Becoming a Hillary's Adviser good idea or not

[dg1977]

I thinking of becoming a Hillary's adviser, I already have blinds sales and fitting experience and am in the London and although theres a lay out of £1500 this would be cheaper than starting up my own company in the current climate.

Is there any current or previous advisor's who could give me any advise on there experiences.

Thanks for your help

[Phil]

Hi I'm a lurker on here, with the occasional post, no axe to grind. This webiste however is generally inhabited by brian and his alter ego's who will undoubtedly try and put you off Hillarys. I run my own blind business and would never actually investigate Hillarys myself.
Ask yourself the following, what will my return be on the £1500 investment, how much control do i want to have over my business? Can i earn more doing something else?
Your investement to be self employed need only be minimal i could list any number of companies who will supply you on far more generous terms than hillarys but you will have to do your own marketing, for which you could earn 150% more than your Hillarys commission. per sale.
If you think you prefer just to be handed the lads and take th commission go for it, but get your local hillarys rep to giv you a quote first and ask them what th company is lik to work for

[Phil]

apologies it would appear i have a sticky e

[blindmansam]

Oct 2, 2009 18:44:17 GMT dg1977 said:

I thinking of becoming a Hilary's adviser, I already have blinds sales and fitting experience and am in the London and although theres a lay out of £1500 this would be cheaper than starting up my own company in the current climate.

Is there any current or previous advisor's who could give me any advise on there experiences.

Thanks for your help

Your money would be wasted - As i guarantee Hillarys will not be able to give you the number of leads you will require to earn serious money.

You will become very disillusioned in a few short months , as you'll be quoting customers who will actually buy elsewhere.

You will spend hours running around doing blind repairs at your own expense.

I would seriously consider a different approach to the blinds industry . Look at Harmony in Bolton for a start . But just LOOK , don't do business there , as you can be better of as an independant.

The above facts of my observations is based on a 10 year stint with Hillarys and the last 2 years running my own Blinds Business.

The moral is - I started my own business and am still around and making a worth while living .

Good Luck . The choice is yours !

[sirkitmain]

If you truly want to become a Hillary's adviser I would firstly spell their name correctly. Secondly ask them in detail why you are paying £1,500 to become an adviser.

Also look at some of the more intellegent previous posts...

[brian]

There is no reason you can not be a Sillarys advisor and run your own business Many do with fantastic success. That way you are master and servant, with a 95% convertion rate. 8-)Then you can expand into other areas that sillarys will not allow you to and hide from you. You will soon learn they are not leaders in the blinds industry but followers who sell there customers short.
Remember
Unky brian saying
you can have your cake and eat it to.

[abc]

Why don't you just do like our resident CHEAT does.

Double deal (sorry CHEAT) Hillary's by doing a certain percentage of THEIR work, and use Hillary's substantial advertising budget to get your foot in the door of customers who have contacted Hillary's - then convert it in whatever weasly method you like to call it, into YOUR job - no outlay, cos it's all down to Hillary's budget, just a nice profit (sorry cake) as you rip the urine out of Hillary's AND local rival independent suppliers.

Then, come on here - telk a load of self congratulatory bullshot (in street kred drivel) and expect us all to applaud you - just like our favourite 'uncky'.......or is it 'pervy' uncle?

It sounds like you just might have a sense of decency though, so you'll probably go the independent route - that would be my advice.

[dg1977]

Thanks for all you views guys you've been very helpful Especially Phil that was a good unbiased over view and if you do have some companies I could contact and you could forward them to me that would be great.

Also blindmansam I was hoping to contact someone like yourself who has worked at Hillary’s and you have confirmed the things I feared the most and thanks for the link to Harmony Blinds it was very interesting.

I think you guys are right I may be better of going for it myself so thanks a lot and good luck to you all

[loneranger]

Oct 2, 2009 18:44:17 GMT dg1977 said:

I thinking of becoming a Hillary's adviser, I already have blinds sales and fitting experience and am in the London and although theres a lay out of £1500 this would be cheaper than starting up my own company in the current climate.

Is there any current or previous advisor's who could give me any advise on there experiences.

Thanks for your help

First of all. The blinds business is not a bad industry to work in. There IS money to be made but not necessarily with Hillary's. Before you become a Hillary's agent, you should, as recommended earlier, ask them what exactly you get for the £1500.

Each sample book would cost about £60/70 and I understand that the current quality of tools is not great. You may also want think twice about putting magnetic stickers on YOUR vehicle !!

Then again, there is SAM ... a fiddly way of working out an order. I always used to do it on paper and wait until the customer agreed to the order before I put it onto SAM. I knew one agent who waited until evening so that his wife could do it for him.

All in all, they are not a nice company to work for. They are neither trusting nor trustworthy. They will drop you or let you down on a whim.

I was an agent for 15 years and the last 3 saw a deteriorating relationship which ended in my being summarily terminated (typically) by telephone. I was fortunate that at the time a local blind manufacturer was looking for someone and several years later here I am. It came as a great surprise that I didn't know as much about blinds as I had thought I did. Their range, compared to Hillary's, was immense and the flexibility and eagerness to fulfill customers requirements was a revelation to me. I had a good week last week and will earn almost £1300 for my efforts. In retrospect, I should have thought about setting up on my own and becoming a trade customer of theirs (which is what I think YOU should do) but I am of an age and personal situation where that is now not feasible. If I had been on my own I would have been responsible for my own adverts etc but, having said that, last week I would have earned about two or three thousand. But, be aware there are weeks in the year when you sell very little.

It's a shame what has happened to Hillary's. They used to be a good company to deal with and had almost a family feel to them. With the departure of Tony Hillary, they grew increasingly arrogant and authoritative. If agents now cheat on them, they really only have themselves to blame. You can't continue to treat people the way they do and not have them bite back at you. And by the way, take any postings from Brian with a pinch of salt.

[red]

Brian may well have a bad way of delivering his intentions and as much as I do not agree with what he is doing, either the postings or the ethics of it; I can well understand his sentiments.
I have a feeling that Brian may well be a little more educated than people give him credit for and the street talk a ruse as well as several red herrings.
The point is, I was once a loyal adviser. I was dumped upon like countless others by a useless fsm who would just shrug their shoulders when told we were struggling. All this when we knew other agents nearby were doing 3 times the work and taking leads that should have gone to me. Now I take the work off them and for every one they undercut me on I take 2 back.
If running your own business alongside that of Hillarys is forced upon an adviser then no one else is to blame but Hillarys themselves.
They have piled more and more costs onto their sales team whilst taking more and more work from them and giving it to other advisors. I am sure they would love one adviser on every street.
Brian is correct; Hillarys are not the force they like to think they were.
I hardly ever come across their quotes now and when I do and cannot sell blinds to the customer I still walk away with cash. Sometimes as much as the Hillarys adviser is making to sell and fit the blinds. I just turn the tables on the greed of Hillarys and the desperation of their agents to undercut me and grab the sale. It’s not rocket science.

[red]

Well, this is my time to log off from this site now. Over the weekend I will be erasing my account and logging off for good. Need to cleanse my veins of everything Hilliary's before my blood congeals.
Life moves on for me now and I need to be rid of everything negative that comes with them. So good luck to everyone. Live long and prosper.

Red

[racingdemonic]

Hi all, i am due to start advisor training mon 19 oct, the comments on various forums suggest this would be a bad move.
Would i not be better off looking at other companies that do not charge the £1500, any comments greatly appreciated,

[red]

Oct 9, 2009 10:10:58 GMT racingdemonic said:

Hi all, i am due to start advisor training mon 19 oct, the comments on various forums suggest this would be a bad move.
Would i not be better off looking at other companies that do not charge the £1500, any comments greatly appreciated,

There is a split camp on this one.
If you know nothing whatsoever about blinds then going it alone is not an option.
Hillarys can help you but don’t think for one moment they will owe you anything or show any loyalty to you, they won’t.
You will be just an advisor, nothing more, nothing less.
Keep your head down; don’t disagree with your manager. Don’t try to change the Hillarys way, dont think you know a better way and they will provide you with work although to earn a decent amount and depending where you live you might find, like many others to get that decent wage you have to work long and unsociable hours.
I must admit though that £1500 is pretty steep when you don’t get exclusivity to an area.
As for other companies, I could not really answer that one as I have no dealings with any type that expect you to pay up front for a so called franchise and never would.
There are those within Hillarys that are making a good living but less of them than are not. Also, making a good living is short lived because as soon as you reach a certain amount of income they slowly siphon some of your customers off to another advisor so as you don’t get too big and are reliant upon you for that customer base.
Makes economic business sense really but not good for you.
The blinds industry has, like everything else, suffered greatly over the past year or so and many have gone to the wall and are still doing so. Those that are left will reap the rewards when the housing market bounces back.
My advice to you if you go for it. Don’t expect miracles. If you need or want to earn an income over £500 a week then let your family know that they won’t see much of you. I am sure others would agree and others disagree but that is just my opinion.

[blindmansam]

Oct 9, 2009 10:51:29 GMT @red said:

Oct 9, 2009 10:10:58 GMT racingdemonic said:

Hi all, i am due to start advisor training mon 19 oct, the comments on various forums suggest this would be a bad move.
Would i not be better off looking at other companies that do not charge the £1500, any comments greatly appreciated,

There is a split camp on this one.
If you know nothing whatsoever about blinds then going it alone is not an option.
Hillarys can help you but don’t think for one moment they will owe you anything or show any loyalty to you, they won’t.
You will be just an advisor, nothing more, nothing less.
Keep your head down; don’t disagree with your manager. Don’t try to change the Hillarys way, dont think you know a better way and they will provide you with work although to earn a decent amount and depending where you live you might find, like many others to get that decent wage you have to work long and unsociable hours.
I must admit though that £1500 is pretty steep when you don’t get exclusivity to an area.
As for other companies, I could not really answer that one as I have no dealings with any type that expect you to pay up front for a so called franchise and never would.
There are those within Hillarys that are making a good living but less of them than are not. Also, making a good living is short lived because as soon as you reach a certain amount of income they slowly siphon some of your customers off to another advisor so as you don’t get too big and are reliant upon you for that customer base.
Makes economic business sense really but not good for you.
The blinds industry has, like everything else, suffered greatly over the past year or so and many have gone to the wall and are still doing so. Those that are left will reap the rewards when the housing market bounces back.
My advice to you if you go for it. Don’t expect miracles. If you need or want to earn an income over £500 a week then let your family know that they won’t see much of you. I am sure others would agree and others disagree but that is just my opinion.

This sounds ace.......................


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