Everyone Struggles to Sell in Mary Kay
Last week, we featured Codie Nelson on the front page about the continued struggle she’s having trying to be successful at Mary Kay. Codie turned off comments on her Facebook post after a few hours, but here are some of the responses.
It’s common to feel ghosted by your upline in MK. Once you place that inventory order, there is very little incentive to help you sell the products. They’ve already made their commission. (And they know that no matter what they do, your chances of selling the products are very low, so why bother?)
Janet McCarty Landers quit her job to work her business full time. (Notice she broke the rules at that job and sold MK there even though it was prohibited. And you can see why they prohibit it… Janet says the ladies in senior independent living love the parties… and I’m sure management doesn’t want employees taking advantage of them!) Janet has not had any recruits but she keeps praying. Her director advised if you simply focus on selling $250 a month your business will take off.
Tammy Green and Stephanie Capano Hatcher feel the same way as Codie. Stephanie has had one party in three years. Rena Caffe has just given up. She bought several HUNDRED rubber ducks and attached samples to them and got no response. No one wants Mary Kay and those that do already have a consultant.
Trini Marsha Chan admits the market is saturated and younger customers simply don’t want to try Mary Kay.
Martha Garrett has been in for 27 years. Mary Kay has been discontinuing her favorite products and she’s trying to offload her inventory to customers. Her tax advisor says she is losing money but she just loves seeing the Mary Kay box arrive at her house. (How weird is it that she has to tell people… in all caps… to not max out their credit card? Because this is actually a thing in MK!)
Lindsay Montoya signed up last May. She’s had a debut and a skin care party. The party had no sales. She’s had three open houses and had $1000 in sales. Can you imagine showing up for your shift at Target and not getting paid for the time you were there?
Rosemary Rooney stopped doing live videos on Facebook because no one came. She has two boxes of product she can’t sell. Betts Elswick signed up to be a consultant even though her town of 100 people already had a consultant. No one is buying.
Terri Pomphrey has changed her attitude. She has quit stressing and realizes Mary Kay will just be a hobby.
Pam Morrison’s director is her pastor’s wife. Women in the church buy from her and not Pam. Pam’s not making sales but at least the pastor’s wife has a team member.
Check out this train wreck of an explanation from Christina Taylor, for whom Mary Kay has been a “huge loss” and is trying to stay afloat but thinks that going live on social media will fix it all.
The advice from the other consultants was the same old tired nonsense.
- Keep going
- Don’t give up
- Wear a Mary Kay t shirt
- Pamper women at retirement homes
- Go live every day
- Facial boxes
- Restaurant pop ins
- Special interest groups to meet new contacts
None of this works. Codie has asked for advice four times in two years. Will she ask again? Would you?
Visit the
RE Janet … “Her director advised if you simply focus on selling $250 a month your business will take off.” I think she was talking about making 250-300 CALLS a month to get your business to take off.
And she’s hitting up the music ministry band … there is no professional or personal connection they don’t see as anything but a sales target. The residents at the nursing home she worked in? The people she’s supposedly spreading religion with? Just more “faces” to “pamper”.
It’s disgusting.
Wearing a Mary Kay T-shirt or beauty coat and name tag wherever you go is a GREAT idea…if you want people to avoid you wherever you go!
“Use the perfume religiously and hug folks?” Just hug random people while drenched in perfume? Ew, no!
I’m allergic to a lot of fragrances and some perfumed hun hugging me will, at best, have me puffy eyed and coughing until I could change clothes. At worst I’d have a full blown asthma attack.
Someone would be learning about “consent” via a well-aimed punch if they decided to hug me. Consent is a two way street.
Reality check…
Think about what brings you to try a new product. Is it an ad on FB or IG? Did you see something on a store shelf that caught your eye? Was it a promotional price on something you are already familiar with? A recommendation from a friend (who is not also selling it)?
Being approached by a stranger to purchase retail products is probably not how you found the products you use every day (outside of MK). Think about the successful modern marketing tactics that brought you to the stuff you do buy regularly…and not just beauty products.
Then notice how Mary Kay does absolutely none of these things. And you wonder why the products don’t sell?
As far as trying new things. Often it’s recommendations from friends or people I know. For example my best buddy will recommend a product he’s bought but only after he’s had a chance to try it out first. Then he’ll give me his honest opinion.
I haven’t really worn makeup in years, but I’ve always been intrigued by the Jones Road Beauty ads on IG with Bobbi Brown. My sister who still wears makeup bought some of the products such as the Miracle Balm and is still using them. If I ever go back to wearing makeup again I will consider Jones Road but it’s a combo of personal recommendations and great marketing of what appears to be a legitimately excellent product.
I see Mary Kay has just been named #1 Direct Selling brand of skincare and color cosmetics in the world for the third year in a row.
So, why are these ladies having such trouble selling? They must be “lazy losers.”
(Sarcasm)
I can’t imagine anyone letting some strange over dressed woman drenched in perfume hug them. That is the most ridiculous way I have ever heard to get customers
Wait…these negative comments are in a MK “support group”? LOL
So awful. Do we think the MLM world’s cover is blown with the internet age? I feel like back in the day, some of these folks (ann newbery, Rena tarbet, etc) perhaps did have “real” businesses (early on in MK!). But when credit cards came along.. man, that opened a can of worms.
Credit cards boggle my mind. If you use your credit card to buy something from me, it’s not “real” money you are spending. But it becomes “real” money immediately for me. Yes, I understand that the credit card holder must pay the money back. But they can also ditch out on the cards, never pay them, file bankruptcy; or even die, the debt is gone. It’s a real conundrum in my brain. Over $1.7 trillion I believe, our nation has, in credit card debt. About $1 trillion is in MK inventory hahahaha (best selling skin care and color cosmetics for 88 years in a row!)
I digress lol
The main reason I DON’T go to craft fairs or unrestricted farmers’ markets anymore is due to all the hucksters with booths set up selling MLM stuff or other non-craft unrelated goods and services. I feel bad for the real craftspeople who invest a lot of time and work into creating things and having to put up with the MLMs etc because I’m certain that I am not the only person who avoids these events for that reason.
And having perfume “spritzed” on me or even around me…no thank you. I was so glad when the department stores finally stopped doing that. In the office my employer strictly prohibits strong fragrances or heating up strong smelling foods such as popcorn or curry in the break room microwave.
“Go to a beauty shop… and do all of the customers hands.”
No self-respecting beauty shop is going to allow some MLM clown to loiter around and pester and poach their customers with cheap, sketchy, outside products.