Meet Mary Kay Ash of Mary Kay Cosmetics….

Even as a multi-level, direct sales company, Mary Kay knew how to inspire female entrepreneurs from her humble beginnings selling encyclopedias from door to door.  It was mostly an accident that she found herself to be an outstanding saleswoman.  She was asked to sell 10 sets of encyclopedias and did so in a day and a half.  She was surprised to learn that 10 sales was a three-month quota for the top sales reps in the business.

Several of her friends expressed their disdain for her selling encyclopedias which they believed to be a product that people didn’t really need, and Mary Kay took that to heart.  She later joined a company with a more useful product to sell and became a representative of Stanley Home Products.  They were another direct sales company that offered housewares and cleaning supplies.  It wasn’t long before she was crowned “Queen of Sales” at a company convention.

Soon after receiving her crown, Mary Kay’s husband returned home from World War II and left her for another woman.  Mary Kay was forced to support three children on her own and decided to make Stanley Home Products her full-time job.   Despite her outstanding performance and natural talent for sales, Mary Kay kept being passed over for promotions.  Frustrated with being a woman in the 1940’s business world and not being given an equal chance, she left Stanley Home Products to join World Gift Co. in 1952.

Inside of 10 years, Mary Kay’s expertise expanded the World Gift Co. into 43 states and earned a position on the company’s board of directors.  Dealing with years of being dismissed even while sitting on the board of directors, the final straw came in 1962 when a man Mary Kay trained was promoted to be her supervisor and given twice Mary Kay’s salary.  Enraged, she took an early retirement and resolved to write a book to help other women avoid the problems she faced as a woman in the business world.

While writing the outline for her guide to help other women in business, she came to the realization that she simply needed to start her own business.  Mary Kay was already buying skin softener from the daughter of a local hide tanner and decided that it was a great product worth promoting that she already used and believed in.  With her second husband’s help, they purchased the recipe, began forming the company, recruited sales people, and developed their product further only to have disaster strike one month before the opening.  Mary Kay’s husband had a severe heart attack and died.

Mary Kay’s attorney and accountant begged her to forget about the business and focus on planning for herself.  She persisted and opened Mary Kay Cosmetics on September 13, 1963.

First year sales hit $198,000.00 and second year lases topped $800,000.00 with a sales force of over 3,000 women dubbed “consultants”.  By 1983, Mary Kay’s company topped $324 Million.  She took her company back private when shareholders expressed concern about those “stupid pink cars” she gave to top reps.  Mary Kay knew that those pink Cadillacs were the goal of every woman that joined the sales force and refused to give them up.  It was a good idea to keep them and take the company back private, because in 1993, the company broke the $1 Billion mark in sales.

Today, Mary Kay Cosmetics has more than 500,000 sales reps and over $2 Billion in sales and is still growing.

- John

Do you need to find something government related on the web?

Here is my personal list of government related websites where you can find almost anything you need for your small business. Get research, statistics, and information for free with these links:

1. Library of Congress - www.lcWeb.loc.gov
2. Copyright Office - www.loc.gov/copyright
3. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission - www.sec.gov
4. U.S. Census Bureau - www.census.gov
5. Patent and Trademark Office - www.uspto.gov
6. Federal Web Locator - www.fedstats.gov
7. General Accounting Office - www.gao.gov

If you can’t find what you need on one of those, it probably doesn’t exist.

- John

So something horrible happened.  Your product failed.  You made a mistake.  You said something wrong in an interview.  Everyone makes mistakes and the public can forgive if you follow these simple steps.

1. Admit to it.

Don’t hide it or try to cover it up.  That’s just asking for more trouble.

2. Apologize for it.

Tell people what happened (if you know) and tell them it shouldn’t have happened and that you are truely sorry for it.

3. Reassure

Make sure that people know that you understand the mistake and that it won’t happen again.  Let them know what you’ve done to fix the problem.

4. Investigate

If you don’t know what caused the problem, tell the people that you have already started to investigate what caused the issue.  Follow through on this investigation and give a good explanation of what you found and what you have done to fix it.

5. Take Responsibility

State very clearly that you or your company is to blame.  People like to give second chances once you’ve admitted to it and taken responsibility for it.  Show them that you are human too and they’ll respond well to that.

- John

Working the floor is the most important part of a trade show. While you should always have a booth displaying your products, you should also get out and talk to the other people at the trade show. They’ll make important contacts for you later.

• Go see what is offered at every single booth at the show.
• Talk to the other business owners.
• Take and read the literature offered at each booth.
• Sit in and listen to meetings, seminars, and presentations.
• Hand out your business card to anyone that will take it.
• Look for the press badges and stop them. Tell them who you are and swap cards. Don’t talk talk to them for more than ten seconds, thank them, and move on.

Do some kind of give away and ask everybody to drop their business card in a jar to enter the giveaway. You’ll get huge amounts of business cards that have the websites and phone numbers of people you never would have met otherwise. Read their websites and try to set up a partnering arrangement to use their strengths where you have weaknesses.

If you do these things at your next trade show, you’ll come out on the other side with a lot of contacts and strong leads on new customers.

- John

So, you’re contacting media outlets and trying to get your revolutionary product or service out in an article. That’s a wonderful thing for your business and great for a paper on a slow news day that needs to fill some space. Before you go pestering these guys, here are the top 10 things you should NOT do:

1. Freebies

Don’t give free stuff to the press. Most media outlets ban their employees from taking gifts altogether or limit them to $25 dollars or so. Most journalists take pride in not paying for or getting paid for their stories. They want their work to speak for itself. If you don’t have an interesting story or something new to bring to the table, you shouldn’t be contacting the media to report on it anyway.

2. Not taking “No.” for an answer

If a particular paper told you no yesterday, don’t ask them again today. If they’ve told you no every other day for two months, don’t ask them again! Accept and respect that they feel it’s not a reportable or article worthy story. Move on. Go to someone else. If their competition prints it, they’ll be calling you.

3. Lies and Hype

Be honest. The paper’s reputation depends on it. If you lie to them, they’ll more than likely expose you publicly as a fraud, a liar, and a cheat. Scandals bring readers and that’s what they’re really after in the first place. Be factual, but make your facts interesting.

4. Cold Calling

Don’t call media contacts if you can avoid it. Send letters, faxes, or emails. Unsolicited phone calls are annoying and intrusive. If you catch them at a busy time, they won’t be nearly as receptive as if you had sent them a letter or email and they could read it when they had the time.

5. Being Unprepared

Don’t contact someone about printing an article and ask them what the next step is. Tell them who you are, why you’re so interesting, how dealing with you benefits them, and how to contact you. Give them only answers…no questions.

6. Long News Releases

One page or less! That’s it. Have a great headline and strong first paragraph that tells about your major selling points. Close quickly and keep it interesting.

7. Confirmation Calls

Don’t call to see if your package or fax has arrived. Send it once…let it go. Follow up with an email or letter if you don’t hear from them soon. If they don’t respond the first time you send it or to the follow up contact…let it go. Submit it to their competition.

8. Not following up on requests for more info

Top media professionals know that content and reputation are absolutely vital to their success. If someone has taken the time to send you a request for more info, give them what they want promptly. They may be checking your background or verifying your claim, but more than likely they’re going to print about you if they’re asking for more info! Get the info they want back to them quickly so they can meet their deadline.

9. Name Dropping

No one likes a name dropper. If you need to drop names, then your story isn’t very strong. Get picked up on your own merit. That’ll carry you much further.

10. Getting Upset

Don’t get mad when someone tells you “no”. Don’t ask why or threaten them. Just move on. They’ll be coming to you when their competition writes about you.

- John