Shh! Don’t Tell Consultants. They Might Wait to Order.
The key to success as a director in Mary Kay is to suck every last bit of ordering out of consultants. So when changes are coming, directors don’t tell consultants until the last minute. Why? They’re hoping you might place an order for the old stuff, and then you’ll have to order again when the new stuff comes out. Clever, ‘eh?
One of many sad truths in Mary Kay is that the company and its representatives like to withhold information from consultants as long as possible. Why? We want them to order now. It helps our commission checks now. If we tell them about an upcoming special, they may wait to order, and that is bad for us. Here it is, straight from a sales director:
Be reaaaaal careful about releasing this info to consultants TOO EARLY–THEY WILL HOLD ORDERS! You never want to encourage order-holding, something else could happen between now and then and they don’t order!
Yes, after 45 years in the business, Mary Kay knows exactly when to announce product changes and specials to get the most ordering out of consultants. Why do you think they wanted to wait to announce the color line changes? To get the most orders for the old stuff out of consultants… then when the new stuff comes out, the consultants order again so that they have the products shown in the catalog.
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Tags: hold order, new products, product changes
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Comments (7)
bellaone
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This was really evident when the switch from the platinum to the black compacts came about, as well as the switch from the platinum lipstick tubes to the black. The platinum ones, as I recall, did NOT fit into the black compacts, and the lipsticks changed first.
With the changeout that’s when the quality took a nose dive. The mineral items just aren’t as good as the others. As well, the way MK did the whole changeover thing didn’t sit right with me. There were WAY too many consultants who had just purchased a ton of platinum inventory, only to be told the entire line was changing.
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Keyta
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It is the MK way of making money. I agree the older eye colors are much better than the mineral colors.
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gotheart
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I remember at scaminar,when mary kay the woman would address a sd only class.She would tell us never to hold an order for next months production. Ya know like if ya just squeaked by and the order ya held would help towards next month production? She’d say, because Johnny may need a new pair of shoes and your ibc will change her mind about ordering and purchase the shoes.
She would say never hold an order of yours or a unit member.
Now I see more clearly she was saying. Doesn’t matter that kids don’t have new shoes. Don’t hold up an order.
Sincerely.
gotheart
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MLM Radar Detector
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Oh it’s even worse than you describe. MK not only never cared about Johnny, she didn’t care care about you or your IBC either. All she cared about was your money in her hands. MK is dead and buried now, but the company hasn’t changed.
Your IBC most likely won’t decide Johnny needs new shoes between 11pm on the 31st and 8am on the 1st.
You could have waited until 8am on the 1st to place that order and started the new month strong. But if you place that order before midnight on the 31st, you’ve got to come up with that much MORE “production” the following month. MK wins.
AND if you place that order at 8am on the 1st, your IBC gets three full months of “active consultant” ordering discount. But if you place that order before midnight on the 31st, your IBC only gets her discount for two months plus an hour. That means her next order has to be 30 days sooner. MK wins again.
Talk about corrupt.
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nopinkbubble
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Sadly, you are all speaking the truth! I was considered the trouble maker in our area – I always shared my “director memo of secrets” in the very next newsletter! I did not like being STUCK with product and did not want my ladies to be either! It was SO unethical. I ofter wondered how some directors could sleep, bringing in a $3000 order or even smaller in June KNOWING in 15 days EVERYTHING would be obsolete!! And those starter kits, on Sept 14 they send out expired Look books! It is so much more relaxing knowing the end of the month is just the end of the month. Yes, corruption at it’s best. Keep up the informative journalism,
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TheRose
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I’ve never done MK, so maybe this is a stupid question, but who cares what color the packaging is? When I buy lipstick I care what color the product is, not the tube itself. This all seems so silly to me.
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MLM Radar Detector
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True enough, when you’re standing in a store (basement, spare room…) looking at shelves stocked with merchandise. You pick what you want, and you don’t care about the package color.
But when you’re a party guest at your girlfriend’s home, you’re not going to see shelves full of merchandise. You’re going to see some samples, a Look Book, and whatever the consultant put in her car trunk. You’ll see only certain types of packages with certain color names.
So you decide, “I want the Plum Gloss and Wild Berry lipsticks, the Vanilla hand lotion, the refillable modular eyecolor tray with Sapphire, Jade, Redwood and Sweet Cream, and I want another refill for my compact with Warm Honey powder.”
Then your consultant says:
“I have the Warm Honey powder; but the new refill size doesn’t fit your old holder so you’ll need a new holder the latch on the old one was getting worn anyway.
“And I do have the Plum Gloss and Wild Berry lipsticks; they’re in different packages and the colors are called Royal Sheen and Watermelon but look they’re really the same colors.
“I also have the refillable eyecolor tray with three of those four colors; I’ll have to order the Redwood insert, unless you want this Firebird insert which is also the same color but it doesn’t fit the holder; look it’s brand new I only bought it three weeks ago it just fits in the old holder and no I can’t get the other three colors in the old holder anymore but I’ll give you a discount on the price.
“And I have plenty of the new Vanilla hand cream but not in the 2.5 ounce size that you keep in your purse; that’s been discontinued but I can sell you the old Almond hand cream in the 2.5 ounce size doesn’t it smell nice?”
And THAT’S the problem with MK’s all-too-frequent product changes.
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