Most recent poll

Results of the most recent poll.

Thank you to the 16 people that voted.

Still need ideas guys... What questions should I ask?


What do you want to know about the other readers on this post?

Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!

I trust everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving!

Matilda, do you guys celebrate Thanksgiving in Sweden?

Thanks to everyone participating on this site!

What are YOUR thoughts about this?

Today, Pink Truth posted something that allegedly is from a National Sales Director. I say allegedly because I have no way of verifying that fact. It seems plausible though.

The responses to it were interesting and certainly revealing. I will comment on the perceptions later, but I thought it was actually a pretty well written piece and wanted to get some discussion going about it here. You know, two sided conversation style!

Here it is, quoted directly from Pink Truth:

The Price of Success

You’ve probably heard that you must pay a price for success. While hard work and sacrifice are necessary, Mary Kay always believed that there was a way to balance the two — and maintaining balance was the true meaning of success. It’s not how much money you have or how many awards you’ve won — it’s how good you feel about yourself, your family and your place in the world. If you can come home at the end of the day and feel good about what you’ve done, that’s success. So how do we get there? You can start by keeping things in check.

1. Having It All Means Being Creative. Let’s face it — a woman can’t be in more than one place at a time. So how can she be there for her kids and continue to work? Be a positive influence even when you’re not there. A note tucked inside a lunch, being present for important events and passing on a healthy self-esteem can be very positive and powerful relationship- building tools. Find ways to make a difference even when you’re not there.

2. The Big Trade-Off. If your career is on the rise, and you decide you want to start a family, you may have to compromise a bit in both directions. Do you give up your career to be a stayat-home mom? Or do you spend less time with your family because your career allows you to provide them with financial security, stability and independence. When the time comes, you have to decide what’s most important to you and prioritize you life to fit your goals.

3. Tick-Tock Biological Clock. Before embarking on a wonderful career and taking the path toward success, think about having children. If now isn’t the time for you, then proceed full steam ahead! But if you want children, consider your timeframe before getting yourself in a situation where your career could overshadow your desire to be a mom.

4. Prioritize, Please. Remember not to work so much that you neglect your children and family. We have to raise our children and enjoy the friendship we have with our husbands — that’s what family is all about. And working too many hours can rob your life of the joys of family if you’re not careful. What good is a successful career if you sacrifice your relationships in the process? Balance is essential for professional women. We all want to spend quality time with our children, family and friends while we climb the ladder of success in our careers.

That's why the Mary Kay definition of success puts God first, family second and career third. It can work. You can have it all! Mary Kay wisdom taken from Mary Kay: You Can Have It All by Mary Kay Ash.

As promised, I will not comment yet. I want to hear some candid opinions about this Nationals recommendations from you my loyal readers first. Does this sound like sound advice? Or does it sound sneaky and manipulative? Or something else entirely? I would love to hear what you think BEFORE you go look at the comments left at Pink Truth! But if you want to get some inspiration, there is quite a bit of chatter there!

Either way, enjoy your Thanksgiving and leave your thoughts when you get a chance!

Thanks

What are you thankful for?

Hi everybody!

There were so many comments yesterday (really good ones I might add) that it is now almost 1.30 am and I need to be at work soon, so I will just place this post here. If you would like to start a new conversation about things you are thankful for this Thanksgiving that would be most excellent.

Also, if any of you see something that you would like to write an article about, please let me know. I think this blog needs to have multiple authors! Unfortunately, this is a side project for me, and I am too cheap to invest in a blog that allows multiple authors! However, if someone writes an article and sends it to me, I would be delighted to post it, and would of course give you full credit for it!

Thanks, have a great day, and if I don't catch you on Thursday, Happy Thanksgiving!

That was quick

So, I just finished posting part 2 of a 2 part series about the phrase "sells itself" and how that relates to "Mary Kay".

Part 1 is here
Part 2 is here

Out of curiosity and because I know that I used that phrase extensively, I checked to see if I had made a difference in the Top Ten for those search terms.

I posted part one at 9.30 pm. It is now 1.00am and those search terms now show my site as number 7 in the list!

Not really making a point, just impressed at how quickly google indexes the internet.

Might as well make a point though I guess.

The moral of this series is that a google search for the terms that you are interested in does not constitute research. It is a good starting place, but that is all. A starting place.

Thanks

Pink Truth "Research" (2 of 2)

Some things you simply can't make up.

This is so rich that it is going to have to be a Two (2) part series:

Part 2 (of 2) Part 1 is here

Apparently Tracy 'was reading' a comment on 'another site'.

She doesn't mention which site this is on, so I can't provide that to you, but you can read her post here.

For those of you that refuse to visit her site (and I certainly don't blame you!), here are her thoughts about that comment that she found:

"I was reading on another site a comment by a writer who said that anyone who was told Mary Kay is easy (and believed it) is stupid. She said something to the effect of, "If I was your recruiter I would have told you it's hard work, and so would almost any other Mary Kay recruiter. I'm sorry you got one of the few bad ones."

I almost fell out of my chair laughing. We all know that 99% of Mary Kay recruiters brag on how easy it is to sell the product.

So just for kicks, I wondered how many web pages I could find that referred to Mary Kay as a product that sells itself. Here is but ONE search that I did.... "mary kay" "sells itself". Other variations on the wording would produce many more pages.

Crazy how many pages say it's easy to sell, eh? And a good thing Pink Truth comes up first for the search !"

I am not making that up. I am not sure how long it will be up, so be sure to check it out with your own eyes while you still can. Click Here

I really believe that as soon as she thinks about what she posted here, she will at the very least change it a little. But here goes anyway...

Again, this is part two of a two part series! Part 1 is here

Ok, so the product either sells itself or it doesn’t, right. Read the first post of this mini-series to wrap your brain around the reality of that statement and the expectations that you should place on it.

Let’s examine the “proof” provided that demonstrates that most recruiters say, “The product sells itself”. Deceptive or not, meant literally or not, Tracy demonstrates how many websites claim that Mary Kay sells itself by linking to a google search for the terms “mary kay” and “sells itself”.

Just for kicks!

Ok, just for kicks, let’s put just a little bit of effort into this and see what the Top Ten results point to! Shall we?

First, we have her site, Pink Truth. Which she points out. “And a good thing Pink Truth comes up first for the search !”

Tracy. Are you saying that your website claims that Mary Kay sells itself? How is this evidence to support your point? Do you not realize what you just said? Think about it. Go ahead, take your time. Let it sink in. Still nothing? Let me explain again.

You said, “We all know that 99% of Mary Kay recruiters brag on how easy it is to sell the product”

Then you said, “Let me prove it to you”.

Then you said, “Here is a list of sites that say, ‘Mary Kay is easy to sell’.”

YOUR site was at the top of the list.

Then you said, “And a good thing Pink Truth comes up first for the search !”

You actually:

1. Listed your site as one of the “bad guys”
2. Pointed that fact out.

I think I am beginning to understand why you took the phrase “sells itself” literally.

Ok, if anyone still doesn’t get it, go ahead and leave a comment and I will try to slow it down a little more for you.

Let’s move on.

Here is the list of sites that Tracy claims are claiming that Mary Kay “sells itself”

1. Since the time of her post, Pink Truth has actually been trumped by, “iVillage Garden Web”. I have never heard of them and I will give Tracy credit that when she posted this article, PT was number 1 for these search terms. Anyway, iVillage Garden Web claims to be “The Internet’s Garden and Home Community”.
1. “sells itself” appears in a discussion (pros and cons) of whether or not “pink overalls” should allow an acquaintance to demonstrate the Mary Kay product on her. She apparently has never tried it and does not want to if there is not at least a decent chance of her liking the product.
2. The phrase is used by someone who says, “I feel Mary Kay sells itself, the product is good and is a pleasure to use.”
3. Not exactly a recruiter telling a potential recruit that her product is going to sell itself.
4. NOT a website claiming that Mary Kay sells itself.
2. Pink Truth is now number Two for these search terms.
1. The article cited is “I hand you the keys to the Mary Kay castle” which is allegedly a directors instructions to a new consultant/recruiter. It does in fact say that the product sells itself and instructs the interviewer to say that it does. But, as I said before, except in a very literal translation, it does.
2. Tracy is calling her site evidence that there are a lot of sites that claim Mary Kay sells itself. Her site does not. But it is listed as one that does?
3. NOT a website claiming that Mary Kay sells itself.
3. Yahoo answers. This is one of the most ridiculous things I have seen on the internet to date. Someone asks a question. ANYONE can answer. Anyone can vote on any answer (thumbs up or thumbs down). After a period of time the answer with the most thumbs up wins. It doesn’t matter if it is right, wrong or utterly ridiculous, Yahoo declares that answer as the correct answer.
1. In this case, the question was, “Which will I make more money selling? Avon or Mary Kay?”
2. The “Best Answer” was, “MARY KAY offers things you can' get at your average discount store is what AVON stuff is.”
3. I don’t think anything I could say could more vividly express my disgust at this form of ‘discovering’ answers. I quoted both of those directly from the internet. Almost all answers are that outrageous.
4. The “answer” that scored the ‘sells itself phrase’ for Tracy’s research was a third party ‘spammer’ promoting their candle selling business. Just in time for the holidays! Check out their opportunity here!
5. NOT a website claiming that Mary Kay sells itself.
4. The Dollar Stretcher. A consumer guide of sorts that helps you make your dollars go a little further.
1. The page in question is about selling Mary Kay. Some pro, some anti.
2. The quote comes from an ex-MKer who has discovered a “new company that is not so new”. She says, “Since this company (not Mary Kay) has stores in the malls, there is already familiarity and the product sells itself. I would definitely not recommend Mary Kay.”
3. NOT a website claiming that Mary Kay sells itself.
5. An article on Common Boundaries website. This is the FIRST site where someone selling the product claims that it “sells itself”. Still not a recruiting ploy though, sorry. Still not really even a sales tactic.
1. “So what is Lee's best selling product? "Definitely Satin Hands," he says. "Even my dad uses it. It sells itself."”
2. Sorry for all the quotes!
3. NOT a website claiming that Mary Kay sells itself.
6. Someone’s blog – sugarfused.net.
1. Asked whether MK was good or not, a list of Pro’s, Con’s, and I dunno’s followed.
2. One anti-MK’er said, “I was naive and fell for the “It sells itself” line that the recruiters give you.” And, “But my MK experience has taught me that nothing “sells itself””.
3. NOT a website claiming that Mary Kay sells itself.
7. Pink Truth again. (you can click on that link... it is safe... it won't add to her stats!)
   
1. Ironically, the home page bringing up the words “sells itself” over and over again in recent comments and in the title/content of the post in question. (I am sure this was not there when she was creating the post but it is there now and currently is adding to her “volume of evidence”)
2. NOT a website claiming that Mary Kay sells itself.
8. Ebay entry. Milotrigger’s blog. Re: Mary Kay Cosmetics.
1. Milotrigger suggests listing unsold MK items on ebay
2. One of the comments ends with, “Let's face it; we all got into the business because of the promise of fast cash, the pink cadillac and prizes and someone spoke the words "Oh the product sells itself". But we must be real and realistic. The product does not sell itself”
3. NOT a website claiming that Mary Kay sells itself.
9. Helium.com. Product Review. Mary Kay Cosmetics.
1. Neutral review, author prefers Avon.
2. “The one good thing about being an Avon Sales Representative, is that I am part of a good cause and second, I do not have to sell Avon because Avon sells itself.”
3. NOT a website claiming that Mary Kay sells itself.
10. MoneyDummy.net. Personal Experience with Mary Kay.
1. This person had a bad experience with Mary Kay.
2. Someone told her the product would sell itself
3. NOT a website claiming that Mary Kay sells itself.
11. Why I am a Mary Kay Consultant. Since number 7 was technically not there when Tracy was writing this, I will add an eleventh entry. And a good thing for her. For the first time, we see what could be construed as “sells itself” being used as a “pitch” to recruit someone.
1. “What "sold" me on Mary Kay was that I never have to compete with anyone but myself. The product sells itself; my job is simply to get it out there, to be honest and truthful about the product, and because of Mary Kay's policy of "try before you buy" I will never feel like I "hustled" anybody to give me a few extra bucks or to help me gain a few points.”
2. Finally, a website claiming that Mary Kay sells itself. And again, allow me to point out that SHE still takes responsibility for showing it to people!

So, with the exception of number 7 which I will omit, the top ten results showed only ONE (1) result that “backed up” Tracy’s point that there are “many web pages… that referred to Mary Kay as a product that sells itself.” For those of you that don’t like math, close your eyes. This is a ratio of 1:10. The result page said there were 1,960 results. Now I don’t plan on going through all of those sites, and I don’t expect her to either. But let’s just say that fully 10% of those results are genuine “Mary Kay sells itself” websites. 196 people saying that Mary Kay sells itself are hardly 99%!!!! Let’s go a step further. Let’s call it 200, and assume that several other searches and further combing of the internet produces 5x that number. 1,000 people claiming that Mary Kay sells itself are still nowhere near 99%.

It is this kind of “research” that made me start this site. The fact that at the time of me writing this there are seven (7) comments affirming this post as credible research tells me that some people still regard Pink Truth as offering the truth. This is the sorriest excuse for research I have seen since I used a baseball card to research a “famous African-American” for a Social Studies project in 6^th grade. No wait. This is worse. This truly baffles the mind. I am in awe of how ridiculous this is.

“Crazy how many pages say it's easy to sell, eh? And a good thing Pink Truth comes up first for the search!”

Stop. Read that again! 1 in 10 is a lot? Pink Truth is one of them? I can’t stop looking. I keep reading it over and over expecting it to change. Thinking I may wake up! Count the days friends (and foes). How long until this post comes down? Or will it be edited? Please tell me that at some point she will realize how insane it is!?

Did you even look at those pages? Did you read what you wrote before you hit "publish"? Are you secretly making fun of your readers by insulting THEIR intelligence? I just don't understand.

Ok, moving on.

I think that 100% of Mary Kay reps should proudly say that their product sells itself. Not taken out of context, this statement is true. It is true of any product that you can allow people to “try”. They get to see first hand whether or not they like it. It is not a guarantee that they will, but it takes the sales pressure off the salesperson and puts it on the product. You just have to find people that are willing to try it. This CAN be quite tricky. It is like this new gum I have discovered. 5. That is what it is called. 5. You may have heard of it, I don’t know. I tried it because I am a sucker for packaging and theirs is really great. I really like it. I have had some people try it and they liked it. Some people tried it and didn’t like it. Some people refused to try it. I am not a sales person for them, and I will not get any money if you or anyone else tries it. But by getting people to try it, I have proved that their product, “sells itself”.

Now, if someone took the “sells itself” phrase to mean that literally they were going to have to stave off the hordes of women fighting each other to get to this amazing product that sells itself, and they communicated it to you like that, I will say again, “I am sorry you were lied to”. But, now I am going to ask you to be honest. Did you really think that all you had to do was buy the product and people would come to you? That is not a rhetorical question or a sarcastic one. I genuinely don’t believe that anyone seriously signs up to sell something that they think will magically sell itself. It would not take more than a fleeting thought to realize that if there was no human quotient involved you would not have been approached in the first place. So please, help me understand. What did you really think that phrase meant when you first signed up and what was so different when you got in that made you feel lied to?

Thanks

Pink Truth "Research" (1 of 2)

Some things you simply can't make up.

This is so rich that it is going to have to be a Two (2) part series:

Part 1 (of 2)

Apparently Tracy 'was reading' a comment on 'another site'.

She doesn't mention which site this is on, so I can't provide that to you, but you can read her post here.

For those of you that refuse to visit her site (and I certainly don't blame you!), here are her thoughts about that comment that she found:

"I was reading on another site a comment by a writer who said that anyone who was told Mary Kay is easy (and believed it) is stupid. She said something to the effect of, "If I was your recruiter I would have told you it's hard work, and so would almost any other Mary Kay recruiter. I'm sorry you got one of the few bad ones."

I almost fell out of my chair laughing. We all know that 99% of Mary Kay recruiters brag on how easy it is to sell the product.

So just for kicks, I wondered how many web pages I could find that referred to Mary Kay as a product that sells itself. Here is but ONE search that I did.... "mary kay" "sells itself". Other variations on the wording would produce many more pages.

Crazy how many pages say it's easy to sell, eh? And a good thing Pink Truth comes up first for the search !"

I am not making that up. I am not sure how long it will be up, so be sure to check it out with your own eyes while you still can. Click Here

I really believe that as soon as she thinks about what she posted here, she will at the very least change it a little. But here goes anyway...

Again, this is part one of a two part series!

First of all, because this is such a common theme on PT and Anti-MK sites, I will deal with the concept of "sells itself". We will deal with the 99% issues at another time as these are separate. I don't know how you quantify a statement like, "We all know that 99% of Mary Kay recruiters..." anything. Since that is another issue, we will deal with it later. Let's look at the phrase, "sells itself".

How many of you (pro-MK or anti) have said, "This (food, gadget, beverage, etc) is SO good, it could sell itself"? You didn't actually mean that you thought it would get up off the shelf and leverage itself into the hands of a consumer in exchange for cash? You mean that it is really good. You still needed someone to introduce it to you. You still needed someone to demonstrate it to you. When someone says that a product sells itself, they are rarely saying that the manufacturer only has to produce it, stack it up in their warehouse and wait for the profit to come in! You still need to find away to tell people about it. Introduce: Sales. Be it through traditional media advertising (which I think technically came after door-to-door sales), or through more non-traditional channels, you need to let people know that you have something that is worth trying. And whether it is in their heads or out loud, they are going to want to know, "What makes you so special that I should waste my precious time trying what you have to offer?" You have to answer this question for them before they will try it. After they try it, if it is really, ‘so good that it sells itself’, it will “sell itself”.

I personally believe that Mary Kay falls into this category. I have spoken with many of my wife’s clients personally and have heard them ‘declaring the praises of Mary Kay’ because they really like it. They call her to order more when they are out. They make jokes about it being, ‘like crack’! “I need my MK fix” they say! I have a friend (male) that had trouble with his skin. The product he was using solved one problem but created another. He mentioned this when my wife was telling him about what she does (skin care specifically) and she recommended one of her products. She gave him a free sample that night, and the next day he ordered the product from her. In this case, I would say that the product “sold itself”. My wife still had to be there, talk about it, explain why he (a guy) should not be ashamed to try it, and have her sample on hand. But ultimately, she did not have to call him over and over until he “gave in” just to get her off his back. This is just an isolated example. Almost all of her clients are just like that. Once they try the product they don’t want to try anything else. On the flip side, she has had plenty of people that have tried it and said, “no thanks”. No energy wasted (I guess to be accurate, I should say “minimal” energy wasted).

Here, try this. Ok. Do you like it? Yes, give me more!

Here, try this. Ok. Do you like it? No! Ok, thanks for your time!

As I said, I think it is true that Mary Kay sells itself. As long as you don’t turn that phrase into something utterly ridiculous, it is true. Ironically, the second comment on this post from “DebiUnpinked” says it better than I ever could. –

“If it sold so easy why do they have consultants?”

[again, I am not making any of this up, you should really check it out for yourself before she takes this post down… Click here]

If you REALLY thought that they LITERALLY meant that the product was going to sell ITSELF, didn’t you get a little suspicious AT THAT TIME about why they would need YOU? I mean I really want to feel pity for people that were hurt by deceptiveness in Mary Kay, but I find it very hard to believe that you honestly think “sells itself” means that the product is going to magically do all the work for you. I am sorry if that was (honestly) your understanding, but frankly I don't believe you.

This was part one of two... stay tuned for part two. It gets better!