekend. I knew there were some big changes in the works, so now I know what they are and I have already begun to implement changes to my business to get ready for "a whole new world". Allow me to elaborate.
Avon has long been a business that emphasized personal delivery of brochures and orders. We are still that business, but "the times they are a changing" and we must "get with the program" and change too. (I feel like I'm full of cliches and references to poems, songs, etc. today.) I just learned that Avon is the #2 company in the nation for paper use. What?!? Of all companies?!? Apparently so. It's all those brochures that we order and pass out, many of which are never looked at by customers. The brochures are beautiful, the products are fantastic, but many customers are too busy to take the time to go through them, much to our regret. So, what to do?
Avon's solution is to move most customers away from brochures to ordering online. Online ordering at our websites has been available for several years and many customers have taken advantage of the convenience of it, but there will always be customers who prefer receiving brochures and having Avon Representatives deliver their orders and they have no intention of learning to use computers or smart phones. So, while we are working to eliminate brochures, they aren't going out just yet. Avon is calling 2019 a "transition year" in which we will get most customers ordering at our websites while customers who order in the traditional way are still serviced. However, the time may come when paper brochures will be like the dinosaurs and become extinct, and how we will service our traditional customers if that time comes is a bridge we will cross when we come to it. (Yes, another cliche.) My ideas about how to work with traditional customers include placing orders for them at my online store for my delivery or for direct delivery from Avon to them, if they are willing.
One of the perks of getting direct delivery is that you do not have to wait to order on the Representative's schedule and have your orders delivered to you on the Representative's schedule. You can order any time of the day or night and have the order at your door within 3 to 5 days. If the order is over $40, you do not even have to pay shipping for it, and there are sometimes coupon codes for free shipping on $25 orders. You can pay by credit/debit card or through PayPal and you pay when you order, so you do not have to entrust your credit card information to your Avon Rep. If you are willing to become a digital customer, I encourage you to go ahead and register at my online store so that you are informed by email of all of the special offers that come from Avon. You will receive short emails on my behalf on an almost daily basis, but you can always unsubscribe if that becomes too much mail.
Coming very soon: Along with the push to go digital comes a new way for people to signup to become Digital Avon Representatives. The cost will be $25 and they will not receive a physical kit with products and brochures but will instead be sent a coupon by email that will give them $25 off of their first order with Avon, basically making the signup FREE! This new way of joining Avon is terrific for those who have been put off by the idea of having to get brochures into the hands of friends, family, and strangers to get orders. Now they will only need to share their personal website link to drive customers to their online store, where the customers will be able to look at the online brochure and all sale flyers for the campaign or search for products through the various category headings or individually. The physical kits are still available right now, but when the digital signup system is ready, they will be removed in order to have one simple way and one simple price to become an Avon Representative. I like simplicity!
Okay! I'll have more to share later, but that's enough to process for now, right? Right!!
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