Eight Ways to Corner Your Mary Kay Market

Lately, there's been a lot of talk about how difficult it is to make a living as a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant. The talk is right; it can be hard to make money in Mary Kay, especially if you purchase a lot of inventory which you're then unable to sell. However, Mary Kay consultants who are generous, genuine, and willing to step outside of the stereotypical Mary Kay practices can not only avoid going into debt to start their business and gain customers, but can establish themselves as the cool Mary Kay agent with whom people want to do business. Here are eight things you can do to transform yourself from that pushy lady whom her neighbors avoid to that fun woman who sells Mary Kay at great prices.

1. Keep your old friends. Often, people become so involved in Mary Kay that they forget about or don't have time for their old friends and hobbies. This makes the Mary Kay agent seem obsessed and "tunnel-visioned," and it often makes the friends hate Mary Kay. Instead, remember that Mary Kay is just a job or a hobby. You've never forgotten all your friends for a job before, so don't start now.

2. Know when to leave work at home. Many husbands or women become embarrassed and annoyed when their wives or friends can't leave Mary Kay at home, and insist on trying to book appointments with saleswomen, waitresses, or strangers in the store. Not having time for your old friends, and not being able to leave work at home are two of the biggest mistakes that Mary Kay consultants make, and you must avoid them if you want to be cool and not creepy.

3. Know your craft. Many consultants lose sight of the fact that their craft is not selling, booking, or recruiting: their craft is makeup. Know what the current trends in makeup are, and how to adapt those trends to different face, eye, and lip shapes. Learn how to achieve the most popular looks and how to accomplish the most desired effects: brighter eyes, smoother foundation, and pouty lips. Put down the script for overcoming objections and open a Robert Jones book. Skip the unit meeting and spend two hours watching some of the excellent U-tube videos on stylish makeup techniques.

4. Let your customers be customers. One of the most common complaints about Mary Kay consultants is that they're always trying to recruit everybody. Despite what some people say, Mary Kay is not a good business opportunity for everyone. Some of your customers are perfectly happy as lawyers, engineers, teachers, or stay-at-home-mothers. They've found a product they like, and they just want to buy it, not sell it. Don't push them to do more.

5. Don't try to wheedle your customers into buying more than they want. If there's one word that describes today's female consumer, it's "empowered." Women know what they want, where they want to get it, and how much they want to pay for it. They know that a "customized skin care program" means finding a group of products that works for them: a moisturizer from Mary Kay, a cleanser from Clinique, a lotion from Avon. Mary Kay consultants are often told not to sell new customers only part of the skin care program. The purported reason behind this is that mixing products isn't good for a person's skin, but that's not true. The real purpose is to try to get customers to buy into the entire skin care regimen. Unfortunately, this technique often backfires when the knowledgeable, empowered consumer shrugs and says, "Fine. I'll just buy it off of E-bay." Then you've not only lost the sale, you've permanently alienated a customer. Here's another way to keep your customers off of E-bay:

6. Share your discount wealth. If there's one thing women love, it's a discount. Let your friends, family, and customers know that at the beginning of every quarter, you'll place a large order in which they can order any product they want at its wholesale price, plus retail tax. The advantage to you is that you'll always have a large enough order to stay active without having to go into debt to buy product you may or may not sell, and when customers need to replace a product in between your bulk wholesale orders, they'll come to you. The advantage to your customer is that they can get product at the wholesale price without having to schlep over to E-bay and hope that they're not getting expired product.

7. Hook people up with cool section 2 swag. Some of the coolest products are the section two samples, supplies, and promotional items. Let people know that they can buy them from you at cost, or give them away as gifts at parties, wedding, and baby showers. Women love getting elusive or exclusive items almost as much as they love getting discounts.

8. Speaking of parties, try throwing a really great one. In the sixties, when Mary Kay started a home-party based business, just getting out of the house to socialize was enough to entice women to a skincare class. That's no longer the case. Now it takes the promise of a classy, genuinely fun time to drag women away from their husbands, kids, and episodes of American Idol. For special events, throw a party with a fruit tray, sandwiches, and drinks. Have fun music (with non-MK lyrics) playing in the background. Give away beautifully packaged party favors, not just for people who book classes, but for everybody. You might even consider hiring a masseuse or a masseur to give hand and foot massages for the evening. You may be thinking that this sounds expensive, but it's a much cheaper and more effective method of establishing your reputation as the cool Mary Kay agent than frontloading yourself with a bunch of inventory that you may or may not be able to sell. Plus, you'll be making direct selling history by throwing a party that people actually want to attend. It's often said in Mary Kay that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. If you're sick of the results that you've been getting by following the scripted lines, the recommended sales techniques, and the stiff pricing guidelines, it's time to break the mold. Become a rogue consultant who does things right, who knows how to make her customers look beautiful, who sells them only what they want and need, who respects their purchasing power, and who throws parties that show the customers that she respects them enough to give them an excellent time, not just a sales pitch. These eight techniques are probably radically different from what you've been doing in Mary Kay, but they may give you radically different results than what you've been getting in Mary Kay.

Won't that be nice?