July 13, 2010 - FPG
Mary Kay Cosmetics has always been a brand synonymous with sales and service. Founded by Mary Kay Ash in 1963, the firm has since expanded into a global cosmetics company posting over $2 billion in annual wholesale sales. The company serves consumers in more than 35 markets worldwide and has over 2 million global independent sales representatives.
Growing a company to this size is no easy feat. It entails creating the right corporate environment, attracting the right type of people, as well as motivating and enabling your sales force to achieve great things. Mary Kay Ash was able to do all of this and more.
The following sales leadership actions are just a few of many that came directly from Mary Kay Ash’s playbook.
1. Know Your Role
In the early days of the company Mary Kay focused on her strengths – engaging and inspiring her team. Her son Richard Rogers, who still runs the company to this day, has said she believed her job was to “energize, recognize, teach, and motivate our independent sales force.” According to Richard, she left everything else to him.
2. When In Doubt Recognize
The pink Cadillac is a key incentive for Mary Kay’s top salespeople. A complimentary two year lease of a pink Cadillac is provided for each region’s top performer. At the end of the two year lease the sales star is eligible for another car if they continue to perform well. Since its inception in 1969, the pink Cadillac Career Car has been awarded to over 100,000 top performers and is still in effect today.
3. Balance Constructive Feedback With Positives
Mary Kay was legendary for her coaching and mentoring sessions. In her book The Mary Kay Way she described positive reinforcement as “Sandwiching every bit of criticism between two heavy layers of praise.” This relationship-focused approach to coaching made her sales force feel comfortable, valuable, and important to the company.
Implementing effective training, meaningful recognition programs, and valuable coaching sessions has been and continues to be very successful and lucrative for Mary Kay, Inc. So much so the company’s methods and direct sales model are still the envy of their competition and the focus of many business school case studies today.
Ken Stellon - Senior Vice President, Frontline Performance Group
