do i need an advisor

I sometimes ask my team to write a Thermomix Advisor Testimonial of what it’s like being an Advisor on my team. Usually, they are short, but Cheryl wrote this. It was too good not to share in its entirety.

Thanks to Cheryl Carman for such an honest review.

My TM Advisor Testimonial

I can hardly believe it’s just over a year since I finished my training and was let loose on friends and family, a new TM5 by my side. And what a year it’s been!

I sold my first Thermomix on the first day of my 90-days program to my brother-in-law, a total skeptic who was completely won over once he took part in the demo. I can scarcely remember experiencing such an adrenaline rush as in that first demo and my absolute amazement and delight when my brother-in-law bought one.

Since then, there have been some high highs and some low lows. Don’t be fooled into thinking the role is a walk in the park. If you love Thermomix, you’ll probably think it sells itself. I wish!

It actually requires a lot of hard work. As well as constantly having to generate new demos, doing the demos, welcome visits, new user and wish list visits, there are weekly team meetings to attend, Open Days with any of your new recruits, admin tasks and, very importantly, maintaining contact with all your customers to keep them up-to-date with TM developments and happy.

In my experience, every demo is different- and that is one of the things that, while challenging, I have to say, I love.

To me, as a retired teacher who always worked in London state secondary schools, the demo is a cross between a lesson (and not always an easy one), playing a part on stage (I have done that too, in another life) and a sometimes slightly out-of-control party. Some are more one thing than the other, but everyone I’ve demonstrated to over the year, apart from 2 people, has been absolutely wowed by the TM5. And that feels brilliant every time.

Why don’t they all purchase, then? Well, that’s another story. You’ll learn more if you train and as you become more experienced, but it can be very frustrating, especially at first.

One of the great things though has been all of the new people I’ve got to know. First off, the really lovely other advisors you meet as part of your team and in others. There is always someone to offer you help or at least a listening ear.

I am a reluctant cook, to say the least, and there are a few like me who become advisors, who cook because they have to, but many more who LOVE cooking and are extremely accomplished.  We, of course, have mutual respect and I’ve learned a lot along the way. It perfectly illustrates that wherever you stand in relation to cooking, TM5 can be an absolute joy to own. I can never love mine enough!

Then, there are all the people you demonstrate to. Every advisor has their story. Mine includes an absolutely joyous occasion with a group of Madeiran and Portuguese people. No one has bought yet from that demo, but what a fantastically warm and enlivening three hours I spent with them.

Another extraordinary experience for me was showing the Thermomix to a group of elderly people in sheltered housing. I would not easily have come into contact with them, certainly not for a 2-and-a-half-hour cooking demo.

Some fell asleep, most couldn’t read the small print in the Guest Questionaire and hardly anyone had the appetite for the food we cooked. But guess what? One lady, full of joix de vivre but with early-stage Alzheimer’s, bought a Thermomix there and then because she could see how it might help her retain some independence in the kitchen while being wheelchair-bound. I was absolutely thrilled.

What else can I tell you?  I’m by no means the most successful advisor in terms of sales and my commission is certainly not going to buy me another London home- or even garage space. But that’s fine. I have a little pot of money after a year which is gradually accruing and, while my friends who’ve seen my demonstrations tell me I’m “to the Manor born” as an advisor, there is no doubt that, at times, the role has also taken me quite a long way out of my comfort zone.

Finally, my advice would be this. Once you’ve seen a demo, sign up for an Open Day. Go, find out more, and ask lots of questions. Consider doing what I did by attending a TM cooking class so that you can talk to other advisors. I think you’ll know if you want to give it a go, if not now, then perhaps in the future. If you do decide to take the plunge, I wish you very good luck.

You may well become an advisor who flies and, with the proceeds from your Thermomix business, starts to save for that outlandishly expensive London home- or whatever else it is that floats your boat.  Alternatively, you may just be like me, still quietly in the game. Either way, it could be you in a year or so’s time, reflecting on your unique experiences as a Thermomix advisor and writing your own testimonial for your team leader’s website.

Note: After 8 years as an Advisor Cheryl recently stepped down as an Advisor in May 2023. But in her time, she has earned the Thermomix TM5, Thermomix TM6, and a Thermomix Noir Thermomix TM6, Thermomix Friend, as well as countless second bowls, accessories and incentives PLUS commission. But for me, as her Team leader, it is not the commission or the incentives that I recall the most, it’s the friendship we have developed. Cheryl was an intergral part of my team for many years and I loved meeting and catching up with her over a coffee and a cake.