Is Mary Kay Broken? How can it be fixed?

On the most recent post, "Pink Truth: How much inventory does Mary Kay require? an interesting point was raised.

"Speaking the Real Truth" suggests:

"I am convinced that we need to "take back the company" from some of the craziness that we have seen the past few years. If that means that we lose some consultants and directors along the way, then so be it. We need to "weed" the garden for lack of a better term. We only need to debut directors who are READY for directorship, who are established in their own personal businesses and ready to lead others with commitment and integrity.

If that means a little less recruiting, debuting, etc. for a while, then again, so be it. I see it as trimming off the unhealthy parts so that the healthy part can thrive."

Now some people probably think that there is nothing wrong with Mary Kay the way it is! Some of you may think that Mary Kay is so broken that nothing can be done to fix it. Still others probably agree with "STRT" on this and think that "something" needs to be done.

Sort it out here.

Can Mary Kay be saved? Does it even need to be saved? What, oh what, can be done... if anything?

This is your chance to tell the world what you would do if you were in charge!

The lines are wide open... Take a crack.

And be sure to thank STRT for inspiring this one! (Perhaps it is not too late to convince her to be an author for this site?)

Pink Truth: How much inventory does Mary Kay require?

There has been some considerable conversation on one of our recent posts "Are ALL Mary Kay ladies scary?" about how much inventory a new recruit should come in with and how much a director (who is supposed to be helping the recruit) should recommend.

The way I see it, the level of inventory that a person thinks is good will vary from person to person. So while mk4me, strt, or others may think that $6,000 wholesale is too much, the director that is recommending this seemingly insane level may actually think that this is a good level to get started with. So, if she really believes that it is in the best interest of the recruit that she is recommending this level to, is she really an evil, master manipulator bent on destroying someones finances just so that she can pocket a few hundred dollars, or is she just painfully unaware of the fact that not everyone can expect to sell that much merch. right out the gate?

On another note, a "who's to blame note", it seems that there are some that are so desperate to "get rich quick" that they eschew the advice of their director to "start small" and they "get crazy with the cheez-whiz" and find themselves in a world of hurt. Is it possible that there is a large "middle ground" of people that desperately want to put loads of cash in their pockets, and when the conversation about inventory comes up, their "eyes are bigger than their stomach" (or in this case they think they can sell more than they really can) and they, essentially, convince the director that they should buy a certain level of inventory because they "know" they can sell it?

I don't doubt that there are some directors that put pressure on their recruits to buy more inventory than they should. I am sure that some of these are selfish people that can't see past today to realize that this will hurt them in the long run. I am sure that some of them are not selfish at all and genuinely think a large inventory is the best thing for their new recruit. While some may fundamentally disagree with that position (and good reasons certainly exist to disagree) I don't know that it makes them wrong.

I also don't doubt that there are some recruits who, despite every warning from their director, throw caution to the wind and buy enough inventory to make the UPS man cry. I am sure that some of them do this because they know they can sell product quickly and efficiently and don't want to waste any time "finding out" something they already know. I am sure that some of them are just WAY too optimistic in their own opinion of their ability to sell and soon find themselves massively regretting their headstrong disregard for their director's advice.

But what about the others? What about the ones that were not this extreme?

Were you happy with the inventory level you started with? What did you like about it?

Were you unhappy? Why?

Did you feel pressured? If you were pressured (either to buy more or to buy less), were you glad you were pressured? Did you wish you listened to the suggestions and gave in to the pressure?

If you are a director, do you strongly recommend a certain level? If so, do you try to get people to "rise" to that level? Do you try to convince them to lower their expectations to that level?

Ex-consultants, were you "gently suggested" or "heavily pressured" to place a large inventory order? OR, were you told that a large order was mandatory?

"bonus points" to anyone that can accurately tell the group the answer to the question posed by the title of this post... "How much inventory does Mary Kay require?"

Happy Weekend all.

*****EDIT*****

Directly from the "Ready Set Sell" brochure


Congratulations to "Blessed" for being the first to accurately answer the question! You get 10,000 bonus points. And since I have never assigned bonus points before, that puts you in the lead. Congratulations!

****EDIT*****

New Commentator - Your take on this

A new commentator has joined us - Dazzling Diva Dana. There were enough elements in her comment that I felt the discussion would best evolve as its own post.

I have reposted the majority of her comment here (with my responses bold and in italics).

I would love for everyone to get involved with this discussion as many of the things brought up here are important to our discussion of Mary Kay.

Click the link below to see the comment and my responses. Thanks

Unfortunately, you ladies are in truly in the pink vortex.

There truly is NO way to do MK in the "right way."

The system is broken.

What does “pink vortex” mean? Are you telling us that the above “facts” are SO well established that anyone who believes you CAN do MK with ethics is in a vortex of ignorance?

Yes, old school training is to book, sell, recruit - working "full circle."

How well is that working for you really?

Are women calling you begging to hold skincare classes? Hmm?

Here is where some “pro-mkers” have the tendency to want to call “anti-mkers” lazy. You can’t expect women to call YOU begging for anything… it doesn’t work that way. YOU have to call them… lots of them! If someone told you that they would call you… I am sorry to say… they lied to you. No one on this site has said that this is easy (too my knowledge!)

Are you having $1000 weeks on a consistent basis? Making $400 profit with the 60/40 split?

or are you plowing all "profits" back into the MK business either attempting to pay off a credit card or purchasing even MORE inventory?

I will let the consultants answer these questions individually and not speak for the group but I will point out that everyone will have different goals in mind. For some “plowing profits” into their business is good. (I am NOT advocating debt though)

Even if you build up your selling business, you will at some point be encouraged by your Director, Sr. Director, or NSD to gouge your sales, but recruiting your best customers.

You will be encouraged to become a Red Jacket, Team Leader, on-target for DIQ, etc.

These things are all good… but you are making them sound bad. Care to elaborate?

The ONLY way you will move up in the company is recruit and frontload.

Simply not true. Recruit yes. Frontload no. In fact, I think frontloading is the quickest “ticket” to failure in Mary Kay.

HUGE thousands in "Production" is a requirement to move up and "win a free car" (with a co-pay by the way).

Achieving new levels and EARNING a free car are awarded when you are making the company money. If it didn’t require HUGE production it would be kind of pointless… don’t you think?

It has nothing to do with SALES, MK rewards women because of product ordered by them or their team members.

The intent is still for you to SELL. It is illogical to me how someone would decide to pay for thousands of dollars of product they have no intention of selling just to earn something that MAY be worth a few hundred dollars. Nonetheless, the fact that some people do/have done this does not mean that it was ever the company’s intention. MK (like most product based companies) offers its distributors awards based on the inventory ordered. Trying to “cheat” a company the way you are describing does not make sense for anyone. The company should not be held culpable for this sort of imprudence.

You WILL learn to frontload - but you will be told that you're setting the women up for success with a full store.

Again – ticket to failure. Hopefully no one on this site is doing this or will “learn” to ever.

Hmm... Are you really?

No, frontloading is not setting women up for success.

MK is all about greed. It's a Pink Cult of greed and until you ladies realize that, you're caught up in the lie.

Is it POSSIBLE that the MK you experienced and witnessed is a small part of a picture that if seen in its completeness turned out to be different than what you have seen?

Most people on this site have come to terms with the fact that their experience (good or bad) may or may not be the TYPICAL experience. Can you at least acknowledge that possibility with your experience?

You'll find out soon enough when you stop ordering excessive product that is not immediately needed, just to reach a star level order - that you hear from your Director much less often.

If you are not regularly producing for any company what purpose would they have to stay in constant touch with you? Do you want them to call you to chat? This IS a business. Can you imagine the district supervisor of distribution for (say) Pepsi daily or monthly calling a distributor that orders once a quarter? Not likely.

If you stop ordering for a few months, be prepared for a guilt trip that you're not being a team player.

This is being discussed here

Then, either the pink friendship fade-out will occur, or you will get kicked to the curb with thier "required close-toed shoe."

Sorry to hear that excuses needed to be made. This doesn’t really make sense to me…perhaps because I am a guy! If you were not producing I would have one conversation about it with you. Are you done? Yes, okay… thanks for everything, call if you need anything down the road. No, okay… what do we need to get you back “in the game”. I see no reason to make excuses for why I am not calling you.

They will step over you and say, "NEXT."

Why shouldn’t they? Again, it is a business.

If you think my "NEXT" comment is too harsh, have you listed to Pam Shaws cassettes? Or the offical MK DIQ training cassette from early 2000, where they talk about MK being a "numbers game afterall."

Why is this “harsh”? All sales jobs/occupations boil down to a numbers game. That is the nature of sales. Mary Kay is unique in that it allows for “half hearted distributors” OR Personal Use Consultants to get a discount. They don’t have to do that. If you fall into this category (NOT operating a BUSINESS style operation) how much time do you expect someone that IS trying to operate a profitable business to spend on you?

I pray for all of you that you get out now, while your family finances don't take more of a hit -

and you can save your marriage from the distruction that has happed to SO many in Mary Kay.

Just listen to the NSD I-stories and see how many women are married to their original husbands. It's quite telling...

I will continue to pray for you. I'm not "being negative" although you will probably label me as such.

Why would you take the energy to point out that you are “not being negative” immediately after making three negative statements? It seems that you want to make negative generalizations but not back them up with facts. How many (percentage) NSDs are married to their original husbands? Do you know? How many (percentage) of those who have been involved with MK had their family finances devastated as a result of MK? Do you know?

I'm just speaking the truth about this MK business with a BIG warning to you all.

Considering everything you said… I am left asking, “Of what ‘truth’ are you speaking?” I really didn’t see anything in that long comment that could be construed as TRUTH based on any of the definitions of truth that I am aware of. Please elaborate.

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Ok, enough from us... Thank you for your candor Dana.

What do some of those IN Mary Kay think about this?