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Most customers are last minute thinkers.  Sharing our fantastic products for family reunions, camping, and barbecuing, can help them plan ahead and help you grow your sales.  Customers are looking for fun new ideas for summer time meals and they definitely need the convenience Alison’s Pantry foods offer them!  So be sure to tell them about the following great ideas!

Plan a spectacular barbecue in less than an hour!

Start with our delicious meats; we have so much to choose from. Holten Flat Iron Steaks, Thick and Juicy beef patties, and Foster Farms tender chicken breasts will impress your guests and fill your tummies.

Next, add a delicious vegetable.

We have a great variety of frozen vegetables that add color and enjoyment to any meal.

 

Finally add one of our Blount Sides!

Savory bacon and pasta folded into a creamy three cheese sauce is something everyone will love and warms up in minutes.

Don’t forget dessert!

You can’t go wrong with our delicious brownie mix served with a scoop of ice cream on top!

It’s time for customers to start thinking about girl’s camp, scout camp, and family reunions.  Alison’s Pantry products make these events so much easier and everyone is happy with the taste, quality and ease of preparing our products.  Drafting a sample menu that incorporates AP products for the camp chef can be a welcome help!  Be sure to remind them about:

AP bacon paired with any one of our pancake mixes will make a memorable breakfast everyone will devour.

Camp Chef offers so many great products to help make your camping experience more fun!  Don’t forget the roasting sticks, Camp Chef Cast Iron conditioner and other great items from Camp Chef!

Send out ideas in emails, on newsletters, in texts, or with social media. Thinking ahead and helping your customers find those products that will best help them is great customer service and your customers will love you for it.

Julie

Customers are the lifeblood of our company.  Without our customers, we wouldn’t have anyone to buy our products; therefore, it is extremely important to keep our customers happy so they will come back month after month to get what they need from us (Alison’s Pantry).

A very important part of keeping customers happy is the way we communicate with them.  Below I want to share 5 communication techniques to help you increase your sales through positive communications with your customers (and potential customers)!

#1 – Start with a positive comment.

Whether you are talking to a customer on the phone or in person, you want to start your conversation with them with a positive comment and a smile.  (Example:  “Hello, how are you today?!”  “Hey, you look great! What are you doing?”  “Thanks for coming to get your order so quickly!  I really appreciate it!”  Just doing this simple thing will get your conversation off on the right foot.

#2 – Don’t speak negatively about a competitor.

In the course of your conversation with your customer, they may have a complaint or negative comment about another food retailer or sales rep in your area.  It may be easy to agree or even engage in “bashing” whoever they are talking about, but please refrain.  Listen to what your customer has to say, but then turn the conversation positive by pointing out something that you can do to fix whatever they may be complaining about.  (Example:  Customer – “I used to buy from _____ (another food service company) but I hated that they stood on my door waiting for me to look through their book to order something.”  Your reply could be:  “I’m sorry to hear that.  Isn’t it great that you get your catalog in the mail and have over a week to decide what you need to get before placing your order each month?!” OR Customer –  “I used to buy from _____(rep) but she took forever to call me back and/or never told me that she had placed my order or what my total was until it was here ready for me to pickup and pay for it.”  Your reply could be:  “I’m sorry to hear that and want to assure you that I will always respond back that I have received your order and make sure you know your total and what week I expect the order to be here.”

#3 – Give your customers genuine, positive labels.

We all love to hear compliments!  However, compliments should be based on positive truths, not ones that are fake or manipulative .  We wouldn’t tell someone they look really nice today when they really look like they just climbed out of bed and put on the first thing they found.  Genuine, positive comments (labels) to give your customers could be, “You are one of my best customers!” OR “It is such a pleasure to do business with you!”  Positive labels lift people up and then they want to live up to that label.

#4 – 60% of your communication with others is non-verbal.

When physically speaking with someone, their very first impression of you is non-verbal – how you are dressed, the expression on your face, the way you are standing/sitting.  Your body language speaks volumes!  When customers come to get their orders, are you dressed like you have somewhere to go or do you look like you’ve been laying around in bed all day?  Do you have a smile on your face and a straight posture that invites the person in or is there a scowl on your face and you are hunched over like you wish everyone would leave you alone?!  Another way to look at this is to put yourself in the other person’s shoes – how would you like to be greeted by someone you are bringing business to or seeking to help you with a need?

#5 – Always end on a good note.

Before you get off the phone with your customer or before a customer leaves your house with their order or someone leaves your fair booth, end your conversation on a good note. Pay them a compliment, thank them for their time, wish them a good day, offer them a free sample, etc.  Ending your contact with them on a good note makes them remember the entire experience with you in a good way.

People want to deal with people they know and like.  Positive communications with customers will strengthen your relationship with them, they will tell others about you and the great products you sell, and your sales will increase.

Good Luck and Happy Selling!!

Adapted from Vanessa Van Edwards’ training – “5 Killer Science Based Sales Techniques”.  You can watch her training at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blmqKqJ0BM

Becky Price, RSM

 

 

 

Do you remember the day that you were approved to sell Alison’s Pantry? Remember the excitement that you had and the drive to share this opportunity and good food with your family, friends and neighbors. You felt a passion for your dream.

In business we all start out on the same page; eager to make a difference.  Some have different reasons for starting a business. It might be friendship, loneliness, determination, a love of food, a desire for independence or last but never least MONEY! Think back on your reason. What has happened to the reason you became a rep. Have you taken it and run with it, or has it gone to the back of the pantry somewhere among the pasta and beans?  If you haven’t been having fun in your endeavor, reaching the level of success that you dreamed of, then it’s time to reconnect with your goals and dreams.

We all get stuck in the rut of life, we need constant reminders of the reasons we do what we do. Whether you do this for relationships, food, or money; if you’re not filling those cups, then the passion for your work is hard to find.  It’s time to clean out the closet and make this work for you. Besides feeding your tummies, you need to feed your souls.

passion

noun  pas·sion  \ˈpa-shən\

1. :a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something

 

The first step to success is to have a reason for the success. Remember that beginning excitement.  Create a passion for what you do.  Here are a few questions to ask yourself.

 

• Do I enjoy the friendships that you have created with my customers?
•  Do I enjoy the food that I’m feeding my family?
• Does it make me feel proud to cook home cooked wholesome food for my loved ones?
•  Does it make me feel good to help a friend by easing her burden by supplying her with easy, quick meals for her and her family?
• Do I take pride in the company I represent, offering a 100% guarantee for the products that Alison’s Pantry offers?

Remember a woman with PASSION, is unstoppable. She sees herself at the top of the mountain and reaches to achieve it.  Passion, drive, motivation, zeal, call it what you want it is the self-driven attitude about your business that can help lead you down the path to success.

 

What is your Passion?

Martin Luther King Jr, quotes

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.

 

How To Get Your Passion Back?

If you have lost some of your passion, how do you get it back? Remember passion is an emotion, a state of mind so the first thing you have to do is motivate yourself.  Take a look at where you are in your business and where you would like to be to motivate you into finding the passion again. Whether you want to reach the first $1000 tier or whether you are a seasoned rep and want to reach the $10,000 tier, you must set a goal to achieve it.  Share that goal with your RSM, she will help you with ideas to build sales and encourage growth. She is there for you; she wants to help you reach your dreams.

Once you have the motivation you can apply the passion. Remember it’s not about where you are now in your business; it’s about putting passion back into your work today and where that will allow you to go. Maybe you need to learn new skills by attending webinars to update you on ways to improve your knowledge of the products that AP offers, or maybe you need to fully engage yourself in your business by staying current on the information from the company, by reading all emails, Facebook posts and asking questions from other reps and RSM’s. Passion is Action!  What you put into your business will come back to you.

Passion also brings energy to your work. Instead of getting the work done just in time, turn it up and deliver it ahead of schedule. Get your orders from your customers before the last deadline weekend. Instead of waiting for the customer to call you, call them first. Offer suggestions for an easy dinner for the week or share your favorite product with them.  Your excitement will instill excitement in them.

Ultimately it is about your attitude. You may have heard “if you change your mind you can change your life”. This is a perfect example. To be passionate about anything you have to care about it. Be your own best customer! It is a fact that the most successful reps are buying from themselves. As Mary Kay used to say “you can’t sell from an empty cart”.  In Alison’s Pantry, You can’t sell what you haven’t tried! You must first convert yourself to Alison’s Pantry in order to sell to anyone else.

Remember the street sweeper?  He was determined to be the best street sweeper he could be. This is the way that you should approach your business. To be passionate about your work you must be motivated to be the best that you can be. Over time your work and determination will get noticed. Your customers will begin to see that you have their best interest in mind. The way you feel about your business will change and you will see growth!    Find your Passion!

Stacee Izatt  RSM

 

 

People love a good deal.  They especially love a good deal on a product they regularly buy.  A great way to build your sales is to tell your customers about the super sale prices and special offers in the catalog.

Alison’s Pantry is dedicated to helping you build your sales.  That is why we are promoting the refer a friend offer and the special offer; for every $75 in products you order you receive ____ item at 50% off (see pg 2 of the catalog). Take advantage of this opportunity to get new customers and entice your regular customers to spend more at no cost to you.  AP is picking up the cost of the free/discounted products; so use it!

Here is the special offer for purchasing$75 in the #4 catalog.  

There are several ways to do this.

1. Get to know the catalog!  Recently there have been some deep discounts on some of our best selling items.  Do you know which items are on sale?  Do you know what the free gift is for those who refer a friend who orders $25 or more?
2. Once you know what the great deals are; tell your customers about them! Send emails, post on Facebook, and text your customers about the awesome sales and special offers.

3. Know your customers’ buying habits. If you have a customer that LOVES Milford Valley Chicken Cordon Bleu, then when it comes on sale, send them a text and say, “Hey, I saw the Chicken Cordon Bleu is on sale this month, would you like to add that to your order?” That is just good customer service.

4. Watch the total amount on customers’ orders. If a customer order is short of the $75 needed to receive half off a product, ask them if they want to bump up their order so they can get that great deal.  Also watch to see if they qualify for other special offers and when they do, alert them to the offer and ask if they want to take advantage of it.

5. The best way to get new customers is to ask your loyal customers for referrals. The secret to being successful with this is FOLLOW UP.  So you shared a catalog with your customer and asked them to share it with a family member or friend, when you are doing your reminder calls that month, ask, “Did you give the catalog to your mom?  Does she want to buy anything?  I would love to get you that free pancake mix for referring a friend.”

Remember, special offers and sales are a fantastic tool to build your sales!

Julie