I was inspired by Anne's recruiting post. I'm catalog show swapping with a friend of mine that just started with VeggieTales Moms. She's a great friend of mine but she is one of those people that has a way of saying things that make you pause. (I'm being nice). At any rate, we kicked off around the same time, but she signed her agreement with VTMoms a couple of weeks before me. They are a brand new company so her training has been very limited, and she's killing me here with her hostess coaching techniques. Or should I say lack of?
First, I had to beg her to send me catalogs. She wasn't going to send any and wanted me to do everything by the web, which is great for people that I have email addresses for but not for people that I don't. Finally I convinced her to send me catalogs, on the condition that I would mail them back. She refused to send them priority so it's been a week and I haven't received them. She is behaving as if this is somehow my fault. She keeps insisting that someone else in my house must have gotten the package and opened it, because her sister got her package already and she mailed them the same day. Well, I may be wrong, but as far as I know Standard Mail gets bumped for priority and there is no guarantee about the delivery time.
Secondly, she calls me and tells me "you better get out there and start selling, your show started today". Uhm, first of all, I don't have anything to show anyone, and secondly, is that how you encourage people???? Omygosh.
Next, their website sends out personalized e-vites. The way it is designed the hostess sends her email addresses and names to the consultant who then sends out all the e-vites. She would manually enter the email addresses and names and then each invitation will say something like "Hi Jenn!" etc.. Well she refuses to send them out and tells me to "just make something up yourself and put a link to my website."
Then, we talk about hostess benefits and I expressed that I knew I would do better if I were doing a home show and she said "well, if you get 10-12 confirmed yesses, I could let you do a virtual show for me, I'll just send you the dvd and you can do the show." Okay, where would I find these 10-12 people and why on earth would I act as a consultant when I'm not one???
Finally, she actually said to me "well, I know you're show isn't going to be much, so I'm counting on Sarah's show to actually be the one to help me out." Well, now I'm really not inspired, but since she is going to do a catalog show for me later, I really do want to do my best. I want to help her launch her business because she is a good friend, but good grief. Right now I want to throttle her.
First, I had to beg her to send me catalogs. She wasn't going to send any and wanted me to do everything by the web, which is great for people that I have email addresses for but not for people that I don't. Finally I convinced her to send me catalogs, on the condition that I would mail them back. She refused to send them priority so it's been a week and I haven't received them. She is behaving as if this is somehow my fault. She keeps insisting that someone else in my house must have gotten the package and opened it, because her sister got her package already and she mailed them the same day. Well, I may be wrong, but as far as I know Standard Mail gets bumped for priority and there is no guarantee about the delivery time.
Secondly, she calls me and tells me "you better get out there and start selling, your show started today". Uhm, first of all, I don't have anything to show anyone, and secondly, is that how you encourage people???? Omygosh.
Next, their website sends out personalized e-vites. The way it is designed the hostess sends her email addresses and names to the consultant who then sends out all the e-vites. She would manually enter the email addresses and names and then each invitation will say something like "Hi Jenn!" etc.. Well she refuses to send them out and tells me to "just make something up yourself and put a link to my website."
Then, we talk about hostess benefits and I expressed that I knew I would do better if I were doing a home show and she said "well, if you get 10-12 confirmed yesses, I could let you do a virtual show for me, I'll just send you the dvd and you can do the show." Okay, where would I find these 10-12 people and why on earth would I act as a consultant when I'm not one???
Finally, she actually said to me "well, I know you're show isn't going to be much, so I'm counting on Sarah's show to actually be the one to help me out." Well, now I'm really not inspired, but since she is going to do a catalog show for me later, I really do want to do my best. I want to help her launch her business because she is a good friend, but good grief. Right now I want to throttle her.