By Stepping Down


In my 3 years as a Director with Mary Kay, I did more corporate sales and I rarely held skin care classes. I wanted to work during the day while my child was in school – not while she was at home with a babysitter. So I was continuously in front of hundreds of women at various businesses and government agencies.

 

Here's what I saw out there. there are products that move and those that don’t. Based on my experience, here’s what I would recommend to anyone starting the business, other than RUN!!

 

The Product Line in General
In general, customers are angry at the constant changes that MK introduces. As soon as they like something – it’s gone. They expect changes in the cosmetics industry, but MK is notorious for changing their lines constantly and it frustrates the consumer.

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By Queen of Section 2

 

There’s an ongoing debate out there whether or not a new Mary Kay consultant should start her career off on the right foot.... meaning with a full store. But depending on which side you’re on, for or against, the “right foot” could mean without any inventory at all.


Suffice it to say, both sides are as emphatic as the other. Some successful Mary Kay ladies have no problem maintaining inventory at profit level ($3,600 wholesale or more). Easy (lucky?) for them. Others find it difficult to turn over $600 every six months. Could it be that these ladies are living in a saturated area or are they just plain lazy?


It all boils down to how hard you want to work your business, right? Whatever that means. From the kaybot perspective, if you’re not going to go out and "sell it", then chances are you will be dusting those pretty pink and white boxes off every Saturday morning.

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Written by Lazy Gardens

 

Seeing the "Inner Circle" pins for Mary Kay awards NSDs reminded me of a C.S. Lewis speech.

Of all the passions, the passion for the Inner Ring is most skillful in making a man who is not yet a very bad man do very bad things.

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The greed exhibited by directors and national sales directors in Mary Kay Cosmetics is insane. How this company can continue to pretend to "enrich women's lives" is beyond me.

 

There is now an even bigger push than ever for recruiters to get consultants to buy the largest inventory packages in Mary Kay history. $4,800 wholesale is being promoted as "not even a full store."

 

The reality is that Mary Kay "stores" should be smaller than ever. Technology has made it so that products can be received in 3 days from Mary Kay Inc. Let the company warehouse the products, and only order them when absolutely needed. Plus, with the rapid changes in products, having smaller inventory should be a goal for all consultants and directors.

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This sure beats sending your old clothes to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. Get your Mary Kay area to "compete" for them. Encourage them to order more for a shot at getting your hand-me-downs. I have to give it to Pamela Shaw... it's an ingenious way to increase her commission check without spending a dime of her own money.

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From: Pamela Shaw
Sent: Saturday, July 12, 2008 2:17 PM
To: Area directors


1. IF YOU HAVE A SUBMISSION for SHAW AREA RED ROOKIE of the YEAR, please submit an email attachment sent to xxxxxxxx nominating your RED who has moved up in the year. Being on 08 National and SHAW Courts, accomplishments throughout the year, GENX participating, heart, go give, character will be taken into consideration. Any nomination received after Tuesday 7/15 will not be considred.

 

2. JEN and JEFF STANLEY are putting together the dvd-visuals for SHAW NIGHT-BANQUET! Please submit photos

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Written by PinkPeace

 

We often discuss Mary Kay director incomes on Pink Truth, criticizing how the numbers are presented.  I want to show lurkers and other readers how directors twist the truth to present an unrealistic picture of income potential in Mary Kay. The sad part is that, not only do they deceive prospects, they deceive themselves.

 

I would venture to say that every recruit was presented with the Applause magazine pages showing NSD incomes and top director checks. I know I always showed those pages to prospects. My national was Christine Peterson, and she was consistently in the top three of the Sapphire sales division, with monthly checks ranging from $40,000 - $75,000.

 

"Can you believe it?" I would gush. "She was a kindergarten teacher making little more than $20,000 a year. Now she makes three times that in ONE MONTH!" I would explain that this was our "legacy" in our national area. "Christine just teaches all of us to do what she does, so that we can make the same kind of money she does."

 

Then I'd point to sales directors who I personally knew, and show the prospect their paychecks. "I know Susie Smith – she's just the nicest person – and she made $8,500 last month.  And here's Janie Jones. She's a single mom with three kids, and look at her check for just working part-time: $6,000 last month. Can you get excited about that?"

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Today an article was published on the idea of lipstick sales being strong during a tough economy. It's long been said that lipstick sales survive even the hardest economic times.

 

And Mary Kay Inc. seems to support this notion:

Rhonda Shasteen, senior vice president of corporate brand strategy for Mary Kay, said lipstick sales for the first six months of 2008 compared with the first six months of 2007 were 60 percent higher.

 

“That tells me that more women are buying lipstick during these tough economic times,” Shasteen said.

 

“A woman needs something positive to brighten her day, and a $10 or $15 lipstick will do that,” she said.

Rhonda forgot to tell the media two key things:

• This sales increase was not to end users of the products. It was to consultants, and probably has little correlation to actual retail sales.
• The increase was almost certainly completely the result of the company changing the lipstick formula and packaging. Consultants were encouraged to stock up on inventory of the new formula.

I love it when corporate shows the type of dishonesty it claims only occurs occasionally within its independent sales

 

Something tells me her story is the story of many who were in Mary Kay. The lies and the deception are not unique to her, but are a very big part of the everyday life of the vast majority of Mary Kay directors. She wrote this letter to her nsd, who responded that she didn't work her business and could have made money if she tried. *sigh*

 

I am sending you this e-mail because there a lot of things I need to say and I want to make sure I say them without interruption and crying. I have been avoiding your calls and for that I apologize. I want to let you know first that I am done with Mary Kay. I want to be open and honest with you about why I have decided to walk away completely.

 

Over the past three and half years in this business I have done things that I am not proud of. I have lied about my status to cover for missing goals. I have lied to people about how much money I have made in Mary Kay, always using the highest amount, not averaging the actual amount between my 3 or 4 top classes and the ones where no one showed up. I have bothered so many unsuspecting women to have a facial or hold a party, who clearly did not want to, but I was still politely persistent.

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