Anatomy of a Scentsy Spam Email

Oh mah gawd.

I know for many of you, you're just Scentsy fans and not consultants. So let me explain something real quick, we live by and love new customers, we are all thirsty bitches and we want all the sales we can get. We'll drive to homes, to coffee shops with a giant bag of testers, spend hours making goody bags and adding tiny touches to orders, at least the good consultants.

And just to make people happy so they will want to re-order from us.

So when we get messages that new people want to buy things we get super excited.

It is for this reason that spammers target Scentsy consultants.

I want to believe that we are all super intelligent and none of us ever falls for any of these, but still, I feel like at least a few of us out there actually get sucked into one or two of these from time to time.

I get a spammer email about once a month, always different, always the same.

Here is the latest one broken down, and I will go into detail for you so you can see the red flags.

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1. Grammar

I hate to be a grammar Nazi, and i will tell you I do have one customer who isn't great with her English, and another who doesn't speak English as her first language, so this is a tiny bit biased but..... Terrible grammar is a dead giveaway,

NEWSFLASH: THESE PEOPLE DON'T LIVE IN THE US, OR CANADA, OR ANYWHERE THAT SPEAKS ENGLISH

These guys are in an internet cafe somewhere in one of several countries I won't name because i don't want to be accused of calling out people from those countries, but seriously there are 4 or 5 that are just notorious for this shit.

If your email sounds like a three year old wrote it, it's probably spam.

2. Payment

Everyone knows how to buy stuff online. If my Dad can order dirty movies and beer of the month club on his dial up than anyone can figure it out. The reason they are always asking how to make payments is because they don't want to use the website, they want to swindle you into some sort of alternative transaction, probably involving money orders, checks, or weird accounts. 

3. Urgency

Im always in a rush to buy Scentsy too, difference is I would never us urgency in an email to someone like this unless I politely said, something like "I would love to place this order as soon as you have time it's for my moms birthday which is in two weeks."

They are rushing you so that you rush and don't pay attention.

4. Sympathy 

This one doesn't contain it, but often times spammers will say they are blind, deaf, paralyzed, anything to make you feel bad for them and to forget that they are clearly a spammer. If you see this you should immediately send up the red flags.

These emails are annoying, and I feel bad for consultants that are struggling, because when they get these I feel as though they get more excited and more hopefully that they are real, the people who send these out need a special kind of punishment that I just can't really put into words at the moment. If you're a consultant keep an eye out, and also if you're just a normal person, these spammers email you too, don't be a dummy, you should immediatly know what is spam, and what is real.

How I score so many vendor Events

I wanted to talk today about vendor events. Because we all hit a point where our friends and family have had parties and our lists of 100 seem like 100 people we'd rather not bother, plus building new clientele is like, the tits, amiright?

The first vendor event I took part in was a huge pet Expo with thousands in attendance, I ran out of samples to hand out the first of three days. Although that was such a huge event I actually prefer the smaller school related events. Why? Well, because the tables are cheap and the attendees are there for a cause they love and usually come prepared to shop!

Fake-ass Punk Vendor Facebook groups with buy-ins

Oh my god. When I first started to want to pursue vendor events I tried joining some local vendor groups that are "seeking" consultants. let me tell you how sucked in I got, I was watching the posts and refreshing like I was waiting for a reply text from Channing Tatum. In order to take part in most of those you have to be the first to comment. Not to mention that usually those events have already been planned and have many tables spoken for, they are basically there to fill the voids with weird Direct sales stuff that most people don't even know about.

So that got old super fast.

Then I saw a post that needed scentsy specifically, an online vendor group that guaranteed sales each month! Sounds too good to be true right? well duh because it is. They basically make you pay to join the group, under some guise that there will be advertising or something. Then you have to buy something from the consultants in the group each month, then when you are featured everyone has to buy something from you.

Insert eye roll that literally decapitate my head.

Im in this to make money not spend it! And if I was that hard up I would buy my own stuff and make commissions off myself, who actually falls for this?

Well, lots of people I guess, but that's sad, I mean honestly you could invest that money in yourself and your business.

How to really get that spot

Being a Maryland Scentsy Consultant is both fun and rewarding, I do a lot of vendor events and I have to say they are some of my favorite things to do. There are literally tons of events happening every weekend her ein Maryland, and i could score several a month if i wanted to, I feel like im on some list where people reach out to me for these things. But why me? Why do people message me for that table spot not Jill Doe?

let us discuss.

So I recently took part in an employment seminar, because im laid off and I am all about finding out whats going on in the hiring community these days. They spoke to the fact that applying for jobs online was really only 20% successful and that networking yielded much better results, I couldn't agree more. I stood up and applauded the speaker, then sat down because i was clearly the only one clapping and I had a little too much coffee that morning.

but seriously, the vendor events I get into are ones that are run by friends, family, and people that I know. One of my customers whom I met through a friend at her home party is an LLR consultant. Their market is so saturated that they often times have to organize their own events to be able to actually even do them. This go-getter is actually in a group that arranges them once a month, and you'll never guess who they wanted as their Scentsy Rep. Yeppers.

My Pet event is from a past client when I worked at a marketing agency, when her grandfathered in Scentsy table backed out last minute, guess who she called?

And those school events that i get into at schools my kids don't even attend? Yeah, you guessed it, friends, and parents, and family that know someone and who have an in.

But in order to network you have to put yourself out there. let everyone know what you do and that this is something you're after. Ask your Facebook wall if anyone knows of vendor events, tell your mom, your co-works, without this conversation no one will have you top of mind. Just do it, tell the world you want a vendor event, and I bet it might just happen for you.

We can discus table set up and tips and tricks another time, but put yourself out there, network like a boss and you'll find those spots way before the facebook stalkers do.

Rando Sales, WTF Do They Come From?

We love  random sales in direct sales, they are basically sales we didn't work for, or did we?

There isn't quite anything as awesome as waking up to a new PWS (Personal Web Site) and seeing a brand new sale in there from a lead you didn't even have to nurture.

So there are truly random sales, I have gotten them, but they are in fact from somewhere and you do have to "earn" them. Let's discuss a few of the Rando people I have made sales to and how.

Rando PWS Sale

Ok so once you hit "Certified Consultant", this just means you have moved $1,000 in product over your lifetime as a consultant. You then show up in the Scentsy website search feature. So for example: Im Jill Blowhard and all my friends keep talking about Scentsy and I want some but I am for some reason too embarrassed to ask them who they are buying from locally or what have you. So I log onto the regular Scentsy website and use the locate a consultant feature, I type in my zip code and up pop all the consultants in my area.

That is one way we can wind up with a random sale, I do in fact HATE this a little because I am listed second under my sponsor, it has nothing to do with how close they actually are to you. I have no way of earning a higher spot, it's all a crap shoot, and the person with the highest pole position is in fact usually going to make the random sale. I asked once how the spots were determined and I was told it randomizes and changes often. I tested this and it is in fact a crock. But regardless maybe I will still grab a few of those people over the year, let's hope!

Rando Business Card Find 

I leave my cards everywhere. Like all over everywhere, at all the local businesses I frequent, and anywhere where I can pin them. I actually gained one of my best customers this way. She got my card at the local bakery, called me, and I met her at her home, did a personally sniff, and she purchased around $300 worth of product. She also buys about every 2 months. So if you are wondering, yes business cards are worth it, but by god use them!

Rando SEO or SMO Find

So people can find you online. Depending on how hard you are working your business, how saturated your market is and how well you use keywords and locations you'll be found just from someone search Scentsy in the Google bar. I am working towards stealing some spots from some Maryland Scentsy Consultants that are running websites and have a small corner on the Scentsty Market. Fear not I will steal that top Maryland Scentsy pole position from Google one of these days.

In fact I want to tell you about the time I woke up to a PWS order, from out of state, that made no sense whatsoever. I thanked this stranger by sending her a Scent Circle and a nice note asking her to let me know where she got my info, well she found me on Pinterest. Of all places, lol, It pays to do your social media correctly gals.

There are in fact other ways to get stranger sales. You can do paid search, I don't do this, yet. There are tons of ways for people to find you, what works best is always word of mouth, we are still that type of industry, so the best bang for your time and buck are talking to people, doing parties and being a great sharer of all things Scentsy related. If you have more time put the effort into your social media marketing and make yourself a great online presence.

Facebook Groups = Sunshine and Rainbows

Let's talk about Scentsy Consultant Groups on Social Media for a minute, or five.

I don't particularly think of myself as a negative person, I love people, I get along with most everyone I meet, I do random acts of kindness whenever I can, I smile a lot. But I do love to complain, venting is awesome, it makes you feel better to talk about stuff, that is why therapy is a multi-million dollar industry.

it's not good to bottle up your feelings people.

but the internet is a weird place.

When i started my Scentsy journey I was added to a plethora of Facebook groups for consultants to help me learn, grow, and flourish. I like these groups a lot, they are places for you to ask questions, get recognition, and grow your business.

There is but one downside.

I have a mouth like a sailor. Thanks Grandma! My grandmother watched me when I was little, and she cusses, like a lot. So now I do. deal with it. oh wait im sorry, Fucking deal with it.

I also like to complain when appropriate, because god damn it sometimes shit goes wrong and you don't want to always put a thick sugary coating of "it's going to be ok" on it, because that isn't how the world works. in my opinion.

The Facebook groups are however run by directors, who probably had a different upbringing than I, and who don't really deal with negativity well. That's fine, but what I do hate is censorship, don't tell me i can't complain, don't create an environment where I am supposed to be able to talk to fellow consultants about my issues, than tell me I am only allowed to say "nice things".

Let's get one thing straight, im not going to be putting anyone down, but when the company messing something up, like they do sometimes, why can't I bitch? WHY?

So basically this happened to me. I am pretty much the reason why our consultant group had to close down their group chat, annnndddd had to add a shit ton of disclaimers telling everyone that they had to only talk in sunshine and rainbows.

The reason for this is: "We don't want to scare away the new recruits with negativity."

*Insert Eye-roll*

I tell my kids often that the world is a crappy place sometimes, there are bad people, things go wrong, you have to get used to dealing with what life throws at you. So why as grown women we are putting blinders on and ignoring everything bad that happens in our industry is just way beyond me. Shit happens, I mean it's a Tee shirt so it must be true.

The best part about this is that the corporate culture of Scentsy is to be unique, be an individual, and be yourself. Meanwhile my Team Facebook group is telling me I have to be someone I am not.

Since I have imploded our consultant group with my "Negativity" and probably profanity, I have found a group of like-minded gals to complain to when necessary, and who don't mind my language. They help me when I need help and visa versa.

I feel that it effects the Sunshine and Rainbows people though in a bad way, because I have great ideas and contribute a lot of wonderful things, but if you can't take me at my worst, you can't have me at my best, or so they say. Because I feel alienated by the those "Happy People" they don't get to experience all that I have to offer, and I think that's sad.

The great news is, I have my own team, of people who love and know me, I encourage them to be who they are. I love my Scentsy, I love my foul mouth, I love my tattoos and zest for life.

Oh My Star Gazer

Settle in, this is a bit of a journey story here.

So lets rap about the star gazer for like an hour, shall we? Walk with me down memory lane and let's discuss this shit show debacle that basically had the Scentsy community gathering pitchforks and torches.

Ya'll think I am kidding, but there was some violent stuff circulating over these warmers, I mean it's silly and all to get your panties all wadded up in your butt over a warmer, but it was threatening our paychecks and I mean you mess with a gals money and I can kind of understand the immense frustration.

So our story begins like any other, it's around October and we get a release of the December Warmers and Scent of the month, as consultants these things hit us about two months early so that we can sign up to receive them through WOTM and SOTM if we want to and prepare ourselves for all the promotions we can do with the new warmers and scents.

WOTM or Warmer of The Month: A new warmer that comes out every month that is featured at ten percent off, consultants can sign up to receive these early before anyone else can even order them. Same goes for Scent of the Month or SOTM

So we all see the amazing new December warmer of the month, the star gaze warmer. It described as a brilliant display of light and color and looks like amazing fireworks. This thing is seriously glorious. When turned off it looks like a mirrored globe, when lite up its like a rainbow firework display. WE ALL MUST HAVE IT.

Problem: So many consultants run and subscribe to the WOTM in order to get this thing that we basically sell it out before the general public can even get to it.

So no big deal right? Scentsy corporate pulls the warmer for December and instead makes it the January warmer of the month, this will allow for weeks of additional production in order to meet the demand of this amazing little warmer.

So what do we do? -We start taking pre-orders

You could see and tell from the internet hype that this warmer was going to be super popular and that it was obviously going to sell out. I began to take pre-orders myself, I took about 30. 30 customers, some of them first time buyers gave my money and credit cards in order to promise them one of these awesome balls of fireworks. Once it came to game time by the way only 23 people actually wound up giving me final payment.

During the shenanigans I viewed a post on Hiedi's Helpful Hint's Facebook group, a Facebook group for consultants where we can discuss pretty much anything Scentsy related. It was a post that asked simply: "How many Pre-Orders have you gotten?" hundreds of consultants chimed in, many with over 20, some with upwards of 50 orders!

I got that Han Solo feeling, you know the one about this being bad.

Placing Orders

I live in Maryland. So in order to get those pre-orders in without them selling out you have to wake up (at least on the east coast) at 3 am on New Years Day. I set my alarm, was out of bed, and entered all 23 orders and finished up around 4:30 am. That's dedication, I was half drunk still, don't judge me it was New years Eve.

The next day the Scentsy community is ablaze with flame wars from angry women who either waited until the morning to enter their orders or got them in rather late in the evening. Because it sold out in 90 minutes.

90 minutes.

I know what you're thinking, let me stop you. The reason they sold out so quickly is that Scentsy did not project correctly, they later went on to say that no one could have known how popular this warmer was, no one could have anticipated and projected correct numbers for the supply and demand. Well I call BS, and that's fine, I am not mad at Corporate, I just think that is a lie and as a marketing professional I could have done a way better job at warning the company that this was going to be a shit show of astronomical proportions. Bad projecting aside, we are now faced with the debacle of figuring out who gets their warmers, when they get them, and how in the heck we are going to make enough to fill all the orders after that.

Filling Orders

At this point Scentsy outs out a schedule for receiving orders, basically by the time stamp on your submission, now since I didn't hit enter at exactly 3 am I am technically out of range for the first shipment and mine are now on back-order until February. I was butt hurt about this, especially because i am dealing with customers who have never bought anything from me before and I have charged them for something they will now have to wait months for. My sponsor put her orders in during the first batch and was supposed to receive hers by the last day of January, due to a "port" issue, whatever the heck that is she even got her weeks after that, so she basically had a bunch of customers she had lied to the entire time about when things where coming in.

What I assume Happened next.

Ok, so this is just my opinion, but I believe that it was at this time that Scentsy put the petal to the metal on getting more of these warmers, The are hand made, each individual one, I can attest to that, and that makes them take longer than other products. So everyone is scrambling to pump out as many star gaze warmers as possible at this point to fill those thousands of back orders.

so queue the shit and the fan, they hit each other, HARD.

it is at this point that consultant start receiving orders of ten to twenty warmers, and they are completely colorless. Like the are black and white and have no color. Which is the opposite of what we were selling to our customers, which was the 110% opposite of how it was described BY SCENTSY. Pictures start circulating, people start demanding their money back, consultants are now on the war path.

Facebook Videos are made, suggestions are given, we are asked to discuss the issue with our customers, try to spin it positively and hope for the best.

It did not go well, omg let me tell you, so much piss and vinegar.

Now Scentsy releases a statement that the colorless ones are within acceptable color range to what they consider is what we sold, while I completely disagree i go along. Now we are asked to share a picture that shows the color variations to customers, they have then two weeks to cancel their order and get their money back.

Here's the thing, if they cancel and get their money back, we lose PRV and money. So we don't want that to happen, ever. It is at this time that many consultants are just done, like hit the wall or dealing with Quality issues, done.

When My Order Arrives

My order comes mid-February, earlier than expected. I am pleased to announce that all of my warmers were perfect. They still weren't exactly like the first round were, those first ones were a dark blackish green with a lot of rainbow colors, but my customers are elated! so I dodged a bullet.

Those consultants who put their orders in the morning of the 1st still don't have theirs, in fact I gave one of my personal orders to my downline because she didn't have enough orders to close a party, she hasn't gotten it yet, and it's mine lol. ughhh. So basically this was in my opinion the biggest series of unfortunate events to have taken place in Scentsy History.

The Aftermath

So now that I have given out my pre-orders and people are seeing them, I have a flood of people who now want them. Why didn't you just pre-order it when I asked you, 100 TIMES. I don't know, maybe it was too close to Christmas, but people now want them, they want them bad. They are in our new catalog but not available until all the pre-orders are filled, and that should be by May/June.

Im supportive of Scentsy, I do think this entire thing was handled awfully, but I do stuff wrong in my life too, who am I to judge. I hope we as a collective all learned from this and that systems are now in place to not have this happen again.

Feel free to comment questions, I will always answer honestly.

Comply Comply Comply

Compliance.

Compliance is a dirty word. Not quit as bad as Fuck, but definitely up there with shit or asshole.

I was unaware of what compliance was when I joined Scentsy. Everything I know about marketing helped me to put together a Facebook group, Facebook Page, Social media channels, and lots of other snazzy marketing opportunities for my new found business venture.

So in the direct sales world we must follow compliance, those are the rules, I hate rules. Talk to me about what I looked like as a teenager, why I moved out when I was 17, and why I need a rack of tattoos to feel like myself and we can talk about why I hate rules some more.

So the dreaded OOC (Out of Compliance) messages kept flying in from my sponsor, whop god bless her soul has put up with my rule following dysfunction thus far.

So basically I learned the hard way that I have to follow the Scentsy rules, and be compliant, which if you know me is just about like asking a  fish to walk around out of water and also do your taxes.

so without further ado...

My List of Rules I broke My First Month With Scentsy

• I used "Scentsy in My Facebook Group Name"
• I advertised on a swap and sell site
• I offered a deal that I couldn't
• I did a live giveaway
• I made my own business cards
• I altered an image I wasn't supposed to
• I posted pictures I wasn't supposed to
• I used wording I wasn't supposed to
• used a license character meme

and probably a lot more that I can not remember...

I get it. Rules are there for a reason and they are their own brand, as a brand manager and graphic designer I am so well aware of how important this is, and to be fair I didn't really read all these rules like I should have. I am now on the straight and narrow in case you were wondering!

Scentsy is a great direct sales company and I love it, it just took me a while to comply, which isn't out of my character really.

Do you have a funny OOC story, tell me in the comments! We can be in the corner on time out together!

Joining a Direct Sales Company

My name is Jennifer and Im a Scents-a-holic.

There should have been meetings for this, although there was something better, a sponsor and a support group, my drugs delivered directly to my door, and a network of people just like me.

I had only known what Scentsy was for a few months, my Drug Dealer Son's Friends Mom had introduced me. She was a teacher who had taken to direct sales after needed income over the summers and to pay an outstanding debt. After much persuasion I was coerced into having a home party for my friends and family, much to my surprise many of them had already been made aware of the company and were elbow deep into amazing smelling waxes at home.

I agreed reluctantly to have a home party and much to my surprise again a ton of people showed up, this would be her first in-home party and we raked in over $1,000. I had so much credit to spend that I managed to outfit myself with warmers and wax galore! It was really rather exciting, and I loved the scents and how my home smelled so much I continued to place orders. At this point my friend now asked one simple question of me: "If you love it so much why don't you sell it?" -Man was she good or what?

Yeah You're right! Why don't I?

I come from a sales background, in fact in college I was my retail locations top sales person for so long they had to stop awarding me so that other people could earn incentives.

At this time I had to only invest $100 to join, and if I sold over $500 in the first two weeks I would get an enhancement kit of products worth over $300 for FREE. I just couldn't pass this up, so there I was diving into sales again and "Shooting for the stars."

I joined a group of over 200 women, who very lovingly accepted me into their Cult Facebook Group and helped me every step of the way.

Pause.

I know you are reading now and thinking that this is a horror story or some negative reflection of the company, and it's not. I am selling currently and I actually love almost all of the products and use them in my own home, I stand by this company. Im just honest, to a fault it seems.

I am loving selling, I am loving the comradery the extra paycheck, everything is going great, I am crushing goals, taking names, and actually helping my group with tips and tricks, as I have been in marketing for some ten years plus. That's not to say this journey comes with many bumps, hills, mountains, ugh. So much drama.

Blog posts following this one will focus on those bumps and the journey of a Maryland Scentsy consultant, with no censorship. That's right, I will tell it like it is folks, so put on your big girl panties, hold on to your precious snowflakes, and let's go on a smelly journey together.

If you have questions about products, joining, or want more info on the inside horrors fun details feel free to visit my website or email me!

jenlleras.scentsy.us or jennifer(dot)lleras@gmail.com