New Credit Card Verification System

[BethCooks4U]

Who was on the call today with Jean Jonas and Doreen Grass?

What do you all think about the new system of verifying the card before submitting? What a cool new feature. I know I'll really like it. And I plan to submit the shows with the host on the phone so that if there's an issue I don't have to call her back and we can work on it right then and there!!

What I liked best about the call was the suggestion of "setting a standard of 2 days prior". I would LOVE for my team to be submitting earlier!

 

[BethCooks4U]

Ohhhh, and that the guest's contact info will be right on the payment screen! That will MAKE me enter it, something I'm bad at doing.

 

[finley1991]

I think it's going to be great! Hopefully it will help my consultants not sit on their shows and get them submitted in a timely manner! (I have one who sits on all of her shows... it drives me crazy! I can't even begin to imagine how her customers feel!) Plus, it will be helpful for those who never go on consultant's corner to check the status of their shows.I'm sure there will be some bugs along the way but it will be great.

 

[pamperedbecky]

I think this will be good. I know someone who was on the Beta test for this.

THe only issue I see coming up is for those shows that, say, are held the 2nd to last or last day of the month that we want to submit in THAT month for an incentive or something. There will be none of the "grace period" with any issues for a credit card issue, then putting the show on hold. NOw, at least we have a 3 or so day period that things have to be resolved in and STILL have it count for the month the show was held. That's the only bummer.

Overall it does seem more efficient. This should be interesting!!

 

[Sheila]

Considering military paydays are the 15th & the last of the month, this throws a big monkey wrench into our current way of doing shows! I only hold shows around payday weekends! If the weekend is the 13th & 14th, I'll wait until the 15th to submit the show once everyone gets paid. Now I'll have to make the 5th my deadline for closing out shows required for the early month promos and the 18th as my deadline for monthly sales goals. Anything beyond that will be extra. If it doesn't close by the end of the month & accidentally rolls over into the next month it will just be a jump start on that month's sales to be active.Despite the issues it's going to cause for military consultants, I do think it's a great idea and that it will make life for the HO staff MUCH easier!

 

[BethCooks4U]

Considering military paydays are the 15th & the last of the month, this throws a big monkey wrench into our current way of doing shows! I only hold shows around payday weekends! If the weekend is the 13th & 14th, I'll wait until the 15th to submit the show once everyone gets paid. Now I'll have to make the 5th my deadline for closing out shows required for the early month promos and the 18th as my deadline for monthly sales goals. Anything beyond that will be extra. If it doesn't close by the end of the month & accidentally rolls over into the next month it will just be a jump start on that month's sales to be active.

Despite the issues it's going to cause for military consultants, I do think it's a great idea and that it will make life for the HO staff MUCH easier!

Yeah, a lot of people get paid the last day of the month. I have many who ask me not to cash checks till the 30th... It's not just military that the issue will effect. It will make our lives easier though - just a bit of adjustment.

They also said and repeated that while they don't recommend it, if the host of a party the last day or 2 of the month says "no way jose I will not be able to close by the 31st" we could just use the following month's specials and change the date of the show to the following month. That was said by Doreen and supported by Jean.

 

[ChefLoriG]

They also said and repeated that while they don't recommend it, if the host of a party the last day or 2 of the month says "no way jose I will not be able to close by the 31st" we could just use the following month's specials and change the date of the show to the following month. That was said by Doreen and supported by Jean.

I was soooo surprised to hear them say it was ok to do this..... I was driving and almost dropped my phone when I heard Doreen say it

 

[BethCooks4U]

I was soooo surprised to hear them say it was ok to do this..... I was driving and almost dropped my phone when I heard Doreen say it

I actually missed the comment the first time and was surprised when the question was asked and she went over it. My NED had told us that we could "legally" do this a couple months ago.

I've done it once. I put the show on my website as a catalog show (so I didn't have to put the time on, confusing guests) for August 1 and told her not to do invitations through my website but to send outside orders there if she wanted to. That way they'd see the correct guest special. It worked okay. I just said at the show "the guest special tonight is...". I didn't feel totally good about it but the host wanted the August specials and we didn't have a mutually open date in August and the party was the very end of July.

 

[finley1991]

The other thing to take into account is really how often we have declined credit cards? I honestly can count on one hand all of the declined cards I've had this year and I think that is being generous. It's not something that happens very frequently as Doreen mentioned.

I think what they are hoping is that it will force consultants (some of mine!) to NOT sit on their shows and submit them in a timely manner. I have one (who I've mentioned dozens of times here) sit on all of her shows and she will submit 3-4-5 shows in the last hours of the month. She frequently has declined credit cards and I'm guessing it's because she sits on them and people spend what they see is available... then when the PC charge comes through, there isn't enough $$$. In July she submitted 3 at the eleventh hour (even putting in one online order for herself to get her over $150)... all 3 had declined cards and she just resolved the last one two days ago. (I honestly can't imagine what her customers think and she wonders why she has little repeat business!!!!)

I think this might be a wait and see how it works out situation once we start using it and get the feel of it. I haven't take the tutorial yet either...

 

[cmdtrgd]

Ok, I did NOT get the invite to the call and I'm a Director. I'm pissed because I got the follow up email saying "the info from the call today" WHAT? I would have been able to be on it, too! HATE that I didn't get the invite. But, I am getting invites for a TL call as a leader of one, but I don't have any TL! I'm going to talk with my sales manager next week to see what is going on!

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Ok, I did NOT get the invite to the call and I'm a Director. I'm pissed because I got the follow up email saying "the info from the call today" WHAT? I would have been able to be on it, too! HATE that I didn't get the invite. But, I am getting invites for a TL call as a leader of one, but I don't have any TL! I'm going to talk with my sales manager next week to see what is going on!

I've had the exact same thing happening.

But - my director said she didn't get an invite to the call either, and she's an Advanced Director...very strange.

 

[baychef]

There are tutorials for this, correct? I am having a team meeting on Tuesday and I want people to know this.

I see the obvious good, but I am not happy about the end of the month thing at all. I will just book my parties with the understanding that if you have a party on the 29th, 30th or 31st of the month, we will use the next month's specials. How damn confusing will that be not just for the customer but for new consultants? I sound madder than I really am about it. It just looks like another recipe for trouble and another little thing that our consultants will get tripped up on and have a customer become upset with them.

I see more pressure to have consultants "covering" parties for their hosts more often. Once you consider that a host has to mail the remaining checks, it just makes it put the show farther out. I know about closing it on the night of the show and not covering money and everything but what sounds good and what happens are two different things.

I think I will wear my new tee shirt...it has a picture of a fish between the word "Crappy" and "Attitude" Thank you for letting me be cranky!!

 

[PamperedChefDebi]

Considering military paydays are the 15th & the last of the month, this throws a big monkey wrench into our current way of doing shows! I only hold shows around payday weekends! If the weekend is the 13th & 14th, I'll wait until the 15th to submit the show once everyone gets paid. Now I'll have to make the 5th my deadline for closing out shows required for the early month promos and the 18th as my deadline for monthly sales goals. Anything beyond that will be extra. If it doesn't close by the end of the month & accidentally rolls over into the next month it will just be a jump start on that month's sales to be active.

Despite the issues it's going to cause for military consultants, I do think it's a great idea and that it will make life for the HO staff MUCH easier!

I don't quite understand any potential problem for military folks here? If you don't typically submit shows on the 13th or 14th for example, and wait for the 15th for payday, you can still do that. This has no affect on this process whatsoever as far as I understand. Maybe I'm misunderstanding something?

 

[BethCooks4U]

I don't quite understand any potential problem for military folks here? If you don't typically submit shows on the 13th or 14th for example, and wait for the 15th for payday, you can still do that. This has no affect on this process whatsoever as far as I understand. Maybe I'm misunderstanding something?

The difference is that if there is a credit card that isn't approved the show will no longer go in to PC and then be put on hold, thus giving the consultant time to resolve the problem.

My suggestion to this if you have to wait for the 15th or the last day of the month is to do it early in the day so you have time to contact the guest/host before midnight central time.

 

[PamperedChefDebi]

The difference is that if there is a credit card that isn't approved the show will no longer go in to PC and then be put on hold, thus giving the consultant time to resolve the problem.

My suggestion to this if you have to wait for the 15th or the last day of the month is to do it early in the day so you have time to contact the guest/host before midnight central time.

Right. But how is that ultimately different? Either way you're waiting for payday and if it doesn't clear, either the entire show is on hold (old way) or it doesn't get submitted (new way) until resolved. Right? So how is the end result any different for military customers?

 

[BethCooks4U]

Right. But how is that ultimately different? Either way you're waiting for payday and if it doesn't clear, either the entire show is on hold (old way) or it doesn't get submitted (new way) until resolved. Right? So how is the end result any different for military customers?

It's no different for military than any other. The difference for everyone is that before we could submit in time and if a card didn't go through we had 2 days AFTER the incendive (or whatever) deadline to resolve and get it in to still earn the incentive. Starting in September cards must be resolved before submitting so if we waited until the last day we might not resolve it to send the show in and the we'd miss the incentive.

Again, it is no different no matter who we are, military or not. Sheila called it a military issue because she knows that military are paid at those times.

 

[finley1991]

It's not really that different. The end of the month thing and offering the 2 specials (one month vs the other) was only if we as consultants don't think we can get the show closed in time. There is really no difference now... just that the show must be resolved before we submit it, instead of finding out there is a problem after the fact and having to resolve it then. I'm not going to give my hosts the option. Whatever month her show is is the month the specials reflect. Trying to remember who's show is *what month* is too much for my brain so I'm sticking with the day of the show... period.

 

[Sheila]

Yes, our military consultants wait until the 15th & the last day of the month to submit shows held prior to those days so that our military customers have their paychecks in the bank. With the old system, if a card was declined, we still got credit for submitting the shows in time for the pay day cutoff and/or earning incentives, with an extra 2-3 days to resolve the issue. With the new plan, if we wait until payday to submit the show and an issue pops up, we are under the wire to get it resolved and try submitting it again before the deadline to meet the payday and/or promo deadline or loose out.

 

[chefkathy]

I'm sorry, but if they don't have money in the bank, they shouldn't be ordering. This is a personal finance issue, not a paycheck issue.

 

[Chef Kearns]

Okay, forgive me if I'm totally missing something here, but why is this turning into a big deal? The cards get validated before we submit them. So what?! It doesn't really affect anything, does it? Either way, I'm cool. This is one of the lesser changes we've had in the last few months. Not a big deal at all!

 

[Sheila]

Deb, unfortunately the majority of the military live paycheck-to-paycheck. Most of these kids came straight out of Mom & Dad's house into the military & they never really get any type of financial literacy training. Knowing that, if I hold a show 2-3 days before a payday, I make sure to tell everyone that we won't submit the show until payday. You'd be amazed at the difference in the show sales! Many of them will order the bare minimum just to be nice for the host before payday, but once they hear that the show won't be submitted until after payday, they will start adding more things that they want to the order forms. It's really crazy! Since I'm in a community where literally EVERYONE gets paid simultaneously, it's a different situation than stateside sales. I've only done 2 stateside shows (while I was on vacation in Texas this last May) and it was so different than shows here in Japan. Crazy, but it was! LOL For the first time I had to worry about adding tax AND I could do ship-to-host (which is against military regulation & Japan Customs regulations to do that here), but I didn't have to worry about when to close the show & it was nice to see all the customers get their products so fast! Here in Japan we have to wait about 4-9 weeks depending on the time of year.

 

[Sheila]

Okay, forgive me if I'm totally missing something here, but why is this turning into a big deal? The cards get validated before we submit them. So what?! It doesn't really affect anything, does it? Either way, I'm cool. This is one of the lesser changes we've had in the last few months. Not a big deal at all!

Like I said previously, I think it's great for HO! It will make their life much easier to let each consultant deal with any issues on their own. And it's not really a huge deal, it will just change up the method that my team has been using that works very well for us with our military customers. We'll have to re-vamp the plan a bit to still hit the military pay days and be able to meet PC sales incentives too.

 

[finley1991]

Okay, forgive me if I'm totally missing something here, but why is this turning into a big deal? The cards get validated before we submit them. So what?! It doesn't really affect anything, does it? Either way, I'm cool. This is one of the lesser changes we've had in the last few months. Not a big deal at all!

You're totally correct Sandra! It's not a big deal. But we know how change is... even if it's not a big deal it can be scary.

 

[baychef]

Sorry for my rant...PMSing! Once I get familiar with the new system, it will be second nature! Fell victim to the change panic that Colleen speaks of!

 

[Nanisu]

The only problem I see is if the customer has a bad card and we can't get hold of them our show is on hold over the end of the month--which means we don't get paid. I don't know a diplomatic way of asking them if their card will be good....So, I guess that means I change my strategy and don't hold shows in the last 3 days of the month because I am not going to play crisis phone tag with anyone. Either that or close the show out that day no matter what--but that is such a hassle with the hostess as she's entertaining. What would be really cool is if PC had some way for us to clear their card at the show--most hosts I know here in CA have wireless internet and I take my laptop to the shows, it would be WAY more convenient. No more guests writing their card # down incorrectly (or me because the cards were difficult to read the #), etc.

 

[Sheila]

The only problem I see is if the customer has a bad card and we can't get hold of them our show is on hold over the end of the month--which means we don't get paid. I don't know a diplomatic way of asking them if their card will be good....So, I guess that means I change my strategy and don't hold shows in the last 3 days of the month because I am not going to play crisis phone tag with anyone. Either that or close the show out that day no matter what--but that is such a hassle with the hostess as she's entertaining. What would be really cool is if PC had some way for us to clear their card at the show--most hosts I know here in CA have wireless internet and I take my laptop to the shows, it would be WAY more convenient. No more guests writing their card # down incorrectly (or me because the cards were difficult to read the #), etc.

Just make them next month's specials! Oct is a great example. If you hold a show on the 29th or 30th, make it a November show, that way it qualifies for any incentives that we might have in November.

 

[Nanisu]

Well, that's great unless you are working on an October incentive...or need to get paid for a show you do in October. I have held shows over and made them the next month, but I personally think that's confusing to the guests and hosts--we send them host packets with the current month special on the outside order form, and then we tell them that day--well, it's got to be the next month now....

 

[chefkathy]

Well, that's great unless you are working on an October incentive...or need to get paid for a show you do in October. I have held shows over and made them the next month, but I personally think that's confusing to the guests and hosts--we send them host packets with the current month special on the outside order form, and then we tell them that day--well, it's got to be the next month now....

Exactly, it gets confusing if you use your PWS for invites adn outside orders.

 

[PamperedChefDebi]

Yes, our military consultants wait until the 15th & the last day of the month to submit shows held prior to those days so that our military customers have their paychecks in the bank. With the old system, if a card was declined, we still got credit for submitting the shows in time for the pay day cutoff and/or earning incentives, with an extra 2-3 days to resolve the issue. With the new plan, if we wait until payday to submit the show and an issue pops up, we are under the wire to get it resolved and try submitting it again before the deadline to meet the payday and/or promo deadline or loose out.

Well, myself and my team didn't handle things that way (and I had AT LEAST 25 team members stationed overseas). I feel it's poor business practice. If one or two asked me to hold a check, I would usually do it, but it was rare and I did not put it out there as an option.

 

[PamperedChefDebi]

Okay, forgive me if I'm totally missing something here, but why is this turning into a big deal? The cards get validated before we submit them. So what?! It doesn't really affect anything, does it? Either way, I'm cool. This is one of the lesser changes we've had in the last few months. Not a big deal at all!

LOL! That's what I was thinking and why I didn't understand Sheila's point. It shouldn't have more than a minuscule impact on anything.