I Feel Stuck!
What do you do when you’ve run out of people to bother about Mary Kay? This is the reason so little of the products that are ordered from MK actually end up in the hands of a real consumer. Because it’s so hard to find people ready and willing to buy from you.
And the advice? There’s nothing she can really use. “It’s a numbers game!” No kidding. If you bother enough people, eventually you’ll sell something. It’s finding new people to bother that’s the problem. Facial boxes, scavenger hunts…. all of these things have been making the rounds for 30 years or more.
Ladies, it’s not you that’s the problem. It’s the “business.” It’s not a business. Women have so many other choices. And going to Ulta or Target for beauty products is so much easier because they know no one will hound them to sign up to sell.
Visit the
“It’s bribery to get to know your friends”.
This is the only comment that seems authentic and that I can respect. I mean, it’s desperate and obviously self-centered (akin to asking your friend if you can borrow money), but I think people would appreciate it if the huns would just lay the cards on the table. We all know what they are trying to pull with these little tactics.
MK Ladies: REAL salespeople do not ask for favors from customers, refer to their colleagues as “sisters”, tell their customers they are on a “scavenger hunt” or rely on friends to keep them afloat.
Here’s a suggestion: Compare what you are experiencing now to what you were promised when you signed up. Is there a glaring difference? Weren’t you kinda under the impression that this would be easier?
It’s a numbers game, all right, and the numbers are stacked against you. You know who wins in MLM? The company, that’s who. They have a sweet deal going on: they get hundreds of thousands of sales reps at no cost by pretending riches await, so long as they’re willing to “invest” in (read: buy inventory for) their pretend business. Then most of the reps drop out, because the market is heavily over-saturated, and few cop to the truth that they have been had. They blame themselves, thinking they didn’t work hard enough or smart enough.
Blaming yourself for not working hard enough in an MLM is like blaming yourself for not pulling hard enough on the handle at a slot machine in Vegas. Those machines are rigged so a few win and most lose; at least the casinos don’t lie about that. (Slot machine odds are way better than MLM anyway: about 47-48% win a little. That’s better rhan the 1-2% in MLM.)
Kristin’s point is well-made also: Begging for help from friends and strangers is NOT a business. It’s panhandling, is what it is. A real business attracts buyers by offering a good product at a fair price, not by imposing on them.
She so desperately wants it to happen and even if she finds that one little trick that works for a minute, it won’t work the next time, so then you are back on the wheel of finding the next thing that briefly works. It sure doesn’t sound fun.
Really wants that red jacket but it doesn’t end there either,
“back in the wheel!!!” That’s why I stopped being a director aka asked to step down lol. I couldn’t stand the scramble at months end. I look at director posts now at the end of the month, look at numbers that don’t add up. Wonder how a unit can survive with only one red jacket . . . I turn to my husband and sigh in relief that I’m not up until midnight figuring out how much I need to come out of pocket to make production! I’m not bitter, just realistic. I tried it, worked my tail off, because a car driving director in under a year. Stayed a director a year then the fig lifted. I couldn’t mislead people anymore. Now I have over $10,000 in inventory to unload. Sheesh
Excuse the typos, my phone thinks it knows better than me.
Sure hope that woman wanting to re-floor her living room and build a backyard fence on her Mary Kay “profits” has a small homestead.
It was never easy to get customers in Mary Kay but now that they are more MLMs out there and there are more electronic spaces for them to pester people, it’s even harder for consultants. You’re not just competing with other MK ladies for time & attention from customers, you also have Lipsense, Rodan & Fields, Younique, Arbonne, plus the oldies like Avon, Meleluca, etc. And all of the non-beauty MLMs are using the same tactics to get customers, so…good luck. We’ve seen all the e-mails, FB posts, instant messages, facial boxes, BOGO offers, and many potential customers have already gotten burned by these tactics. Most people know better than to put their name & contact info in a box to win a free prize.
I went to a Tupperware party back in the 80s my mom bought something it was fun I was just a kid. They had good food too.
But times have changed. I just feel the mlm method has expired!
I’m serious!
Back in tha day those mlm party’s were probably more cool to get your hands on that exclusive stuff. But now when I want my avon eye cream I go to ebay.
Why go through the trouble of cleaning the house buying and cooking food just to throw a party to buy some eye cream. There is no need.
Sorry I accidentally replied to a comment I think ? I meant to post a stand alone comment 😄
I agree with this!
“I just feel the mlm method has expired!”
Yep. Door to door sales started to die with direct retail sales (catalogs), and became entirely obsolete with today’s vast online retail marketplace. Some of the MLMs (Avon, Tupperware, Kirby) originally emphasized actual product sales, so oversaturation was less of an issue, giving salespeople at least a chance of making money. But once these products could be easily price-compared online, MLM products with their sky high distribution costs started to show their true (lack of) value. This at a time when brick-and-mortar stores worked to squeeze out distribution costs.
It’s so bad for MLM now that the only folks who think MLM products are a good “value” are the ones selling them…and only because of the attached “opportunity”. These products simply won’t sell in a competitive market, which is evidenced by the fact that very little is ever sold outside the down-line (mostly pity purchases), and former MLMers rarely stay loyal to the products they used to sell.
I just wish the expiration you referred to would finally apply to the MLM companies themselves, not just the distribution model!
When I go to Target or Walgreens or Ulta or even the grocery store to browse makeup and nail polish, I am free to take my time without anyone hovering cheerfully over my shoulder to ask annoying questions or ask to help them with a “challenge.” The grocery store clerk or Ulta employee won’t text me or call me (aka BOTHER ME) when I want to be f*cking left alone to ask if I want more products or ask to help with some stupid contest. People are avoiding you because you are like an annoying gnat that won’t go AWAY! Wake up and get a real job if you want to make some extra money!
^^^ Strong words, but they needed to be said. Reality check, right here!
I like how she is saying no one will give her names. I don’t give out names b/c I don’t want my friends or family to be ANNOYED!!!! If I know someone who wants MK or whatever and I know a “con”sultant for that mlm I will give that person the “con”sultant’s number, but I never KNOW of anyone who wants mlm junk. One of the things that give MK IBCs away is the word PAMPERING!!!! It is overused in MK and it means NOTHING b/c pampering means that the other person will do all the work and apply the makeup, products (moisturizer, etc) and NOT ME!!! How is it pampering when I am doing all the work and you can’t apply the stuff b/c you ARE NOT a licensed mua or esthetician? She needs to realize she is doing NOTHING but wasting her time trying to hawk MK products and I see where she has lost $ on sending out samples etc. This should be a wake up call. MK is a losing proposition and I hope she has gotten out of this scam by now. I love Pinktruth b/c it exposed what really goes on in the scam company of MK.