What a 50-year-old Cosmetics Company Can Teach You About Sales and Marketing

I recently interviewed Pat Tingle, a director with Mary Kay, the 50-year old privately held company that sells cosmetics products around the globe – with sales of 2.9 Billion dollars annually. They have 5000 employees and 3 million salespeople around the world. Before you dismiss this post, thinking that your industry has nothing in common with a cosmetics company, think again. For the past five decades, their successful model for selling and promotion has remained the same.
Some background about the Mary Kay business model:

• Their products are not sold in stores
• If you go onto their website, you cannot buy anything directly. You must place the order through a consultant
• There are thousands of directors who provide training to the sales people, who are called ‘consultants’
• They employ a direct sales method to spread the message of Mary Kay through thousands of individual messengers
• They provide training and marketing tools to all consultants, and it costs just $100 to get started as a Mary Kay consultant, plus a minimal, annual fee to have a personalized website (which is optional)
• There are 2 types of people that Mary Kay wants to meet: women who want to buy their products, and women (and men) who want to sell them
• They are not required to buy products up front or have selling quotas
• There are no territories – they can put in as much or as little time as they want to
• This model has been very successful for Mary Kay as a company, with $2.9 Billion dollars in annual sales

Q: What does Mary Kay look for in a consultant?
A: Busy working women or men who want to earn more money and make an impact with others through sharing an experience. Sales experience is not preferred, as their model is not a ‘hard sell.’
Q: What makes Mary Kay products stand out from Avon or Maybelline, which can be purchased at a local drugstore?
A: Quality is one reason, and also the personalization that comes with having your own consultant who can guide you on your product choices.
Q: You’ve said that most of the consultants have no business or marketing experience, and that is intentional. What tools do you give to new consultants to help them succeed?
A: They are given dialogues/scripts, can take classes on time management, learn how to balance their finances and service their customers. They also learn how to network and apply marketing materials, which are provided to them.
Q: What’s the main message that Mary Kay focuses on with customers?
A: Not selling, but building a relationship.
Q: What is the primary model that Mary Kay uses when meeting a prospective customer?
A: To try our product for free.
Source: Mary Kay
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