An 83-year-old Longview woman on Tuesday was rewarded with a new car for the amount of sales achieved by her cosmetics sales team.
It was the 18th time in her career with Mary Kay that Betty Boone received a set of keys.
Les Hassell/News-Journal Photo |
Betty Boone poses in the new car she received Tuesday from Mary Kay. Boone has been a sales associate for more than 35 years, and this is the 18th car she has been awarded.
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Boone is an independent sales director over more than 100 people. The group includes personal recruits, the women they have recruited and so on. The consultants buy beauty supplies from Mary Kay Inc. at a fixed wholesale price and sell them to directly to consumers.
Boone's sister recruited her to the business 36 years ago.
"The nice thing about Mary Kay is that there's no special territory," said Boone, who has clients across the country. "You can work anywhere."
Although the products are available through a consultant online and from a catalog, most Mary Kay products are sold in person at the customer's home. Consultants make 50% of the retail price on the items they sell.
Once a consultant sells a certain amount of products, that person can choose to become an independent sales director. Directors continue their individual sales, but also attend seminars on management and sales strategies to train and manage a team of their own consultants.
Boone earned her car through the Mary Kay Career Car Program, which offers cars to employees at all levels as a reward for good sales. The most prestigious of these is the Pink Cadillac, which is given to the highest selling directors.
Each car comes with a two-year lease, contingent on maintaining sales. If sales improve, consultants have the option of trading up to a more expensive car.
Among her Mary Kay cars, Boone has had three pink Cadillacs.
Referring to the typical rise in lipstick sales during tough economic times, Boone said that the "lipstick economy" has been good for business.
"Women want their cosmetics no matter what," she said. "When people look better, they feel better."
Boone said she has seen an increase in the number of women becoming consultants in the past year, a company-wide trend. Mary Kay saw a 22 percent increase in independent consultants in the first quarter of 2009 compared with a year ago, according to company spokeswoman Kathrina McAfee.
One of the appeals of the company is that anyone can earn a car or other reward, said Boone.
Mary Kay Inc. was founded in 1963 and currently employs more than 1.8 million independent beauty consultants around the world according to the company Web site.
