One of our favorite sources of material in Mary Kay is retired national Anita Garrett-Roe (who now goes by Anita Mallory, her maiden name). She was the top sales director in the world for the 2013-2014 seminar year.

Her material has been recycled in Mary Kay for years, and there are plenty of gems in it for us to highlight. In this one, she recommends doing the “assumptive close,” which means you pretend a potential recruit has said YES, when she has not. The answer of “yes” is assumed when the recruiter asks her where the started kit should be delivered.

I do not have a particular script. The main and most important thing to do is to find out what she wants… “what would you do if you could make an extra $500 to $1000 a month?” If she will tell you that, you talk about that from time to time in the interview. Thus, you are selling her the thing she already wants, and Mary Kay is the vehicle to help her get it.

When you are at the end of the interview, I prefer using the assumptive close (assume she is going to do it) and I say something like, “Well we have covered everything, so now let’s get you a starter kit. Let’s see…I have some things to ask you while we fill out this agreement form…”

Then, after she helps me fill it out (yes, a lot of the times I will start filling it out for her and then just turn the page around and say,”Here, you can do it faster.”) When she gets down to the signature line, I say, “OK, we need your John Henry here.”

I like choice questions like, “Where do you want this delivered, to your home or work?” If she says either home or work, it means she is saying YES.

Or, “Do you want it in English or Spanish?” (if appropriate) Or, “Do you want it delivered to my house or your house?”

Either answer means YES. If she says yes, I ask for the money….”Do you want to pay for this with cash or a check, or would a credit card be better?”

I NEVER, EVER, EVER say: Is there any reason why you don’t want to be a Mary Kay Consultant..(YES! FEAR!!!!!) I NEVER, EVER, EVER say: On a 1-10 scale where are you? (How do you plan to close her if she says 8?????????)

I much prefer the choice closes and the assumptive closes because they get better results!

I know you can get those final recruits in this month if you will get in front of enough people and use these closes!!

If this technique feels dirty to you, it’s because IT IS. Some will downplay a technique like this, saying that many sales people do things like this to sell their wares. In the context of Mary Kay, there is manipulation at so many points. This is just one of many manipulations, and the sheer volume of the lies used throughout the recruiting process and the entire “career” with MK, that it all seems dirtier.