Phoenix traders

A question about : Phoenix traders

The fabulous hints and tips thread is sooo helpful but I wondered if we could create a one liners list of selling techniques and I've attached a poll

Best answers:

• I haven't voted cos I'm not a Phoenix trader and I don't want to mess up the results but I sell handmade cards and leaving a basket with businesses is best for me.
• I find my best sales come when I visit a friend and have a rootle through a pile of sample cards on the table, and my next best comes from a friend who lives miles away but took a folder - I've had a lot of orders from her friends and family, continuing on with the new catalogue when I've mailed them directly.
  Rosemary
  who's not doing so well on sales at the moment
• Great idea Lalaladybird!
  I haven't voted as I've only just given out my first brochures this week so early days yet, but am very interested to see what the others say.
  Thanks for this
  L&L
• Great idea lalaladybird - haven't voted either yet as only been going a couple of months. Have got 2 or 3 baskets in school staff rooms - these haven't yielded great sales yet - and tie up quite a bit of stock - but I need to give that more of a chance. Brochure drops havent been that successful so far but i'll keep going with this as i'm confident it will work - just need to find the right houses! So I guess so far my best sales have come from handing out brochures to lots of people I know - neighbours, mums at school/guides/brownies etc. Really interested to see results of the poll!
• Hi all,
  by far the most productive selling environment for me is coffee & cards and parties as people come along with the intention to buy cards and it's all crammed in to a couple of hours. So best advice is to run regular coffee & cards of your own with each product launch (5 x a year) as you can't rely on others booking them for you, best to have something in the diary.
  Next most lucrative for me are my baskets: I have a 6 week rolling cycle and drop off on a Mon, pick up on a Fri at my Doctors, Solicitors, a secondary school staff room (have no kids there and it took me a year to get in but if you keep trying you'll get there) my bank etc. They do between Ј15 and Ј50 each time but at first I had a couple back with no sales at all, then eventually someone is desperate and gets one for a funeral/anniversary and then others join in and the popularity builds over time. Keep plugging away with this, it does work once people start realising the quality.
  Toddler groups are low on sales there and then but a brilliant source of new customers and if you go once a term you get a constant flow of newbies, make sure you get names and addresses from these customers as they won't be at toddler stage long!
  Door to door drops are useful to build a customer base from people you don't know and as long as you get most brochures back are not too wasteful. Good if you walk anyway. Always have a sample bag with you as you'd be surprised how many people are outside washing car/mowing lawn etc. and it's good to be able to show people what your brochure is for before they say 'no thanks'!
  I'd really urge people not to get too wrapped up in the initial success of their ventures, of course you want to make money, but I assure you that each customer you do get will buy again, they'll buy more over the long-term as their loyalty to the brand grows and they'll buy across the range, so even if they buy 1, 2 or 10 cards from you the first couple of times, they WILL buy more and more in the long term so try not to get too despondent with all the 'little' sales as if you're in it for the long-term, once you get a customer they are unlikely to go back to buying from Clintons or Smiths (I promise)!
  HTH!
• Bump....any more phoenix traders out there?
• OMG The other thread has been locked
• Saw that last night. I thought earlier in the thread someone had contacted them to bring their attention to it and they had given the ok. Something doesn't look right to me.
• That seems strange, since someone did contact Phoenix and obtain permission to post on the thread etc.
• I'm wondering how we can find out if it was actually Phoenix that asked that the thread be locked, or just another trader who didn't know that we had permission.
  As Skeeter has said, several times on the thread Phoenix has given their consent.
  It's a shame, everyone has kept to the Phoenix rules and I felt that the thread was helpful to all, especially those that live far from their upline.
  Rosemary
• I don't understand how the rules were broken, we weren't advertising, we weren't offering incentives for people to join, nor we were making out it was easy to get rich quick. I think those are the things that Phoenix won't permit and rightly so. I'm very disappointed the old thread was locked.
• Does anyone else think it may have been because some traders were struggling to get sales? May potentially make the company look like a less appealing prospect. Most folks would understand the current financial climate and that this is a business that will take time to develop.
  I do think they have done new traders an injustice by removing a very valid and inspiring thread which can only serve to assist the new recruits and allow them to discuss techniques and gain assistance from the more experienced.
• I agree. I thought it was very draconian of PT to get it closed. Though have a feeling it may have been a disgruntled trader who said we were breaking the rules!
  Maybe the link for this poll will bring some of the regulars from that one to to this one.
• How did the Todder Group go Lalaladybird?
• I'm really pleased that 've found this thread as was really disapointed when I saw the old one had been closed down. I've just become a atrader a few weeks ago and have found everyones comments and advice really helpful
• The toddler group was great. Something I'll definitely be trying to book a lot of from now on