Author: jahawkes

Tammy Harrison has been an AP rep for 3 months.  She was excited to take over for someone and start selling.  Her first order was just over $1800.  Her 3rd order was over $4,000!  She has really built her business.  I think her enthusiasm and willingness to talk to everyone about AP is key to her success.  This is what she had to say:

I am a new rep whom was delivered this awesome opportunity to have my own business and still keep my job at our local school too.  I have lived her in Carin now for 14 years. I moved her from Elko where I had lived since 1986.  I graduated Elko High School in 1990. I have had food service positions over the years with Pizza Hut, Maverick Country Stores and now the Lunch Program here in Carlin.  So I have been in the public eye for a long time and I talk to everyone, even the people I don’t know.  I at least say hello and smile.  🙂

The ladies who sold before me built the customer list for me.  I now take a section of names and go through and look at all the customers’ information and call them.  I tell them who I am and ask if they would like to see a catalog.  I also have added each month 6 new customers of my own which of course are my friends closest to me.  My sister is a hair dresser and has had a shop here in Carlin for 20 years.  She has helped out a lot because she knows a lot of people.

Alison’s Pantry has great deals on bulk foods and we don’t have that available to us in our small town.  The closest for us to buy bulk is a case lot sale at the local grocery store.  The wide variety of products that Alison’s Pantry has to offer is amazing and everyone that I have talked to that has tried their products has been very satisfied.

I am still learning and trying to organize so I can be successful here in Carlin for a long time.  People say they are happy I am now their rep because I have lived here for so long and am established.  I LOVE MY TOWN.  I am very happy to keep providing Alison’s Pantry products here.

We are excited to see you continue to grow Tammy!

 

Selling Alison’s Pantry can be simple and straight forward.  People love our food!  Find ways to get customers to try our products by taking Alison’s Pantry foods to potlucks, school functions, church events, treats for work, and sick friends. Your friends and family will ask you for the recipes and when they do you can share a catalog.

AP branded products are a great way to let people know what you sell. Vista Print sells some fantastic, inexpensive items that you can offer to your customers such as pens, chap stick and magnets.  Alison’s Pantry has recently gotten on the band wagon by offering totes and freezer bags with the AP logo on it. Watch for more great AP branded products to come.

Hopefully you purchased an AP T-Shirt.  To advertise, all you have to do is throw it on in the morning.  Then when people ask you what AP is you have a perfect opportunity to tell them how great it is without even having to do anything at all.

Personal business cards are a wonderful idea too.  You can staple one to a catalog, add a spice sample and an order form, and you have a something great to hand to a potential new customer.

Get an Alison’s Pantry vinyl sticker or magnet for your car.  Be sure to have extra catalogs in your vehicle for the people that stop you and ask about Alison’s Pantry.  I put mine on the van on Wednesday and by Saturday I had an ordering customer!  Someone saw it at the baseball game and asked for a catalog.

Bring up AP in casual conversation with your friends.  Tell them what AP products you are preparing for dinner, how easy it is to prepare, and how much your children or grandchildren love it.

Alison’s Pantry products make great gifts! Wrap up one of our best selling Muffin Mixes or some of our delicious specialty candies.  Or bake up some of our yummy cookies and share them in a decorative tin.  Your friends and family will love the gifts and then of course they will need to reorder once they have tried them.  Watch for our #11 webinar where we will be sharing tons of great ideas to turn AP products into gifts everyone will love.

When you are passionate about AP products because you love them so much you will be surprised at all the creative ways you can find to share what you love!

Julie

My name is Beverly Beeter! I have been an Alison Pantry Representative for almost 2 years. In my spare time my family and I like to go camping and fishing. Our favorite Alison pantry products would have to be the precooked bacon, but there is never a meal that we don’t use an Alison pantry product.

What make me a good representative, I am always telling people about our products and what my family loves about them. I have set up a Facebook page to try to help my customer stay in touch and to let them know what is on sale or when the deadlines are. Especially during order week I usually send a text, emails, and also use Facebook Messenger. I usually send  reminders on Tuesday or Wednesday, and than again on Friday and Saturday.

My best customer service tip is always keep in contact with your customers!

“The number one Phone phobia is manifested in this fear: “Customers will think I’m pushy.”  Guess what?  If a customer gave you her phone number, she gave implied permission to call her!  Follow through on your implied promise to keep connected.”

• Ask her how she would like to be contacted. Does she prefer a text, Facebook message, phone call or email?  Knowing the right way to contact her will make her more comfortable and you more successful in reaching her.

Maybe you are worried about interrupting your customers or catching them at a bad time.  When your customer answers the phone and you’ve identified yourself, simply ask, “Am I getting you at a good time to chat for two minutes?”  Giving yourself a time limit of two minutes alerts her that you’re respectful of her time.  Keep your promise to be brief and concise.

The secret to getting the orders is in the follow up.  People love our catalog!  They love our products!  They are busy though, and they need a reminder; just like your doctor’s office calls you to remind you of your appointment.  You appreciate that reminder, don’t you?  A quick phone call asking them how they are doing and reminding them that the order is going in is great customer service.  And it’s the difference between an okay rep with okay sales and a great rep with fantastic sales.

Are you afraid you don’t have time to make reminder phone calls? Look at your schedule ahead of time (like a month in advance)and write on your calendar when you will be making your reminders.  Then don’t plan anything else in that time slot.  The best way to do that is to set aside 15 min. at a time.  Everyone can find 15 minutes to make reminder phone calls and texts.  And over a week’s time those 15 minute increments add up fast!

Don’t be afraid of picking up the phone and calling your customers.  It’s a great way to nurture friendships and grow your business at the same time.

You can read more great ideas about this here

Julie

First of all I just have to say how thankful I am to be a part of this company. This opportunity has already done so much for my family.

The first thing I do every month is print off my customer list. This is so as I talk to my customers I note by their name anything that I might need to remember later. For instance if they are going to be gone for a period of time, might like to try a new product, or any changes to their account. I also have a notebook that is just for orders. This way if I get orders while away from home they are all in one place.

Most of my customers are from previous Alison’s Pantry reps so I don’t know them personally. This adds a whole new level of providing personal service. When I talk to my customers I ask how they liked things they have ordered before. This gives me an insight to what they ordered before I was their rep, and gets them thinking about reordering their favorites.

I send out text and emails about specials. I make sure to keep in contact at least once a week. I also have a Facebook page that I post in quite often through the month. Mostly I just try to keep my customers updated on anything new happening.

I  always make sure to have extra catalogs on hand and ask all my customers if they would like one to share. Most people will take an extra. I also leave 4-5 catalogs at the local gas station, school, bars and bank.

We had VBS this last week and I made up some mini blueberry muffins for snacks. I got many complements on how good they were. My response was “Thanks its all Alison’s Pantry”. My Husband is a huge supporter, he is much better at talking to people than I am. One day we had some people that are friends of a friend and when he introduced me he says ” This is my wife Sebrina, she sells Alison’s Pantry and Avon”. All of the hard work was done and I was able to just get down to business of explaining how it works and what Alison’s Pantry is.

I am my biggest customer! When I tell people that I buy 95% of my food from Alison’s Pantry they want to know more about our food. It helps that I am 30 miles from the closest grocery store and 50 miles from a Costco or Sams Club, most of my customers are even further. When we are around other people I like to ask my kids what they want to eat when we get home. When they see how excited my kids are about our food they want to know what’s so special about it. I also have snack food on hand when we travel and have people ask where I got it, that’s when I hand them a catalog. I try to talk to at least 3 people a day about Alison’s Pantry. Food is such an easy thing to sell and when its great food it just makes it that much easier.

I’m not sure when I learned this but I always keep it in mind while making calls. If you SMILE while you talk your customer will hear it. if you sound happy and excited your customers will get happy and excited too!

Past customers often have no idea why they stopped purchasing from you.  All they need is a reminder of why they enjoyed buying from you and a special incentive to begin doing so again.

“A customer is still a customer, no matter how long ago they bought from you.  It’s your job to make them a repeat customer.”

1. Determine who past customers are and what they ordered.
2. Contact past customers preferably by phone or send them a postcard.
   1. Ask them why they are not ordering anymore.
3. Offer an incentive to come back. (adding a time limit can create a sense of urgency and prompt inactive customers to check out your deal).
   1. Offer to reorder what they bought in the past.
   2. Give past customers 5% off their next order.
   3. Offer one time free shipping.
4. Apologize if your customer had a reason to stop doing business with you and ask what you could do to get their business again. “I’m sorry” goes a long way.
   1. Remember, we offer a 100% money back guarantee if they are unhappy with a product.
5. Remind customers why they like your products.
   1. Take them a yummy treat from Alison’s Pantry.
   2. Point out some of our best selling products; talk about your favorite products.
6. Tell your past customers about new products.

Just sending a past customer a catalog will not reactivate them.  They need personal contact from you. A phone call is best. Plus that gives you an excuse to reconnect and see how their family is doing.

I have included a post card idea that you could use too.  If you send a postcard or a catalog, call in a few days to follow up.  You can edit it in Adobe Reader with your personal information.

Postcard reactivate

Good luck reactivating your old customers!  It will be worth the effort when you see your sales climb!  You can read more about it here.

Julie

My husband is a farmer and I have learned to do many things on the farm. We love to play with dirt and make things grow. As part of that, we take part in several of our local farmers’ markets selling produce that we grow and source from orchards across the state. When we don’t have enough fresh strawberries or raspberries to sell to people to make their jam, I tell them I have other options if they are interested, and I introduce them to Alison’s Pantry’s strawberry bits and pieces and the raspberry crumbles. I also tell them about all the great canning spices and so many other canning products that are available, which leads me to talk about a few of my other favorite products that I order almost every month from AP. I run a fruit stand at my house and get to meet lots of new people through that as we sell produce. I have people ask to be on my email list for the produce so they know what is on at the fruit stand. Then I ask them if they would like to be on my “produce only” list or on my “Alison’s Pantry email list”, which gives me another opportunity to teach them about Alison’s Pantry.

I know these are kind of unique opportunities with the farmer’s market, but they are great opportunities. A lot of people around here love to be self sufficient with canning and preserving food. I try to find out what types of food my customers love to eat – if they have allergies, or have foods they need to avoid or if they are just more into healthy eating and steer them towards those foods in the AP catalog. I feel like customer service and a “can do” attitude are most important in my business.

I have a husband and 4 active boys who are awesome helpers with my businesses and on the farm. They could sell the foods almost as good as I can!