My Findings In Mary Kay

            We’ve all heard of Mary Kay.  Chances are, we’ve been approached by at least one representative at some point in our lives who tried to recruit us.  Well, I have a co-worker that is actually really good at recruiting people to join her in her Mary Kay adventure.  As I sat in the office listening to her talk up her “business” day in and day out, I decided that going to one meeting with her to get the “scoop” wouldn’t hurt.  This is what I found…

            When you go to a meeting, you are surrounded by a roomful of women who are akin to cheerleaders mixed with unicorns on steroids.  Now, I’m not saying this is a bad thing.  The enthusiasm that the leaders have is beyond anything I’ve seen since I was a cheerleader.  Since I was a “guest”, I got to have the facial that they always advertise as a way to get into someone’s home.  Basically, this means I put the products on as the rep (in this case it was a leader who was using me as a training class for the reps) instructs you on the benefits of each one.  To be honest, I was ready to leave within 10 minutes.  However, it would have been rude and I made the mistake of riding with my co-worker.  It was pretty exhausting listening to the woman speak a thousand words a minute without pausing.  This is actually one of the main things they teach you in selling….YOU control the conversation and don’t really let the other person speak until you’re ready for them to.  So, here I sat, wishing the evening to be over.

            Finally, my wish came true.  The leader finished her class and stopped speaking.  The evening was finally over….or so I thought.  As soon as she wrapped things up and the reps started to leave, my co-worker jumps in and starts the recruiting process as well as trying to sell me $300 worth of the products I had just been shown.  She talked up every “good” point of the business and glossed over most of my questions.  In the end, I figured I’d give it a shot just to see what it was all about….do my own research.  So, I shelled out $100 for the starter kit (which is a fairly large black shoulder bag with quite a good amount of different products and brochures in it.)  

Here are a few of the things I found out:

1) Reps get make 50% profit from what they sell.  This also means that they purchase the products at 50% off MSRP to resell to customers.  The recruiting rep will tell you this, and you will hear about it in the meetings if you go as a guest.

2)  In order to get the 50% off (or make the profit) you have to be an active rep with “purchases” of a little over $200 every 2 months.  Now, the company will tell you this after you sign up.  However, they don’t clearly explain that the $200 is actually $400 MSRP.  So, if you have a customer that only wants a cleanser that costs $20, you have to pay the company full price for it.  You make nothing.

3)  When you sign up for Mary Kay, they immediately start pressuring you to buy inventory.  What I mean when I say “inventory” is this….they want you to spend $600 plus on products that you may never be able to sell.  Craigslist is full of Mary Kay products that are practically being given away by reps that just can’t sell it.

4)  We all know this, but I’ll put it on here anyway.  It’s really hard to get people to have a Mary Kay party.  Back in the day of door-to-door sales it was easy.  Today, it’s usually friends and family that feel pressured and guilty.   

5)  You can return your inventory to Mary Kay and they will pay you a fraction of what you actually paid for it.  However, if you enact the inventory buy back, your contract with them is over forever.  Even if you wanted to stay a rep you wouldn’t be able to.  (Even AVON has a return policy)

6)  As a customer, you have the right to return any product that you don’t like for an exchange or refund.  The rep will do this with a smile on her face, but she is silently calling you names because if you return a product for a refund, she is the one that loses the money…not Mary Kay.  So she, in essence, is out her 50% plus the other 50%.  She loses double what she made off of your purchase.

7)  Yes, there are a few die-hard Mary Kay customer fans out there.  Quite a few actually.  Most of the women I’ve talked to (not trying to sell them anything) actually agree with me.  There are far superior products at the mall for the same price or cheaper, with more choices.

Now, I know that someone will read this and immediately start yelling about how their Mary Kay business is going great.  (My co-worker tells people that too, when she actually had to come back to work at the office part-time after she quit….I was her replacement.)  I think it’s great if someone’s Mary Kay business is thriving.  I wish everyone to succeed.  I only joined for research.  I never had any intentions of ever selling anything.  So please, don’t get offended and think I’m doing anything other than educating people on what I found about the small print.