Talking a Consultant Out of Returning Her Inventory
Here’s a tried and true method of talking a consultant out of returning her inventory. We wouldn’t want her to do that! After all, the sales director will get a commission chargeback if the consultant returns her products.
We are all well aware of Mary Kay’s 90% buyback policy, whereby an independent consultant or sales director can return inventory purchased within the last year for 90% of its wholesale value. (Details here.)
Often, this is touted as some big privilege, and one of the many reasons recruits should sign up with Mary Kay. They are being offered a “no risk” opportunity with a wonderful company that is oh-so generous to the consultants. (Well there really is a risk, isn’t there, when you consider the 10% lost, the cost of supplies, the cost of shipping, the cost of interest on your credit card, etc?)
Yet when the time comes for a consultant to say “so long” to Mary Kay Cosmetics and exercise this option, the sales directors try everything in their power to talk them out of it! Of course, it’s not because they’re really looking out for the well-being of the consultant and her family, is it? It is more likely because the sales director doesn’t want to have to pay back the commission on the returned inventory (known as a commission chargeback).
This a common director scripted used to talk consultants out of returning their inventory:
Dealing with Product Return and Commission Chargeback
***The Most important thing to remember is to ask lots of questions. You’ve got to ask questions.***
*What do you remember @ the excitement you felt when you first signed your agreement? (Write down what they say. Don’t let them get into “buts”. Repeat the question if you have to. You are going to bring them back to their “why” later)
She needs to feel needed:
- We’ve been friends a long time. I need your friendship and MK aside our friendship will stand. (If friends)
- When did your feelings about things change?
- Did your dreams change, did your “why” change, or do you think you just ran up against some obstacles and got frustrated?
- I could tell you horror stories about consultants who returned their products and closed that door forever and then something changed in their life and for some reason they needed MK. I don’t want that to happen to you. You know, forever is a long time.
Concerning commission chargeback:
- If you were the President of MK and you paid a consultant commission on an order that one of her team members placed and then that team member turned around and returned the product, wouldn’t you ask for the commission back on those items? What would you do? MK is so generous to us but this is a business. They have to make smart and sensible business decisions.
- Think about this… If you were in my shoes – if you were and Director, and a consultant added her very first team member, do you think I should say at that time, “Congratulations, but I just want you to know that the consultant can return her products at any time and you will have to pay that commission back.” What would you do?
- You know, MK is so good about making sure we have all the information we need about the business to be successful, but it is our responsibility to read the print. It’s all there (Career Essentials) but we have to take advantage of it.
- I’m a new Director. What could I do differently or better in the future?
***If she still insists on returning her products, have an exit interview with her in person.***
***The following information was received from a Consultant who sold back product and has given permission to forward her words to others. You can send an e-mail with the following:
Hi [sales director],
Remember me? xxxxxxxxxx?
I would like to start this letter with an apology. I know that I alone can not make or break your business, but I also know that when I returned product it took away from your production and caused you to have to return some commissions paid, and for that I am truly sorry.
This has been a roller coaster year for me. I have spent the last couple of months looking back over my previous mistakes and failures. I have been upset with myself over giving up so quickly and so easily. In looking back, I see how I allowed the opinion of certain negative influences to dictate my actions. I take full responsibility. The sign of a successful person is not that they have never failed, but that they have failed many times and always continued to try. Unfortunately, I quit before I even gave myself a chance to get back on the horse after only one fall.
I regret with all of my being that I will never have the opportunity to know where I could have taken my Mary Kay career. Sending back product was the equivalent of saying, “I am a failure. I do not want to succeed. I quit. I give up. I will not put in the work necessary to reap the rewards.” If there was any way to take back that action, I surely would.
What all of this has taught me is that I do not want to be that person. I have continued to watch your future national area expand and I wish I were still a part of that team. You and the women in your future national area are on fire! What an incredible opportunity I missed to be associated with positive, go-getting woman!
While you do not know it, you have continued to influence me. I have realized that in order to become the woman I know God made me to be, I have to emulate the strong, successful women. So thank you, Allison, for being a role model. Thank you for showing me and countless others what determination, integrity, and perseverance can do.
If the Mary Kay rule book ever changes and allows for those who returned product to acknowledge the error of their ways and be a part of the company again, please let me know. In the meantime, I will continue to use the lessons I have learned from this experience and from you to hopefully find an incredible opportunity to grow and shine…though, I do not believe there is another opportunity as wonderful as I one I so quickly gave up. I wish you and James and your area all the best God has to offer.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
They covered it all. Make her feel needed. Reminder her that you’re friends (yeah, right). Give her a little guilt about your commission chargeback. Make sure she knows she’s a loser and quitter if she returns her inventory. Remind her of how she won’t be in our little sorority if she quits. Make her think her dreams won’t come true without Mary Kay. Bravo, ladies. Quite the performance.
Visit the
Which is why the most important rule of using the buyback program is “DO NOT tell your director you’re doing it.” Because, natch, it’s all about what’s best for her and not for you. And as much as they try to make it sound like MK offers the buyback program out of the goodness of their hearts, it’s actually required by TX law and they have no choice in the matter.
“Because, natch, it’s all about what’s best for her and not for you.”—
Let’s also discuss, “I’d like to share an opportunity with you.” It sounds so nice, so giving. The mark is nothing more than a dollar sign to the recruiter. It’s all about her, even though she makes it sound like it’s about the new recruit.
Don’t fall for it. The bigger starter inventory package you buy, the bigger HER commission check. She makes a commission off selling you an opportunity package. That’s sounds a lot like opportunity selling.
I sent my inventory back on Monday they should have it this thursday. I will not take any calls from the sales director. My best friend is also sending her inventory back as well. Good riddence!
Congratulations! I hope you and your friend get your money back quickly.
Yay for you and welcome to Pink Truth! We’d love to know more about your MK experience…like how you were approached, what tactics your recruiter used, any blatant lies you were told, or lies of omission, etc.
And if that teary, fawning, self-flagellating glurgefest of a letter was written by a real ex-consultant, I’ll eat my keyboard. It reads like a director’s fantasy, written with a pink glitter pen in a pink diary with pink scented pages at 11 pm on the last day of the month.
I’ve read the stories on here about the people who did the buyback and there hasn’t been one who hasn’t been relieved and ready to move on with their lives.
Exactly what I was thinking, Popinki. Name and contact info of the “quitter” that wrote that email or it didn’t happen.
Additional info: it’s total b.s. that you can’t rejoin after sending back inventory. You have to write an exception letter (and usually do a large inventory order) but I’ve never heard of an instance where the company denied an exception.
I thought the same. It oozes smug self-congratulations and not an honest sentiment in a single sentence.
“ I’ll eat my keyboard.” And I’ll eat my computer screen. If anything, a teetering lurker hopefully sees what an obvious piece of fiction that is. I hope it further shows her the manipulation and lies spread to consultants.
If these products fly off the shelves, why wouldn’t the director buy her product back at cost? Hahahahahaha
If you were the President of MK and you paid a consultant commission on an order that one of her team members placed and then that team member turned around and returned the product, wouldn’t you ask for the commission back on those items? What would you do? MK is so generous to us but this is a business. They have to make smart and sensible business decisions.
Well, the smart decision wouldn’t be to join MK or another MLM in the first place.
If I were sitting across from this Director:
When did your feelings about things change?
When I realized I was lied to. By you, among others.
If you were the President of MK…
Well, you told me when I signed up that I was the CEO of my own company. I have to do what’s best for my company, don’t I?
You know, MK is so good about making sure we have all the information we need…
You mean, like the buy-back program? You told me how great it was when I signed up, and now you’re trying to talk me out of using it?
I’m a new Director. What could I do differently or better in the future?
Get out now and don’t look back. Cut your losses and return everything you can, no matter what your senior says. That’s what I’m doing. Bye, now.
I call BS on that “consultant” writing that “letter.” Prove that it DID happen, because I don’t believe you.
That alleged “consultant letter” is gross. Literally nobody I know who has sent back inventory felt that way. They don’t feel sorry for their director. They’re usually pissed that they did not know about the chargeback and how their director would try to manipulate them to stay in Mary Kay.
I just noticed this line in the glurge letter:
So thank you, Allison, for being a role model.
Allison? What delicious irony if that fantasy fan-fic letter were written by (the then) Allison LaMarr.
The Ridiculous Downvoter ™ has a crush on you, NayMKWay <3
Yeah, but I’m spoken for.
I was completely unaware when I returned my inventory that my director would have to pay back commissions from my “sales.” I later realized that this is why she fought so hard to not let me leave. But when I did find this out I felt both sick to my stomach by the greed in this company and smugly satisfied at the same time.
Everything in MK costs money. It’s nice to know that when you return inventory some those directors’ lies have a dollar amount attached to them.
Tracy,
Nothing goes to your link on returning inventory (linked in article)
https://www.pinktruth.com/2018/01/16/talking-you-out-of-returning-your-inventory/
It worked for me … but try this one:
https://www.pinktruth.com/returning-mary-kay-inventory/
Every legitimate sales company “takes back” the commission if the customer returns product. It was a rude awakening the first time it happened to me, but it’s the reality of commissioned sales, otherwise the salesperson could easily run a scam on the company.
But virtually no legitimate sales company “fires” their distributor or retailer if they return product, it’s a reality that it WILL happen sometimes. Their end customer backed out, and they don’t think they can resell it in timely matter. Or they made a mistake, they realized they ordered too much.
That’s because a legitimate company doesn’t churn their distributors, they put time and money into developing the relationships and those relationships are an asset.
If MK were a legitimate business, their distributors could return product that wasn’t selling as well as expected, and still remain distributors. This dynamic gives the manufacturers incentive to make product that people actually want to buy, and helps them hone their product lines. Companies like MK don’t care if end users actually like the product, because they sell it either way.