More about recruiting

So, here we go with recruiting again. As it is this subject is complex and ultimately, the decision to recruit or not to recruit is an individual decision.

As with anything, there are right ways and there are wrong ways. There are right motives and there are wrong motives.

I will confess, I am a little excited about what I am about to post here.

"Why Dave?" you might ask. "You never get excited about anything do you?" Well, yes sometimes I do. And, since you ask, I will tell you why.

I have felt that many posts lately have placed Mary Kay in a good light (when not twisted so far out of context as to make the original text unrecognizable). I was starting to think that maybe there were so few people doing the "bad things" in MK that I would not have enough negative to comprise a truly "balanced" perspective.

This post from Pink Truth has some things in it that I would consider questionable. Let's take a look shall we?

Again, my source is Pink Truth. They have made a valiant effort at giving their source credit this time...(I am not making this up) Here is their version of giving credit to a source.

I forget which unprotected UnitNet site I found it on first, but it's on several sites as "training material".

Anyway, if this came from a director, I have a few problems with it. I will explain after the jump.

1.You will not lose money. Yes, 50% seems to be more than 4, 9 or 13 % BUT I guarantee you that she will work harder to build her client base then she would to help you. She will reach women that you never knew about in her life...even if she's your sister. Look at this ... if she is a Star Consultant ... your 4% is $72, 9% is $162 and 13% is $234!! The average client buys $50 in a Star Quarter---that's only $25 profit. So which is mo' money?

2.You are too busy to do more Mary Kay. Precisely, why you should recruit. She works...you make mo' money. If you aren't heading for Directorship then it's your director's responsibility to train her. You have a few things to do to help ... but #1 is to hook her up with the Director!! You can dovetail for 15% of the appt sales to a team member and you make that fee plus when she orders, you will make a recruiting commission too. Perfect ... no extra work for you...but mo' money for you.

3.You are not too new. You don't have to know more about the business to bring someone in the business. You don't have to do anything but bring a potential to your director and ask her to interview her for you. Who are the potentials ... anyone who buys MaryKay from you and you like her!!! Remember that you are NOT giving her YOUR job but the potential of the MK business for HER. She might want a free car and you don't. It's the director's job to train. If you know enough to say, "yes' to MK...you know enough to recruit. Need mo' money?

4.I am afraid if they say no to me then my feelings will be hurt. Ok, that statement sounds just silly enough to not warrant more opinion on my part. It's just 'no-for now' ... not even forever!

5.Will they think that I am some pyramid scam artist? No, they will think that you love what you do and proud to share this others. That is even more of a reason why sharing all the facts about a MK business is so important-once they understand the truths of MK ... they could never think poorly of you. Oh contraire, they will respect you more even if they are a 'no-for now'. This business is very impressive.

6.If you don't think you know anyone who would be interested, because she has asked you or you have pre-judged them ... then think again!! Did someone ask you to listen to the facts or did you ask them? 95% had to be asked first before joining MK. Chances are they are waiting for someone to believe in them enough to ask them, or they don't know the truths and have made their own prejudgments about what we do. Don't wait for someone to recruit one of your clients before talking to them ... if you don't ask them ... eventually, someone will.

First of all let me say that this sounds like it is coming from a director that want to get some recruits in her unit that WANT to go to the top. It has the feel that she is suggesting that she is willing to work very closely with the ones that are recruited from this endeavor and that you will really have to do very little. She seems to be saying, "If YOU don't want to do more than just sell to a few people, but you see someone that might WANT to do more than that, why not let them, and in the process you will make more money.

Second, it feels like it should be taken in the context of being a response to someone who has just said, "I want to recruit, but..." and is in fact six responses to six "but..."

Here goes.

1. She is guaranteeing they will not lose money but will make money. This is an impossible guarantee. If a good customer turns into a star consultant or better, it WILL be. But there is no guarantee that she WILL become anything more than a personal use consultant. Some of the language here makes me think the first thing I said may be in play. Hopefully this director after making this claim would recommend the ones becoming personal use consultants to just remain clients. However, I get the feeling that she would recruit these in hopes of getting a star from them. Some people are not meant to be recruited. I would hope this director knows the difference, but judging solely on the guarantee she puts out here and the testimonies (like Judi's) that we have all heard, I have my doubts. This does not mean that you should not consider recruiting someone that may be able to sell a lot, just that you are not guaranteed they will.

2. If she were talking to me, I would say, "huh". Again, if you recruit someone that ends up being a stellar seller and your director does all the work, GOOD! But you may get someone that just wants the discount and you lose a good chunk of your profit, BAD! (not entirely bad though if you look at it from a philanthropic point of view, just not "good for business")

3. It is true that you are never too new to find a recruit. When my wife was just getting started, she would often have a 3-way interview with her director. (free training) Any one of your Mary Kay customers is a POTENTIAL recruit. Not all of them WILL be a recruit. And, as mentioned just before this, there is no guarantee that they will make you more money if they become a recruit. Although number three does not expressly indicate that, because of number one, it is implied. This is the same "logic" that I hold against PT when they come to conclusions based on previous conclusions that are inaccurate. And of course ending the paragraph with "Need mo' money?" definitely makes it sound like all you have to do is introduce your clients to your director and they will make you more money. This is not necessarily true.

4. Ouch. Ok, it is true that you should not allow your feelings to get hurt by a "no". We have discussed this elsewhere. But there has got to be a better way to say it, no? Further, there is a possibility that it IS, "no forever" also as discussed elsewhere. While it is a good idea to quantify a no, once you have determined that this is not what they want, let it go. (more on that later)

5. Actually, they might. We have seen that some people consider Mary Kay a pyramid scheme. Usually the ones that feel this way will not be convinced otherwise. Why waste your energy trying to convince them and recruit them? If you try to sell something that you are convinced is going to turn on you and destroy your life, you will probably not do well! If you sit down with someone and they say, "Isn't Mary Kay..." and you respond, "No, actually it is more like..." and they become curious at that point, good. If they are hellbent on "saving you from the evil pyramid scheme", you are probably better off "agreeing to disagree" if you can and maintaining your consultant/client relationship!

6. I think she means, "... because she HASN'T asked you..." as opposed to, "... because she HAS asked you...". It makes more sense that way. Regardless, assuming that you WANT to recruit someone and are willing to take the risk that they will not make you as much money (or worse, less) as they bring in as a client, than this is very true and very important. If you don't ask, you will never know. And, someone else may be the one that does ask and therefore reaps the benefits.


So, if you are a consultant and are considering recruiting, you should consider that you might not get what this person is guaranteeing.

I know we just talked about recruiting, but I want more. What ARE some of the benefits of recruiting? What have the trade offs been? Have you recruited women that you had allowed to just stay clients? Have you had people that you thought, "she would be great" only to see someone else share the opportunity with her first? Have you written someone off as not being interested and then seen her as someone else's new recruit the next month?

Any thoughts on what this (source unknown) director shared?

Let's hear it.

On a side note, comments left here have not been being forwarded to me. So, while I normally will see your comment no matter where you leave it, I may miss some until I figure out what is broken. Of course you are all commenting so quickly that I can't really keep up anyway!

So, fire away.

Thanks