Advice for a DIQ?
A Mary Kay DIQ wrote seeking advice on becoming an ethical Sales Director in MK:
I found your site on accident over a year ago when I began my business. I pop in occasionally just out of curiosity to see what is being said. While I disagree with a lot of the points that are made, I can identify with the emotion and hurt that are behind those defenses.
I am currently in my 2nd month of DIQ, and while this is a really exciting time, I am not completely happy with the way I am being taught to do things. I.e: get production from recruiting new consultants who purchase large amounts of inventory (rather than train my current team to sell the product and consistently have a legitimate need to reorder product), put inventory orders and starter kits on my OWN credit card and have them pay me later, expect my husband to cook/clean/do laundry when I am fully capable of doing at least part if not all of that, guilt my best friends into joining by telling them I NEED them to or they aren’t my real friend, etc.
I have never had a problem with selling the product, and consistently sell $1800-$2000 every month, and I truly enjoy meeting new people at the appointments I hold. Where I am starting to lose my enthusiasm though, is in the tactics I have been taught to get orders out at the last of the month. Like offering outrageous ‘incentives.” Shouldn’t 50% profit be a good enough incentive?
I am writing because I do feel that I would make a great SALES director, but with what I have been taught so far in DIQ from my soon-to-be-senior, I can see why you all here had such a bad taste in your mouth. So I am writing to ask, what tips would you have for me to actually be an ethical, respectable, and relatable Sales Director as opposed to what is apparently and unfortunately the ‘norm’? I will not turn into what I have been seeing lately as that is against all I stand for.
Thank you for your input!
-Don’t want to be a DIQuitter
Visit the
The only way to do MLM “ethically” is to never recruit, and to never lie or mislead about the efficacy or value of the product. If the MLM product has any real market value, you should be able to make as much money as you wish through selling alone. You can hire folks directly to help you with your business so it can grow…without building a downline.
If you can’t turn a true business profit on sales alone, it is quite wrong to recruit others under you based on that possibility. Sadly, the big moneymakers in MLM are profiting off the losses in their own downline, with little or no profit from product sales.
“I am writing because I do feel that I would make a great SALES director…”
There’s your problem. MK does not keep track of retail sales. Directors’ commissions are based off of inventory orders placed by their downlines and by bringing in qualified – AKA placing a big initial inventory order – recruits. There’s no reward for actually selling product once you have it.
The reason IBCs offer so many discounts and freebies is because the market is saturated and it’s just about impossible to get sales without slashing profits.
Don’t let clichés like “DIQuitter” overcome your common sense or force you into something that’s not in line with your values.
Did your parents ever make you do an activity, like sports or Girl Scouts or music, that you hated but they wouldn’t let you quit because it was good for you in some vague way? Remember how good it felt when you finally got to quit?
If you want a career in sales… go work a career in sales. You’ll make real money, have real opportunities for advancement, and won’t be stuck in a system where the only way to get ahead is to go against your values.
And with a real sales job, your family and friends will be happy for you and will no longer look at you funny!
“I am not completely happy with the way I am being taught to do things”
You are being taught to be a Sales Director. Remember…even if you become a Director, the DIQ process you’re experiencing now will never end. It will become your life.
If you enjoy selling Mary Kay products – even with the nonsensical MyShop and ongoing product rollout fiascos – go ahead and do it. That will be the safest way that you can pocket a little bit of cash for your time. You will have no sales quotas and you’ll only have to worry about your own personal efforts. If you want to take a break from selling Mary Kay to take a vacation or deal with a family emergency, you’ll be able to do so without upending your entire business.
Once you get to sales director, you are “on” 24/7. There are no breaks from worrying about production from the first of the month to the last. Not only will you be concentrating on your own personal sales, you will have to monitor everyone in your unit to encourage them to order as much as they can. You will be laser-focused on new recruits to build up your unit’s production, especially since roughly a third of your unit will drop off each month.
And when things don’t come together for your unit, you will 100% lose money as a sales director. How? You’ll be forced to personally make up your unit’s ordering deficit in order to achieve production/car qualification/MK incentive. This will happen more often than you think, and soon you’ll find yourself in a credit card hole.
Also, take a good look at the recent Corporate move toward an affiliate sales model. As a director, normally the bulk of your unit production in any given month is from initial orders of new recruits. But with MyShop, there’s no need for a new consultant to purchase inventory. Mary Kay has cut out the legs from underneath sales directors by discouraging new consultants to stock inventory. It may be better for the new consultant, but it is death to a sales director.
I strongly encourage you to step back from pursuing sales director. It honestly would be the smartest business decision you could make at this point.
My advice would be if you like MK resell product from GOOB sales and eBay. Cut MK out and retail for a true profit. It sounds like DIQ is aware of the truth about directorship. Don’t sell your values for the DIQ hamster wheel – the attrition is very real. If you like selling cosmetics apply for Sephora or Ulta. Less stress, guaranteed income, no loss of integrity which is making you uncomfortable and is causing a conflict with your values and causing the gut-twisting feeling. And no endless buying to meet quotas.
Go to your local department store and get a job in cosmetics sales. Mary Kay is not a sales business, it’s a recruiting one!
I never made it to the rank of director, but multiple people here have posted that when they tried to work their business ethically and do thinks differently than they were taught, their unit “production” starts tanking.
In order to be a successful director you have to get big orders from new recruits. That’s where the base of a sale’s director production comes from, and supplement your production from your team orders, (not your personal sales) regardless of whether they sell the product or not.
Did your director tell you that if a director misses production for 2 months in a row they lose their unit? That not a small number of directors place a huge order every other month just to maintain their production level? Which explains why my former SD said she stayed up until midnight on the last day of the month to put in orders for us before the deadline. She needed to know how much of her own money to use to order products she wouldn’t sell to hit her unit production requirement (that they don’t call quotas.
Even sales directors who look successful are swimming in debt from the MK directorship.
I hope some former directors chime in here, but if you read posts tagged “director” or “directorship” I think you’ll learn a lot.
There is also the fact directors consistently lie, or at best don’t share the whole truth with potential recruits. For example, “executive pay for part-time hours”, free training (Seminar isn’t free, weekly meetings require us to chip in for the “room fee”, so many educational CDs, brochures, etc. available for purchase), no quotas (except you have to order $250 wholesale every 3 months to stay active; quotas to keep your MK car, quotas to keep directorship), telling potential recruits your highest check, knowing your average monthly pay is nothing close to that. How will you recruit if you’re honest about what selling MK is actually like?
You will make more money, have less debt, and be able to sleep better at night not being a director.
It doesn’t get better. If you finish DIQ, your director training will be mostly how to manipulate people into entering DIQ, manipulating people into ordering so you can keep your unit and/or car, and preventing them from sending inventory back to preserve your own commission.
OP, it sounds like you are probably a very good salesperson and that you genuinely enjoy selling. Why not get out of this pyramid scheme altogether and forge a successful career in sales?
Your description of MK is spot on, but you are not quite ready to admit that it is a pyramid scheme. You’re rightfully worried about the questionable ethics of “success” in this “business.” The answer is that there really is no way to succeed without being unethical. Go sell something you can be proud of selling without worrying about goading your down line into buying something they can’t afford to buy and can’t sell.
Anecdotally, an acquaintance of mine in grad school was married to a guy who started out in automotive sales. He moved to selling watercraft (boats and such). Ultimately, he wound up in YACHT sales, making tons of money. Those were real businesses selling real products that people were interested in purchasing. He didn’t have to worry about down lines or the prospect of doing anything unethical. He just sold high end products that people with enough money wanted to buy.
Get off this hamster wheel. Send back your inventory and go sell something worth selling to real customers.
So I am writing to ask, what tips would you have for me to actually be an ethical, respectable, and relatable Sales Director as opposed to what is apparently and unfortunately the ‘norm’? I will not turn into what I have been seeing lately as that is against all I stand for.
I’m sorry to say that the only “ethical” way to be successful in Mary Kay or any other MLM company is to quit. Be totally honest with your recruits. Tell them that they will have a very small chance of making money. See here for Mary Kay corporate’s own figures. https://www.marykay.ca/-/media/images/mk/united-states/canada/esuite/footer/canadian-statement-of-typical-participant-earnings-2025.pdf
As for yourself, return everything you have bought in the last year for 90% return. Donate everything you can’t return to a shelter and get a genuine tax receipt for your accountant. Do not inform your senior sales directors as they will try to guilt you into saying since they will have to repay all those lovely commissions they have already spent desperately clawing to keep their rank and their car. Make sure that your account can never be reactivated as an unexpected tax demand is an unpleasant surprised!
Walk away as an ethical, respectable, relatable and honest woman of integrity. Not someone who is constantly on the brink of failure.
Quitting is not a negative thing. You are shifting your focus and pivoting.
MK plays with your emotions. Use your HEAD and bank statement to guide you.
GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN
The Donner party never quit and it got them eaten. Quitting isn’t always bad. It’s sometimes the best course of action.
OH Dave! Good come-back!!!
There is nothing ethical about MLMs, including MK. The only way for you and the company to make money is lie (outright or by omission) to yourself, your team, and your family.
As others have mentioned, DIQ never ends. You will ALWAYS be “on” with no breaks, no time off, and no peace. Consider taking your sales talents to a company that will actually pay you a good salary and/or commission, with benefits and paid time off.
Example: a nurse friend of mine is working for one of the glucose monitor companies as a part-time educator. She goes to offices a couple of times a month to teach the staff how to use continuous glucose monitors, share the latest updates, and help them prescribe devices (insulin pumps, CGMs, etc.). She’s selling that company’s products, and she makes REALLY good money doing it (and she loves it).
If you’re determined to stay in Mary Kay, discard any thoughts of becoming a director, DIQ, unit goals, team goals, or any goal that requires you to recruit others or purchase unnecessary inventory. Don’t let your upline bully you into envy thing and don’t bully the downline you have. Don’t waste your time or money on seminars, conventions, “leadership,” or team meetings with an upline that keeps brainwashing you to purchase and recruit. Don’t go to any meetings where they demand you pay a fee. Only do sales and only buy enough inventory that your actual customers demand. Better, just send them to MyShop and have them use your link.
Best is to quit Mary Kay and get a legitimate sales job.
Wise up! 1-2 K in sales, for how much time and real cost? Cavulate your hourly wage!!! Market saturation and dismal product will never pay you what you and your recruits deserve. Please do not charge ANYTHING to make production!!! If your unit can’t stand on its own, it needs to close immediately! Be a ruthless businesswoman. Don’t risk your marriage, family or home for this “opportunity “. Be wise!