Their advice is:
So if you order every three months or less, here's an ordering tip from our member pinkmigraine to help you: Wait to order until January 2.
If you place a $200 wholesale order in December, you will be A1, A2, and A3 in December, January and February. When the new products come out on the March order form, you'll need to order another $200 wholesale.
But if you wait to order $200 wholesale in January, you will be A1, A2, and A3 in January, February, and March. Then when the March order form comes out, you won't have to order a full $200, as you will have your earned discount. You'll be free to just order a few of the new items if you like.
This seems to be quite valuable. If it is helpful to anyone, good. If there is a flaw with this logic, please let me know. I would not want to lead any of you astray.
Give me some feedback, and for those of you that this applies to, if some of the wiser readers here give this the green light, make sure you take advantage.
Does anyone know if new products are always introduced in the same months each year? Or does it vary?
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The new quarters always start on the same day. So you can count on a new Look Book with new products March 16, June 16, September 16, and December 16. (Of course, there are early offers to get the products before this dates.)
ReplyDeleteThe idea of not ordering until January, (if one does not need products) is a good one. I have gotten upset when I hear directors or consultants say, Oh, you will want to order in December for your taxes and for a business expense.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Inventory is not an expense, it is an asset, without getting into an accounting lecture. Inventory is not an expense!!
Now on the flip side, if you try to "schedule" your orders, you could end up holding yourself back. Even personally, I had one month I was exremely busy and didn't have the time to get my order for product in. I found I was dreading going to do my products that you tried tonight, you can even take them home tonight". appointments because I was not going to be able to tell the guests, "and the best part is, if you love everything or anything and want to take it home with you, you can-tonight!"Everyone always gets excited. Knowing I would not be able to provide this service I found myself not booking. Knowing I could not service my clients actually worked to hold me back. So I tell my unit members, sell - when you need to order, order... but don't not sell because you planned on putting in an order in January, if you sell enough in December put one in when you need it.
Hope this makes some sense, it is late and I wanted to reply but should probably think about getting some sleep. Just finished decorating the Christmas tree,
mk4me...here we go agreeing again.
ReplyDeleteYou always want to look at your personal situation when planning to place an order. There are lots of things to consider:
1-Do I need products for myself, my clients, or to stock holes in the inventory level that I choose to carry?
2-Are these time sensitive items? Meaning, customers will wait for a new fragrance or eye color, but they cannot wait for moisturizer, mascara, foundation, etc.
3-What are the bonuses available to me and will I even qualify for one of them? If you are placing a larger order, the free product matters. The bonus changed on the 16th of each month and can have difference retail values. In addition to the value of the bonus, ask which bonus benefits you more, for example, which product do I sell more of, or which do I need now?
4-Do I have appointments coming up that I need product for? I personally have quite a few appointments already booked for Jan., so I want to have the Minerals and other items to show them.
5-NEW PRODUCTS. This is a big one. This is why I think consultants should be ordering NOW. The Mineral Foundation is selling like crazy for me and my unit, and those who are waiting are missing out on sales. With Limited Editions, I order first thing, and order a minimal amount. That way I can see how it goes and have plenty of time to order again before any sellouts happen. I also have time to go back to my early purchasers and give them the opportunity to purchase again before the items are gone. More bang for the promotion for me.
6-Commission does matter. If you are placing an order, and trying to decide when to do so, consider other money that is on the table. If you already have commission built up in Dec., and are unsure if you will have any in Jan., then it makes more sense to order now and get that extra money, even if it is only a few dollars, it's free money and might cover shipping or some products. Do not do an order that you don't need just to get a few dollars, I am saying if you are ordering anyway, get the commission.
7-Yes, having the Earned Discount in March will be valuable. But here is another tip that a lot of consultants do not realize. When you are already active, you can accumulate smaller order during one of your active months, and it will reset your status to Active, Month 1, thus extending your discount. Technically, a consultant could go on forever without placing a lump sum $200 wholesale order and remain active forever.
Wow, just realized I really messed up one of my paragraphs, if you couldn't figure it out... it was suppose to read...I found I was dreading going to my parties because I couldn't tell the guests that they could take their products home with them if they wanted anything that very night. ...
ReplyDeleteIn addition to these thoughts, a consultant does not absolutely have to have the new products the day the come out if they really aren't doing MK as a business. Even if you particiapte in PCP, the new products come out mid month but the new Look Books don't mail until the end of the month and they mail third class mail. So it really will be the beginning of the next month before you clients if they have no contact with anyone else will have no knowledge of the new products until they get their new book.
STRT is right, you don't have to place the entire $200 at one time in a month, of course if you can, it is smarter to because you would only have to pay s/h ($8.75) once, however, there are times when it can be better for a consultant to place more orders and just pay the extra s/h if the money in hand works better for them.
STRT, nicely stated!
Great advice from everyone. :) I typically hold off on ordering if I'm not sure sales are going to get me to the $200 w/s for the new quarter. I've gotten pretty good at predicting my sales. I love that cumulative orders can now make us A1, as well!
ReplyDeleteSo I have a question:
ReplyDeleteIf you have someone wanting to join, do you advise them to wait until after Jan. 1st, or have them sign up now?
I guess my thoughts are that it is too late to get sales for Christmas (as a new consultant, not an existing one), so it would be better to wait until Jan.
What are everyone else's thoughts on this?
Shay, I have to say that there is no perfect time. Just as some people will say that it's too late to make any last minute Christmas sales, there are people who will say that people have spent all their disposable income on the holidays and won't have anything to spend until February. This is sales, and an intelligent, motivated salesperson knows there will always be some holiday (religious or national), school vacation time, or major political or sporting event happening at some point in the year. There's nothing you can do about it.
ReplyDeleteOne point about waiting until the start of month (any month) is that the MK order processing gets real slow on the last business day of the month through the 4th or 5th business day of the next month. This is because there is a huge percentage of the month's orders that are submitted on the last business day of month and the day before. MK has to process and ship all of those orders before processing the orders for the new month (first-in-first-out). Even new starter kit processing slows down. This does not mean that a consultant who places her order on the 6th of the month will get it sooner than if she had placed it on the 1st, just that it will take less time to process before shipping.
The advantage of waiting until the start of the new month is that the new consultant has the longest period of time (until the end of the next month) to do a new consultant bonus level order and receive extra product. But that only really matters if the consultant is planning to boot-strap her inventory purchase by getting orders from customers first, then pooling the money and placing her 1st order.
In my experience, I would say that most consultants wait until they receive their starter kit before placing their 1st order. (Only the Company knows the exact percentage of consultants that place their first order on the same day as their agreement.) The company does offer an incentive to a new consultant to place a $600+ whls order w/i 15 calendar days of the agreement date, which is a free "signature look" worth approx $110, in addition to the new consultant bonus. The idea is that the Company wants the new consultant to be wearing MK, not some x-brand. Makes sense to me, because what is the new consultant going to say when a customer tells her that she wants to buy what the new consultant is wearing, and the new consultant is wearing MAC or Cover Girl or Maybelline? If the new consultant already has her own MK products, then she can sell the free items. (I know, the PT weanies are going to say "but it's a pink custom compact and about-to-be-discontinued eye and cheek colors." So what, if the customer is happy.
Personally, I would tell a prospect to sign the agreement this week (Dec 17-21), so that the starter kit arrives between Christmas and New Years Day, or maybe just afterwards. While the new consultant is waiting for her starter kit, there is no reason that the recruiter cannot meet with her and explain the inventory options. Then the new consultant can start scheduling facials/classes for early January. My wife does the new recruit's classes with her the first few times (up to the new consultant), so she will even use her own kit if the new consultant's kit hasn't arrived yet.
From a tax standpoint, if the agreement is signed and paid for in 2007, but no inventory arrives until 2008, then the business will probably show a small loss for the 2007 Sch C, since the kit is a "business supply". I don't know if it's exactly kosher, but I 've always treated inventory on order at the end of the year but not delivered until the new year as part of the new year's wholesale purchases, because it wasn't on the shelf on Dec 31/Jan 1 when I did the annual physical inventory. (The IRS hasn't complained yet.)
BTW, the PT crowd is doing their best to make it sound like all current eye and cheek colors will be obsolete on March 16th. Per the Company, only 6 eye colors and 2 cheek colors will initially be available for the new compacts. These colors are "basic", in other words, "beginner colors". For a list of what eye & cheek colors are being discontinued, look on the order form.
I didn't intend to write a Greek epic when I started, so I hope I haven't gone too long.
MK Honesty,
ReplyDeleteWOW. Well said. You seem to be very knowledgeable about sales and Mary Kay.
Thanks for all of that, and don't ever worry about writing epics, novels, etc... you will be "write" at home here!
Thanks
yeah, what he said!
ReplyDelete