I signed up to be a CMC

[Partridge4ever]

After a couple of weeks of debating, I signed up to be a Creative Memories Consultant. My consultant is moving. Most of her customers are personal friends of mine, so I'll have a small customer base to start with. I'm starting to get nervous though about asking people to do parties. It seemed like a good idea in theory and the training video had me all psyched up. Do those of you who are CMCs have any advice?

I notice lots of mention of having crops at a church hall. Does the church not object to you selling stuff? Is there a rental fee? Our church charges a $50 deposit which you get back if you leave everything in good order. We've used it for birthday parties, showers, that type thing. I've never known it to be used for something like a crop. Also, the training materials mention doing photo preservation talks to groups. I don't have my kit yet. Is there a script for that? Do you just talk about the benefits of scrapbooking? How do you keep it from just being a thinly veiled sales pitch?
Thanks!
Leah

 

[aurora19]

I'm not a CMC but I tell you our experience. My church will allow you to sell your products but not make a profit (so you need to sell your goods at your cost.) It kind of defeats the purpose of going into business - but does create a lot of goodwill within the church community.

We have a group that gets together monthly. We rent the library in the elementary school (It's cleaner than the art room!) There is no cost to us because the school PTO esentially hosts the crop (and it is held during the school year in the evenings). We take turns "hosting" the night so we each can get a chance to get our goodies at a good price. There are about 10 of us who regularly attend these workshops and our CMC usually does $200-$400 in sales (The host usually gets a couple of newbies to attend). To do this on the weekend or summer/vacation breaks would cost money because of the need to hire the custodial staff (which is why we stop for the summer.)

I know of other CMCs who host all day scraps in public halls with minimal costs to participants ($25 to register but includes lunch - runs 9 am-3pm) This often work well but you need to have a larger base group as the hall rental can be expensive. If you have the floor space in your home, you might consider buying or renting sturdy folding tables and holding them in your home (if your hubby will take the kids out for the day )

Good luck and congratulations for taking this step!

 

[Partridge4ever]

Thanks Aurora! I do plan to have the monthly crops at my house at first. I was hoping to outgrow my house though. lol

 

[Kurry]

Congrats on being a CMC. I started just 2 months ago so I don't have much advice yet. Try to do the 30-60-90 Day Success Plan. You will get a lot of FREE stuff. I have completed the 30-60 but I'm afraid the 90 will be much harder. Its quite easy to place an order and get your minimum retail amount. I've already retailed over $2000 in sales thus far. And I've had only 2 shows and 1 workshop(well its this weekend).

Just have fun with it.

K

PM me if you have any questions, comments, etc.