Getting Started with the Basics

Create a Names list.

Make a list of all the people you know. Relatives, friends, associates at work, neighbors, children's friends (their parents), other acquaintances.

List people you do business with, or even those you know only casually, like waitresses, store clerks, and friends of friends. You don't even need their name, "receptionist at doctors office" is fine. Keep your list with you all day, and add names as you recall or see people.

Be sure to include business owners or retail managers you have contact with. While you are doing this, also keep your eyes open for retail businesses that might be interested in carrying some Watkins products.

Also think of organizations you belong to or support who might want to join our fundraising program and use Watkins products to raise money.

Don't think about whether they would be interested in Watkins products or how you would approach them. Just write down their names. See how many you can list. Can you beat the average of 150-200 names?

Here's a form that could be useful to you. Who do you know?

Do this for a couple days then talk with us about who to approach first and how to do it.

Key Retailing Concepts

• Always give friendly, personal service to your customers—it builds their loyalty to Watkins and to you, and will get you repeat orders again and again.
• To your customer, you ARE Watkins. Give them the kind of customer experience you'd like to have.
• Use a lot of the products yourself. You'll find which ones are your favorites, and you'll develop stories from your personal experience of how Watkins products made your life better.
• The products you'll sell the most of will be the products that you personally use and that you can speak passionately about.
• Use your ears. Listen to your customers needs. Ask questions about areas of their life in which they may have challenges that our products may help alleviate.
• Have catalogs, price sheets, and samples with you wherever you go.
• Always ask your satisfied customers for referrals to other people who may be interested in Watkins products or the business opportunity.

Develop a STRATEGY by selecting and combining the Retailing Methods discussed below.

Five popular retailing methods

Warm Market / Catalog Sharing (gathering orders from friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers, and acquaintances, and hand-delivering products to them when you see them in the course of your day-to-day life)

• Easy.

• Flexible.

• Takes very little time.

Parties (presenting parties using the Good Tastings materials in a host's home or some other venue)

• Good Tastings assortment makes presentation of the party easy.

• Almost always earns you significant income for the time involved.

• Great way to establish a customer base.

• Great way to find new associates for your team.

• Fun. Great way to make new friends.

• Requires a few hours away from home for each party (but certainly less than a typical part-time job would).

Fairs and Shows (setting up a small or medium-sized booth at a craft show, trade show, community center, or county fair)

• Fun way to retail products if you enjoy the show atmosphere.

• Great way to let people in your community know you that you are a Watkins associate.

• Good way to gather names of interested people to establish your local customer base.

• Good way to find prospective associates for your team.

• You can run these as Good Tastings events.

• Time involved in setting up, manning the booth, and breaking down.

• Usually requires some inventory.

 Retail Stores You have the option of  approaching non-chain retailers to carry up to 20 different Watkins products on the store's shelves. By signing up one or more retailers, you can increase your monthly sales volume and income. Targets include Drugstores and pharmacies, gift stores, hospital auxiliaries, specialty food stores, hardware stores, restaurants, co-ops, nursery and gardening stores, decorating and home furnishing stores, beauty supply stores, salons and spas, book stores, stationary stores.

Many of you already know the owners of independent stores in your local communities. If you decide to participate in this initiative, we encourage you to use your relationship with your local merchant to market a few Watkins products as a form of advertising for your business. This can be a win/win situation—new customers and prospects become aware of Watkins by seeing and/or buying a Watkins product at the corner store (brand awareness), and once aware of the brand, they learn that they can buy the other nearly 400 Watkins products through you (sales for you)! Think about how this might work for you in your area to build Watkins brand awareness and attract customers to you. 

Internet sales. Some Associates have developed thriving internet businesses. The most effective seem to have found productive lead in or referral opportunities including organizational affiliations and sites such as Amazon and EBay.

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Two other options
not generally recommended unless...

• Fundraising with schools or organizations (unless you are a member of the organization or have a close connection to the organization, for example, through a friend). See the Growth Industry page on fundraising with non-profits.

• Commercial Accounts such as restaurants, hotels, or bakeries (unless you have a previous personal relationship with the owners or purchasing manager of the establishment).

If you are interested in either of these last two options,
contact us for further information.

Peter Lehman, Growth Industry Maine, Watkins Associate #362203