Who here's a nappy advisor? Flame?

[lunavix]

Which company are you with and why?

Sorry Crinkle, I'm not getting into a fight with you, suffice it to say that this was quite clearly NOT the intention of this post. I have clearly not criticised Lollipop or any other company - and never would. I simply suggested a few things to consider when choosing a nappy agent company with examples of how companies, including ours, work.

Emma

As a Lollipop advisor and involved in the recruitment process of new Lollipop advisors I feel that I should add a few comments here. Yes you do need to buy a basic kit, which is £100, not £200 as originally posted. Yes, you may own some of the nappies already, but Lollipop prides itself on its' advisor network. Any new mum who is confused about real nappies is guaranteed to see a certain range of nappies in an acceptable condition if she books a demo with a Lollipop advisor. As far as I can see if this new mum books a demo with a nappy company who doesn't insist on its advisors purchasing a new kit, then how can she be guaranteed to see a wide enough range of nappies. There are various additional kits also available to buy that Lollipop advisors can purchase as and when they are ready, in order to eventually own the whole Lollipop range, if they want. And if a new advisor makes enough sales in her first month then they do get the cost of their basic kit refunded.
As has already been said the training and support that you get with Lollipop is fantastic. Every new advisor receives a complete training manual with their kit which covers all the nappy brands, how to do demos, how to help your customers, how to promote yourself / real nappies, advice on tax and self asessment etc etc There's also our "famous" advisor forum where you can ask any for advice or generate discussion on just about anyhing. As there are approx 180 Lollipop advsisors spread across the Uk there is bound to be someone who knows the answer to your question. And of course our annual summer conference / family social event. I can honestly say that I have made several really really good friends through Lollipop - just by chatting on our forum and meeting once a year at the Conference.

But really I find this thread a little sad. Any nappy advisor, whoever they sign up with should be doing it for the love of promoting real nappies. Although a great many people are able to look at nappies on the internet ad make a decision, but many many more look and come away more confused than before. Until a range of real nappies becomes available in high street shops nappy advisors play a really important role in enabling people to see real nappies for themselves and play with them, and have them explained by a mum who has used real nappies herself, not a young sales assistant who has never changed a babys bottom on her life.
Nobody is going to make a fortune selling real nappies, so most people do it for the love of them. Being a nappy advisor is a fab way to meet people, talk about real nappies to your hearts content and hopefully earn yourself a little bit at the same time.

So check out several companies and choose the one that suits you the best, and not necessarily the cheapest.

I wish I had the confidence to do the advising in rl. I love nappies, would love to be able to help people in person, but I am too nervous to actually get the contacts

I was thinking of becoming a nappy advisor and have been looking around for something that would suit me.

My own local nappy advisor has retired, she has started full time work and her kids are both out of nappies. She was brilliant really, she talked me through the whole process, showed me a bag full of nappies and then was there for me later on when my baby arrived to answer my questions. I was really grateful that there was somebody local I could chat to.

makesachange nothing personal, you have done quite a good job of selling what you offer, but I simply don't want to set up an ebay shop with only four kinds of nappies and have stuff posted direct to the customer. That seems to be cutting out the 'advisor' part, what I want is to be 'the local nappy advisor' who can talk to the mums like my old advisor did - in my mind I don't think I would be happy with anything else.

Thanks for an interesting thread - you have certainly given me food for thought

Samantha

Purplesal -
"As far as I can see if this new mum books a demo with a nappy company who doesn't insist on its advisors purchasing a new kit, then how can she be guaranteed to see a wide enough range of nappies."

Yes, good question. The answer is that, for us at least (I obviously can't answer for other companies who don't insist on a demo pack) we say that advisors don't HAVE to buy nappies that they already have, provided that they're in good enough condition to demo. Lots of people who want to go into this already have a good stash of nappies so we don't insist that they duplicate them. That's all.

Twojags -
"makesachange nothing personal, you have done quite a good job of selling what you offer, but I simply don't want to set up an ebay shop with only four kinds of nappies and have stuff posted direct to the customer. That seems to be cutting out the 'advisor' part, what I want is to be 'the local nappy advisor' who can talk to the mums like my old advisor did - in my mind I don't think I would be happy with anything else."

Nothing personal taken!!
And you're right, just selling nappies on an ebay shop is NOT what most advisors want and that wasn't what I was suggesting would be the best or only option. Mostly where advisors work out brilliantly is that they help to cut through the maze of nappies available and this can only be done on a face to face basis.

The reason I mentioned this is that there is also the secondary market for parents who know a bit about RN and want to try different brands by buying one or another from time to time, or someone who wants to replace a loved brand with a new one if the old ones have work out. That's where the benefit of free shipping works out for advisors, for the smaller orders. Plus my other point was that the choice of agent company depends on your type of business - not all agent companies can really support your own shop AS WELL AS face to face demos.

Please don't think that I am advocating ebay shops or other online shops as being the best way to sell nappies, or (more importantly) to encourage people to use them. Clearly this isn't the case - it's just another way of reaching real nappy users.

I hope this clarifies things

Emma

I used to be a Lollipopper and loved it, I miss the secret agents' forum and the summer conference camp you can bring your family to (or leave them behind). I didn't make much money (broke even obviously) but it was so much fun and I'm some of my old customers are now friends.
Buying the kit means you have beautiful condition samples which are so much more appealing to customers and makes you feel more confident selling.
I had to quit because I'd simultaneously started a Real Nappy Network which took over and I had to choose between the two.
HTH someone,
Liv

ps Hi Hilary and is that Karina? Long time no see!

Liv Barnes? Finn here - got purplesal wrong!

No.3 on way - should have kept going with the nappies! Hope all is well with you

xoxoxoxo

Or was there a Liv at the CRNP? PG brain not fully operational!

Agent Finn,it IS me! Trying to convince DH we need a No3 myself.

Hello!

Hope you are all well - well I can definitely say I never want to be pregnant ever again!!! SPD, insomnia and fed up - roll on April! Bump is measuring mega big again so may opt for elective section - knowing a date would be fantastic! Think having a baby is def easier than being pg!

Good luck convincing DH!

Agent Finn

LOL, yep, my elective was fine, will never be brave enough to try a VBAC! Hope things perk up for you soon.

i filled in lollipop form and read info but think i just cant come up with the £100 plus in the first place,never mind if i make it back or not.
any other ideas?

But remember that although your initial kit will cost you £100 you will be getting nappies worth quite a more than that. So even if you never made another sale you would have more than £100 worth of nappies that you could sell on. Alot of hassle but peace of mind maybe?!

As someone at Lollipop Head Office said to me once - £100 to get you started with your own business is a fantastic investment. Not only are you getting goods to more than that amount but you're getting access to the training manual, the training days and all the other support that Lollipop offers.

As a sort-of off-topic comparison - I looked at joing a childrens party business where you go and do arts and crafts at childrens birthday parties - they wanted £7000 yes 7 thousand, to join their comapny!!!

And think of all the fun you'd have legitimately talking about cloth nappies to people!!

sounds great IF i had £100 spare!maybe one day.
wow £7000!!!

kittypants ? my advice is to contact each of the other companies and ask about their agent terms (babykind, bebeco, bummdiddybaby, cuddlebabes, twinkleontheweb) and then choose the company that suits you best!

twojags ? have you made a choice?

Although, I must say that I think the argument that seems to be developing here over which company is best is moot. As crinklechunk said early on, the different contact terms offered by the different companies are not necessarily better - they are just different.

I think lunavix summed it up perfectly - Lollipop seem to have the best support; forums, team leaders, training etc. while other companies don't make you buy a kit.

Although in defense of the other companies, they too provide discounted nappies for demo purposes, not just Lollipop, so you do get more nappy for your money no matter which company you choose. It only cost me £30 to supplement the kit I already had in order to give my potential customers an idea of the range available.

Like I said, Lollipop wasn?t for me personally as while they are good for their advisor network I know the smaller companies have experience too, otherwise they would have failed a long time ago, and not only that I just don?t have the time or inclination to go away on training courses. Plus this site is forum enough for real nappy advice .

Like I said, I think this argument is pointless, as we will all make our choices as to personally suits us best.

Ooops - long post ? sorry!

kittypants ? makesachange is another company (sorry makesachange for leaving you out)

thanks,i will do as suggested!
i didnt realise there was an arguement!!!whoops!