Persistance in Building the Avon Business -- Item #1

  As a leadership representative, much of my business involves the recruitment of new Avon representatives. My approach to it is
multi-part. At our initial meeting, I cover the standard approach: what it is, the opportunities that are available, and the mechanics of getting started. I keep the ordering particulars until our second meeting, and from our third meeting onward, I concentrate on providing a model for the new representative to follow. If I am successful to get to the third meeting, for the most part I can get that representative off to a good start.  Sadly, for some, I never get past -- or even to -- the second
meeting. I am absolutely amazed at the number of people in my experience who are so very willing to give up without a whimper.

  There's a singular characteristic of these people, in my experience. They are more than willing to take the benefits so
long as somebody else is doing the work. But once they are faced with the fact that doing anything with Avon involves work, they very quickly are willing to fold their tent and steal off in the night. I find out about it when they play telephone tag with me, when they fail to be present for meetings, when they show none of the ambition they had originally evidenced to me. I'm further amazed at the people I encounter who would prefer to work for a
guaranteed minimum wage than to "take a chance" on something that depends on their delivery.

  I had a downline ask me recently why we should bother to involve someone who, on the surface at least, demonstrated that
she could easily be a "loser." Did we wish to recruit such a person to represent Avon? My response to the question was that I
would hate to be the one who foreclosed someone else's future based on either appearances or my judgment. I at least owe them the opportunity and will predicate my plan based on our initial interactions.

  A much larger problem exists for the representative who declares that she would really like to make a business of this
and then fails to muster the intestinal fortitude necessary to overcome the adversities she encounters when the "easy" sales are made. These are the mercy sales -- those sales to friends and family occasioned by their willingness to get the friend or relative properly "begun in this, her new business." When those sales have run out, what then? Then the real hard work begins.  Then the decisions must be made about distributing brochures, cold calls must be made, telephone calls must be made, and the representative must make a decision that the business, if it is to be successful, requires something that she may not be willing to give.

She dresses this reticence up in alibis:

     I'm too busy to do this Avon at this time...
     My upline doesn't have time to go out with me...
     I can't reach my district manager -- she doesn't answer...
     This selling Avon is too hard!...
     I don't like to talk to people...
     I don't want people to feel obligated...
     There's too many other Avon representatives in my area...
     They won't let me leave my books in the complex...
     If I lived in a big city...
     If I lived in a rural area...
     If I could just get started...

  I could continue on to give you 50 or more excuses. There's no need to do that, however, as you know what your pet excuse is.  Consistent with my treatise on not farming as well as I know how, contained in my book which found its way onto these posts, I'd like to take this post, and perhaps several, to focus on the ONE
thing that is certain to make you successful: PERSISTENCE.


Turning Desire Into Accomplishment.

  It might be useful to first place a definition on desire.  Whether there is another acceptable definition, let's at least identify that your desire will be the beginning point of any achievement you will make. What is your dream? How did you arrive at that dream? What is the "stuff" of which your dream is made?  And most importantly, what are you willing to commit to the accomplishment required to realize the dream?

  There are many combinations of Avon representatives:

     Some feel this is a hobby.
     Some feel that is a bonafide business.
     Some feel that this is a career with a future.
     Some are willing to give it a limited number of hours.
     Some are willing to give it all their waking time.
     Some are willing to give it maximum effort.
     Some are willing to give it only lip service.
     Some got into it for the easy money.
     Some got into it because nobody else would do it.
     Some got into it for the challenge.
     Some stay in it because it provides income.
     Some stay in it because it provides social interaction.
     Some stay in it because it provides recognition.

  If desire is the first step along the road to achievement, then it follows that desire must be kindled to the point where taking the second step becomes not merely something interesting to do this week, but instead a commitment toward the achievement of a specific goal. Therefore, let's redefine desire as a Dominating Dream -- the kind of dream you would do anything to achieve.

  There are at least six steps for converting this desire into accomplishment:

1.  Fix, in your mind, the specific thing you must accomplish, having made this step of becoming an Avon representative.

2.  Determine precisely what you intend to give in return for the accomplishment of your desire.

3.  Establish a specific target date when it is your intention to have achieved this accomplishment.

4.  Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin it at once, whether you are ready or not. Take some very specific steps to put your plan into action. You may refine your plan, but
a journey can never be achieved if the initial steps haven't been taken.

5.  Take the first four points listed above, and write out a clear and concise statement of the desire you have, how you
intend to achieve it, the time frame in which you will achieve it, and what you are willing to give to see it accomplished.
While it is doubtful that you will ever accomplish this plan precisely, having taken that step allows you to formalize your commitment toward the achievement of your desire.

6.  Read that written statement out loud, a couple times a day.  Do it at least before you go to bed at night. Do it first thing
in the morning. Do it as many times as you have the opportunity to do so during the day. This reinforces the steps necessary to
achieve your dream. It identifies to you in a very tangible way, what you must do to move that progress forward.

  You may well change this statement as your refine your steps.  And at some point, you'll not need to do that anymore -- they
will have become an ingrained part of your being. But get that imagination into place.

     Can you imagine yourself being in the President's Club?
     What about Honor Society? Rose Circle? Beyond?
     Can you imagine bringing home $50,000 this year?

  If you can imagine those things, then the next step is to pursue this dream, these goals, with all the fervor that you might have once given to a suitor. Can you see how you might pursue your dream with an ardor not dissimilar to falling in love? Unless you can work yourself into a passion for pursuing this dream, your chances of accomplishing it are slim, at best.

  At this point you must believe that you can and that you will accomplish it, irrespective of any and all obstacles that fate places in your way -- the customer who says NO; the limitations of work and family; the difficulty in getting the brochures distributed, the DM on the phone, the shipment in its entirety.  My goodness, if we could channel half of the consternation we read on these loops into positive accomplishment, where would
your business go?

  The next step is belief. If you really believe that you will be successful at selling Avon, you will be successful. If you believe and continue to tell yourself that you do believe, obstacles and roadblocks have a way of removing themselves.  You'll never be ready for success until you believe that success
can be achieved and that you, yourself, can achieve it.

  It takes no more effort to set your sights high above the crowd than it takes to give up and accept failure. You must demand success to achieve success. Even the Bible says "You have not because you ask not." Do you see the tie? Desire -- Demand. Don't hope for success. Demand it. Don't wish for achievement. Believe that it is accomplishable and that you can accomplish it. Demand less -- and less is what you will achieve.


Combining will-power and desire.

  Suppose it were possible to take out an insurance policy that would guarantee you success. Would that be sufficient assurance?  Or would it be too easily achieved? And if it were too easily
achieved, would you really know that you had achieved success? Or would you instead feel -- and perhaps find -- that there was
neither achievement nor sense of achievement because the desire became reality too easily? And if the reality was too easily achieved, wouldn't that mean that you set your sights too low --  that you were willing to accept anything as your reward?

  I firmly believe that you must DEMAND the BEST. And that includes demanding the best of yourself. To get the best, you'll
absolutely have to make up your mind to take the steps necessary to make it happen. In short, you'll need to screw up the power of your will.

  We all know what "won't power" is. It's an excuse for lack of action. We won't make that call. We won't knock on that door. We
won't take a risk, particularly one that would possibly embarass us. We won't put ourselves into a position where somebody could criticize us.

  "Won't power" is the easiest commodity to buy. Everybody sells it. "You can't make much doing Avon," some say. Really? Then how do we account for the number of success stores -- and in fact EXTREME success stories we can hear? Were these folks merely lucky? Or could it be that they made up their minds, screwed up their courage, stiffened their intestinal fortitude, and decided that Heaven help them, they WILL.

  That's all will power is -- the personal commitment to see steps taken, something accomplished, success achieved. It's
gritting your teeth and getting through it. It's knocking on the door when you'd rather drop the book and run. The great majority
is always willing to take the easy way. When the going gets tough, they willingly give up. They give up their dreams. From
that point, they'll even deny that they ever had a dream. Or they'll denigrate the opportunity as having nothing for them.

  In fact, they may well drift upon a sea of indifference, brought on by the first sign of difficulty -- opposition, lack of
commitment, lack of overwhelming rewards from the underwhelming efforts they have given. And the really interesting thing is that from this point they will try one thing after another, working toward some unseen goal, fearing failure to the point that they cause themselves to fail.

  It's no harder to do it than not to do it, in the final analysis. Have you ever experienced the situation where it took
someone longer to tell you why something couldn't be done that it would have taken to do it? Give up now and giving up next time becomes easier, and easier, until you never attempt anyting, never accomplish anything other than breathing.

  Body builders work to strengthen muscle in much the same way as carbon strengthens steel. To become fit at that level, they must first decide that they want to do it, determine that irrespective of any stimuli they WILL do it, and put themselves through a regimen guaranteed to see it happen.

  So, take desire, add a dash of "I WILL," and you have the basis for the persistence necessary to find success among all the
failures that are so easily available.


Steps to Success; Steps to Failure

  In my nine years of Avon, I've see a lot of people come and go.  Avon tells us that there is a 60% turnover in representatives
each and every year. This is why there is such pressure on DMs to recruit. They become involved, starting with the best of
intentions. They reach a roadblock or two along the initial journey and rather than stick with it to work out the difficulty,
they pack it in. In every case of failure, there is also a case of lack of effort. In other words, the stated desire is but a
hollow statement. If we in leadership can get folks to confront these issues, then we can keep them. More often than not, this
representative refuses help (or at least won't seek it), refuses to follow advice (for whatever reason), hides behind the
telephone answering machine, hides in the bedroom when you go to call, and is gone from Avon before we are even fully aware of it.

  The steps to success are laid out above. Everything else positive in your business will come as a result of those six items. The steps to failure are legion, however. The eagerness with which you follow those steps will clearly indicate whether or not you are destined for success, for those steps, taken repeatedly, will develop your persistence.

  Lack of persistence, on the other hand, is a major cause of failure, and like it or not, nobody can give you persistence. You
can acquire it, but nobody can bestow it upon you. If you lack persistence, one of the very best things you can do it to find a small cadre of friends who will commit to keeping you on the straight and narrow -- friends who will not permit you to quit --
friends who will constrantly remind you of your dream, your desire, and your program of accomplishment.


The Well-Tempered Avon Representative

  Have you ever watched a blacksmith work? If not, it would be a useful experience, and it can teach us quite a bit about being a successful Avon representative.

  The process begins with a plan in the mind of the metal worker.  There is something he wishes to fashion from the raw materials at his disposal. He may sketch it out on paper. He may follow a prepared plan. He may even have sufficient experience to do those steps only in an informal way. The point is that his desire to develop that product starts a chain of events, but the product will never appear based on his desire alone.

  He then picks up a piece of steel bar stock. He could bang away at that piece of bar stock till the cows come home and apart from denting it, scratching it, or insignificantly bending it, chances
are that he'll not be able to fashion it to the shape that matches his mental picture of what the final product should be.  All the desire in the world is insufficient motivation to achieve the final shape. Banging about with his will is insufficient
action to achieve the final shape.

  But given the desire and the will, he will now plunge that metal into intense heat -- and leaves it there until the metal
becomes malleable. The intense heat is comparable to the burning desire that will see the production of the dream, and is a good simile for the process. Even though the fire is hot; even though the blacksmith has the will and the skill; even though his very existence depends on having the final product -- that is insufficient to obtain it, as there must be some very specific
action taken -- and taken over a  prolonged-enough period to make a difference.

  Once the metal becomes malleable, something miraculous happens.  It's as if the metal itself has its own designs upon its final shape. The role of the blacksmith at this time is to apply external pressure in intensity sufficient to overcome the natural designs of the metal itself and to shape it into the product that was envisioned when the process began.

  But there's another lesson for us here. When the product exists and the architect of the product is happy with its shape, he
plunges the now reshaped metal into cold water, adding temper to the metal. If he continued to heat the metal; if he continued to beat the metal; if he continued to change the shape of the metal,
the product would then not be the result of his desire, his will, his skill, and the project would never be complete. Persistence, therefore, provides the tempering sufficient to accomplish the
dream. It may not be the ultimate dream. It may be only that dream which can be accomplished in the two weeks of a campaign.  But that two-week tempered product becomes a component part of
the larger desire -- perhaps the Mrs. Albee statue, or even the purchase of a home.


Gaining and Using Backbone

  Persistence carries with it other benefits, as well. Desire, tempered with white hot passion, followed by action that brings results, tends to make one defensive of the accomplishment. If you perceived each campaign to be an activity in isolation, then the process of beginning once again every two weeks would become
tedium. As you achieve the success that persistance can bring you, you add a color to the picture you paint, a component to the bridge you build, a feather in your accomplishment cap. To give that up any any point is an abdication to every naysayer you will ever encounter -- all those people who tell you it can't be done, that if it can be done, you can't do it, and if you can do it, you really shouldn't.

  And so you defend your accomplishment. And you celebrate it.  You post it on the wall (or on the loops) where you can see it.  You tell others about it. Your select group of advisors (we'll talk about these folks in a later post) must celebrate it with you. You tell those folks that not only can you do it, but you have done it and you will continue not only to do it but will build upon it until that significant accomplishment that began this journey as your over-all dream and the desire to accomplish it becomes reality, not only to you but to everybody around you.  And if you have to tell them that Avon provides the money to get the car, buy the groceries, send the kids to day care, takes you out to dinner and a show -- then you tell them. You stiffen up that backbone and crow!


Tests of Persistence

As I leave you tonight, I'd like to leave you with some very specific questions about persistence:

1. Would you commit to your task in the face of something that appears to be more interesting?

2. Would you devote the time necessary to build your excitement about Avon to the point that it becomes a high priority in your life?

3. Would you stay with the work when the going gets difficult, keeping the ultimate dream clearly in focus?

4. Would you be willing to accept setbacks with the same spirit with which you make progress?

5. Would you seek the strength of other similarly-motivated people to keep your own activities in motion?

6. Would you provide the same services to others that these people provide to you?

7. Would you make sacrifices in order to achieve your purpose?

8. Would you seek the more difficult way, rather than follow the path of least resistence?

9. Would you be willing to tell yourself, on a daily basis, what success is and how you will achieve it?

10. And finally ... WILL YOU?

Goodnight.

Ken the Avon Man -- AOL IM kenlordjr
Rose Circle member, Unit Leader, Certified Beauty Advisor
District 7286 -- Tucson, AZ
Book: Becoming an Avon Representative available for $15.