Shipping is a mess across all industries right now, and expectations are that it is going to get less reliable as we move into late fall and the winter holidays.
As much as possible, everyone needs to allow extra shipping time and manage expectations with the groups accordingly.
As we draw the first two months of Fall to a close, it’s time to do a review and take a quick look at where you are, where you’ve been, and how far you need to go to make this a super productive Fall season.
August -
How many groups did you kickoff or start?
Do you know the average sales/units per group?
Any overly successful groups? Why? Evaluate their success.
Any less than stellar groups? Why? Evaluate their challenges or issues.
Any cancellations that will move to October, November, or perhaps Spring 2022?
Completed the same checklist for the month of September.
How does it look? Where are you “goal wise”? You should be close to the halfway point for Fall from a budget standpoint and maybe a little ahead knowing that December will not be a full month of sales days due to winter break and other holidays (only 13 selling days).
So in evaluating, here is what the remainder of the year looks like.
October - 16 days (assuming a week for Fall Break)
November - 17 days (assuming a week for Thanksgiving break)
December - 13 days - (assuming the last day before the Winter holidays is Friday, Dec. 17th)
Total Days = 46 selling days (potentially)
If your goal is to kickoff 20+ groups then you need to do a kickoff or start every other day between October 1st and mid December.
So work off 46 days as your target to fill up each day with productive items. Try to maximize each day with several things on your list to achieve. Those might include:
Start / Kickoff a group (or more) per day.
Add two Sprint One Hour Sales to your books (Nov and Dec).
Ask for 5 referrals EACH week (that’s only one per day).
Write a thank you note or email to groups that ran with you in August and September.
Look ahead to your Spring business. Continue to fill in dates for January and February.
IFC Website - where is it and what’s it for?
The IFC website is a valuable tool designed with the ICs in mind. This is a website dedicated to providing the reps with support materials and everything they need in a single location. Visit www.ifcsavearound.com. Click Resources and then scroll down. You will see everything from helpful videos, to downloads, parent letter template, order form, editable PDFs, and archived newsletters. Each section is specifically designed for a Product Line and its collateral or support materials are below each header.
The main sections include: Videos; Important Forms; Coupon Books (traditional and SOG - online); Apparel; First Aid Kits; Cookies & Treats; and Newsletters. You are encouraged to visit this site often as the materials you need will be located there and you can download them at your convenience. If there is something you don’t see or think should be on this website, please contact sales@savearound.com and let the team know what is missing.
Closeouts and Invoices
Some groups ran early in August and now it is time to work on the closeout and generate the invoice. Here is the step-by-step procedure on how to close out a group and send the invoice while updating the office at the same time. This is the process to close out a traditional book sale.
One:Gather sales details from the sponsor regarding the results. Here is the info needed:
# of books sold cash and checks
# of prize books
# of lost/damaged books
# of leftover books (if any)
# of any out of town books and which market they are for (list the city)
Two:The Chairperson Portal shows all books total sold via credit card:
# of books shipped directly to the customer (total)
# of books in hand/fulfilled at the end of the sale
Three:Enter all of the information from Step One into the closeout form using the chairperson portal. Please note if you skip this step, it will delay Steps Seven and Eight. (If you are not familiar with the chairperson portal or using Enterprise, contact sales@savearound.com to schedule a time to go over this and be trained).
Four:Generate invoice and send to the sponsor and cc: the rep. This invoice will include the amount due minus any credits for credit card payments that SaveAround processed successfully.
Five:If there are leftover books, generate shipping labels and email to the sponsor.
Six:Send an email to grouprelations@savearound.com. This update is to let them know that the invoice has been generated and the closeout form has been completed. The team will then match up the system with the closeout #’s. Now the team will await payment and returned books (if applicable).
Seven:Once the payment has been received and posted to the account, the rep’s commission will be added to the next report. If the group pays on Thursday September 16th, then the rep will be paid their commission the following Friday, September 24th.
Eight:Returned books are a part of the closeout process, so until payment is made AND books are received, the group will not be “closed out” completely. If you have any questions about this process or completing a closeout or invoice, send an email to grouprelations@savearound.com and they will be happy to help walk you through.
1.Pumpkins are members of the gourd family.
2.There are over 50 varieties of pumpkins.
3.Largest pumpkin weighed 2,323 pounds and was grown in 2014 in Switzerland.
4.Pumpkin comes from the Greek word “pepon” which means “large melon”.
5.Pumpkins are considered a fruit.
IDEAS, SUGGESTIONS, OR RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE NEWSLETTER?
Do you have an idea or topic that you would like to see covered in the Community Conversation newsletter? If so, please send it to sales@savearound.com and we’ll get right on it. Remember if it is something that you would like to know more about or learn about then chances are someone else needs to know it, too.
