Worth a Try...

Last week I sent a long, heartfelt email to the CTMH corp. staff regarding the sale of templates.

The good news is that they took my requests to heart, and even spent last Thursday discussing the pros and cons of allowing consultants to sell their templates and workshop instructions. They said that they valued my comments and appreciated my speaking up for something I felt so strongly about. They feel it is important to keep up with the times, and make necessary changes to the consultant manual as needed.

Unfortunately, the bad news is that in this case they feel it is in the best interest of CTMH and the independent consultants who represent CTMH to keep this portion of the manual as is.

Many of you might be asking "WHY???" they have decided this way and I've been granted permission to include some of Kristine's email here to help explain.

The first issue is with competitive selling. CTMH has strived for years to have a brand that is dependable, of high quality, and is faster/simply/easier to use. Consultants are naturally associated with that brand because we represent the company. So, to allow consultants to sell their own ideas could ultimately hurt the CTMH brand if what the consultant offers is not in line with the same high standards of the company.

The second issue is with consultants charging for their time/knowledge. As it stands we are ONLY allowed to charge for the materials for a class. Kristine writes, "Affixing pricing to designs/templates/time is a wholly subjective business: one Consultant may feel her efforts warrant a $10 price point for a template when another might charge $5; another may feel that her painstaking prep work for a club night is “worth” $2 extra per kit she creates, above and beyond the supplies she charges. By loosening the policy to allow Consultants to charge for ANYTHING other than actual product, we risk frustrating, angering, or misleading customers about what it is they are actually buying."

I appreciate the time that the corp staff took to really evaluate the arguments I wrote to them about, and for taking the time to listen to my point of view. I'm also proud of myself for standing up for something I believe in - even if the end result is not what I desired.

One thing I've found in 4 years of being a CTMH consultant, is that everything corp does for us is truly in the best interest of the consultants. They want us to succeed and for our businesses to be strong. They want us to have the best product, training, and ideas to pass along to our customers. So I'm not upset by the decision that they have made. I hope that this post has shed some light on this issue, and that it clears up the reasons why I'm not able to sell my workshop instructions any longer. Thank you all for the support and sweet comments you have been sending my way! I feel so loved!