Finishing Goals With Dishonest Tactics
Here are a couple of tactics that are used to help make production goals. There’s always a push at the end of the month for new recruits toward the goals, but a recruit without a wholesale order is useless. So here’s how to game the system to get a little extra time AND have a little more leverage with the recruit.
The key is to place an order for the new recruit in the amount of $600, $1,200 or $1,800, and on a credit card that you KNOW will be declined. (Not too hard for the typical sales director with maxed out cards.)
After the month officially closes, the director has a few days to “resolve” order issues, which means taking care of orders on hold or problems with agreements. During those few days the director has time to “work” with the new consultant to obtain financing for this order with the declined credit card.
The sales director could tell the consultant that she had the option of canceling the order at this point. (Since the consultant probably didn’t want the order to begin with.) But the director probably won’t tell the consultant that this is an option. More likely, she’ll tell the consultant (in a panic) how it has to be paid for, they need to find a way make a way, that their success in Mary Kay depends upon this, and a bunch of other lies and half-truths. The sales director has just bought herself some extra time to make production for the month while this order is being “resolved.”
You see this practice with the credit card going on a lot, especially if a director is struggling to meet production or finish a car. Corporate is aware of the practice, but looks the other way. (As with many of the other practices that are not on the up-and-up, but corporate ignores them because they generate wholesale orders.)
Another way to “finish” cars means finding terminated consultants to reinstate. If a director or car driver can get a consultant to reinstate under the $20 deal, and put in a $600 order for her, she’s hit the jackpot. The reinstated consultant pays nothing. The sales director or car driver gets DOUBLE POINTS for a personal recruit. Add that to the commissions, and we’re talking cars and cash!
This thing goes on at all levels. It’s not just directors trying to make minimum production or meet some sort of goal. It happens with those trying to make it to national as well. The corruption runs de
Sounds like a shell game. MKC could put a stop to this by not allowing an order to be confirmed until CC validation. All other ecommerce sites do this in real-time, and won’t give you a confo until payment is verified.
In reality, MKC has no incentive to remove an effective tool that directors use to extort more money from their own downline, since MKC benefits directly from this practice.
“Extort” is a very good word! If, say, a used-car dealer tried even half of the high-pressure and shady sales tactics on consultants/recruits that MK uses on them, consultants would not stand for it. However, with a few tweaks of language to conceal the fact that the consultant is actually a customer, she will put up with almost anything, no matter how abusive and detrimental to her financial well-being.
I thought MK did away with extensions recently. In the director’s group there was a lot of complaining about enforcing deadlines. Or was that about something else?
In November 2012, I “wrapped up” my DIQ goal. My uncle gave me $1,800 cash to help “buy” the win. I purchased “gift” orders for 5-6 consultants to get me across the line. I feel disgusted even thinking about this. But I feel much less shameful knowing how many other people cheat to finish as well. It’s the nature of the business.
My director run lasted exactly the three months allowed when you don’t make production. I don’t think we even did $1,000 any of the months. Then I was demoted from my fake title.
I was a red jacket most of my MK journey of 20+ years. I was the perfect sucker for them. Think pink, kind hearted, believe in others, want the best, go the extra mile, never give up, quitters never win and winners never quit, and finally, fake it til you make it.
I’m courious, in this day and age, how do these scammers get packages delivered to their homes in other people’s names…???
It’s easy in MK – the director can just have the package shipped to themselves, or at least that’s how it used to be.
I thought they closed this loophole