My Business Is Incredible - Thanks to Tough Love

[Chefgirl2]

I've been the eternal director for about 10 years until last summer when I promoted to AD. In December I was an AD but got paid as a TL...I didn't notice until mid February on a snowy day when I slowed down to look at my stats. I was horrified, especially since I had been working with HO and really helping my down line more than ever. I didn't realize that my director (who didn't qualify) wasn't considered a thread. To make it worse the same situation happened in January, too. I lost $510!

I'm okay with it now. I also understand why the company decided to make the new career plan, and I am truly thankful that I only had to wait 21 days for it to start. The HO and my NED Beth Jacobs called me many times because I was so frustrated and feeling like helping my team wasn't paying off. I've had lots of coaching over the years and it wasn't going anywhere. I've been saying for years that I need to get organized and also needed to coach better. Saying it, but not doing it. Not on purpose, but I needed a plan. February 28th my life changed when at what I thought was the end of another call Linda Bowles said "Elaine, just like I tell our directors, if your consultants aren't doing what they say they doing then you need to let them go." Then she said something along the lines of "I think I need to quit wasting my time and let you go. Maybe it wasn't that harsh, but it made me wake up. I told her that she was right. Either it was going to happen today or it was never going to happen. The difference is this time she helped me make the plan that made it happen and I didn't make excuses.

Here is what I decided would fit me best I'm putting this in writing because I wish someone said "This helped me decide when I did what and it works for me. Why don't you tweak it to fit your needs and try something like this?" Someone starting off won't need all the time invested as I do, but they still need to know when they will do shows, follow up on leads and make coaching calls.

Monday day is for my team only. I rescheduled all of my Monday appointments for the year. This one step has made a huge difference with my business because I don't have interruptions while I'm focused. My days are spent coaching, planning and training. The second Monday of the month I have the Team Meeting from 7-9pm and the fourth Monday I added a Taste Testing event from 7-9pm. This event is for my team to bring recruit leads, host leads (or hosts with orders and a few guests), or anyone that want a night out to see the new products and a new recipe with a hands on live show/training. It's one recipe and after that my consultants take orders for themselves, book shows and I help them recruit by answering questions about the business for those guests that want to learn more.

Tuesday is show night. You'll notice that I leave the day after a show open. I explain why later. Tuesdays I touch base with leads, hosts and do customer care calls (hope to do more anyway). If I have personal errands I do them the hour before carpool or just after...and only if I know I'll be home by 4:30 -leaving me plenty of time to get to my shows.

Wednesday day is for following up with leads for bookings and recruiting. I can make plans to meet this day with the leads I met the night before at my show since I know that I'm free. It's great knowing I'm not rushing to fit this part into my business. I will only make appointments this day if it isn't possible to do otherwise...like I did with the orthodontist and parent teacher conferences this week.

Thursday I work at my sister's Law Office which is about 45-60 minutes away. This February I had a show on a Thursday that was an hour away in the other direction. I arrived to my 7:00 show at 7:05...horrified, stressed and embarrassed. Now I don't do any Pampered Chef that day which is nice because it's also girl's night for a lot of my friends. It's also the reason I felt obligated to do shows for my hosts that night. Not anymore.

Friday day is for appointments like hair, errands, doctors, friends and family. It is also my show night. Beth Jacobs pointed out to me that new consultants always worry about when is a good day to have a show. Fridays and Saturdays are always the best days because people have money. She's right!

Saturday is for me to do Kick Off shows with my recruits, their recruits and anyone on my team that wants to re-boot their business. I help them do their first show where they are also the host. They get the host benefits and the commission. I get the satisfaction of knowing they are well trained. They have bookings, recruits, lots of free products and immediately get a nice paycheck. I try to get a booth at a festival at least once a month so my team gets hands on training on how to run a booth. BTW - if they commit to a booth I also need a commitment that they have a set time to call leads the very next day.

Sundays are open. But, after the $1,500 Bloody Mary Brunch 11:30 show that I did a few weeks ago I might re-think my "Grand Plan".

The scariest change is only doing 2 shows a week. Instead of me thinking I need more shows - I'm focusing on doing 6-8 shows, selling $3,000-$4,000 a month and giving most of my time to my team

It's paying off! Last month I recruited 3 new consultants and one signed her first hostess within a week (I'm doing her kick off show on the 9th). AND we had 6 people join our team in March!!


I promised myself I wouldn't waste all day in a chat room, but I feel like this is something that anyone can duplicate.

Here is a much simplified version:

Monday: Team Day -see how they are doing. Are they connecting the number of shows with what they need to reach their goals? 2 times a month have a 2 hour meeting or an opportunity/tasting at night.
Tuesday: Host coach, make customer care calls and hold a show.
Wednesday: Follow up with my leads and do a bit of personal errands.
Thursday: My day off from PC
Friday: Day is all personal and hold a show.
Saturday: Team Day - Kick off show and/or Booth
Sunday: My day off from PC

Most people will not choose the same days for shows, call, team meetings or off. But setting a time to work the business, errands and down time is extremely important. My days are flexible, but working all areas of my business are not if I want to build a strong team/business. It's nice to know that I can take this formula and move it around when something pops up.

I'd love to see what others are doing...hopefully Greg lets this stay up so others can read it and take or not take anything from my hard lesson learned.

I want to thank Linda for telling it like she saw it when I needed it the most!

 

[cincychef]

First of all thank you so much for taking the time to share this!!!!!

 

[pamperedlinda]

Thanks so much for sharing Elaine! I've been in an unorganized slump for a while now and I know that's what's holding me back as well. I never intended to do PC as a full-time job, but I find I spend a lot of wasted time doing PC! and, it's because I am not organized! I have been thinking of looking at my calendar and scheduling out my week and also standardizing my available show dates. Thank you for sharing your calendar outline, this will help me too!

 

[pcsharon1]

I have just in the last six weeks or so sat down and created a schedule for my shows. I do shows on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. I will consider the occasional Friday or Sunday afternoon if I am trying to get extra shows in but definately not on Tuesday or Wednesdays. Now I just need to put everything else in the schedule - like the coaching, recruiting and customer care calls. I love your plan and intend to print it out as soon as I get to my home computer with printer. You're right! While the days themselves will be different, the plan is pretty much the same for all of us. We all have to do the same things.

But.....I do have to say, I would have definately noticed a drop of over $500 in my paycheck. Unfortunately we live paycheck to paycheck and that would have most definately been noticed!

Thanks for your post.

 

[raebates]

Good for you!

 

[nancycookspc]

AWESOME Elaine!

Thank you-

I need to develop a "plan" I feel like I am always running behind the ball with PC- always trying to play catch up ALWAYS working PC-
but never in all the right areas. I will take you structure and tweek it to fit me and go from there-

thanks!
nancy

 

[hcjeep]

Thank you so much. I am still trying to figure all of this out and it really helped. I just promoted to Director and have had 5 new recruits in the last month. I am now needed to look at a plan more like yours. Before it was book as many shows and talk to as many people to recruit now I need to take care of my team. Thank you for sharing your story. In the first call with my director when I promoted she told me I needed to make office hours and a schedule. I said yeah probably but had no clue how to do it. This helps me so much to see it in writing. I hope you stick to your schedule and your team and you do well because of it.

 

[Chefgirl2]

I intend to stick to this schedule. The hardest part is trying not to please everyone...I'm such a people pleaser

My hosts are happy to do shows when I need because I sell "the sizzle" of why that night will be great. On the otherhand, if I'm spending $100 in a salon it should be on a day that fits my needs and not when they can fit me in because I forget to make an appointment until I desparately need it. I'm having to make appointments in advanced which helps me stay organized and not so stressed.

As for missing $500...that was for both months. I didn't realize my mistake until Feb 7...the day before the second payday. I had thought the Dec pay drop was because I didn't qualify as AD...I had no clue that I'd been paid as TL. I'd been so crazy-busy that I hadn't slowed down to really take a look. In Jan all I needed was one thread and I had enough sales that "helping" a SC get $150 wouldn't have hurt at all.

Luckily, it's all in the past and business is great!

 

[NooraK]

Thank you for sharing Elaine. My plan is to get to where you are one day, and I know a schedule/plan is key to doing that. Right now, my plan doesn't include everything you have, but it does have some of the important things. It's also a bit more fluid, since DH and I both work full-time, and it isn't necessarily easy to say "every Tuesday is for making calls" etc. I do, however, have three days that are always the same: Thursdays and Fridays are for shows, Sundays are family days.

For a while, I was thinking I might have to quit the business because I was dead in the water and couldn't get moving. One of the big reasons was that I couldn't find a way to tell DH that I needed him to suck it up and take the kids at least one night a week so that I could make phone calls. I finally figured out how to bring it to his attention, and he finally figured out how important it was to me.

He has resented my business for a while, because he says it's the only thing I ever talk about. The most interesting thing about making a schedule is, that it makes me obsess about PC less. When we did not have a schedule, I was constantly stressing over when I might get time to work on my business. With the schedule, I don't have to do that. I know when I can make my calls, and I don't worry about it until then.

 

[Jolie_Paradoxe]

Thanks for sharing Elaine! The specifics and how to are certainly helpful. I have been the same as you were...meaning to get organized, meaning to set a more rigid schedule...saying, but never quite getting there. Finally saw that it is imperative I do start acting last month.

I finally got a desk and my own space, so I am excited that I have an actual workspace. I have all sorts of organizational tools that I hope will help me be proactive vs. reactive.

I have a quick question: How do you tell your team that you are available on such and such day only? What do you do when you get calls outside of those office hours?

 

[chefa]

This is FANTASTIC Elaine! Like a lot of people, I know I need a schedule, but haven't made one. That's about to change, tho. Director Express this past week has really pumped me up about recruiting and working around my life the way I want it to vs. work running my life. Thanks so much for sharing your story and your schedule. It's gonna make a lot of us a whole lot less stressed! Have a wonderul and blessed day.

 

[Chefgirl2]

Thanks for sharing Elaine! The specifics and how to are certainly helpful. I have been the same as you were...meaning to get organized, meaning to set a more rigid schedule...saying, but never quite getting there. Finally saw that it is imperative I do start acting last month.

I finally got a desk and my own space, so I am excited that I have an actual workspace. I have all sorts of organizational tools that I hope will help me be proactive vs. reactive.

I have a quick question: How do you tell your team that you are available on such and such day only? What do you do when you get calls outside of those office hours?

For the most part my team knows that I don't do Pampered Chef on Thursdays. They are free to call me, and if I'm available I'll pick up to see if I can quickly help them. I have plenty of time on my drive home that I can usually help them without needing a computer in front of me. My office hours are flexible. If I'm doing an everyday activity with my kids and I have a consultant call in a panic then I'm going to ask my kids to give me a minute. If I'm out at a restaurant or in a movie I'm going to have my phone on silence and give the people I'm with my attention. I'll get back to the consultant as soon as I can, which could be the next day because I'm not going to call someone after a glass of wine.

This week will be a challenge. My husband found out on Thursday that he is off this whole week because Ford can't get a computer chip that's made in Japan. The tsunami is effecting a lot of people. And, my kids are on spring break. Today while the tornado watches were going on I cleaned house since I knew it might be difficult to stay focused. We have kids staying all night tonight and a birthday party on Wednesday. I plan on making team calls this evening and focusing on business tomorrow and Wednesday day. I have 2 weekend shows so I'm sitting down NOW and making a list of what I want to accomplish this week and when I can do it.

I'm not winging it like I used to do it.

 

[ChefBevShu]

Thank You Elaine! I've been with PC for just a year, but I really want to get to where you are with your business!!! I was doing PC full-time, but my husband took a different job in November and I now work PT. I am currently a TL but want to become director. I am having a hard time fitting in PC because we just listed our house for sale and I'm doing the "little" projects I had been putting off. Your schedule has given me inspiration and I hope I can become a director before NC!!!

 

[Nanisu]

He has resented my business for a while, because he says it's the only thing I ever talk about. The most interesting thing about making a schedule is, that it makes me obsess about PC less. When we did not have a schedule, I was constantly stressing over when I might get time to work on my business. With the schedule, I don't have to do that. I know when I can make my calls, and I don't worry about it until then.

This is one of the best things I ever did for my business. My family knows that I need to close shows out Tuesday nights after I get home from the gym, and Sunday nites from 7-8:30 I am on the phone unless we have some urgent family thing to do. I also started posting my show schedule on the family calendar--they are older now but still want to know when I'm around...we do a lot of family stuff together even though they are big people. Your husband will get it eventually--and if you are consistent it will become part of the routine.

Hugs

 

[Bren706]

Thanks for posting! It is very insightful and helpful.