Considering become a Pampered Chef demonstrator

[**eeyore**]

Ironic that there is the current message asking if you would go to a party if you weren't planning on buying, but I was contemplating becoming a Pampered Chef consultant and was wondering if anyone had thoughts on it - both pros & cons.

Wondering if anyone has been a consultant for PC in the past and what their experiences have been.

I guess my main concerns are:

1. How well could I perform in the current economy? I know a lot of people (including myself) that are either being forced or have chosen to limit their discretionary spending.

2. I don't feel like I have a "huge" group of friends/family/acquaintances that I would feel comfortable asking to have parties. And, I'm not interested in alienating my friends & family. So, I wonder how easy it would be to get parties booked on a long-term basis.

3. I'm not a very pushy-salesperson kind of person. I guess this could either work for me or against me. I don't think I could be the sales person pushing everyone to buy something. I guess the thing I like about Pampered Chef is that their products seem to sell themselves. And, you don't have to go to a party and spend a fortune (I've gone and just purchased and ice cream scoop before, b/c that's all I needed at the time!).

So, give me the good, the bad & the ugly. The initial investment doesn't scare me - $155 for products that I would be happy to have in my kitchen anyway. I think it is the long-term that I am not quite convinced on yet.

 

[okeydokey]

From a customer standpoint, PC makes some very good products, but they are very expensive. It is something I would be cutting out of my budget.

 

[java]

Well I just attended 3 in the past 3 months.
I like their products so I buy. The woman that hosted 2 of the parties was great- a very "Oh everythings wonderful" type. And she booked 2 more parties on the spot.
The other one- eh not so much. It's my friend's cousin and she just is not a salesperson.
So if you think you are and can be I say talk to a consultant and get their opinion. (By the way I think they get a referral bonus so don't speak with the one that suggested it to you you won't get a totally honest review)
I guess it depends where you live too.

I just used my Mix and pour, my measure all and my spoonula or whatever that thing is called.

 

[kkmcan]

I was a Pampered Chef consultant once and it lasted about 2 years. I have a small amount of friends and I'm not a pushy person or a salesman at all. I know for me there are only so many PC parties one can attend before they either have everything or just get tired of going to them. Its a totally saturated market when it comes to PC these days.

I did my initial 6 parties (friends and family) and that was it. I purchased things for myself and for gifts after that until I couldn't keep it going anymore.

The start up was cheap and I got to keep all those items so that was nice but it's just so hard unless you are a real go-getter type to keep that kind of business going.

 

[poohfriend77]

A friend who is a PC consultant told me the economy isn't hurting her business. She thinks maybe people are cutting back on going out, so they feel like they deserve to have nice tools in their kitchens if they have to cook all the time.

I've never done PC, but I did another kind of direct sales thing years ago. It is VERY hard to get started if you're not comfortable asking friends and family to host for you, at least in the beginning. I wasn't good at that aspect, so I quit. Good luck to you if you decide to go for it!

 

[eliza61]

Ironic that there is the current message asking if you would go to a party if you weren't planning on buying, but I was contemplating becoming a Pampered Chef consultant and was wondering if anyone had thoughts on it - both pros & cons.

Wondering if anyone has been a consultant for PC in the past and what their experiences have been.

I guess my main concerns are:

1. How well could I perform in the current economy? I know a lot of people (including myself) that are either being forced or have chosen to limit their discretionary spending.

2. I don't feel like I have a "huge" group of friends/family/acquaintances that I would feel comfortable asking to have parties. And, I'm not interested in alienating my friends & family. So, I wonder how easy it would be to get parties booked on a long-term basis.

3. I'm not a very pushy-salesperson kind of person. I guess this could either work for me or against me. I don't think I could be the sales person pushing everyone to buy something. I guess the thing I like about Pampered Chef is that their products seem to sell themselves. And, you don't have to go to a party and spend a fortune (I've gone and just purchased and ice cream scoop before, b/c that's all I needed at the time!).

So, give me the good, the bad & the ugly. The initial investment doesn't scare me - $155 for products that I would be happy to have in my kitchen anyway. I think it is the long-term that I am not quite convinced on yet.

Hi eeyore,
I'm the op from the other thread so I'll give you my take on this.

1)If you don't have a huge circle of friends and family what ends up happening is that you have to invite the same people over and over. This is what happens to me. My one friend invites me to every thing and I have to be honest, it's annoying.

2) In any sales position you do better if you are more aggressive. So think about this, can you small circle support your business over 2, 5, 7 years? Do you have the personality to bring in or approach perfect strangers?

3) Hopefully the economy will get better but right now, one of the problems with all home demonstration stuff is it is so expensive. Pampered Chef is nice but the last item I brought a few years ago was a $50 pizza stone. Would I do that now. No. The fact is every thing most of these outfits sell, I could find just as nice for much less.

4) My friend Angie is a very successful candle light distributor but she will be the first to tell you that she works her backside off. She definitely does at least 50 hours a week. Sure she can make her schedule what she wants but it is not the "work 10 hours a week and make 60,000 a year" that I've heard at some parties.

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

I generally dislike sales parties and try my best to avoid them but I do like Pampered Chef. I always do my best to attend them. They have great products.

 

[**eeyore**]

Thanks everyone for your responses! It is so helpful to be able to bounce the idea off other people

Not sure what I'm going to do. I've actually been contemplating doing this for about a year now. I guess I'm not looking to make a full-time income, but the prospect of making an extra $500-$1000 a month is very attractive to me. I'm recently unemployed and now a SAHM, so I would love to find a way that I could contribute to our finances (or finance our WDW trips ).

 

[Purseval]

We buy a lot of PC stuff at yard sales, most of it unopened. I guess people feel that if they go to a party they should buy something so it sits around until the decide to get rid of it. A lot of the stuff is just plain silly like star-shaped bread tubes and junk like that but we've picked up a few neat little gadgets. I would never go to a party tho, it costs too much.

 

[*pixie*dust*]

One of my close friends just quit after trying to sell for about 2 years. The downturn in the economy and the fact that she was not a really agressive salesperson pretty much dried up her business. The last three parties she had done had less than 6 people attend and most had less than half the people order.

 

[friend2Figment]

If you could use the products that come in the kit and have enough friends and family member to help you get started with the required shows you will make your money back quickly considering they have a kit rebate this month if you join in Feb. It is hard work if you are not a pushey sales person but yes you do make really good money. It does take time to prepare for each show and follow up with customers so you may need to take into account how much time you are willing or able to put into your business. Once you get the first couple in they get a lot easier. Good luck with what ever you decide.

 

[timmac]

Several years back my wife (at the time) was a PC consultant for a while. She is pretty social and knows a lot of people so getting the initial parties, and even further parties, wasn't really a problem.

She really enjoyed it, although me- not so much. The administrative end of it can get kind of annoying, having to constantly print out fliers, etc, for the latest specials, etc. Often enough, she ended up (intentionally or otherwise) having to foot the bill for the food ingredients, or for various small prize giveaways she did at the parties. To say nothing of instances (I can recall at least a few) where she made an error in telling people about specials and ended up footing a nice bill to pay for things out of pocket. Granted, some of this probably could have been avoided, but things happen.

Commission was, if I recall correctly, 20% of sales. Whether you consider that good or bad, I don't know. If every party sold $500 in product, that'd be $100 commission per party, but bear in mind that's at least 2 hours at the hostess' house, on top of time before the party preparing and coaching the host, and the time after to handle order processing and followup, and cleaning the inevitable huge bin of dirty cookware and utensils that would be leftover from the event. So, on a $500 party that netted $100 (keep in mind you still have to pay taxes on that, too) the 6 hours or so of total effort (conservative estimate) is an ok hourly wage. Sad reality was that most parties were below that, I'd say $300 average... plenty of them below that mark.

I would definitely agree that many of the products are good and useful, but I'd also have to agree that most have equivalent counterparts that can be purchased elsewhere for much cheaper money. Part of the PC pitch revolves around the quality of the products, how they aren't made with this and that chemical or whatever... not sure how much I buy that anymore, though.

I hope this doesn't sound unnecessarily negative, I'm just giving my honest opinion on my exposure to the whole experience.

 

[tekoa]

A co-worker of mine is a PC consultant. She loves it and does very well. But, she is out several nights a week. She does have a 5 month old baby now so I think she has scaled back on the parties. I know that she has many people under her that she has brought into the company, I believe she gets a percentage of their sales as well. (I may be wrong, but I think that is how it works). I know that she was able to go on several nice trips that were contest prizes if she sold a certain amount. She did go to WDW at least twice, Hawaii and Europe twice.
Good luck with your decision.

 

[melsherard]

In order to be successful at it you really have to recruit people to be consultants. That is how you make $$$. It is a lot more work than they would have you believe. But if you are willing to ask people to sell it can be done. It's not the easiest way to earn an income, I sold Tupperware for about 2 years and ended up going back to a regular job because I wanted to be sure I was earning $$$ for my time spent. It's frustrating when you invest a lot of time and materials into a hostess, and then not get enough sales or any new bookings. You have to get new bookings at every party, or your parties will start to fizzle out. I found that it wasn't worth my time, but I know a lot of people who have been very successful.

 

[mamaLori05]

Honestly, I know some people who love PC, but I know even more people who don't care for them, including me. I tend to find they are a bit overpriced and I can find similar things elsewhere for much cheaper. In the past I would go to the parties anyway to be with my friends and help them out, but now with the economy I find myself skipping the parties and saving the money for things I REALLY want. I guess my advice would be to ask your friends and family what they think about it. Do they love the product and are they willing to have parties for you. Do they have friends that love the product and would be willing to have parties.

If you are really into it and have the mindset that you will do great, you probably will. It sounds kind of like you aren't sure about it though. Of the parties that I have gone to, it seems the pushy salespeople type seem to be the most successful. The other successful ones are the ones that give away the farm at the parties to the host, in order to make people want to book their own party. They tend to get a ton of bookings, but I'm not sure how much they actually make when they give away the farm. Hope that helps. good luck with whatever you decide to do!!!

 

[ZuZugal]

Personally, PC parties are the only ones I attend with a smile on my face going in because I know I will find something that I will like AND use!!

I disagree that you need to be a real salesperson to make it work. I think you need to believe in yourself and most-importantly believe in the product. If you are confident in your presentation that will make a huge impression. And make something that is a great family meal - to show those attending that you can make it at home and skip the drive-thru.

PC is such a great product that can sell itself. You just need to have the right attitude and present the product/food in such a way that people can't wait to buy it!!

 

[eliza61]

PC is such a great product that can sell itself. You just need to have the right attitude and present the product/food in such a way that people can't wait to buy it!!

You think so? See I think the opposite. Right now in this economy, me and every one I know are in "savings" mode. for me to part with my hard earned dollars, you are going to have to be a fantastic sales person. The product could churn butter, clean my house and watch my kids but if I don't need it, it's not being brought.

I saw Melody Hobsen, the financial investment guru on Good morning America and she gave a tip on how to decide whether or not to make a purchase. She called it 30-30-30. What you do is ask yourself "If I don't buy XXX in 30 mins what would happen" then go to "If I don't buy XXX in 30 hours what would happen", next "what would happen if I didn't buy it in 30 days". If you can make it to 30 days you really don't need the item.

I agree that presentation and confidence can go a long way but as I said every budget minded person I know is gonna wrestle you long and hard to get that dollar out their hand.

 

[rickg15]

My wife is a PC consultant for going on five years now. She is also not a salesperson. If you live in an area that is mid to upper middle class I think you can still have success doing it. If not, you will not make money. $500 a month? That would be a windfall for us. At this point we keep her consultant status active with a show here or there. Her returning customers know her and call when they want something. She has thank you parties for her hostesses and we give out free product.

We enjoy the products, and so we end up buying them ourselves. A few pieces at a time. Every once in a while we get free stuff, which is nice.

 

[Schachteles]

Ironic that there is the current message asking if you would go to a party if you weren't planning on buying, but I was contemplating becoming a Pampered Chef consultant and was wondering if anyone had thoughts on it - both pros & cons.

Wondering if anyone has been a consultant for PC in the past and what their experiences have been.

I guess my main concerns are:

1. How well could I perform in the current economy? I know a lot of people (including myself) that are either being forced or have chosen to limit their discretionary spending.

2. I don't feel like I have a "huge" group of friends/family/acquaintances that I would feel comfortable asking to have parties. And, I'm not interested in alienating my friends & family. So, I wonder how easy it would be to get parties booked on a long-term basis.

3. I'm not a very pushy-salesperson kind of person. I guess this could either work for me or against me. I don't think I could be the sales person pushing everyone to buy something. I guess the thing I like about Pampered Chef is that their products seem to sell themselves. And, you don't have to go to a party and spend a fortune (I've gone and just purchased and ice cream scoop before, b/c that's all I needed at the time!).

So, give me the good, the bad & the ugly. The initial investment doesn't scare me - $155 for products that I would be happy to have in my kitchen anyway. I think it is the long-term that I am not quite convinced on yet.

Based on what you said, my thought would be NO. There are just TOO many people out there selling for these direct businesses to be a huge success, unless you have LOTS of friends and family who are willing to buy and pass your information on.

I was a consultant about 5 years ago and left...then started up again a year ago. The only reason I do it is to get the discount on items for myself. Occasionally I have friends who want to order, so I give them my 20% discount and order things for them.

Their starter kit is a good deal, as long as you don't already have the items.

 

[Schachteles]

Thanks everyone for your responses! It is so helpful to be able to bounce the idea off other people

Not sure what I'm going to do. I've actually been contemplating doing this for about a year now. I guess I'm not looking to make a full-time income, but the prospect of making an extra $500-$1000 a month is very attractive to me. I'm recently unemployed and now a SAHM, so I would love to find a way that I could contribute to our finances (or finance our WDW trips ).

WOW I agree that $500-1000 a month would be VERY attactive. But to make that you would have to sell a LOT of product. You only make a 20% commission to start out, then you get charged some $4 something per month for insurance and then you get charged for new catalogs and stuff. So to make that much a month you would have to be selling $2500 to $5000 in product every month (which would be quite a few parties a month). That is a tough hill to climb if you don't have a huge support system.