Front Yard Vendor Booth
Written by Parsons Green
Mary Kay Consultants are always on the hunt for fresh faces to try their subpar products. Kathleen Culler would like to set up a vendor booth in her front yard. In other words, she wants to put a table of Mary Kay stuff in her front yard so she can sell to people walking past her house. Doesn’t that sound fun for everyone? Kathleen asked for guidance in the Facebook group, “Let’s Talk Pink”.
Kathy Willis thinks this is too much like a garage sale. She reminds Kathleen that you are NOT supposed to sell at a vendor booth. You are only to use them for leads. She shared a section from the Mary Kay Legal Guidelines that mentions this type of selling can give potential customers the impressions the products are stale and outdated.
Lena Logsdon wishes that corporate would do something about consultants selling at vendor events and out of the trunk of their car. Cheyenne Deboer has asked corporate about this and she was told it was okay. Nsd Kristin Sharpe loves doing them!!!
Brenda Kay states selling out of your trunk is TRASHY.
Jean Gibson recommends inviting a friend or two from other vendors to join you in this lawn vendor event. You can generate leads on the lawn and take the customers inside for product delivery and payment!
Liliana Smith says Mary Kay is not a lemonade stand company! Chaka Burress says that Mary Kay has an awesome history with a recognized name.
Wendy Wick thinks all sales should first start with getting customer’s contact info. With the new My Shop, she has had orders from strangers!
Sharon Jenkins Taylor decided to sell at a Beauty Salon. The owner notified every customer ahead of time that Sharon would be there to take orders. Sharon also let her customers know to drop in. However, someone turned her into corporate! It was an all day party!
I guess she didn’t get the memo that selling at a retail location like a boutique or a salon is strictly prohibited, as explained in Mary Kay’s Legal-Ease guidance.
The guidance goes on to say that Mary Kay products can’t be displayed or sold at salons, and the products can’t be demonstrated in the back room or after hours. In other words… stay out of salons with your MK products!
Lara McGuinness went to a vendor event at her Chamber of Commerce. No one wanted to sample products on their hand but she did give out a few lip samples. She got 55 names and this was the first time in 17 years that no one tried to buy directly from her table. Besides, she has seen nsds and directors sell directly at events and she is proud that she is not.
And finally, Ann Winkler pops in. Outside events are equivalent to yard sales. Any product exchange must take place inside. She reminds everyone to think, would Mary Kay Ash approve of the first impression you give off as a consultant?
Visit the
The rules and restrictions on where you can sell further stimies the salesforce and makes it even harder to sell. But if every MK consultant was on display in public MKC would be forced to admit market oversaturation and it being a pyramid scheme.
Although I personally wouldn’t buy cosmetics from a yard sale as it may be expired, ancient, not stored properly, full of mould, covered in cigarette smoke and cat hair especially a slow seller like MK. A few customers reported improper storage in their IBC’s house and had mouldy, smoky, cat hair covered products as well as expired.
Couldn’t help but chuckle when I saw mention of the “MKA Foundation.”
Another sham operation.
As shady as Younique’s foundation which was a tax haven, Younique was apparently started to front the tax haven.
I have to admit I don’t love the way they operate but I worked for a domestic violence agency where the emergency shelter burnt up. They did donate $20K pretty quickly. So I do know some money is going out.
Whether it is in a front yard, vendor fair, car trunk, aisle at Target, church group or table at Starbucks – nobody wants these overpriced mediocre products.
They do not want them in a yard
They do not want to take your card
They do not want them in a tree
They would not if you gave them free
They do not want to join your team
So give up on this poisonous dream
Ha! Awesome 😀
Parson Green, you are a national treasure. Thanks for being the Infiltrator in Chief for us!
Right on. The Pink Truth Supersleuth is full of win.
Just because a NSD “says” she loves trunk sales and does a great business with them doesn’t mean it’s true.
The NSDs are never shy about playing fast and loose with the rules, either, since they almost never see any consequences from breaking them.
Blatant proof consultants aren’t CEOs and don’t own their own businesses. If it were their own business they wouldn’t have these prohibitions.
“You can’t sell Cadillacs in a junk yard!… It’s important we maintain the image of professionalism in Mary Kay.” Meanwhile NSDs Kimberly Copeland and Missy O’Neil are running around London dressed like trashy slobs. No, I’d never buy anything from those two colorblind rodeo clowns.
I got a downvote; obviously from an upset rodeo clown. I apologize for comparing good and noble rodeo clowns to those dumpy MK nationals.
Also, imagine you’re a potential customer: An acquaintance messages you to stop by their…. table in their yard?! Maybe there’s food or drinks, but it’s not a real Vendor show, with MULTIPLE vendors, it’s outside at a table, would you go?
That would be a Hard pass from me.
Even worse is getting foot traffic of people walking by. If I was walking by I would avoid eye contact and not stop without any guilt.
“Lemonade stand” is exactly right!
It depends. My friend’s neighbor has a cottage bakery and also does catering-size bakery orders. She has a cute and professional storefront set up in her front yard. It’s a permanent structure that has lovely and well crafted decorations, it’s not a plastic tablecloth thrown over a fold up card table with sharpie print on construction paper signs.
Done well it can be nice and cozy, done cheaply it’s just… cheap.
The handmade paper signs is a different vibe in the country – it’s perfectly fine for local farmers selling eggs, produce, plants, hay, wood, etc. It’s not great for makeup or cosmetics unless it’s part of a larger farm store that sells things like soap, moisturizer, and lip balm.
“Lemonade stand.”
Our neighbor’s girls put up a lemonade stand periodically. You can tell how excited they are! Everything is arranged perfectly. They are open for business!
No one stops.
So, they rearrange the setup. They get a few pity purchases.
The doldrums set in. They resort to standing, waving and yelling as cars drive by.
They get bored. The sign comes down.
The table is moved back into the garage.
They go back to playing in the backyard, enjoying themselves, and being really good at what they are…kids.
The End.
That happens here too, like clockwork every summer. Tradition!
These days usually a parent is with them supervising.
My bike spouse (riding partner) and I sometimes stop on our rides to give them a little business.
Last couple of times, they had a printout of their Venmo QR code because who carries cash these days (I do keep some cash with me in my saddle pack for emergencies but it would be a pain to dig around to get it).
“Lemonade stand.” An analogy to MK
Excitement, inventory, a few pity purchases, desperation, shut down…and on to real happiness.
Yeah but people actually want lemonade. Nobody wants behind the times granny makeup.
I like lemonade, but I really don’t “want” the kids’ lemonade. It’s way overpriced, and it was made in their kitchen. It’s warm. It doesn’t taste that great. I throw most of it away.
Why do I buy it? To be “nice” to the neighbors’ kids.
Still sounds like MK. LOL.
Haha never thought of that. Yes it’s identical to MK.
It’s “your” business. You own the products, you own the yard or the car, and you’re an “entrepreneur” according to Mary Kay Inc. But you can’t sell YOUR products from YOUR yard because Corporate, who is NOT your employer, says you can’t? That’s just asinine.
I stopped by a Goodwill yesterday and saw MK products along with drugstore brands. I didn’t see Lancôme, Dior, or even Clinique. That spoke volumes to me about what is kept and what is discarded.
I wonder how much Goodwill MK is ex consultants trying to recoup losses and how much is unwanted Christmas presents/pity purchases that are no longer wanted/something bought but forgotten about 10 years ago?
I know with LLR it was so bad nobody would take it. Nobody bought it, there was too much and what didn’t sell was recycled into rags. Wonder what uses Timewoes cleanser could be used for recycled – pepper spray substitute maybe? Drain cleaner? A novel biochemical weapon to be dropped by F16s?
“Timewoes”! I love it!!!
Unfortunately not many people’s faces do. There was a Facebook director’s group post here from directors a while ago about reactions everyone was having – first rule in MK is the customer is always wrong and never the product. The product’s perfect and never causes people’s faces to melt off like the Nazi in Indiana Jones. It’s the customer using everyone else’s face washes that causes reactions. Seriously if MK is that volatile that another product can set it off it shouldn’t be marketed. Of course it’s nothing to do with the harsh ingredients and fillers in MK products that could be causing red faces and pink eye as MK is Drunk Elephant equivalent…
Whoever ratted on Sharon Jenkins Taylor was probably an irate customer of the salon. I don’t know about you but if I walked into my salon for an appointment and saw a MK or other MLM hun set up there to give the hard sell, I would be very annoyed. If the stylist had let me know in advance that was going to happen I would have changed my appointment to a different day and made sure she knew why.