I have a group of home business moms (over 400 members). I am always looking for moms to invite to the group. If I see a car with a bumper sticker for a home biz (or find out someone has a home biz by chatting with her), I ask for her card and hand her one of mine. (I have some just for my Home Biz Mamas group.) I am always amazed at how few are actually prepared for doing business - no biz card, nothing to write info down, etc.
So.....could you be convicted of being a Mary Kay consultant? Take the following quiz:
If you are talking to someone and she asks for a Look Book, what is your first thought?
- "All of my stuff is at home! Oh no!"
- "I don't have any Look Books! I need to order some!"
- "I have 2 in my On-the-Go Tote. And samples and biz cards, too."
How many business cards did you hand out today?
- 1
- "What business cards?"
- "I handed them out to everyone I talked to. And I got them to fill out the info card for me."
You meet a great prospect for your Mary Kay business. You need to get her name and number to follow up with her! What do you do?
- Scramble around for a scrap of paper and a pen. Now where are they??
- "I'll just keep it in my head. I won't forget."
- You pull out a 2-part biz card. She fills out the info side, and you hand her the part with your info. You set up a time to call her.
- "I have a biz card if she asks for one."
- "Um. I dunno."
- "I have a Mary Kay bumper sticker, a MK pin, and a Tote with Look Books in it. She'll find me!"
In closing, let me just say that customers are not going to fall from the sky if you are prepared to do business.
But they are certainly harder to find if you aren't.
Posts
Hey, I want customers to fall from the sky!! (how do we make that happen??)
ReplyDeleteDo people see us as a professionl??
A few weeks ago I received a call from a Professional Womens group, that meets monthly. At every meeting they invited a guest speaker (business owner) to do a 1/2 hour presentation. In their brainstorming season one of the members suggested someone from MK, Arbonne,homebased type businesses, etc... a few of the members said, if you are going to bring someone in for that topic it must be "mk4me" - she is a professional business women and runs her MK as a business.
(Yes my head still fits thru doorways) and I went in and did an information/demonstation type program. I was a nervous, my knees were aknocking but, it went well and all of the members thanked me and complimented me on the presentation. I did not use a sales approach at all because I wasn't there for that. But I did end up with a couple of orders that evening and I have been called by a few others and now we are working on maybe a "spa" type day for the group.
People will see us as professional and take us seriously if we present ourselves as such.
I can see where if you act like a mad stalker corning people in malls, never knowing when not to be talking about MK, that you will not be seen as a business woman and may be laughed at for the way you are conducting your business.
One of my unit members use to teach her team this test.... if you were driving in your car and a police officer pulled you over and said, if you can prove you are a Mary Kay Consultant, I will not give you a ticket?
Well, would you have gotten a ticket?? If they answer is yes, regroup, set yourself up for success.
MK4ME -
ReplyDeleteI wish I could have customers fall from the sky...LOL (not too far - maybe just a light bounce as they land.) ;)
You bring up some really good points - it is important to know when NOT to talk about Mary Kay! Being professional is a must!
I really like your police officer analogy!
A few weeks ago, my wife ran a little contest at her weekly meeting. She had everyone open their appointment book to the current month. There were two not-new consultants who had the deer-in-the-headlights look because they had not brought their appt books!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, this is a basic dofference between working a specific set of hours 5 days a week in the same location and working for yourself. A person probably doesn't need to use an appt book for the former, and in the latter it's a necessity. That's why MK includes one in every starter kit.
Ok Shay, new consultant extraordiare:
1) what is the Weekly Accomplishment Sheet used for?
2) How often is it filled out?
3) Where can you find the instructions on how to fill it out?
:-)
Oh, man. I didn't know there would be a quiz! LOL
ReplyDeleteOkay. Let's see.
1.) The Weekly accomplishment sheet is used to track sales, hostesses, new members, etc. (Your accomplishments.)
2.) Weekly? LOL
3.) On InTouch.
How'd I do? :D
Right on, Shay,
ReplyDeleteAnd I just found out something. I was expecting the answer to Q.3 to be "as the first page on the pack of WAS included in my Starter Kit."
Oops. I just checked the Starter Kit contents online and guess what? Neither the packs of WAS nor the Weekly Plan sheets are included in the Starter Kit anymore!
The first place I looked was in my kit, MKH. LOL Then I looked on Intouch (because everything is there!)
ReplyDeleteSee? Questions can help everyone learn stuff! ;)
One can still order the weekly accomplishment sheet online under Section 2 (very cheap), on intouch, and... my VA put one for my unit members to use on my unitnet site and if you are a Boulevard user (love Blvd.- one is generated by the system as you enter your invoices). I am a firm believer in doing weekly accomplishment sheets too. Early on in my career, if I ever had to put a zero week on a sheet, it would embarrass me and I would make sure it never happened again!
ReplyDeleteIt kept me accountable to myself.
Oh. I've just got crow! The first post from me under this topic shared that I had been a guest speaker at a Professional Women's group. I received a call because one of the members wanted to place an order. She was the member that volunteered to be my model for the night. I think she must have really enjoyed what she got to try because her order today was $250!!
ReplyDeleteIt still tickles me "pink" when a new client falls in love with the product as much as I love it!
WTG, MK4ME! :D
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, MK4Me! :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the new customer MK4me... That is awesome!
ReplyDelete