Industry News

Young Company Focus:
SUZANNE
by Deanne Lachner

Actress, singer, best-selling author, entrepreneur-nearly every role that Suzanne Somers has taken on has been a resounding triumph. So it's no wonder that her new direct selling venture-SUZANNET-is poised for its own success.

From Shop-at-Home to Sell-from-Home

Somers' Home Shopping Network products have been consistently popular for more than 15 years. To reach even more women (and men), she decided to offer her loyal customers and fans the chance to earn money selling her products at home parties. One of the catalysts for her entering the business came in the form of a business proposal from Robin Crossman, the now-CEO of SUZANNE. "When I saw Suzanne's organization, I was just amazed because I hadn't really understood its breadth," Crossman says. "I saw her books, appliances and fabulous jewelry. I saw her skin care line. I had a wonderful lunch with her food." Sufficiently impressed, Crossman knew direct selling was the perfect fit. "I had been thinking about traditional marketing, but a bell went off," she says. "With a charismatic leader like Suzanne, who is involved with every product, I knew that direct selling was what we needed to do with this line."

Entering the direct selling arena went smoothly, Somers says, in part due to the tremendous help she received from Crossman and the rest of her team-all experienced at direct selling. "We would be foolish to go out and do this by ourselves," Somers says. "These people breathe it, they grow it, they get it. Robin, her husband, Tim, and Jennifer Wolbert are a fantastic team, and they are working their tails off. I go to them for their expertise."

Somers' extended family is also a huge part of her business. "My stepdaughter, Leslie Hamel, designs all of the apparel and accessories," Somers says. Recognizing the value of having many helping hands, Somers admits that, while she is the backbone of the company, "I would not be a good executive if I did it all by myself. I've just put the most qualified people in place. My husband has the overall grandest vision. Our president is Jim England, who is involved with the day-to-day operations in Grand Rapids." The company's headquarters is in Grand Rapids, Mich., a city currently experiencing what Crossman describes as "a terrible state of recession because of unemployment." The addition of SUZANNE has been a boon for the city and its citizens.

An Eager Consultant Force

Suzanne's newest consultants come to her as enthusiastic current customers of her existing Home Shopping Network offerings. While she maintains items for sale via HSN, her consultants have access to products now repackaged, resized and repriced. "The cosmetics are only sold through SUZANNE," Somers says. "The FaceMaster is sold in both arenas, but you get a better deal buying it through SUZANNE. I sell a whole different set of jewelry for SUZANNE, and the food we're selling is almost exclusively through SUZANNE, although there are a few staples that the HSN women won't let me give up-like sea salt rocks and simmer sauces. Eventually, what we're going to try to do is sell jewelry and apparel on Home Shopping Network and all the rest through SUZANNE. I'm making that crossover right now; eventually, it will become delineated."

A wide range of products is now being sold by a team of women who, Somers says, already loved the products and couldn't get enough of them. "They were so enthusiastic that they wanted to tell their friends, so that's how we started recruiting our first consultants," she says. During one sold-out "Suzanne Convention" (a cruise for fans of her HSN products), 2,500 women showed up "wearing their pajamas and jewelry-and their tiaras-and we just had the best time," Somers says. She was excited by the realization that these women were eager to get started selling on their own. Crossman, as well, is enthusiastic about SUZANNE consultants. "We have a team of consultants who aren't expert direct salespeople, but they have embraced it and jumped in," she says. "We also have some leaders emerging, and the love that they have for Suzanne and the products is contagious."

One of the more unique aspects of the SUZANNE product line is its diversity. "Consultants can have a jewelry party with jewelry and accessories; or they can have a food party with food and appliances; or they can have FaceMaster parties," Somers says. "A few women I talked to recently are even having 'Everything Parties.'"

During a company training in Las Vegas several months ago attended by 500 consultants, Somers herself was there to participate and motivate. "I was doing my show at the hotel, so during the day we had seminars, and I would speak to them every afternoon," she says. "I am very involved with them, because everything has my name on it!" As a special perk, Somers may call her consultants during their events. "I call them at their parties as often as I can; it's a surprise call to really rev up the enthusiasm and to show the interactive, hands-on nature of our business," she says. "And, oh my goodness, are they having fun!"

Beauty Outside...

SUZANNE products include a wide variety of jewelry, accessories and cosmetics. Crossman remembers the early discussions about what products to offer through SUZANNE. "The hardest part was cutting products, so as not to have too much in each area, especially at the launch," she says. "The women and men who were coming in had to learn the business, and we didn't want to overwhelm them."

For jewelry, Somers' stepdaughter Leslie Hamel, who was trained at the Parson's School of Design, is in charge. "I've just turned all of the jewelry design over to her, and she turns in the sketches to me," Somers says. The cosmetics are organically based and Somers says the FaceMaster, an interesting and popular product, is the company's most profitable and exciting. "It's something I've been using for 14 years," she says. "I'm asked in every interview if I've had a face lift. Every time I say no, they don't believe me. The FaceMaster pumps up the muscle under the skin with a micro-current; when the muscle is pumped up, the skin is lifted, giving the appearance of a face lift. It has made a remarkable difference in my facial tone. At 60, I should be much saggier than I am, but I rarely have a day when I don't use this tool."

Hydrating Therapy system

SUZANNE consultants share Somers' enthusiasm for the innovative product. "There's one woman who sold $87,000 worth of FaceMasters in three weeks, never even giving a party," Somers says. "That's the kind of women that I've got out there."

Health Inside...

In addition to products that help women look and feel beautiful, the SUZANNE line of delicious foods help families eat healthy and prepare gourmet meals more quickly. Caroline Somers, Suzanne's daughter-in-law, is in charge of the food. "Caroline and I have been cooking together for years, and she and I have the same palate," Somers says. "She'll go through the food and bring what she likes to me. We'll prepare it at my house and say, 'Maybe it needs a little more of this,' or 'Let's back off a little on that.' We get it just right." The foods are created with quality ingredients such as extra virgin olive oil, chunky dried herbs, salt from the seas of Brittany, no MSG and all-natural protein with no hormones or antibiotics. The choices are plenty: sauces, rubs, dips, salad dressings and a special line of sweets made without refined sugars.

The food products are made with quality in mind at all times. "We make sugarless products using a proprietary sweetener that tastes like sugar but doesn't have a chemical aftertaste, because there are no chemicals in it," Somers says. "The fruits and vegetables we use are handpicked from organic farms. I write books about having confidence in what you put on the inside because it will have a direct effect down the road."

SUZANNE consultants at a training event in Las Vegas.

This Year and Beyond

Crossman sees great things in the future for SUZANNE and credits the company's early momentum to Somers' enthusiasm and warmth. "Suzanne is charismatic, yet so down to earth. She's not a celebrity up on a pedestal; she's a girlfriend," she says. "When we talk to her, it's just like talking to a good friend. People can relate to her, and she is inspirational."

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