Our last Avon representative interview in our Avon home business series was held earlier this month. I spoke with Maria Sutej, a Regional Vice President in Sales at Avon Products, Inc. Maria has been with Avon since 1983, when she began as a District Sales Manager. Twenty-nine years is a long time, but Maria said she “…started this for fun, but had no idea it could be SO much fun!”
Maria shared that there are two ways Avon representatives can make money: 1) by building a home business based only on Avon sales and 2) by taking advantage of the leadership opportunity. She says the latter is where the true business opportunity lies, in not only selling to customers, but also recruiting new representatives. For maximum earning potential, Maria suggests representatives do both.
Maria also shared a couple of stories of Avon representatives she’s come in contact with over the years. She told us about Linda Jones, who was laid off from a corporate job about six years ago and started selling Avon due to the loss of income. Linda now sells $78,000 of product per year and earns about half of that. Another story Maria shared was that of Donna Reed Mitchell, who is originally from Jamaica and started her Avon career in New York. Donna’s daughter was diagnosed with an illness requiring her to home-school. Donna is a Sr. Executive Unit Leader earning a six-figure income and says she wouldn’t be able to home-school if it weren’t for her Avon business.
Maria’s advice for new representatives is to start approaching not only people you know, but also people you don’t know at various places you go. She said if you want to build a big business, you need to establish yourself. Her suggestion is that representatives list places they frequent and think of who they can approach. A key reminder is to not be afraid of approaching strangers; as Maria said, most people’s response is “I haven’t seen an Avon brochure in years!”
I asked Maria how Avon representatives can take advantage of social media to market their Avon businesses. She responded that Facebook is a great way to spread word and that she sees a lot of representatives using it to launch their business. Maria also mentioned that the internal Avon site has Internet marketing tools to help representatives, including videos, e-cards, and other content.
It’s clear that success through an Avon home business can be different for everyone. In interviewing the various Avon representatives over the past few months, we’ve seen a variety of levels of earning potential and business models. I think the great thing in all that is that Avon provides flexibility and allows each representative to create the home business that’s right for them.
Have you ever explored Avon as a home business opportunity?
Disclosure: I am being compensated for my work with Avon.
I sell avon but unfortunatly I do not like their items. The avon products are cheap. One of my family friends mention is that avon is for poor people.
I’m really sorry for your friend if they think that the Avon products are only for poor people, because I have several customers that have switched from Merle Norman, Mary Kaye and another popular cosmetic brand because they love ours so much. Our creams are just awesome, maybe you as a representative should give them some samples to try.give
I’m so sad you feel that way. But thankfully, “poor people” have fabulous skin rival with the “rich” that waste money on “higher end” products such as Erno Lazlo, Clinique, or Este Lauder. Thank you, Avon. Because of your “cheap” products, I’ve had REAL results and have reversed my crows feet and wrinkle using ANEW. NO ONE believes I’m 40!!!
The fact that AVON products are reasonably prices is only 1 of the many great things about AVON. I am a representative and I love the products, the opportunity of business ownership and the good that AVON does around the world. Please see AVON for all that is really is!
AVON ROCKS!
I started Avon only 3.5 years ago and by my 1st year I was paying ALL my home bills with this income. With Avon YOU are your own boss, so if you are lazy and enjoy complaining about your lot in life, you will not do well. If you are a Go-Getter and want to make this work you will ROCK AND ROLL with this!!!We took our little $10 ($20 online sign up b/c of shipping) OPPORTUNITY and turned it into a $2.5 MILLION dollar business in less than 2 years. No employees, no inventory you make your own hours. It is the American dream!JOIN OUR TEAM! We train and recruit COAST to COAST- we will show you what we did so you can DO IT TOO!
Contact me-www.BarbAvery.comsign up NOW with us!
http://www.Start.YourAvon.com
Code- BAvery
Invest $20 in YOURSELF! FullTime income PART TIME!
Now go have a STUPENDOUS DAY!
I signed up 6/22/11 to sell Avon because I’m retired and wanted something to do. I thought I would just do enough to get out of the house some and meet new people and maybe make a little extra money. Well surprise, in 14 campaigns I made presidents club, signed up 7 new people and having a ball. After working as an RN for 30 years I really needed a change, and boy did I get it. I sure am glad I did it. I would recommend it to anyone. I love helping women feel better about themselves. So anyone that is interested in selling just give me a buzz and I would love to sign you up and get you into something you will enjoy for the rest of your life. And it only cost $10.00 to sign up. Barbara Hyder 352-468-3604