TWiki . Edumacation . MaryKayOpinion181	TWiki . { Main | Edumacation | TWiki | Test }
	Edumacation . { Home | Users | Changes | Search | Go }

I can tell you this, and please mark my words. If you do sign up there is a 99% chance you will be sorely dissappointed in all of the knowledge that you acquire after you purchase your inventory. You may be angry at the people who talked you into signing up because they absolutely do not tell you all of the truths about the sales part of the company. They cannot tell you the truth because the success of recruiting and convincing you to sign up is necessary for that director to maintain her car and status if she has either. I guarentee you will be feeling the same way as most people who try and start this business.

They truly do glorify the facts outrageously and you will definately find this out later. I have a suggestion.

If you are an outgoing person go out in public prior to signing up if you havent already. Ask every women that you see, "what is your opinion of MK sales people?","what is your opinion about MK products"?. Most women cannot stand being face to face with some one trying to sell this product to them. And most women are not interested and are to intelligent to be recruited by someone who tells all the grand stories about how wonderful it is. Keep all of the facts in your head and dont let them tell you otherwise and they will have an answer to every question you have.

And by the way, most women know that MK products are not worth much anymore because if you will browse Ebay and look at the thousands of products available for less than half the cost you can get for it. The women trying to recruit you will try to convince you that ebay cant auction off the service and attention a women can get,or the time from her consultant for a facial and to try the products. They are right; but lets keep in mind no women really wants to spend even a minute with a pushy sales person. I would rather pay less for the product on ebay and hope it is what I want.

If you want a legitimate business, listen to your husband, put your heads together and come up with something the consumer will come to you for. Not something that your director and everyone else makes a stipen from when you sell. It is a very over priced mediocre product that can be bought cheap on ebay. Your recruiters may not admit it, but everything that is pointed out in this forum by the "negative people" are unfortunate facts. Facts that you will find out for yourself if you sign up. Then you will have to swallow your pride when we say "we told you so". Im going to have to say If you havent done it yet.DONT!!!
Anna Soults 38  - 24 Apr 2004

I do get quite irritated by the blanket statements that the products are "mediocre" and that people don't like us Mary Kay people. Why is it then that I got a $120 order from a VERY happy MK customer of 20+ years on my website? Why is it that I seem to get, at least once per week, someone who notices my pin and goes on and on about how much they love MK and then 1/2 of the time, say they don't have a consultant.

If you are browsing this site like I know so many do (I get your emails :-), I will give you the advice I give ALL my consultants, your longevity in this business pays off! I have lots of customers who were abandoned by consultants. They probably quit for various reasons that I am sure could be speculated upon but nonetheless they were abandoned and end up becoming my customer. My point is this, you will NOT become rich quick in this business. I have never told someone they would BUT you can build it over a period of months and years and then eventually see that this business is helping you add $500++ per month.

When I looked at my business after losing my job, I realized I should have gone into it full time much sooner. I was already depositing (no joke here) $500-$1,200/week and I was also working full time. I didn't do it quick, I had no special qualities but I was persistent and did a little MK every day.

Do Directors earn commissions? Yes! Does your recruiter? Yes! Does the sales person who sells a computer, a car, a phone? Yes! Is their product good? Yes! So why should MK get such criticism for rewarding the leadership in this business anymore than Sprint should for giving commissions and bonuses based on the volume of sales of their people? It's a sales business and leadership is rewarded. In Leadership you are there to support, motivate and inspire the team you built. If there is a reward in Leadership in MK or any other business, don't you think that Leader or Manager deserves it? Or should MK just cut out the management system all together? If they did that, why would a corporate woman or a woman who knows she has strong leadership skills ever want to do Mary Kay? Our Directorship and above positions bring many women to this company. They are drawn to that position and sometimes they are drawn to MK because of the fact that they can earn that position whenever they feel like it and don't have to wait for a promotion.

Are directors perfect, no and we have covered this before. No one is perfect and greed can lead people to doing things they shouldn't but I have never found that is the norm in MK, I think that negative happens but I think it's not that often.

This website draws the ones to it who have been hurt or don't like the way MK is set up but I get MULTITUDES of emails from people who just stumbled across this site like I did and they cannot believe how negative the people are on here. Then after they read the positive posts, they email me and I'm sure those people and applaud us for being so open. I won't try to make excuses for the garbage that I'm sure goes on in MK but I have been with MK for 8 1/2 years and I know for a fact that there is MUCH less garbage here than anywhere else.

As for selling the products, you have to put an effort in and I have stressed this before. Not everyone will get that who signs up or want to actually put forth the effort and they may end up fading away and may end up on this site. I could have been one of those people many, many times but when I hit a l-o-w in my business, I just keep focused. I had a few weeks of cancellations, no shows and lower sales than usual in late Feb-Mar. I got that little feeling inside myself too that said, "is this worth it?" Yes Directors and people who are successful get those moments too. What do I do when I feel that way? I have a few things I do. 1) Call someone who is above me for advice 2) Listen to a tape or read/listen to something by MK herself 3) Pray 4) get on the phone and book or call my customers So I did the last 2, I prayed the prayer of Jabez and I called people. My last 2 weeks results where this...$1,080 and $934.50. I had in that a $500 double facial and $220 double facial. Got answered my prayer and I suddenly got calls from customers dating back to 2 years ago!

LONGEVITY pays off in this and so does your persistence. Some don't want to persist, some don't want to keep building and that's fine. I don't like blanket statements that state "no one likes MK people" or "no one wants to spend the $$ on the products" or all the other statements that have floated around this website.

There are ideas out there for you. I just got back from WI and working with my consultant out there and I gave her tons of ideas. Some were right there as obvious as anything but she didn't think of them and some were too late because someone else already took the idea. She is so excited with all the new ideas and I know that in this business, all you need is a fresh new perspective. If you need one, email me. If you can find someone in your unit or a sister unit to get ideas from, contact her.

I hope all this helps. I have put less time into this site recently because I am busy and the negativity is plain depressing. I wouldn't be so blunt but I know this is not just my feeling but the feelings of many others who read on here. I know someone mentioned this before but it would be interesting if there was a sign in book where visitors could write their brief comments. I get many emails about how turned off people are by all the negative stuff on here and I want to say that every viewpoint certainly has it's perspective. I just think that the negative are all negative and the positive can see it both ways and are more empathetic but there is always the other side to everything. Just because 50-60% of marriages end in divorce doesn't mean people shouldn't get married. Right? I see it both ways and I understand that people have had bad experiences but I believe it is very rare. Thanks for reading, Wendy
Wendy Turnidge  - 25 Apr 2004

OH, AND TO THE POSTER BELOW: SORRY FOR THE INTERRUPTION IN THIS CONVERSATION, BUT I JUST HAD TO RESPOND TO HER COMMENTS AND FELT THIS WAS THE APPROPRIATE SECTION TO RESPOND. Are you saying that ALL product should be sold after a facial? And only a facial? So are you saying that when a new product comes out (a limited edition item, which has no samples to offer) that we should FACIAL our customers FIRST, because it's MEANT to be purchased AFTER we FACIAL them? So, if you have 200 customers, a new product comes out, NO SAMPLES, and they have an interest in it, that we should let them try it before they buy it? and if they don't, then what?

Consultants don't intend to 'abandon' their customers. They realize they have been lied to about the percentile of success in this business. This is a cosmetics company and everyone has their OPINIONS about which cosmetics they like to use. What is interesting, in reading on these posts, is how defensive the 'positive' women can become when their precious commodity is attacked. Some like it, some don't, so what? Isn't that parallel to the scripts we are given at recruitment? "SOME WILL, SOME WON'T, SO WHAT?"

--I agree but I also disagree that the positive people get defensive. I think the positive people are the most "even grounded" on this site that I have seen. I see why people quit and I see that some may have had some poor mentoring. But I also see that there is good. I see it both ways and I feel the positive ones all see it both ways. I have yet to hear from the negative that their situation could have been a fluke. I have always been upfront with my consultants about the percentile of success....ALWAYS! I want them to know that they need to find their "niche" and get creative. To not stick to the tried and true but to also find new ways. Let's face it, there are all kinds of neat selling ideas that come up or different ways people meet people. I think everyone who starts needs to be creative. Wendy

And, to all these MK women who keep saying 'we won't get rich quick', 'this is not a get-rich-quick' scheme. At recruitment, we are flashed with diamonds, trips, the dreamworld and lifestyle of the rich and famous. No mention of working hard or longevity, anything but that. So who's to blame?

Regarding Wendy's assessment of rewards of leadership, well,when someone encourages one to success, aka, builds them up, trains them, etc., then they should feel great about the accomplishments of others they train, however, when a corporation accepts women as 'independent contractors' recruiting those below them, paying commissions based only on orders placed, what in the world is so admirable about that? So many women 'buy' their way to this success.

I ask this to Wendy and want an honest answer...in your 8.5 years with Mary Kay, have you ever 'ordered' product to maintain you level or car status, even once?

It certainly is nice to hear your honest take on MK. I can't help but wonder who the person blames for over extending their credit card at the Gap? LOL! Some stores allow you a 30 day grace period for returns. MK offers a 12 month 90% return. Heeellllo! At least with MK you get to "try on and wear a business hat" for a year and "if" it doesn't fit? You can return it! Try doing THAT with the clothes at GAP and see where it gets you. Am I the only one who sees this besides Wendy as a no brainer?
Cathy C  - 31 May 2005

This was written over a year ago, but there's still lots and lots of Mary Kay on Ebay.

> but just like getting a new credit card with a $2,500 limit to Gap and thinking you can control
> yourself and then 6 mos. later you realize you have $800 on there...you can go out of control in ANYTHING!

That is true, but no one at the Gap is claiming that buying their clothes is an investment. I've had credit cards with high limits for years, but I never ran up a high balance that I couldn't affort to pay off from clothes. OTH, I came out of Mary Kay with more like $8,000 dollars of debt (10 times as much as your Gap example.) I did that because I believed (as I had been told) that it was an investment.

> when I charged for MK inventory, I paid it all off the next month by selling it. I
> train my gals to do the same.

I wish I'd been taught the same. But I wasn't. I was encouraged to go into debt for thousands in inventory. And at least 1/3 of that (so over $1000) was things my director ordered for me that never sold. Meanwhile, I was buying more of the things I did sell, because I hated it when someone ordered several of something (or too many people ordered it) and I ran out. I kept striving for that goal of being able to fill every customer order without my having to make an order first. Silly me. Why didn't I realize that just because I'd been trained that it was good to fill customer orders from my inventory didn't mean I should strive to truly consistently do that?

RachelSuddeth  - 09 Jun 2005

Haaaaaaaaaaa! I love this comparison - a GAP shopping situation to an IBC in MK! What a crack - oh gosh, where do we begin? First of all, GAP doesn't lure people into the store by stalking them in the malls and/or calling them incessantly to purchase something or recruit them then love bomb them to buy their clothes. GAP does not use emotional blackmail and half truths to lure customers into buying clothes. The customer sees the clothes, likes the clothes and purchases the clothes. If the customer returns the clothes, the customer can still go to GAP - when returning inventory to MK to get that fabulous 90% of your 'investment' back- they tell you that you are not allowed to be a consultant ever again.

To their customers, GAP doesn't 'assume' sales by bringing items to the counter and pestering you to buy things you've repeatedly told them you do not want. They also do not forbid you to buy pants without a top or pantyhose without closed toe shoes! In MK, you are forbidden by many to purchase a moisturizer without the cleanser thus breaking up that set.

If you don't have money at GAP to purchase the clothes, the salesperson does not sit down with you and discuss how you can go to the bank to get a loan or borrow from a friend or neighbor to get what you 'need'. The salesperson will not offer you their credit card or money to purchase clothes to 'help them' with their sales quota. They do not tell you that by investing in these clothes that you will now become successful and a better person and that God will be pleased with you because you did so.

Cathy C - you and Wendy see eye to eye because you are both deeply imbedded in Mary Kay and as I said, if you return things to GAP regardless of the timeframe, least you get to go back to GAP! - Gee, am I the only one who sees this as a no brainer? And, I'll be waiting to hear about your income from Mary Kay from your 1040. Maybe someone will be 'proud' enough of their 'esteemed position' in MK to disclose this 'fabulous fact'!
Rachel Suddeth  - 24 Jun 2005

Topic MaryKayOpinion181 . { Edit | Ref-By | Attach | Diffs | r1.11 | > | r1.10 | > | r1.9 | > | r1.8 | >... }

You must register before editing pages or using other extended features on this TWiki system.

Revision r1.11 - 09 Jun 2005 - 19:36 by RachelSuddeth  Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2000-2005 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration tool is the property of the contributing authors. Collect email addresses here. Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback.