Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Network Marketing Opportunity Review: The Pampered Chef

By Cathy Yeatts

The Pampered Chef is a network marketing opportunity headquartered in Addison, IL. Its goal is to preserve the importance of shared family meals for even the busiest families through time-saving tips, tools and recipes. In addition, the company strives to provide an opportunity to earn money from home using God-given talents.

The company was founded in 1980 by Doris Christopher, an educator, a home economist and a mother. She saw the need for regular cooks in everyday kitchens to have professional-quality tools. Putting to use her expertise in the kitchen and her aptitude for teaching, she began distributing kitchen tools and tips through the mlm sales model.

Today, The Pampered Chef has grown to include 60,000 independent sales representatives worldwide. It has made over $700 million in sales and has served 12 million customers.

The Pampered Chef is a Better Business Bureau accredited business and a proud member of the DSA (Direct Selling Association). DSA membership is a promise to uphold the most ethical standards in business. It is a mandate for the company to be honest and forthright in all dealings, whether with consultants or customers.

The Pampered Chef maintains its founder's heart for generosity. It sponsors "Round-up from the Heart" in which customers are encouraged to round up their product orders to the nearest dollar or more to benefit America's Second Harvest. "Help Whip Cancer" donates proceeds from special pink products to cancer research.

The Pampered Chef product line includes as many as 300 items at a time, with 80-90% of those being exclusive to the company. Many of the products have become iconic. Who doesn't have the round baking stone? I won?t bake on anything else!

The staff at The Pampered Chef Kitchens is made up of home economists, chefs, product developers, dieticians and food scientists. They work to continually develop new products that are not only time-saving, but multifunctional, so that kitchens are not cluttered with tools that are only used once a year for specific food preparations.

Products are primarily sold through home demonstrations known as Cooking Shows. One million shows are held in the U.S. each year. Customers can also purchase products through an online catalogue on The Pampered Chef's website.

At the Cooking Shows, the consultant prepares a recipe selected by the host to demonstrate the tools and the recipe for the guests. As guests are in enjoying the finished product, the consultant answers questions, takes orders and books parties. So, if you decide to distribute Pampered Chef, you had better like toting products around and cooking before an audience.

Hosts receive free, discounted and half-price products, a 10% discount for a year, and free shipping. There are also monthly host specials, like 60% off of selected items.

It costs $155 to become a Pampered Chef Consultant, which is slightly pricier than startup costs for most network marketing opportunities. The fee covers 25 popular products from key product lines, a tote bag to carry them in, and business materials to help get consultants started.

Consultants earn commission on product sales, dream vacations, jewelry and free products. There are eight consultant career levels progressing from Pampered Chef Consultant to National Executive Director, a structure that is relatively simple compared with other network marketing companies.

Unlike most mlm opportunities, with Pampered Chef you actually make less on the sales of your downline as you advance in the company. So the best way to make money with Pampered Chef is to sell a lot of product, rather than to focus on recruiting.

Pampered Chef could be a great opportunity for those who love sales, talking, meeting new people and cooking. However, this type of direct sales opportunity may not suit someone looking to build a business beneath them and make residual income from their downline or from leveraging the internet.

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