Perfect Start Message to New Consultants

When Mary Kay was still alive, the Perfect Start was defined as 5 Shows within two weeks. These were our training shows where we were able to develop our skills – learn how to book from our shows, coach our hostesses, obtain referrals, and build our teams. As a brand new consultant in the peak of our learning curve, we were able to work with our Director’s feedback to create a perpetual business for ourselves. At some point, my only guess is, that some consultants and/or Directors complained that some consultants were attempting their Perfect Starts and were holding appts. where only 1 or 2 people showed up and they couldn’t “count” those appointments. Their argument was that the consultant was taking the time to do her presentation and that those faces should count. If a Show is minimum 3 people at each, then 5 Shows would equal 15 faces - therefore it should be either/or. So, at some point the company changed the requirements to 5 Shows OR 15 faces. Currently, it seems that most literature states only the 15 faces with the assumption that the 15 faces is what creates a Perfect Start to your business. Here is the thing: most consultants I have seen hold a PS with 15 faces, do their Perfect Start and then come to a Perfect STOP. They finish their Perfect Start with a shiny pin, some good sales, and then turn to their Director and say “Now how do I build a client base and build a team?” The original 5 Perfect Start Shows were meant to develop those skills. In all honesty, I really don’t know how else to train you other than you having the repetition of having multiple Shows on your books, calling me after holding each one before you hold the next, getting suggestions to try, implementing those suggestions at the next Show – this is how you fine‐tune your skills. The goal of the Perfect Start the Mary Kay way is that, by the end of the first 5 Shows – you are feeling confident that you know how to book, build your team, re‐book, and create a solid, long‐term residual business. From a Perfect Start the Mary Kay way, you can create a chain of business that keeps you on the datebook for months. My current record is meeting one lead and staying in bookings for over 6 months by booking from every Show – usually the only thing that breaks that chain is because I recruited enough of the customers along the way that I’ve turned bookings over to them. I only need to book 3‐4 Shows with new people a year to have a regular schedule of Shows. Let’s look at other options that have developed over the years since Mary Kay passed away: Consultants hold a huge debut that has 15+ people (or even 2 separate appointments with 7 or 8 at each):

• Does she have confidence in her ability to book from every appointment? NO

• Has she experienced repeating the 4pt.recruiting plan so that it is just part of her Show procedure and she (not her Director or recruiter) is building her own team? NO

• Does she know how to coach her hostess, enroll her in helping her build a good Show so that she has powerful results? (3‐6 people present, new skin care clients, future bookings, outside sales,team members) NO

BOTTOM LINE: She is given a PS pin and title and is left with no idea on how to build her business – no amount of book knowledge will give her the experiential training that holding those 5 Shows will. She is left wandering the malls trying to hand out her card to pick up the random new Mary Kay customer but has no clue on how to turn that one new lead into a string of bookings that keep her in business. Eventually,she gets tired because building a business seems so “hard” or relies on “hoping to find clients”. Consultants run around holding a combination of 15 separate facials with a random Show here or there.

• Similar to the results stated above but she has the added disadvantage of her family seeing her running all over the place spending way too much time on her business and coming home with some $0 appointments where she seemed “unpaid” for her time spent (people in ones and twos are unpredictable but people in large numbers are very predictable – it takes just as much time to facial a single person as it does 3‐6 yet,for a group appointments, odds are very small that you will leave the appointment with no sales to show for it)

BOTTOM LINE: similar to that above – with the additional experience of having spent a lot of time on her business and experiencing more frustrations – but she has a shiny pin and her Perfect Start title. Consultants complete a Perfect Start the Mary Kay way with 5 Shows within 2 weeks – calling her Director after each one:

• Yes,she may experience a 1‐2 person appt.that she “thought” was going to be a Show but, rather than saying it is equivalent to a Show, it is used as a learning experience and the result is getting valuable coaching from her Director on how to ensure the hostess is motivated to have 3+ people there. (The consultant is motivated to take the coaching and implement it because she knows that it won’t “count either way”.) LESSON LEARNED to last her her whole career.

• After every Show, her and her Director discuss the main questions: What did you enjoy the most? (encouragement) How many future bookings? (celebration and/or coaching) How many new skin care clients? (celebration and/or coaching) Who there is your potential team member? (coaching) What do you feel you need to work on? (coaching and encouragement)ƒ Finishes with “You’re doing great! At your next show, why not try tweaking one thing like _________ and then let me know how that works when you call me.”

BOTTOM LINE: at the end of her Perfect Start,this consultant knows how to build a successful Mary Kay business, how to find clients, how to build her team, etc. I realize that holding 5 Shows within two weeks may be more activity than you originally signed on for, however my job is to make sure you are trained. It’s OK with me if not everyone who joins Mary Kay wants to earn a car, become a Director, or make a full‐time income because everyone comes in for different reasons. However, I never want a consultant to not do those things because A) she doesn’t know how, or B) she doesn’t believe she can. I find that most consultants do not progress up the career path or make a significant income because one or both of those things are missing. So,my encouragement to you, is to hold a Perfect Start the Mary Kay way with 5 Shows within 2 weeks so that you have a strong foundation. You will know how to work this business – and you will believe you can build a client base and a team. Then, the sky is the limit for you! When I first joined MK, I did my Perfect Start the Mary Kay way (that was the only way there was) – I only could book my first 2 Shows with people I knew because I hardly knew anyone but, I took my Director’s coaching and practiced with my flip chart so that I booked the remaining 3 Shows I needed from the first 2 Shows I held. The completion of my Perfect Start in that way led to me being in my Red Jacket my very first month. I can teach you to do the same if you work with me on a Perfect Start the Mary Kay way. Otherwise, I honestly don’t know how to transfer those skills to you. It’s only that multiple repetition of the skills in that short period of time that will do it for you. Then, once you have those skills and confidence, you can either launch into a Power Start by holding 5 more Shows within 2 weeks using your enhanced skills (and enhanced results) or you can hold one Show a month or one Show a year – it doesn’t matter to me, I know you are trained. You will then always see Mary Kay as an option to do big things if you ever need or want to. I loved my J.O.B. when I was a consultant and doing Mary Kay on the side for several years.However, when that management takeover happened, I was able to see my MK business as a viable option and go to my Director because I believed I could make that transition, and I knew how, I just needed her encouragement. I had experienced the Mary Kay Success Formula – it wasn’t just a theory. I already had over 100 clients and was a Team Leader as the fall out of learning the Show method of running my business. Three months later, I was driving a company car. Here is a real life example of two consultants who just completed their Perfect Start recently. The results, I have to say, are very typical: Consultant A:

• $713 in sales

• No bookings

• No skin care sets

• No future bookings

• No team members

• Feels a little discouraged at her results. Doesn’t know where to go from here to find new clients.

• Has a shiny PS pin and newsletter recognition.

Consultant B:

• $1254 in Sales

• 5 new skin care clients

• 8 future bookings (went on to complete her Power Start)

• 2 new team members (completed her Pearls of Sharing)‐ Has a shiny PS pin and newsletter recognition PLUS lunch with me ‐ my treat!

• She has confidence in her abilities – in fact, during her Perfect Start, her job announced a layoff and she doesn’t see the need to get another J.O.B. because she sees her Mary Kay business as one and knows what her “job description” is to replace her income.

The ONLY thing that these 2 consultants have in common after completing their Perfect Start is they both have the pin and newsletter recognition. Now, which consultant do you think did the Perfect Start the Mary Kay way with 5 Shows – calling me after each one for coaching and then implementing that coaching? The Bottom line here is that the 4 pt.recruiting plan just doesn’t work at a facial (or double facial). You can’t ask the hostess to watch you sell to her friends if she doesn’t have friends there (and one friend is unpredictable for sales and/or booking). The correct booking approach doesn’t work – and the tentative booking approach CERTAINLY doesn’t work: “I’m sure when you do hold your Show you would want your hostess to get credit for it. . .” The ONLY way to learn these skills is to practice them and to do it close together for the benefit of repetition. If we chat about your first appt. and you are challenged about getting future bookings for example, I am going to give you a suggestion like “OK at your next Show, I just want you to try this one thing – put a beautifully wrapped gift in the middle of the table and, when someone asks ‘Who is the present for?” you tell them ‘that is the additional gift Sally gets to open when at least 2 of you book your follow‐ups to be held with friends’. If I then ask you, “OK when is your next Show” and you say “a month from now” – that coaching is obviously going to be ineffective. But if you can say “day after tomorrow” – I can say “GREAT – just try that one idea and letme know how it works. By the way – why not offer your upcoming hostess a lip gloss for watching the DVD and/or calling the Career Information line before her Show – that will plant a seed for you. Have fun!” That coaching obviously is not going to work if you only have facials scheduled and/or no future appointments on your books. Even with no training, if I offered you $5,000 cash to hold 5 Mary Kay group appointments within the next two weeks, would you find a way to make that happen? Of course you would! You see, it’s not the initial bookings that are the problem. It’s the process of booking and getting referrals from every show that is a learned skill – and a crucial skill to learn so that a new consultant doesn’t facial everyone she knows within her family and friends and then come to a complete stop because she doesn’t know where to go from there. If you understand the importance of this educational process – you will do whatever it takes to learn how to coach, encourage and enroll a hostess to have enough guests there to constitute a Show and, guess what? Those skills will transfer over to coaching, encouraging and enrolling your new team members to help them complete their goals! You will see that that is all we do as Directors and that you can do it too! So, in conclusion, if you do the 15 faces – I will obviously honor the company’s offer and present you with your PS pin – but that’s about excited as I will be about it. You’ll have to be the one to track it and turn it in tome on the tracking sheet though because I won’t be tracking your faces.However, if you work with me on the 5 Shows – you will save yourself a lot of time,make more money, and become a professional and skilled Beauty Consultant! I will also treat you to lunch when you complete it and we’ll strategize on how to use what you’ve already learned to propel you to completing your PowerStart Plus so you can be celebrated as a Master Consultant at your own PowerStart Plus celebration!