Mary Kay Encourages Fraud
Written by Raisinberry
A revelation of the real business plan of Mary Kay Cosmetics… The fact that Mary Kay takes pains to invent the term “dual marketing” to disguise the business model tells you that even Mary Kay is embarrassed about being a multi-level “direct seller.”
Multi-levels or pyramid marketing scares off the majority of right thinking Americans, and rightly so. Pyramid schemes rely on the recruitment of people for income gains over the sale of the product. In fact the sale of the product is secondary if “going to the top” is your goal.
Think about your NSDs. They come into town with the primary function of Guest Events, and rarely do “free” workshops that focus on training Directors or teaching selling. Our training is supposed to be free, yet rarely is, at that level. Some require “qualifying” to be in their “space” for training. Advanced training is given only to those who have recruited and are at a higher “level”.
The consultant that wants to just sell better is a cast-off, relegated to purchasing CDs to learn on her own if she can find any on the art of selling. Rarely is salesmanship “inspected” by any Director working with individual consultants. Directors know that Unit production comes from new recruits, not improving the sales ability of the lowly independent beauty consultant by attending her classes, observing and offering suggestions. That’s just too much work for so little gain.
We are taught in Mary Kay to “inspect what you expect”. The idea is that if you take time to note or recognize any area of the business, it will become more developed. Funny how Mary Kay has NEVER “inspected” retail sales.
Every seminar year, a little trinket is given out by corporate for an intermediate level of recruiting. You need something like 7 people who have each placed a $600 wholesale order, to win it. There is no intermediate recognition for retail sales on the individual level. Since 7 is just under 1/3 of the National Court of Sharing (a name change that pretends to hide MK’s recruitment focus), 1/3 of the National Court of Sales would be $12,000 retail. Why is there trinket for those who have attained just under $12,000 in REAL sales?
The fact that Mary Kay does not want to legitimize the court of sales and the Unit Clubs by requiring Retail Summary Sheets along with copies of sales tickets is a glaring admission that they don’t really want to know. If it was discovered that the vast majority of product purchased remains on consultant shelves until it becomes obsolete, Mary Kay would be a corporate laughing stock, and expose the truth of MK’s pyramid.
It has been said that people can fake their summaries and tickets, so why bother? But, the company will honor fake Unit Clubs calling them “Circles of Achievement, and Circle of Excellence” when the actual figures used, represent only the doubling of wholesale orders, bonuses and PCP orders, with no regard for retail sales at all.
A legitimate business would record actual sales and award for actual achievement with retail customers. New “hires” would represent the need for new sales personnel because an area needed them. A legitimate business would not make an attempt to turn every customer into a “franchisee”, creating their own competition. A legitimate business would not send mixed signals that from a Corporate standpoint, inventory is optional, while telling sales leadership that all their recognition depends on how many “stars” they have, how many issues they can use to create orders, how many monthly ordering contests they can run, etc.
A legitimate company would back up their sales force with adequate training, and consistent messages that promote the long term well being of the sales force in its entirety, “inspecting” to face the TRUTH of what is the result of their marketing plan.
Seminar is a gathering of thousands of consultants and Directors, celebrating fraud. The company pretends to be rewarding the retail sales figures of thousands of units with no legitimate inspection of that fact at all. The consultants will be honored at their individual area nights, standing up in Top Tens with no “inspected” retail whatsoever, indoctrinating them into the “look the only way” club. It’s pretense and everyone, except new recruits, knows it. It’s not real, and never was. Much the way Mary Kay pretends to be a legitimate business and not a pyramid scheme, Seminar reflects that hypocrisy. Sales are fake, Recruits are real*.
Recruits are accounted for. They physically exist, with their 600 wholesales attached and confirmed. A towering pyramid must have its base “inspected” on a regular basis, or it crumbles and falls… and trendy little trinkets being given away by corporate for recruiting acknowledges the only achievement that Mary Kay Corporation must confirm and “inspect”, the influx of new drones that metamorphoses other drones into hamsters. Salesmanship? Profitability of the sales force? Actual gross retail sales recognized and rewarded? Nope… nobody wants that inspection headache when it is so much easier to pretend.
*acknowledging an existent social security number
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Tags: dual marketing, pyramid scheme
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Comments (11)
Punkedbypink
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I remember when I was recognized for being top in sales, when I hadn’t sold hardly anything. I think MK should get out their dictionaries and read the difference between ordering and selling. I guess that award should have been awarded to MKC. They were the only ones who “sold” anything!
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ElleBee
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I remember my SD (now an NSD) telling me that the TRAINING was free, the charge was to help pay for the room. Uhm…okay.
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Punkedbypink
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Agree! The only way the training would be free, is to not become a consultant and remain an eternal guest! But then again who would want to torture themselves doing that?
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raisinberry
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Well, I guess the point is this: Mary Kay has no way on earth to track retail sales? Really? Seriously? In the 21st century…NOBODY can figure out how to honor retail selling, legitimately???
If your NSD or Sales Director looks you in the face and gives you some story about why only wholesale is counted…I hope you have the sense to ask, ” Gee, how does every OTHER retail outlet or corporation in THE WORLD, do it??”
Its as simple as logging an online sales ticket. You might get some fakes, but soon, they would die out, because the time it would take to invent people and orders would slowly convict just about anyone.
All they would need to do is tie recognition to submission of paperwork until the sales force is retrained that reporting is mandatory. Spot checks /calls to the customer, would verify and also trouble shoot- as customer service. Not tough. And also NOT DONE.
They do NOT want to know. They live in denial and pretense. Probably 10 years ago Tom Whatley -at a Directors training class- told us the average skin care class held in a month, per consultant in the US was….wait for it….
ONE.
After 50 years, count the number of women on the Court of Sales, this Seminar Year. Decades of consultants and Directors building building building their businesses…Just building away…Sooo wouldn’t you expect there to be tens of thousands on the court?? Wouldn’t Seminar be growing larger and larger from the success of IBC’s?
Get BRAVE dear reader. At your next Monday Night Success meeting…risk the rubber chicken. Tell the truth.
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Marie
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Good points — like many a comment starts with “They can put a man on the moon, yet — Mary Kay can’t track retail sales.” I really like “Risk the Rubber Chicken”. That’s going to be my new mantra when I need a shot of courage!
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gotheart
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SD make such a great income why do they need to collect for room rent?
Dalene White was my NSD.
Save your SD commission checks and live off your sells, is what she preached.
it all starts with the sell. But she left out, in order to recruit.
The Weekly Summary Sheet name was change to The Weekly Accomplishment Sheet. LOL. I know. IBC is under the assumption that her SD is keeping track of her sells! NOT! Her SD is totaling her sells so she will know when the IBC is ready to place her next order so she, SD , can project her monthly production. Or If the order didn’t go in the SD can put her thumb on the IBC, with “I am going to give you a special challenge”, to better coax her into placing that order!
Rena taught this in my New SD training. Even up to that point I was clueless about that. Then is when I reflected back to how my SD treated me, ya know? and I saw it. I was a IBC for 13 years before I HAD to became a SD, because of the burden of ongoing expenses the company pressed us with. (no not a gun to my head, worse, 13 years of invested life) which took me two blakin years of my life cuz I did it the impossible way! The last month of DIQ, which was Dec. oooof course, I broke down and did it the way I was “all DIQ’s do it” encouraged to. I made becoming a SD look rough. The other SD that were building their area, phoned me to” sign up your cousins”. They can return their kits after you’ve reached becoming a SD. They must of had a SD pow wow.. ….nuff nuff nuff
I’d kept track of the sell and wrote on their WSS with praises and tips, then handed the sheets back at the next meeting. I am so embarrassed, but not in a shameful way.
I have so much more I’d like to say on this topic.
But I have spent my allotted time I give me to talk about this for my day.
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KatieRPowell
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I was just lurking on the MK facebook page and it makes me really sad to see how many people are saying that they just signed up to be IBCs. I want to tell them to run away as fast as they can!! I can only hope that they get out before they get in too deep.
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Heather
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Why didn’t I read this last week…crap!!!!
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Lazy Gardens
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Heather – If you signed up last week, just send the starter kit back. As long as the products are unopened you can get a refund.
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Mary
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I was in MK for only a short time.I remember feeling like no matter how hard I tried to please it wasn’t good enough.Made matters worse my NSD was always telling me to host more parties when I was working crazy hours of anywhere from 12-14 hr days while she was a stay at home grandma. Finally I had it,I got home from work after working 12hrs I called MaryKay and told them I was done,Done,DOne,DON,DONE with the pressure of not feeling respected.They told me they had to call my NSD and let her know so she could talk it out with me……really? Did they think that done meant I wanted to fall asleep at the wheel? Anyway she called….and called….and called…..and called…and called for the whole time I went to bed to SLEEP ! It gets better ! She then tried telling me that what I was feeling was normal and that she would give me info booklet on how to manage my time……REALLY ? I then went through all the steps to return all my products…….it took 4 1/2 months and I was calling them about it every week….oh we r working on it….BullShit !
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enorth
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“she would give me info booklet on how to manage my time”
It’s always YOUR fault
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