Rant Help My Sister-In-Law Sign With Mary K (Kind of Long)

[PCJen]

I couldn't believe it when I found out my sister-in-law sign up with MK. Now don't get me wrong everyone has their own DS company that they would feel more comfortable to sell for and I am fine with that. But here is a bit of what I don't like from what I understand about MK. The MK consultants make it a point to say "oh we get 50% comm.", which is a bunch of BS from my understanding after they pay out their host specials, shipping, and credit card fee from their pay and they do not tell their recruits that until they sign. Am I wrong? Could someone that is also a current MK consultant please fill me in with a list of the differences between MK and PC, please. I know quite a bit after reading the different threads on MK but would like to have some sort of current list format that compare MK and PC. My sister-in-law is just doing MK for personal use but from what I understand she will have to place a min order total before MK will even take any orders, is that right? I'm just upset because I feel so many people that have signed up for MK don't get the full info. until they have spent a lot of money to get that so called 50% comm. My sister-in-law is a single mom with three kids struggling to make ends meet and has very little time to herself, I just don't see how this will help her. Please help me out here so I know the facts better and what she got herself into with being a MK personal use consultant.

Thank You.

 

[Molly Jo]

Check out pinktruth.com I would advise your SIL to do the same!! I used to sell MK and everything that is on that website is completely true. Tell her to run now while she has the chance!!

 

[chefsteph07]

I have a friend who signed w/ MK and quickly got out of it because she was misled by her recruiter..I have to find out all the details but basically she was TOLD that she had only had to place I think it was a $200 order once a YEAR and then found out it was once a month, or something like that...but she was pretty upset by what she was told and what actually had to happen to be a rep...Plus she said she had a hard time finding bookings and no one wanted to pay the money for the makeup. She sells TS now and is much more comfortable with that.
I'll find out all the details and get back here with them.

 

[chefsteph07]

Copied this off of Pinktruth.com...interesting....



The Mary Kay Truths You Find Out Later
Written by Raisinberry


"Mary Kay-isms" abound in every Unit, everywhere, USA. The problem is, since they are repeated without analysis or corroboration, these little gems are the backbone of the fraud that keeps recruits coming in and "kaybots" from getting out. Sooner or later, you find out just how conned you were, but by then, you usually HAVE to make it to Director to pay down your credit card debt. How many of these were you told?



1. The product sells itself. No it doesn't and you cant sell it at all if you don't get bookings.



2. There are no quotas. Of course there are quotas! There is no discount unless you order every 3 months, a minimum 200 wholesale. That's a "quota." Cars have quotas, Units have quotas. There are quotas.



3. It takes $18,000 and 12 team members to win your car. The numbers are right, but you will find yourself having to continue $4,500 wholesale a month to keep it, so while you may have "earned" it with 18,000, but to keep it you'll need $4,500 every month or have a co-pay.



4. Stars drive cars. No, stars have ordered $1,800 wholesale and up. There is no telling if they ever sold anything, much less whether they will ever drive a Mary Kay car. There is no basis in fact for the Stars Drive Cars lyric.



5. You need a business plan. The Mary Kay inventory options worksheet is not a business plan. A worksheet is a veiled smokescreen to make it appear you have thought about what activity you will do. The worksheet is a tool to get you to buy, not a tool to help you really plan your business.



6. If you don't recruit you are being selfish. If you don't recruit you will build a customer base. If you are "unselfish" by recruiting your cusomters, you will have no sales income and will place orders on credit without sales to back them up.



7. Reinvest until you hit profit level. $3,600 wholesale inventory is a made up number that has no bearing on a Power start or perfect start. Profit is when your income exceeds your outlay-usually not known till quarter end. Having lots of inventory on your shelf just costs you money, and doesn't mean you'll have any profits.



8. Mary Kay has 10% of the market. We have 1 million active consultants supplying themselves and friends in a large network as hobby consultants. Mary Kay doesn't keep retail purchase figures. We have no idea what are retail market is, but were know it's not much



9. More women in Mary Kay make $50,000 a year and up than any other company. Less than 3% of the Directors (who are 2% of the sales force) make over 50,000 a year... 97% make less.



10. You can do it too! A multi-level marketing plan like Mary Kay prevents the majority of consultants from achieving the top 2%, because attrition collapses the unit beneath them. Mary Kay Ash called it filling the tub with the drain open. So it is very unlikely that you can too!



11. The Mary Kay marketing plan has been taught at Harvard Business School. This has never been true. The closest they ever came was a case study discussing Mary Kay, which is used in some business schools. That is far from "teaching" the marketing plan or in any way endorsing MLM.



12. Fake it till you make it. Faking it generally causes a lack of personal integrity, and blurred boundaries which ends up backfiring on the consultant. It is one thing to walk with confidence, and quite another to inflate your income and success when trying to recruit others into the company.



13. Find a way or make a way. Ways exist, but getting the goal at all cost usually means some pretty unethical stuff was done to accomplish it.



14. Cream rises to the top, but has to float on a lot of milk. The milk of MK is the thousands upon thousands of consultants and Directors churning out production. If you can look away from the fact that you make your money loading up other women in credit card debt, by all means... be cream.



15. 20% of your Unit will do 80% of the sales. According to statistics and NSDs, production comes from new recruits. Nobody expects to make money training consultants.



16. Seminar Year-to-Date Sales Leaders. Since no retail sales figures are generally known, the top ten of Seminar have no relationship to retail sales. They are actually awarded for "wholesale ordering" with a ribbon.



17. Show Up to Go Up. Showing up means you help pay for the room rental for your Director or NSD. Many people show up and show up again, looking to hear that magic statement that will make them Go Up. If you are ethical and honest, all the showing up in the world wont put you in a Suit or Car. You still have to sign women up to become competitors inside your market.



18. Never miss an event. Never missing an event means you have to take any meager profit you have and use it to pay airfares, hotels, registrations, meaning you will lose money. Events are motivational brain washing events filled with hype and fraud, and are absolutely necessary in order to keep you on the treadmill. Miss even one, and the fog starts to lift. This Mary Kay fears above all things.



19. The Secret to Success is "book, sell, book, recruit". No, the secret is how to get a booking to hold, how to disengage caller id, how to make women want the product, how to violate the Temporal Prime Directive and get women back to 1965 when they didn't work and held home parties, how to de-saturate the market, how to erase the negative perception of the typical Mary Kay consultant, how to find an honest to goodness business training class within Mary Kay. These are surely secrets!



20. You can do everything wrong in Mary Kay with a good attitude and succeed, and do everything right with a poor attitude and fail. Doing everything right produces exactly the same results long term as doing everything wrong. In the end, you represent a product and business that still functions as if it is 1963 and no one has heard the word PYRAMID SCHEME. You will purchase product for arbitrary goal designations that have nothing to do with retail sales, pressured by the production ploys of your Director and NSD, working many more hours than you ever dreamed trying to establish a customer base while recruiting same. You will move up the career path, which will require you create the illusion that you are becoming increasingly more successful, meaning you must maintain STAR STATUS, Unit production, or Courts of Sales and Recruiting at various levels.



21. The only way you fail in Mary Kay is if you quit. The only way to win in Mary Kay is to quit! If you continue, you will build debt trying to get all the new product, trying to achieve a fabricated dream, while the stuff you have on your shelves goes obsolete and formulas change and packaging changes and you wait for women to buy what you have, but they always want something you don't, so you order again and again. Add the "events" tab, and in a few years you are buried.



22. Mary Kay works when you do! Mary Kay works in dribbles. Just enough to keep you in the game, believing it will turn around. You are hanging on to that $500 class you had 6 months ago... or that $1,000 week when you first started, thinking that will someday be the norm. Your family and friends bought to help you. Once out of your warm market, you see the real results. Any business that wants you to recruit your customers is after THEIR money, tricking you into appreciating 4% of wholesale, and creating your own market saturation and competition.



This concludes orientation on the PinkTruth Website. You owe us nothing, we don't get commission, and there is no prize for joining the board. This moment of clarity is brought to you by all the women here who bought the "dream" and realized that's exactly what it was. We woke up.

 

[Teresa Lynn]

I have 8 very successful friends and neighbors in MK they do well and it is a small town
People could (& probably do say the same thing about PC except for the cars & inventory many of these could apply to any direct sales)

 

[wadesgirl]

I know my cousin got into MK, tried to have parties but her director lived out of town and scolded her for not making it to her meetings. My cousin's husband was in Iraq at the time and she had a 3 year old to take care of, making it to the meetings wasn't really her priority. She never did hold any parties because she really didn't know what to do and her director wasn't any help because it didn't look like she was putting for the effort. She bought a whole ton of makeup as part of their start up program. MK offered to rebuy it from her at 90% of what she paid and if she did she could never resign with MK again.

 

[flemings99]

6 yrs. ago I was deciding btw PC and MK. I had a very convincing MK rep who gave me the 50% profit over PC 20% and personal use---at the time both my husband & I used the products so it was very appealing. (FYI--I still use the products today and have for 15 yrs) Oh, & yes that 50% profit was bogus---like mentioned above.

So, I signed with MK. What I didn't know was that she was going to have me buy a huge inventory--which I agreed to do, buy tons of samples, buy MK specific business supplies and so on. Before I knew it, I had signed up and ordered $3,000 in "stuff".

Then, I was required to attend weekly meetings & pay to attend them. I had a new born premee at home that was very sick. The last thing I needed to do was attending meetings weekly & pay for them---oh, and get all dressed up in a suit to see a bunch of other MK people. I was also told the group would be a great support for me as a new stay at home mom with a sick child b/c it was christian based. My experience---I didn't like going to the meetings b/c it was lots of pressure to have x amount of orders into the co. every week. VERY HIGH PRESSURE!!! Also, we weren't to talk about neg. things --only the possitive. No support!!

On the flip side---I started my PC business just over 2 yrs ago & can only imagine where I would be had I done it back in 2002. I love that it is no pressure, I can attend my MONTHLY meeting in any clothes that I want and am never made to feel bad about it. Everyone is recognized at the meeting no matter how much or little "production" that did the previous month. It is an encouraging place to be. My director/recruiter didn't have my buy anything "extra". Just the kit. She also coached me along the way to not buy extras b/c she wanted me to see that I could make money doing this business.

All of that to say--yes, there are sucessful people in MK & I do still use the products, but I would advise her to proceed with caution. My opinion is that you can be successful in any direct sales company--you just have to find the co. that fits you & for me PC is it.

 

[gingertannery]

I have 8 very successful friends and neighbors in MK they do well and it is a small town
People could (& probably do say the same thing about PC except for the cars & inventory many of these could apply to any direct sales)

As a former MK consultant that sunk tons of $$ in inventory.. to then try to sell the inventory... then to give it away just to get rid of it.. this is all true. These 8 women are just playing the game. I bet they all have hubbys to bring in the $$. MK is TERRIBLE to work for. You are pressured to buy thousands of dollars on inventory to jump start. And no one wants to buy what you have.. they want what you don't have and then have to order. Then if you ever quit..you quit for life.. never allowed to sell again.(that's what keeps many onboard longer)...
PC.... no inventory
.......great host specials that PC absorbs
.......everyone cooks
.......quality products (mostly)
.......they stand behind their product
.......free training online
.......great reward trips
.......encouragement..not pressure you regret

Any person beginning a business needs to research and make sound decisions about their business. We should be able to trust that our company knows we are very important to the companys success. Not trying to trick you into business practices that will not build your business. PC gets it.. that we are very important..they are wonderful to US.
Your SIL may have to learn all of this on her own.. I did. I had people warn me.. I just brushed it off as bubble busters... But PC is different. BUT>>> just sit back and wait.. She will learn the hard way. Be encouraging.. let her know how you are doing.. No inventory.. shipped directly to the host.. great perks for the host the company pays for.. Let her know how happy you are with PC.. and she'll come around. Mention you are concerned that she will get a bad taste in her mouth about DS companies.. and that DS companies like PC can be wonderful. Easy.. and don't drain your pocket book.
I love this site about MK.. Just wish it was around years ago when I was looking at MK... but then I wouldn't know how great PC is... things happen for a reason.

 

[Grandmarita]

I had a table next to a friend from Church who sells MK. She said that she had $4,000 in inventory to get rid of. She was thrilled to sell $800 of it at 40% discount. I cannot
imagine having to do that. On the other hand, I sold about $75, and got two bookings
that carried through for December, and earned me a new Spring product. As you can see, my situation was lots less stress and low key. I'm sorry I did not offer her the
PC opportunity when she was a hostess for me, when I first got started in 2005. Shortly
after my party, she had a MK party, and got recruited.

 

[Teresa Lynn]

uhhmmm no actually one is single (never been married) MK is her job and she has the car
one has a husband who manages a local (non chain or franchised just a mom & pop place) pizza place she is a stay at home mom & Mk lady
one is a pastors wife
one is married to a firefighter
one is married to a teacher
not sure what the 3 others husband's jobs are

 

[allisonserna]

I did MK twice...

Once in 2000 and again in 2003 - I don't learn from my mistakes HA HA HA

Both times I refused to purchase the $400 inventory so I could get my 50% discount. I would submit full retail items, and could the volume towards the $400, but by the time I would get near $400 in retail sales, the quarter would be over and I would start at zero again



The first time I signed up I was 20 at a massage therapist in a Chiro's office, so I would use their "spa" line on the clients, and then push for them to BUY what I had used on them... I lost regular clients that way....

The second time I signed up.. I was told how "healthy" their skincare products were, how people who were allergic to WHEAT, could still use their products... so I thinking I could sell to "health nuts" in my area... after some time I just stopped, and threw away what business aids I had. I NEVER spent a dime on their inventory!!!!

Happy me!

:sing:

 

[PCJen]

Check out pinktruth.com I would advise your SIL to do the same!! I used to sell MK and everything that is on that website is completely true. Tell her to run now while she has the chance!!

I have and don't trust these types of sites totally. There are ones on PC too if you search and are not accurate in my opinion. It is so hard to get the real facts when some people that sign up for DS companies end up signing with a person that does not tell the whole truth to begin with, so of course, you would think think bad of the company. Also, there are those that don't really give it a real try and give up to soon, I had quite a few of these people. Or you may have those that buy a lot of product even though they were told they don't need to but they blame the company. So, I guess I opened a can of worms I shouldn't have. There is good and bad in all DS companies and depends on who you deal with as consultants/directors and also the person that is recruited, they can be just as guilty too.

 

[PCJen]

Any current Mary Kay consultants out there that would like to share what a personal use consultant would have to do? And would love to hear your thoughts on the differences of doing PC and MK, as long as you are currently doing both.

 

[PCJen]

OK so I went back to Pinktruth and reread somethings, it had been awhile. And from what I can see it is what you all have already told me so the site must be somewhat OK.
Here is what I understand but still have a few questions


Kit is $100 plus tax and shipping
To start she must place an order of at least $200 wholesale ($400 retail) plus tax on the retail value to get the 50% discount
Consultants must place a $400 retail order ($200 wholesale) every 3 months to stay active to receive their 50% discount. (My SIL told me 6 months at $200 to stay active, hmmm)
Consultants pay shipping of about $9 no matter how small the order is.
Consultants must have a min. order to order products so I guess that means that if she had a customer that wanted one thing she couldn't do it. Clarify please? Sure doesn't make since with the what they said about shipping.
Consultants pay out all Host Specials
Consultants must pay for credit card use. It is a % per transaction but I don't know how much. Does anyone know?
Training/meeting consultants pay for.
Consultants must be “active” in a month in order to be paid your commissions. If you are not active, you lose the commission. Don't really understand this since MK doesn't pay out a paycheck, the consultants take their cut. Explain please.

Didn't see anything about returns. Do consultants have to foot this too?

Boy sure glad I have PC. It's not as complicated.

 

[flemings99]

I'm sure it has changed since I was a consultant. These would be great ? for her to ask the person who is recruiting her. When I was a consultant it was a 3% fee for credit/debit cards and the co. did replace products for any returns. The min. order is where things snow balled for me. On top of my beginning inventory of $3,000, I was always needing something that I didn't have. So, I would place an order for 200---you can trade with other consultants in the area here and there for items you don't have in stock--but you can only do so much of that & then you are running all over town to pick up deliver and so on. If she is decided on joining the MK, my advise would be to support her in her decision--who knows maybe she'll be one of the lucky ones who does great. If not, re-introduce her to PC when she is ready.

 

[PCJen]

I'm sure it has changed since I was a consultant. These would be great ? for her to ask the person who is recruiting her. When I was a consultant it was a 3% fee for credit/debit cards and the co. did replace products for any returns. The min. order is where things snow balled for me. On top of my beginning inventory of $3,000, I was always needing something that I didn't have. So, I would place an order for 200---you can trade with other consultants in the area here and there for items you don't have in stock--but you can only do so much of that & then you are running all over town to pick up deliver and so on. If she is decided on joining the MK, my advise would be to support her in her decision--who knows maybe she'll be one of the lucky ones who does great. If not, re-introduce her to PC when she is ready.

So you are saying the they can't do individual orders, they have to place a min. order of $200?

Oh yes I will support her. Just because it is not something I would want to do does not mean she wouldn't be good at it. I'm just a bit surprised about her doing this, I just can't see her doing it with all the problems she has (another very very long story). I think MK got her at the 50% comm. because she asked my husband what I made and laughed.

 

[pcchefjane]

I know my cousin got into MK, tried to have parties but her director lived out of town and scolded her for not making it to her meetings. My cousin's husband was in Iraq at the time and she had a 3 year old to take care of, making it to the meetings wasn't really her priority. She never did hold any parties because she really didn't know what to do and her director wasn't any help because it didn't look like she was putting for the effort. She bought a whole ton of makeup as part of their start up program. MK offered to rebuy it from her at 90% of what she paid and if she did she could never resign with MK again.

MK does offer to buy at 90% but that is "resaleable inventory". I got out after 9 months and had product that came in my "start-up kit" and they wouldn't take it back since that it was considered "samples". They also pro-rated the amount they paid me back and would not accept anything I had had longer than 6 months and I had to produce sales receipt copies to go with the returns!! Excuse me, but PC shows me my orders when I need to make an adjustment! Most women I knew (including my family members and own DD) were allergic to many ingredients in the MK products. I was told several years ago by 3 different MK consultants that I was probably developing "senior acne" and that is why my face broke out with MK products. Since switching to Arbonne, the "senior acne" is gone... That tells me a lot there!

I was told by two different MK reps when asking them to join in at a Vendor Booth that they are not "allowed" to sell at booths or even to get leads from booths because it is a "personalized business". If you don't meet people except at home parties, how do you get anyone to book home parties?? I know from experience they want you to carry a lot of inventory at home so it is "easier" to sell! I ended up selling a lot at yard sales to try to recoup some money since MK also has a "return policy" of 6 months or less in the original boxes!