Pressure For Orders at the End of the Month
In Mary Kay Cosmetics, it’s all about the wholesale order. No one really cares if you ever sell anything to a customer, as long as you keep ordering from the company. Of course they have to SAY that selling products is the business, otherwise they’d be a pyramid scheme. But the company doesn’t track actual sales to third party customers for a reason… it doesn’t matter.
You’re encouraged to stock inventory because every time you order, your upline gets paid. It doesn’t matter to them if you actually sell those products. Your recruiter and sales director are paid a commission when you order products, so why not get you to order a whole bunch right away?
The end of the month is a critical time for your sales director as she is calculating how big (or in most cases, how small) her commission check is going to be. Did you know how little sales directors make? Even if your unit does $10,000 wholesale production in one month, your sales director is probably only getting a commission check of $2,000 to $2,500. Not the big bucks you thought she was getting, huh?
So as the end of the month approaches, your sales director is looking for any and every way to get more wholesale orders from the unit. How many times have you been asked to place an order to “help the unit”, etc.?
Here is one director’s focus on making as much money as possible. Yeah, I suppose she’s just working the system to make as much as she can under the system. On the other hand, it’s a corrupt system that abuses consultants and relies on pushing them to order more products, whether they need them or not.
I created a checklist of “everything to think about when finishing the month” and “everything to think about if it’s the last month of the quarter” for me to reference each month.
I ask myself these questions:
-
- Do I have 4 unit recruits that joined last month or this month and placed their $600 or more 1st order this month? ($400 Bonus)
- Have I ordered a minimum of $600 wholesale and do I have 5+ personals ordering $225+ wholesale? (13% commission on personals vs. 9%)
- For the Team Leaders and above in my unit…have they ordered a minimum of $600 wholesale and do they have 5+ personals ordering $225+ wholesale? (13% commission on personals vs. 9%)
- For the “Inactive month 3” = I3 – Do they have team members? If so, I let them know that they’ll loose their team members if they don’t order. (As of right now, the computer lets them keep their team members if they order in their “T month” but that could change… our desktop reports say that they must order in the I3 month to keep their team members.)
- For those unit members with 4 recruits…could they get a 5th to get to 9-13% commission?
If it’s the last month of the quarter…
- What will be my total production for the quarter? Am I above the amount required per quarter for the car I’m in, to avoid a co-op payment? (see Advance Brochure)
I’ve missed bonuses, etc. along the way because I’ve forgotten one of these points…so
hopefully this will help all of us not miss anything we can earn! 🙂
Visit the
For the “Inactive month 3” = I3 – Do they have team members? If so, I let them know that they’ll loose their team members if they don’t order. (As of right now, the computer lets them keep their team members if they order in their “T month” but that could change… our desktop reports say that they must order in the I3 month to keep their team members.)
Admits she flat out lies to them, all for the sake of getting a bigger commission check. So Christian. So supportive. Not.
And this:
Have I ordered a minimum of $600 wholesale…
That’s a MINIMUM $7200 wholesale you’re ordering every year. You’re not selling it all – what are you doing with it? WHY are you doing this? What possible satisfaction can you get out of a huge stockpile of makeup that’s just going to quietly rot in your spare bedroom?
Not to mention that that $600 a month would pay for a very nice car that would be yours in 5 years, or if you stick it in an interest-bearing savings account (what I do with the amount of my car payment now the car is paid off) and in no time you’d have a nice nest egg saved up for a vacation or a bigger house or just not worry about an expensive disaster wiping out your savings.
You’re spending yourself into poverty for the sake of maybe $16,800 a year if you’re lucky (assuming $2000 per month – $600 monthly “production.”)
Numbers don’t lie. Mary Kay does.
Lose or loose? Are the team members being turned loose, lol?
Sales Directors have a pathological inability to use “lose / loose” correctly. That’’s in addition to their tragic punctuation disorders.
They also aren’t able to use ‘a part’ and ‘apart’ or ‘allowed’ and ‘aloud’ correctly. It must be in the MK hun handbook.
Do I have 4 unit recruits that joined last month or this month and placed their $600 or more 1st order this month? ($400 Bonus)
That’s all of work for $400