Wow. This goes beyond wild. I can think of no greater demonstration of why I simply can't take literally anything that Pink Truth says. In fact, it is exactly this kind of post that makes me wonder if they are not all being facetious about the whole thing. I seriously have a hard time believing that anyone could actually say (or, in this case, write) these things with a straight face. I know I couldn't.
"jta" says,
"Fact 1: The majority of Sales Directors make very little money.
...To check this fact, you can do a couple of things. One real eye opener is to ask the Directors you admire to provide their 1099s for the last few years...
...Another easy way to check this is to take a look at the Applause magazine..."
(emphasis mine)
JTA,
Suppose, if you will, that someone reading your article took your advice and asked the "Directors you admire" for their 1099s. Let's further suppose that they have several Directors they admire. Let's further suppose that all the directors that this anonymous reader queries turn out to make less money than they seemed to be claiming. Moreover, let's FURTHER suppose they make (as you say) "very little money" (Isn't this just as subjective as "executive income?).
How does this make "The majority of Sales Directors make very little money" a fact?
The FACT of the matter is that it does not. I suppose that I should not even ask, "how do you expect to be taken seriously when you say things like this?" because it is obvious that you don't.
Sorry to have wasted your time.
Posts
To be objective, the income has to be compared to the cost of living in that person's location. This could be done. What does it take Jane Average to stay alive in...Durham, NC? Here, it's gonna be a bare minimum of 25K *if* the person is very frugal and very healthy and doesn't need a car. More realistically, 30-35K if you have medical expenses and a car (and are still frugal). So you could check to see if the Director's gross income from MK hit that level. I'd actually check the income after chargebacks... that's more realistic. You can't count the money if you don't ever get it (and the IRS doesn't either).
ReplyDeleteHow much or how little is certainly open to different opinions. I know even selling the products, tell one a cleanser is $18 and they can't believe it is so much compared to soap, tell someone else it is $18 and they can't believe how much less it is than what they are using! So everyone has a different opinion on what is alot or what is a little.
ReplyDeleteOne fact that I find off base though is the parroted - "99% of all MK consultants loose money". This to me is a rather arbitrary statement. If someone joins as personal use, they will spend $100 on the starter kit but the will get over $300 worth of retail product - I will say I realize there are shades of foundation a person will never use but still the miracle set, the oilfree eyemakeup remover, mascara, etc. would cost an individual more than they would if they were to purchase it from their consultant. Then if they choose to order, the can order $400 worth of product for only $200. Now if they never did anything else. I guess technically one could say that an individual in this situation lost money, when in reality, she did spend money, however she saved more by buying it this way than she would have it she had purchased it at retail.
I am sure there are many that have lost money, just as I am sure most do make money, how much would simply depend on the individual.
What made me really start thinking about this was as I ran into Walmart today and saw everyone walking out with a bag, I thought, gee... 99% of the people that go to Walmart loose money. But they didn't actually loose money, they spent money and received something for their money.
Whether you lose or spend depends on what you get in return for the money. If you spend, you get a usable product or service (that *you* can use) in return for the money. If you lose, you don't get what you paid for/what you expected. If I buy a bottle of Revlon foundation, and it says Ivory, and it looks like my shade on the bottle...then I put it on and it's bright orange and I can't get my money back, then I have lost money. If it is in fact Ivory and I use and like it, I spent money.
ReplyDeleteLikewise, if someone has inventory that's past the (rolling) year buyback time and they have not been able to either sell or use that product, it's money lost. If it expires sitting on the shelf it is also lost. But if it's sold for a profit or used personally, then the money was spent *for* something.
I think what they mean however is the big picture overall: Did the consultants spend more money getting inventory and paying business expenses than they made back by selling products and getting any commissions? If they consistently put forth more money than they get back, they are operating at a loss. After I sent back my inventory, I still showed a loss of $1000 on my taxes. This was due to business expenses, the 10% of the return not covered, and (small percentage) product kept for gifts to friends.
Honestly, if I had simply broken even, I would have stayed in MK as a hobby. I never expected it to make big bucks. On the other hand it cost me way too much to keep up with product changes, so I had to get out. My other hobbies (sewing, cake decorating) cost me a lot less and result 100% in products that I use or somebody uses, with the possible exception of the once a year or so that a recipe flops or a pattern goes completely t*ts up.
New PT post: New red jackets.
ReplyDeleteI don't think a red and black combo screams "whorehouse." I think it looks good on most people. Sure, I have seen some horrible Director suits (not this navy one though; navy is wearable for all) but what is wrong with the red jacket? Dudes, I look *hot* in red...or red and black!
What I am trying to get at is.. if someone joined to "save" money - those can not be counted in the 99% that (they claim) loose money -
ReplyDeletealso ..not "making" alot of money is different than loosing money.
As for what happened to you Miranda, I truly think from reading everything I have that you have written, if you hadn't been frontloaded and your director had listened to your likes/dislikes, you would have had product that you could have sold and possible made some money instead of loosing what you did.
As far as packaging changes, I still have never had a client complain because her box isn't the latest box, they throw the box away. Now as far as the actual product changing, if a consultant isn't overstocked and has clients using the product, an ibc tends to have enough lead time to know what is changing and get rid of and keep low quantities of what is changing so she isn't overstocked when it does change. -
And I can't speak for others but if I know something is changing and I am helping a new consultant with her first order, I will discuss whether or not we should even order it until after the change. I don't want her stuck with product, because she will just get ticked off with me and that isn't good for building trust or a relationship.
(Now, I might be a horse of a different color but... this thought process is just common sense to me) - trying to overstock a consultant with stuff you know is going to be outdated is setting her up to #1 - struggle and get frustrated and more important #2 get po'd at me for doing it to her and possible quiting. None of this is good for either one of us. And once the trust is broken why in the world would she trust me on anything else?
Oh, nobody cares about the box. It's more important about the compacts and their refills changing shape; lipstick tubes changing color and formulations therein changing. When they added more moisturizing ingredients to the lipsticks, no one wanted to buy the ones from my former batch unless it was half off. They all wanted the new stuff. The compact "packages" the colors you put in it...gah I probably said it all wrong.
ReplyDelete