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•Four Greatest Door-to-Door Salesmen 57
This emphasis on women, as well as the door-to-door aspect of their selling,
makes it a highly innovative company. The statistics tell the tale.
Avon has more women in management positions (86%) than any other For-
tune 500 company. Seventeen of Avon’s 54 officers (32%) are women and four
women sit on Avon’s board of directors. Avon’s Women of Enterprise Awards pro-
gram, created in 1987 in conjunction with the US Small Business Administration,
annually recognises five women entrepreneurs for extraordinary business success.
Since October 1993, the Avon Breast Cancer Awareness Crusade has raised
$25 million to support breast-cancer education and access to early detection serv-
ices. The company in 1993 established the Avon World-wide Fund for Women’s
Health to raise money for health-related problems of concern to women globally.
The company has a trail of awards for employment practices includ-
ing six entries in the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers. It is also Approximately
recognised by its policies and practices in encouraging ethnic minorities 50% of Ameri-
such as Hispanic and black people. can women
Avon’s 100% money-back guarantee was instituted 111 years ago – have pur-
the day the company was founded – and Avon sees itself as the supplier of chased from
prestige-quality beauty products at affordable prices. Avon in the last
Certainly their reach to consumers through direct selling is very im- year; 90% have
pressive. Each year, Avon prints over 600 million sales brochures in more done so in their
than 12 languages. In the US alone, the brochure is distributed to 14 lifetime.
million women every two weeks. Nearly half the women in the US, 48
million, rely on Avon and its beauty products. To reach today’s women, 30% of
Avon representatives sell in offices, factories, hospitals, schools – wherever women
work. Approximately 50% of American women have purchased from Avon in the
last year; 90% have done so in their lifetime.
