Make Me Feel Important
Mary Kay Ash built the third largest sales force in the world. She did it with one idea. It has nothing to do with cosmetics.
| 01 — THE STORY
The pink Cadillac. The Bronx. And a lesson I never forgot
Early in my sales career I noticed something. At every quarterly meeting, every SKO, every President's Club, the same people were being recognized. Same names. Same faces. And as a new salesperson, I had two choices: I could wonder why, or I could go figure it out.
That's how mentors are found. You walk up to the top two or three people in the room and you start asking questions. You find the underlying themes. You build a roadmap from things they've already proven work in the marketplace.
Somewhere along the way, I found Mary Kay Ash. I don't even remember how. But once I started reading about her, I couldn't stop.
She didn't start Mary Kay Cosmetics until she was well into her late forties, after her husband passed away. She built an empire with 80,000 salespeople, every one of them a woman she called her daughters. She was an advocate for women in business at a time when that wasn't exactly welcome. Today, Mary Kay is the third largest sales force in the world with 2.8 million sellers.
Image from A Bronx Tale (1993)
Growing up in the Bronx, I'd see a pink Cadillac roll through the neighborhood and wonder about it. I even think my mom dabbled in selling Mary Kay for a while. So when I came across this woman's story, it hit differently.
But here's what really got me. Her lesson wasn't for women in cosmetics. It was for anyone who ever had to earn another person's trust.
That hit me hard. But then she followed it up.
"If you do that, you'll not only succeed in sales. You'll succeed in life."
That was a gut punch. I didn't just want to be a good salesperson. My parents raised me to be a good person. And here was a woman who had done both, at scale, from nothing.
| 02 — THE TOOL
How I put the sign to work in every customer meeting
When I walked into a customer meeting, I started doing something simple. I pictured a post-it note on their forehead that said: Make me feel important. That's it. That was the whole trick.
It changed how I showed up. I squared my shoulders. I made real eye contact. I listened, actually listened, instead of thinking about what I was going to say next. And you know what? That approach paid more dividends than every pitch I ever rehearsed.
THE CONNECTION TO CHAMPIONS: We talked last issue about building Champions inside your customer's organization. Here's the through-line: every Champion you've ever built was somebody you made feel important. You gave them the knowledge, equipped them for their success, and let them take the credit. That's not a coincidence. That's the strategy.
| 03 — THE CHALLENGE
Put the sign on someone this week.
Pick three people you’re meeting with this week. A customer, a prospect, even a colleague. Before you walk in, put the post-it note on their forehead. Then do these three things.
— Paddy Mac
PaddyMacSays · Sales is a contact sport.
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