Is there a difference between a multilevel company and direct sales with the OPTION of recruiting? Well in my humble opinion the answer is definetely "YES".
After reading an article on why MLM's don't work elsewhere, I must concur that a "true" mlm is nothing more than a legalized pyramid scheme that will eventually crumble. Selling the product and having a good product to sell would be key. We at Mary Kay are great at personal care products, such as, skin care, color, body, care, fragrances. We don't carry great household cleaning items, scrapbooking accessoires, baskets, china, crystal, etc...there is a focus on a product line.
With Mary Kay, I believe a new consultant should concentrate on selling her products, developing her client base, and building her inventory. (This does not include, begging, pleading, and stalking every family member and friend you have). Conduct your mk opportunity with dignity. Respect yourself. As the consultant expands her customer base, then she will be able to recruit a team member, I have found that one can begin to get such a large client, it is ideal to to recruit an team member because it can get to a point where one may lapse in their customer service when you try to service too many. Get my point?
Anyway, one can be very successful in Mary Kay but the first step would be to start selling the product. - Even as long as I have been in the Company and a Director, I am still first & foremost a consultant. I still sell alot of product and do facials and parties. I still meet many people that have never tried Mary Kay and I have met a few people that have never heard of Mary Kay.. so I agree there may be some areas that are "saturated" and I will also say there are many that are not.
Those oppossed to MK say one can not earn anything in MK. - Wrong, but it may take time to develope the cashflow. One should not believe they are going to become a consultant and make $100,000/yr working two hours a week. It ain't gonna happen. Can one earn lots of money and not work 24/7, yes, will everyone? No - Some individuals will be suited for the type of work and others won't. Many of us won't know until we try it - (shortcuts, cheating, and "looking successful" don't count)
Like anything else in this world there are only two guarantees: Death and Taxes!
Those against Mk can throw loads of numbers around... it is easy to throw numbers around but not taken into account in their scenario, people are born and die all the time, people change professions and what they like and use all the time. So trying to prove how one would run out of people without taking other items into consideration is not a true representation of what happens. People enter and leave the U.S. as well, people age, some will retire others will enter the workforce.
Do those that complain the loudest really think that they would become a consultant and make $100,000 in two hours a week within a month? Seriously?? Really?? If you had been a stay at home mom, did you join MK to add a little money to the family or to earn $100,000? - So, if you joined for a little extra money and made a little extra money but weren't happy with the time away from your family and knew you could make it without the extra, big deal... quite and spend your time with your family. Don't pout because you had to be away from your family to earn $$ - it is a trade off. Each of us makes the decision if the trade off is worth it. My mom always taught me... if it sounds too good to be true it probably is...
Those that can sell this product, believe in the product, if you don't love the product, if you don't feel it is worth the price, etc... then chances are one won't do as well as those that believe in what they are doing? Common sense isn't it? How or why do you expect to buy something you are selling if you don't want it yourself?
For the complaint that the only clients Mary Kay has are their consultants, well - wrong but secondly then, alot of people like the Mary Kay enough to join to get theirs at wholesale instead of retail, still means there are alot of people that like MK!
My suggestion to anyone reading this: always focus on your product sales first and recruiting/building your team, second. One can earn great money just selling the product. To earn more money, yes, you will need to also build a team... but just building a team and not selling product will wind you up a very unhappy ex Mk consultant.
As far as our competition, those on another site reference, ebay, Touch of Pink, etc.... well gee, all those are against Company policy and shouldn't exist. As many on PT defend these places, perhaps, they would have been more successful if everyone actual obeyed the rules because than the honest MK client would only be able to get their product from legimate MK reps! The Company does have the 90% buyback guarentee so there should be no reason if you want out of MK not to use the "legal" ways out and then "the real" consultants would be selling to the "real clients" and not have to worry about competing with resold second hand product at a clearance price.
And in closing, I laughed out loud after reading this statement, used as "proof", I believe it is from Craig's List.
"I have fallen on hard times, and MUST SELL MY INVENTORY! I have supplies, products, selling tools, bags, and much much more!! YOU GET EVERYTHING! You name it, I probably have it. For example, I have the entire eyeshadow line....I have most all skincare (and some duplicates). Due to time, and the situation, I cannot count and inventory every tiny piece. If you are serious, and interested you are more then welcome to come and look at the entire ROOM it all takes up!! EVERYTHING MUST GO! All BRAND NEW...last time I did my inventory I had OVER $3500.00 RETAIL! So, I am asking only 1300.00 from you. THATS WAY BELOW WHOLESALE. CASH ONLY. SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY PLEASE."
lol!!! $3500 RETAIL... that is only $1750 wholesale, that is one Star Order, it would fit in two boxes, but check it out... it is taking up her entire room.. do I detect a tad bit of an exaggeration? (and yet how many read it and totally believe it)
Oh my, folks, I will get off my soapbox now but seriously. MK is not for everyone, you are not going to get rich quick, you should love (or at least like) the product, you will have to sell the product not just recruit, you may have to be flexible with your time, you may get some "no's", - it will not sell itself, you will have to market the product and yourself. You may have to gain some knowledge about skin care, color, or business stragies on your own or by reading intouch. You may be responsible for whether it works for you or not. It may or may not be for you and just because it didn't work for you, does not mean it will not work for someone else. Be smart, make wise choices, don't buy your prizes, cars, or units. Build a strong foundation of selling before you build up. A weak foundation will crumble. Will some try to run their MK opportunity as an mlm? yes, will it work? - not for long - do it right from the beginning.
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whats probably taking up the entire room is all of the sales aids and section 2 stuff she probably has, because as you stated $3500.00 retail would certainly not fill a whole room. And the ad states she couldnt add up every little piece that she had, but the last time she counted it was 3500, but who knows when that was, and she may have sold or purchased more since then. But if she purchased more, than she must have been selling something..maybe not.
ReplyDeleteI am sure PT wants everyone to think she is getting out due to a failing business. But she may be moving, or having some sort of life circumstance that leads her in another direction, who knows. I just cant see anyone having that much inventory and that many sales aids and not be selling something.
At any rate, your article is a good one. Mary Kay has a lot of componets that distinguish it from MLM's or Pyramid schemes. Mainly if you only want to sell, you can still make money. We have a real product that is comsumable etc..
Let's see if I can sign in yet...google is giving me problems and error messages today.
ReplyDeleteI had that amount of inventory after several months in MK and it all fit neatly in a linen closet. A whole room??? WTF? Does she mean wholesale instead of retail? All my samples fit in my showcase, which also fit in the linen closet. And $3500 bought a person more stuff in 1995 (when I was in) than it does now, that's for sure!
I wonder what that person's inventory consists of???
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ReplyDeleteWhat I dont understand is why is she selling the stuff on Craigs liat when she can get back 90 percent from the company if she doesnt want to be in MK again? Miranda is right 3500 used to be a LOT now its a lot if you have nothing but mascara and lipstick but if its just skin care its lot but not tons! I will post lateron tonight why MK is sort of MLM but not really MLM and why you can make more money with MK than you can an MLM. Its more network marketing than anything. A TRUE MLM you will not make 50 percent unless you massively recruit people and a TRUE MLM does not enable you to make good money selling the product so you are forced to recruit. Those of you who are familiar with these types of commission plans know what I am talking about. Also in MK you only get commissions down to a certain level in true mlm's you get them down to the 5th and 6th generation and some of the people you dont even know. MK was smart NSD's only get commissions on 1st and 2nd and 3rd lines which means they are not a true MLM or ponzi scheme.
ReplyDeleteBravo Mk4me! Very well said! Like others said, I'm not sure
ReplyDeletewhy one would sell on Craigslist? It is probably because she does not want to be prevented from selling Mary Kay in the future.
It could be that the product she is selling has gone beyond the year's time since purchase within which she could sell it back to MK. When I decided I couldn't make money doing MK I paid close attention to the calendar and sent back my inventory before that year was up. But it doesn't pan out like that for everyone.
ReplyDeletei thought about that too Miranda, except that the add says "ALL BRAND NEW"!" so it makes you wonder.
ReplyDeleteOne thing about MK is that even if you dont want to do it anymore, you still have something tangible that you can use to get most of your money back. I would think that is the advantage of selling a real product instead of just buying into some scheme or MLM with no real product. Product is like an asset, you can liquidate it and it may not be a total loss, just like any other business. Most "fake" businesses or schemes dont give you that option, your money is just gone if it doesnt work. At the end of the day with MK you still have something tangible that you can sell in order to make some money, whether you send it back to get 90% of your money back, sell it at a discount all at once or sell it at retail, it wont be a total loss, unless you just sit there and do nothing.
Sometimes when people selling makeup say "brand new" what they mean is
ReplyDelete1. Has not been opened or used
2. Not close to expiration.
That's not the same as "I just received this from the company," but I see it done a lot on eyeshadow communities and makeup boards where people sell off colors they turned out not to like and stuff for (usually) less than retail cost. Or they have an extra of something rare from a collection that's no longer sold and they want to make a couple bux.
Hi everyone - how can I contact the owner of this blog?
ReplyDeleteI JUST signed up to be a consultant with Mary Kay, and went to pinktruth.com to ask some questions of whether it was possible for me to suceeed. I got slammed by most people, and one person offered a good suggestion to try to make it work.
The thing is, they kept on saying that if I believed someone WAS succeeding in Mary Kay, to have that person prove it to me by scanning their TAX information (personal info blocked out of course) and showing it.
I think someone should do exactly that--because I DO believe that some consultants are making profit.
i think there is a link to email dave (the owner) somewhere on this blog.
ReplyDeleteIts sort of a catch 22 about the tax info. How would someones annoynomous tax info prove anything? You have no way of knowing if that is really their tax statement, especially if the personal info is blotted out.
But if you find someone who will do this, I say let it be someone you already have had real contact with, not over the internet, so you can see if the tax return is really thiers.
PT will confuse you, but I think you should read it, just so you will know what NOT to do in your mary kay business. Most of the women on that site have failed in mary kay for one reason or another, so I caution taking advice from them about how to make it in Mary Kay.
Have you taken your concerns to your director or sought out other consultants in your area? Its best to talk to people you can put a face to and see thier efforts.
Find a successful consultant in your area and ask her what she did to make it. You know what they say: If you want to succeed in a certain area, talk to someone who has accomplished what you what to do and learn from them.
Also check out unitnet.com and please dont underestimate the mary kay intouch web site. The truth is on there, dont believe PT when they tell you not to trust the information given by MK corporation.
The only way to make it in this business is to trust your self, listen to what your goals are, follow the mary kay guidelines and
book, sell, sell and if you decide to..then recruit
follow that 60/40 rule and invest in some inventory when you are ready.
And its true about putting your faith first, family then career.
Define success on your own terms, so looking at someone else tax return will only let you know what was possible for them. What is possible for you..is up to you. Only the work you put in will predict that, not a tax return.
So you betta work it girl!
Congrats on getting started!
Gisele, thanks for stopping by. I would love to accomdate you, I have made money since my second year in business. Since it is my only income and since for awhile I was a single mom, I don't know how else I would have paid my bills. I would not still be doing something after 15 years that was not profitable or paying the bills. (we need my income in our household). I pay quarterly taxes with the federal, state, and local. Obviously I am making money. As for blacking out info and forwarding to anyone or thing is not smart. Not because it can't be done, but it shouldn't not be done. Anonymous one day does not mean anonymous another. Just as anything else, it would take no time to make a fake Schedule c and post it. It would prove nothing.
ReplyDeleteI beg everyone to never publish this information for your own protection. In this day and age of identity theft, you are setting yourself up for a major headache.
I have done more than once an illustration of what can be made, it may take sometime but I encourage you to go back and look thru some of the articles.
If you buy something at a 50% discount and sell it at retail and don't blow all your profit on fancy supplies, etc.... please tell me how you would not make money?
Please remember, you honestly must focus on selling the product first and foremost... build your team AFTER you build your customer base. Otherwise you cannabalize yourself. I hope you give yourself a fair chance to see what you can do in Mary Kay. Just be smart. (read intouch, read your consultant guide, don't buy your prizes, ask lots of questions) - we here at Balanced have never said that all is perfect but if things are done the right way, MK can be a wonderful opportunity at first for parttime income and if you are serious and will build, it can lead to fulltime income.
Best of luck to you, I hope we see alot from you!
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ReplyDeleteSorry Blessed,
ReplyDeleteI am really busy right now and don't have time for humoring you like I normally do.
If you would like to participate usefully, you are more than welcome to try again.
I understand. I should have known better than to expect otherwise. I hope you and your wife are well and the new adventure is fulfilling. Later.
ReplyDeleteBlessed