Mary Kay Director Tells NPR “A new rep. working full-time can expect to earn close to $50,000 in a year.”

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%

In These Tough Economic Times, Mary Kay is NOT the Answer

Beware.

No doubt Mary Kay directors everywhere are training their consultants to recruit based on the economic situation.

I can just hear it now: “Mary Kay is an ideal source of extra income, especially today, when everyone is feeling the pinch from the economic situation. For just $100, you can have a part-time business making full-time income and help out your family.”

Please…don’t buy it.

First of all, we all know it doesn’t just cost $100 to join.

Second, you’ll most likely have MORE debt if you join Mary Kay, and if you’re like lots of Mary Kay consultants, more debt than you ever had in your life.

If you’re still intrigued by the Mary Kay shindig, at least do some reading here. You’ll more than likely thank us later.

Popularity: 6%

If You Sell Mary Kay Products on eBay…Beware!

Just wanted to post this to increase the likelihood that resellers and liquidators will see this. I have posted this on eBay as well.

Mary Kay Inc Files Lawsuits Against Numerous eBay Sellers of Mary Kay Products

Dateline: December 4, 2008

If you sell Mary Kay products on eBay…beware! Mary Kay Inc. may be coming after you.

In the last week, several eBay sellers of Mary Kay products have been served with lawsuits.

You may also be aware of the ongoing lawsuit that Mary Kay Inc. filed against Touch of Pinks Cosmetics, and eBay seller who also runs a separate online store selling Mary Kay products.

The Mary Kay consultants who spend their days policing the listings on eBay and turning Mary Kay sellers in to Mary Kay Inc. are surely gloating and celebrating now. Unfortunately, there’s no evidence that these sellers have done anything wrong. And especially given that Mary Kay Inc. has yet to win any judgment against seller Touch of Pink, these additional lawsuits seems a little premature and aggressive.

If you sell Mary Kay products on eBay, I would urge you to make sure you be careful — whatever that may be, I suppose, at this point. Mary Kay Inc. is out for records from these sellers to see if they are purchasing products from active consultants and directors in the company. They assert that this is interfering in their business.

We will have to wait to see how this all plays out, but either way, it is vitally important to anyone liquidating all those excess Mary Kay products on eBay, and for that matter, other sellers of similar products.

Popularity: 7%

Quit Calling Us Negative

I’ll keep this short and sweet.

Why do Mary Kay consultants show up here to tell us, very impolitely and usually rudely, how negative we are?

It always amazes me how nasty some of their chastizing comments can be, yet they come here to call us negative?

I think a lot of the anger, the need to call us negative, comes from fear. Fear that if you actually stopped and stepped back from the rah-rah of the Mary Kay cult-like experience that you might see the same things. And that’s scary because then you’d have to deal with lots of things. All the same things that so many of the women here had to deal with.

Critical examination of an issue is NOT negativity. It’s just plain smart.

Popularity: 3%

Singer Jewel This Year’s MK “Kiss For Country” Spokesperson

Singer/Songwriter Jewel is the spokesperson for Mary Kay’s “Kiss For Country” campaign this year.

The second annual event enlists celebrities to make their lipstick-coated lip print on a card to be auctioned off, with proceeds benefiting the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation to benefit women affected by domestic violence.  Martina McBride was recruited as spokesperson for last year’s inaugural event.

To kick off the event, Jewel joined a group of 25 Mary Kay Consultants to help clean up the backyard of a women’s shelter in the Nashville area.

This is a great cause.

So why does the cynical side of me worry about the women in shelters being subjected to a recruiting pitch by those MK Consultants?

Popularity: 2%

Just a Few Bad Apples

We’ve often heard the response from active Mary Kay consultants that bad experiences in Mary Kay can be blamed on a few “bad” directors or consultants in the company.

I finally realized that there’s a communication problem here.

The women who have had unpleasant experiences in Mary Kay aren’t saying that the directors and other consultants they encountered are necessarily bad people. It’s their behavior, the required Mary Kay speak and attitude, that is horrible.

There are more than “just a few bad apples” in Mary Kay, and they share many of the following behaviors:

• pushing consultants to spend more on inventory, Seminar and other events than they wanted to
• asking consultants to give up a Saturday morning with their family for a recruiting brunch
• placing phone calls to consultants asking them to place an order so “the team” can make production
• encouraging new recruits to take out a loan to pay for thousands of dollars of inventory because it’s a “business expense”
• teaching consultants that anyone who even questions the things you do in MK is simply negative
• trying to convince quitting consultants to try to sell their inventory rather than send it back to the company
• misleading women by stating that it “only costs $100″ to start a Mary Kay business
• encouraging women to join Mary Kay for a hobby or personal use, then telling them they should purchase inventory and other items because it is really a business and needs to be treated as one
• informing women during the recruiting process that there is a dire need for consultants in their geographical area, when in fact, if anything, there are too many
• pressuring consultants into attending meetings and functions at times that are usually reserved for the family or encouraging them to reschedule family events so that they don’t interfere with Mary Kay events

These are just some of the things that we hear over and over from consultant after consultant.

The whole structure of the MLM and the promotion from corporate makes most women in Mary Kay adopt the same techniques and behaviors.

It’s not just one or two people behaving badly, representing Mary Kay poorly. It’s a common pattern.

They have to buy into the “dream” of Mary Kay in order to keep going. That means the HAVE to promote orders and recruiting and meetings and such. It’s part of the MLM business.

Mary Kay consultants who say that the negative things others experienced while in the company can be attributed to a few bad people are right if they mean that there are a few women in MK who do things that are ethically or morally questionable.

However, the common rah-rah and pushy behavior and is part of the majority of those who buy into the pink dream.

Popularity: 2%

Warm Chatter = Soliciting

One of the ways that Mary Kay Consultants are encouraged to find new customers is by “warm chattering.”

The consultant spies a woman in the cosmetic department of the local Wal-Mart, for instance, and casually comments on her lovely skin. The consultant then tries to get the woman’s name and phone number so that she can set up an appointment with her to “try Mary Kay products” or be a “face model” at a girls’ night out, which is really a Mary Kay sales meeting.

I don’t know many consultants who were ever really good at this. Most tried it a few times and gave up because of the negative responses they received. Many people couldn’t stand approaching people in a way that they, themselves, would find irritating and offensive. (Hmmm…sounds like the Golden Rule to me!)

I know of several consultants who got thrown out of the mall or the drug store for “warm chattering.” Some of them were actually surprised that the businesses would do that. They didn’t think they were doing anything wrong.

Why would they? Mary Kay Inc. produced at least one video that I saw showing consultants how to properly warm chatter.  The one I remember featured two women in the greeting card isle of a grocery store. Woman A is picking out a card. MK Consultant Woman appears, wheeling her cart down the isle and stops to look at the cards. Consultant Woman glances over at Woman A and makes some conversation starter regarding the cards, then offers her helpful card suggestion. Somehow this syrupy, unbelievable nonsense leads to Consultant Woman talking about Mary Kay and getting Woman A’s phone number. The video continued, showing how to book Woman A for a facial, then turn it into a class, etc.

Here’s the problem: Warm Chattering is Soliciting.

That “No Soliciting” sign in the window of the store means no warm chatter. No trying to solicit business for yourself on the premises of another business.

That’s all there is to it.

If you’re a consultant, be advised that you can be asked to leave a store for this.

If you’re an unsuspecting shopper and you get caught in one of these “warm chattering” incidents, politely tell that Mary Kay consultant that she is soliciting, then find a manager and report her.

Popularity: 2%

Next Page »