The Marketing Job

20% to 50% Profits

Recently the New York times pointed out that unemployment insurance is running out for many people.  We all hear about the high unemployment rate and the thousands loosing their job.  If you have a business nobody but you can take it a way form you. Sales is a skill everyone can learn.  Cosmetics sales is a natural for many women, because you already use the product and talk about it with your friends and neighbors.  Men can sell them too! Profits can start at 20% and go as high as 50%

There are a number of ways to get started, but for most people the big problem with going into business for themselves is MONEY.  You've probably heard the saying it costs money to make money.  I can't disagree but I can suggest ways to start on a shoe string if you have more shoe leather and time then money.

You  are going to have to put up some money to start.  $45 to be exact.  I don't get any of that but it is the minimum the supplier I work with requires.  Sorry no way around it.

Method 1 to get started.

Take your catalogs and show them to the people you know who use Lipstick and Lip Stain.  Ask them which color they like.  About 1 in 5 will agree to try a tube with a gloss.  Many of these people will like it and buy again.  Now you have to deliver the product.  Wait a minute your thinking I don't want to buy a bunch of stock I might not be able to sell it.  Good point.  You don't buy a bunch of stock, you use what is called drop shipping.  This simply means that you take a deposit from your customer and send the order in to the company with the money for the product which is then sent directly to the customer.  Depending on how much deposit you get you have little or no risk.  Profits this way are at the low end but so is the risk.  As you build a customer base you can switch to more profitable ways of selling.

Method 2 to get started

The supplier I used offers a program called CDO - Customer Direct Orders.  You receive a number and can let your customer use this number to place orders which you will receive a commission on.  The company takes care of credit card processing, sales tax and all the rest of the details.  If you invest a bit more you can be added to the free lead group.  That's how the home page of this site works.  Particularly if you are in the east where the supplier is weak in distributors you should get a few leads each month.  Currently, I am number 8 for permanent lipstick with the Yahoo search engine.  I have good position with other terms on other engines.  Yes, it takes time and money to do this but it takes a lot less then you might think and I'll share my methods with you.

 Method 3 to get started

The traditional method is to buy a stock of inventory and sell it.  I see a lot of beauticians and small shops doing this.  It can work very well.  If you have the traffic the product should sell.  It produces the best profits,  Why is it number 3.  I'm assuming that you're here because you are short of money and looking for a way to get some.  I want you to have the best chance of doing that with the least risk!

For more information email me at  lydiamp827@aol.com

Now a little bit about myself

When I first started this I knew about several companies that did this type of thing.  In the cosmetics field I knew of Mary Kay Cosmetics.  But Mary Kay Cosmetics has over 600,000 distributors.  Who needs that kind of competition.  I tried to look at Away/Quiztar, but I couldn't find them.  There was even a web company called SM that I looked at.  I have a friend in Las Vegas who comes up with a new idea every year.  Currently it is something called Dublis.  I didn't care for any of them.

Regarding Mary Kay, a big problem was that they seem to want to control everything.  They same is true of Amway.   I could get first rate sales training at SeneGence, but still do things my way.  What I read about Mary Kay sounded like I'd need to make a big investment to get started.  According to Pink Truth:

"So now Mary Kay is talking and is probably close to getting back to the 40,000 recruits per month mark they were at in 2006. We know, of course, that this was achieved with the gimmick of the "rebate" on the starter kit if you bought $600 wholesale inventory when you signed up. "

I didn't want to spend $600.  I had more time then money.  The first thing all these people told me to do was buy more then I had money.   I'd been using SeneGence LipSense for several years and loved the quality.  I found I could start for $45 plus a $75 kit.  They also had something called CDO that made it even more cost effective.  Now I'll be perfectly honest I spend more then that because I want to create a self sustaining internet business, but that is my own idea, SeneGence doesn't recommend it they just tolerate it.  

When I was much younger.

My guess is you're here because you're looking for a way to make money.  I'll start by saying sales is hard work.  It is also profitable if you can do it.  Not everyone can.  If you think you can set up a website sit back and collect money forget it.  If you think you can make money recruiting all your friends to but $600 worth of product, like Mary Kay Cosmetics suggests, you aren't going to have any friends.  OK, enough of the negatives.  Now let's talk about what you'll have to do if you want to make money. Point one this isn't a job it's a business.  You have to be your own boss.  You have to be your own finance department and you have to be your own window washer.  So step one is to get up look in the mirror and tell yourself to get to work and forget about overtime and vacations for a while. Still reading are you?  Ok let's go to step two.  Send me an email and I'll get you signed up.  It's going to cost you a minimum of $115 plus tax and shipping.  While you're waiting for that to get done work on your sales plan.  Let's start by making a list of everyone you know who uses lipstick.  For instance your hair dresser,  the waitress at your favorite restaurant, and the sales clerk at the pet store.  These people will usually be interested in being nice to you because you give them business.  One of the more interesting sales experiences I had was watching half a dozen Denny's waitresses drop everything to look over a cosmetics catalog.    Once you have the cosmetics you are going to need to show them to people.  Now is the time to take a walk and let your neighbors know about it.  You should make some new friends doing this.  Most of us don't know the neighbors.  Another good way is to run a few parties.  Here you can take order with deposits.  Always get some money up front if you don't have the product to deliver with you and you probably won't when you first start.

Here is something else that SeneGence tolerates that most MLM's don't.  It lets you drop ship.  You may have heard the SM commercials about selling product you don't have to buy on the internet.  That is what drop shipping is, except you have to pay for it up front.  That's why you ask for and get a deposit!   As long as SeneGence let's you get away with this trick you can sell without an inventory investment.

How much can you make?  If you do 3 parties of 4 people each a week and each person buys $50 worth and you are at a 30% discount  that works out to $180 a week for 12 sales.  But, the discount ranges from 20% o 50%.  The way that works is you start at 20% at the beginning of the month and when you go over $1,500 retail in the month you get to 50%, so if you sold at that rate you'd be making more per order in that last 2 weeks of the month.  Also, when you learned what your customers need you could pre-buy and get a big discount from the start. 

SeneGence is an MLM or  network marketing company.  Mary Kay Cosmetics seems ashamed to call itself that.  So there is another way to make money.  That is to build your own sales organization or down line.  If you decide to do this it's time to look in the mirror again and put yourself to work.  Now you have to take on the job of teacher.  You will need to teach your down line how to sell.  You will need to teach your down line how to work.   If you're lucky you'll recruit some people who are better at it then you, but most will be unwilling to do the work and fail. 

How much can you make with a down line.  Quite a bit.

You need to do $200 retail non-CDO personal sales.  One parties worth if you are selling through party plan.  Keep in mind that you will not have as much time for parties when you become a sales manager.

If you became really successful at managing your sales group you could do something like this.

If you've gotten this far you just might have a chance to succeed.   I'd like to add you to my down line.   I promise I'll be there to answer your questions and give you an occasional verbal kick in the but to keep going.  The rest is up to YOU!  What are you waiting for?

I want to say a little more about CDO.  This is a great idea.  It makes sales without work.  It makes sales without the need for a lot of inventory.  It's a great way to start and it keeps getting better.

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