Personal Does Anyone Know Enough About Mk to Tell Me if This Would Work?

[pampchefsarah]

A friend died of cancer almost two weeks ago, leaving behind his wonderful wife and 8 kids - 6 of whom are under 18 (the youngest is 5). Since Jeff had been battling cancer for at least a couple of years, I'm sure he and Cheryl made plans and provisions for her financial future, but they were not wealthy, she's a stay-at-home Mom, and I'm sure extra income will be greatly appreciated.

Cheryl started her Mary Kay business a couple of years ago, and I think giving this a boost would mean more to her than just handing her an envelope with what little we can afford to give right now. I know, if I were in her situation, I'd be thrilled to see my PC business grow, rather than taking charity (not that there is anything at all wrong with taking -or giving - charity, just that having long-term business growth instead of a one-time blessing, would be better).

This is my thought: I would post on a couple of Facebook pages about Cheryl's situation, and ask members to PM her with orders. I figure, even if they're small orders, if 100 people spend $10 each, that's $1000.00. I don't know how MK works, compared to PC, though. For example, if we had a bunch of people placing orders, we could combine it into a show, and get the FPV. Also, with PC, everyone could have it direct shipped to them. I know of one candle company which doesn't offer direct shipping, so don't know if PC is an exception in offering this, or not. Also, I know Cheryl has some inventory, but I have no idea how much, so I don't know if it would be better for people to PM her on Facebook, or shop from her MK website.

These, then, are the questions:
1) Does Mary Kay offer direct shipping?
2) Would it benefit Cheryl more to have a lot of small individual orders, or a party submitted under her name? (I want to set this up anonymously, so I am not interested in acting as a host)
3) Would it be easier/better for Cheryl to have everyone PM her on Facebook, so she can send out from her own inventory, or for everyone to order off her website?

I appreciate answers to these questions, suggestions on how to make it bigger and better, and thoughts on whether or not this is even a good idea!

 

[lesliec]

I used to sell Mary Kay, and honestly it doesn't matter. No, things can't be direct shipped, and there are no benefits of having it as a show.
She buys inventory for the company and it is shipped to her (like a store front) and then if people buy who aren't local she either pays for it or charges them extra for shipping. The consultant pays shipping to herself and doesn't usually charge shipping to customers.

ETA: if you send people to her website, it may seem more professional and they may see more they like and therefore order more.

 

[lt1jane]

MK is very territorial. I know someone who either does or did sell and I bought from her, it took me quite a while to get my order even though I told her several times to put it in the mail. I am supposed to be "her" customer now. If I buy from someone else, they are OK as long as I don't mention that I've bought from someone else. If the consultant knows I have worked through someone else, they must get permission to sell to me. How crazy is that?

If you send people to her website, you would be avoiding that stuff though.

 

[minirottie]

I am still an active MK consultant. They do offer direct shipping now, but you have to have sold $1800 that quarter I believe, in order to be eligible to do it.
There is no need for a party...people order as they want to so it's not an issue to try and create something. However, you can call it a party with an end date to maybe let people know product may not be readily available. The reason for this is MK charges a flat rate shipping of $8.75 when you need to order inventory, so if she needs to place an order, it might be best for her to collect all orders first and do it at once. If one person needs a $6.50 eyeshadow and she'd need to order it with the flat rate shipping, she's losing right there. Let me know if I answered that well and if you have more questions.

 

[lesliec]

Honestly, Recruit her so she can work for a company where she really makes money!!!!

Ok, I know that's kinda rude, especially in her time of loss, but the MK business plan has gotten really out of control, and honestly you can't really make money unless you recruit tons of people and convince them to order lots of inventory. Honestly they don't really even focus their trainings on selling, but building your inventory in hopes of selling.


ETA: I've made more $ in 8 months with PC than I did in 8 Years with MK. They convince you that it is the best DS company out there and that all of the others have bad business plans and you end up with this loyalty to a company that just sucks your money.

 

[lesliec]

Sorry, I harbor some bad feelings towards the company.

 

[Sheila]

The shipping sounds like a nightmare. If you have orders from various FB people around the country, it sounds like Cheryl would have to pay to ship the purchases to the customers too. So you might not be helping her if you are marketing outside her delivery area.

I have a recruit on my team who used to do MK and was leary about doing PC. She decided to sign anyway & just attained the structure to promote to Director (she's waiting on them to all get active). She's loving PC a lot more than she ever loved MK.

Is Cheryl a PC fan? (I'm a firm believer that you have to love a product to be successful at selling it.) If so, and you think she would want to do this ... you could offer to buy the kit (or collect donations to buy the kit) to help her get her new business up & off the ground for FREE! If she has a very big client database, she could sit down & start calling each one. I'm betting some of her long-time loyal customers would jump on the opportunity to help her with her new business, especially under the current circumstances.

 

[minirottie]

Sorry, I harbor some bad feelings towards the company.

You stuck with it for 8 years though? That's impressive. I'm moving to personal use consultant since I have to say I love the products...it's just not the business model for me...

 

[minirottie]

The shipping sounds like a nightmare. If you have orders from various FB people around the country, it sounds like Cheryl would have to pay to ship the purchases to the customers too. So you might not be helping her if you are marketing outside her delivery area.

The shipping isn't too bad, and if they are buying enough then her costs will be covered by doing it. If I sell a $20 item, I can ship it for about $2 first class and there is still money left but again, for one eye shadow it's pretty much a wash. I don't have a single local customer, so I ship to everyone.

 

[wadesgirl]

I do know if they order from a consutlant's website, the consultant still fills the orders - unlike ours.

 

[lesliec]

You stuck with it for 8 years though? That's impressive. I'm moving to personal use consultant since I have to say I love the products...it's just not the business model for me...

Exactly where I was. Loved the products, but not the business plan. They make it sound so great though.
One of my good friends is a director (been with it for over 10 years). She just had her highest month in sales ($5500 ish). She is always telling me how much better it is b/c she gets a 50% comission.... um no!!!!
I guess it works for some, but I HATE that they are only really successful when they convince others to "invest" in inventory. Have you ever looked on EBAY? There are thousands of consultants trying to get rid of all of this extra inventory. I have tons of stuff that has gone bad sitting at my house!!!!

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Exactly where I was. Loved the products, but not the business plan. They make it sound so great though.
One of my good friends is a director (been with it for over 10 years). She just had her highest month in sales ($5500 ish). She is always telling me how much better it is b/c she gets a 50% comission.... um no!!!!
I guess it works for some, but I HATE that they are only really successful when they convince others to "invest" in inventory. Have you ever looked on EBAY? There are thousands of consultants trying to get rid of all of this extra inventory. I have tons of stuff that has gone bad sitting at my house!!!!

Interesting...I just had a $5500 month...and my team had a good month, and I will be getting commission of just about $2000 - I wonder how much she will actually clear after she pays for all of her inventory, and host specials, and guest specials, and shipping? I'd really be interested to see how it calculates out.

 

[ChefJessica95765]

I agree with them - I'm a MK consultant but I am not selling, in order to get my discount to order products I need to have a retail value of $400 first, otherwise I'm not making anything. That could take her a while to get to that $400 retail value!

 

[minirottie]

I agree with them - I'm a MK consultant but I am not selling, in order to get my discount to order products I need to have a retail value of $400 first, otherwise I'm not making anything. That could take her a while to get to that $400 retail value!

Good to raise that point too...if she's not ordered in the previous quarter, she needs the minimum $400 in retail in order to get her 50% off discount

 

[winklermom]

Sounds like a lot of hassle to me to have to keep inventory and ship the stuff myself. My cousin wanted to talk to me about MK but I joined PC before we ever got together...so glad it worked out that way and I'm working for PC!!!

 

[pampchefsarah]

Thank you everyone for your advice and suggestions! Sorry it took so long to respond, but I did read all of your posts. I think, after reading what you have said, it would not be a good idea to set this up for Cheryl, as most of the customers would need the product shipped to them. Since the idea was to, hopefully, get her repeat customers, not a one-time party, I don't believe this is feasible.I'm so glad I came here and asked first. Thank you, once again, for your insight.