Did Any of You Win the Cluster Challenge?

[mgressaffa]

I couldn't go to Conference, but my director did. She said not one person she spoke with earned the cluster challenge. We were only seven away from earning it. I know there was some chatting on here earlier about this, but I couldn't find it. Please let me know if your cluster earned the forged knife.

Thanks,

Mary

 

[pampchefrhondab]

We weren't even close. I wish they would change their mind and give it to those who had 2 or more qualifying shows (I had 3). They aren't even offering it to us at a discount right now.

 

[PampMomof3]

No, we missed it by 6 shows. They are offering it to us starting August 1st at our personal discount.

 

[heat123]

WE made it! WE only had to have 22 shows and 4 of us met that challenge of our group. Can't wait to get the new knife!

 

[PampMomof3]

We only needed 26 but we had A LOT of our consultants go inactive June 1st and HO counted May 31st. Our director resigned on June 1st as well so we really tried doing it! I turned in 11 shows but only 9 qualified so you can't say that I didn't try!

 

[pamperedlinda]

I'm still ticked about this one!We didn't make it either. I don't personally know of anyone who did. And, NOT ONE WORD was mentioned about it at conference! Guess they knew it was a touchy subject and didn't want an audience full of "BOOS"! I too was hoping that they'd go ahead and send it to those of who really tried even though the rest of our team didn't (I submitted 5 qualifying shows myself). I think by now that's just not going to happen and I'm going to have to buy this knife I so badly want!.

 

[pamperedalf]

We made it, with one show to spare. Only 3 of us earned it, I submitted 10 qualified shows personally. We haven't received the knife yet, I anticipate it to come w/ the sell athon stuff. So we will see.

 

[kcjodih]

We made it and I got mine on Friday I submitted 10 shows and we JUST made it by one. Not sure why I got mine before you gals in the US. We NEVER get things in Canada first

 

[Dianneskitchen]

cluster challengeMy cluster earned it. We had to submit 20 shows and we had 21. 4 of us earned it. I haven't received mine yet, but can't wait. My director said that it was discussed at conference in the directors meeting.

 

[DebbieJ]

Our cluster got it. I think me, my director, and two other gals will be receiving it.

 

[speedychef]

We did it! We needed 16 shows and I think 4 or 5 of us actually earned it. I can't wait to get it in my hot little hands! I am going to recruit like crazy with it..."If you don't sign this, I'm going to cut you!" J/K!

 

[PampMomof3]

Congratulations Gals!Now are any of you guys who have responded already in the same cluster?

 

[kcjodih]

Hmmmm.....I don't know about the rest but there is definitely noone here that posted already in my cluster 'cause as I mentioned before - I'm in Canada

 

[whiteyteresa]

We didn't make it either. I don't personally know of anyone who did. And, NOT ONE WORD was mentioned about it at conference! Guess they knew it was a touchy subject and didn't want an audience full of "BOOS"! I too was hoping that they'd go ahead and send it to those of who really tried even though the rest of our team didn't (I submitted 5 qualifying shows myself). I think by now that's just not going to happen and I'm going to have to buy this knife I so badly want!.

My director was at the conference - wave 1 - and she also said that NO ONE said a word about the challenge. We needed to have 30 shows, my director did 9 shows, me and another consultant did 5 shows each, 2 consultants did 2 shows each and 1 consultant did 1 show - for a total of 24 shows. My director was hoping after the conference they would have changed their minds because of the problems with it. Well I guest we will have to buy it, but for me, it isn't something that I can't afford at this time.

 

[cat]

I've only talked to two people (in different clusters) who earned it. One was someone I met at conference and another is a cluster from NJ, who we have joint cluster meetings with.

Our cluster didn't make it. I think we were off by 6 or 7 shows!

 

[lacychef]

My director said that noone in our executive's downline earned it I was really hoping for a better discount than our consultant discount to buy it; especially for those of us that DID do our part!

 

[its_me_susan]

My director said that noone in our executive's downline earned it I was really hoping for a better discount than our consultant discount to buy it; especially for those of us that DID do our part!

At our cluster meeting we were told that *VERY* few clusters made it (so if you did get it, you are soooooooo lucky!). I am still very disaapointed. I had/submitted 9 cooking shows (more than twice my usual and worked much harder than I wanted to, but truthfully wanted to earn ALL the free products!). It sure didn't create warm fuzzies in our cluster. I had hoped they would have announce that they were giving the item to anyone who submitted 2... Oh well.

 

[loreedfk]

We missed it by 3 shows!!! I was only able to scrape my required 2 shows together because my June just fizzled!! But I ended up working like a crazy person to get those 2 shows to the $250 mark - it was really not pretty!! All that stress for nothing!

 

[pamperedalf]

I am the only one from my cluster who comes on chef success. I am not suppose to be on here, but I don't listen well at all. LOL

 

[tlmcunning]

Amanda - So why aren't you suppose to be on here?

 

[MicheleC]

Congratulations to those of you who made it! I have to admit I wasn't too excited about it from the start. My director got promoted on June 1st but we were still under her upline for the contest. Her upline has tons of consultants who are going inactive or do just enough to stay in the business. There are pretty much 4 of us that do all of the selling for her cluster and we would have each had to do 9 shows to make it work! My best is 6 shows to far and two of the other galls average 2-3 shows a month so that was a pretty high goal for us. I was hoping they would change their mind as well. I'm hoping to put together a catalog show the first of September and get some of these things for free. That's what I did in March and it worked out great since I could pick and chose the things I wanted rather than taking the packages. I was excited to see they put so many things out there as individual items in addition to packages this time.

I'm so impressed with those of you who managed 9-10 shows during the summer. I've really had little interest in shows the last couple of months.

 

[ChefLisa]

My cluster made it because several of us recruited in May. Our Director made sure we knew that was the way we were going to earn it.

I think between all of us we added at least five new recruits in May and they are the reason we met the challenge. Out of the 40 required shows, the new recruits submitted about 14 of the shows.

I spoke with the Solution Center last night and I was told the knife shipped yesterday. I am really looking forward to receiving it and I am especially looking forward to my recruits receiving it!

Thanks!
Lisa

 

[pamperedalf]

My director took a class at conference, on how to help your downline promote and they said sites like theses don't help your consultant but hold them back. People get addicted and don't make cc calls or work their biz. They get lots of great ideas, however they never implement them into their biz.So my director told me twice that she would like me to try and be off of here for a month and see how much more my biz will flourish. If I can't be off of here to record my time that I am on here, but also record the time I work the biz.Sorry about giving you the long story version!

 

[chefkristin]

??

That boggles my mind. I have found so many things that have helped me along the way on this website. Not to mention everyone here is so nice and helpful! I have to disagree with that comment. If someone told me to stay off this site, well I can't even tell you what I would tell them. THis is a family show! LOL!!!

 

[pjpamchef]

At the Directors Dinner our Regional Sale Mgr from HO sat with us and said HO had expected 1200 clusters to meet the challenge, but only 300 actually made it. She went on to say they had had many complaints, and would not do that again, but they were however, looking for ideas on future challenges that would promote teamwork.

 

[loreedfk]

challenges that would promote teamwork.

I guess I don't get the promoting teamwork thing. If it actually worked to motivate the inactive consultants to get with the program, I might understand. But no one from my cluster seems to feel bad that I did my share and they did not and now I don't get what I worked to earn!

I know we're in business for ourselves but not by ourselves, but I would prefer to earn on my own merits, not Suzy Consultant's!!!

 

[AJPratt]

We got it!!!

 

[pamperedbecky]

People get addicted and don't make cc calls or work their biz. They get lots of great ideas, however they never implement them into their biz.

I can totally see how this would happen! I have had to really discipline myself to not be on here for hours at a time. I have been so swamped with various things since coming back from conference, including sick kids, trips to the ER and doctor and stuff like that that I've rarely been on here. I can see how time can be "wasted" here because I've done it myself. I LOVE throwing in my two cents and I do still try to do that, but I've found that I need to be focusing on other areas of my business and the main part is those customer care calls and other contacts. I think this place is awesome to pop on and get a quick answer or utilitize the awesome flyers that you all are so incredibly willing to share. Those features and uses of this website are very worthwhile, but from experience I can see how easy it is to get sucked in and spend HOURS on here. I wouldnt discourage consultants to come on here, but I'd also recommend that they set a limit and prioritize with the other tasks that need to be accomplished not only in their businesses, but in their personal lives too. I KNOW I avoided many hours of housework, dishes and laundry because I'd much rather be on here. As a result, having to get to all of those piled-up chores then DID take away from time I could have been spending on my business.

I do LOVE this site, but I also feel to get the best of both worlds (great advice and feedback on here AND a strong and consistent business) we need to be very disciplined.

 

[pamperedalf]

I was really shocked when she told me that, because June was an awesome month for me. I submitted 10 shows, and sold 3,945. Then at the end of June I recruitted 2, did my phone sale, and I felt that I was really working my biz. The way it came across, was that I sit on here all day and don't do anything. I totally implement a lot of things that I come across. I also like to help others any way I can, because I got so much support from you all that I want to repay you all for your generosity (SP).So thank you to everyone for all your help!

 

[AJPratt]

So my director told me twice that she would like me to try and be off of here for a month and see how much more my biz will flourish. If I can't be off of here to record my time that I am on here, but also record the time I work the biz.

The great thing about PC is that WE decide how WE spend our time. I have heard plenty of ideas from my upline director that I couldn't possibly be comefortable doing... but have gotten numerous good ideas from here that I have done!

 

[Chefgirl2]

I had FOUR consultants go inactive! grrr.... I was able to talk to one of them that had been with me for over 5 years. She told me she didn't want to hurt the cluster so she quit to help our odds. Another active consultant called me intears telling me she love being a consultant but she cannot possibly put in two shows and if I want her to quit she will. Huh? I have heard others say the same thing!

I know a lot of companies want to weed out people that are not being productive but, I count on those team members that do one show every other month as a buffer! Some might not do much for months then the next thing you know here comes a $1,000 show!

We did not make our 48 shows. In fact we had our lowest month EVER!

I am determined to brush this off and will not mention this at any team meetings... You know what they say "Complain up, not down."

 

[AJPratt]

I can understand the teamwork intention, but it sounds to me like there was a lot more upset than success. While my team did ok, I don't think this worked as well as it could have, if we had just done our own thing. It doesn't seem like Pampered Chef to have someone not get an award because others didn't or weren't able to help out. Please don't be offended by that-- I had a CRAPPY June myself and that's why I phrased it like that. I think everyone who did 2 shows over $250 should get the knife, whether their cluster was able to meet the goal.

 

[jmabner]

My cluster got it, we were one of two cluster;s in Becky Ishee;s entire downline to get it! I sent an email to HO that we should NEVER do this again, this promotion was a pain in the butt

But, I can't wait to get my knife!

 

[lizcooks4u]

We made it, with one show to spare. Only 3 of us earned it, I submitted 10 qualified shows personally. We haven't received the knife yet, I anticipate it to come w/ the sell athon stuff. So we will see.

I thought everyone in the cluster had to have 2 shows of at least $ 250.00 in order to win the prize/?

 

[pamperedalf]

oothenrelax

I thought everyone in the cluster had to have 2 shows of at least $ 250.00 in order to win the prize/?

At the begining of may your director received an email stating how many shows their cluster needed to hold to make it. It was 2 shows for every active consultant as of May 1st. We had 9 active consultants so we had to turn in 18 shows. The second part was to turn in 2 shows personally of $250 gs. So out of our 18 I did ten, my director did 5, another girl did 2, and some hobbiest submitted 1 each.

I hope this makes sense, it's late!

 

[lizcooks4u]

I thought everyone in the cluster had to have 2 shows of at least $ 250.00 in order to win the prize/?

 

[jwpamp]

I thought everyone in the cluster had to have 2 shows of at least $ 250.00 in order to win the prize/?

No, the cluster as a whole had to have 2 shows for each consultant in their cluster....(one could do them all if they wanted to) and then ONLY the ones who did 2 $250 shows would receive the knife.

I had a bad June as well, and we needed 74 shows...we probably fell way short of that!

 

[ChefBeckyD]

..... I think everyone who did 2 shows over $250 should get the knife, whether their cluster was able to meet the goal.

I think we should at least be able to purchase it for 50% off, not just as a personal order with a regular discount (mine is 22%). Our cluster only needed 18 shows and we missed it by just 2 - I did 7 shows that qualified(almost 1/2 of what we needed!), and hate the fact that I worked so hard (I did all of my shows in the first 2 weeks of June - on vacation the rest of the time) and still didn't get the knife! I keep trying to get over it and move on, but really - everytime I get a postcard, an email etc....from HO about it, I start doing a slow burn again! It is just frustrating to me that my reward would be based on someone else's performance - not my own!

 

[mgressaffa]

WE made it! WE only had to have 22 shows and 4 of us met that challenge of our group. Can't wait to get the new knife!

congratulations!!!! Five of us got to 28. It was very frustrating that most of our cluster didn't submit one.

Oh well?!?! But let us know how much you love the knife!!!

Mary

 

[AJPratt]

I think we should at least be able to purchase it for 50% off, not just as a personal order with a regular discount (mine is 22%). Our cluster only needed 18 shows and we missed it by just 2 - I did 7 shows that qualified(almost 1/2 of what we needed!), and hate the fact that I worked so hard (I did all of my shows in the first 2 weeks of June - on vacation the rest of the time) and still didn't get the knife! I keep trying to get over it and move on, but really - everytime I get a postcard, an email etc....from HO about it, I start doing a slow burn again! It is just frustrating to me that my reward would be based on someone else's performance - not my own!

That's the way I feel! I think it must be very frustrating for those who pulled most of the "weight" and still didn't get it! It would be nice if you could get it at 50% off. Also, isn't it a host special coming up? We can host our own shows.

 

[ChefLisa]

Wow!The UPS Man just visited my house with the knife. I washed it immediately and was able to slice a strawberry paper thin. It is an amazing knife!

I am not thrilled for all of the people who really worked hard for it and did not get it. I will say it will be worth the purchase because I really think people are going to want it when they see it and more importantly when they hold it. I really think we will have people host shows just to get it for half price. I think it is that great!

Thanks!
Lisa

 

[AJPratt]

Maybe I'll get some of the stuff I've been waiting for today, too!

 

[BethCooks4U]

I emailed home office that, while it is nice that they are letting us purchase the Santoku knife in August as a personal order (and get our discount), I think it would be a more powerful statement and a graceous statement to allow those who submitted the required shows to get it for 50% off.

Many worked hard and did much more than the minimum and should be rewarded for that. I don't think that PC should give the knife for free to those who's cluster didn't make it but half price would be better. I usually am very motivated by our incentives but I hated this one. We are all in business for ourselves and our sales incentives should not be determined by what others do or don't do but once they set the bar they couldn't lower it.

I am a newish director and had 20 in my downline on April 30th so my number was 42. Many of the consultants in my cluster are hobbyists and will not do 2 shows of $250 each. In fact I lost 4 consultants as of last month (I think because of that promotion) and this month I'm not getting responses from several others and not seeing sales.

I am hoping they are not deciding that PC is becoming a pressure company and not worth it. Hopefully they're on vacation and just aren't having the time to get back with me. The new season of products will re-energize many of them - or at least then I'll know who to bless and release.

 

[AJPratt]

I emailed home office that, while it is nice that they are letting us purchase the Santoku knife in August as a personal order (and get our discount), I think it would be a more powerful statement and a graceous statement to allow those who submitted the required shows to get it for 50% off.
I usually am very motivated by our incentives but I hated this one. We are all in business for ourselves and our sales incentives should not be determined by what others do or don't do but once they set the bar they couldn't lower it.

I emailed, too! I also agree with everything you said. Its hard to also explain to someone who'se new that even though they did their sales, they might not get the incentive.

 

[whiteyteresa]

Is it possible or do you think it won't help

But what if someone could type up a form letter and then all consultants who believe that this cluster challenge was wrong - send the letter to home office and let them know since this challenge was a flop that the home office should still award the consultants that did submit the 2 show should get the knife. Is it wrong for us to ask?

Need your opinion!!

 

[ChefBeckyD]

That's the way I feel! I think it must be very frustrating for those who pulled most of the "weight" and still didn't get it! It would be nice if you could get it at 50% off. Also, isn't it a host special coming up? We can host our own shows.

Yep! That's what I plan on doing - but I'll have to wait til Oct. to do that - It would be nice to get one now though for my Sneak Preview show - and to show potential recruits......I really need to just let it go and hope and pray we never have another challenge like that again! It's not really the fault of others in my cluster either - most are just "occasional" consultants - and there are only 3 of us who regularly attend meetings! So I can't blame them really for not pulling their weight - they were just running their businesses the way that they normally do!

 

[AJPratt]

Is it possible or do you think it won't help

But what if someone could type up a form letter and then all consultants who believe that this cluster challenge was wrong - send the letter to home office and let them know since this challenge was a flop that the home office should still award the consultants that did submit the 2 show should get the knife. Is it wrong for us to ask?

Need your opinion!!

It is not only something we should do, but is essential that when something is good or bad we alert the HO. They DO listen to us. Hmmm... wish my day job did!

 

[TinasKitchen]

I'd love to email the HO. What is the email address?

My cluster missed it by 9 shows.. and most put in more than 2 a piece. Alot that normally have more than 2 shows a month didnt submit any for their own reasons. I havent been w/ PC that long but I felt very stressed that month to help out my cluster, even offering to add more to a show (out of my own pocket $35) to make it to the $250 mark. My director said it wasnt necessary.

 

[cookn' katie]

I heard a rumor somewhere that only 10 clusters met the goal. My director said that the company feels awful about the way the challenge went and that they will not do another challenge like this. They said that they did learn from their mistake. I too, like all of you were very disappointed that our cluster didn't earn it. I don't like when I have to count on others to win. I know that the company wanted a "team" effort but I set a goal for myself and did my part.

 

[AJPratt]

Tina: You could sent it to [email protected]