ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 8, 1993                   TAG: 9304080446
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: S-24   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: WENDI GIBSON RICHERT STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


PRIDE OF OWNERSHIP MAKES TUPPERWARE BUSINESS THRIVE

Give Ginna Bell a minute and she'll tell you everything you want to know about Tupperware.

Give her an hour, and if you aren't convinced you should have one of those bowls in your cupboard, then you're probably beyond hope.

Because Ginna Bell, an executive manager for Tupperware who has the luxury of working out of her Botetourt County home, brings a certain enthusiasm to her work that is close to contagious.

"What I like about it," she says, hugging the floral print teddy bear she received as a bonus from Tupperware, "is that it is my own business," with the added benefit of an area Tupperware distributor to provide free outside help, motivation and new ideas to keep selling.

Not that Bell needs much motivation. She's driven by her work - showing up at parties, Tupperware in hand, to demonstrate products she believes in.

Bell has sold Tupperware for 6 1/2 years, starting out as a consultant and becoming an executive manager responsible for her own sales and the training of her own unit of consultants.

With that title came a car - a new Chevy Lumina van, paid for and insured by Tupperware for her to drive as she pleases.

Like many who work out of their homes, Bell quit an outside job to stay home with her young children. But, after six years of being a homemaker, she craved the opportunity to work again - only this time from her own house.

She learned the benefits of selling Tupperware plastic products when she had a party in her home.

As the party was ending, Bell helped the consultant carry items to her car - a car provided by Tupperware. "Learning I could be home with the kids, have fun and get a car" is what motivated her to sign up.

Countless parties, sales pitches and bonuses later, Bell couldn't be happier - with or without the car.

"When I work, I party; and how many places can you work and party at the same time?"

Bell says selling Tupperware is the perfect stay-at-home business. "You determine your own income by the number of parties you hold."

Bell tries for three to five parties a week, and earns 35 percent commission off the orders, minus the price of a hostess gift and her supplies. She says she spends about three to four hours per party, from organizing it to delivering the product.

Because she's a manager, Bell also gets a small percentage of her unit's total sales and bonuses - like the teddy bear or the money she used to take her family to Florida, the first year she was a manager.

Part of her enthusiasm for the job comes from the kinds of parties she gives - a far cry from the Tupperware get-togethers women of the '50s went to, she says. Now men order, too, and some are consultants, though Bell doesn't have any in her own consultants' unit.

And the traditional party has turned into more than an excuse to get out of the house, Bell says. Party-goers often are treated to cooking parties, where microwaveable Tupperware is used to prepare a meal in minutes.

There are auction parties, where people bid on mystery prizes. There are even two kinds of bridal showers, one in which the bride-to-be knows she'll rake in the Tupperware, and another in which she doesn't find out till the party's over and she's handed a table-full.

Bell also does stop-and-shop parties, in which she sets up her display in businesses and demonstrates it for interested customers.

The biggest challenge Bell says she faces at Tupperware is competing against herself. "You're challenged to get more [party] dates, and more recruits." That is, "within my own mind, I'm challenged."

But for Bell, the challenge is easily met. "What really drives me is that it's my own business. I know I'm my own boss. And the more I do, the more I get."

Ginna Bell can be reached at 992-4916 for more information on Tupperware.



by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB