Reply to stella & dot trunk show...direct sales??

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[quote=Anonymous]I have read almost all of the posts on this site.  I could not stop. It’s refreshing to hear criticism and see what people believe, and understand why.  I am a “Stylist” with Stella & Dot. I am not a Spambot, I am not a SAHM, and I do in fact work full-time, and do this with two children under three, and Stella & Dot is a side “business.”  I actually make money doing this and I don’t do it with a snotty attitude and I do my best not to be pushy, and I do want trunk show guests to have fun and never feel pressured to buy, and I want the hostess to have fun. This is actually meant to be a fun night for people. But I can understand where many of you all are coming from and I am glad this site exists so I can learn what we can do differently.

I do want to put a few things out there: if you aren’t having a good time, then I hope you would choose to leave or not come at all.  If you feel obligated to buy/come, that’s something you should look at on your end because neither the hostess or the Stylist thinks you should feel, or are obligated to come to the show or shop. If you don’t want to shop, cannot afford to shop, don’t like the products, then do not buy them. Please do not. Keep your money!  These last couple of comments are not intended to be aggressive. Everyone has a choice in life.

I do want to clarify some of the misconceptions.

-“This is a complete b.s. pyramid scheme and cultish religion.”  If it that were the case, I could sit back, relax and collect money. Nope. I have to work for it. Because I *have a team, I have to continue to do shows. 
-“Why?  That’s ridiculous. That sounds even more schemish and cra cra?”
 Because as with any job, if you are not doing the job yourself, you lose touch with the realities of the day-to-day, and if you are coaching a team, you need to know what the day-to-day looks like or you cannot give effective coaching and direction. We lead by example.  
-“But still, it’s like a cult with a bunch of blonde, white women.” It is true, we have a lot of Caucasian women that do this, but our demographics are reflective of the U.S. demographics overall. And where you think this is a cult, we disagree because you know what, we like what we do.  If you feel this is a cult, I am guessing it’s likely because you’ve never worked for a company or in a job you actually love and are passionate about in your life.  I love fashion. And I like meeting new people.  This combines two things I enjoy so I get excited about trunk shows because they are actually fun. We love what we do or we would not do it.  As I’ve already stated, if you don’t like going to trunk show, you can choose not come. p.s. We have male Stylists.
-“But you still have to do shows. They MAKE you do shows to remain as a Stylist.” 
That’s not correct.  You can sign on today and do nothing and you are still a Stylist. You are not considered an active Stylist, but you would still be considered an Independent Stylist with Stella & Dot. We aren’t going to MAKE you do anything. You can choose. You could do one show a year, or 100. It does not matter to us. This is designed to be flexible and it is.  There were “qualifications” years ago, but they are no longer in place (so long as you do not have a team).   When you sponsor a team, you are agreeing to coach people and I’ve already stated the rationale behind why you must continue to do shows when you have a team. But regardless, if a Stylist does not do anything, she will not make money. Period. There is no money tree that you can pick from. You have to work. 
-“But the products suck and the quality is crappy and they ALWAYS break.” Really, is that actually true? Naysayers are always the loudest, aren’t they? Well, I am sorry if that has been your experience, but there is not one company out there, no matter what you think, including LVMH, Mercedes, Bugatti, Bulgari, and so forth, that do not occasionally have product quality issues. The people making these products are just that, people.  Humans do make mistakes. However, if you have had a series of issues with the products you purchased from Stella & Dot, your Stylist should be more than happy to take care of the issue and get you a refund, a replacement or do an exchange. I have had a customer break, on her own, admittedly her fault, a $24 bracelet, not once, but three times, and we replaced it for her three times, for free, over a three-year period.  So when I read about the “crap” we sell and how our customer service sucks, then I feel awful because we do our best to make everyone happy. And our customer service team goes above and beyond. If your Stylist did not explain our “delight guaranty,” shame on her for not educating you. And if you have had significant issues, share them. We want to know. We want to tell our product managers and designers that stuff is not working out and why and they will either fix it or discontinue the item, but in any event, you will be properly indemnified, and then some.
-“What’s up with these Stylists being pushy and snobby?”  When I read that, I cringed. Physically, cringed.  The Stylists that have been doing this for years never want to be pushy, they never want you to feel like we are condescending and snotty. That’s AWFUL to read.  And if you have had that experience, I apologize on behalf of all of us. This is supposed to be fun. And when I read that we are all just trying to use your friends to make money, that’s not the case.  We sell accessories and based on our numbers, they are accessories that people want. 
“My Stylist made me feel like my show was small and then she raced out of there as soon as it was over and told me my friends were basically, cheap.”  Urgh….that’s the worst comment I read on here. I am appalled by this information. I cannot believe a Stylist would ever act that way and I hope she has moved on to something else in life because that makes me sick. Every show is different. If I drive three hours to do a trunk show and it’s $24, so what?  Is what I would want to happen? No. I want my hostess to have a fun evening with her girlfriends and I also want her to have a fun shopping spree. I don’t care how much money  I make, but I do care that everyone has a great time, the hostess has fun, and she should never be made to feel bad because people chose not to shop. Never.  I apologize on behalf of all of us if this has happened to you.  As for the shopping spree, before you rip that one apart, again customers choose or choose not to shop and the hostess does get a percentage based on sales because she is essentially opening her home up as a retail store. Why not reward her for it?  Why get mad about it? Host your own show, or just don’t come. Again, it goes back to having a choice. 
“Celebrities wear this and it’s the fashion magazines, but so what? I can buy the same thing at J.Crew or Ann Taylor .”  You can indeed by similar pieces at many retailers because Stella & Dot has designers from J.Crew, Kate Spade, LVMH, Marc Jacobs, Cartier, Banana, and so on. They have hired the best of the best to create products that are reflective of the current fashion trends and will be wearable and versatile. You may not love it all, and that’s fine. You may think some of it is tacky or gaudy, and that’s fine, too.  You have a choice and you can form your own opinions about this brand, but for the record, it’s loved by fashion editors and celebrities because it is wearable and it fashion-forward and on trend, high-quality, and versatile.  I don’t love every piece, but I do like a majority of it, and this line appeals to many women out there, and the quality is in fact, quite good. Any issues I have had have been handled.  I have been doing this for a while and I am a brand snob so for me to sell these products, they better be damn good. They better hold up.  I am not going to put my name behind a company I do not believe in with products that are poor quality. I do this for extra money, but I also do this because the accessories are cute. They are not meant to be heirloom pieces. These pieces are on-trend.  You are not going to hand these down to your kids. It’s fun, boutique-style jewelry. 
“Direct sales is cheap and dirty.” Yep, I agree.  I think it’s gross. Obviously this company is different or we would not have so many people buying our products, loving them, selling them hosting shows.  We are a little different. We do offer a service and that’s styling. If you are not getting that at a show, you have not been to a show with a good Stylist. 
“It’s really over-priced.” Seriously?  This is where I have a few issues. This is not Claire’s boutique, girls. These pieces are made in couture factories. They are hand-made. The tiny little pave stones are hand-cut and hand-set with painstaking attention to detail. The designs are vintage-inspired and are designed with a lot of thought and you all in mind. What you get are amazing designs and the cost is lower than what you would pay for a similar quality piece at J.Crew, and some of the pieces and their designs you only find at places like Barney’s and in fine jewelry.
 
There is so much on here I could respond to, but that’s a start. Overall, you all caused me to pause for a minute and take into consideration all of the negative, and a lot of the downright mean comments, about Stella & Dot, Stylists like myself and the misconceptions you have as a whole. I have a feeling if your mothers read some of the comments you all have written they would be embarrassed about what you all wrote.  We are all humans. Just because you are writing anonymous comments does not give you full range to be a complete asshole.  I would never speak to any of you, no matter how nasty you treated  me at a trunk show, the way you all have spoken about Stylists on here. I have had a few of you at my shows, and you all have snubbed me, been rude, made nasty comments and generally tried to make me feel horrible, and I was nice right back.  So when we talk about empowering women, inspiring them and lifting them up, that’s what we are talking about in the Stella & Dot world. When I encounter a complete witch at a trunk show, I am nice, I am kind and I treat you with the fundamental believe that you are not a complete jerk, even if that’s exactly the way you treat me. That’s what empowering women means. We actually believe in being positive and nice and lifting people up and making them feel good. We don’t tear people down. We don’t rip them apart. We hold ourselves to a certain set of standards so when you meet one of us and we are happy and excited about life, it’s because we like what we do, we are having fun, and we have a whole team of supportive women (and men) around us.  If you don’t have that in your life, I feel sorry for you. At least one of you will come back with a “koolaid” comment. Save it. I drank it. I like it.  I am not judging you. I don’t have time. Maybe try that for a change.

By the way, in case you have not seen the news, Iraq, Israel still have major wars happening and we may have a possible international health crisis, maybe redirect your energy that you use for some of the more crappy comments about S&D for something positive. Use that energy to make the world a better place instead of ripping people apart.  Who knows, you might even feel good when you have been nice.
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