End of June Panic
Written by SuzyQ
June 30, the end of the seminar year, is almost here! On June 30, the pressure mounts on directors to complete their goals, email and call for orders, recruit new consultants, use credit cards that are declined, cry a lot, drink too much and check to see how much space is left on whatever credit cards that have not been maxed out.
For those of you wondering about using declined credit cards, it is because it causes a delay so “recruits” can find another card or get loans from people or whatever it takes to have that order count. (Sadly, the “on hold order” scam seems to be limited this year and might even be going away all together.)
When June 30 lands on a weekend day, MK usually extends the deadlines for orders to be counted because it is the weekend after all (family and God time).
It was horrible for me. I hated June. I hated the fact I was not going to make yet another goal year after year. (And newsflash, it is the same way for 95% of directors. They all hate year end, despite what you’ll see on social media about the excitement over goals and achievements and “just a few more orders”!)
My consultants did not understand the urgency of year-end. They generally ordered but it was not enough. I would lay in bed after waking up in the middle of the night wondering what I had done wrong this time. I had worked so hard and still fell short. I panicked about paying my own bills and wondered what I was going to do with all of the product I had ordered in an attempt to pull this off yet again.
I panicked about seminar, knowing I would be in the nose bleed section again and all the expenses I would incur while in Dallas. Directors got big discounts from vendors at seminar and it was not unusual to stock up on prizes and contest suggestions (and save money— ha). Then there were the classes, the same crap and drivel we heard every single year. Book, sell, recruit… such BS.
I have been out of MK for over 10 years now and at the time I was in, it was not hard to get people for classes and meetings most of the time. I can’t imagine trying to do it now. It is too easy to order on line, we are still in a pandemic and I would not want to go to someone’s house or have them come to mine if I didn’t know them. I am surprised that people are still making money. I really am. There are so many GOOD affordable cosmetics available at the click of a mouse. Who on earth would buy Mary Kay?
One of my favorite customers was an older lady who liked satin hands. She was wonderful, had been a refugee during WWII as a child and was so kind. She decided to treat me to lunch at the country club one day. There were two sugar sharp women at a table near us having lunch and when they finished, they took their lipsticks out. One was Chanel, the other was Estee Lauder. Thank God I didn’t try to approach them. I was so humiliated and I hadn’t done anything. It was the deep shame that I felt about being involved with this ridiculous company.
I didn’t mean to go on this long. I just had a lot of memories flooding back looking at the date and remembering when. Thank you for your patience as I rant.
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“There were two sugar sharp women at a table near us having lunch and when they finished, they took their lipsticks out. One was Chanel, the other was Estee Lauder. Thank God I didn’t try to approach them. I was so humiliated and I hadn’t done anything.”
Your intuition was spot on. That is neither the time nor the place to be selling, and you knew it. MLMs teach their folks to ignore their inner voice (and better judgment). Don’t fall for it!
As I was on my way out and putting in a few personal use orders each year, my SD “dialled me for dollars” one last time in June. (Fake interest in my family & our goings-on… we should go for coffee…I miss you.) When she got around to the real reason for the call, I told her I planned an order in July and I was sure she needed my numbers even more after June 30 when everyone was tapped out. She had no response, because it was true. My $225 minimum order was never the difference between recognition levels, because she was never anywhere close.
I see this from the people I knew when I was in Mary Kay every June. They post how far they are from their goal on social media, and you know logically there is no reasonable way they can actually accomplish it. There is literally not enough time. Literally not enough customers. The only way they can accomplish their goal is to buy it. We know it. They also know it, deep down under the layers and layers of denial Mary Kay has built up over them with trinket prizes and overblown recognition. Then they get back on social media and “give all the glory to God” for reaching their goal. God didn’t help you max out your consultants’ credit cards and put them further in debt so you can get a f*cking fake diamond pin and a ribbon on your Seminar name badge. If you truly love God, ask yourself why you are so obsessed with getting recognition from a corporation.
The cards dept employees at the credit union I work for refer to June and July as ‘dispute season’ because we have a large local MK unit, along with a couple other MLMs (rhymes with smerbalife), and they are not shy about the card hold games or transfer/check hold demands.
I genuinely feel for these women who have been manipulated into doing real damage to their financial health for the gain of selfish directors and NSDs.
Has anyone heard any seminar registration numbers this year? My guess is it’s really low! Apparently been declining the past several years. Why would anyone go except for the ones who have bought their way onstage? Some never learn.
SuzyQ, another brilliant post! June was just the worst month (until you got to July when no one was ordering ANYTHING). It took me a few years out of Mary Kay to stop paying attention to June and all the MK year-end nonsense. It is a complete joy to experience summer on my own terms and not have to worry about trying to motivate my unit to work for goals they didn’t care about.
Love ya, Suz!