Should We Pay to Sit at the Mall
Written by Parsons Green
Mary Kay consultants and directors are always on the look out. They need to find new faces and credit cards to sell this flopportunity to so they can make their production numbers without having to tap into their own credit card. They are always desperately looking for any new fresh trick or tip they can use.
Recently, Ellen Bowman Cox posted on Facebook. Her consultant was approached by a company that could place her at a vendor event in a mall for two days at a cost of $215. She wanted to know if this was worth it.
Tracy Daniel Norris replied and said that was too much money. The consultant needs to find events that are free! Ellen agrees. She thinks the consultant should look for events that are free, where the consultant can bring samples and gift bags that are free. Ellen doesn’t mention that the consultant will have to pay for these items themselves.
Julia Gambina Thomas says the consultant should do it. She’d suggest doing the mall visit with another consultant so they can split the cost. She would want to bring a consultant who would give her 23% commission on sales. Julia states that it would be help to have a director with the consultant because they are new. Ellen then adds that a new consultant wouldn’t have the knowledge a director has.
Wendy Haas admits that she’s not had luck with mall events. People avoid the kiosk sellers at malls, and she thinks they’d also avoid Mary Kay consultants too. Ellen agrees and says this has been her experience too. If this was her experience why is this director even asking?
Robyn Glass Miler asks if Ellen can work the event with her and split the cost. Ellen states that she hasn’t had a consultant interested in this type of event in a while, and she could help her, but her schedule is pretty booked.
Misti Bauman shares that she’s had good mall events and she’s had some that flopped. She suggests sharing the time with other consultants so the event doesn’t cost as much. Miglena Gonzaga has a different approach. Instead of a mall, she looks for a retail store that will let her set up a table. She goes to a specific store 2 times a month and has for the last year and a half. Her table has had mixed results. Some days are good, some days are not. Either way, Miglena is giving up her unpaid time to sit in a store FOR FREE hoping to rope anyone and everyone to give their info for a followup.
Maryn Eisnhart (daughter in law of nsd Karlee Eisnhart) will do a vendor event if it’s $50 or less. She’ll go up to $150 if the even is at least 5 hours. You can always share the cost with consultants.It’s nice to see that daughter in laws of nsds have to hustle at times. Janet Johnson spills that the focus of this type of events is the leads that you get.
The Mary Kay consultant agreement bars consultants and directors from selling product to a customer in a retail setting. The consultants cannot open a store front, have a store in their house, and unfortunately, they cannot sell products to customers at malls or other vendor events.
Even if you wanted to do this, you cannot collect any money from the customer there. You have to do this later. How do you explain this to a new consultant who you’re hoping to join your team?
Visit the
“The Mary Kay consultant agreement bars consultants and directors from selling product to a customer in a retail setting.”
Where is the curiousity around this policy? You never hear consultants ask why most MLMs don’t allow this. But a quick thought experiment reveals the answer. What if everyone did this? The mall would be filled with MK reps, exposing the gross oversupply of sales folks, and the silliness of the endless-chain recruiting model. Who’d want to sign up to be one of hundreds of MK sellers in the same mall?
The other reason is people generally don’t buy MLM products from total strangers. The products are simply too expensive for the quality. F+F can be counted on for pity purchases. Strangers? Not so much.
“Mary Kay is a relationship business. Setting up in retail settings and selling there eliminates the relationship-building part of it. You wouldn’t want your customers ordering from another consultant just because it’s convenient, would you? No! She’s your friend, you know all her shades, likes and dislikes, and you’ve spent years pouring into her!”
Ok, gotta go throw up now. Was suppressing the urge while writing all that. But, yeah, that’s the scripted answer to the curiosity behind that policy. And it’s complete bunk.
It’s like “A Thousand Rules. And A Rule” but like Shahrazad the idea is you have to find new ways to stay in the game for another day, another faux prize, another person’s talking point.
The only difference is that the MKBot isn’t facing death if and when she fails.
They should scrap the current NSD qualifications and just make them Thunderdome for it. “Two huns enter. One hun leaves.”
Jamie Taylor Vs. Lynnea Tate
When Ellen said the consultant doesn’t feel she has the experience of a director to meet new people.. why do directors act like they’re better than everyone? They’re just hurting themselves. They’re making consultants completely dependent on them. I remember looking at directors like they were such a big deal, but really it’s like how a kindergartner looks at a 5th grader. Big until you’re there then when you get there you realize you’re still little. I became a director and was like ohhhh this is dumb.
I thought the products flew off the shelves? It is interesting and hilarious to read so many comments mentioning that people intentionally avoided their tables!
This idea is dumber than a glass hammer. although it has some rarity value since it stars Ellen Bowman C…ox and she’s not scolding, sniping, or snarling at anyone.
So you drop two bills+ to set up a booth at the mall…
…malls are in a serious decline these days, with a lot of them fighting to keep even their anchor tenants…
…the few customers are going to avoid you like the plague…
…even if you get a “customer” you can’t sell anything because it’s prohibited by the MLM agreement…
…you can’t take money from anyone, even if someone wants to buy something that’s RIGHT THERE, which is ostensibly the reason for carrying inventory in the first place…
…and malls have stores in them that sell cosmetics, where you can in fact walk in and pay for what you want right then and there an likely get freebies or reward points to boot, without being hassled to join up or have a party…
…so basically it’s just warm stalking with the hassle of setting up and taking down a booth.
Gosh, a weekend of expensive humiliation sure is worth giving up a nice autumn weekend with your family!!! At least it has some novelty value since it stars Ellen Bowman C…ox and she’s not scolding, sniping, or snarling at anyone.
As one person previously mentioned, mall traffic is way down from what it used to be, mainly because of the internet… why else would a mall be offering this for $ 230 ? Actually cheaper than I would expect, then again, it’s likely at a mall that isn’t too busy anymore, would love to know which one. But let’s say it was at a well-trafficked mall, and let’s say the consultant could actually make sales for their product right there. It’s still a dumb idea. People are already in a mall where there is likely already a regular cosmetics store or a sizeable anchor department store with makeup counters where would-be customers can sit down, try things on and look at themselves in a mirror. Not so easy to do at a small kiosk in a noisy corridor between stores. Not to mention that a department or cosmetics store is going to be selling a choice of well-known products that from what I can see are all more popular than Mary Kay. Yeah, this is a complete waste of $ 230.
If anyone knows what part of the country Ms. Cox is in, I’d love to know so I can have a guess as to which mall it might be and if it is one that is dying or on life support, much like the mall in my hometown. You know things are bad when a mall has both a dollar store and a police substation just to fill some space.
My local mall is doing “pop up” vendor shows in vacant stores. So instead of letting the space sit empty all the time (due to previously mentioned low traffic and fleeing retail stores), they’ll set up a bunch of vendors 1-2 weekends a month in an attempt to draw a different clientele.
I wonder if that’s what’s going on here. So, in addition to Macy’s and Sephora, the poor consultant is going to be competing against the local handmade soaps that have a cult following.
Anytime I ever did a table, most of the people who came to talk to me already used mk and wanted to know if they could buy it there. After a few years, I decided to walk around and warm chatter the other booths because I was so bored. After a few years of that, I paid someone to go to all of the school Christmas fairs and pick up the vendors cards so I could offer them a spot in my networking portfolio. I tried this “table” thing from every angle…..it never worked. smh