Fyi, if the Host Wants to Place a Guest Order

[Amanda_RI]

on a show in the new website? You have to make a separate customer profile with a different email address.

I just got off of the phone with Mark in Tech Support, who told me to just 'make one up', because this particular host doesn't have an email, and I already used the phone#@mytpc.com as her email on her host order.

Figured I'd pass on that info....sigh......

 

[ChefNelson]

So is it really ok for a host to order as a guest on their own show? I have a case of someone who would like to do that, but I wasn't sure of the "legality."

 

[pchockeymom]

That can't be right because then she wouldn't be connected to her past host discount. If she's hosted, then she has an account which she continues to use. You will get a pop up saying "there is already an account for xxx" Click ok and keep going.

 

[pchockeymom]

Ok, maybe I'm missing something (from original post)...a host CANNOT order as a guest on her own show. No more "grill pan special+sb=show and 60% off item" The new system will not allow it.

 

[BethCooks4U]

Ok, maybe I'm missing something (from original post)...a host CANNOT order as a guest on her own show. No more "grill pan special+sb=show and 60% off item" The new system will not allow it.

That is correct. Several years ago my NED told me a host could order on her show if she wanted but now they are saying it was always against the rules and the new web just enforces that.

 

[Amanda_RI]

Oh, crap. I did NOT know that. And MARK also did not know that. I guess I'll have to enforce that going forward--I've already processed this order! Gah!Thank you for clarifying this, Beth!!

 

[Amanda_RI]

To further clarify--this isn't something that I did all of the time--it was merely for the times when a catalog show host didn't quite hit $150 and really wanted the host special. SO--now can a host no longer book off of her own show? Because then she can't order as the past host on the next show, right?

 

[BethCooks4U]

To further clarify--this isn't something that I did all of the time--it was merely for the times when a catalog show host didn't quite hit $150 and really wanted the host special.

SO--now can a host no longer book off of her own show? Because then she can't order as the past host on the next show, right?

That's what it sounds like. I for one have let them now that some of my hosts want the benefit of booking a future show off of their show and this takes that away from them.

 

[Amanda_RI]

That's what it sounds like. I for one have let them now that some of my hosts want the benefit of booking a future show off of their show and this takes that away from them.

Oh, I don't like that at all.

 

[ChefPeg]

This issue was just discussed at our cluster meeting last night. Even the directors there were saying to add an initial for a middle name for the "guest", make up a name, use your pet's name. Heck, when I couldn't reach $150 once, I entered my husband's first name with my maiden name.
That was all in P3 though. Not sure how it will fly in the new system.

 

[Dina Atnip]

One thing is you will have to have email address to complete any order. Just a fyi

 

[babywings76]

I'm trying to stay positive, but this just really stinks.

 

[Tracy99]

One thing is you will have to have email address to complete any order. Just a fyi

I forsee a lot of fake emails being entered. A lot of my older clients dont do email. Should be interesting.

 

[wadesgirl]

Sometimes a host will want to order to get herself to the next level, I have that happen from time to time. Or as stated above, I have some hosts who book every 6 months.

 

[babywings76]

It's too bad, because now people are going to be putting in fake names & fake e-mails. Then it'll be confusing and hard to track down things later if there are problems. And if it's against policy, then there will be a lot of rule breaking probably, or unhappy consultants & hosts who are used to the way things used to be. Was this against policy to begin with? I'll have to re-read the policy guide.

 

[monicag]

That's what it sounds like. I for one have let them now that some of my hosts want the benefit of booking a future show off of their show and this takes that away from them.

I have several hosts who book off of their show and have one 6 months later when the new catalog comes out. Plus I have several hosts who place an order as a guest to get to the next level.....don't under stand how that isn't allowed.....we'll just find a way around it.....place an order in someone else's name or add to another order.

And everything being tied to an e-mail is ridiculous because there are still those who do NOT have an e-mail address or don't want to give it because they don't want any more e-mails.

I really hope they are listening to the issues and resolving them. I would have thought that whoever tested the system would have brought some of these issues up.

 

[Becca_in_MD]

That is correct. Several years ago my NED told me a host could order on her show if she wanted but now they are saying it was always against the rules and the new web just enforces that.

I feel like last year Jean promoted, either via e-mail or video, the grill pan special as a way to submit a show thing that so many people were doing.

Has anyone done a show with a co-host yet on the new web? Tried shipping the show to the consultant or a different address?

 

[vanscootin]

I feel like last year Jean promoted, either via e-mail or video, the grill pan special as a way to submit a show thing that so many people were doing.

Has anyone done a show with a co-host yet on the new web? Tried shipping the show to the consultant or a different address?

Pretty sure she did. It's a conundrum.

This new system is built to keep consultants "honest" and enforce policy. Wonder how that's going to go over with people.

 

[esavvymom]

A host ordering on her own show....I do not remember reading that in policy. i know WE cant and as consultant hosts, arent supposed to, but it doensnt make any sense about a host. I also always rebook my hosts.

 

[kam]

This seems odd.

I also seem to remember this being somehow promoted by HO as the way to create a show for a host, ordering the grill pan set and a SB.

Is this actually against rules? My director has always talked about re-booking hosts and she is pretty much "by the book" and tries to follow the rules and doesn't promote "dishonest" things to us.

If we can re-book a host then we would HAVE to be able to enter that host in as a guest.

AND this would have been an easy one for HO to catch all these years IF it was "illegal" to do.

I am going to look through old paperwork/emails and see if I can find out if it was ever promoted by HO.

Very interesting...

 

[BethCooks4U]

HO is working on a way to honor the promises we made to hosts about the re-booking thing. It sounded to me like going forward it wouldn't be allowed but they have heard our concerns are are looking into it.

 

[raebates]

I have never heard that a host can't order from her own show. A consultant can't order on a show, but the host could in order to get the past host special. I haven't seen anything that said there was a policy change. Sounds like many of us (or them) are confused.

 

[Brenda.the.chef]

I have hosts that order on their shows to get the sales up. I've had hosts place several orders on their show to be able to get multiple guest specials. Really, how is this bad? They are paying for the product, paying multiple S&H charges (which is the bread and butter for HO, thank you) and getting a product for free or reduced price. I can't honestly see how this is conceived as being dishonest.

 

[monicag]

I've had guests who were ordering $130-$140 in product and placed 2 orders in their name to get 2 guest specials. They paid 2 shipping charges. I don't see this as being "dishonest". They could do it like Thirty-One......their system allows more than one guest special each time they reach that special $ amount. I had a party and a friend ordered $75 in product so she was able to get 2 of the guest specials for $10 each. Just my opinion.....

 

[Amanda_RI]

I have hosts that order on their shows to get the sales up. I've had hosts place several orders on their show to be able to get multiple guest specials. Really, how is this bad? They are paying for the product, paying multiple S&H charges (which is the bread and butter for HO, thank you) and getting a product for free or reduced price. I can't honestly see how this is conceived as being dishonest.

I agree. If the host is willing to pay full price for items to either increase her guest sales or earn another guest special, she should be able to.

 

[babywings76]

I agree, too. It boosts sales no matter what. And all the little things add up to happy customers and happy hosts. If they change things like this, it will appear very stingy (IMHO). I'm dreading switching over. How are all of you on the new system handling all this?! Are your customers and hosts getting upset with PC? I'm really nervous.

 

[vanscootin]

I have hosts that order on their shows to get the sales up. I've had hosts place several orders on their show to be able to get multiple guest specials. Really, how is this bad? They are paying for the product, paying multiple S&H charges (which is the bread and butter for HO, thank you) and getting a product for free or reduced price. I can't honestly see how this is conceived as being dishonest.

I totally agree. I would think that doing this wouldn't hurt HO's bottom line... more products sold more money in everyone's pocket. The booking benefit is a great incentive to get hosts to rebook them selves.

I have a lot of friends with other direct sales companies... but I don't do parties.... sometimes there is a lot of stuff that I want and if it's within the parameters of the amount for a party, I am allowed to turn it into one and get the host rewards. Therefore me being the only person on the show. No problems.

It's funny how PC wants to be at the front of the direct sales industry (and perhaps we will be when the App is released) but other ds companies do it "our new way" and have for a long time.

 

[Nanisu]

I don't understand why Home Office is making it so difficult--they are still getting the $$. The guest specials are not $80 items or something. Geez, a $10 scraper? Half of which the cost of is the $4.75 shipping if they place a separate order? Really?

 

[heather223]

I have to agree with what everyone is saying on this one. I get that new web is enforcing policies, but this makes absolutely no sense to me at all. Why can't a host order on her own show? And then there is the re-booking issue. I hope they change this. I am not on the new web as my title changed May 1st, but I do get the daily emails and listened to the director call from last week. From my understanding, we do not have to have an email address for an order on a show....

 

[PamperedK]

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.

 

[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.