Sunday, February 17, 2013

My Weird Door-to-Door Experience

I was able to get some US original handbags from the sister of a high school batchmate lately so I went door to door yesterday in an effort to get them sold before the start of the new week. So there I was knocking on each door or ringing their doorbell until I came to this one door. I rang the doorbell and after a few minutes this Oriental guy answered - stark naked. I'm not kidding, he really had not a stitch of clothes on. That much was clear to me even through the screen door. He sort of grunted then I made my sales pitch (careful not to look below his navel) and he sort of grunted again and closed the door.

I have never encountered that sort of situation before in all my years of selling. I'll try to make sure never to ring that particular doorbell again if I can help it.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

THE BENEFITS OF USING PLANTEX PRODUCTS

My younger brother is against me pursuing Plantex - let's get that out of the way right now. He thinks that Plantex doesn't have much of a chance competing against strong well-known and popular brands like Safeguard. Well, come to think of it, he may be right because brands like Safeguard are backed by big corporations with equally big advertising and research and development budgets. So when you are a young (sort of) and inexperienced sales person like me pushing an equally new and unknown product line like Plantex personal care and cleaning products in the market, the chances of making a dent in the minds of consumers so they will remember your product are not very high.

However, I will say this about Plantex products - I really like them. And I wouldn't be selling them if I didn't like the way they work, the way they smell (I'm very particular about scents of products, especially soap) and the way they look. So let me talk about that for awhile here.

First of all, Plantex products do work, and they work well. My favorites among the product line (meaning the products that I've tried and which work to my advantage) are the bath soap, the laundry detergent powder, and the Ultimate Solution. The bath soap doesn't have a very strong fragrance. Actually, it hardly has any smell at all but if you sniff it closely you will find that it sort of smells like banana sap - which is natural because the product is partly derived from banana sap. I like the way it cleans me. I also like it because it doesn't make me itch after bathing like Safeguard does. I think that's why I shifted away from Safeguard - there's nothing more irritating than bathing with a soap that makes you itch afterwards. I think Safeguard makes me itch because it is too drying to the skin. The laundry detergent powder is also good because if you use it properly it does clean your clothes plus it doesn't leave residue that makes me itch when I put the clothes on. (As you can see, I itch easily from certain products.) I like the smell and the fact that it is not harmful to the environment, being biodegradable. I prefer it to Tide which used to be my favorite detergent for laundry. You can also use the laundry detergent for cleaning around the house, in the bathroom, and anywhere you would probably need detergent. The Ultimate Solution has a great smell but equally important is that it does a great job of cleaning without destroying the environment. I put 2 caps of Ultimate Solution in the water tank of the toilet, let it stand for some time, then flush. Poof! All the smell of urine and whatnot in the toilet disappear. Of course, you still have to clean the toilet the normal way but my way helps to get rid of the underlying smell that doesn't disappear from normal cleaning methods.

Now as far as the way they smell is concerned, the lack of very strong fragrance is actually a good point in the favor of these products. I don't like strong fragrances in my cleaning products because the perfume is usually put in by the manufacturer to mask strong unpleasant odors, especially in the bathroom. So although the laundry detergent and Ultimate Solution do have some fragrance, there is not enough there to mask odors of urine and feces which usually stay in the bathroom even after cleaning. This is especially true for old bathrooms and comfort rooms (probably has something to do with old pipes and sewage systems in the building.)

A relatively minor point is the way the products look. Ridiculous as it may sound but some people buy products simply because of the way they look - and I'm one of them. The products I've mentioned look good and their packaging is also attractive. Fortunately for the environment, the product packaging is mostly recyclable. For instance, the bath soap comes in a cardboard box that can be recycled. The laundry detergent also comes in a cardboard box that can be recycled. And the Ultimate Solution comes in a plastic bottle that can also be recycled. So if you're the type who is cautious about product packaging due to concerns about pollution, these are added bonuses.

I hope more and more people will buy Plantex products - so that my profits will become bigger. Hehe, just kidding. Really, these products are truly good and they benefit those who use them. So whether you buy from me or from another Plantex Distributor, it's all good. Just keep buying and the world will be a better place for it.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

The Funny Part of Network Marketing

I am a network marketer. I represent two companies at the moment which are Usana and Plantex.

Now the funny part about network marketing is that we are often asked to represent products that we might not be knowledgeable about. So before I got into Usana and Plantex, I decided to ask questions about the products first. For Usana, I was dealing with my old friend Joy so she asked me to buy a sample of the Essentials product from her to try out - plus she gave me an extra pair of tablets too. So I tried it out and liked it. Fortunately, someone else had introduced my sister to Usana products so she asked me to sign up with Usana under Joy as my upline. So that was my introduction to Usana. Now for Plantex, well, I have Usana to thank for that. Because I needed to find new customers to sell Usana to, so I visited Mrs. Guerrero, who was my former landlady back when I was working full time for another company. But Mrs. Guerrero doesn't like Usana because of the pricing so she didn't buy from me. Instead, Mrs. Guerrero told me about Plantex products that she sells from her head office in UP Village, Diliman, Quezon City. Since I'm always on the lookout for nice, biodegradable, non-toxic products I decided to sign up with her network. And that's how I wound up with two network marketing companies.

This is where the training program comes in. We new Distributors have to attend trainings at Usana to familiarize ourselves with the products - which I did at the start. But I realized that the best way to market Usana is to find people who actually need the products. So although yes, I do need the skills program which are offered in-house at Usana, I also need to find people who would really be able to testify that the products worked for them. But at Plantex, the reverse is true. I actually try out the products for myself before I market these to my friends, colleagues and neighbors. I feel this is the best way to be honest about what I'm selling although I also ask the opinions of my customers who have bought the items.

Anyway, my point is that some people sign up to become network marketers without checking first if what they are selling actually work and are worth the money that their customers pay for them. I think this is a weakness of the network marketing industry that unscrupulous network recruiters exploit. There should be more of an effort to educate recruits about the proven benefits of the products even before they are signed up as the downline of their recruiters. Not only will customers and network marketers alike benefit, but this would remove the stigma attached to sales jobs like network marketing that these are dishonest lines of business.