PCP Gifts For Prizes
By Sr. Director Cindy Hurst
Several months ago I made the decision to enroll all my unit members on my personal Preferred Customer Program. This was a `duh' moment for me and it has been most beneficial to me so I thought I would share this idea with everyone. Please think through my reasoning on this:
You know I am all about customer service. As a Consultant we are responsible to service our customers. As a Sales Director we are responsible to serve our unit members.
I had been sending Look Books, new orders forms, sample orders and sometimes samples of new products to inactive Consultants or either paying or supplies, labor and shipping if I delegated this task. This expense helps retention and production.
The company can mail Look Books for .60/name. If I order books and pay postage I am above $1.26 before I pay labor.
Inactive Consultants are really `just good customers.'
Very often Consultants have a habit of running out of Look Books for whatever reason.
Even though I have a “selling seasoned unit”, my percentage of consultants who actually participate in the Preferred Customer Program runs about 10%. I want this to drastically increase because I want a base of 100 selling consultants.
Many times, when I personally recruited someone, I would turn her family, friends and acquaintances she had introduced to me back over to her, but through experience I had learned to keep all of them on Preferred Customer for a couple of quarters to be sure she made it to avoid losing all as customers if she did not work the business, so, many times the new consultant was already on my PCP.
I don't like to promote for wholesale, I like to promote for retail. However, I have learned that in critical months like December and June it helps to offer a small prize for $200, $600, $1000 wholesale. It was time consuming and frustrating to always be looking for reasonable gifts for small denominations
. In addition I have found that it works best if I am going to take the time to run a promotion to work it off wholesale, that way I have a way of tracking the results, because the majority of the unit does not send in weekly accomplishment sheets or vouchers anyway. I believe that if a Director forces a voucher it is simply a way to limit prizes actually given away.
Most of my unit communication is through the mail as 80% of the unit does not attend weekly Success Training. I would like for my unit members to ANTICIPATE correspondence with me the way I always did my Sr. Director, Executive, or NSD. I was always SO EXCITED to see anything in the mailbox from Pat, Wadene, or Rubye. Regardless of what else was in the box I tore into their envelope or read their card first. Is the only time your unit members hearing from you when they get a postcard telling them to order?
How I Work the System:
I put all unit members on my Preferred Customer Enrollment when their agreement is processed. If they are a personal recruit they are probably already enrolled. I have discovered the way to keep up with who is a customer and who is a unit member is to put the unit members names in all caps, with customers use upper and lower case letters.
I know that at least once every quarter all Consultants will automatically receive the newest Look Book. They are being exposed to NEW PRODUCTS regardless of how long they have been in Mary Kay, whether they attend Weekly Success Training, whether they are receiving Applause magazine or whether they actually read anything else I send them. Some Consultants who are pretty inactive who have been in a long time have not seen NEW PRODUCT in a very long time. Remember, C consultants are really just good customers. The Look Books automatically going out is one thing I do not have to delegate. It really does not matter that the few Consultants who do participate in PCP get an extra book.
Initially I was concerned about the Free Gift with Purchase picture being on the back of my books, then it hit me that could be my `prize' for $200 orders, even if it cost me more than the $1 trinket I had been giving away. These premiums count toward Seminar Courts, they simplify ordering because they come directly from the company, it is going to build future unit production because it exposes Consultants to products they would not be aware of otherwise. I can remember hearing Vicki Auth speak about Mary Kay personally asking at a Future National Summit whether it was better to do $1,000,000 with 50 Consultants or 150 and Vicki being surprised that Mary Kay suggested with 50. Think about it, if you have a unit of 50 consistent, selling unit members this is SECURITY for you. 50 unit members x $200 wholesale is $10,000 wholesale. If you have a base of 100 with 50% ordering (our goal every month) that equals $10,000 minimum before any new recruits or additional production from your producers.
After month end close out I print out my unit wholesale orders off the desktop and check off the Consultants name as I present it at the meeting. If Consultants attend the meeting I present them with their PCP premium. If they do not attend the meeting I mail it in a 5x7 manilla envelope with their newsletter. With the new price on the premiums being $4.00 this is expensive, but for the ones I have to mail I am ordering extra samples, just the lotion tubes, which will cost me only $1.00. Other than presentation, there is no need for them to have all the plastic involved in the actual premiums. How much do you think this reinforces the importance of PCP at the meeting, therefore training Consultants.
I had an ink stamp made that reads, “A Gift for You From Me Enclosed,” which is stamped on the outside of the envelope of prizes mailed. They may not ever read a newsletter, but if I received a package reading “A Gift for You From Me Enclosed” I would open it. Even if someone orders only every 3, 6 or 11 months I want it to be a positive experience. You and I both know that seeing that UPS truck drive up and getting to open those boxes is like Christmas.
I just typed up a generic document to enclose in the packages mailed so they will not be confused when this package arrives the first time. I believe this enclosure also serves as a very important training tool. It reads:
A Gift for You from Me!
Enclosed you will find your gift from me for your wholesale order last month. The Preferred Customer Premium is for ordering $200 wholesale and contributing to our unit goal. This is the same gift that your customers receive if you participate in the Preferred Customer Program. Be sure to enroll your customers this quarter - they love the gifts and it increases your sales. You can enroll your customers by going to your MK home page that says, “Welcome____________,” go to the far right columm, scroll down and click on Preferred Customer Program and follow the directions.
I wish you would send me your weekly accomplishment sheets so I could recognize you in the newsletter. You can submit them on line to me by clicking on “submit weekly accomplishment sheet” on your home page. If you do this drop me a quick email telling me you have submitted a weekly accomplishment sheet so I am sure not miss it.
If you will get a list of potential recruits - a `Hot List” together I will gladly interview for you and help you get recruits. I know you would love to get a 4, 9, or 13% Love Check from the company.
Thank you for being such a great unit member! I appreciate YOU!
Love and unshakeable belief, Cindy
If you can't afford all the premiums you need at the initial signup up, just enter the names with a minimum number of premiums. You can order the additional premiums after the enrollment begins, and you don't have to worry about them being backordered or out of stock when placing the order as with some wholesale companies we deal with.
There are occasions where you may `inherit' unit members when an offspring unit dissolves, etc. I believe enrolling Consultants on PCP is a good place to begin reestablishing the Director/Consultant relationship during the transistion. In situations like this many times the Consultant has had no real support from her Director in months and it is very easy for what could be developed into a really good Consultant to be lost between the cracks. When that Consultant receives the Look Book a followup phone call can begin the repair work. I would begin by asking if they received the Look Book, knew that it had scratch and sniff pages, determine how receptive that Consultant is to my influence, and continue developing as needed.
Remember that Look Books mailed from the company are mailed Bulk mail or third class. If you have incorrect addresses they will not be forwarded. I was concerned about forwarded mail but determined that I send out enough regular first class mail that if there is an address change I will find out about it.
This system simplifies my life and increases both my production and retention. Just as I can tell when the PCP Look Books hit customer mailboxes, I can tell when it hits the Consultant mailboxes. Consultants who have not been ordering do after they receive the new books. My production and retention is increased. Currently I am checking behind Consultants when they place orders to see if the samples are impacting orders. You can go to order status, click on their consultant number and pull up the items ordered. By observation you can determine whether the samples are causing Consultants to order new products they would not have normally ordered or if they are ordering the usual products. I have found that even my Consultants that already participate in PCP still want theirs. It is like a special treat just for them and they do run out of premiums. I encourage you to test this method for a couple of quarters and see if it works for you.