Handbook INDEX This Guide was created to outline Imperial Candles policies, procedures and guidelines. Also resources available to you and information that you need to know. We would love to hear your ideas so please share with us your thoughts, report any issues so we can improve your experience and our business. To discover how to launch your business and make sales complete the Ambassador Success Guide and Training. To learn everything about Imperial Candles products and product procedures read the Product Knowledge Guide. CONTENTS BUSINESS PROFESSIONALISM GUIDELINES PAGE 3 YOUR SELF EMPLOYMENT PAGE 6 INFORMATION SECURITY & NON-DISCLOSURE PAGE 6 YOUR CUSTOMERS CONTACT INFORMATION PAGE 6 YOUR ONLINE E-STORE PAGE 7 THE REP STORE PAGE 7 YOUR COMMISSIONS PAGE 8 PAYPAL ACCOUNT PAGE 8 PAYMENTS TO YOU PAGE 9 MINIMUM SALES QUOTA PAGE 9 PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE PAGE 11 MEDIA ENQUIRIES PAGE 11 THE IC DIAMOND PROGRAMME PAGE 12 RESOURCES PAGE 14
Business Professionalism GUIDELINES As we aim to provide the best products and services for our customers, we expect all our representatives to be respectful and to act in a professional manner. Please follow our Business Professionalism Guidelines when carrying out Imperial Candles business. 1. DO NOT SPAM POTENTIAL/CURRENT CUSTOMERS: Although we understand that you have the best intentions in mind please consider how the customers might be feeling when she/he receives multiple messages from different Ambassadors minutes after they commented on the official Facebook page. A customer that is bombarded with messages from random people will be very unlikely to purchase from you or the brand altogether, which defeats the initial purpose. It s important to keep in contact with your own leads, customers and prospects to keep them up to date and keep in front of mind, but please do not use leads from our main Facebook page. 2. NOT ALLOWED TO PROMOTE SIMILAR BRANDS: As stipulated in our Terms and Conditions, as an Official Ambassador of Imperial Candles, you are not allowed to conduct business if you promote or sell similar products (candles, bath bombs, bath salts, body scrubs). Please make sure not to advertise a different product on the same social media page or group, as this can lead to your account being suspended. 3. DO NOT OFFER PRODUCTS FROM OTHER BRANDS AS INCENTIVES: Running giveaways or contests should represent a way of promoting your business as an Imperial Candles Ambassador. Therefore, please ensure that no other products are offered as prizes during these competitions. IMPORTANT NOTE: This rule applies also the other way around. It is strictly prohibited to use Imperial Candles products as a marketing strategy when advertising your own or different similar brand. 3
4. TAKE EXTRA CARE IN CHOOSING A NAME: When you name your store or your social media pages please be informed that the following examples are NOT allowed: Official Imperial Candles, Imperial Candles, Imperial Candles UK, Imperial Ambassador, ImperialCandles, ImperialCandle or any other derivate of our trademarks that may confuse customers in believing that your page is the official one. 5. DO NOT USE OUR OFFICIAL LOGOS WITHOUT PRIOR CONSENT: The Imperial Candles logos may be used in promotional and informational materials, only after approved directly by Imperial Candles Limited. Once you have read the usage guidelines found in your Training Centre in the back office you can send any artwork material to support@imperialcandles.co.uk for approval. 6. HIGHLIGHT THAT YOU ARE A REPRESENTATIVE OF IMPERIAL CANDLES: You should ALWAYS make it very clear that you are an Imperial Candles representative. If you decide to design your own brochure or create a store on E-Bay it is mandatory to mention your status as an Imperial Ambassador. You will also need to submit to us any brochures or flyers for approval. Please be advised that we always communicate any updates via newsletter and in the NEWS section so it is important to check this regularly. 7. DO NOT OFFER FALSE INFORMATION: If you are faced with a question you feel you don t know the correct answer to please don t hesitate to contact your mentor directly. 8. JEWELLERY SWAP: We would recommend not to swap jewellery found inside our products with jewellery originating from a different company. However, if you or your customers want to organise a swap it should ALWAYS be mentioned if the jewel in question was found inside an Imperial Candles product or not. 9. BAD-MOUTHING THE COMPANY: Please be advised that we have a ZERO tolerance policy for any defamatory or insulting behaviour towards the Imperial Candles brand as stipulated in our terms and conditions. 4
10. ADVERTISING OLD PRODUCTS: It is important to always check the website and ensure you know which items are currently in stock. We do not advise promoting or advertising products/collections that have been discontinued. 11. PORTRAYING YOURSELF AS AN IMPERIAL CANDLES EMPLOYEE: Pretending to be someone you are not and lying about your identity is totally prohibited. This also is the case with misinforming others representatives. Our aim is to create a community of Ambassadors that can help and respect each other. 12. SLANDERING OTHER BRANDS TO GAIN BUSINESS: Please refrain from making defamatory statements about other companies in order to put our brand in a good light. Don t compare our products with similar brands. If a customer asks, you should mention that we do our best to ensure the highest quality and that we hand make our products using the finest materials. We also strive to use only natural ingredients. As a company, we pride ourselves in providing products that have not been tested on animals, and we make sure that our suppliers follow the same ideology. 13. PLAYING UP THE SYSTEM: ALWAYS make sure that you are logged into your rep account in order to benefit from the automatic 20% discount. This is also the case if you need to place an order for your customers. Please note that any order purchased with your payment details/email address cannot be considered a sale and you won t receive commission for this. We are afraid that we will not be able to rectify this afterwards and no exceptions will be made. Also, please be advised that for products or bundles already on sale a 20% discount will not apply. Please understand that this these type of offers are designed for your customers, to provide them with an incentive. IMPORTANT: We would kindly request to be notified if you come across of any known or suspected unauthorised uses of the Ambassadors account or any known or suspected breach of the terms and conditions or the code of business conduct. Please understand that this is very important for protecting the image of the brand as well as the reputation of our Imperial Ambassadors. 5
14. COMMENTING ON SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS AS AN AMBASSADOR: Please do not comment on Social Media or post anything using your business accounts that could potentially harm yours and our reputation. Such as offensive images, comments, political or religious views. Imperial Candles reserves the right to evaluate each case on a case-by-case basis. If an Ambassador proves to be in direct violation of any of these policies, depending on the gravity of the situation, they will either receive a warning or their account will be terminated. TAX RETURNS Your SELF EMPLOYMENT As an Imperial Candles Ambassador, you are working as a self-employed consultant. You are not an employee of Imperial Candles. YOU WILL NEED TO REGISTER WITH HMRC AS SELF EMPLOYED. Please be advised that the sales figures do NOT count towards the Annual Tax Return and only your actual personal Earnings are important. Your earnings are displayed in the "Earnings" section which is separate from your "My Sales Summary". You can also add all the commission payments from that we have issued to be able to fill your Tax Return. Our advice to you is to appoint an accountant as soon as you can. Your accountant will advise you on how to register with HMRC and will submit your tax returns for you. You are not an agent or employee of the Company and will not be treated as an employee for any employee benefits. You also agree that you cannot bind the Company to any obligation. 6
INFORMATION SECURITY & NON-DISCLOSURE The security and success of our representatives are very important to us. We also have to protect our company s security by identifying individuals who choose to join our team with malicious intentions (i.e., information gathering for our competition, etc.). For this reason, we have security protocols and tracking technologies in place to reveal this type of behaviour. The moment you apply and became an Imperial Candle Representative, you also agreed to a non-disclosure agreement that holds you personally liable for any trade secrets, private company information, logo use, marketing strategies and much more. This non-disclosure agreement has been put in place because of individuals that choose to be part of this program with malicious intent and having this will allow us as a business to hold them personally and legally liable for their action. We would also appreciate if you obverse any suspicious behaviour from any of our representatives, please do report it to us. YOUR CUSTOMER S CONTACT INFORMATION Any information that you gather from your customers is confidential. This will include: FULL NAMES ADDRESS PHONE NUMBERS EMAIL ADDRESSES BANK DETAILS If the customer agrees, you can keep in contact with information about Imperial Candles products and parties. You can not use the information for any other purposes. Under Data Protection, you CAN NOT give the details to any other party. Always keep any confidential information in a safe place and destroy this type of information when you no longer need it. It is often advisable to shred or otherwise destroy the documents to prevent people from retrieving information from your bins. 7
Your e-store will always display our latest products and content. You do not have to worry about your website, think about this as your most important tool to your personal success. The website will be maintained by our in-house programmers and designers so you can focus on your business. The Back Office is always at your disposal containing all the necessary materials and training to grow your business. We would recommend checking this regularly. IMPORTANT NOTES Everything on your e-store is automatic (products, shipping charges, confirmation/dispatch emails, coupons) The price displayed on the website is the customer price and cannot be altered in any way and comes as default. When you are logged in as a representative, your Rep pricing is shown All orders are shipped directly from our warehouse. There will be NO administration fee. Your website maintenance and software will be provided for free. THE REP STORE Your ONLINE E-STORE The Rep Store was created especially for IC Ambassadors to get access to VIP products at discounted prices. You will be able to use to use these products to promote your business. In effort to keep the price of these products as low as possible, no sales commission is available when they are purchased. This allows us to provide a better quality product and be more aggressive with prices for the tools you need to be successful. Store coupons will not work for rep store items. You can only see this area if you are logged in your Rep Account. Delivery will vary between 3-5 working days. New products will be added on a regular basis 8
As an Imperial Ambassador, you earn up to 25% commission on all sales and you get a 20% discount on all personal purchases. Your commission is calculated after the deduction of all taxes, VAT, and shipping. IMPORTANT NOTE: All store purchases are processed by credit card or PayPal, both of which charge a fee to process the payment. A 2% payment-processing fee is deducted from the invoice subtotal before commissions are calculated and paid (exact percentages are shown below). The payment-processing fee is divided proportionately between the company and you. Ambassadors do not receive commissions on their own purchases The 20% personal discount does not apply to products on sale No commissions will be paid for personal purchases, as 20% discount will be applied at checkout when logged in into your account. IMPORTANT NOTE: Please note that any order placed with your payment details/email address cannot be considered a sale and you won't be able to receive a commission for this. If you have to purchase the product yourself for your client, you have to login into your Rep Account and benefit from the 20% automatic discount. YOU WILL NEED A PAYPAL ACCOUNT You will need a PayPal account in order for us to pay your commissions to you. If you don t have a PayPal account: 1. Visit the PayPal website www.paypal.com 2. Click "Sign Up for Free". Your COMMISSIONS 3. Enter your email address and create a password. 4. Fill out the form with your personal information. 5. Enter your bank account information. 6. Confirm your email address to verify your account. 7. Update your PayPal details in your profile. 9
PAYMENTS TO YOU All payments will be made straight to the PayPal account provided by you on the 1 st of every month. Please note that it is important to provide us with your PayPal email address in order for us to offer your commission. This can be added/updated by accessing your profile information in the Back Office. If the necessary details are not provided by the 1 st of the month, any unpaid commission exceeding the 10 mark will be offered the following month. MINIMUM SALES QUOTA Starting with the 3rd month of registering as an Ambassador there will be a monthly minimum quota of 100 required. If you are unable to reach this target through sales, you are able to do so through personal purchases using your Rep Account. Alternatively, your account will be closed. If you wish to calculate your actual Minimum Quota you can do this by adding your Personal Purchases (displayed in the Purchase History tab) and your current sales (shown in the My sales section) for the current month. Please note your start date is the 1 st of the current month of your registration. Therefore when we calculate your monthly quota this starts from the 1 st of the month until the last day of the month. PLEASE NOTE: Orders placed by your customers will only show under My Sales section once the order has been dispatched from our warehouse. 10
Public Liability INSURANCE Any business that has interaction with members of the public should have Public Liability Insurance. As you will be going into people s houses and properties you need Public Liability Insurance to protect you from the unlikely event a claim is made against you for damage or injury. It s fairly inexpensive and you should shop around for the best quotation. You should aim to get 2M cover as a minimum. If you are attending events and fairs, it is likely that you ll need to show your insurance certificate to the organisers. MEDIA AND MEDIA ENQUIRIES If a member of the press or media contacts you about Imperial Candles or your Ambassador business, you must contact head office before you respond or disclose any information. Additionally, before contacting the media or distributing any form of press release that includes information about Imperial Candles, its products or the opportunity, you must get it signed off by head office. 11
IC DIAMOND PROGRAMME FAQ WHEN DO MY REWARD COUPONS EXPIRE? The coupon will be available for 60 days from the issue date. HOW CAN I USE MY COUPON? Within the IC DIAMOND Program, there are 2 types of vouchers that will be offered. The ones indicating rep store are only valid with products purchased directly from the REP STORE: https://www.imperialcandles.co.uk/rep-store The codes mentioning retail products only applies to items available on the Imperial Candles website: https://www.imperialcandles.co.uk/shop Please note that the store credit coupons cannot be used in conjunction and only one per order can be applied. WHEN WILL I RECEIVE MY REWARD? All rewards will be offered within 7 working days (Monday-Friday). Coupons will be sent via email and therefore please ensure to check your spam/trash folder as well. ARE PERSONAL SALES CONSIDERED WITH THE IC DIAMOND PROGRAM? No, your rank and reward are determined only by the sales your rep store generates. 13