We’ve talked before about how to “properly” recruit the customer of another Mary Kay consultant. If you have to go through that much to justify going after the recruit, is it really ethical?

Here is more on recruiting someone else’s customer. It was presented as “golden rule thinking,” but it would be more appropriate to call this “do it before I steal her from you.” These are instructions on how to technically follow Mary Kay’s rules, but be really slimy about it.

It is certainly fine to ask anyone if she has heard about the opportunity. If she has not, then suggest she discuss it with her own consultant. If she will give you the name of the consultant, you can call up the consultant yourself, and say something like this….”Hi Betty! I met one of your customers the other day, and I referred her back to you. I was wondering if you are going to recruit her? Are you building your team? (Wait for her answer)

If she says, “Nah, I am only doing reorders, don’t want to recruit, etc.” then it is okay to say, “Well if you are not going to talk to her about the company and try to recruit her, then I would like to!” That way she will know you are going to be contacting her customer.

Then, if she says, ” Now wait a minute, this is my customer, etc.,” you can say, “Don’t worry, I won’t ask her until you have had a chance to do it. I will wait 2 weeks, and in that time you can interview her and see if you can guide her to a decision. If you have not recruited her in two weeks, then I will contact her again to see if I have any luck.” This usually puts a fire under the woman, and she will interview and recruit this person that you noticed.

But, a lot of times, after the two weeks is up, the prospect STILL has not been contacted! YES, this is hard to believe, but some consultants are very complacent!

I truly believe in Golden Rule Thinking, but there are two sides to it. There are some consultants who NEVER will ask ANY of their customers to consider joining Mary Kay! That is because they are thinking that they want ALL of the 50% for themselves, and do not want any recruits or competition in their areas. It is NOT Golden Rule Thinking to never offer them the opportunity!

So, we have a choice. We can either say, “Oh, you have a consultant, be sure and ask her about the opportunity,” and then drop her like a hot potato. Or, we can take it a step farther and also ask, “Who is your consultant?” Then you can call up the consultant and ASK her if she is interested in interviewing the customer you met. Because a LOT of the time, the consultant is NOT interested in the responsibility of having a Teammember!!

We should take the time to find out!

Also, if she is interested in recruiting the lady, you can back off. If she has not been in any kind of contact with the prospect after two weeks, even with your urging that she go forward with it, then I think it is okay to talk to the prospect yourself.

I am not saying that the prospect has two weeks in which to contact her own consultant for details. I am saying you make the phone call to the consultant and if she indicates she would like to recruit her own customer, then you ask her to follow up on the lead within the next two weeks, and then if she does not recruit her, then you are going to try!

Of course, if the prospect has not signed up after two weeks, but is about to go to a MK luncheon or meeting, you back off because obviously something is being done towards getting her into the company. You back away from her if you see this happening.

Do not monkey with other people’s monkeys!! It would be terrible if you got her to go to your own meeting before the original consultant’s meeting is held, if they have an appointment. She is doing her job. Back away when you see this happening. There are plenty of prospects out there! You will get your fair share if you keep asking!

You only say that you are going to give her two weeks in which to contact the prospect if the potential recruiter indicates some interest, because she might tell you at the first of the conversation that she does not want to recruit OR go to meetings. This happens all the time. In that case, you have a green light to go forward immediately in recruiting the prospect.

Also, anytime I meet someone who is asking me all kinds of questions about the Mary Kay Opportunity, I ask them if they have a consultant. If they are quite impressed with me, they might play down their own consultant, and say something like, “She only held a class that I attended and bought something, we didn’t talk about the opportunity, or how to become a consultant.”

I say, BACK AWAY and do not get involved. Instead I say, “Well, I am sure your friend would love to be your recruiter, so it is better if you contact her and ask her about the company. I wonder if I might know her?? What is her name??? Hmm, I do or don’t know her, but please call her up and let her know you are considering Mary Kay for yourself.” WHY WASTE YOUR TIME GETTING HER EXCITED, it is the other consultant’s job to do that and bond her to the other consultant. Then, YOU CALL the other consultant using the wording above and see what happens.

If you find out the coast is clear, then you can call the prospect back and say, ” I spoke to Betty Consultant and she said she is not building her team right now, so it is OK with her for me to talk to you about the business instead of her. Let’s set an appointment to get together.”

I hope this answers your questions about how to proceed when you meet another consultant’s customer. It is okay to ask if they have ever heard about the Mary Kay opportunity, but at the same time you must get the name of their consultant and contact her first. She gets first try out of courtesy. If she is not interested in doing any recruiting then you can go forward with a clear conscience!

Of course, as the Director, I would have a fit if I found out that one of my consultants was turning away a prospect. I would hope that she would keep the prospect for herself, and then contact me the Director to do the recruiting for her. At least this way the new recruit would come in and benefit the unit!

Also, anytime there is a conflict in recruiting someone and it involves one of your own team members, you should let the new recruit go in under your team member.

This way, your team member stays happy, and will continue to work. If you keep the recruit that your team member thinks she should have had, she may get mad and just quit and then you are worse off than before.

Obviously, if your team member meets one of YOUR customers, she should follow the above procedure. She should not feel she can help herself to your or anyone else’s customers! That would not be right.

You are a strong recruiter and you can go and find another one later to make up for this one that you let go. Sometimes conflicts like this arise when you both meet the same person at the same time, or if the person was at the same show where your team member came from. If she wants the prospect, let her have her. That will pay rich dividends for you later on. This builds trust and she knows you are trying to help her.

So the bottom line is that if a consultant has a faithful customer that she is servicing but not recruiting, IT IS OKAY FOR YOU TO STEAL THAT CUSTOMER AND TURN HER INTO A RECRUIT.