SERVICE HAPPENS BECAUSE YOU KNOW YOUR PRODUCT

You've heard it from me before -- a knowledge of your product is absolutely necessary if you are to make this Avon business a success.

Let's put that information into a little different focus here --
and we're going to call it by this title:

     IF YOU MUST GO FIND OUT, YOU REALLY DON'T KNOW.

Here's a tough question -- if asked, could you name the different foundation colors from memory? Probably not. Few of us could.  That's OK -- but here's the real question -- do you have a color chart handy when you're talking with a customer about foundation colors? I'm not talking about the colors that are in the book that you're using. I'm asking if your tool box has a bona fide color chart. If not, how will you answer the "it doesn't look like that on me" objection?

What's that? You can't tell from a color chart? OK. Have you
purchased a foundation color shade selector? Or do you merely go it blind? Selecting your customer's foundation colors in the blind can lead to embarrassment. We care less about your embarrassment than hers. Her embarrassment expresses itself in frustration (hopefully not anger) and her unwillingness to even try a product about which she is unsure.


ORDER TAKERS VERSUS SALESPERSONS

The order taker waits for her customer to specify a color. The
salesperson makes suggestions as to what colors will most closely fit the customer. If she has samples, she gets them out and gets the customer to try them.

The order taker knows few of the answers to the questions the
customer may pose. The salesperson has researched what she considers to be the possible and important questions that the customer might ask and is prepared either with an answer to the question or a ready reference to locate that answer. How does that happen? Get another Avon rep to play customer. Write those questions down and do the research. Write the answer with the question, type them up, practice them, and commit them to memory.

The order taker orders the product the customer requested. The salesperson also orders the bonus item that may accompany the customer's purchase. Seems simple enough. In many cases, the bonus item accompanies the purchase automatically. But when it shows up there in the box, do you know what customer it is for?  At the very least, the salesperson emphasizes its availability on the sales slip.

The order taker may recognize that Avon provides a 100%
guarantee. The salesperson, in addition to that, is ready to
provide an alternate suggestion, if for no other reason than to
protect the sale. And, interestingly, once the suggestion has
been made, the sale -- now moving in a new direction -- becomes outstanding in its own right.


CONSIDERATIONS

Now here's a tough question -- must you always stop, in front of
the customer, and read the ingredients on the package? What if you don't have the package? Do you carry with you a Product
Reference Guide? No? Why not? It is your source of product
information. But as you will see, I am going to recommend that
you not simply whip it out and read it to the customer unless you are absolutely certain that only that missing piece of
information will seal the sale. If you have some idea of what she will buy, it becomes reinforcement to your knowledge, and in that set of circumstances, use it. But if you do have some idea of what she will buy and you need the publication, make good use of paper clips to find your way around it.

And another tough question -- just how do you distinguish among the various competing products in our own line? When would you, for example, recommend Rich Moisture Hand Cream over Vita Moist?  How are they different? How is the Skin-So-Soft hand cream selection different from the Moisture Therapy selection? Don't know? If you want to kill your sale, just say, "I'll see if I can find out." Do you get the impression that it is my feeling that if you are to do justice to the Avon business you have put yourself into? You would be right.


WHAT TO KNOW

Here are six things you'd better know if you desire to offer
excellent service:

1.  Know the basic ingredients of each class of product Avon
sells. The word is "know," because you should at least commit to memory the primary ingredient. Here's an example: do you even know what an alpha hydroxy is? Do you think it is in all Anew products? You would be wrong.

2. How are those ingredients presented? Would you find the same ingredient in a different product? What carries the ingredient from one product to the next? Is it possible to get too much of a specific ingredient? If the customer is already receiving Retin A from a dermatologist, would you consider selling her a Retinol product? And if not, what product or ingredients would you recommend that could achieve the same results with the level of the Retin A that the customer is taking?

3.  What extras can you combine with the sale that will enhance
the look or feel that the customer wishes to achieve? Would there be a difference to the customer if you sold her a cleanser to accompany that moisturizer? Under what circumstances should a woman use or not use a toner? Find out.

4.  Do you know the price of your products -- or must you look
them up? This is particularly important if you choose to stock
the item. But do you suppose that a little time with the brochure
would allow you to make a list of the items that are on sale this
time?

5.  Know the value of that item. If you tell somebody how good an item from the Basics line is, can you tell the customer that the Avon or Anew lines are equally good? What distinguishes the product lines in your mind, because if you don't know that,
neither will your customer be able to distinguish it in her mind.
Telling somebody that the product is "good" or "Mary uses it" is really insufficient justification for making the purchase.

6.  How will choosing the benefit achievable from a specific
product line impact the customer? How adept are you at comparing benefits, as well as comparing prices? When would you attempt to sell the benefit versus selling the product with emphasis on the price?


KNOWING YOUR PRODUCTS: WHEN THE CUSTOMER ALREADY KNOWS

Knowing the products you have will allow the customer to use you as the reference manual. When she is doing that, she already has knowledge or suspicions of the correct answer. Knowing your products will assist you to upsell the customer on a line or even an entirely different line, provided the change offers an improvement. Fill in the blanks.

When the customer says:            Reply:

I'd like a face product to get rid of my fine lines        ____________________________

What do you have that will protect my hands in water?     ____________________________

Have you a shampoo for my colored/permed hair?               ____________________________

What fragrance do you have that has a scent of vanilla?       ____________________________

What lipstick has color that won't come off on my cup?     ____________________________

Before proceeding, give some thought to how you would answer these questions. My interest here is not that you can necessarily name a specific product, although that is important, but rather that you know why a specific product will fit the request.

For example:

I'd like a face product              Anew All-in-One has a low
to get rid of my fine lines        dose of alpha-hydroxy acids
                                                  that will reduce fine lines.

What do you have that will      Silicon Glove will protect
protect my hands in water?    your hands; Moisture Therapy
                                                  will help restore the quality
                                                  of the skin on your hands.

Have you a shampoo for my    Advanced Techniques offers
colored/permed hair?               solutions for treatment of
                                                   colored or permed hair. The
                                                   best choice would be:______.

What fragrance do you have     Far Away Cologne can provide
that has a scent of vanilla?        the vanilla scent you seek,
                                                   with undertones of:______.

What lipstick has color that       Many customers speak happily
won't come off on my cup?       about our Perfect Wear line,
                                                     and we have recently expanded
                                                     the line with lip ink.

How would you do if in order to sell Avon you had to pass a test, much as you might have to do to get a driver's license? Suppose someone asked you: "I've been reading about rejuvi-cell technology and I heard that Avon is the only company that has it.  Tell me about the products containing it." What would you do?

Now the question arises -- in comes the customer looking for skin care. What do you recommend? Where do you start? How would you feel if you met up with you and asked about skin care and in return got something like this: "Well, we've got some pretty good stuff -- it's called Anew. But if that's too expensive, we have the Avon line. Not quite as good as Anew, but pretty good. And then if your budget is really squeezed, we have some really inexpensive products called Avon basic." Just how would you feel if you got that treatment? Probably not too happy about it.


AGAIN, KNOW THE VALUE OF YOUR SALE'S POTENTIAL

This is so important that I should like to present a tabulation
for your consideration. This deals with Anew purchases:

                  THE VALUE OF AN ANEW CUSTOMER

Times used per year:            1            2           3           4

Ultra Cream Cleanser         14         28         42         56
Retroactive                           24         48          72         96
Day Force Extra                   22         44          66         88
Night Force Extra                22         44          66         88

The value of your sale
to your business:                  82       164       246         328

Now -- extend that to