Mary Kay Ash founded her namesake company in 1963, after 25 years of direct selling for other companies.
She worked first at Stanley Home Products, where she did home shows in customers’ homes to sell products. Stanley also had a system where they paid a small percentage of sales to the recruiter of a new salesperson. Mary Kay eventually recruited 150 salespeople and received a commission from each one.
When she opened her own company, Mary Kay required “beauty consultants” to pay for a start-up kit, called the “Beauty Showcase” kit. The consultants were trained in scheduling and giving Mary Kay parties. Mary Kay also had strict guidelines about selling and how to sell.
The company grew steadily, and by 1993 the Mary Kay manufacturing facility was the size of three football fields. At this time the company had a salesforce of 220,000.
In the 1990’s Mary Kay expanded to Asia.
Today Mary Kay is the sixth-largest direct selling company in the world, with $3 billion in revenue in 2013. The company is #163 on the Forbes list of America’s Largest Private Companies.
Mary Kay
Mary Kay Ash founded her namesake company in 1963, after 25 years of direct selling for other companies.
She worked first at Stanley Home Products, where she did home shows in customers’ homes to sell products. Stanley also had a system where they paid a small percentage of sales to the recruiter of a new salesperson. Mary Kay eventually recruited 150 salespeople and received a commission from each one.
When she opened her own company, Mary Kay required “beauty consultants” to pay for a start-up kit, called the “Beauty Showcase” kit. The consultants were trained in scheduling and giving Mary Kay parties. Mary Kay also had strict guidelines about selling and how to sell.
History
The company grew steadily, and by 1993 the Mary Kay manufacturing facility was the size of three football fields. At this time the company had a salesforce of 220,000.
In the 1990’s Mary Kay expanded to Asia.
Today Mary Kay is the sixth-largest direct selling company in the world, with $3 billion in revenue in 2013. The company is #163 on the Forbes list of America’s Largest Private Companies.