CMCs - a few more questions for you...

[soccerchick]

A while back some of you were kind enough to answer some of my ?? about becoming a CMC. I keep dragging my feet, waiting for our basement to get finished, but that will be the middle of the summer. There are things I want now, so I will probably go ahead and start.

How hard or easy was it for you to make the 90 day success plan? I have a circle of friends that I would give my discount to; I'd feel too guilty making $$ off them. I'd also hope that if things were reversed, they'd be generous with me. I am pretty confident that I'd have enough orders each quarter to stay active. I'd really like to do the crop thing more so than the Get Togethers, though the power sort and borders classes are something I'm interested in too.

I have two people willing to do a Get Together so far. I won't go active until the middle of Feb. so I have time to get some more. I'm hoping this is a little bit slower time for people and they'd have time to come to crops/classes.

Anyway - if you have any starting advice, please let me know. $1600 retail doesn't seem that hard, but I need to get a few more classes together.

Thanks again for any advice!

 

[ncmomof2]

I would say that the 30 and 60 days is easy but the 90 is not. I would not recommend just buying enough to get it either. I have friends who were still paying it off after stopping being a CMC.

If you are nor in too much of a hurry to start, there should be an incentive for new CMC's soon. There is usually one in the spring and you will get extra stuff for signing up then.

I started out thinking I would give my friends the full discount but I reconsidered. I doubt I would still be a CMC if I had. I do phone sales once or twice a year. On thing to remember is shipping. For any orders under $800 the shipping is $15. I don't know how it is where you are, but here no one charges shipping. So you would be stuck with that cost so your friends would be getting a bigger discount than you. Also, you need pretty many consistant customer to make the $500 a quarter. I have about 15 and some that are every once in awhile.

I have been a CMC for two years. In that time I have given my friends tons of discount and free stuff (from shows and the give away) and I have not spent a dime of my family money for my own things! Good luck!

 

[TiggerFamily]

I agree with NCmomof2 not to give friends the discount, I also take good care of them in other ways. In Feb I've been a CMC a year and my up line suggested that I charge shipping to everyone she didn't and now kicks her self she never started it because if you don't start off doing it you can't start later, I charge 5% to every order it's the same as the tax and I've never had anyone say anything about it. I made my 30 and 60 days and not 90 days. Don't over buy, the things to make sure you always have in stock are tape runners and pages and page protectores, I never sell pages or an album without asking if they want page protectors for that. I've had a pretty good first year and I love it but some times it's very slow and I get stressed out but slow and steady wins the race. My upline has become one of my best friends now and I've made other great friends being a CMC, I've met Mother's at my sons school because of CM that I wouldn't have met before. My husband thinks the business is going better then he expected it to. Good luck, Nancy

 

[ncmomof2]

I just noticed that there is an incentive right now. You get a free watch with different watch bands in the new album colors. Just so you know!

 

[soccerchick]

Thanks for the replies. You've certainly given me lots to think about and some good advice.

Would you mind sharing what you do for your good friends/family? In addition to the discount (which yo've made a good case against) I was thinking I'd do two crops a month. One a Crop Till You Drop w/ a fee, but provide drinks, a dessert and some giveaways. I'd also do a No Frills Friends and Family crop where I also get to work on my album, so no extras, probably some drinks only kind of thing- no drawings/giveaways. That way friends can choose which way they prefer. Do you give coupons? Pass on coupons or leftovers?

I know there's an incentive coming out, my upline alluded to it (she was just at the director's meeting last weekend, I think). She will also provide her own incentive (3 7x7 albums) for signing with her.

I'd love to be in the position of ncmomof2 where the business pays for my stuff. If I can eventually build it up to have extra $ that would be super too


One last question (for now anyway). Did any of you send out e-mails/letter when you started? Can you recommend wording/information to use in your letters that you think made it successful? I have a draft started, but I'm trying to strike a balance b/w excitement, trying to earn business, etc. KWIM?

Thanks again! I realyl appreciate the adivce and time you took. I meet w/my upline to be on Feb 2. (when she gets back from Disney...)

 

[soccerchick]

Just got the e-mail re: Feb. incentive. The watch and trip points. I'd rather have inventory

 

[kldmom2000]

I was a CMC for about 13 months... it was just too expensive for me to continue doing it!LOL! CMC's are a dime a dozen around here and everyone I tried to woo as a customer already had a consultant....Then, all of my neighbors and friends that urged me to sign on promising to support me ended up constantly asking to "borrow" my tools and never actually bought anything! I found that I ended up buying more inventory just to meet my quarterly goals and was very much in the red come tax time last year that DH made me stop... "I" am happier as a customer than a consultant. My upline is back to being my consultant and I enjoy going to her workshops and taking advantage of the time I have to scrap my own stuff rather than all the time I was spending trying to just break even doing promotions and what-not. You really have to be committed to working at it in order to start seeing any sort of income.... You also have to be somewhat aggressive, which I am not at all!!!LOL! GL to you-hope everything goes smoothly for you!

 

[ncmomof2]

As far as crops, it is going to be up to your customers/friends. I have one a month and it is cancelled half the time because no one can make it. I personally do not charge for my crops. I ask everyone who is attending to bring a snack. That way it does not cost me anything. I do charge at Croptoberfest and National Scrapbook Day. The reason I charge for those is that I give them each a gift, do a drawing for a prize, and server dinner. I think my customers/friends appreciate me not overcharging them to crop. That way they have more money to buy stuff. It keeps us both happy.

I have also been honest with my customer/friends. They know that I have to place an order every three months. I send them e-mails about the new stuff but let them know when I am ordering. I keep the essential on hand, like page protectors, refills, and tape runners for their needs before I order. I do have an awesome upline who is a Unit Leader so she can get me what I need at all times. I mentioned this because I took over for a consultant who quit. She never told me that she had to place orders every three months. I was the kind of customer that got all the new products I liked as soon as they came out. If she had told me, I could have waited to help her out.

One other idea, I don't focus on $500 worth of orders. I watch my CM checking account to have $425. That is about how much a $500 order costs.

 

[cobbler]

Like the previous poster said there are a lot of CM's out there. I never heard of CM until I came to this board. Then I decided to be a consultant to get my items at cost and all of a sudden I found CM's are everywhere. And most people do already have a consultant. And I am not one of those that can go out and do cold contacts by approching people in the store or wherever.

Also I have a lot of friends that don't like to do parties and such so this makes it hard too. Although all of the higher up consultants never seem to have this problem and is frustrating at times.

Although a couple of pretty big consultants in my area just left and some of those people that went to her are coming to me now because they don't like that persons downline. So its strange how it works out.

I like that they made it so you can break down your quarterly minimum by doing a little each month instead of all at one time. This is helpful.

I find it challenging at times to maintain my minimum because I have a very small customer base. I think I have about 10-12 customers and not one of them orders regularly at all. It really is off and on. I do order products for me out of the profit so that helps too. I get what I want and I am not really paying for it. I do find that I always pay for the shipping. In my almost 2 years I have place an over $800 order once.

I also try to hold crops once a month too. I have had a lot get canceled because people can't come. I only charge $5 and a dish to pass to keep costs down. I took a survey once at one of my crops and the guests preferred the $5 with dish to pass over $10 and me providing the food.

I have found in the last 6 months that I am paying for my own products as of late because I just don't have the sales right now.

I did make the mistake early on to order items to have for inventory and that wasn't a smart move for me. I was lucky to swap some items out with other consultants but I still have about $300 left.

This isn't to discourage you, just to give you a realistic expectation that you will have up and down times.

 

[soccerchick]

This isn't to discourage you, just to give you a realistic expectation that you will have up and down times.

Thanks. You aren't discouraging me. I appreciate the honesty. My possible upline is TOO positive, kwim? While she'll be honest, she has a very different type of personality and she's been successful for a while, so I'm not sure she remembers accurately the jitters of starting out. While I know there ar CMs out there, I haven't been able to find any in my development, at least via word of mouth or the website.

I'm lucky that I'm in a new neighborhood, and there are several ladies interested. I know when CM made the personal consultant profile that a lot of people jumped on the bandwagon. I'm just really late getting my seat


Good idea about the crop poll!

 

[Queenie]

Thanks for this info. CM is just beginning to take off in the UK (there's maybe 20 CMC's nationwide and it's starting to grow fast.) I've got the info pack on becoming a consultant but am really worrying about it. We have to make £150 ($400ish) every rolling 3 months. Only my mum and auntie are into crafts and neither do scrapping so I'd be having to try and sell on the housing estate. I have no self confidence so doing crops/parties is like my worst nightmare! I seriously doubt I'd be able to do it.

 

[Lisa]

My biggest concern when I started was meeting the sales quota every three months. I am happy to say, that has not been an issue for me at all. I didn't go into thinking I would meet the 90 success plan, however I was pleasantly surprised when I did. Why was I able to meet it? Like you I had Get Togethers and sales lined up when I signed. I don't carry a large inventory, I try to have one of each item. To me it's important that I fill a customer's order when they place it.

Each month I do a workshop which I have about five-six regular customers attending. I only charge enough to cover the cost of the hall and for lunch. If I schedule any Get Togethers during the month, that's a bonus.

Good luck. It sounds like you are on the right tracking!