YOU probably wouldn’t expect a former male Knutsford town councillor to be selling beauty treatments door to door.

But that’s exactly what is happening, and he is making a pretty good job of doing it.

David Heffernan, 39, of Shaw Drive, used to spend his time discussing the finer details of Knutsford at town council meetings, but is now concentrating on selling lipstick and mascara to the women of the north west.

In an industry traditionally dominated by working mums, new figures report a growing trend for the Avon man.

Avon men now represent 5.3 per cent of the Avon UK Representative army – an increase from 4.1 per cent in 2010.

When David was made redundant from his job in insurance in March 2011, he had more than 50 job interviews but was unlucky in all of them. His wife Emma was an Avon sales rep and asked him to help her out.

After six months knocking on door to door, the couple were managing 70 other representatives from all over the UK, including Liverpool, Bristol, Manchester and Edinburgh.

“On the retail side of things they raise an eyebrow as I’m selling something I don’t really understand, but I use that naiviety to my advantage and people seem to like that,” he said.

“Men are especially confident in buying from Avon when they are being sold to by another man, but interestingly, are not necessarily buying products for themselves but for their wives.

“With the retail side of things it was making a nice little amount of money to pay the bills and get through the difficult period we were going through.

“But with the leadership team we are now in charge of our forecast is between £36,000 and £45,000 a year which is good after the first year.

“Once you have got people selling on your behalf you’ve got money going into your account.”

The success has meant David and Emma have been named in the top seven per cent nationally for sales. This has all come as David has battled a neuro-muscular disorder.

“When I first started I was like a man possessed,” David added.

“Because of my illness I wanted to make sure if anything happened to me health-wise then my family would be safe financially.”