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Welcome to the Stampin Up family. As you can see from the posts to this question we are a diverse group. I am also a relatively new demo. Started Oct 2004.
I save my incentives for my hostesses. Discounts on stamp camps, an extra $10 in hostess benefits when they host a workshop in a given time frame. An extra $20 if they have 20 guests attend. I find once I get in front of a group my love of stamping and the quality of SU products does the rest. Hostesses are the backbone of your buusiness.
I would hestitate to provide incentives in a public way unless you word it as for the first 90 days( this would be great towards helping you reach the Stampin start). I find after I pay my sitter, pay for my make & takes and count my prep and order time. The $20 on 100 is not that much per hour.
Having said that I offer a wealth of information to my customers. I provide incentive stamps with large orders & hand stamped thank you & inspiration sheets. I also allow some of my best customers to borrow my retired sets...never the current ones... as well as my extensive collection of idea books 7 magazines. They appreciate this and are loyal.
Hope this helps.
Marzee -- I've been a demo for 3 years and my advice is this:
Don't do for a handful of customers what you can't/won't do for 100 customers.
If you offer specials, always put a time limit on them, as suggested before, or do one that doesn't make too big of a ding in your wallet. A common "thank-you" I offer, and have noticed that many other demos do as well, is a free catalog with your first $100 order. Your incentives, freebies and specials should boost your sales and get your customers excited about having you as a demo. They shouldn't become something that they ALWAYS expect with EVERY order, and feel "ripped off" if they don't get.
Tami2 -- If you're spending $100 a month consistently, you should consider becoming a demo and offer yourself your own incentive -- 20% off every order, as well as the Stampin' Succes (monthly demonstrator magazine), access to the demonstrator web-site, and periodic sales and recruiting incentives from Stampin' Up! Whether or not you sell to anyone else, you'd be sure to meet your minimum and continue as a demonstrator by placing two $150 workshop orders every quarter (combine your three $100 orders and submit them as two $150 orders, qualifying for hostess benefits). If you're interested in a great "stamp camp" type stamping evening, you could host your own, thereby avoiding the long drive into the country to your demo's house.
__________________ Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels. -Faith Whittlesey
When I offer a special, I am sure that is listed as a "This month only" special, or a "This workshop Only" type of thing. That way your cutomers think of it more as a special instead of a gimme type of item. Does that make sense?
__________________ Jenna ;) #6202
I need inspiration!!!![/I][/FONT][/FONT]
Do you only buy your Tide from Target even though Wal-mart has it on sale? A lot of us would go for the sale price because the shopping experiance of Target vs. Wal Mart has no value to us.
I have 2 stores I shop at. One for groceries, one for cleaning items I can usually find cheaper. I don't hunt all over for the best bargain because I feel my time is more valuable than that. I don't have the time to drive to 5 different stores because each one has a better deal on something than the other stores. To me, it will all come out in the wash, so to speak.
So, taking that about myself, I would only shop with one demo. I strongly believe in customer loyalty. But I'm not so stupid to believe that all my customers only shop with me. I know they don't. But I'm also not going to try to compete with other demos to keep those customers loyal to only me. The thing is, my upline can offer much better "deals" because she makes her money on her downline, not selling product. I don't have a downline, nor do I have time for one, so I have to make my money on my profits. To assume that I can afford to offer the same "deals" as she can would be unfair. I just can't.
So, all of that said, I think what demos want the most is for customers to not compare us against each other. It's not the same thing as shopping at Target vs. Walmart.
I have to say that I've spent about $250 with a Stampin Up demo in my area over the last couple of months and she doesn't offer any incentives, except for giving me the catalog for free when I spent $120. at the first demo I attended (my friend was the hostess). We did do three small cards at that demo and she didn't charge for it, but there were only 3 customers there. I think she still did over $300 in sales at that show.
This is very funny because at the first demo I attended, which was last month, I spent $175.00 and was amazed there wasn't any sort of incentive at all for spending that much. Of course, I was also amazed that the catalog cost money, and so much money, so what do I know? :-)
That being said, I know incentives can be expensive. My demo made about $35 on my sale, and that's not taking into account her expenses (gas, supplies, etc.) But for a new customer who spends a lot of money (say, over $150) it might not be a bad idea to offer a one time incentive of a catalog -- at the very least to keep him/her interested!
I have to admit, I have purchased from several demos, and will continue to do so. I got hooked with SU from a friend who was a new demo - she gave me a discount, but then I moved out of state. I go to every work shop that I am invited to - and always spend money when I go. I know that if I am offered free shipping or some other incentive, I will spend more money than if I were not offered. But regardless, I WILL SPEND. I think it is nice for the demos who are in a position and choose to offer incentives to do so. However, if a demo chooses not to, or can not financially, I will still purchase from her. I don't really think there is anything wrong with demos posting there ideas and stuff in the main forums.
I agree about "different strokes for different folks." However I will say that my first and only order with one demo was over $470. It was during Sale a bration 2003. I asked if it could be counted as a show off of my friend's show and she didnt' want to do that. I asked if it could count it as a show for me. She didn't want to do that. So my friend got a great shopping spree off of my order alone!
Then I paid with a credit card. She initially didn't want to take it. She said she would call her upline to see if the upline could take it. I tried to be understanding b/c at the time I had a homebased business and I understand the issue that credit cards cost the consultant a little money, but with my order my friend's show was over the $1,000 mark.
She and her upline showed up at my house at 9pm (2 hours late) one night. The attitude was like I was a hassle to deal with. The card had mine and my husband's name on it. They asked if I was authorized to use it! Um, it has MY name and MY signature on it!!! My husband was TDY (Temporary Duty with the military) and they asked that I call my husband and have him confirm that it was ok for me to charge that much!!! Looking back, I should have just said "Forget it!" but I was trying to be understanding at how hard it can be to run a home based business.
The order was delivered to her house. She said I had to come pick it up. I picked it up and everything was there but one marker pack's case was damaged (there is a cut down the length of it) and one stamp pad was chipped on the plastic so it doesn't close right. She said that there was nothing that she could do and later told the hostess that I was too nit picky.
Maybe I was, but a week later I met another demo that doesn't do a whole lot of specials, but she has great customer service. She's been my demo for two years now and even though she's thousands of miles away from me now (I moved a few weeks after meeting her), she tries to send me ideas, etc to keep me aware of what is new with SU. I wish I would have spent all that money with her! However she could meet her minimums with me alone!!! She offered the demo opportunity to me some but I shot it down everytime for various reasons and she knew that she needed to back off.
I shocked her last month by telling her to send me demo info. I sent her the completed paperwork this week.
I'll always take customer service over freebies any day!!!
JMHO!
