Don’t Interview…. Innerview!!!
NSD Kathy Helou tells you to do an “innerview” (rather than an interview) of your potential victim. The idea is that you get her to tell you her weaknesses, and then you tell her how Mary Kay will solve those problems. This is why the Mary Kay “opportunity” is so dirty. When it’s not about lies, it’s about manipulation.
I understand that good salespeople try to find hot buttons and then sell to that. But this seems to take it to another level. Mary Kay recruiters are known for helping to create a “lack” in their targets and then selling to that. They’re known for saying things like your husband and your kids don’t appreciate you. You don’t contribute to the family financially. You don’t feel valued. They exploit some of the most sensitive issues for women.
Here is Kathy’s interview, with my comments in bold.
Begin with your brief 3-5 minute “I” story and what you love most about Mary Kay.
Ask her: What do you like about your current job or situation?
Ask her: If you could change anything, what would it be? And it starts. Tell me what you are unhappy with so I can tell you how Mary Kay will be the answer.
Here is where you LISTEN CLOSELY to be able to see her areas of dissatisfaction. Yes, they actually tell you to look for dissatisfaction in the recruit.
Points to cover in your “innerview”:
OUR PROFIT
- We buy our products for $1 and sell for $2. Except for when you discount things, which is nearly all the time. Or when you give it away for free as an incentive to come to an event, do an interview, invite people to your skin care class etc.
- Greatest commission paid in direct selling – and we get the same commission on every item in the line from the least expensive sponge tip to our most expensive item, the Day/Night Solution Set and all items in between. Great commission, until you discount it!
- Mary Kay’s gift to you is up to 50% profit… You don’t have to earn that commission through time and service. From a new Consultant to a National Sales Director, we’re all created equal when selling the product. At least she finally said “up to.”
- Show her the beauty book to eliminate her fear of a catalog book full of thousands of products and she then wonders “how can I learn it all?” Yeah, not thousands. Just hundreds. That change regularly. So your inventory is outdated within 3 months after you buy it.
REORDER INCOME
- We sell a consumable product! It is usedup and the customer cannot find it in a retail establishment, only through YOU! The products are widely available. Consultants are a dime a dozen, and it’s easy for your customer to go online and find someone selling it cheaper.
- The average customer will purchase 4 times a year: summer, winter, fall and spring. She spends $30 to receive her “gift with purchase” through Mary Kay’s Preferred Customer Program. This number is made up. No one knows how often an average customer really orders because the company does not track actual sales to customers.
- As old as we get, our customers are aging at exactly the same rate, and the need for what we have to offer never decreases… always increases! They may “need” products, but they usually wise up pretty quickly and figure out that MK products aren’t that great.
RECESSION PROOF
- Product and business..women will always have a need for the products and for a Consultant. She can find a consultant anywhere. Or go to eBay. Or find a going out of business sale. Or a garage sale. Or someone at church.
- Three markets never suffer in a recession or depression: alcohol, tobacco, cosmetics.
- Women will always and forever buy moisturizers and lipsticks – even in downtimes because it lifts their self-esteem! So let’s take advantage of this!
UNIQUENESS IN STYLE OF RUNNING OUR BUSINESS
- Reorder Consultant: Personal Use; gift-giving savings
- Facials: 1-2 women
- Classes: 3-6 women How are any of these unique? It’s the same, boring, tired, old home party gig that they’ve been doing for 55 years.
- We can begin our business within our “comfort zone” and step out as we grow in knowledge and confidence. Well, that’s what they say now. Once you start, you’re going to be pushed and pushed and pushed to do things you’re not comfortable doing. If you’re not willing to do them, then you’re a loser who didn’t try.
NO QUOTAS IN 3 AREAS
- Meetings – our choice to attend or not. But you’re a loser if you don’t. Those who show up, go up.
- Appointments we hold – our choice how many; if any! Okay, but you won’t go anywhere if you don’t hold appointments because you won’t have anyone to recruit.
- Retail sales – our choice Yeah, I’m starting a business and I’m going to choose not to sell anything. (Thankfully she didn’t say there weren’t ordering quotas. Because there are.)
NO TERRITORIES
- We can sell and recruit anywhere in the US and never lose what we start. Except we won’t mention that most places are overrun with consultants, ex-consultants, and women who’ve been stalked by consultants.
- Mail/UPS products, Adoptee program (It’s a catalog society) .
NOT A PYRAMID Oh yes it is!
- Our products only changes hands twice. Who cares how many times the product changes hands? The important part is that a bunch of levels above you are getting paid on your orders.
- Wholesale: from Mary Kay to Consultant
- Retail: from Consultant to Customer If you can actually sell any!
- By eliminating “middle men” Mary Kay provides our wonderful profit level! What middle men is she referring to?
ONGOING, FREE TRAINING Well, not really free because they’ll make you pay for every event you attend.
- From Director – Success Meetings Just pep rallies, and not free at all.
NO CEILING ON OPPORTUNITY You can go as high as your credit card will take you!
- Design your own lifestyle You’ll be working Mary Kay all the time if you hope to make a living, and even then your chances of making a much money are slim. Not much of a lifestyle to design.
- Write your own paycheck in a Fortune 500 company! Uh, not Fortune 500 because it hasn’t been a public company for years and years. And you you only write the paycheck that your credit card and your conscience are able to cash.
- Advance at your own pace. Recruiting is optional. 4-13% Commission Your own pace = as fast as you want to run up your credit card.
- Mary Kay pays recruiting commissions directly to you on your recruit’s 1st and all subsequent orders, not from recruit’s 50% profit. Yes, you get your commission fast, even if your recruits never sell a thing.
- Recruiting develops espirit de corps and promotes teamwork! Not really. Because once you start pressuring your recruits to order inventory, things get tense. And if anyone leaves Mary Kay, you should not speak to them anymore.
IN BUSINESS FOR YOURSELF BUT NOT BY YOURSELF We’ll say you own your own business and we’ll support you, but you really are on your own to find new victims.
- Women supporting women-what a novel idea! Not really. Lots of backstabbing. All the friends you make will be gone if you quit Mary Kay.
- We don’t compete with each other for prizes – no limit on cars earned, diamonds, trips, etc. Of course there’s competition. Who can be the queen or display this month’s pin or recruit someone before another consultant does.
- Golden Rule philosophy. In theory only.
- Positive attitude training. .
- Time management training No time for anything but Mary Kay. Don’t even attend your kid’s birthday party instead of our rah-rah meeting, or we’ll say you’re not committed. Make your kid your reason, not your excuse
- Achieve life/work balance.
- Goal setting
WHY DO IT NOW? Pressure, pressure. Do it right away before you have a chance to think about it.
- Personal growth.
- Develop new friendships. Pink-weather friends only.
- Don’t have to give up anything to try Mary Kay. Just lots of money.
- Full plate? – make Mary Kay your dessert! Minimizing the time commitment, as always.
- You’ll never know if you don’t try! Yes you will. You’re reading this site.
- Tax advantages to an in-home business. Not really. The only way to get a tax deduction is to spend money Don’t join Mary Kay, and keep your money instead.
- Personal use and gift-giving savings all year long. Don’t fool yourself. No one wants Mary Kay as a gift.
- Ask yourself: Where will I be 5 years from now? If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always be where you are right now! Not in pink debt, thank you very much.
WHY WAIT? You could accumulate leads, acquire customers, begin building your network, learn the business in your spare time at your own pace. Lies, lies, lies.
PRESENTING THE AGREEMENT (Nowhere does it say “Death Contract”) Well they don’t say it, but that’s what it is. Death of time with your family. Death to your family finances.
In front of you is all you need to begin your Mary Kay business. It’s an agreement between you and Mary Kay. You agree to buy this showcase and we agree to provide you with the tools and training techniques to achieve anything you desire. But only if you make a big inventory order.
Within 7-10 days your showcase will arrive and we’ll assemble it together. But only if you make a big inventory order. The case is $100 + tax + shipping and handling charge and this Agreement does not bind you to any certain length of time… there’s no annual membership fees (like Sam’s Wholesale Club).
Mary Kay only asks that we place one wholesale order of $225 or greater to stay in her company (Only one?) – that could even be a personal use/gift giving purchase. To retain “active status”, on current mailing lists, etc., you are required to place a minimum $225 wholesale order once a quarter. (A seasonal order to simply stay current with fashion trends).
If for some unforeseen reason, you decide Mary Kay is not for you, she provides you with a 90% buy-back guarantee to protect the integrity of her company’s reputation. She retains you as a happy customer once again, instead of a disgruntled former Consultant with more products than she has use for. Who is really happy with Mary Kay once they figure out the scam and leave the company? Especially when they twist your arm to not send back your products.
Now, after all that you’ve heard, what excites you the most?
- On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest, what’s your interest level? No matter what your number is, she’s going to push you to do it!
- What questions can I answer or what else can I tell you to get you to a 10? The old “if I could teach you how to do that” what else would concern you technique is coming.
- The only decision you have to make now is the most convenient way to purchase your beauty showcase? Cash, check, Mastercard, Visa or Discover. Pretend she said yes and steamroll her into doing it. After she coughs up $100, start with the inventory quickly!
- Inventory is referred to as “product on hand” and is covered thoroughly at orientation. There is no orientation. There is a sales director twisting your arm to buy inventory.
DON’T TRAIN WHEN PRESENTING THE MARKETING PLAN! That’s right. Too much information about the Mary Kay truth will cause her to run the other way!
Visit the
EXCELLENT!!! This was heartbreakingly fascinating. What a racket they have solidified into innocuous seeming wording, scripted no less. These people pat themselves on the back for playing the spin game and think they are brilliant and clever. Most criminals of any profitable rackets could definitely run companies if they put their mind and efforts to legitimate businesses so all that brilliance and cleverness is no better than a mobster using his goombas to entice cooperation. That may seem overly exaggerated but it truly is not. Reading true crime is fascinating because you see how these horrible people could be so fabulous if only they had directed their lives towards the positive, and NOT MARY KAY POSITIVE.
Thank you so much for such an interesting, enlightening and thought provoking column!!!
I think that if everyone in MK was successful and profitable, that’s all a recruit would need to hear/see proof of to decide to sign up. But that’s not the case, so instead they use all of this wording and twisting of words and their catch phrases to convince the recruit to join.
And you’re right, there are a lot of talented ladies who get wrapped up in MK when they could put their abilities to use in a good salaried position somewhere.
“Three markets never suffer in a recession or depression: alcohol, tobacco, cosmetics.”
Oh, yes, alcohol, people drinking to forget their troubles, spending money on booze that was meant to to to other expenses. Drinking too much can kill you outright and long term abuse leads to all sorts of health problems, not to mention the crazy stuff people do while drunk hurting their relationships and possibly getting them into legal trouble.
And tobacco, an addictive substance that causes a whole host of health problems to the smoker and those exposed to secondhand smoke, stinks up the place, and creates pollution in the form of zillions of butts and empty packs.
Are those REALLY the industries you want to be partnering your cosmetics company up to?
I smoked at minimum a pack a day for almost 25 years (smoke free for four years now yay). If only I could have all that money I spent on cigarettes back now, lol. So I definitely have nothing but negative thoughts when I think of smoking, and MK using it as an example frankly really turns me off. It sure wouldn’t make me run straight to my MK lady to buy more product!
Excuse me ma’am, the cosmetics industry is certainly not “recession proof”. Nothing is. Alcohol and tobacco keep going because they have customers who are literally addicted to their product. Liquor stores stayed open at the height of the pandemic because if alcoholics just stop drinking cold turkey, they could literally die. Nobody is going to die or go into painful withdrawals if they buy a different brand of mascara or face wash.
DTs from a withdrawing alcoholic can be deadly. They can lead to seizures, cardiac dysrhythmias, and more. I’ve had patients in the past who end up sedated and intubated to prevent seizures, and the number of drips we have going for some of these folks is crazy. Not all patients are like this, though.
So yeah, liquor stores stayed open during the pandemic shutdowns. In fact, sales in my state were UP during the shutdowns, especially when the ABC stores offered curbside pick-up and local delivery in some areas.
A recession-proof business is a bit of a fallacy. Look at the earnings reports today – Gamestop, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, Nordstrom, Kohl’s, Target, and more — most are coming in or expected to come in UNDER street estimates. Heck, even Walmart sounded the alarm a few weeks ago when they said a decrease in discretionary spending due to inflation and recession is going to hurt sales for everyone across the board. When discretionary spending declines, people stop buying little luxuries, especially when it costs more to put food on the table and fill up your gas tank. Buy a $20 lipstick or spend $20 on food for your family?
When it comes to sales, there is such a huge difference between soliciting a person who has not expressed any interest in you or your product, and selling for a store or company where THE CUSTOMER COMES TO YOU because they already have an interest in your product. In all my years of store retail sales, I never once went to Target or Starbucks to approach strangers and use tactics to get them to come to my store. Customers came in on their own volition. Advertising played a huge part in getting buyers in the door. Or for businesses that don’t have a brick and mortar and instead are internet based, it means having interested customers come to your site…again with advertising playing a huge role.
But hey, in MK you can’t really advertise per the rules (though you call it your own business…not sure why you don’t make your OWN rules). So you have two options: sit around and wait for interested customers to find you on their own (laughable) OR approach strangers and try to MAKE them be interested in what you’re offering.
Hence the trickery in the wording and the presentation…MK reps and directors aren’t usually trying to sell the product or opportunity to people who have already expressed interest; they’re trying to create the interest to begin with.
There’s definitely one recession-proof business, & that’s the funeral industry. No matter what the state of the economy is, people die & their families will need the services of a funeral director.
The idea of the cosmetics industry being recession proof is beyond laughable. Any woman worthy of being called a mother is going to be doing her best to feed nutritious meals to her kids, NOT blowing her food budget on cosmetics. That’s child neglect, pure & simple.
EXCELLENT!
All of this is sadly SO true, and I am so sorry so many fell victim to a company that prides itself on empowering women. They are empowering the women who are soul-less enough to manipulate others in any way they see fit so they can achieve their own goals. I have seen Directors do whatever they had to in order to get what they wanted. One even used her six-year old son as a promotional advertisement. This very son who the Director told me during my initial “sign up” call that she joined MK because it was “mind numbing” being home with him. That should have clued me in, but it didn’t.