Fyi, if the Host Wants to Place a Guest Order

[vanscootin]

While I agree with what you all are saying, something to consider from a business analysis point of view...when they determine the cost / benefit of offering the guest item at the $60 sales level, they don't determine the cost of the gifts based on only a $60 order (ie. "on a $60 order with $4.75 shipping, we can give away X and still make our margins"). They will look at how many people typically spend $60, $70, $80, $100, etc....and they work out the cost that way, knowing that some people will spend way over the $60 but get the same gift, so it offsets the gift / order ratio for the smaller orders.

By breaking down bigger orders into smaller orders, you're increasing the # of gifts (and therefore cost) for the same level of sales. And yes, you're paying another shipping cost, but again, shipping costs are determined by looking at an OVERALL number....so while you may have a $300 show with 10 shipping charges that probably costs the company less than what your customers paid to ship...others will have a $1000 show with 5 orders that costs way more to ship than what their customers paid.

You have to look at the overall picture, not show by show or order by order.

The higher the cost for the volume of sales (shipping, guest specials, etc....) the lower the profit...which means increased prices, increased shipping costs, lower value guest specials, less consultant gifts, etc....

and on hosts ordering on their own show (booking off their own show)...well that seems really silly. I would be curious as to their reasoning behind it....I agree with you all that that one seems silly.

While agree, from a business analysis standpoint, I have to point out that our products have to be marked up significantly. Take a look at the career plan... everyone up the ladder gets some percentage from the sale of a product. Up to 27% to the consultant, then an extra 1, then 2 then 3 then 4% to people in their upline... then the cost of the host benefits too. Has to be at least a 40% markup, if not more.

It's not my job to know the company's bottom line. That's way above my pay grade. It's our job to provide our customers with quality kitchen tools and great customer service.

I personally don't let hosts order on their own show.... or rebook off their own show. Actually I've never been posed the question, but I probably wouldn't. And if they wanted to place an order on their own show, why not just put it in their husband or boyfriend or kids name? (I guess that is still "cheating" the system.)

I want to run into a host who has muliple personality disorder... and has Susie the host, Jenny the mean guest, and Jane the rich guest. LOL!

To HO it's obviously a more grey area than to how black and white it is to us- More orders on the show, more host rewards for the host, more commission in our pockets.

 

[PamperedK]

I totally get what you're saying, and I agree...it's not our jobs to know or worry about the bottom line....I do think it's our jobs to think like owners though and to understand that this company is in business to make money. Yes, we do great things, we help people, we teach new recipes, we have fun, etc....but it's a business. Yes, there is a markup....so the company makes money. If their profit margins are lower (not sales, but margins), then costs get cut. What happens when costs get cut? We get upset. We are upset that conference isn't as good as it used to be, the free product isn't as frequent as it used to be, the prices are going up, etc....but it may be because our margins aren't as good as they used to be. Anyway - I don't disagree with what anyone is saying...I just think we need to think of the bigger picture, and while PC has clearly made some mistakes in this rollout by not testing the data or including real consultants doing real analysis, we have to trust that they want to make our jobs easier. They wouldn't get anything out of making our jobs harder and ticking us off. I truly trust that this company cares about their sales team and wants to take care of them. Things are messy right now but in the long run, they'll have learned some good lessons and we'll have an awesome system to make our jobs better.

 

[sandilou]

It doesn't seem like it should matter who gets the past host special, the host or her girlfriend. I will loose a huge number of shows and have a huge number of disappointed ladies over this who have hosted for over 7 years. Has anyone found this policy? Just curious. I don't understand how HO thinks they are loosing or being cheated on this one.

Here is another situation. I just did a bride shower. I put the items purchased for the bride under her name as a guest b/c we were going to direct ship it. Then I did another order for as the host for her benefits. Doesn't sound like we will be able to do that any more, right?

Sandi

 

[esavvymom]

Before folks panic, remember, the new system has lots of bugs. They are sorting them out as they are brought to light. This very well may be one of them.I would NOT be telling hosts otherwise, just yet- except those you encounter with an issue. I don't think it IS a policy in which a host cannot order on her own show as a guest. I've heard too many things (from HO as well) about things that would support that very thing. So don't panic...yet.
Just let tech-support know, and they'll clarify one way or the other. If it is a new policy, or one that was hidden/unclear, I'm sure we'll see a memo about it. If it is not, then they'll fix it.personally- I think if you have multiple people with the same email address, it should not matter. For all they know, someone is using that person's email address because they don't have their own. It's a poor-thought out process with regards to that.I don't like it, but for now, it is just my two-cents on how I would handle it with regards to customers and the immediate here/now.....

 

[ShellBeach]

I remember the grill pan special, too. I'm almost positive they were urging us in PC Newswire to have a host buy the special for $149, add a $1 Season's Best and call it a show.
Although I can't seem to be able to log onto Consultant's Corner on the new website to find which PC Newswire it was in...the link has disappeared!

Agree about the mandatory email thing. I am going to have to come up with fictitious emails if this is truly a requirement for ordering, because I have plenty of customers without PCs. Not happy about being put in that position!

 

[pcsharon1]

My issue with them having to give me an email address is that in the past I have always said "if you would like to get emails and newsletters from me, be sure to give me your email address." Then if they gave it to me, that was them giving me permission to add them to my newsletter list. Now, they may not want my newsletter but they are giving me their email because it is required.

If home office can sort by email address and keep track of orders, then they can sort by host name and zip code - even for people who move frequently. This is how we find past host numbers and it's worked for years.

 

[pampered1224]

I want to chime in here as I too have quite few folks who really do not have e-mail addresses so I am concerned that I will not be able to take orders from just anyone. WHICH IS TOTALLY STUPID ON THE PART OF HO TO ASSUME EVERYONE USES A COMPUTER OR WANTS E-MAILS!!!! To me that is an invasion of privacy. I have guests who really do not want to give me an address even! Also the host not being able to book from themselves and get past host products while also being the host is just crap no matter how you look at it. The whole point of being able to do that was to be able to guarantee shows with many of hosts. I also know that any give away can be written off taxes. So for every free gift, a percentage of that can be written off corporate taxes. Just like all the gifts we get are tax write offs. Yes, it is only about a 33% return but when you can use the retail price and not the actual cost of the of the item, it is a win, win situation for HO. That $10 scraper probably cost them less than $3.30 so they actually make money by writing it off at $10 each. The same goes for any discount they offer too. If I am not mistaken, this is why it is beneficial to offer such substantial discounts to our hosts and guests. The write offs alone are worth the discounts they give. I mean if I do not collect the amount of the rent we charge, we write off the entire amount. We actually make more if the apartment sits empty than if we actually rent it out. Just like making a killing on mileage. We get $.51 or $.55 per mile. That means we get to write off $5.10 for a 10 mile trip. You know as well as I do that a ten mile trip may cost all of one gallon of gas or about $3.70. You just made a $1.30. So...

 

[vanscootin]

I want to chime in here as I too have quite few folks who really do not have e-mail addresses so I am concerned that I will not be able to take orders from just anyone. WHICH IS TOTALLY STUPID ON THE PART OF HO TO ASSUME EVERYONE USES A COMPUTER OR WANTS E-MAILS!!!! To me that is an invasion of privacy. I have guests who really do not want to give me an address even!

Never fear... you will be able to take orders from those who don't want or do not have an email address... you will use their phone number... so if Susie's phone is 814-123-4567 you will put it in the email spot as [email protected]. This is to ensure consistency and that customer service will be able to look up the customer's account to see their purchases. Yes, the old way worked, yes this change may be completely unneccesary but this is the way it is now... well soon.