Who Should I Sign With? A Personal Experience with Pampered Chef Directors

[EmmaLeeM]

I am at the point where I believe I am ready to sign, my issue is this. I contacted Pampered Chef on the phone and they had a director call me. After I spoke to her ( I Just asked her a lot of questions, and she told me about her accoplishments with the company) I remembered a lady in my neighbourhood that sold PS, and I would rather sign with her just to help her out. BUT Will she be able to offer me the support that I need? She is active, but not overly active. I know That for the first month I am going to bug the heck out of whom ever I sign with and want to be sure that I am getting someone that knows their stuff. I was not overly impressed with the Director, but she seemed to know the answers to most of my questions. She (the director) also lives 20-30 miles away and that is where the meeting would be.

I would LOVE some input on the subject as I don't mean to offend. Please let me know what you think!

Emma

 

[BethCooks4U]

You can sign with whoever you feel comfortable with. As recruiters, we are expected to ASK if a potential recruit if she/he has been working with anyone else and urge the new person to follow-up with that consultant. If the recruit says they do not want to work with that person or has lost touch with her then there is no issue and we can go ahead.

YOU have the right to make the final decision on whose team you want to be on. Who knows? The director that HO connected you with just might be your neighbor's director too! I would call your neighbor and talk to her about her business. Tell her that you have been connected with a director though HO. See what she says. Tell the director that you talked with that you realized you have a neighbor who sells. See what she says.

I have lost potential consultants to "I found out I have a friend who..." and I bet most consultants have. It's okay.

Think about it - pray about it - then decide on what you think is best for you.

 

[EmmaLeeM]

Great Advise! Thanks!

 

[Cindycooks]

Great advice Beth.
Emma - I would listen to your heart and sign with who you feel the most comfortable with. There is something to be said about convenience for the cluster meetings and you are gonna want to feel comfortable with the person you are going to have to go to for questions in these first couple months!

Of course you'll have all the support of us on the boards too! Blessings and all the best with what you decide! Cindy

 

[chefmary]

Emma:

I ditto the comments made previously! Why don't you find out who your friend's director is? As mentioned before, she may very well be the woman you have already spoken to. Since your friend is not very active, you will probably find yourself receiving more support from her director. If you're more inclined to sign with your friend, ask to attend a cluster meeting so you can see how they're run and get an idea of what type of support you might be able to expect.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Mary

 

[LindaK]

EmmaLeeM~

There have been a lot of good comments made already.

I would only suggest that you can ask the lady down the street, if she's up to the training you think that you will need and the support you'll be expecting. If she says anything other than something like..."I was new, too, once and had a million questions...come to be about anything..." then you might want to consider that while making your decision.

 

[stephanieboyd]

I would ditto ALL of the previous comments, but simplify it as this:

Follow your gut!! If you get a feeling from your neighbor, great!! If you get a feeling from that director, fabulous!! Women are trained to ignore their gut feelings about things, in every situation 'follow your gut' is the best advice I can ever give to anyone in any situation!! It sounds corny, but I truly mean this!!

My recruiter quit not long after I joined. I met my director once, because I bought a discontinued unavailable product from her for a customer. That's it!! I subsequently moved to a another country and use this site as a cluster meeting/director.

Remember, even if you end up with someone you are disappointed with, whomever you choose, we are all here to help!! The things you ask or need, are things that we have forgotten and need to reboost our own businesses!! Sometimes we all need to go back to the basics!!! We love new consultants to get ourselves back to the fundamentals!! To remember why we joined to begin with!! We live for that!!!!



Glad to hear you have decided on joining PC!! Welcome!!!

 

[EmmaLeeM]

Thank you for all of the wonderful advice from the ladies! I am so excited to get going, and I guess I am too impatient. I have a call in to the neighbour and have not yet heard from her. The director said she was going to send me a catalog but it should have been here today. I really would like to know how long any kind of training I do is going to take. I have 5 people willing to do shows and I still haven't signed up. When I get an idea, I am impatient untill it's DONE... So now I am on the ball, but I don't know where to start. If my training is going to take longer than 2 weeks, I want to wait and sign up when I am ready to do a show on my own... Can anyone explain how this works? Anyway.. Thanks so much for the support and help I've received already. You've been Fab!

Cheers,
Emma

 

[LindaK]

I just started myself, but here's the basic run-down for how I started.

I signed up on line with my recruiter (who is also my director) and she said to call her when I rec'd my kit and in the meantime to open a checking account that I would use for Pampered Chef, to apply for my Pampered Chef Debit Card (which would be used to only pay for my show orders from this account and my commission checks would be direct deposited into) and to sign up for conference club so that a portion of my commission would be set aside for National Conference.

When my kit arrived I told her and she scheduled a training, before that the training I played with my new toys and tried some recipes.

I had 3 bookings from the party that I hosted (and joined from) and they were all family who invited their friends and such so that I could practice. They were not huge shows, but they all qualified and gave me a little experience.

I've spent time here, on the Pampered Chef web site, sending questions to my recruiter/director. I loaded pampred partnter to submit my shows from my laptop while there.

That's the nuts and bolts of it...now I'm kind of getting the hang of things, but still have questions. My director is great about getting back to me, but I also like to have the input and the many different opinions and ideas from this site.

Good luck to you and welcome, indeed!

 

[jdavis]

I didn't really have any training, my director is over an hour away and before I signed I went to one of her shows since I had NEVER been to a PC show before to see how it worked. In your Super Starter Kit you get a video of how kitchen shows work and lots and lots of advice from Home Office in the notebook. It is really up to you how much 'training' you want an how long it will take you to feel like you are ready, there is no set training time, like you have to train for 2 weeks before you are ready, you can go at it on your own, it is YOUR business, and you can do it basically any way you want it.
HTH

 

[BethCooks4U]

Thank you for all of the wonderful advice from the ladies! I am so excited to get going, and I guess I am too impatient. I have a call in to the neighbour and have not yet heard from her. The director said she was going to send me a catalog but it should have been here today. I really would like to know how long any kind of training I do is going to take. I have 5 people willing to do shows and I still haven't signed up. When I get an idea, I am impatient untill it's DONE... So now I am on the ball, but I don't know where to start. If my training is going to take longer than 2 weeks, I want to wait and sign up when I am ready to do a show on my own... Can anyone explain how this works? Anyway.. Thanks so much for the support and help I've received already. You've been Fab!

Cheers,
Emma

It looks like you are already doing the most important initials tasks - thinking about where your business is and asking for those bookings! Great job!!

The next step is to decide who to sign with. Once you have sent in your agreement they will send your consultant number and password. Then you can go on line and order your debit card (needed to pay for your shows using Pampered Partner - on-line!) and direct deposit.

By the time those clear you should have your kit. Read over everything and watch the video. You can do a show as soon as you have the kit if you want or even start a catalog show before then! I am attaching a checklist that I give all my new consultants to help them get started.

You are off to a good start!!

 

[chefmary]

Emma:

If you are ready to sign, then start scheduling your shows. Assuming you sign your agreement (which you can do online) this week, you should expect to have your kit by next week. In the meantime, see if your recruiter can get you some catalogs and invitations to hand to your hosts (I usually give my new recruits 4 hostess packets so that they don't have to wait for the kit to get the information out). This way, when your kit comes, you'll be able to hit the ground running.

Training can be done in a variety of ways, but there is no set way or time. Again, ask your recruiter for a video or audio tape to help give you some ideas. I watched the video the day before my show and made some index cards with an outline to keep me on track, but the most important thing is to relax and have fun!

Mary

 

[kristenskitchen]

Your NeighborHi Emma!

Welcome to PC! I am a (brand) new consultant myself and I just wanted to throw my two cents in. You and I have very similar stories. I decided I wanted to do PC before I even went to a meeting or talked to a director about it. I approached my recruiter and asked her about doing the business, she didn't talk to me about it. Once I decided to do it, I jumped in head first and haven't stopped since. The biggest thing that helped me is the fact that my recruiter lives right across the street and is now my good friend. I just moved here about two months ago so having her close by AND able to help me with my new business has been awesome. I know I probably bug the crap out of her on a regular basis, but I get my questions answered which is the way I like things done. I do business in the NOW. I want things done, NOW! Sounds like you are the same way! Just thought there was something to be said for having a PC consultant nearby.

Goodluck and again, Welcome!

~Kristen

 

[its_me_susan]

Thank you for all of the wonderful advice from the ladies! I am so excited to get going, and I guess I am too impatient. I have a call in to the neighbour and have not yet heard from her. The director said she was going to send me a catalog but it should have been here today. I really would like to know how long any kind of training I do is going to take. I have 5 people willing to do shows and I still haven't signed up. When I get an idea, I am impatient untill it's DONE... So now I am on the ball, but I don't know where to start. If my training is going to take longer than 2 weeks, I want to wait and sign up when I am ready to do a show on my own... Can anyone explain how this works? Anyway.. Thanks so much for the support and help I've received already. You've been Fab!

Cheers,
Emma

Sign sign sign! Go with the director, you'll go to her meetings, meet and bond with people who are like you.... it'll be great! Ask her to set you up with 2 hostess packets while you wait for your kit - so you can let at least 2 of those 4 potentials start collecting orders!

Your kit will come and you'll be able to submit 2 shows ~ and start doing weekly training calls with your recruiter every week (getting you ready). You can go with her (or anyone in your cluster) to watch & observe a show.... All of these things will help you launch your career with a bang!

Good luck! Don't forget you will have ALL OF US HERE for all the support you want. Have a question, ask us! We care and want to help you all along the way.

 

[EmmaLeeM]

Thanks so much for the support and answers! I have yet to hear from my neighbour, and so I decided if she doesn't call today I will sign with the director... I don't want to wait much longer as I don't want my possible clients to have to wait to have their parties. I am really looking forward to working with such a caring community of people. When working in sales in the past it always seemed so selfish because someone else WOULD take your sale if they could. I love the idea sharing and support that PC offers. I do really want to attend 2 partys before I start. I would love to observe the whole thing, and then I want to help with the ordering/ filling out forms. I just remembering trying to fill out financing forms for the first time and I was so SO lost! Thanks so much ladies!


Emma

 

[Blondierose]

A Good Director is ESSENTIALI have just recently re-signed with my former director. I let my counsultant-ship lapse when I moved from Japan back to the US 18 months ago but then I started itching to get going again. There was no question that I would sign back up with my former director even though she lives in Connecticut and I live in Washington state. Here are my reasons:

#1: She is an awesome motivator! Consistantly e-mailing and calling with encouragement. Throwing together her own consultant incentives. She has made herself available 24 hours a day for her consultants, by the way, most of her consultants are spread out over 4 countries. (Ashley we love you)

#2: She can contact HO for me and get me in touch with a local cluster for local meetings. I don't have to have a local director to benefit from the training. This way I have the opportunity to have 2 amazing mentors in this company that I love so much. My official director and the director of the local cluster.

Either way, your recruiter will either be a director or have a director that you will fall under. Don't let distance stand in your way. Maybe you should ask your friend what her director is like. A good director is so important.