Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Avon - Update

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Lucas Jackson / Reuters

Andrea Jung, CEO of Avon Products.
By msnbc.com news services

Updated at 3 p.m. ET:

It is important for us to stay informed with what happens in the industry.

Soon there could be far fewer Avon sales representatives ringing doorbells to sell the company’s cosmetics directly to consumers.

Cosmetics giant Avon Products reported a fourth-quarter net loss Tuesday amid declining sales and rising commodity costs. Chief Executive Officer Andrea Jung said the company doesn’t expect its margins -- the revenue the company keeps after paying its costs -- to improve this year.

The downbeat forecast comes amid a Bloomberg News report that says the company is planning to restructure its global operations with the help of consulting firm McKinsey. On a conference call with investors Tuesday, executives said they see “immediate” potential savings through reducing headcount, which likely means fewer door-to-door sales representatives in the not-too-distant future.

advertisementThat would surely hurt a company that markets itself as the world’s leading direct seller. Avon markets to women in 100 countries through a network of 6.5 million independent sales representatives, according to information on the company’s website.

Once a thriving cosmetics company, Avon is now seeking to right the ship of its sinking operations after years of tepid earnings and declining profit.

In December it announced the departure of longtime Chief Executive Jung as soon as a replacement could be found. Additionally, Avon has been hurt by an internal bribery investigation that began in China, and its stock has come under pressure over the past year because of the company’s poor performance in countries like Brazil.

Shares of Avon have declined some 60 percent since hitting a high in 2004.

Bloomberg News reports that a company overhaul will include cutting costs in Avon’s North American unit, where sales have dropped every year since 2007 and slid about 7 percent in the third quarter.

Bloomberg interviewed one analyst who was skeptical of the plan's potential success.

“This is a rudderless ship right now, and trying to turn it massively may not get you anywhere,” said Ali Dibadj, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in New York. “The problem with Avon isn’t that it needs a restructuring, it’s that it has been in perpetual restructuring, literally for the past 15 years.”

2012 Makeover Contest Coming Soon!

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The 2012 Mary Kay® Makeover Contest – Get Beautiful. Give Back. offers more chances for you and your customers to feel beautiful, while helping others at the same time. The contest works the same way as the 2011 Mary Kay® Makeover Contests with the same three phases and lots of great prizes! And coming soon in April is a mobile application for your Apple iPhone and Android device to help you easily enter the contest right after you conduct a makeover!

You can begin holding complimentary color makeovers now as of February 1, and then submit photos beginning
April 4.
1. Entry/Submission – April 4 – June 4
2. Public Voting – June 5– June 15
3. Private Judging – June 15 – July 13
Prizes:

Independent Sales Force Members:

•Early Entry Incentive – April 4 – 18
50 Independent Beauty Consultants could win a fabulous J.J. Winters pink leather clutch embossed with an exquisite Ostrich Print, as featured in the Mary Kay Trend Report advertised in the May 2012 issue of People StyleWatch® magazine, valued up to $195!
• Participation Incentive – April 4 – June 4
Five Independent Beauty Consultants, one from each Seminar affiliation, could win a $100 VISA gift card for themselves and a $5,000 donation to a charity of their choice*
•NEW! For 2012: Independent Beauty Consultants of the three Grand Prize Winners in the Consumer contest can also win:
◦$500 donation to a charity of their choice*
Consumers:

• The top 100 vote-getters in the contest will receive a TimeWise® Trial Miracle Set
• Three Consumer Grand Prize Winners could win:
◦ $2,500 VISA gift card shopping spree
◦ $5,000 donation to charity of choice*
*Subject to sponsor's final approval

Friday, February 3, 2012

Protect Yourself & the Company

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Have an Awesome Weekend Everyone!!

We can all get all excited and say things we don't mean... as in I just "won" my MK car.. when Mary Kay always said, you "earned your use" of the Company car. Yes, for most it is understood, you didn't win it in a raffle but if someone wants to be techincal or nit picky, it is best not to misrepresnt anything about our business or the Company... here are a few "do's" versus "don't's" from our www.marykayintouch.com site.. Always good to know these things.

Don’t say this: >>>>>>>>>> When you mean this:

Win a free car
or company car ..>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>...Earn the use of a Career Car


Go into
management ...>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>....Move up the career path


Job ... >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>...Mary Kay “business” or “opportunity”

Pay raises ...>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>....Give yourself a raise

Training ...>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>....Education

Paycheck ...>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>...Commission check

Salary ...>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>...Commissions

NEW! Pages are here!!

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Hey all,

I just added a page!  This is long overdue and the page is not actually what I want it to be, rather it is me asking you to help us create what it needs to be.

Look at the top of the page.  You will see two tabs.  One says "Home" the other "Mary Kay Fact Check"  Click on "Mary Kay Fact Check" to see the page and what I am looking for.  Please help!

At any time you can click on "Home" to come back to the blog posts.

Post comments here (not there) to let me know what you think about this idea.

Post comments there (not here) to add information or questions you would like answered.

Clear?  If not don't worry.  Just post your comment wherever you want, it doesn't really matter, just as long as we can make this resource the best possible Mary Kay resource available!

THANK YOU!

For Further Reading...

This Week On Pink Truth - Click Here
Pros and Cons of Mary Kay - Read or Contribute or Both!
First Post - Why I Started This Blog
The Article I Wrote For ScamTypes.com (here) (there)
If this is your first visit please leave a comment here. I would love to hear from you!
If you want to email me: balancedmarykay@gmail.com
But you are probably better emailing mk4me: mk4me2@gmail.com