Update from My Cons: Recruitment & Bookings | Questions Answered

[Becky0216]

update... I spoke with my cons. and she said she does want me as a recruit. She does not want to give up the show, but pretty much the same as usual about letting me keep the bookings I may get. Her director seems nice and helpful, which is good. I will be signing up by saturday. I am real excited about this, I hope I am not making a mistake. Just wanted to update everyone who was so helpful to me.

First off I want to thank everyone for your selp and suggestions yesterday. Today I have a bit of an update as well as another question.

I finally got an email from my cons. She said she is not into PC for the recruits but rather the extra money. So as far as giving me the show, she is not interested. .
I did ask her how she would feel if after the show I found a recruiter closer to me that is in the PC business for the recruits as well as the money. I figured she would not mind as long as she has my show. She emailed me back and finally offered to talk on the phone. So she will be calling me today. What questions should I ask her?

Also....
What benefit would i have if she closed the show the same day? If a friend of mine wanted to wait and place an order, couldn't they just give me their order and I can put it under mine?
I also got my first scheduled booking for 3/7. How long does it take to get the supplies I will need for that party?
This question is regarding my outside orders.....
How do I break them up into more than one show? When I am listing my shows when I sign up, Do I write catalog shows? I already have the orders, so how do I go about doing that?

TIA for all the help I am sure I will get.
Becky

 

[wadesgirl]

I would personally find someone who is interested in recruiting. Having a good relationship with your recruiter is a positive thing, sort of sounds like she doesn't really care. If she isn't then she may not be available as much as you may need her in the start of her business. I still cannot beleive that she is finally contacting you by phone.

I would close your show the same day and any orders after the show, I would add to your first show.

If you order your kit this weekend, you should have it in plently of time for March 7th. I think mine came within a week.

You can break them up into different shows by $150 increments. Some people will agree with this and others don't so I won't go into it completely, personally it's up to you. You want to enter them in as catalog shows since you didn't actually do a cooking show.

 

[ShanaSmith]

I think you are perfectly in right in shopping around for a recruiter. You will need to tell her the truth, perhaps that you don't feel you two are a good match. If she was really thinking about her business she might realise that your friends aren't going to be going all out to have successful parties with her if you are starting your business.
As far as closing the party the same night, that is a personal preference thing. If that is what she would like to do I would just hold any other orders for your first show.
How long your kit takes to get to you kind of depends on where you live. I am in CA and we usually get ours in about 7-10 days. So your 3-7 show should be no problem at all. I would even suggest scheduling one closer than that so you can take full advantage of your first 30 days.

Good luck in talking to her today, and do what feels right to you!

 

[janetupnorth]

Wow - interesting take. I understand her viewpoint if she is doing it part-time or hobbyist but not very supportive.Trying to hit some of your ?s here...1. What to ask her? - Does she want you and can she support you or can her director support you? Best not to be left out. You can sign anywhere and still get hospitality but your recruiter should want you!!!! I keep regular contact with my consultant in Georgia and help her long-distance and work on finding her local support.2. Show closing on same day: IF you take kit credit, you can sign as soon as the show is submitted an in HO's system, usually the next day. Yes, you can collect extra outside orders and submit them with you as a consultant with the other $500 worth. Let you friends know there will be a few day delay as you are signing and getting set up.3. 3/7 - PLENTY of time to have your kit! It ships in 24-48 hours usually.4. Breaking up orders - yes, you can group them by where you got them or logical groupings of that sort. You basically held multiple catalog parties by gathering them from different places so you can make a host in each place and ship them there if you want or ship to consultant and distribute. 5. Sign-up - yes you list catalog shows.Hope that helps a little.

 

[chefann]

I finally got an email from my cons. She said she is not into PC for the recruits but rather the extra money. So as far as giving me the show, she is not interested. I decided to keep my outside orders and I am also going to keep my bookings that I got on my own.
I did ask her how she would feel if after the show I found a recruiter closer to me that is in the PC business for the recruits as well as the money. I figured she would not mind as long as she has my show. She emailed me back and finally offered to talk on the phone. So she will be calling me today. What questions should I ask her?

You should absolutely keep the bookings you got on your own! You need bookings to start your business successfully.

I'd ask her about training and support. If she's not interested in recruiting then there's a good chance that she's not interested in training anyone she does recruit. Her Director (at the very least) should be willing to train you and provide support. It's not fair to you to sign up and not be able to get the information you need.

Also....
What benefit would i have if she closed the show the same day? If a friend of mine wanted to wait and place an order, couldn't they just give me their order and I can put it under mine?
I also got my first scheduled booking for 3/7. How long does it take to get the supplies I will need for that party?
This question is regarding my outside orders.....
How do I break them up into more than one show? When I am listing my shows when I sign up, Do I write catalog shows? I already have the orders, so how do I go about doing that?

TIA for all the help I am sure I will get.
Becky

Kits ship pretty quickly. You'll want to wait until about a week before your first scheduled booking to order the kit, because that will extend your 90 day starter period. (Unless you already have orders to submit, because it's rude to make your customers wait too long to get their products.)

You can list catalog shows on your consultant agreement, but cooking shows are better because you're more likely to get bookings to continue your business successfully.

 

[climbercanoe3]

What everyone has said has been great. If she is not interested in recruiting you then you should speak to someone else. If she does seem to be but is still a bit leery, I would ask her if you can meet her director. I had a nice person recruit me, but really have not heard from her since. I happen to have a great director, so it doesn't matter.
I would hate for you to sign up with her and find out that her director isn't any help either. Then you would have wished you found someone else.
It is alot of fun and can be tons of fun if you have the right support.
Good luck!

 

[BethCooks4U]

Becky, You've gotten a lot of excellent advice here but I'm betting it's kind of overwhelming.

I suggest that you either contact Pampered Chef at The Pampered Chef, Ltd. (they will connect you to a director in your area), your consultant's director or look on the consultant's list here for one who lives near you and call them to get your questions answered. Phone or in person conversations will give you a clearer view of what this is all about. There is so much information and so many perks of the business that it is hard to absorb it all.

Good luck to you!

 

[Becky0216]

am I able to submit orders as soon as I sign up? Or do I have to wait for my kit?
If I have to wait, I may as well sign up now so I get the kit as close to my party this weekend as possible.
The max I can get for a kit creit is 40 correct?

 

[Jenelle]

Becky I sent you a PM explaining some more things.

 

[janetupnorth]

am I able to submit orders as soon as I sign up? Or do I have to wait for my kit?
If I have to wait, I may as well sign up now so I get the kit as close to my party this weekend as possible.
The max I can get for a kit creit is 40 correct?

As soon as you have your consultant ID and can log into Consultant's Corner and download Pampered Partner and install it. Usually about 48 hours.

Better to get the kit closest to when you can get the most orders within those 30 days.

A normal show gets submitted often 3 days - 7 days after the actual show so your customers shouldn't mind a few days wait.

 

[janetupnorth]

Kit credit is optional - I personally did not take it and paid the full amount because you earn it back fast. I'd rather host my own show and get free product that way.

 

[Becky0216]

ok, that answers my question. So now i will wait for her call. She also gave me her directors name and said I could call her. We will see what happens.
If I can break up my orders then I already have 5 shows. I have 3 from my outside orders and Have 1 confirmed show on 3/7. I also have a friend who said she will do a show to help me out as soon as I needed her to.

 

[ChefJoyJ]

Becky - if you want to start earlier than 3/7 (and get a bit of practice in), host your own grand opening show. It's a lot of fun and helps you work out the kinks. Plus, getting one under your belt helps a lot with nerves and stuff. I did it and I'm glad I did!

You've gotten some solid advice on here...I agree with them. Get a recruiter who is interested in you, your business, and is willing to work with you and train you.

 

[kam]

Yes, definitely meet her director.

I just signed in the Fall and had someone ask me about joining. (She is still thinking about it.) I felt that I was not ready to recruit (I still feel like I am not ready). I was assuming that I had to take on all the tasks that I saw my director doing. Since I was new, I did not (and still do not) have all the answers and was scared about having to provide meetings for my recruit. This is not the case. My director told me to go ahead and recruit and that my director is the one that would provide training and meetings. While I would be VERY interested in helping this recruit out any way I could it was comforting to know I did not have to have all the answers or provide meetings. (Though I would like to think that I would be/could be more supportive than your consultant).

So really, even though I recruit, my director would help provide any support. Is this how it works for everyone else?

So maybe if you are recruited by her, you would really be using her director for meetings and answers....so that is why I would ask and try to meet the director. The director will probably let you know what she was willing to do.

I should also mention that I have a very nice director (who recruited me) who has meetings once a month and gets us into combined cluster meetings. She is also available to help us or answer any questions. I have seen threads about other directors who are not as into the "support" aspect as mine is - so I would definitely meet her director.

Good Luck.
Also, should we mention timing of the 30-day/90-day qualifying incentives in trying to coordinate the arrival of the consultant kit? Just wondering??

 

[hperschnick]

I haven't read all of the posts so this may be repeating so sorry! I would interview this consultant and others in your area. You need to have a good personal connection to them and feel that they are willing to help you out. My cluster is 1 1/2 hrs away and I didn't even think about shopping around and should have. I have hospitality that is much closer and I just fit in better with that director and group. I would love for the work I do to benefit my hospitality director because she is more helpful but as it is now the work I do rolls up to my real director who doesn't do anything for me.

Sign with someone you are comfortable with and someone who WANTS you - if she is doing this reluctantly she may not be much help to you when you need it and that ins't fair to you!

 

[kspry]

Becky, it sounds like your consultant is so new, she doesn't really know if she can support you correctly, and doesn't yet realize the benefits of recruiting.

My recruits & I are learning together, as my director doesn't really give any training. If I had to do it over again, I would interview directors in my area.

 

[Becky0216]

sounds like I should be more worried about meeting the director right now then I should be about jumping into the business. The problem is, I don't have extra time ot be driving out there just to meet this woman. Thats the main reason why this wont work. Maybe they will have a solution for me during our phone conversation.

 

[wadesgirl]

I didn't meet my director in person at first. We just talked over the phone. The next day SHE CAME TO ME and gave me my start up box and explained the business to me (I had signed up over the phone the night before). It sounds like you have a great start to the business even if you haven't signed yet but I do agree that you should make sure you feel comfortable with the person you sign up with. It only takes less than 10 minutes to fill out the agreement, so there isn't much to actually signing up when you decide when to do it.

 

[kspry]

I forgot - you wanted to know what questions to ask.

Ask them if/when they have cluster meetings. I am so annoyed with my director. I am one of the only people who had been going every month. Now she has changed it to the only night of the month I can't make it.

edit - and we only get prizes if we make the meeting

 

[lacychef]

kspry, I've been wanting to ask where you are in KS?


Becky, good luck to you; whether you sign with this gal, or if you find someone that you click with better. It sounds like you'll be off to a great start, once you get signed! I think most of your questions have been answered well here. It is hard to get all the answers you need when just emailing; I hope your phone call goes well.
Good luck:chef:

 

[kspry]

Hey Lacy, I'm in the Kansas City area. Where are you?

 

[kam]

I didn't meet my director in person at first. We just talked over the phone. The next day SHE CAME TO ME and gave me my start up box and explained the business to me (I had signed up over the phone the night before). It sounds like you have a great start to the business even if you haven't signed yet but I do agree that you should make sure you feel comfortable with the person you sign up with. It only takes less than 10 minutes to fill out the agreement, so there isn't much to actually signing up when you decide when to do it.

Ah, yes! I forgot about this. When I was thinking about signing up, my director (recruiter) invited me to a meeting. It happened to be the one in August that she has a get together that all the gals make a recipe (or 2) out of the new SB so everyone can try. She also had all the new products to talk about. She had drawings to win prizes. She has this one in the summer as an outside picnic that families are invited too. I thought this was so nice that it really pushed me over that fence I was sitting on. And when I decided to go for it - SHE CAME TO MY HOUSE and explained everything and answered all my questions.

I don't really know how it works having a different director and recruiter (since mine is the same person) - but I feel it is really important to meet the person who will be providing the training and the meetings.

If you feel the drive to the director is too far away, maybe you do need to look into a finding a different director...

 

[lacychef]

Hey Lacy, I'm in the Kansas City area. Where are you?

I'm right in the middle of the state! Last year I was in KC shopping & had to give my zip code. The guy asked where that was---he seemed shocked that there were towns west of Topeka, LOL!


(Sorry for the high-jack!)

 

[Becky0216]

I added a bit of an update to my main message

 

[lacychef]

Congrats! Don't worry....it's not a mistake! And whatever questions you have; if you can't get ahold of either of them, you can always come here! (& you should definately be getting any bookings from your show. That's just the way we're supposed to do things!)

 

[janetupnorth]

Congratulations Becky (for Saturday)...welcome to the business! You'll enjoy it!

(I'm sure her director informed her how nice it is to have a recruit).