Monday, December 10, 2012

Why you don't want a big tax refund.



This month we have a very special guest author for the Meeting in Your Inbox.  Shirley Callahan is a Tax Professional and has been my personal Tax Preparer for many years and has been an invaluable resource for me in managing the tax related part of my business.  I've asked Shirley to supply some general tips and information for direct sellers with regards to federal income tax, if you would like more specific information about income tax and how your business effects your personal taxes I encourage you to seek professional advice, and if you don't already have a relationship with a tax professional I highly recommend Shirley and her contact information is at the bottom of the article.   

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No! You Don’t Want That Big Refund!
Well, not if you have to pay it back so today we will talk about business choices that make you money. 

Currently the tax code consists of 3.7 million words.  Compare that to the 1913 tax form which had only 4 pages including instructions.  No small business owner such as yourself should really ever attempt to do your own tax return.  Not only could you be putting yourself at risk, but you could be losing valuable tax write offs.  My favorite write offs are called phantom expenses meaning no money was spent out of pocket!  If you insist on DIY, then please have your returns reviewed by a tax pro every 3 years (because that is how many years we can fix).

Accounting is the language of business.  Unless you have a profit motive, IRS will not allow you to deduct expenses against your income.  So we hope you are in the Avon business to make money.  If that is true, we hope you are keeping good accounting records.  The average tax rate today for the self employed is 15% to 40%, and every allowable tax write off is money in the bank for you!

However you have or have not kept your accounting records in the past, a new chance and a new year is shortly around the corner.  Sometime soon before the New Year starts, take a little time to review this helpful video from IRS regarding Direct Sellers. 


In the meantime remember these few rules:

1.      All income is includible unless excluded by law and includes:
Commissions, bonuses, and percentages
Prizes, awards, and gifts
Value of goods or services received

2.      Business Expenses must:
Be commonly accepted in the business
Be kept separate from personal expenses
Meet record keeping requirements
Be helpful and appropriate
No, dining with your spouse while discussing Avon is not a business deduction.

3.      Transportation Expense must be:
Ordinary and necessary
Business trips
Does not include commuting
Documented in a mileage log

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.  I am a Las Vegas native.  I have used Avon products since I was a child, and supported myself selling Avon for 10 years before I got married.  I answer my phone from 8 am to 8 pm every day, and I love talking tax.

Shirley Callahan, EA, The Tax Network
NATP Tax Professional of the Year
Your referrals are appreciated.
ShirleyCallahanEA@yahoo.com
(702) 437-1500 from 8 am to 8 pm 

Chris Arnold
Avon Gold Leader
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Saturday, September 8, 2012

Professional Phone Practices



Happy September everyone and welcome to all of our new team members.  It’s a great time to get started with Avon because we are headed into the holiday selling season, and as those of you who attended the Come Home for the Holidays last month it’s going to be a very profitable season.

As we are getting out more, and more customers are looking for Avon to make their holiday shopping easy we’ll be getting more and more calls from our existing and prospective customers. Now is a good time to take a look at your phone practices from your customer’s point of view and see if they present you and your business in a positive and professional light?  Here are some tips on how to present a professional image over the phone.

  1. Answer live whenever possible, and always with a smile.  While the person on the other end of the line can not see you smile they will be able to hear it in your voice. Consider having set office hours a few times a week when you will be available to answer all calls so that your customer can call at that time if getting you in person is important.
  2. Have a professional, friendly outgoing message on your machine or voicemail to greet your customers when you can’t pick up.  Be sure to identify yourself and your business even if it is your family phone.  You want your customers to be sure that they have reached you and that you are still in business when they call.  Remember the messages or songs that would be entertaining for your friends may not be appropriate for a line that you are using for business.  
  3. Taking advantage of caller ID to selectively answer calls allows you to remain available to family and friends when you are taking time off and ensures that you only answer a call from a customer when you can give them your full attention.  If you are in the middle of shopping, cooking dinner or spending quality time with your family allow yourself that uninterrupted time away from your business and let it go to voicemail.
  4. If you do answer a call at a time that you really can’t accommodate the caller, offer to call them back at a better time rather than asking them to guess when a good time for you would be. You could say something like: “Sue, I’m away from my desk right now and I would hate to forget part of your order, can I give you a call back in a couple of hours to get that from you?”
  5. When you miss a call from an unfamiliar number and there was no message, be sure to identify yourself when calling back. The person answering may not be the person who called you, or they may have made multiple calls that day that weren’t answered. I usually say “Hi this is Chris with Avon and I missed a call from this number earlier today”
  6. Return calls in a timely manner, within 24 hours if at all possible.  If it takes longer, apologize for the delay and offer a brief explanation if appropriate.  If you will be taking time off or otherwise unable to answer or return calls for more that a day or two consider changing your outgoing message to let people know when they can expect to hear back from you.  For security reasons don’t mention out of town trips or anything that implies your home will be empty. Instead try something like “if you are calling for Avon, I will be out of the office for a few days and I will be returning all calls by Tuesday the 11th.”  Give yourself an extra day after your return to get to those calls.  It’s better to promise a later date and get back to them sooner than expected rather than make them wait longer.

If you would like further examples or help choosing wording for your particular situation, please feel free to call me or your direct Unit Leader any time.  


Chris Arnold
Avon Gold Leader
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Friday, August 3, 2012

Roadmap to Success



If you were taking a complicated route out of town you would write down the directions. 
        But if you are considering the future path of your life, your goals, and what you needed to do to achieve them you probably wouldn't write any of it down.  Think of it - the most significant journey of your life, and you probably won't put a word of the directions on paper.
        Writing your plans, goals, and ideas makes them more real for you.  Every step you take to define what you want and what you need to do to get it increases the chances that you will actually pursue these goals and someday achieve them.

      Creating goals is a powerful way to focus your personal vision and manage the roles that place so many demands on your physical, mental, and emotional resources.  When you define your goals, you take the first, most critical step on the path to producing exceptional results.  As you track and measure your progress, you will find yourself far more likely to spend valuable time and energy on what is most important to you.  With each new goal you achieve, you experience greater self confidence, challenge yourself to stretch and achieve new things, and build success upon success. 

WRITTEN GOALS ENHANCE COMMITMENT
            Attaining your goals requires total commitment.  Most high achievers strongly believe that a goal is concrete and effective only when it is established in writing.  The process of writing goals formalizes your commitment, almost like signing a contract with yourself.  It also helps you set priorities, develop action plans, and decide how much time, energy, and effort you want to invest in achieving success.  As an added benefit, you can refer to written goals over and over again, which reinforces your resolve to attain them. 
      Follow the steps below to formulate your own personal goal .

1. Identify your Aspirations.      
            *Identify you aspirations in each area of your life. 
            *Don't be afraid to "dream big."  Ask yourself: What would I do if I knew I would succeed at it?  What would I like to accomplish in one year, three years, five years or beyond? 
            *Record your answers and ask yourself:  Which aspirations are most important at this point in my life?

2. Turn your Aspirations into SMART Goals
            *To begin creating a SMART goal, decide which aspiration is most important to you.  Ask yourself: Why is it important for me to focus on this aspiration right now?   How will it benefit me? 
            *Using the SMART method, turn your aspiration into a SMART goal.  Ask yourself: How will I make this aspiration Specific? Measurable? Actionable? Realistic? Time-based?
            *Now, combine your answers into a clearly written goal - one or two sentences that include your overall framework for achieving this goal. 
            *Ask yourself: Have I applied all the elements of the SMART method?  Is my goal concise and easy to understand?  If I show this goal to someone, will she immediately know exactly what I want to do, when I plan to achieve it, and how I'll know that I've reached my goal?

3. Identify Your Incentives
            *Consider some of your past successes in different areas of your life and identify your incentives.  What short-term rewards kept you focused on your goals, even if you didn't see immediate results?  Which rewards seemed to occur naturally as a by-product of your hard work (for example, receiving a new customer referral as a result of your outstanding service)?  Which incentives did you build into your goal?
            *When you've identified several short-term and long-term incentives that work for you, record them and keep them with your written goals. 
            *Refer to your incentives list frequently and make sure you're rewarding yourself often enough.

4. Visualize Your Goal
           *Choose what type(s) of visualization works best for you, then do it. 
            
5. Share Your Goal
           *No matter who you share you goals with, share them with someone.  Other representatives, especially your Leadership upline, are often the best "goal buddies" to have because not only do they tend to understand the ups and downs of being an Avon Representative, they may also have ideas to share that could be the key to you reaching your goal.  Family members are also good choices to recruit for your cheering section.  For many representatives, support from their families and other representatives have been essential to their continued success.

Chris Arnold
Avon Gold Leader
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Friday, July 6, 2012

Fragrance Fun Facts


Fragrance Fun Facts
When sampling scents (for you or for the home) stop after 3 scents. After that your nose can get overloaded and you won’t get a true sense of the fragrance. You can clear your palette so to speak by sniffing coffee beans if you want to continue sampling.

Fragrance is affected by our personal body chemistry so don’t base your choice of personal fragrance on the scent right out of the bottle, or on another person. Try some on, and wear it for a day so you can get a true sense of how it will react with your personal chemistry.  Choose a small spot, so you can easily wash it off if it turns unpleasant.

Fragrance can also be affected by the things you eat. Pungent or spicy foods can alter your personal scent, and react with your fragrance, altering it’s scent.

Of course sweat also has an affect – perfumes and colognes do not always cover body odor, sometimes they combine with it to make a whole new smell. If you’ll be in direct sunlight for any amount of time, you’ll want to avoid applying fragrance in exposed areas even if you won’t be sweating because sun exposure and fragrance don’t mix well.


~*~*~*~*~
There are different types and forms of fragrance each with different levels of potency, quality, scent and of course price depending on how much of the fragrance essential oils they have in them

Splash forms of fragrance such as after shave contain the lightest concentration of fragrance oils the rest being mostly alcohol which is why you get that lovely stinging sensation when you actually use after shave AFTER you shave. Alcohol is also very drying so I don’t recommend the use of aftershave. Your best bet is a nice moisturizer with sunscreen, and spritz cologne elsewhere, or an after shave lotion.

Body sprays are next with just slightly more fragrance than a splash.

Eau de Cologne and Eau de Toilette are the next, containing about 5-15% essential oils. These are the most common forms in men’s fragrance and a less expensive option for women’s scents.

Eau de Parfum is the most common form in Women’s fragrance and contains up to 20% essential oils

Parfums are the highest concentration and the most expensive with as much as double the concentration of oils as eau de parfum.

 ~*~*~*~*~
Perfumes and colognes are typically made up of different notes, although there are sometimes single note fragrances, most have 3 notes. A base note a mid note and a top note.

  • Top notes: The scents that are perceived immediately on application of a perfume. Top notes consist of small, light molecules that evaporate quickly. They form a person's initial impression of a perfume and thus are very important in the selling of a perfume. Also called the head notes.
  • Middle notes: The scent of a perfume that emerges just prior to when the top notes dissipate. The middle note compounds form the "heart" or main body of a perfume and act to mask the often unpleasant initial impression of base notes, which become more pleasant with time. They are also called the heart notes.
  • Base notes: The scent of a perfume that appears close to the departure of the middle notes. The base and middle notes together are the main theme of a perfume. Base notes bring depth and solidity to a perfume. Compounds of this class of scents are typically rich and "deep" and are usually not perceived until 30 minutes after application.
 ~*~*~*~*~
How to wear your fragrance.
First and foremost, for the sake of those around you, always obey the arms length rule. Your fragrance should not enter the room before you, nor should anyone be able to tell you were in the room by taking a deep breath after you have left. No one standing more than arm’s length away should be able to smell your fragrance.

Fragrance rises so don’t limit your application to behind your ears or on your neck. Aim for your pulse points and warm spot – crook of the elbow, back of the knees etc.

You may need to reapply … fragrance typically last 3-4 hours depending on what form you use and again, your personal chemistry.   Layering fragrance helps it to last longer. Using a body wash, and especially a body lotion that matches your fragrance will help the scent hold longer. Dryer skin will loose the scent faster than well moisturized skin.

Before reapplying though you should make use of a friend or loved one’s nose. We do get used to our own scent after about an hour. Many people end up violating the arms length rule by reapplying their fragrance too often because they don’t “smell” it any more

If you use a deodorant soap, it can neutralize your fragrance.

Be careful about spraying fragrance on your hair. Hair is porous and retains fragrance well, but be sure to spray on freshly shampooed hair without gels or sprays. Oils, dirt and other hair products can distort the scent, especially if they themselves are scented.

Enjoy your fragrance. Don’t save it for special occasions. Fragrance will evaporate and change once it’s opened, even sprays as those bring in more air with each spray. Keep it fresh by storing in a cool dry place, away from the sun…which by the way is not your bathroom.

Avoid applying fragrance directly on clothing as the oils can stain.
You can also spray your favorite fragrance on cotton balls and tuck them in your drawers and closets or spritz on your sheets for sweet dreams.


Chris Arnold
Avon Gold Leader
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Monday, May 14, 2012

Just Right Follow Up

“How would you like me to communicate with you and how often is about right?” 
Have you asked your customers this question?  Every customer is not the same.  One of the ways that you can honor your customer's individualism is by customizing how you follow up with them both in contact frequency and method

Keep in mind also that you may have different methods to contact customers depending on what you need to communicate to them.  For example you may send an email to remind them that the campaign is closing and share any featured products they may have missed, and then once she orders you text her the total and expected delivery date, and finally when it's time to actually arrange the delivery you would call her. 

Here are the questions you can ask your customers:

Many of my customers find they are quite busy and with so many things to do each day, it is very helpful for them if I check in with them periodically to see if there is anything they need, how often would you like me to contact you?  (don't worry they will let you know if they really don't want/need a follow up contact)

Do you prefer a phone call, text message or email?

Also ask specifically to contact to arrange a delivery ~ The order will be in around the 15th what is the best way to reach you to schedule delivery?
Or you can offer to schedule their delivery and then just call/text/email them with a reminder the day before.  Just remember not to schedule the delivery to close to when your order normally arrives in case there is a delay.


As always, feel free to contact me any time, I'm here to help you build the business of your dreams.


Chris Arnold
Avon Gold Leader
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Missed an Issue of Meeting in Your Inbox? View the archives here Check out the Featured Training of the Week here Get Back to Basics with the New Representative Tips Series 

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Sunday, April 8, 2012

Failing your way to Success


Which do you think it right?

Failure ----- You ----- Success  or You -----> Failure -----> Success  

Many of us may think that Failure and Success are 2 sides of the same coin and you can only get one or the other as a result. 
But Failure is really a step (or several steps) on the path to Success.  I'd like to share a few of my favorite quotes on the subject of failure. 

"Double your rate of failure...You're thinking of failure as the enemy of success.  But it isn't at all...you can be discouraged by failure - or you can learn from it.  So go ahead adn make mistakes. Make all you can.  Because remember, that's where you'll find success; on the other side of failure" ~~Thomas J Watson Sr (chairman and CEO of International Business Machines (IBM))

"You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try" ~ Beverly Sills (American Opera Singer)

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career.  I've lost almost 300 games.  26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.  I've failed over an over and over again in my life.  And that is why I succeed" ~ Michael Jordan


What have you been afraid to try because you might fail? 
Whether you are putting off working toward your goals, or haven't even set them yet, if you are letting fear stop you from taking action you are creating a self fulfilling prophecy.  It's true that if you take action you may fail but if you don't take action you cannot succeed. I would rather risk failure than give up the opportunity to succeed. 

What risk will you take this month?

Chris Arnold
Avon Gold Leader
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Saturday, January 7, 2012

Happy New Year ~ Get to know your customers

Happy New Year! Thoughts this time of year inevitably turn to New Years Resolutions.  Whether you make resolutions or not the new year does bring a feeling of new beginnings and starting fresh.With that in mind, what would you like to change about your life or your business this year?  I'd love to chat with you about what you would like to get out of your business this year and how we can make it happen.  Give me a call and we'll get together over coffee.



What type of relationship do you have with your customers? Do you simply know their name and phone number and that they order hand cream and lip balm?  Or do you know their kids/pets names, where they work, and what they do for fun? 

Whether our customers are all friends and family or we never met them before they become customers the relationship we have with them plays a big part in how successful our business is. Our customers have MANY options when it comes to where and how to shop.  What really sets Avon apart from the competition is You, the Avon Lady (or Avon Man), and your interaction with them. 

When Avon was founded (as the California Perfume Company in 1886), David McConnell intentionally sought out  women to sell his products because he understood that they would be able to build better relationships with the women that were his target market. He also knew that through those relationships the customer would have a better shopping experience which would have them spending more and coming back regularly.

Take the time to get to know your customers..  Ask questions, then really listen to the answers.  Offer a genuine compliment about something in their home, their appearance or their family, then again, listen to what they have to say about it.   As you learn more about them you will be able to make better recommendations about products, and you will also be able to make their Avon experience as pleasant for them as possible.  And the more they enjoy their Avon shopping experience, the more they'll keep coming back.




As always please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or issues you would like help with.  I'm looking forward to another fabulous year working with you.


Chris Arnold
Avon Gold Leader
Contact Me
Join the conversation on the team Facebook Group
Missed an Issue of Meeting in Your Inbox? View the archives here Check out the Featured Training of the Week here Get Back to Basics with the New Representative Tips Series 

Become a Representative

Not an Avon Representative yet? Join our team today and earn $1000 in your first 90 Days.  Contact me for more details or sign up today here.