The father-son duo of Steve and Ryan Scott initially didn’t set out to start a direct selling company, but their unbeatable combination of entrepreneurial drive, ground-breaking products and unprecedented consumer demand led them to launch Neumi in 2021—and they have never looked back.
After college, Ryan built an impressive resume working in sales as well as corporate marketing and advertising positions. His dad Steve enjoyed a decades-long career focused on finding and developing breakthrough products and selling them through infomercials. It was a formula that had led Steve to generate over $4 billion in revenue over 30 years and included legendary brands like Deal-A-Meal and Hair Care with Cher.
Steve was looking to retire when he found “the biggest breakthrough of his entire life,” leading him to start a new company. What product coaxed Steve out of his retirement plans? Glutathione-infused water. An antioxidant, glutathione is the protector and detoxifier of cells. It also recycles itself to increase the effectiveness of other antioxidants such as vitamins C and D. With its plethora of health and wellness benefits, Steve knew this was exactly the kind of breakthrough product that could be the next big thing.
The Start of Something Big
Ryan and Steve built the company together—filling water bottles at night, shipping them off to friends and family to sample then collecting data and opinions. And they were getting some incredible feedback.
Direct selling at that point, however, wasn’t even on their radar. “My dad had a lot of expertise in TV and in advertising, so that’s how we launched,” Ryan explained. The pair took a methodical approach. They had a little Shopify store and product placement in a few retail outlets. Before long, they launched a skincare line.
After a year of the TV campaign, they noticed they were maintaining a 76 percent customer retention rate. “Over three-fourths of the customers that bought a year ago were still buying product without being incentivized by commissions or the culture that you see in direct marketing. They just loved the product,” Ryan remembered.
That’s where direct selling came in. Steve and Ryan already had friends suggesting a network marketing approach. The Scotts were starting to see the limitations of traditional ad campaigns, and the products seemed uniquely suited for word-of-mouth sales. Not wanting to entirely abandon retail and direct-to-consumer sales, the Scotts launched a supplemental brand, Neumi, in the direct selling space.
Things started out slowly during the first six months. While they were satisfied with the results, Ryan would roll his eyes when his dad would talk of the explosive growth direct selling could bring.
And then it happened. Sales in February 2022 doubled over January. They doubled again in March. Again in April. And once more in May. “My dad said this is what happens when you provide a good product, and you have a good culture and the right technology. Things can explode like this.”
Growing Strong
The Scotts wanted to make sure that they were not only developing a brand that was a good fit in today’s climate. They wanted to eliminate any direct selling “gotchas.”
That’s why they built the company the right way—with an easy-to-understand compensation plan; quality products at fair prices; and a company with the financial strength to protect the legacies of the distributors to pass their businesses down to their kids and grandkids.
“We’re a product-focused company. We just want to get people in, to try the product,” Ryan shared. “We don’t charge any fees for signing up as a distributor. There are no annual fees. And we don’t charge for the tools we have either.”
And those tools are proving to be gamechangers. Ryan felt much of the technology being used by network marketing companies was outdated, requiring several apps to get through the day-to-day operations of running the business.
Neumi is changing all that with their recent launch of an all-inclusive app that combines communications, product purchases, back-office access, training and events. It’s an innovation designed to next level the business. Ryan compares it to changing from a flip phone to an iPhone. “Once you know how to use it, your capabilities are endless.”
With a strong sales force of distributors, a slate of world-class products and cutting-edge technology, Neumi’s prospects could be just as endless.
From the October 2024 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.
