Dealing with High-Priced Criticism: How to Defend Pampered Chef Products

[MarineGurl020412]

I am pretty new as well and I am using my own experiences with blue light specials to highlight WHY you should INVEST in the PC products. Like I have owned 4 different food choppers (from $10-$25) and they all SUCKED. As well as the fact that I could not take them apart to really clean them and once they were dulled then they were useless ass you cannot buy replacement parts like I can for my PC Food Chopper!

In fact that is what sold my Mom on buying one.

 

[sherri lynn]

:blushing:These posts really helped. I'm a newbie and am having my first cooking show tonight! Am so excited. My daughter's best friends mom said "Oh, that Pampered Chef stuff is all so expensive." I didn't know what to say... I was flabbergasted that she would say that. I didn't have a good response except to say that our products are of great quality that come with a guarantee, and still got "You can still get it cheaper at WM". To tell the truth, it hurt my feelings!! Guess I'm too sensitive!

 

[kristina16marie]

i bought a small sheet pan that i keep in my tote and take it to all my shows. at the beginning when i'm doing my intro, i say that pampered chef is extremely high quality and pass it around. i tell the story about how i had a pot pie sitting on a cheapo cookie sheet that popped while in the oven. well the pot pie jumped up and into the heating element and started smoking up the entire kitchen. i say that sometimes it's hard to see the quality from looking at the picture, but that as you can see from this small sheet pan, you are getting a great deal! after feeling the small sheet pan, i even had someone say they wanted to keep a large one by the bed to hit intruders over the head with!

 

[Jolie_Paradoxe]

Before I started PC I looked at all sorts of reviews online to see what people thought about it. I kept seeing people complain about the price and so I made up a chart. (I like charts) And I compared about 50 PC products to similar products at Wal-Mart, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond and Williams Sonoma.

Any chance you still have this chart and can post? Thanks!

 

[scottcooks]

Sheri Lynn, don't give them 'free rent'! Their Debbie Downer attitude isn't yours, don't claim it or give it credence...Immediately turn to someone who says that, smile and share, "maybe expensive if you don't know the direct sales shopping secret - some pay full price, some pay half-price, and some get it FREE! (Would you like to know the secret?) When can we schedule your cooking show to have some fun with your friends? You deserve a night 'in' and I'll do all the cooking. Then you can experience the secret I am talking about - you'll get a free shopping spree, items at half price, all your other purchases at a discount from 15-30 percent off, a discount for an entire year, guarantees on all your products with lifetime warranties on forged cutlery and cookware, free copies of the recipe I make that evening, free shipping on your items, a coupon toward $20 or $40 to buy-down your own starter kit of our best-loved products plus everything else you need to have a debt-free holiday! Our business opportunity can give you a promotion right away if you try it out with a friend, and once you make it to the director level and maintain modest sales, you get all the new products for next season absolutely free!

 

[Sheila]

mountainmomma74 - I can tell a difference if I flip those suckers upside down & look for the one with the old chicken logo!

Kristina -

it!

Scott, I have no doubt that you've used that one several times in the past ... and no doubt that it was successful for you!

 

[babywings76]

I do have a confession to make: my old batter bowl and my new (now 2yrs old) one both have a weird etched pattern to them on the inside. They both are identical in the odd pattern. I'm not sure if it's my dishwasher's fault or what. It's very odd and it's kind of embarrassing to take them to shows now. I use them ALL the time. I'm wondering if I should buy a new one and only hand wash it.

 

[lt1jane]

the person who tells me PC is expensive is the man with $50,000-$80,000 worth of Snap-On tools in his garage!! Most of which he paid full price for! I ignore him.

PC is Snap-On tools for your kitchen. Why shouldn't we have quality tools that we don't have to replace all the time? Alas, my scraper collection is in need of replacement. Too bad it only lasted me 11 years!! Beat that rubbermaid!

We may be Snap-On quality, but we are AFFORDABLE, 28% of the catalog is $10 or less, 68% is $20 or less, and 80% of it is $30 or less.

http://www.chefsuccess.com/attachme...ec-host-letter-fall-price-breakdowns-2010.doc

 

[Bren706]

There is a file somewhere that gives the product price breakdown by percentages. It says how a majority of our products are about $20 or something. Shoot, now I need to go find that post/file.

I tell people that they are making an investment. These aren't gadgets, they are useful tools. Many have multiple uses and will help you enjoy the time that you do spend in the kitchen. You don't want to have to keep buying replacement items over and over. That adds up. Buy our quality items once, and you'll love it for a long time!

The other drawback to just telling people they can get things for free by hosting, is that then your host will get nothing but bookings. My hosts hardly ever buy the monthly host special. It's the Free product value that they are looking forward to.

I was going to point out the same thing.

 

[pampered1224]

I tell my story. It began in 2000 when I got my kit, two days before Christmas Eve. My family was coming to our home for the the holiday lights in downtown Milwaukee and got to our place around 2 p.m. I decided even though my mom told she would never host a party or probably would not buy anything either because it was too expensive, to at least show her the stuff I got. I had to to prove a point. Well, I started taking stuff out of the box and when I got to the ice cream dipper, she stopped me. She asked my how much it was. I told her it was $12. She almost had a heart attack! She said I would never pay that much for an ice cream scoop. Then I asked it. I asked her how much she paid for hers. Well, I only paid $3.99 for mine. But mine isn't as shiny. I JUMPED ON IT SO FAST I THINK I REALLY CAUGHT HER OFF GUARD. I said what do you mean it isn't as shiny? She told me hers turn gray after a while. I asked her what she does about it. She said she replaces them about every 3 or 4 months. OMG! I had her! I said, here. Take this one. She said why? I said because the ones you keep buying and replacing, cost you as much if not more in one year than this one does. And I believe it will NOT tarnish in that time. She said, "It will just do the same thing." I told her, if it does, I will replace it myself. She said, OK. I told her to wash it immediately after using and to dry it. She did. She still has the one I gave her in 2000! So do not tell me our stuff is expensive. It has saved my mom, $147.60 over the past 10 years! That's what I tell them and it works. And there is the one about my first PC purchase. I got a round stone in 1997. I STILL HAVE IT AND STILL USE IT! Not like the one from a department store I got as a gift and it was shot in about two years of use. Not only was it horrible to cook on as it was thin and burned things a lot, but I always felt like I was going to break it. It cost as much as ours! And food always stuck to it for some reason. Even after I seasoned it and used it it simply would not let the food go! I actually dumped it, pizza and all, when it would not come off the stone!

 

[ShelbyMichalek]

This may be old news to some of you, but did you know that stoneware purchased from Walmart, Target, etc. is NOT gauranteed to be lead-free while Pampered Chef stoneware is gauranteed to be lead-free.
Make sure you tell guests that by cooking their pizza/bars/etc on a lead laden Walmart stone can poison them while a Pampered Chef stone is gaurenteed not to.

 

[Dotty]

This may be old news to some of you, but did you know that stoneware purchased from Walmart, Target, etc. is NOT gauranteed to be lead-free while Pampered Chef stoneware is gauranteed to be lead-free.
Make sure you tell guests that by cooking their pizza/bars/etc on a lead laden Walmart stone can poison them while a Pampered Chef stone is gaurenteed not to.

Please Please, PLEASE don't tell your customers that those stones will poison them. Did you know that you can't get lead poisoning from leaded glass? If the lead is part of the internal chemical structure (ie NOT in elemental form) then it will most likely not leach out of the material. I can't say for sure that leaded stoneware is safe, but don't tell people it isn't unless you have the MSDS data that says it is dangerous. You could set yourself up for a lawsuit. In any case, it is misinforming your customers and you might be viewed as dishonest if you were wrong.

I hope I didn't come off as too strong... but I would get pretty irritated at a consultant if I were a guest at the party. I'm of the sort that I'd get up and speak my piece and probably cause enough discord to make others uncomfortable with the consultant.

 

[ShelbyMichalek]

I don't tell them it will poisin them. I just say "Pampered Chef stoneware is gauranteed not to contain lead, most other stoneware products don't carry that gaurantee"

 

[Dotty]

I don't tell them it will poisin them. I just say "Pampered Chef stoneware is gauranteed not to contain lead, most other stoneware products don't carry that gaurantee"

Wheew, okay. That's a perfect way to say it. Thanks!