Article: If you already know a Mary Kay consultant, you can go to her for help. If you do not know a consultant, however, you can look for one in your area using the Mary Kay website.  Mary Kay beauty consultants receive benefits when they recruit new people, so the vast majority of existing consultants will be more than happy to help you through the process. To find a consultant near you, go here: http://www.marykay.com/en-US/_layouts/MaryKayCoreLocator/Locate.aspx  Enter your zip code in the "New to Mary Kay?" box and click the "Search" button. A list of nearby consultants should appear. Choose a consultant from the list and view her profile. Feel free to click through the results until you find a consultant who you feel comfortable talking with. If you already have a relationship with your consultant, go to her directly using whichever method of contact you usually use. If you do not know your consultant yet, however, you can contact her through her profile on the Mary Kay website.  From your consultant's profile, click on the "Learn how to become a Beauty Consultant" link. Scroll down to the bottom of the page until you see the words "Let's Start Your Success Story Today." Clicking on that link will take you to a messaging page. Use the form to send a message to your consultant. Ask her about becoming a consultant. Most consultants will usually get back to you within one or two business days with information. The standard price of a Mary Kay starter kit is $100, plus shipping and tax, but there are occasional sales and special offers you can take advantage of. As of 2014, there is $400 worth of materials inside the starter kit.  You will need to purchase this starter kit through your Mary Kay beauty consultant. Each starter kit contains retail-sized products to use for demonstration purposes, samplers to share with potential customers, brochures, and informative DVDs. Take the time to sort through all the instructions and guides provided in your starter kit. There will be several DVDs and CDs, along with brochures and pamphlets with helpful selling tips. Each Mary Kay consultant is part of an overall unit. To help you start selling, you'll want to go to a training meeting with the director of this unit.  Note that you may want to attend several weekly meetings before you go out into the field. These meetings are meant to sustain the unit's consultants in positive attitude, friendship and support for each other, while teaching them good business skills. Training is never obligatory in Mary Kay, but it is highly recommended for your success and confidence in your business. You can also train online through a very large visual media source powered by Mary Kay Inc, at marykayintouch.com. (must be a consultant to use). If your director is out of town or otherwise unable to attend to you, she should be able to guide you to an "adopted" director you can work with, instead. Once you complete all of the outlined steps, you'll be a stocked and trained Mary Kay beauty consultant. The next thing you'll need to do is simply to start selling. You might be encouraged to build your home inventory shortly after you join. Inventory is NEVER an obligation in Mary Kay, but it is a privilege. It's like a grocery store stocking its shelves before it opens, so its customers can take home TODAY what they want to buy TODAY, rather than waiting a week for the product to be ordered from the company. Rarely do direct sales companies allow their consultants to keep inventory, but Mary Kay offers this privilege. Take your time when making decisions and start smart, only purchasing as much as you have time sell. Ask your recruiter or director to show you statistics of how much inventory will be smart for you, based on the number of hours per week or per month that you are wanting to spend in your business. The more time you spend in your business, the more you'll sell, and the more inventory you'll want to have on hand. The company offers free product bonuses on your very first inventory purchase, so make sure you ask your recruiter about that, so you don't afterwards regret having missed out on those free product bonuses. Mary Kay offers a 1 year 90% buyback guarantee on initial inventory purchased, but beware that you can never again be a Mary Kay consultant if you send back inventory to the company. (N.B. This is not the same as the 100% satisfaction guarantee. Mary Kay stands behind all its products, and will replace them for free, forever, if consultant or customer is not satisfied.)
What is a summary of what this article is about?
Find an existing consultant. Talk to your consultant. Purchase a starter kit. Go through the kit. Attend a training meeting. Get to work.