Manipulation Right From the Start
You’re familiar with the manipulation (lies, coercion, etc.) that goes on during the Mary Kay recruiting process. We know that they use manipulation to get women to purchase inventory packages. But did you know that the manipulation can happen even in the process of getting the “yes” from the new recruit?
What if she says yes she’s going to sign up, but she wants to wait a couple of months? Maybe she doesn’t have money in her budget for the starter kit, or she has to arrange child care so she can work, or any of a number of reasons.
That’s not good enough.
Mary Kay recruiters never want you to wait! The greatest risk is that you will change your mind, especially if you decide to do some research at some point.
There is a script to make the recruit say “yes” sooner! First you agree with her. Then you tell her that you’re going to be in Mary Kay next week, next month, next year, 10 years from now. When she is ready, you’ll be here and will be ready to work with her.
But then you tell her that you need to be honest with her and share a big goal that is important to A LOT OF PEOPLE at the end of this month. You give her some history behind your goad and your deadline.
Here’s an example:
I am in the process of becoming a director so that my husband will be able to quit his full time job in which he travels two to three days every week, and be able to do only his second job full-time and be able to stay home with our two boys and not travel.
So you can see why finishing this goal is so important to me, and you know, if I were sitting today where you are sitting, I’d want to know the whole story, and I would want to know that if I joined Mary Kay now instead of in 2 months, that it would make a BIG difference to the person recruiting me and the others involved on the team.
So if there is any way possible for you to go ahead and make that decision today and get your showcase ordered and your inventory decision made, we can begin by doing your business debut right next month or whenever you choose, that’s fine. It would make a big difference to me.
Then you simply be quiet. They often say that in sales, the first person to talk loses. So you simply wait for her to say yes.
Visit the
Oh, for heaven’s sake. That is disgusting.
Ugh, these slimy scripts. I used all of them. The ‘he who talks first loses’ did work.
I am so glad I’m out of MK ! Don’t miss anything about it !
This is nothing but a dressed-up version of fund-raising. It’s one thing to buy candy from a band kid or Girl Scout cookies from a local troop. It’s another to fund someone else’s big dream at the expense of your own financial well-being. See also: megachurches who keep building and asking their members to practice “sacrificial giving” indefinitely. It’s all disgusting and nauseating. UGH.
And their motto is God first?
notice the script says, that you need to sign up right now and order inventory……but you can do your debut whenever you want. PROOF it isnt about selling, but rather ordering inventory. Because she orders her inventory now, the recruiter made the commission, so it doesnt matter if she sells it or when she has her debut.
“I am in the process of becoming a director so that my husband will be able to quit his full time job in which he travels two to three days every week, and be able to do only his second job full-time and be able to stay home with our two boys and not travel.”
The fact her husband is having to work two full-time jobs would make me query their finances in the first place. Having a husband that travelled a lot puts a strain on a marriage but having another job on top of that sounds like funds are being drained not being built up.
Long time lurker with friends in and out of MK. Ive been a professional sales person for over 20 years and her statement is nails on a chalkboard. It is not about what YOU want. My customers could give a fig what I want. I hope that prospective recruit just raised an eyebrow like wtf and walked away.
Excellent response, CarolAnne!
The first to break the silence loses, eh? Well then, let the silence be broken by the would-be recruiter, saying, “Hey, where are you going?”
“I’d want to know the whole story, and I would want to know that if I joined Mary Kay now instead of in 2 months, that it would make a BIG difference to the person recruiting me and the others involved on the team”
If this sounds callous, please know that from the bottom of my heart I do not care. Her personal goals aren’t important to me. I most likely don’t know this person and I will not get emotionally (and let’s be honest, financially) involved in someone else’s personal goals. If it were truly HER business, then her team and me would not be pressed to make decisions that don’t benefit US. Anyone who TRULY valued you as a friend and not just a number/line of credit wouldn’t press you to do something you aren’t able to do regardless of how it benefited them.
And that is why I could not use a lot of these scripts! I couldn’t figure out why someone would give a fig about whatever contest or goal had been cooked up.
Right? I had the same reaction when the woman who recruited me got a MK car and was gushing about it being “our” (the unit’s) car that “we” earned. Um, no, it’s not. That statement doesn’t even make sense. And no. Ms Lurking Kaybot, I am not jealous. If I wanted a Chevy Malibu, I’d go down to the dealership and buy myself one.
Oh that crazy, OUR car!!! When my Director “earned” her car she invited her unit to lunch – Dutch Treat!!!! How exciting!!! – to ogle over the shiny Malibu. We could sit in the car, but we were not “authorized” to drive OUR car! How exciting!!!!
Still laughing today, and no I did not attend.
My director was fond of saying “You all DESERVE to be in a Cadillac unit!” and something about how exciting being in a Cadillac unit is, and I thought, what’s in it for us? Who gets excited about someone else’s car?
So Weird, really.
You give her some history behind your goad and your deadline. I know the poster meant goal, but isn’t MK all about goading someone into signing the contract. Very good post and the manipulative tactics used by MK.