Avon sales reps across Kent have helped the cosmetic’s brand reach one in three women via brochures and online.

At the top of the pile in the county is sales leader Alison Allen.

The life of an Avon lady used to be about knocking on doors and putting directories through letterboxes.

Today, sales reps for the cosmetics brand can make plenty of cash with just a laptop.

“Nowadays with Facebook you can put out details to 50 friends and instantly get £100 of orders without even leaving the house,” said Alison Allen, a senior exec sales leader who has worked for the company for 28 years.

“When I started we didn’t have that. Typically the number of hours has gone down a lot. You have some girls who just do it online and some traditional ones who put in an hour a week going door to door.”

That time flexibility is part of what has kept Alison, pictured, of Folkestone, working for the world’s fifth-largest beauty company and second largest direct-selling enterprise, which boasts Britain’s Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon as its beauty ambassador.

Being self-employed means she is her own boss, typically working about five hours a day. She admits the money she earns matches her husband’s work as a heating engineer.

She became the UK’s first ever senior exec sales leader in 2003 and has a team of 1,000 people working under her across Kent. They turned over £700,000 last year.

She said: “It’s just grown. I’m my own person and can do what I want. It started off with a bit of pocket money and now it is my own business.”

The core work of any Avon lady is being a sales rep in their area. Most fit that in around full-time jobs and Alison still has her core group of clients near her home.

Now her full-time job is looking after other reps across Kent and helping new ones get going.

She said: “They come to me for training and advice. They’ll say they are not doing it very well and ask what they can do. I just tell them my story of how I started at the same level as them.

“We wouldn’t leave them with bad morale because we wouldn’t earn and they wouldn’t earn.”

Alison’s career at Avon began with a simple knock on the door. Sitting at home in Hawkinge, aged 18, she got up to find her former Avon lady was on the hunt for a replacement. She agreed to take over and has never looked back.

“If you don’t like knocking on doors and asking people, then unless you can get people on the internet, it’s not really the job for you..." - Avon sales leader Alison Allen

Even when she stopped work for the birth of her two children, she still sold Avon products to friends and family. After her daughter was born, she told her manager she would like to earn a bit more and began helping find sales reps as a recruiter.

Alison, 43, of Holywell Avenue, said: “Every rep I helped to get, I got £10. I thought I’d help her get a few more and get £10 to £20 a week and that would do fine.”

Alison proved to be a natural in the role, and was made a sales leader before taking on her current role. Last year she was among the top eight sales leaders in the country and earned herself a holiday to Rome paid for by Avon. But she admits the job is not for everyone.

She said: “You’re not going to get it quickly. I started out slowly and didn’t have a goal. I built the business up.

“If you don’t like knocking on doors and asking people, then unless you can get people on the internet, it’s not really the job for you. You do need to be able to talk to anyone.

“One of the best things about going out and getting new reps is knocking on a door and you just don’t know who’s behind it.”