Last Blog post I mentioned that Wal-Mart probably out sold the top ten Direct Sales companies combined. Turns out my guess was correct, Wal-Mart outsells the entire Direct Sales industry in North America, ten times more. This may look bad on the surface but it really is great news.

Most Direct Sales Reps offer more product knowledge and better service than most employees of big box stores. When I go to big box electronic stores I constantly find I know more than the employee serving me, and I am coming to them for advice. A few weeks back I went to 4 big box stores looking to upgrade my version of OS X on my iMac. Not one Salesperson in any of these stores was able to help me. I don’t have a small Mac store in my neighborhood but I do have 4 big box stores that sell Macs but not one could help me. Oh they could sell me stuff off the shelf or order product in for me they just could not answer any really basic questions. In one store the guy in the computer department didn’t even know what OS X was! Seems it was only his third week in the computer department, he use to work in the TV department. I ended up looking around on the Internet for information and prices.

If the Sales Associates in big box stores selling Makeup/Personal grooming/Fashion are even twice as prepared and knowledgeable as the big box electronics store’s associates you have absolutely nothing to fear from them as competitors.

From where I stand its a great time to be in Direct Sales. I can’t help but think the only thing that many big box stores have to offer is a slightly lower price. If the customer was like me and looking for value not just price they have to go somewhere else. Very likely to someone like you.

Direct Sales, Avon, Big Box Stores

Technorati Tags: Direct Sales, Avon, Big Box Stores

Having worked on MBA for Avon and now working on a version for Watkins I realized how little I know of Direct Sales business. I have been spending a few minutes here and there just poking around the web looking at Websites and Blogs about all types of Direct Sales, Network Marketing and MLM.

I have come across a lot of informative sites (probably will add a few to the websites links section in near future). One thing I have found that was disturbing was the number of sites/blogs/forums where Reps from one company take shots (bad mouth) other Companies and their Reps/products. This looks bad (because it is bad), unprofressional (because it is unprofessional). As an outsider (I am not a Rep) this makes the industry and these Reps look so unprofessional that I can’t even find the words to describe it.

I say all this because I think Direct Sales Reps have a gigantic advantage over regular retailers. I think that most Reps don’t behave this way but the ones that do drag the whole industry down a little with them. I don’t know how it can be stopped but it would be good for everyone if it happened a lots less.

From my little time working in this industry I think other Reps and other companies are NOT your real competion (ok maybe a teeny tiny bit). Bricks and mortar stores are your real competion. Not to slag on Wal-Mart (but everybody does), in beauty/personal care/fashion they outsell the 10 top Direct Sales companies combined by a HUGH margin. Lets not forget that although Wal-Mart is the largest retailer (therefore everyone like me uses them for an example), they are only a very very small percentage of retail through bricks and mortar type stores (hey they don’t even have a single store in Manhattan!).

I suggest Reps think more about how they can take customers away from stores rather than fighting with Reps from other companies. If not for looking professional then because there is 100 - 200 times more money to be made from it (and thats a LOT of money). Big subject, run out of time but will post more on this later in week. If you have any thoughts on this please post a comment, would love to hear what others think about this (hey, I can’t be the only one to notice this stuff).

Direct Sales, Network Marketing, MLM

Technorati Tags: Direct Sales, Network Marketing, MLM

I have been thinking about the Backups and how to make them easier for Reps. I had a two Reps email me with the suggestion to automatically do a Backup each time a Rep exited MBA. This would work for making sure Backups got done. The problem is that many have the problem of a dead drive, so the Backup file would also die with the drive.

My idea for now is to add the ability to email your Backup. Yahoo and Google both offer free email with very large capacity for storage. If it works out maybe give the Rep the option of creating and emailing a Backup each time they exit (probably on good for those on high speed internet). The cool thing about this is the backup file is off your PC (in fact right out of your house). In addition to dead hard drives you would be protected from theft, fire, natural disasters and more simply because your backup is off site.

Now I just have to find the time to write the Code.

Avon, Backups

Technorati Tags: Avon, Backups

Every week several Reps email me for help due to a crashed (dead) hard drive. Almost all of them have no backup copy of their MBA data. This in spite of the fact that MBA for Avon has a built in Backup feature for data. A feature that can back up an average users data in well under two minutes (even under one minute for many), all with just a few mouse clicks.

I just checked Amazon.com and 512 MB USB Flash Drives (brand name) are less than $8.00 (plus shipping). You can buy CD-RW disks (that hold 600 MB) for less than $1.50 each. You can get a Google or Yahoo email account (with up to 2 Gig of storage) for free to email backup files to. Free is a good price.

So it doesn’t take much time or much effort and it does not cost very much money yet lots of Reps still don’t Backup their data. The Reps that do loose their data and have to re-enter it all again quickly learn how important to them their data is and many start Backing up on a regular basis. That is sure a lot of pain to learn this lesson. This after having read about Backups in the MBA Help, the manual, all my posts about Backups on the MBA Forum.

I will have to spend some time thinking this problem through. MBA has what I thought was a great Backup system. I make sure its easy for a Rep to find out about Backing up (any more and it would be nagging). Everyone knows hard drives will fail, its not “if” it is “when”. Or just as bad, a Virus eats all the data even before the Hard drive has a chance to fail.

The challenge is to come up with a better/easier Backup so that it will get used more. I know some Reps will never Backup but I have had as many as 7 emails about this in one week. That is one a day, there has to be a way to get that number down.

MBA, Avon, Backup

Technorati Tags: MBA, Avon, Backup

After far to many months I have started the MBA blog back up. Just Upload version 2.06 to downloads area. Next upgrade will probably be in early May.

I have several topics I want to cover here in blog over coming weeks so keep an eye on this spot.

The last week has been very crazy. On Monday the Hard drive in my main desktop died. So went and bought a new 250 Gig to replace it and then copied all my Backup data back on to it. Most of the day gone! An interesting aside, Costco in the States had 400 Gig drives on sale for $99. Wow, that is 25 cents per Gig, only a few years ago they were $2.50 per Gig ($99 for a 40 Gig). Thats 90% less! I hope the people making Ink/Toner for printers is watching!!

I have been meaning to fix the problem with the Bridge software not working for some Reps. Some Reps can register fine and post to Forums right away and other can Register but can never login. I got the new Bridge software but then found out it only worked with the new version of SMF (the Forum software) which ment I would also upgrade the Forum software as well (much bigger job). So I put it off for a couple days. Then I found out there is a new version of Joomla (the content management software used on site). So now I would have to upgrade Joomla first. I use several modules (add-in software) with Joomla so I had to wait for these to be upgraded (only 3 needed upgrades). Well the third one took over 72 hours to get which delayed everything even more.

Finally Friday I waited till late (so site is not as busy) and started. Well most of it went great, but not all of it. Had to uninstall and then reinstall one of the new modules but finally got site up and running (after 3 hours of work). I still need to change the Theme graphics and make a couple minor (I hope minor ) changes to PHP code to have Forums looking good again.

If you are one of the Reps that can’t login and this fix does not seem to work email me and I will delete your old account so you can sign up again. It has to be deleted as Forum software won’t allow two accounts with same email address.

I plan a new version of MBA for Avon for end of September. It will allow for multiple uploads to Avon website so you won’t have to save all your Orders for one upload per campaign. I also have a cool little enhancement that applies mostly to USA Reps that I should have put in along time ago.

All this means the Watkins Software is stalled but hope to be back on track with it in a few days.

When I setup the new website I also installed a Forum (Simple Machines Forum) that is a lot nicer than the old Forum software. It is a stand alone program so to get it to work within the MBA website I installed software that is called a “Bridge”. It bridges the registration for both the website and the Forum. It has been giving me problems from the very start. Some people can register and use the Forums with no problems, others have recurring problems.

I have decided to remove the software and replace it with software from a different source. One that I have been told is much better and less error prone. I will replace it some time on Saturday August 19th (should only take about an hour or two). If you can’t log in on Saturday please just try back a couple hours later and Forum should be back up. This will not stop you from viewing the website or downloading just using the Forum.

Technorati Tags: Forum, Upgrade

I posted a Tax Tips in the News section of the website. I originally got it from a Rep back in early 2005. She got it from a Forum back in 2004. I had it posted on the original MBA website and thought it may still be helpful to someone. I would like to post more info like this on the site. If you have any tips or info you would like to share please send it to me and I’ll see about posting it.

Had two Reps report back that they are able to use the USA Uploads to the new Avon website. This is very good news. I had a chance to test it but not very thoroughly so I am glad it works properly. I would like to say a big “Thank You!” to StaceyAnne and Tonya for helping me over the last few days to get this USA Upload issue finally resolved. Had it working but the Campaign numbers were not getting filled in but after a some trial and error got it resolved.

Technorati Tags: Avon, Tax Tips

MBA for Avon version 2.03 is now available for download. The built in Downloading of Brochures is now working again now that I have changed the code to keep the new FTP server happy. I have rushed this one out fast as a number of Reps were having problems downloading the old way with their web browser.

Also have an early version of Uploading to the new Avon USA website. It has had limited testing so please pay attention to you first Upload to make sure everything is right. Also don’t forget to increase the Rows to 50 in your Setup. 50 is better than 10, yes?

Version 2.03 also has the new Payments tab in the Customer record. You can also print a Statement from the Payments tab. The Statement report shows both Payments and Orders for the Customer along with a running Balance total.

Technorati Tags: Avon Software, Avon Uploading

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