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I think the most important key is to have customer retention. I want my customers to never have to look for another MK consultant again. I cannot believe the number of customers I pick up because the consultant never calls them or puts them on the PCP. It shocks me and of course the customer feels that she wasn't important enough. At their initial appt. I tell them of everything I do throughout the year for them...20% off the entire month of their birthday, an email sale/promotion every 1 1/2 - 3 mos., 2 big sales a year including 1 in the summer and one around the Holiday Season, refer someone to me and I will give you 10% of whatever they purchase back to you in free product, refer someone to me who starts their MK business and I will give you $50 of free MK. I tell them about the PCP mailer and then make them aware that I plan on being with MK for a very long time and I am dedicated to them as their Beauty Consultant. They have no need to look for another one because I am in MK for life. That sounds corny but it's the truth and sometimes they may think this is just a hobby for us. So that's how I keep customers.

I find my customers through my many, many, many expo's. I have 2-5/month. Then I have placed fishbowls but recently I don't have any out there due to being so busy, I never checked them and they got tossed :\

Referrals from your existing appointment or class is the best way to build. If you leave a class without booking another class or at least getting referrals, you might as well have just left $500 on the table. Then think about all the additional referrals, bookings, and possible new team members and you could be losing in the upwards of $1,000-$100,000+ I have a Director friend who has figured out that because of her personal recruit and offspring Director, she has made over $450,000! So this is an important point.

I wear my pin and carry a bag with pink lips on it wherever I go too. That may sound a little too "pink freakish" but it also gets me around 5-10 names per week. People notice bags and pretty pins and ask you about them. One of my most recent $150 facials was a gal who asked me about my pin. Inside the lips bag I have an empty satin hands bag. Inside of it I have placed my buisness cards, a pen and lotion samples. I talk to someone and hand them my card, tear off the back portion and ask for their first name and phone number, write where I met them on the back and put it into that bag. I got tired of losing names and this way everything is organized.

I book usually during 6-8PM and just have the mentality when I am calling that I have 80 names in front of me and it's my goal to get to the bottom of the pile. I don't care if everyone says no to me, I just need to get to the bottom. If I don't, the names/cards pile up and I end up getting back logged. With that mentality, I have no fears making the calls. Now my attitude to them is quite different, I am upbeat and to the point but it's all about pampering them. I book the facial first which is easy, and then ask them to invite a few girlfriends over too. I tell them that I will give each girlfriend a small gift certificate too ($5.00) and I usually give the one I'm booking around $10-$20. This is where Inventory helps because you have the products there. It's harder when you don't have it to give so you must change the wording in your booking. I always say that the free New Consultant Product Bonus that you get when you are new theoretically pays for the hostess gift you offer. Even though she may not redeem her $10-$20 for the free product you got, you will eventually sell it and that will make up the difference as you are getting a 100% profit.

Now here's another biggie, work smart NOT hard. I have my week planned (it's called the weekly plan sheet) and every week I do the same thing. Monday Night I have my meeting and I invite guests there, Wed and Thurs eves I will hold appointment and Sat and Sun afternoons I will hold appts. I usually hold appts. ONLY in my home/studio but will occasionally go out to someones home upon request. This way I can book up to 10 people for a time slot and of course not all will show up. If 1/2 show up, I am happy and have a good sized class. If 10 show up (rarely happens) I am running around a bit but we get through it.

I don't know if this helps but that's what I do. I have the wording down when I call to book an appt. and I follow up with her at least 2-3 times before her appt. You don't want her to cancel so you have to call and connect several times before her appt. I dislike scripts, although some people work best from them. I try to customize what I say to whom I am speaking and match personalities with them (mirror them) but I do know exactly where I am going with the conversation.

This business has to be fun, you have to have a good attitude, you have to be able to brush things off easily and not take things personally and most of all you HAVE to enjoy it. I used to not enjoy booking and holding appointments but when you are depositing $700-$1,500 in weekly sales, you learn to love it. I too have weeks where I sell what I think is low, $300-$500, but you just keep going. If you give up, you never know what next week or month would have brought from persisting. This is of course directed to those who are wanting to work and are looking at this from a view point of getting ideas.

If you have any questions, call me because that's the best way to reach me (612) 588-1569. I give my teleconference number out freely to those who are seeking help in their businesses. We have conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday Nights, 9-10PM Central Time.

Thanks,

Wendy

WendyTurnidge  - 15 Feb 2004

Hey Wendy! Thanks for the input, this is good stuff....It's apparent how much you love your business and I, for one, am gonna pass along some of your ideas to consultants I know......also, I am glad you shared some of the realness, hence, 'you didn't like booking at first'.....that's what impacts women......sincerity, sharing the 'not so 'GREAT' things to help them overcome obstacles. I gotta share with some about your definition of a 'low week'......meaning, in most cases $300-500 would be a HIGH week for some. Again, thank you for providing this information....I think it also paints a very important picture that it takes a substantial amount of effort unlike what most say at recruiting times where you only have to work a few hours a week to make this kind of money. I hope that, by your post, women can see what working your business entails. We've heard so much about 'working your business', but until now, no one detailed what that involves.....so I appreciate the time and passion you put into posting this information and I hope that women can find it very useful and encouraging.

You must have a very supporting family since it seems that you work several evenings each week and weekends. Many women don't. It's good to know in considering this career, just what 'working your business' requires to make that level of money in the form of time spent. It's definitely a full-timer and then some it seems since there are several evenings and weekends involved as well as apparent daytime activity and I clearly see the need for assistants/housekeepers with all a director does at the level you are at.

Many families are not that supportive, in fact, most husbands don't want their wives to be gone that much and I think that's a big factor that women have to realize, especially women who are already working FT jobs entering in this market......it takes TONS of work as you clearly pointed out......enjoyable work for you, but nevertheless, a LOT of work and women have to realize just how much work.

I know an upcoming National who hesitantly, reluctantly, hated to give up her precious Sunday time w/family to pursue her National career. But she did, I hope she makes it with those sacrifices...again, it's an individual thing for everyone and encompasses far more than a few hours a week to earn this level of income...but success is also defined differently for different individuals and that is the beauty of a 'flexible' opportunity....we can do as little or as much as we want and define our own level of success.......thanks again....

Wendy here again: Thanks for your comments Laura. I guess I need to expand a little more here so I don't paint the wrong picture while trying to . It looks as if it can be assumed I work all the time and that is certainly not the case. I cannot describe every hour but for one I have stated that I care for my grandmother, which is challenging to say the least, and that takes at least 1/2 of my time in a week. I schedule my week like I described above so I have choices to give my prospects. For example if I talk to someone and I have Sat. and Wed. already booked, then those are the options I give her. She doesn't know about Sunday or Thurs. unless unless the days I already have booked don't work for her. It's rare I have appts. on all those days but those are the days I find work best for me. So I usually am holding appointments 1 evening during the week and then 1 day on the weekend. My appts. are only 1 hour because they are in my house. They arrive at let's say Noon and are out by 1:15 or so. The last 15 minutes is filling the orders.

By holding appts. in my home, I am also able to not only deduct my office for taxes but my dining room area too becuase it's primarily used for facials/classes. On Friday I stop working at 2PM and the rest of the day is for my husband and it's my "date night". Saturday I stop working after any afternoon appointments I may have had and the rest of the day is for my family. This last Saturday I made a Turkey dinner and sometimes we go out. If don't have Sat. appts. I am out of my office by noonish and it's a non MK day. Sunday until 2PM is my church time and we may go out to eat afterwards. If I don't have anything scheduled on Sunday then I am out of my office until 6PM. Sunday evening is valuable phone time. My working hours are M-Thurs and I get up at 6-7A and will work spuratically throughout the day. Usually I am actually in my office from 10A-2P and then again for a short while in the evening but not always. Of course if I have an appt. I will do that. I love to shop during the afternoon time and have lunch with my husband and I already shared my weekend schedule. There are lots of times in the day where it's me time and especially from the moment I wake up for about 2-3 hours, it's all me time. I may watch the news, usually exercise, read the Bible, pray, etc...The first thing you should put on a weekly plan sheet is God time, then you time, family time, your personal appointments that you already have and fill in when you want to work. Because I know my schedule so well, I can talk to a friend and book a lunch date with her on the spur of a moment if I choose.

Because this is your business however, when you do get it started, especially if you are giving up another job to pursue MK, you really should give your business around 20 hrs. per week. I built this at the very beginning giving 20 and then I built from there. It's a challenge to work 40 because it's hard to find things to do but of course with a Unit there are always things to be done. When you are new it's harder to work 40. I am in a pacesetter program with my National and we track working our 40 hours. If all of us were doing that, which many are not, it wouldn't be something to track as a goal.

Again, I hope this helps. My husband is very supportive and accomodating to me and my needs. I am lucky because he has always been supportive but he always hasn't wanted to help me out because he looked at it as my thing. I started having him make deposits for me, counting cash and adding checks and he quickly changed. Now I find him bragging to his friends about OUR MK business. Some men won't be supportive and sometimes there is nothing that can be done about that. That may be a whole other dynamic.

I hope this clarified. Of course being full time I want to work 40 hrs. but don't forget that grocery shopping and warm chattering while you are picking out your coffee creamer can be considered working. Just figure out your week and look to see what you can actually put into this business. Once you see that you actually have extra hours, you can decide how much you want to work and schedule in when you want to work. We have Nationals and Top Directors who only worked 3 10 hour days/week. It can be done but alot of times we are not having good time management and that comes over time.

Take Care, Wendy

Wendy:

Thank you for your response! Clearly, you love what you do; equally clearly, you are dedicated to your customers, and well-organized to back up that dedication with a consistently high level of service. No doubt you have been, and are, a good leader and guide for your unit members, as well as personally very successful. Kudos.

For other women who read what you've written and have followed a similar course, with, however, less stellar results, I'm thinking that maybe a "hidden" ingredient in the success mix (taking nothing away from your excellent biz practices, here) is where you are (?)

By this I mean that all retailers acknowledge/document that certain products have, historically and ongoing, bigger markets/annual sales in some regions and smaller markets/annual sales in other regions: cosmetics, perfumes, jewelry, and books are examples of goods whose reception and sales vary widely, and consistently, by region. In the case of cosmetics, women in different regions are acculturated very differently in regard to acceptable/desirable levels of use of, and expenditure on, cosmetics and skin care. What is considered "necessary" and the norm in one area will be considered excessive and/or sybaritic, in another. This variation is not necessarily directly proportional to local income levels and/or the availability of discretionary monies: some wealthier communities maintain a cultural standard that eschews the regular use of decorative cosmetics (and even much in the way of consistent skin care). Some middle class communities exhibit a strong preference for "economizing," and by such a value system, cosmetics can be seen as luxury items - in some cases, even a bit of a "selfish" indulgence. Less well-off communities, on the other hand, may sometimes prize traditional concepts of femininity, and comfortably accept higher (relative to income) expenditure on personal care/presentation.

The same retailer, selling the same products, using the same sales environment and selling methods, will always have substantial variations from region to region in sales of non-essential items: no doubt the same is true for MK.

Of course, many factors come into play in competition for market share, general product acceptance is only one of them, to be sure; even where generous cosmetic use is embraced enthusiastically: how much competition is close at hand, with other products of similar quality, at similar (or lower) price points, delivered through outlets offering comparable customer service? and how do people (comfortably or preferably) allocate their time? are they willing to spend time in a skin care class, as well as travelling to and from? would they want to/be willing to sample cosmetics in a group setting? have they had in the past, occasionally or frequently, spa or salon facials, (and therefore, be likely to have little interest in the MK type of "facial")?

In many markets the majority of women are already long-time and regular users of skin care and cosmetics, they need no instruction on the standard routines, and so would not want to spend valuable time in a structured product demonstration. In some markets there is a high saturation of MK consultants relative to a low population density, presenting another challenge ...

That's not to say there is no way to sell MK in all these "difficult" markets, just that, perhaps, the traditional approach would be less likely to be successful, and some creative marketing might be in order.

I added these remarks to your very excellent presentation not to take anything at all away from either your method/approach, or your experience, which most assuredly speak very well for themselves; but, only to suggest that, if another woman has employed a similar method/approach, without similar success, there may be factors to consider other than simply or solely personal adequacy, suitability to the work, and/or capacity for perseverance, as has been sometimes suggested here, and elsewhere.

All the best wishes for continuing success, Wendy! and of course, all best wishes for success to all who read here ...

Laura:

The time factor is an important one, and important to bring into this discussion: anyone who has ever had his/her own business, or been in any way self-employed, learns soon enough that more time with one's family is NOT going to be one of the perks. More flexibility, yes, but not more quantity, when it comes to non-working hours. Sure, you can often arrange your work time so that it's more comfortable for your family, and of course, it's nicer to be at least physically at home when your kids are there, even if you are at your desk working much of the time, but you WILL BE at your desk/in your studio/on the phone/with a client a whole lot of the time!!!! That part of the MK recruiting pitch always seemed to me to be at odds with reality ...

The flexibility in MK seems greatest at the beginning, and seems then to decline as you "move up the ladder" - maybe concentrating on volume sales to a large customer base, with a small, well-coordinated team, could work out better, in the long run, for some women, than going for Directorship, etc. ??

I suspect many women must reckon that if they're going to give up that much time, and lose that much flexibility, they might as well stay with, or get into, a regular career, given all the bennies and vestment that can come with. Again, casting no aspersions on MK or anyone who is having a great experience with MK, but many companies offer sales (and other) personnel either the use of company vehibles at no cost to the employee (and not tied to production quotas, etc.), or some sort of compensatory payment for the business use of their own vehicle(s); health insurance; disability benefits; paid vacations; compensation premiums (company paid holidays, bonuses, etc.); employer-provided child care or child care subsidies; vested pension schemes; matched 401ks; employer-paid continuing education; expense accounts for travel and other business related expenditures; placement assistance if laid off or terminated; and, as well, many employees are free to do additional consulting work for clients other than their employer, for which the employee can take advantage of those helpful tax deductions, thus enjoying the best of both worlds. (And, of course, all employees benefit from goverment sponsored workmen's compensation and unemployment benefits where applicable.)

It sounds as if MK can be absolutely the right choice for some women, but beyond a certain point on the "ladder," it closely resembles many, if not most, other, similar sales careers. Except that you, not the company, must buy your benefit package, with the exception of the (very) small number of women who qualify for the lifetime retirement benefit. It does not, as you have pointed out elsewhere, so much resemble an individual business, in which there will have been built tangible and intangible equities that can be sold or transferred at your discretion.

If, for whatever reason, the bennies are a "done deal" in your life, as in the case of early retirement from a first career, then MK could be a fun second career, I would think?

Bunny W - 15 Feb 2004

To Bunny....Hi....don't mean to sound stupid here, but are you asking me a question????? I thought MK would be fun, very fun for me after I retire in a few years at a young age, but the recruiting aspect of it was not any fun anymore and if that's what was entailed, I wanted no part of it......you don't have to be a director or go up at all, you can do what you want...........

To Wendy......I am still aghast at the 450,000 and really would like to know more about this. It's my understanding that directors get 5% or so off their offsprings.....if this lady got an ADDITIONAL amount of $450,000 in commissions off her offspring at 5%, that unit had to sooooooarr into the millions in wholesale production.....anyone have a calculator??????? I surely need one and I am not being sarcastic, but waiting in anticipation of what this woman realized in commissions. Tell me about this, as they say, this is unbeeeeelievable. Was this in a year, over a decade or what???? I am soooo curious...

Laura,

I'm sorry, that wasn't very clear ... I was sort of "thinking out loud" there ... and also asking your opinion, based on your experience ... the fun part would be, I guess: "keeping a hand in" the work world; getting out and meeting people over a product you believe in, and that your customers enjoy using; and making a little money in the process. The Recruiting thing, the production quota pressure, and all the "motivational" meetings - uh, no ... no fun there at all, to my eye.

But. Let's say you just end up with 30 recruits ... but don't want to "be a Director" per se? then what are the options? could the unit function together, be a unit, help each other, and even pool and share override commissions, but without the other obligations of Directorship (whatever those might be) falling hard on one person?

And I share your curiosity over the big numbers ...

Bunny - 16 Feb 2004

4,000 in unit production gets you 13% COMMISSION!!!! $5,000 in UP gets you that PLUS a $500 bonus.....and it goes up from there....but I can't recall....I don't have the brochure anymore. Anyway, when a unit has 3 'qualified recruits'....(qualified = a new one placing $600 in wholesale order during first 2 mos of her sign up).....the director gets a $300 bonus and the consultant gets $50 depending on what level she's at.

So, say you have 3 new recruits in a month who did $600 orders...you get the $300 bonus.....then your unit does $5,000 in production, you get an additional $500 bonus (800 so far) PLUS the 13% commission off of 5,000 production.......AND, that's for work that they did....about $1400 and that's minimal production. Not too shabby, but if you are a director and the unit is only producing that amount and you are not selling on your own as many do not, your room rent, assistants, prizes, etc., can start cutting into that commission check and we haven't factored in taxes yet. The bonuses for unit production go up ......if anyone has an Advance brochure, post the bonuses.

You could very well recruit and build a good size team, but they belong to the directors unit and she gets the biggest commissions off of them.....but you also can get 4,9 or 13% .....9 starting with 5 recruits for your personal team. And, you get 13% when you do $600 order the same month you have those recruits all doing $200. You never know, but it CAN be fun and I think someone could very well make it there own fun little business without the pressures or the attendance at the meetings. You can have your own little team meetings with women you recruit or do whatever you want to encourage, motivate, hang, whatever. It is possible, you would be a team leader and none of you 'have' to go to the meeting, you can recruit all over the country, doesn't matter.

I don't know about the sharing of commissions, that might get a little sticky, especially if one wasn't holding their own......building an inventory together sounds keen as long as what is taken out is replaced, then you could split profits at the end of the month or reinvest, etc.?? Hmmmmm. I was making it work when I worked FT, so it's fun to be able to have the benefits from the FT job and do MK.....working smarter might be pooling resources.....neat thought!!!!!!

Wendy here: The gal is almost a National now and this Director offspring of hers has been a Director for many years and she is an Elite Executive now. The offspring Director is doing over $40,000/month and has been more recently above that from what I was told. I don't know for how long she has done that much but I know for sure that both have been directors for over 10 years and probably more like 15. She used the analogy that those commissions have in essence paid for her house. I didn't ask for more details than that. Let me touch on the location subject brought up by someone above. I think I am in a so/so area for selling MK. It could be worse and could be better but I don't really entertain the thought too much. People around here are busy and can be rude too. I have many, many, many Malls around me so they have great access to other products. Many of the women around here feel better if they spend 3x as much on their products in a Mall and the others cannot afford much more than the Dollar Store. So it's quite split here. I have contact with other consutlants literally all across the U.S. on our teleconference. It's the same story everywhere you go, you have your own obstacles in your particular area but you have to learn to overcome those obstacles. There are ways and tapping into a teleconference can help you learn those ways. Dacia from Emerald Seminar openly admitted on a teleconference once that Florida was in her opinion the worst area to sell in. She makes it her business to pass out 5-10 cards/day and get names back. She hold 3 classes/week and was in the throne for the Queen of Recruiting at Seminar. It's definitely a valid point for any business regarding the market where you are, but if you decide to make this your business you will want to figure out how to deal with those obstacles. There is a way and someone working her MK and dealing with those same issues can help give you some ideas. Thanks for reading! Wendy

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