Brochure Tossing My Way

My sister and fellow Avon representative and I are always brain storming ways to get our brochures into the hands of potential customers.  One of our favorite ways is the stick our brochure in the plastic literature bag, fold over the top and then roll and rubber band it like a newspaper.  Then we load up 300-400 brochures each in boxes, pack the car and go 'toss' them like newspapers into driveways.  We each have specific streets or neighborhoods that we toss in, but going together means we can do both sides of the street at the same time, one tossing out each side of the car.  In less than an hour we've distributed 600-800 brochures then we head home.

I know that a lot of representatives think this is not a good way to do this, that each brochure should be hung on the door or the doorbell rang and it handed to the potential customer.  But so far it has proven to be profitable to us.  We each gather several new customers with every campaign this way.  After 3 campaigns we move to a new area for a while. 

Once someone orders the first time, we consider them an established customer and the approach for distribution is different.  If you've ordered from us, we no longer roll and toss, but we get out of the car and hang the brochure on the front door handle.  Inside the bag is our customer newsletter for that campaign, the brochure(s) and samples.  We've also decided that we will do this to the 2 houses on either side of the established customer and include a note that says "I was dropping off a brochure to my customer, your neighbor, and wanted to be sure to leave you one too!".  We also offer a discount then on their first order.

The tossing can be a real adventure for us.  While most of the time the paper boy or girl has nothing on us as far as aim, once in a while we fail.  If there is a puddle anywhere near the driveway it is safe to assume one of us can hit it without trying.  Every so often on lands in a bush too, requiring a stop to retrieve and place it nicely on the driveway. 

While on our tossing outing we will also go through the drive-thru at McDonald's or Burger King and hand a brochure to the worker there.  Many places have 2 windows, one to pay and one to pickup the food or drinks.  That is 2 brochure hand-offs.

We enjoy the radio, laugh a lot and have a fantastic time with our tossing days. 

I never imagined that at 48 (very nearly 49) years old I'd be an Avon Lady, driving around bonding with my sister as we tossed our brochures.  But it is one of my favorite parts of the job, spending time with my younger sister as we work toward building our dreams.