Getting New Mary Kay Customers: It's Not as Easy as They Make It Sound

Does anybody feel funny about the imaginary "free gift" for the month that just happens to be what she checked off as wanting?

Once again, this is supposed to be one of those little white lies that is so harmless...until you warm book two friends who both got the "free gift" for October and it wasn't the same.

Will that happened more than once? No probably not...but by lying about your "free gift", you forget what it was if she were to call you back! Better find her profile QUICK cause you will always have a problem re-telling something to someone when it isn't true.

And I will add, once someone knows you are a liar...do they ever trust you again?

Yet as usual, MK Leaders have no problem teaching you to your face, how useful lying is.

[quote]Look at #6 – Whatever she checked that she wants or is interested in – then call her later and tell her “The free gift for January is ________ (what she checked) – when you have a makeover and share it with 2 friends – how great is that? It is just the product you wanted!!!”[/quote]

So you streeeetch the truth to get in front of her and her friends.

And lurkers, add up the cost of those 130 new "faces": time to stalk and interview enough women to get 10 cards, cost of the Look Book for them, cost of the free samples for them, time it takes to prep for the sales pitches (they are NOT parties!), give the sales pitches, the "free" product ... what did those "faces".

And dammit, I am not a body part! If woman object to being called a c*nt, a "piece of tail" or other body part, why is "faces" acceptable? It's demeaning and it's untruthful. What we really are to Mary Kay is "wallets".

:s So let me see if I get this straight. We are talking going out to get cold new client leads
[quote]When you see a sharp woman [/quote] (BTW - define "sharp" please - I thought we were never to prejudge! )

[quote]Even if you get all 10 of those weekly profile cards filled out. And how many women do you think really want to fill those out?[/quote]
Exactly!!
I had a difficult enough (if not impossible) time while out "warm chattering" getting a woman to take 1 minute to write down her name and phone number on the two part business card let alone ever getting someone to take the time to fill out a complete profile.

The assessment is correct. Numbers wise this would not be near enough even in ideal situations to grow a thriving customer base. The time and expense the IBC will put out just to accomplish this is not cost effective and would most likely nullify any potential profit.

She has had this on her unitnet site for years. I never liked the idea of shoving the profile in front of strange women to complete. I would refuse to do it so I could never ask someone else to do it.

Lazy - I think you make a great observation about objectification! MK teaches you to look at people as nothing more than a potential recruit/customer which = $. (Hmmm - wasn't it Mary Kay herself who taught us to take the dollar signs out of our eyes??? ) Those you interact with are no longer a special human being to be treated as such, just a means to your end.

After being out quite a while now, I think that is what bothers me the most. It is the same in all MLM's too, not just MK.

This is as old as the hills. I know I've seen this before, or something very close. If the IBC is lucky enough to get a name and address for the Look Book even, she will be lucky if she gets an order for a lip gloss. Then she will only have to drive 10 miles to deliver it and pick up her check. She has to meet up with this lady again to keep trying to get more out of her. What a waste of time.

I am curious, what "sharp" woman is going to buy the whole line about what do you like in 32 pages, free gift etc??

And why is this "sharp woman" at first now just a "face"?

The other things that never gets mentioned in the warm stalking scenario's, is that without a friend to friend referal, you are "warm stalking" a person who may look good, but you have no earthly idea what her deal is.

I have ended up in places I NEVER want to go again, just cause Miss Borderline Personality Disorder could afford a could cut and color.

Raisen, isn't that the truth. There are some scary women in this world. I wouldn't want to go back to some of the places I've been either just to sell a lipstick.

Raisin,
I totally agree! I shutter when the places I remember walking into because they were "sharp". I truly can't go there in my mind somedays...creeps me out!
I actually tried doing this once, the woman was very defensive cuz she didn't want to give out personal info to a stranger. I don't blame her! Its one thing asking for a name, but personal info....totally unprofessional in my book :s

MK get your head on straight

oh, gads, this is the WORSE memory for me about MK,the "warm chatter", even more so than the "glamor class" for transvestites Finding ten women who would even accept a lipstick sample took hours, if it ever happened at all, and I felt so dirty, so ashamed to do so, but my SD SWORE to me that this is how she "arrived"! :s

Kenpomom, your SD "arrived" because she recruited you and others. That's how they all "arrive". Funny how we feel we had to sell our souls to this way of thinking. Transvestites -- now I've heard it all.

I was a senior consultant working my way to team leader when I quit. I tried a similar scenario. Half of the "faces" I approached already had consultants. Then the other half just signed up to get me to shut up because I was never able to get them on the phone after that. I even showed up to a "skin care class" and the client had packed up and MOVED OUT!!! My director just told me it happens sometimes... OK... I still feel SO stupid for falling for the dream.

If it was easy then everyone would be selling the product that just flies off of the shelves.

Warm stalking is such an offensive practice. ACK to this and all MK IPA's.

If YES – “who is your consultant?” – you say – “Oh, I heard she was wonderful”

I thought you were supposed to say, oh when is the last time you purchasd something from her? Does she service you a regular basis? Does she keep in regular contact with you? When is the last time you heard from her? and HAS SHE EVER OFFERED YOU THE OPPORTUNITY?

sheesh

Why is the NSD not suggesting to target a sharp man? You would probably get a man to open his wallet wide for a big order of MK men's products easier than a woman to buy one lipstick. Load the sharp man down with body products, etc. for that "special" woman or women or men in his life. Men will open their wallets wide for a various assortment of things easier than women. The XXX business is a 57 billion dollar business. If men have money for that stuff they have money for anything. Also, look at all the Gentlemen's clubs, strip clubs in Vegas and elsewhere, men's magazines, etc. I used to be naive, but my age and television have been enlightening.

Oh yes, Angelwoman, at a retreat where me and some other consultants were sharing ideas, one said she frequents men's worksites around Christmas for the 12 days of Christmas towers. She goes to construction sites, etc. and flirts with the men to get them to buy stuff for their wives/sisters/moms, etc.

That's why there is the space on the profile card for hubby's name, so we can warmstalk him for Valentine's Day, Birthdays, etc. Women look at the price of a lipstick - "13.00! Are you Kidding Me?" and men are like "Whatever...If it'll make her happy...". Men are much easier to squeeze the dollars out of because they generally have no idea how much cosmetics cost.

mk teaches you to lie to everyone, customers and recruits alike. I was told to ask women to be a model for one of my thousands of portfolios or offer them a pampering session. "just tell them it is fun and it is free" you can't offer someone something for free and then expect them to buy a $100+ miracle set. what a waste of time.

[quote]You can send a $5 coupon with a makeover or on a post card the day you meet her and then follow up 3-4 days later to tell her that you put her on the mailing list and she should be receiving the new Magazine in 4-6 weeks – did she get the coupon? Then offer the free gift!

10 profiles a week X 52 weeks = 520 new names a year

If ½ respond (265) and ½ of those get a facial –that is 130+ new faces a year!!!
[/quote]Wow, that's going to take a lot of work to get 10 people to actually fill those out. And no way are you actually going to get 1/4 of those people to have facials. Or if they do, most of them will it do it the once, to get the discount and the gift, and you will have used up product you need to reorder with little to no profit for all that effort. Can you get excited about that?

Does anyone watch 30 Rock? Mary Kay 'massages the truth'

Free gift?

Kaybonics for "I am going to call-bug-stalk the hell out of you until I book-recruit-frontload you."

Who is your consultant? I know her and she is just wonderful!

I was stalked at Wal-Mart several months ago and gave Miss Kaybot my name. I got the same response from her. I don't know her, never met her, name not familiar.

So how does she know me?

One of my biggest "Ah ha" moments was at a retreat with an NSD who'd joined in the 60's and made National in the early 70's. She was preaching that 30 faces a month was nothing. In her day they, truthfully, did around 30 new faces a week at four to five full skin care classes.

It was then that it fully hit me; there is absolutely no possible way in today's society to find and facial nearly 100 new faces each month. It simply cannot be done. You cannot stalk/find/beg today's skeptical/busy women and even get them to fill out a profile, let alone book and hold a class.

Sherill is lying about the free gift, lying about her own efforts to become a National, lying about the real work required to advance in Mary Kay, lying about the effectiveness of this lead-gathering effort, lying about everything. The hard, cold truth, that so many PT's have come to realize, is that Mary Kay uses a marketing plan that is obsolete and does not work anymore no matter how many women you stalk. Build a PROFITABLE business with 130 new faces a year? Gimme a break!

If you were around in the 60's and 70's, you would know that most women were still not in the workplace, at least in professions that they are now. I only knew one woman lawyer in our city in the early 70's. Women were still home if they could be.

The plan is so outdated, and women don't have time, nor do they want to be bothered by the MK lady to host a skin care class. They have much better jobs than most MK ladies and would never give up their benefits to try to sell MK products.

I just heard a nail being hit on the head... I knew a few women who were working 2 and 3 jobs just to make the ends meet when I quit 5 years ago. I could never understand the women in MK who bragged about quitting a job to do MK full time! I thought it was like cutting off your leg to save an arm. But then, I only had 3 customers who were not family or friend. I was actually laughed at when I offered a woman a facial- turns out she worked the Lancome counter I was mortified, but thought it was something "I" did wrong, had to be, because I was coachable, teachable, and trainable! Certainly I had followed my directors suggestions. I had a power start, senior consultant, blah blah blah... I was just meeting the "wrong" sort or I didn't get enough NO's yet, I was told. Then I see one of MY customers come in with another director at a meeting. I had this woman on my PCP and everything. Then I'm supposed to be GO GIVE while another director takes food off of my table. Phooey.

In the 60s, my mom was one of the few working moms among my classmates.

And, Mary Kay reps weren't as common. Miz Imadeit so you can too NSD was, as MLMs say, in on the ground floor. All it takes from then on is to sit tight and let the downline do the work of pushing your butt up to the top.

[quote]...I didn't get enough NO's yet,...[/quote]

I was told by my SD that a person doesn't "graduate" from training until they have received 100 NO's. :s

There's going to be more wacky "suggestions" coming out of the woodwork with the holidays approaching, happens every year. Some folks are STILL reeling froom Scaminar and they've already got the credit card bills and they are trying not to faint.

The "suggestions" are hilarious, some rather sad. I've seen one where you purchase a ton of samples, cello bags, ribbons...so for Halloween, when you give kids their treat you can do the same for the adults!

And who wants to discuss the holiday limited editions over the Thanksgiving Dinner table? Who wants to smell Bella Belara over the aroma of the baked mac and cheese? True story...years ago the parents invited a friend to join us for Thanksgiving, one of her coworkers. She REEKED of Elige...the entire line, from the lotion to the perfume. She had on her MK face as well. By the time she was done feeding her face her lipstick was down around her neck.

[quote]She REEKED of Elige...the entire line, from the lotion to the perfume.[/quote]

Oh yes. We were instructed to teach her fragrance layering, which entices her to buy the entire line.

I had a customer who marinated herself in Acapella.

*Plugging nose* peeewwwwie!

...marinated herself in Acapella...

That's hilarious!

Look for a 'sharp woman'? We all know you can't judge a book by it's cover. As you guys have said, there are lots of weird people out there. I tried with all of my friends and family to sell my Gold Canyon Candles and couldn't get one sale. I thank God I found this website and quit the business before I got to the point of warm chatting strangers. I had been too nervous to go up to complete strangers and ask them to come to my house for a 'candle party' complete with food and drinks ( we're supposed to feed our party guests in Gold Canyon)and then try to persuade them to buy some of my candles after I fed them.

You know when you sit down and think about that with Gold Canyon and Mary Kay, that's an insane thing to do. Pick strangers off the street who 'look sharp' or nice and let them into your home or go to their home when you don't know anything about them. What lovely businesses there were we were involved in. We should all be thankful that none of us were raped or got our throats cut by any of these potential customers or recruits. We all know how many dangerous people and crazy people there are out on the street.

[quote]Who is your consultant? I know her and she is just wonderful!

I was stalked at Wal-Mart several months ago and gave Miss Kaybot my name. I got the same response from her. I don't know her, never met her, name not familiar.

So how does she know me?[/quote]
BEAUTIFUL! if i ever get warm-stalked (i never have, and hopefully never will), i'm SO using that

Hi, MJ4EVR, yes, all these companies are the same. A wacky, out-of-date business model designed for the many to fail and few to profit.

[IMG]http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z227/sportica/perfectprospect.jpg[/IMG]

Maybe he/she needs me!

Oh my gosh, Scribbler! You really know how to make a point!
There have been a couple of women from my MK "warm chatting" past who I had my negative feelings about! But you know you shouldn't prejudge!

You stinkin' better prejudge or these days you could be sorry!!!
Better yet, just say NO WAY MARY KAY

Love the Charles Manson poster...brilliant

I get warm stalked constantly at the mall near me. I live in the Rochester NY area and it is completely saturated...MK ladies everywhere...and they all say the same thing: "You are just so sharp...would you be offended if I gave you my business card?" Blech...great now they are going to start shoving profile cards in my face! too!

Wow - see I was wondering how saturated the 'Mary Kay' market is really.

I am glad I came across this website.

Admittedly yes I was succumb by some of the hype, but not too fast.

I have my bit of inventory, and bit-by-bit have been finding customers.
Which is fine with me, but I have been finding it rather interesting the 'tactics' allegedly work for everyone on the stage but not for me.

Now as far as inviting strangers into your home, I was told NOT to have parties in my home.
But the last thing I need is to head to someone else's house - never to be seen or heard from again.

Times are NOT the same as when the MK business started.

Glad I found this site.