Too Many Consultants on Pampered Chef FB Page? Yikes!

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Discussion Overview

The thread discusses concerns among participants regarding the behavior of consultants promoting themselves on the Pampered Chef Facebook page. Many express frustration over the perceived chaos and inappropriate self-promotion occurring in the community space.

Discussion Character

  • Opinion-based
  • Anecdotal
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses annoyance with the number of consultants promoting themselves, describing it as a "feeding frenzy."
  • Another participant agrees that self-promotion should not be allowed on the page.
  • Several users mention that the page has become cluttered with irrelevant posts, making it unappealing to customers.
  • One participant shares their experience of commenting on posts to remind others of the promotion policy.
  • Another participant notes frustration with the lack of moderation and the potential for the guidelines to be revoked.
  • Some participants discuss the idea that many consultants may not be familiar with the rules or training, leading to inappropriate posts.
  • One participant suggests that the excitement around the Facebook page will eventually die down.
  • Several users express a desire for stricter moderation to maintain the page's intended purpose.
  • One participant mentions the importance of sharing recipes and tips rather than personal promotions.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Views differ among participants regarding the behavior of consultants on the Facebook page, with many expressing frustration and a desire for change, but no clear consensus emerges on how to address the issue.

Contextual Notes

The discussion reflects personal experiences and opinions of participants regarding the use of social media for business promotion within the Pampered Chef community.

Who May Find This Useful

Consultants who are active on social media and those interested in understanding community sentiments about self-promotion practices may find this discussion relevant.

  • Thread starter
  • #31
keith, your suggestion for people to join chef success was great. I hope people are getting in trouble for cluttering the pc fb page with no sense. Its totally ridiculous & uncalled for. FB is not the place to find business. Pick up the darn phone people! Ugh! (Sorry!)
 
leftymac said:
I said they were boring too. Boring doesn't imply that you know everything. Glad some "older people" in the business think they know more than others, too. Some people aren't auditory learners and have difficulties just listening to a recorded speech. That's why I said they were boring to me.
I thought they were boring for the exact same reason. In fact, I pulled up my free cell game, and played that while I was listening, and then I checked my email, and then checked my facebook page....I learn better if I have something else to do besides just listen to a recording - if I hadn't been doing those things I would have completely zoned out.Thanks for posting on the FB Page Keith - I started to, and then thought that I didn't even want to go there, but I'm glad you did. I actually thought about unfriending the page, but haven't yet.
 
I missed a large chunk of the training on the courses because I can't hear the audio. You see, with dial-up at home it takes hours and hours to complete one course. So, I went to our local library. No problem going through the course, but you can't listen to audio. I did get the basic gist because of the synopsis that's posted on each page. And, yes, I'm emailing the HO about the issue. I'd love to have a transcript of the audio available.
 
I think this shows a little why they didn't want us to advertise online (which I am all FOR...at least in the "normal" being able to tell people that you are a consultant way). People just don't read/listen and sometimes understand the rules. Give an inch, take an island type thing.

Of course, I personally find facebook strange in general. Maybe b/c I have a big family, I don't feel the need to "know" strangers and I also don't need people to know what I'm doing each day. If I want someone to know something, I just tell them (through email or whatever, but not globally to everyone who is my "friend"). I get why others enjoy it, it's just not for me.

For my customers though, I really love the idea since THEY can share what they love with each other based on this topic (PC). However, I don't need them getting bombarded by other consultants endless chatting on the main PC page. I'm wondering if no posting should be allowed (of course, don't know that's possible) so that it's a clean place to look at new info. I GET that the idea is to be able to comment, but maybe it needs to just be somewhere that we can get info that transferrs well to our facebook page.

Okay...not enough sleep and too much to do.
 
Thanks Keith for all of your messages on FB! I can't get over the way people are handling having access to FB.

In my opinion 99% of the posts thus far should and can be deleted by the moderator. If a CUSTOMER has a question and no consultant they should be able to post and receive a response from HO not 20 different consultants begging for business. There is no need for CONSULTANTS to post "yay, excited for a FB page"... "loved this recipe"... etc" Obviously they have no concept of FB pages, especially for businesses. :grumpy:
 
I wanted to "share" the page on my FB page but have decided to wait until all this dies down - if it does.
 
Wow! What a way to wake up this morning - great heated debates. LOL!
I must say I personally have not had a chance to do the FB online training. My computers has been down and won't get it back for a few more days. I have been "borrowing" my daughters here and there. I too, have noticed that some of the FB activity reminds me of an accident attorney chasing an ambulance.
PLEASE, no offense to attorneys. :angel:
I thought the same thing, everyone has been wanting this for sooo long, then the minute they get it, they take advantage of it and ignore the rules. Or worse yet, use no common sense or respect to other consultants. Again, even though I had not done the training, it is obvious that self promoting would not be allowed. I was thinking, really- we finally get what we want, then take advantage of it. Are we not adults?!
What really annoys me is the "discussion" threads. Fundraisers, booths, pampering a buss. That should not be an open conversation for customers to read. Isn't that why we are all here on CS :chef:. If I read consultants talking- how to get customers to book a party, I would be really turned off.
I still am not 100% sure as to what I am allowed to do with my own personal FB page. I will do the training and figure it out.
BTW- I too think Keith should manage FB. :)
 
robochick84 said:
Thanks Keith for all of your messages on FB! I can't get over the way people are handling having access to FB.

In my opinion 99% of the posts thus far should and can be deleted by the moderator. If a CUSTOMER has a question and no consultant they should be able to post and receive a response from HO not 20 different consultants begging for business. There is no need for CONSULTANTS to post "yay, excited for a FB page"... "loved this recipe"... etc" Obviously they have no concept of FB pages, especially for businesses. :grumpy:

To me, that sort of seemed like what PC wanted....POSITIVE feedback about Pampered Chef- but not business-bragging or shoving PC in folks face. The "tried a new recipe and LOVED it!" sort of thing was exactly the sort of thing they expected. They didn't want to see negative things about the company or issues you might be having as consultants, etc- BECAUSE it is customer facing. I think that's why some of the comments have been made...like about the training being boring. It probably IS boring...I think most of them are! But I don't know that I'd post it where customers would see it- and potential recruits. We tell them they get great training from PC, and we do....but then say it's boring. (Just using THAT one as an example- not singling out or anything....this would apply if anyone was commenting on FB about a return issue or something.) We just have to be mindful of that. It would be like talking in front of your 4 yr old. You tell your child they can't say certain words or act a certain way, but then when they are around- we do that very thing. Something most parents probably wouldn't do, right?

Personally, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised that of the 36000+ fans - MOST of them are consultants anyway! Especially if a customer sees what is being discussed on the page/wall. I'd find the REGULAR PamperedChef.com site to have more information of value to me (recipes, tips, etc). I don't see any of that sort of thing on the FB page (yet). Just my humble opinion. :) I'd see more value to a consultant with their OWN FB page....not corporates (other than being able to link to the specials or something maybe).

As always, I think it's "CYOA" (cover your OWN A**). :D
 
esavvymom said:
To me, that sort of seemed like what PC wanted....POSITIVE feedback about Pampered Chef- but not business-bragging or shoving PC in folks face. The "tried a new recipe and LOVED it!" sort of thing was exactly the sort of thing they expected. They didn't want to see negative things about the company or issues you might be having as consultants, etc- BECAUSE it is customer facing. I think that's why some of the comments have been made...like about the training being boring. It probably IS boring...I think most of them are! But I don't know that I'd post it where customers would see it- and potential recruits. We tell them they get great training from PC, and we do....but then say it's boring. (Just using THAT one as an example- not singling out or anything....this would apply if anyone was commenting on FB about a return issue or something.) We just have to be mindful of that. It would be like talking in front of your 4 yr old. You tell your child they can't say certain words or act a certain way, but then when they are around- we do that very thing. Something most parents probably wouldn't do, right?Personally, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised that of the 36000+ fans - MOST of them are consultants anyway! Especially if a customer sees what is being discussed on the page/wall. I'd find the REGULAR PamperedChef.com site to have more information of value to me (recipes, tips, etc). I don't see any of that sort of thing on the FB page (yet). Just my humble opinion. :) I'd see more value to a consultant with their OWN FB page....not corporates (other than being able to link to the specials or something maybe).As always, I think it's "CYOA" (cover your OWN A**). :D
Just to clarify - any mention of the training being boring has been made in the chatbox and threads on this site, NOT on the FB page.;)AND - there have been customers on the FB page, but as soon as they post, they are jumped on by several consultants salivating all over them.
 
ChefBeckyD said:
Just to clarify - any mention of the training being boring has been made in the chatbox and threads on this site, NOT on the FB page.;)

AND - there have been customers on the FB page, but as soon as they post, they are jumped on by several consultants salivating all over them.


I've glanced at the FB page a few times- so hard to keep up. ;) Anything on here- even though we know a few people are on here checking out the company BEFORE they sign- I think it's a 'safe zone'. FB would be a public-zone. Not that I'm implying we should lie to our customer...honesty is my policy and I'd probably tell a potential recruit the truth- but with clarification, etc.

The poor customers! You think they are still "friends"? :D
 
esavvymom said:
To me, that sort of seemed like what PC wanted....POSITIVE feedback about Pampered Chef- but not business-bragging or shoving PC in folks face. The "tried a new recipe and LOVED it!" sort of thing was exactly the sort of thing they expected. They didn't want to see negative things about the company or issues you might be having as consultants, etc- BECAUSE it is customer facing. I think that's why some of the comments have been made...like about the training being boring. It probably IS boring...I think most of them are! But I don't know that I'd post it where customers would see it- and potential recruits. We tell them they get great training from PC, and we do....but then say it's boring. (Just using THAT one as an example- not singling out or anything....this would apply if anyone was commenting on FB about a return issue or something.) We just have to be mindful of that. It would be like talking in front of your 4 yr old. You tell your child they can't say certain words or act a certain way, but then when they are around- we do that very thing. Something most parents probably wouldn't do, right?

This is EXACTLY my understanding (per what we learned at conference) of what those postings are to be. It is a place to post POSITIVE messages about recipes and products. Not a place for self-promotion and negativity.

My plan was to take the online courses today and be on Facebook (I'm not yet a member) by the end of the day. Not sure now how that will all pan out.
 
This isn't just a problem with PC, I am a fan of another DS company on FB and saw our worst fears as consultants come up. The company posted a status and a potential customer asked a general question about the product. Within an hour there were 67 comments from consultants "offering" their services!!! On top of that the customer wrote that they were completely turned off by this, their phone kept alerting them for an hour from people all over the US to buy from them and they recieved over 30 private messages for the person to contact them. This customer said they were now no longer interested in the product and very irritated, whats worse, people didn't read the post and there were numerous posts after her post of consultants still trying to "sell" to her. It really upset me to read this, it gives us all a bad name.

I "liked" PC on FB but after reading all the self-promotion posts, I'm irritated. As a consultant I love the idea of the PC page, but for now it is ruined...the moderator needs to delete the posts that are in violation not just notify the offender. The whole page is a swamp right now :(
 
esavvymom said:
I've glanced at the FB page a few times- so hard to keep up. ;) Anything on here- even though we know a few people are on here checking out the company BEFORE they sign- I think it's a 'safe zone'.

ChefSuccess is public, it is not private in any way. Anything you post can be seen by anyone who stumbles upon the page. Even those who have not signed up for a membership are able to view the posts in any of the threads. After (I think) five pages, they'll get a request to sign up, but even that will go away if they clear their cookies. Also, Home Office does monitor CS to a certain extent.

Never post anything you wouldn't feel comfortable printed on the front page of the NY Times.
 
pamperedmom24 said:
This isn't just a problem with PC, I am a fan of another DS company on FB and saw our worst fears as consultants come up. The company posted a status and a potential customer asked a general question about the product. Within an hour there were 67 comments from consultants "offering" their services!!! On top of that the customer wrote that they were completely turned off by this, their phone kept alerting them for an hour from people all over the US to buy from them and they recieved over 30 private messages for the person to contact them. This customer said they were now no longer interested in the product and very irritated, whats worse, people didn't read the post and there were numerous posts after her post of consultants still trying to "sell" to her. It really upset me to read this, it gives us all a bad name.

I "liked" PC on FB but after reading all the self-promotion posts, I'm irritated. As a consultant I love the idea of the PC page, but for now it is ruined...the moderator needs to delete the posts that are in violation not just notify the offender. The whole page is a swamp right now :(

That is frightening - and I've seen some of the same on the PC FB page!
 
Given the response on FB (#s), hopefully they are adding more moderators. If they only have the one, they are seriously understaffed for the job! :) That poor lady got more than she probably bargained for!
 
esavvymom said:
Given the response on FB (#s), hopefully they are adding more moderators. If they only have the one, they are seriously understaffed for the job! :) That poor lady got more than she probably bargained for!

I don't think PC realized how big it would be. They wanted 10,000 fans by August 15, and they got that in 3 days! Seriously underestimated!
 
Posting pretty much blind ... didn't they address this in the PC Newswire and say that self-promoting posts on the wall would be deleted?

I pretty much stayed off Facebook until late evening.
 
Di_Can_Cook said:
Posting pretty much blind ... didn't they address this in the PC Newswire and say that self-promoting posts on the wall would be deleted?

I pretty much stayed off Facebook until late evening.

Yes, it did state that, and it was probably in response to all the unwanted postings by the consultants.
 
Di_Can_Cook said:
Posting pretty much blind ... didn't they address this in the PC Newswire and say that self-promoting posts on the wall would be deleted?

I pretty much stayed off Facebook until late evening.

But if you didn't bother to read the policy, or even the blurb on the left side of the page, are you really going to pay attention to the NewsWire?
 
This was one thing I first thought when I first saw a person, assuming it was a customer, post a comment and like 3 different consultants "jumped" all over that person. I dont find that as very professional. As many people have stated, if they want information there is a place to request it. I agree with all you about posting certain stuff on facebook. I think like most of you; people are not thinking before they post anything on FB... SAD, some people need the training.... I did share this site with my customers and I am sadly almost regretting it because of this.
 
I have not shared the FB page w/customer. Just "like" it. And haven't had time for the training just yet. I am simply grateful that I don't have to lie and can post brief status updates about the biz.
 
Di_Can_Cook said:
I have not shared the FB page w/customer. Just "like" it. And haven't had time for the training just yet. I am simply grateful that I don't have to lie and can post brief status updates about the biz.

Exactly! That's really what I'm using it for. I will continue to post tips and recipes (content marketing) and have my PWS link in my profile. I will not bombard my friends with PC nonsense. They'll no longer be my friends if I do.
 
If you have your FB set to email notifications, you'd get flooded with emails for every person that responded to your post, even if HO deletes the original offending replies..... it would be PR black eye for PC... I really hope people pay attention to the rules!
 
I should have known better than to comment on the PC FB page. Now I'm getting tons of facebook emails from people with questions about the policies and technical help. Great.
 
leftymac said:
I should have known better than to comment on the PC FB page. Now I'm getting tons of facebook emails from people with questions about the policies and technical help. Great.

That cracks me up! Are you just telling them to listen to the training, and read the policies? Gheesh....:rolleyes:
 
I'm tempted to go on the FB page and post the following on the wall:Dear Customers, I'm so sorry that some of my fellow consultants have chosen to bombard you with self-promoting messages. Trust me when I say several of us are very upset that this is happening. We are happy to answer your questions. I apologize on behalf of those who have not had time to review the policy just yet. It is very new.Of course, I'm not going to because I don't have time to read every wall post, nor do I have time to read every email I get!
 
ChefBeckyD said:
That cracks me up! Are you just telling them to listen to the training, and read the policies? Gheesh....:rolleyes:

I started to respond to them, but then I got tired of it. I'm no longer responding at all. May be mean, but a man can only take so much.
 
leftymac said:
I started to respond to them, but then I got tired of it. I'm no longer responding at all. May be mean, but a man can only take so much.

I don't think that's mean...ALL consultants should know that the policies and procedures would be on CC - and they do have Uplines they can go to.


I think the problem is that first - they don't want to have to work their businesses - it's much easier to just jump on unsuspecting people who post a question on Facebook - "Ohhh, look - business out of the blue!"...

and second, once they're told they can't do that, instead of READING (or listening) what has already been provided to them, it's much easier to just be spoon-fed the info.

It's just sheer laziness. (IMO - yours may vary...)
 
ChefBeckyD said:
I don't think that's mean...ALL consultants should know that the policies and procedures would be on CC - and they do have Uplines they can go to.


I think the problem is that first - they don't want to have to work their businesses - it's much easier to just jump on unsuspecting people who post a question on Facebook - "Ohhh, look - business out of the blue!"...

and second, once they're told they can't do that, instead of READING (or listening) what has already been provided to them, it's much easier to just be spoon-fed the info.

It's just sheer laziness. (IMO - yours may vary...)

I share the opinion. As a teacher I'm too aware of people wanting to be spoon-fed info.
 
I went on there just now and it looks like maybe a lot of the offending posts have been removed? There's one right near the top, and someone has already responded to it. One lady posted today apologizing for posting her information yesterday!
 

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