? for CM Consultants

[TPCShauna]

Long story but my CM consultant has decided that she no longer wants me to be her customer despite the $1,000 a year that I spend with her and all of the business I've brought to her in 2 years.

Can one of you explain how the hobbiest CM consultant thing works? I'm curious to see if it would be worth my time.

TIA!

[Mickster]

I have no idea, but did she actually tell you she doesn't want you as a customer? Is she "retiring" from being a consultant? Weird...

I have a cropping club and I can ask my consultant on Monday. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

[Melrosgirl]

That's crazy! Did she actually tell you she didn't want you to be her customer or did you find out through the grapevine? You should sign up and then become her best competition! :lmao:

[MazdaUK]

In the UK we don't have a distinction for hobbyists - as long as you do retail £150 in a rolling 3 months they're happy!

[quiltymom]

If you have at least 2 or 3 friends who scrapbook, being a Personal Use Consultant (instead of hobbyist) would be a great idea for you. Basically, for now all you need to do after you sign your agreement and purchase your consultant kit is make sure you place the minimum order of $500 retail every 3 months in order to stay on active status (this will change to $150 retail every month sometime in the July timeframe - I'm not certain of the exact date).

If you happen to miss placing the minimum order you will be automatically deactivated, but your Upline should remind you of this before it actually happens.

You don't have to schedule Get-Togethers (although they are what does help you grow your business and get customers). After 5 years of being a Personal Use Consultant and only holding occasional Get-Togethers and regularly scheduled workshops, I have been able to stay activated without a problem. I also give CM products as gifts. Nothing like shopping from your own home! But now I'm moving up to having this be a part-time job, to move to full-time once the kids are older. It's great.

If you have any other questions, please PM me and I'll see if I can help! Good Luck!

[BernardandMissBianca]

Yep Shauna was specifically asked not to attend anymore crops, via e-mail no less. Not even in person! :mad:

[AlexWyattMommy]

That was unprofessional to say the least.

There was some drama at our Friday night's club (I am Sunday night) and they were really hoping some people would decide to not join back. But nobody was told not too.

Well, Shauna, I am always happy to help out with a book order when you are short for staying active.

[ffindis]

Was there some kind of incident or was this out of the blue?

[mantaz]

That is sad. I would be happy to have someone that spends $1000.00 a year. I just started selling in Sept 05 but it is mainly for myself and a few friends. Have you looked on the CM website for a new consultant? Look for an Upline and see how she handles things. Maybe you could join her team. I would let you be my customer but I live on the other side of the country! Good luck in your decision!

[BernardandMissBianca]

That was unprofessional to say the least.

There was some drama at our Friday night's club (I am Sunday night) and they were really hoping some people would decide to not join back. But nobody was told not too.

Well, Shauna, I am always happy to help out with a book order when you are short for staying active.

Drama at a crop! I love it!!!! :lmao: :rotfl2:
Sorry, I just get in the zone and tend to block everyone out. What do you argue about, someone's use of color????:confused3

Shauna, I'm telling you see was just jealous because you're talented and made her look bad!

[TPCShauna]

You ladies are so sweet!

Like Buffy said, she sent me an email completely out of the blue telling me that I make her less experienced scrappers nervous when I express indecision over one of my pages and she thinks it is better if I do not attend any of her future workshops. She said that she "wishes me luck" with my albums.

Again, completely out of the blue.

I don't know about the consultant thing. I definitely can't match her or "steal" her customers. She keeps $10,000 of stock on hand at all times and I would never do that kind of thing. I would totally just be doing the personal use thing.

I still have to talk to DH about it. He doesn't want me to sign up and I don't know for sure that I COULD support $150 a month in sales because I don't want to be a sales person.

[Olaf]

Indecision over one of your album pages? What? Man, her business must be booming to give the heave ho to a customer. I have never heard something like that.

[Lisa]

Shauna.

CM is going to have a consultant signing promotion in March, you may consider signing then. Can purchase the consultant kit at 1/2 price with a GT qualifying order of $400. You can PM me for more details.

The policy is getting away from large quantities of inventory with direct ship so being a consultant may be more to your suiting now.

I LOVE super talented scrappers at my workshop (you know who you are Ms. Buffy). I think it makes me look good as a consultant!

[Fran98765]

That's the silliest thing I have ever heard... your pages are too good that the CM consultant doesn't want you around?!? Perhaps you should let her other customers know her true feelings, they might not be so thrilled you being dumped like that. I would think having good scrappers would be a boom to her business. Odd folks make up this world...

[AlexWyattMommy]

Actually some of the drama came about because of the swap pages we make every month. We make x# of the same page and recieve x# of different pages at the end of the night.

Well, in that club someone decide to sell their pages they received on a auction site. The other people who made those pages got mad. And I mean really mad.

Me, I don't care. If you can't use what I made, go ahead, sell it. I don't copyright my stuff. Give it away. Toss in the trash if it is really bad.

Then there were personal issues I just didn't want to hear about, so I don't know any details there.

My club is sweet. We help each other with our pages. And seriously, if anyone wanted to sell my original page, or even make more of the same one and sell it. Hey, that is just a complement to me. :thumbsup2

[LisaB]

I have a friend who does really talented work. Am I jealous of the work she does sure I am she does wonderful work. But that isn't my style of work. I do pages and then I am done with it. To give up a good customer because of the less experience scrappers is crazy. Especially with all the scrapping you do. You said that you spend 1K a year on supplies with her. A remember that 150 a month is retail not you cost

[StitchIsOurHero]

Shauna, I can't believe that! That's crazy!! You should definitely look into being a personal use consultant!! Good luck! :wizard:

[BernardandMissBianca]

Shauna.

CM is going to have a consultant signing promotion in March, you may consider signing then. Can purchase the consultant kit at 1/2 price with a GT qualifying order of $400. You can PM me for more details.

The policy is getting away from large quantities of inventory with direct ship so being a consultant may be more to your suiting now.

I LOVE super talented scrappers at my workshop (you know who you are Ms. Buffy). I think it makes me look good as a consultant!


Thanks sweetie!! :hug:

BTW how does $231 sound??? :scared: :faint:

[quiltymom]

Like Buffy said, she sent me an email completely out of the blue telling me that I make her less experienced scrappers nervous when I express indecision over one of my pages...

Gee, I don't know if I've every had anyone at one of my workshops that has known "exactly" what to do. I mean, isn't that what crops are for? To bounce ideas off of one another? "Should I do this or that? I'm not sure that I like that - what should I do?" That's just about all that we do - tell each other what to do!:rotfl: !

My suggestion is if you don't want to become a consultant, find a new one in your area, just as others have already said. But if you did become a consultant, don't every compare yourself and/or your business to someone else's. As they always tell us, there's more people out there who haven't done anything with their photos who need consultants to work with them. You wouldn't be stealing away or competing at all. You'd just be working with a whole different group of fun people.

Good luck to you!

[MazdaUK]

Sounds to me like she maybe has some insecurities about her own abilities! Go for it and find your own group! I basically just act for myself and 3 friends - I'm never going to get rich from them as they're all still working on their first albums (after one year!), because they tend only to scrap when I invite them round. But they have fun and it justifies my expenditure ;)

[ddavis860]

Sounds to me like she maybe has some insecurities about her own abilities!

I was going to say the same thing...sounds like she was threatened. Having an experienced scrapper at a crop, you would think she would be happy. She just didn't like your confidence. But now she has lost you as a good customer ($1000 isn't bad money), and any of your friends that came with you (I'd show them the letter, and get them to buy from you)...AND the chance of being your upline...sheesh...bad business move on her part...

BUT, if you can get your DH onboard, sounds like you can do well. Go for it, and see what happens...

[kaddjr]

I was going to say the same thing...sounds like she was threatened. Having an experienced scrapper at a crop, you would think she would be happy. She just didn't like your confidence. But now she has lost you as a good customer ($1000 isn't bad money), and any of your friends that came with you (I'd show them the letter, and get them to buy from you)...AND the chance of being your upline...sheesh...bad business move on her part...

BUT, if you can get your DH onboard, sounds like you can do well. Go for it, and see what happens...

I agree and would definitely show my friends that letter. If you could get a few friends on board with you, I'm sure you would do well.

I had a consultant tell me once that I should keep my pages "simple". That I was too much of a "fancy scrapper". She said I put too much thought into my l/os. I think those comments stemmed from the fact that I don't exclusively use cm products and she didn't like that. She would get uptight if we (me and the group of gals I used to scrap with) would talk about other products/scrapbook stores/other techniques using non-cm products in front of her. And I mean really uptight. It would make her mad when I knew what new products were coming out (thanks to some posters here :thumbsup2 ) before she did.:laughing: There were a few other issues also, but needless to say, I don't use her as a consultant anymore.;)

[Mickster]

My consultant is the same way. We have "creative differences" over what I put in my albums (some of the girls in my club call it contraband!;) ), but we agree to disagree and don't let it get in our way. Besides I usually do simple stuff. Every now and again, I try something new. I just want to get my pictures in a box and out of the box!

[MazdaUK]

I'm a naughty consultant;) because I use loads of non-CM stuff - otherwise how could I do swaps?? But I do only use their albums and adhesives, and all their tools, and I don't market non-Cm at my crops - but equally I will show my group new ideas and layouts and let them look at other scrap mags etc.

[marlynnp]

:lmao: Shauna's The Scraptimidator :::said in best Arnold voice::::rotfl2:

[BernardandMissBianca]

I agree and would definitely show my friends that letter. If you could get a few friends on board with you, I'm sure you would do well.

I had a consultant tell me once that I should keep my pages "simple". That I was too much of a "fancy scrapper". She said I put too much thought into my l/os. I think those comments stemmed from the fact that I don't exclusively use cm products and she didn't like that. She would get uptight if we (me and the group of gals I used to scrap with) would talk about other products/scrapbook stores/other techniques using non-cm products in front of her. And I mean really uptight. It would make her mad when I knew what new products were coming out (thanks to some posters here :thumbsup2 ) before she did.:laughing: There were a few other issues also, but needless to say, I don't use her as a consultant anymore.;)

You put to much thought into your layouts?!?!? That's nuts! If you're not going to put forth any effort then just schlep them into a regular photo album. Fancy scrapper?? I guess I'm a fancy scrapper but the pages never outshine my pics.

There is one girl at my crop that calls my stuff contraband too. If CM made everything then I would probably buy it from them, however, they don't so as long as I know my pics are safe then I'm using what I like. And yes my CMC agrees with me!:hug:

[AlexWyattMommy]

Contraband? Seriously?

We are a Stampin' Up club. Does that mean we use other things in our album? We sure do. We do try to keep our monthly pages to mostly Stampin' Up things since this is her business and she needs to be able to show the stuff during meeting/conferences. But even she acknowledges that sometimes you just can't get everything you need from one place.

[Faerie]

I've been without a CMC for ages because I use non-CM stuff in my albums. Naughty me

[soccerchick]

Hi Shauna,
Sorry about your CMC! That's just too weird.

If you are serious about signing as a CMC, the February incentive is better than the March one. You can get 20 additional products for just $20 more than the kit. Dollar per dollar, this is a better savings w/o the hassle of hosting a GT. Then, you can do your own show to kick off your business. You can use the products from the incentive yourself or sell them.

I'm not much of a "salesperson" either, but I am about to reach my one year anniversary. So it can work.

Good luck with your decision.

[kaddjr]

You put to much thought into your layouts?!?!? That's nuts! If you're not going to put forth any effort then just schlep them into a regular photo album. Fancy scrapper?? I guess I'm a fancy scrapper but the pages never outshine my pics.

That's what she said to me- no joke! To her it was more about getting as many pages done as fast as you can vs quality of the work you do (read: the more pages you do, the more pages/albums/page protectors/stickers etc you will buy from me). Alot of the pages I saw at these crops really reflected this consultant's philosophy- very bland, no flow to the pages, etc. In other words, slap the pics on the page, throw on a few stickers, write a few words and be done with it. I told her I wouldn't be happy with "simple" and would have to re-do the "simple" pages, so why waste the time, money, and effort. No thanks! I will stick to my "fancy scrapper" ways!;) My philosophy is to use embellishments that will enhance the photos and the story at the same time. I like to think about how my l/os will look ahead of time. I don't know, maybe I'm too much of a perfectionist (DH will tell you I am!).:confused3

If CM made everything then I would probably buy it from them, however, they don't so as long as I know my pics are safe then I'm using what I like.

This cmc has been told this more than once. She was also told if she wanted to b***h about it too much, they would find another cmc. AFAIK, they are still using her- probably because she has a lot of stock on hand.

[JandJ]

WOW - Reading this reminds me of what a wonderful CMC I have! The first time I ordered from her, over 1 year ago, she delivered the items to my house so I showed her my scrap room and I said "oops - there's a lot of contraband in here - sorry!" and she just laughed and said "I don't care what you use, if you like it, and it's safe for your photos, make your pages however you want." I'd never had a CMC like that (she's my third one since I moved). The last crop of her's I went to, the girl sharing my table was not using one single CM item (all "contraband") and no one said anything. In fact, my CMC was helping her with her pages even though she didn't have any CM products.

I agree with everyone who said your CMC should be happy to have experienced scrappers mixed into the group. That's how my group is and we learn from each other. Sometimes I do too much, then I see a beginner with a simple page and it reminds me to tone it down; or a more advanced scrapper with all kinds of pretty ideas and I "borrow" them :rolleyes1 Makes it more enjoyable!

[RealMickeysGirl]

My cmc doesn't mind if you use other products, and I do, but I use them discretely at her crops. She hasn't ever said anything negative to me about it and she helps me with my pages and lets me know when a page looks good - even if it doesn't have only cm products on it.

When I started formal photo album scrapbooking, there wasn't a lot of stuff offered in the stores that was safe and I really did stress the safety issue. Now you can get so many things from so many sources that it doesn't make any sense to be restrictive. I know if my CM constultant was restrictive or badgering about other products, I wouldn't buy as much as I do from her. She knows when I buy something from her that it is something I will use and that I respect that the product is good.

I was a CMC back in the mid-late 90's. Back then they didn't have a lot of the stuff they have now. My upline would order diecuts from a mail order company to sell and order directly from Mrs. Grossmans (and let her down line buy this stuff from her to sell to their customers - she would never let us know the vendor). Eventually, all cmc's could order some products from Mrs. Grossmans and the company came out with their own sets of diecuts. I had lots of cookie cutters, scisors, stencils and other thngs that I let my customers use at my crops. My upline didn't complain about it (I got the cookie cutter idea from her in the first place) and I didn't see the problem with it - I wasn't selling them, just letting my customers use them. BUT - my upline suddenly decided that she didn't like it and wouldn't let me bring any of my cropping tools to the combined crops. She didn't want any of her downline to bring anything to the crops that wasn't CM and she didn't want us displaying any albums that had anything other than CM merchandise in them.

Don't get me wrong - my uplines customers really loved her and she treated them well but when you signed that contract, her relationship with you totally changed. She quit a full time job to just do CM and kept bugging me to quit my job and just do CM. Since I wouldn't, I wasn't dedicated enough for her. (Guess you can tell that it left a little bitter taste in my mouth.)

I would love to be a hobby consultant - and I have a few friends who would be my customers and help me get my monthly quotas but I can't make myself do it right now. With all the stuff going on with my parents after my dad's stroke, I don't have the energy to think about it. I do think that my current consultant would be very supportive of the idea though.

[TPCShauna]

I think my biggest issue is that I am feeling badly burned by this whole situation. I like CM products. They are the ONLY albums I will use and I like the tools. Most of my friends are still her customers and I would feel bad asking them to choose between the two of us. I also don't have space in my house to host crops so that is not an option for me anyway. I also don't scrap the CM way and I never will so I can't even put together a CM album for demonstration because I just don't want to.

I think I will work on finding another CMC. I am struggling with the website though because it only wants to give me five names and none of them have crops. Grrrr! :sad2:

[mantaz]

If you are trying your zip, try the next zip over. Maybe you will have better luck with surrounding zips. You could try Yahoo.com and see if there is a group that does crops near you. I wish you the best of luck!!

[maria34a]

Wow, I just read all this and can't believe it!!! You should really report this girl, how dare she "throw" you out!!!! What gives her the right to do that? I hear horror stories about CM Consultants everywhere and it just sickens me. Why can't they let their customers be creative and find joy in that? People need encouragement and praise in whatever we do, I don't know one single person who LIKES to be put down! Telling someone they did a GREAT job on something puts a smile on their face! What is wrong with that?? I think these people have lost touch with what is important and that is Customer Service!!!! Your customer is NEVER wrong!!!! You seriously need to stand up for yourself and say something! Also find someone else who will appreciate your business! Call her upline and ask her if she knows of another consultant in the area just starting out who needs customers!!! You will make someone really happy!

[soccerchick]

I think my biggest issue is that I am feeling badly burned by this whole situation. I like CM products. They are the ONLY albums I will use and I like the tools. Most of my friends are still her customers and I would feel bad asking them to choose between the two of us. I also don't have space in my house to host crops so that is not an option for me anyway. I also don't scrap the CM way and I never will so I can't even put together a CM album for demonstration because I just don't want to.

I think I will work on finding another CMC. I am struggling with the website though because it only wants to give me five names and none of them have crops. Grrrr! :sad2:


Try to hit refresh - it should give you more names (unless that's IS all the consultants in your zip code). If that's the case, do like another suggested and go one more zip over. Also, if one is close, send an email asking about crops. I know several CMCs who pay for the premium website but don't put anything one it. Which. I. Totally. Don't. Get. Anyway, if you see someone who would be convenient, try them, They are selling pretty good volume to even get onto the locator, so chances are good they do some sort of crop/workshop.