Passion makes profit: Sherrie Walters shares her story

Sherrie Walters
Like many who come to Avon, Sherrie Walters of Indianapolis, Indiana, began her direct-selling journey with a simple desire to buy products. “I couldn’t find an Avon Representative anywhere and I wanted to buy a few things, so I kept the idea of becoming a Representative in the back of my mind for a while,” says Sherrie. After the economic downturn and cutbacks at Sherrie’s job, the idea of Avon began to resurface. “As I was getting ready to go to work one day, I had the TV on, and I saw a special on the top ten network marketing companies and Avon was profiled as #1. So in the fall of 2008, I officially signed up,” she explains.

Sherrie was motivated to sell from the start. A surge in her first set of orders quickly boosted her goal from simply having extra income to pursuing a Sales Leadership title. “I started selling that November, and I received tons of orders for the holidays. My perspective on direct selling was totally changed after that,” she explains. Soon thereafter, Sherrie made the leap into Sales Leadership. She’s now a Senior Executive Unit Leader (SEUL) and she’s also achieved Rose Circle for her sales.

Sherrie attributes her success to passion and constant drive. Her team is always seeking out opportunities to connect with new people. “We like to keep our calendar booked solid with events and sales opportunities,” she says. “For our next opportunity, we will be part of a five-day sales event alongside other vendors, where we will see approximately 5,000 potential Customers over the course of the week.”

Sherrie and her team make the most of these events by sticking to proven strategies and keeping their sales approach simple. “We aim to target Moms and their kids. It’s our primary audience, so we cater to them by bringing a small, yet widely popular collection of products. We don’t make things complicated,” she says. “ANEW Genics Eye Treatment and Avon Naturals Kids are some of the items that work best. Customers love them, and they’re easy cash-and-carry items, so we stick to them.”

For Sherrie, success and sales-proof strategies didn’t come overnight, however. After a lot of trial and error, her “aha” moment came shortly after achieving Advanced Unit Leader. “With no real strong Sales Leadership presence in our area at the time, my District Sales Manager and I really paved the way. We learned through a lot of mistakes, but I realized that the more I helped others, the better I would be able to achieve my goals, and that’s when things started to really come together,” she says.

With a hardworking, can-do attitude, Sherrie advises other Avon Representatives to put the effort in to see the payoff. “I always say, ‘Avon isn’t magic; it’s work. But the opportunities Avon offers can make your life magical!’ The key is, you have to want it and you have to want to help others.”