Creative Memories Consultant

[LisaB]

I am thinking of becoming an consultant. I really like their cutting systems and their albums while expensive seem worth it for hinge type albums. I just have a hard time spending double for paper that I can get on sale at the craft stores and I think in paper they need a better selection. Any suggestions????

 

[JESW]

I started scrapbboking with Creative memories. I liked the clean lines in their layouts. I think their products are very well made. What I DON'T like is that they limit themselves to only their products. I prefer to use a variety of items, and with an ACM nearby, I buy the big items when they go on sale or when I have a 40% coupon. I also frequent a scrapbook store and I love trying the new products and taking classes from them.

I am not sure how CM is doing these days. One of my neighbors is/was a concultant, and last I heard she was getting out due to some new requirements they had..??? Not sure what they were.

Maybe you could ask around before you made the commitment??

Good luck!

Jill

 

[lindseesmom]

My CM rep had tried to get me to be a rep but I decided against it. You can get discounts just on sb stuff for yourself but otherwise I just think it is too much work.
I use mostly CM products but I do not limit myself to those products alone.

 

[GC&S]

My friend is a CM consultant and found out today that starting 7/01, they will have to have a min. of $150 in sales per month. They will be given 2 "free" months that they don't have to meet that quota. She's not sure if she will continue past July since she doesn't think she can meet a monthly quota.

 

[beasleybear]

My friend is a CM consultant and found out today that starting 7/01, they will have to have a min. of $150 in sales per month.

Ouch! I love CM and considered being a consultant at one time, but I was always afraid of the quotas since I'm not that good a salesperson! But when I paper scrap, I pretty much stick to CM products exclusively. My best friend was a consultant for several years, and I still know several consultants. Their paper selection has greatly improved over the past several years. Granted, a LSS could still beat them in selection & price. I'm in love with one of CM's most recent Disney kit, with the old style Mickey Mouse. Even though I hardly ever paper scrap anymore, I will be making some sort of Disney album with that one.

 

[aprince&princess]

Hi Lisa, I am a Creative Memories consultant. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions and I will try and answer them. I have been a consultant for almost three years. You can save yourself 30% on the products you use by becoming a consultant. And for anything that you sell your commission is 30%.

Right now the requirement is that you sell $500. worth of product over a three monthsperiod. (I haven't heard anything about the goal changing, but if it was $150 per month, that would be only $450. over a three month period, so that would be less than what is required now?) I mostly sell to family and friends who scrapbook with me, and I have not had a problem with meeting the sales requirement.

There are some consultants who only buy for themselves, so it isn't an issue about adding things to your album that aren't CM. It is hard to do that if you really want to sell to others, because they see things in your album and will ask about buying it and then you send them off to other places to buy things instead of selling them CM product from you.

As far as product goes, you cannot beat the quality. I do notice that the more CM products I see the better the quality compared to some of the things that can be bought, but not always. The one thing that is nice is that they test everything to make sure that the product will be consistent, for example, buy a cranberry colored piece of paper and it will always be the same color. Not always the case with other companies, or I found when I purchased paper at other stores that I might buy 2 pieces of paper and when I needed more for the layout, it was all gone and I couldn't get more.

OK, so now I am rambling. I do have to say that the friends that I have made in other consultants in my group are like sisters. There becomes this great bond with the other consultants. Again let me know if you have any questions.
Vickie

 

[Davids-Coco]

Ditto what APrince&Princess said. I am a consultant too. I use LSS stuff as well as other consultant-based-sales companies stuff. I think it makes me a better consultant personally.

The $150 is just a rumor at this point. CM hasn't said that it is happening yet... for now, it is just out there as a maybe.

I started as a personal-use consultant only buying for myself. I have some good customers now, but still buy a lot for myself. At 30% off, it can't be beat.

 

[MazdaUK]

I'm a CMC, and over here the limit is £150 retail in a rolling 3-month period. Yes the products are expensive, but you get what you pay for. We have very few craft shops here, and the scrapbook range is limited. I have a tiny circle of customers - OK, 3! - none of whom are big penders. We meet twice a month to scrap together, and I show them the new products and sometimes do a croptalk. I'm not making money but I subsidies my hobby. It helps that none of them are big PC-users so don't look on the internet for stuff. I do use other bits and pieces but I try to only show off my CM pages to my customers In the end though, if using a different paper on a layout encourages them to buy a new tool who is the winner? CM of course!

I've been doing it for a year now, and only joined up initially because I wanted so many of the products that were in the consultant kit it worked out cheaper to do that.

 

[aprince&princess]

Hi Davids Coco and MazdaUK, it is nice to see other CM consultants that are also DISers!

Hello to everyone else too!

 

[GC&S]

The $150 is just a rumor at this point. CM hasn't said that it is happening yet... for now, it is just out there as a maybe.

That's interesting as another friend who is also a CM consultant got a notice from her upline that this is happening on July 1. They are scheduling unit meetings to discuss the changes and how that will affect their unit. Wonder if they are just going to test it with a few units first?

 

[Davids-Coco]

That's interesting as another friend who is also a CM consultant got a notice from her upline that this is happening on July 1. They are scheduling unit meetings to discuss the changes and how that will affect their unit. Wonder if they are just going to test it with a few units first?

Don't know. That info is out all over the web... but not officially from CM yet. No one REALLY knows if it will happen. I think most of us are in a "prepare for the worst" state. But who knows what will be finalized.

It is great to see other consultants! (MazdaUK, always meant to ask, do you drive a Mazda? We have three right now and love them.)

 

[TiggerFamily]

Hello fellow CMC's. If check out the CMC website under updated career plan it will tell you about our new goals of $150 a month. I know that is going to really hurt me. I'm going to regionals in Boston next month I hope to learn more about this. I totally love being a CMC and I love the product.

 

[soccerchick]

Hello fellow CMC's. If check out the CMC website under updated career plan it will tell you about our new goals of $150 a month. I know that is going to really hurt me. I'm going to regionals in Boston next month I hope to learn more about this. I totally love being a CMC and I love the product.

Yes, it is on the consultant site and it was announced at Leadership. More *should* be coming at Regionals next month.

 

[Davids-Coco]

Aw crud... it wasn't there last time I looked.

 

[LisaB]

I got some more info. As of right now the quota is 500 a quarter so 150 a month would be cheaper. I am still not sure about it. Has anyone been a consultant and got out and why????

 

[cobbler]

Ok this confuses me. Do you have to show you are actually selling it to a person or a group of people?? And are they going to lower shipping then if it has to be $150 per month? If you do the minimum that is an additional $36 in shipping costs.

If it is too crazy than I am out as a CM. I buy for my cost and discount. HMMM.

 

[soccerchick]

Ok this confuses me. Do you have to show you are actually selling it to a person or a group of people?? And are they going to lower shipping then if it has to be $150 per month? If you do the minimum that is an additional $36 in shipping costs.

If it is too crazy than I am out as a CM. I buy for my cost and discount. HMMM.

No one knows about the changes to shipping and TTY credit yet. CM sells to consultants. They really don't care (well, probably do, but...)who you sell, or don't sell to after you buy. There are some exceptions like the Nov.?Jan. hostess special (bag and mini-picfolio).

To the OP's other post ~ people "get out" all the time. Some people sign up to get their products at cost or free. Some people get into debt with it if they have a small customer base and try to meet the minimums. Some people have kids, job changes, new hobbies that make them want to change.

I have no debt for my CM business. That's one thing I resolved to do. It has paid for itself so far and I have been able to get all my own materials for "free" with the profit from my business.

That said, I don't know if I will continued after July 1. I will wait to see what additional changes occur. The lower minimums will be wiped out with no access to TTY discount and higher shipping costs if things stay the way they are.

 

[cobbler]

I have no debt for mine either and I refuse to do so.

I know that when we order they don't care who/if we sell to anyone. I just wondered if that would be something they would start. Kind of like having to enter in the hostess like we did for the November specials and such.

The shipping thing is what gets me though because if we have to pay that $18 every month (saying we have to order every month) than that means our shipping will have gone from $72 a year (saying you order once a quarter to maintain and don't order the 800 retail) to $216 a year. That is nothing to sneeze at.

I have been a consultant almost 3 years and I really like the product so I would hate to get out, but if it starts to be too much of a burden like that I will have to forgo.

 

[Lisa]

I became a CMC because I love the quality of the products and love getting the exclusive products, and products for my own use at a discount.

I do usually one monthly workshop, and on occassion a home Get Together but those are rare. I've never had a problem meeting the three month sales goal, I usually meet that figure every month. I doubt the lower figure will be a problem either.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I became a CMC because I love the quality of the products and love getting the exclusive products, and products for my own use at a discount.

I do usually one monthly workshop, and on occassion a home Get Together but those are rare. I've never had a problem meeting the three month sales goal, I usually meet that figure every month. I doubt the lower figure will be a problem either.

Hey Lady!!!