MLM companies
Anyone else SICK AND TIRED of setting up at an event where there are millions of MLM skin care and cosmetic companies? Sorry, had to vent about this. At my recent event, there was a NuSkin and Mary Kay consultant. The NuSkin woman came by my table and says what do you have? I said I am a skin care spa blah blah. She goes oh I can't be by you. The the Mary Kay lady asked the same thing and her response was the same. I said well I actually do facials not just sell product...she goes, yeah so do I. WHAT?
What bothers me is people who are not trained properly can consult people and tell them what products are best for their skin and they can apply product and do treatments as well. An arbonne rep told me once that hormonal acne can be treated with their products. Really? and all this time I thought you had to get the hormones under control to truly treat it. Am I wrong?
Makes me so angry! Thanks for letting me vent.
Does anyone else feel aggravated? If I hear, no this company is back by SCIENCE, one more time, I feel like screaming.
Are any of the MLM companies good products????
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Denise Ivers on
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Hi Jodi
In order to get them to stop using the term "free facial" someone would have to file suit against them. If MK really impacts your business's bottom line you may want to consider it or do a class action with other esty's and association.
I agree with you-if someone has never had a facial before and attends a MK party, they may decide to never have one.
Slander would be a verbal statement that is known not to be true made maliciously, lible would be the same but in written form. Since it is true that MK does not provide a "real" pro facial, I don't think you would be sued, based on a malicious act but be careful with your words. I would word it very general like, "have you ever been to a skin care party? Many of these home based skin care companies claim to provide you with a facial if you attend but you really don't get a real facial". Then explain in detail what a professional facial includes. MK is not the only one out there offering "free facials", Beauty Society does this as well.
I really can't see how they would have a leg to stand on if you were sued for libel. As you know, one must be licensed to perform facials, and they couldn't get around that unless the sales rep is a license esthetician. Of course MK gets around that by having the client apply the product instead of the sales rep.
I hope this makes sense, it's been a long busy day!
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Permalink Reply by Jodi on
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Great adivce, thanks! I don't think MK is threatening my business, but I never knew they used that term and it just really got me riled up.
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Permalink Reply by Emilie Spruill on
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Another funny technicality to me is that in TX, I can't do a back treatment, only licensed massage therapists, can, but I can call it a back facial! So silly to me, because as a skincare professional, it makes more sense for me to address, say back acne or congestion, but I can't call it a back treatment. Slightly off topic but regulations can be funny.
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Permalink Reply by Laurie Storey on
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I can't tell you how many times women have told me they have had a facial, only to find out it was a MK "facial". This was much more common 20+ years ago when I first started my practice but I still hear it occasionally today. I really do wish they would stop calling what they do a facial and telling people their microdermabrasion is the same thing they can get from a professional. A few years back I had a lady come in for a facial and then re-book for a MDA treatment the next month. I asked her when she booked the appointment if she had ever had a MDA treatment before and she said yes. But when I actually started to perform the MDA she was startled and said nobody had ever use a machine on her before. Come to find out she had only had a "manual MDA" from MK and thats what she was expecting from me!
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I think that the technical rule--and this surely must vary from state to state--is that you can only charge for a facial if you are a licensed esthetician, but you can do a facial for demo purposes if you are not charging for the service and make that clear. In some states I have heard that you must ask for permission to touch their skin. It's no different really if you think about it than the department stores that offer "facials"--it's not private or professional, but it is a means of demonstrating their products. I don't think most people are misled, as confusing as it seems, though, because I think women know they aren't getting a true professional facial. It's just a try before you buy kinda thing. So I wouldn't think that your clients would see that as competition for your expertise.
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Permalink Reply by Sheila Gordon on
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Permalink Reply by Abigail Ruelas on
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OMG If I could only tell you how many times I have been approached/contacted by Arbonne, R&F, and MK! I agree 100% with everything you have said Sheila along with everyone else on here. We are State Board Licensed PROFESSIONALS! WE use and sell only PROFESSIONAL products! Awesome post Sheila!
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This is an interesting topic for me for several reasons. First, I started my career in skincare as a consultant with a MLM/relationship marketing company, 13 years ago. I excelled because I was a product knowledge freak, our products and ingredients were truly gentle yet effective and I had an amazing mentor. A few years back, I finally decided to get my esthetician license since it was clear that God put me on the Earth to educate people about their skin--it is my true passion (as it is most of yours, I'm sure!) I tried a few other "professional" lines, but after having my eyes literally swell shut (you should see the pictures--horrifying!) three times, I decided that I would stick with what I knew worked for me and my clients. I love that my company requires no inventory, what a huge freedom, and my clients can order directly from my website or through me directly and get products straight to their door. No mineral oil, no petrolatum, no SD alcohol, no lanolin or animal ingredients, no animal testing. No irritation even for my most sensitive clients. And my products are SO concentrated in the treatment room that I have never used backbar and I rarely replace my products--it's uncanny. And I literally double my treatment profit on nearly every client that I have, which is amazing. Sometimes I make a higher commission on the product than I do on my treatment!
Yet I can completely relate to your post because I'm an avid networker and I am a skincare snob! So I get pretty frustrated with Mary Kay, Arbonne, Avon, NuSkin, etc, and I find that they are at every event peddling junk. I have been looking into a few lately just to see what they offer and how they offer it, but I agree with you about some of your complaints. They aren't doing treatments--they are letting someone experience a product. I am particularly opposed to Rodan and Fields... what hype! SO the Stanford doctors who created ProActiv--in my humble opinion one of the most harsh and damaging lines ever offered--have now created an anti-ageing line? For the generation who has been overdrying their skin with benzoyl peroxide for the past decade?! GENIUS and awful. They use HQ, which I personally don't agree with because it's bioaccumulative, and I have yet to hear anyone actually try and sell product, rather than the opportunity. It's all hype.
So the challenge is gaining people's trust and selling them on US and our knowledge, instead of our product, even if it is incredible in our eyes. Thanks for venting!
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Permalink Reply by Karen Hurley on
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Keep in mind that "MLM" is a business concept and can apply to anything being sold, items or services.
Currently, I'm not aware of any professional-strength product companies (sold by licensed professionals) that sell their products this way, but it could happen.
I think we should focus on product lines that don't require a license to purchase and resell.......the business model they use isn't the issue, it's the sales tactics that are plucking our last nerve. LOL
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Before we bash the "MLM" concept.........think of this: What if one of the pro lines decided to use this as a business model - and limit the MLM to estheticians only?
It's very possible.
That's why I don't focus on the business model, but the product and the sales approach only.
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and the fact that when I research the ingredients of say Arbonne, they aren't as high and mighty as they claim and all of the active ingredients are at the bottom of the list or close to it. I had a guy come to my place once selling something with dead sea minerals...I asked to see the package ingredients so he had to get the box and dead sea minerals were DEAD LAST!! I pointed this out and do you know what he said? He said, so what you are saying is I shouldn't show people this box! They for the most part care about the sale than actually making a difference in someone's skin. Now if someone like Image or Glo or Skin Scripts would happen to change their business model to a MLM (which likely never happen btu you never know) then I could consider being a part of it. I think they should be limited to Estheticians when it comes to skin care lines.
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