Mary Kay Director Tells NPR “A new rep. working full-time can expect to earn close to $50,000 in a year.”
L J
Filed under Articles & News
It’s true. And I nearly laughed myself out of my chair when I heard it.
NPR’s Morning Edition on January 27th, 2009, did a story on how, supposedly, companies like AVON and Mary Kay are seeing big increases in sales.
Reporter Gloria Hillard interviewed Mary Kay director Linda Klein. Says Hillard in the story, “Klein says a new rep. working full-time can expect to earn close to $50,000 a year.”
Really? Can I see some numbers somewhere that substantiate this claim, Ms. Klein? Because I don’t know of any AVERAGE Mary Kay rep that earns $50,000 a year.
Even directors, who flash those big checks around, aren’t really making as much as you think. They rarely tell you the expenses involved, including time, required to receive such commissions. And they hardly ever tell you that those commissions aren’t based on the sales of the consultants they recruit but rather the orders for inventory that those consultants place with the company. Lots of that inventory winds up in the basement or at garage sales when the women who join realize that the earnings claims are overstated and the time commitment grossly underestimated.
You can listen to the complete story here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99898912
As is predictable, many Mary Kay consultants have shown up on the NPR site to leave their positive comments about the company.
Popularity: 11%
Tam on 
me on 
Makeba on 
I was thinking… if MK is a debt free comp. why then would the SD push you into using your CC …more than one if you have to! Wouldn’t they want their consultants to be debt free as well?! Can I be bashing MK like this? lol I like the products… I had just started the skin care line Jan. 29th… Are they any good? Should have known more before I signed up huh!? I have asked my friend to smack me in the forehead next time I am thinking about signing up for anything! lol
YAY! The UPS man came and the starter kit is on its way back! One less thing now…
“If MK is a debt free comp. why then would the SD push you into using your CC …more than one if you have to! Wouldn’t they want their consultants to be debt free as well?! ”
Well, if you don’t order $ 600 your SD doesn’t get to count you as a “qualified” recruit and she earns commission off of what you order, whether you pay for it in full, or put it on a credit card. IMO, I think SD’s believe if you have cc debt you will “work your business” in an attempt to pay off the debt, which, in reality, causes you to order more because SOMEONE will always want something you DON’T have – even if you’d ordered 2 of everything, SOMEONE will want 3!
Ohhh… that makes a small amount of sense lol You could lose money, right? I mean if no one buys.
Does everyone have to be a qualified recruit to sell MK?
That’s EXACTLY right, you can, easily ! Every order is $ 8.95 shipping PLUS tax now, and if you haven’t ordered in 3 months, you have to order $ 200 to get the 50% discount. Then you get some SD telling you to carry a FULL store. DO NOT DO THIS. Plus, it’s hard to read customers minds and order all their stuff in advance and even thou I was told the “products would fly off my shelves” not 1 even wobbled! LOL Wait to see what customers you have (if any) first, and who likes/uses what. IE, If you have several customers who use the TW Skincare, you may want to carry 1 -2 of the items that SEVERAL customers order regularly.
If you take the orders FIRST, then place your order for the products that you have already sold and keep very little inventory, I honestly think you could maybe make a couple hundred +/-, a month, provided you have a good customer base and probably working 10 – 15 hours per week - and I mean WORK – you’ve got to call, mail, e-mail, pass out samples, and generally get yourself in front of a LOT of women!
No, you don’t have to be quailified to sell. You HAVE to order a min $ 200 initial inventory to get the discount, but you are only “qualified” with a $ 600 initial inventory order. ”Qualified” recruits count for ’move on up’ challenges. Your recruiter will get a commission on your order, whether it’ s $200 or $600.
GGLara, another thing to consider about inventory is that nobody in their right mind goes to a home party and expects to walk out with their product that night.
Epicure, Stampin’ Up, Party Light, Home & Gift, Pampered Chef…you never get the stuff immediately. As a consumer, I wouldn’t go to a home party expecting to leave with the stuff I order, it’s insane to think the rep has multiples of every product in their trunk.
Tam, I refused the starter kit the other day. The SD made an inventory order for me and I was able to stop it… I hope that was true. I still can get on the intouch and it shows it has not been shipped.
Your right BC! That is what I was wanting to do when I signed up but the SD had me all in the pink fog lol and I lost my way. I found it in time threw this site! TY to all!
GGLara – YEAH! Good idea to stop that initial inventory order! Whew! You should join us in the forum – we discuss a wide range of topics, we have some great ladies & gents, some are even current consultants! Click on “forum” on the upper left corner, enter your info and you are in. It’s definitely worth checking out!
GGLara… I’m so glad you were able to refuse the Starter kit and get your order stopped before it shipped! You shouldn’t be pressured into ordering and never let your SD order for you…you don’t even know what your customers will be using, that’s a good way to get stuck with stuff you can’t sell!
I second Tam’s suggestion that you join the Forum, you’ll get lots of tips on what to avoid if you decide to stay in MK and as she says, we are about a lot more than MK!
That’s very true, BC. Almost all of the home party companies make you wait several weeks for your stuff. And guess what? The representative has all the money and then just places the order for the products. She already has her profit in hand without having to “stock a store.” It’s simply ridiculous to have to have thousands of dollars of product on your shelf or lug a ton of stuff to a party just so people can get their stuff right away.
As I’ve mentioned before, most women I ran into were shocked to get their stuff immediately and didn’t care whether they did or not. I think some women like the “surprise” of getting their stuff a week or so later. It’s like an unexpected present.
I registered for the forum and never got the email confirmation three days ago what should I do?
Colleen, click on the “contact” button in the tan toolbar at the top of the page (on the right side) where you found the “forum” button and send a note to LJ, let her know when you registered and the name you registered under. She should be able to help you out!
Colleen when you are able to log in let us know that you were posting as Colleen on the main page so we can give you an extra warm welcome. We wlecome all newbies who post, but if we have been “chatting” with you on this page, it’s nice to know that we already “know” you!
Mary Kay is what you make of it. Sit on your hands, and nothing will happen…like most times in life. Get on the phone, share your story, share the business and teach women how to take great care of the skin, and the product sells itself! If you dont let yourself try it, youll never know what could happen. If you think its a ‘get rich quick’ thing, youre wrong. That doesnt exist. But if you want to learn and work hard, the rewards are great!
just have common sense making business choices. Just because the company advertises buying stock doesnt mean thats for you. If you have 5 clients, you dont need it. Each consultant can speak with their director about it. Im ready for stock because I cant keep enough on hand. Thats right ladies. I cant keep enough on hand, even in this economy.
Dont knock what you havent tried!! and dont give up!!
emilymaeATmarykay, please read ALL the comments before you post. We have already answered all your “talking points”. We aren’t lazy, stupid and we did try. You sound like you have been doing MK all of about 30 days or less!
Stop drinking the pink koolaid and try adding up the time you have spent making phone calls, warm chattering, sharing , setting up for your class, packing and delivering orders, and teaching.
Add the cost of your inventory, sales aids, samples, gas, hostess gifts, etc, subtract that total from your total sales and divide it by the number of hours you spent doing all of the above and I’ll bet you are making less than minimum wage, if that.
Not only will you not “get rich quick”, you’ll end up “in the hole”, if you’re not careful!
Don’t quit your real J-O-B with vacation, insurance, paid vacation and sick leave.
I don’t know why people always show up here calling members here lazy. I’ve never figured that out. Do they really think that the people here were just lazy and didn’t work and that’s why they don’t care so much for MK? How ridiculous.
Actually the reality is that most of the people in MK worked just as they were told. They went to meetings, they started their business with friends and family, they even had an open house perhaps. And then they came to a complete stop, frequently. It’s not easy to get customers in this business for a variety of reasons. But if you keep at it, you can build a small customer base. But that customer base won’t make you the money that they claim. And also, people usually don’t want to book classes at your classes. The ones that do…well it’s a challenge to keep them booked. Women don’t shop and buy the same way they did in the 50s.
That’s nice. But the fact is that the whole “business” of Mary Kay is based on each new member purchasing inventory. There’s no way to move up the “ladder” unless that keeps happening. A lot of women cave in to the pressure and if you understand psychology and group dynamics, you’ll know it’s not because they’re weak or stupid. And since it’s recommended and you’re new and you want to succeed, you want to do the things they tell you will help you succeed.
Mary Kay depends on hype and unrealistic examples of how much money you can make in order to entice people to join. Then once someone joins and does what they’re told and expects to make the money they were told they could and aren’t, it’s because it’s suddenly NOT the easy, part-time, make a lot of money quick scheme that the company and the directors presented to lure you in. Can you say smoke and mirrors?
I registered as well and I keep checking my email.
I even tried to register another name thinking maybe I typed the email wrong lol… I tried clicking the did you miss your activation email. I used GGLara the first time and then tried GLara today…. How long does it take? Maybe I should have used ImpatientGGLara LOL
I just thought…. I didn’t check the spam like Lipstick told Colleen …. and there is was! LOL sorry….
Not that they have to defend themselves but how come when the PRO MK ladies say something (and you know Im proMK) they never come back and talk about their sales or classes? Forget the schedule C they never come back to say how much they made or what they sold. Please enlighten me
Colleen, you know I am not ProMK…been there done that, it doesn’t work! Maybe when they go to look at their schedule C or do the math it doesn’t look like they thought it would!
It’s easy to fall into the trap that activity in MK is making you money. I was there for 8.5 years, but it took a site like this one to make me take a more critical look at just what my activity was getting me…in debt more and more ! And then to realize that working hard did not get you where you wanted to be in MK if you worked it honestly instead of going for the sheer numbers of recruits and frontloading them with a bare minimum of $600 inventory.
I didn’t want to become a SD at the expense of others!
Maybe they realized that all that positive crap they have been fed, at MK meetings and Sminar and Career Conf was keeping them from looking at the big fat negative
debt they were in and the money they weren’t making! IMO
Colleen, I honestly don’t know.
I think it’s beacuse they come on these boards with an ‘I’ll tell these dumb, lazy broads how it REALLY is’ attitude, and their attitude comes across in their posts as confrontational, argumentative and condescending.
When we prove we’re ready to fight back they immediately disappear, as do most bullies.
Or we want real numbers, and they know they can’t provide them. I think some of these women are so deep in denial they can’t admit to themselves how bad it is and our demanding proof of their claims is scary to them.
Sometimes we get pro-MKers like yourself who are polite and able to have an actual conversation without being demeaning or insulting, and (I think) we respond in kind. I’ve enjoyed your posts and hope they continue, I also hope you join us in the forums if you haven’t already.
I’d like to know too. But I suspect there’s a lot going on.
I remember when I was in MK and I would deny any criticisms of Mary Kay because I was told these people were negative because they didn’t work their business and failed. So, while it irritates me every time I hear it, I HAVE been on the other side. It’s easy to get quickly brainwashed by the rah rah of MK and your desire to do well.
They’re scared that if they listen to the info here and absorb it, that they will realize what a hopeless proposition MK is. It’s not easy to admit mistakes and some people simply can’t afford to, emotionally and otherwise.
Any time you don’t get registrations by when you should, check your spam mail. It’s almost always there.
You can always email me too and I’ll help — lauraj@pinklighthouse.com
“a new rep. working full-time can __expect__ to earn close to $50,000 a year”
Oh, she can expect it, but great expectations do not mean it’s going to happen.
I can __expect__ to see flying pigs in my neighborhood, with about the same results.