Every one keeps asking this question and so here is the answer. The key to selling Mary Kay successfully is…SURRENDER… I know, you were all expecting some great sales tip, some end all strategy. But the truth of the matter is that the great sales tips and end all strategies are already being taught. The problem is that doing them consistently is a decision we get to make every single day. On days when we feel good , on days when we feel bad, on days whe we feel tired…well, you get the picture.

So here is my formula for selling Mary Kay successfully:

1. Completely drop your idea of what selling Mary Kay should look like. Believe it or not this is the hardest thing to get my women to accept. We all come with our pre-conditioning and notions about lots of things. And many people have the hardest time just surrendering their will to the system that works. The products virtually sell themselves if they are presented within the framework of the Mary Kay selling system.

2. Become proficient at executing the system you are being taught. Just like at your job there are systems you get to master in the performance of your job. Mastering these systems is what you get paid for. If you master and execute the system you're taught; you master your job. You are promoted based on your mastery of the systems and your ability to execute them. In order to become a master at anything you must first be a willing student. To be a willing student you must first empty your self.

3. Follow what your coaches are teaching to the letter. Your coaches are teaching you what they are teaching because it works. The results are their success. Do not add or subtract and for God's sake leave judgment completely out of it. Surrender for success. After you do it the way your coaches are coaching, then you will understand why they ask you to do it that way. Keep in mind that your ego will fight you all the way. You will experience your ego as that tlittle voice that always seems to be in opposititon to your coaching.

4. Follow the system you are being taught by your director and national. The systems are generally the same but you may find light variations from one director to another. Follow the system advocated by your director until you become a director.

5. Take it one day at a time. Focus on each individual task in the moment you are doing it. Block out all the things your mind suggests you could be doing; to complete in excellence the thing you are doing.

6. Schedule time everyday to improve your mind set and knowledge. Your director and national will have books and tapes that will support this transformation.

7. Discipline yourself. To discipline yourself means that you will have to develop new habits that are consistent with your objectives, goals and the systems that make your Mary Kay business work.

8. Develop a heightened state of integrity. That means let your yes mean yes and your no mean no and be in integrity about your efforts to have your life turn out the way you envision it. That means keep your word to your self and you will develop a new since of appreciation about keeping your word to your peers.

9. Go to WORK. Nobody can give you the success you desire. Why? Because the essence of success is the growth you experience in the effort… not the money you earn. The money you earn is the score card so to speak and that score card can be measured in many ways…world records is another example.

10. Perhaps the most important principle of all is "NEVER GIVE UP" These principles of Mary Kay success do not develop over night…they develop over time and mastering them is the key to what ever your vision of success in Mary Kay is..

So be patient with your self and others. Be forgiving of your self and others, because we are all on a similar journey.  

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We all know the numbers. The average Mary Kay Representativefenrolls only two people into her Business before they either quit or move on to another company. Now, I know that there are a few legitimate reasons, but I am in it with you, with my own unit and I know that the biggest problem I faced and I see my women face is rejection!!

The main reason why the average Mary Kay representative only recruits two people is becauseshe only approaches ten to twenty people before the pain of rejection either runs her out of her business or out of the industry all together.

Every director or national I know that succeeds in this business deals with this issue. So, heres the light at the end of the tunnel.  Success in your Mary Kay business, or any business for that matter, depends on your willingness to over come fears and conditionings…rejection being one of the most stubborn. Being aware of this is a huge step in the right direction.

So your problem is not your product, Mary Kay, your leadership or the industry. Its your fears. I know this because when I started, it was my fears. So how do you know you have fears? Well, do you have a chicken list? Do you get nervous when approaching people about your Mary Kay opportunity? Does your business activity lack a serious daily commitment to meeting twenty new people a week? Would you rather gnaw off your right arm than give your business presentation to a room full of more than ten strangers??

Ok lets deal with it. This is the classic self esteem issues and for most women it permeates many aspects of your life from the money you make to the relationships you create and maintain, to the jobs you accept. Here is my experience. Being a Black woman I was afraid to approach people who were White (yeah I know its stupid… now!) or who I thought was more educated, more powerful or more successful than I was. Keep in mind that I never had any concrete evidence that they actually were, it was just  my perception, although I could easily identify the ones who were White.

I was plagued with a self talk that went something like "I can't talk to them because…" and I had a list of excuses why this wasn't for them. I got nervous in crowds of what I thought was successful women so I just wouldn't approach them and soon found myself on my way home lucky if I approached two women, sound familiar? We're all familiar with the realities of this business in this regard.

The women who succeed are the ones who overcome these things. If you doubt what I am saying, take a copy of this article to the most successful Mary Kay Representative  in your organization and see what they say. Since I already know what they're going to say I'm going to move on to the solution:

1. Acknowledge that its your fear and conditioning that holds you back. For me there was a great deal of power and freedom in acknowledging that I was afraid. 

2. Recognize that your fears are not real because there is no such reality as one woman being better than another. That is an illusion created and perpetuated by people who have self esteem issues.

3. Sell out on the idea that you don't need to compare yourself with anybody because you're uniquely your own person. You were never meant to be like anyone, similar yes, but uniquely different at the same time. No matter what you're taught or learn' when you express it, it will be uniquely your own. It may be the same words verbatim but it will be delivered with your unique style and personality.

4. Your success will develop in your own time. Even overcoming your fears will happen in your unique time frame just remember that you determine the time frame. You can do it sooner or later. How important is your vision for your life and how rigorously do you want to get after it. Your leadership will always be playing on the side of sooner.

5. Let go of your conditioning. Many women I know put so much energy in to holding on to, instead of letting go of past conditioning. Consider the source of your past conditioning. If those people were not living the life style you envision for yourself than its very likely they taught you a bunch of stuff that will not help you create the life you want. I'm sure that they were decent people in most cases…understand that decency is not the point.

Your success and the success of your unit is not tied up in the money they make, rather it is in the freedom from the conditioning of limiting beliefs that we have all been exposed to… and the embrace of the reality of the true power that we all possess as woman to create and live the life of our choosing. Your greatest sale will be convincing your self and your team that the vision they have in their hearts…IS REAL!!!

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We’d just begun our coaching call. Sarah was explaining why she had not kept her word about meeting five new prospects that day… Again.

In a voice tinged with resignation, she said, "there wasn’t enough time." She rolled out all the things that had gotten in her way in the past few days.  She waited for me to change the subject.

I didn’t change the subject.  As her coach, I knew that this was the subject.  And this was a major challenge to Sarah’s getting what she truly wanted for her Mary Kay business and herself.  Sarah knew it.  I knew it.  And as her coach, I wouldn't be helping her if I let her off the hook.

"But I never seem to have enough time!"

“Your problem isn’t lack of time,Sarah,” I said.  “You had time enough to make client calls. You were able to take an extra two hours on your lunch break to read up on your Mary Kay product catalog. You had time for a lot of things, but you consistently put off this one thing that you’d committed to, agreed needed to be done, and wasn’t all that difficult.  So what's really going on?”

Sarah got defensive, saying she'd been prioritizing. Then she caught herself, and said:  “I know this is important, but I just feel so uncomfortable dealing with meeting new people.”  This was big for Sarah to admit and I was relieved to hear her own it. “Not having time” was a red herring and we both knew it.

I assured her that she wasn’t alone when it came to procrastination, and we considered a number of places throughout her management and leadership functions where this habit was showing up. We reviewed several other things she wanted that she wasn’t getting by allowing this habit to drive her. We had to agree that it was a problem before we could agree to work on it.

Tell Me Why?

There are myriad reasons why we procrastinate. And there are often telltale signs that we are indeed procrastinating even when we think we are being truly productive.

Do you stay busy doing low priority tasks despite the high-level, strategic work that remains undone?

Are you checking and re-checking your email without acting on them?

Do certain items keep getting “carried over” to another day on your To-Do list?

Are you perpetually waiting for a “good time” to tackle certain tasks?

If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, you may be struggling with this issue.

While there are many underlying causes, here are seven that are particularly common and easily identified:

1. You are feeling overwhelmed by a particular task
2. You are afraid that you will fail
3. You feel unwilling or unable to make a decision
4. You are overworked or too tired
5. You just don’t want to do it
6. You are too disorganized and distracted to effectively budget the time
7. You don’t want to commit to starting a task unless you know it will be perfect

Deferring some tasks, especially low-level or unimportant tasks, is not necessarily procrastinating. Part of the art of self-management is being able to prioritize and, where possible, delegate.  It might also be a good strategy to intentionally hold off on high-level or critical tasks if you are not able to focus effectively due to fatigue or unavoidable distractions. But that should be the exception, not the excuse.

Sarah had developed the habit over the years of putting off unpleasant tasks simply because she didn’t want to do them. But that didn’t make them go away.  They just collected in the background – adding to Sarah’s stress and further distracting her from being able to fully focus on any task at hand.  It was a vicious cycle.  Her upbringing and her work ethic made “doing things and being busy” essential, so she would immerse herself in “work.”  

But for all the time she put in to being busy, she was perpetually frustrated by her inability to get the results she really wanted.

For some people, the greatest enemy to getting important things done is perfectionism.  If it can’t be perfect, it can’t be done.  

Okay, so stop that. It’s not going to happen. Nothing is perfect and striving for perfection is just another way of putting things off indefinitely.  Sometimes, “good enough” is good enough.  Leave room for improvement and innovation – but give yourself something to start with!

Plan Your Work, Write it Down, and Work Your Plan

The old cliché about planning your work and working your plan is a powerful maxim. I added the bit about writing it down because there is enormous power in putting things on paper. There is an extra force in making your objectives visible and “real."

Getting effectively organized and developing effective time management practices will not happen overnight. But today is a great day to start! Confronting your own particular procrastination demons will not be comfortable or pleasant. So be it – today’s a great day to begin! Create a realistic To-Do list each day with only 3 priority tasks.  Put the least inviting one on top. As a Mary kay Representative you should use your "6 Most Important Things To Do Everyday" list. 

Begin.  Experience the pleasure of getting something you’d avoided off your list.  It's a monkey off your back! Move on to the next.  It gets easier with each little success. 

Sarah did exactly that. It wasn’t easy and it did not all turn around in a week. But as I told her then — it’s a process, not an event. Over time she’s gained control over her time by gaining control of himself.  By implementing key tools and methods for planning and prioritizing she is winning the battle with procrastination.

Does she still dislike certain tasks? Well, yes. But she’s getting them done, and a completed unpleasant task feels a lot better than one hanging over your head.

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If you take a moment and let that marinate in your mind you will get the enormity of that statement. And if you look around at all of Mary Kay's top earners you will find with out exception every one of them is building a business, not just a unit. And each person who comes into their unit they also teach to build a business not just a unit. 

That is part of what attracts people. Now, to do that we must take a huge step up in our thinking. I have a friend who owns five McDonald's franchises. Each one of them a separate independent efficient business. So he is way beyond the idea of being a hamburger distributor. He is an independent business owner and he acts every bit the part

Many of you know that in order to have a Mcdonald's you have to first graduate from Hamburger U their training facility in Chicago. There is where they are taught the entire business system. Accounting, marketing, operations, maintenance, all integrated systems working together to create an entire success environment. 

This is the new face of selling Mary Kay Perhaps its always been like that and it was just to big of a concept for most of us to have seen when we first started. But now that we do, lets get busy with building our UNIT BUSINESSES! Here are a few tips to get your started.

Selling Mary Kay As A Complete Business System

1. Accept the idea that you are an independent business not just an independent distributor. The activity and look of an independent Mary Kay business is far different then that of an independent distributor. Nothing wrong with either one of those perspectives but you get to choose who you intend to be in this industry.

2. Get coaching from people who understand the "selling Mary Kay as a complete business system" concept. Especially as it exists today particularly because of the power of the internet. 

3. Make the investment necessary to be at the top of your game, not just in the game. That includes both time and money. Yes I know that you can get a lot of stuff free; auto responders, article spinners and the like. But there are enormous differences in levels of professionalism, service and quality between the two. And I've done both.

After using a few free services I decided to pay for many of them because I just couldn't get the results I wanted. The other thought that occurred to me was "why was I trying to be so cheap about it in the first place, what was that about? The first business I owned I invested $20,000.00 in just to get the doors opened. and the potential return wasn't nearly as great.

4. Be willing to do the work. Come on ladies! We all know that the biggest reason why women fail in this business is because they are not willing to work as hard for themselves as they are for other people. Try being late for work at your job and see how they re-act to that. Yet I know many Mary Kay Representatives who will not show up on time in their own business according to the schedule they made. and many days they don't show up for work at all.  Its not the business that doesn't work… its the idea that you can treat your business with that kind of disdain and expect any level of success to come from it. Lets put the WORK back in NetWORK Marketing. 

5. Change your mind. That willingness to work harder for other people than you do for your self that I mentioned above, is a conditioning that you have been taught. You can change that if you choose to. Now I know being in business is not for every one, but that is a decision you get to make for yourself. You can't do this solely for the money and expect it to work. You've got to feel it in your soul.

For most of being a Mary Kay Representative is an extremely personal undertaking. Our hopes and dreams for the future, the love we hold for family and friends, the responsibility we all carry to live and work at the peak of our individual ability. All of these are the reasons we become a Mary Kay representative …and more. To that end we have made our commitment.

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When I first started selling Mary Kay I was taught to make a list of family and friends and to meet people on the street. Nothing wrong with those strategies and I encourage people to talk to people as they meet them about their business. But obviously the most successful Mary Kay representatives are not relying on family and friends or on meeting people on the street. They all have several marketing strategies in play to support their lead generation efforts. So here are some keys to choosing a successful strategy.

Choosing The Right Marketing Strategy For You

Become A Professional At Developing A Marketing Strategy

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Let’s say you come up with a clear day gazing at you. You didn’t have to work. You are able to do whatever you like (even though finance are still a constraining factor). What could this perfect day be like? These types of questions tend to be more than just hypothetical questions to ask intended for fun or idleness. It’s an exercise intended to start you thinking about designing the way you live.

How should you be designing your life? Well, let’s assume that your life is your own to control. Sure, not everything is your very own, however let’s assume that much of your life is your own to do with what you please. Whether or not that’s so, most people go through life doing what we do because a series of events have made our life what it is at present. We continue to do what we do without giving it a deal of thought,  due to the fact that it’s less complicated in that position. Designing your life isn’t difficult. You first have to dare to ask yourself these types of questions. You then need to dare to envision that it could come true. And afterwards comes the chore of changing your life so that it is what you wish it to be.

It could be your life is already precisely how you want it — if that’s the case, you are to be congratulated. But I submit that many of us, while regularly cheerful,  have a life that we are not designing — leastways not a conscious design. So today let’s have a look at another way to consciously design your life. It’s definitely not the only approach, but it’s a path to happiness that I’d suggest.
 

1. What’s important? Ask yourself what exactly is most important to you when you start designing your life. Regular Zen Habits readers know that I ask this question in many articles,  but that’s on account that every technique should begin with this, whether it’s a process of simplifying, of productivity, of economy, or to become happier. What do you like doing? Who do you fancy spending time with? Make a concise list of 4-5 things.

2. What is your passion? What do you love doing the most?  Can it be a way you create your living? If you can make a career out of doing something you love, you will love your day. Dare to imagine that it could come true. By designing your life it is totally up to you what it will look like.

3. When designing your day, start off with a empty slate, and design your perfect day. Incorporate the short list of 4-5 most essential things above,  to ensure that you are spending your day achieving what’s most essential to you.  Include time spent performing your passion (from item #2). Include an ideal routine, such as a morning and twilight routine, and all the pieces in between.  What time would you wake up and go to sleep?

4. Learn how to arrive. What improvements might you desire to make in your life to make that perfect day a reality? Be ready to consider sweeping changes when needed. Create a plan to get there. It can be a plan that may take 6 months, a year, two years or 5, but the truth is you can get there eventually, if you want it enough. Dare to make it a reality. However you are designing it remember it is your life.

5. Start making some changes immediately. A number of the changes can be done right way, especially if the changes are under your direct control. The time you wake up and go to bed, for instance, are frequently your own. Your early morning and night routines are another example of things you can most likely change immediately. Spending time executing the 4-5 significant things on your list might also be an immediate possibility. Notice the things you typically do that aren’t on the list of 4-5 important things — contemplate cutting or minimizing the time you devote to the non-important things to allow for the important things.

6. Start implementing long-term changes right now. Longer-term changes might include things such as doing your passion for a business, or where you live, or getting out of big commitments that don’t do anything for your life or aren't on your short list of 4-5 things. But while these kinds of changes might take additional time, they can still be done. Start on them today, put them in motion,  and dare to believe that you can change these things. Create a plan, and put it in motion.

7. Keep the end in mind. Print out your ultimate day, and keep that in mind whenever you start to establish changes. This is actually the life you designed,  instead of the one you’ve fallen into. You are now in charge of your life, and you can have that life, if you desire it enough.

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Marketing Lead Generation 101

Network Marketing?

So, you’re sitting in your home office and pop open your email and… SURPRISE!…there they are, a dozen names, phone numbers and email addresses from different people asking you for information about your opportunity. Serious network marketers do not buy leads they don’t go to the mall on Sundays bothering the customers and sales people. If these are the methods you’re being taught I beg you to stop for moment and consider this. What if you could have targeted leads coming to you on a regular basis from people who are actually interested and inquiring about your business, product, service or opportunity. Well there’s a new sheriff in town, and its called the internet. And it’s the new method of network marketing lead generation.

Lead Generation Huh! So How does It Work?

There are a number of lead generation techniques you can employ using the power of the internet. One terrific source is using social media sites such as facebook. If you don’t have a face book account already then get one, its free. Once you sign up you can start to gather friends. Not just any friends but look for friends who might have an interest in your product or service, all the information you need to know about them can usually be found on their info page. So, for example if you are a button manufacturer look for people who are in the fashion industry. 

Do Other MLM Professionals Use Lead Generation

A… Yeah! We all use lead generation techniques. And we use a number of social media sites to do it such as twitter and linkedin to name a few. On each of these sites we develop different lead generation techniques. As the internet develops the methods and power of lead generation is becoming increasingly more popular.

Is Learning Lead Generation Difficult

No, lead generation is surprisingly easy to learn. You could learn and some of the simpler techniques in a matter of 30 minutes or so. The key is to get with other network marketing people who have already developed strategies and do exactly what they tell you. Read the books they tell you to read, watch the videos they tell you to watch and stick with it. In time you will start to see a steady increase of leads flowing into your email daily.

What will it cost Me?

My advice is if you’re going to pay for anything, pay for coaching, because once you learn how network marketing lead generation online works, you’ll always be able to generate leads in any business you go into. As your knowledge grows you will learn and implement more sophisticated techniques. The coaching is surprisingly affordable, a lot less than you would pay for gas on a monthly basis driving to the mall these days.

Should I Scrap The Offline Lead Generation Techniques I’ve Learned?

No, those techniques work also and should be mastered as well. Besides you may get people on your network marketing team who are not all that internet savvy. Traditional off line techniques will serve to get them up and running and generating income quickly. Slowly introduce lead generation online to supplement their activity and enhance their activity. Oh and you no that chicken list that most reps have, this is a great way to not only find out who those people are but to get your presentation in front of them as well. So let's get busy becoming the best network marketing people we can be.

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As a leader your only effective strategy is first… to be the things you want to see in others. If you want your team to be enthusiastic, honest, trustworthy and loyal, then you get to show up that way first. Do that and marvel at what happens

The people who cause great things to happen advance because their center of focus is on them, their objective is excellence and they're willing to undertake the challenges that ultimately produced the life they would like to lead.

One such business leader and woman's advocates was Mary Kay Ash, the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics. Time and time again she recounted the story of how in her first 12 months of business her sales were so dismal she was actually ready to quit. 

As fate would have it in that same year Mary Kay attended her employer's national sales meeting. It was on this trip that she would encounter a beautiful, graceful, elegant woman who was crowned "Queen Of Sales" for achieving the highest volume of sales that year.

Mary Kay resolved in that moment that she was going to be crowned queen the upcoming  year. And she moved forward and accomplished that goal. How did she do it? Here are the habits she practiced and preached throughout the time of her life and used to build Mary Kay Cosmetics, one of the great network marketing companies of all time. You get to benefit from her wisdom as you build your own empire.

Habits Of The Successful Mary Kay Consultant

First and foremost be sure you start off with the undeniable fact that you are a great human being and a great leader who is capable of success. Thereafter complete these suggested activities day after day to help you create your image of excellence and begin to develop an atmosphere for success for your own unit

* Just imagine Yourself Being A Successful Mary Kay consultant: Continuously picture yourself as successful. Envision the individual you want to become.

* Allow not less than 10 minutes every single day to remain alone and undisturbed, while you get into a comfortable, casual position. Close your eyes and concentrate on your dreams and goals. See yourself within this new surrounding competent and confident. 

* Look for greatness in yourself and others.

* Reflect on Your Past Successes: Every single triumph, whether it is large or small, is now proof that you're capable of obtaining more success. 

* Commemorate and congratulate yourself for each and every success. Recapture each of these successes when you begin to lose faith in yourself.

* Look for opportunities to portray your leadership attributes. Start out by giving yourself an order and then adhering to it. One must demonstrate ways to manage oneself to be able to lead other people, groups or a company. 

* Establish Definitive Objectives: Clearly define what you desire to produce. Get going with crafting a strategy regardless of how simple it is and begin taking action.

* Your present  situation is immaterial - basically just keep in front of you what you wish to produce ultimately. Recognize when you begin to deviate from your target and take immediate corrective action.

* Respond Positively To Life: Develop a positive self-image. Your image, your particular response to life as well as your decisions are completely within your control. Disregard any conversation that is not positive and up lifting especially the ones you have with yourself. When you do this, you will find ever increasing good in every day.

In short leadership is your responsibility if you decide to take it on and it begins with a series of small, simple steps. Don't be in a hurry because leadership is a life long commitment as was the commitment of the late Mary Kay Ash.

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Selling Mary Kay Goes Virtual

When you think of selling Mary Kay cosmetics do you still think of a little house party business? Well if you do you have fallen way behind the times. Mary Kay is one of the largest cosmetic companies in the world and becoming a Mary Kay representative could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in your pocket.

Why because the internet has dramatically changed business from top to bottom. Today a Mary Kay representative is global the instant she signs up. Not only that, but now she can recruit business partners practically any where in the world. What does all this mean? Well what it means is that when it comes to selling Mary Kay today all of your transactions can be done online.

Your business partners can sign up online, the bulk of their training can be done online which makes the Mary Kay opportunity virtually limitless.

Becoming A Mary Kay Representative

Gone are the days of the paper sign ups, they have given way to e-sign ups. Applications can now be sent to interested parties anywhere the internet is. This means you can now conduct business virtually any where in the world from Los Angeles to the Ukraine. And your business partner is trained and supported via free conference calls, webinars, online videos and audios. And the real beauty is…if she forgets anything, she can always go back to the video for a refresher

Selling Mary Kay Online

Selling Mary Kay online these days is easy. When you sign up you can set up your very own professionally done website. All the training on the use of the website is accomplished using step by step video training. All sales from your website are linked to your individual tracking number. Its easy to contact friends and family and send them the link to your website any where in the world. Payments are made online with proceeds deposited directly into you bank account.

Marketing Mary Kay

Remember the days of making a list of friends and family and hounding them until they bought something. Well those days are all but done with. With the rise of social networks like facebook, Linkedin and twitter the number of people you can meet in a short period of time is limitless. And all the information concerning their interest is right at your finger tips.

On top of all that we still get to throw party a couple times a week. YES, things have changed …for the better and just in time for the woman who wants more. Don't know much about marketing on the internet? Not to worry, all of that has been automated to. The internet has changed the way the entire world does business, and its only made selling Mary Kay easier and more profitable. 

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