AVON’s UK Sales Leader Programme

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The Avon Sales Leadership Council

AVON first introduced the concept of Sales Leaders in its US business in the mid 1990s, to ensure that their earning opportunity remained relevant and contemporary. The programme was designed to allow sales Representatives to earn life changing amounts of money through their efforts. The skills required were different from the traditional Representative based business, but Avon developed a thorough training programme for ambitious Representatives and the new concept was so successful that it was rolled out globally. In this issue Direct Selling News Europe, looks at the progress and evolution of the Sales Leader Programme in Avon UK and Northern Ireland.

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Sales Leadership offers highly successful Representatives the chance to take responsibility for recruiting, managing and motivating their own teams, whilst earning variable commission on their team’s paid sales. Teams can grow as big as 2500 members over a wide geographical area, as no limits are set. The UK’s top performers run independent businesses where their individual turnovers can be in the region of £4 million annually.

Avon UK first launched a test of the Sales Leadership programme midway through 2002, which involved a small number of Representatives and Area Sales Managers, who employed by Avon, look after Representatives and Sales Leaders within a designated area. During the same year the Sales Leadership test expanded to cover selected sales areas in London and Kent. The results were so encouraging, as was the response from Avon’s Representatives that in 2003 the original model was developed and enhanced further, before being piloted in two sales regions. This successful model was then rolled out nationally across the UK and Northern Ireland in 2004.

Paul Stephens

In addition to offering increased earning opportunities, Avon UK also introduced a new range of incentives, designed to motivate their existing and potentially successful Sales Leaders. In 2005 the now much coveted annual ‘Top 20 Trip’ was launched and has since seen the top twenty Sales Leaders rewarded each year with trips to Barcelona, Prague and Mallorca. Monte Carlo is the destination planned for 2009, and the competition is fierce!

“We run four incentive programmes a year outside the normal pay structure, a car programme and a ‘fast start’ bonus opportunity for new Sales Leaders,” said Paul Stephens, Development Manager, Sales Leadership. He explained, “In 2006 we introduced an annual National Sales Conference for Sales Leaders which we called ‘Live Your Dream.’ It comprises of a full day business meeting followed by a gala dinner. There is recognition throughout the day for top achievers, as well as business insights, motivation, incentive and initiative launches. In 2008 David Carter and Debbie Davis (Senior Executive Sales Leaders) were recognised as the two top Sales Leaders with earnings between them of £250,000. At the beginning of 2009, we saw the biggest ever First Quarter bonus paid out to Sales Leaders, which we were delighted to award.” He added, “The ‘Live Your Dream’ event has been so successful that this year we are oversubscribed!”

Paul went on to say, “It’s very exciting to be able to offer people the opportunity to become self-employed and help them grow their own Avon business. The potential of Sales Leadership is endless, as some of the top achievers will tell you.”

Debbie Davies

One of these top achievers is Debbie Davies, mentioned earlier, who has direct selling in her blood! She had worked previously for a network marketing company for three years before joining Avon in May 2004. Debbie was an Avon Representative for just one week, before quickly realising that she had a natural talent for recruiting, managing, training and growing a team of other Avon Representatives. She managed to recruit 39 Representatives in her first three week campaign and was an instant success at Sales Leadership. She loves managing her own Avon business and has even managed to recruit her partner Dave Carter to work alongside her.

Debbie has always been extremely successful with Avon. Last year she won the overall “Top Achiever” award which was based on sales, earnings and team growth performance at the annual ‘Live Your Dream’ event. Together with her partner Dave, Debbie won the award for the largest team growth – they now have 2,500 Representatives working with them. They were both extremely delighted to drive away from the event, each in a brand new car! A Mercedes SLK and a BMW X3, which were the first and second prizes respectively of the “Drive your Dream” award, theirs for achieving the largest overall team and sales growth. Debbie wished she had started working with Avon years ago and feels she’s now finally found her niche in the business world. “Avon has made me a confident and independent woman. If you had told me five years ago that I would own two cars, be moving into a large house and going on luxurious holidays, I would never have believed you – I am living the Avon dream” she said.

Another successful Sales Leader is Rebecca Brookman. She is a busy young mum with four children under the age of five. With a husband in the Royal Navy she is always rushed off her feet tending to her children and making sure they have everything they need. She first heard of Avon from one of the mothers in the playground and decided that running her own Avon business was the perfect way to combine job security with raising her family.

Rebecca Brookman

Her enthusiasm and determination to Growth’ too! As an ex-model, her passion for make-up, Avon Shopping Socials (Avon Parties) and charity fundraising means her team of 50 is growing every day. These regular parties and meetings she holds mean that her team is always motivated and best placed to succeed. Rebecca said, “Avon

has changed my life. I can’t believe how quickly my business is growing and it just shows that a bit of enthusiasm and determination can get you anywhere. I love every second I spend on building my Avon business and only wish I’d started sooner.”

Rebecca sees every day as an opportunity for growth and didn’t let the fact that her husband was thousands of miles away hold her back. Sending him off with Avon brochures she even managed to get him selling Avon products on his ship. He’s now back in England and has decided to team up with his wife and sell Avon at home too.

An important milestone in the development of Sales Leaders took place in 2006 when the Sales Leader Council was founded. The Sales Leader Council are a group of Sales Leaders that meet on a regular basis with Avon’s senior management to discuss and consult on various projects and/or proposed changes. Any initiative that Avon H.Q. is considering for implementation will be put before the Sales Leader Council for input and feedback. There are four discreet work streams within the Sales Leader Council: Compensation, Training and Development, Policies and Procedures, and Operations and Events. The core members attend regular meetings, and additional support members contribute by conference call, e-mail and occasionally local meetings. “The mutual benefit gained here comes through a better insight and understanding into many areas of the business, through honest, open dialogue,” said Paul Stephens.

Anna Segatti

Commenting on the future of the Sales Leader programme, Anna Segatti, President, Avon UK and Ireland, said, “Avon’s Sales Leadership programme provides people with the opportunity to develop their entrepreneurial skills and create a business for themselves. The continued growth in our Representative numbers can be attributed in part to the expansion of Sales Leadership and therefore it will play a crucial role in Avon’s future growth.”