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Make Your Mark

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How to build a distinct, emotionally connected brand strategy.

You’ve read the books, listened to the podcasts and watched the presentations. You’ve gotten the message: A good brand is great, but a great brand is gold.

Often, though, messages about branding stop short of laying out strategies. They talk about the what and the why behind great branding but don’t walk the talk with actionable steps for creating a distinct, sustainable brand.

We’ve talked to some of our industry’s branding experts about their branding philosophies—to remind you what makes a brand great and why you need to build one. We also talked to them about their best practices—real steps you can take to evaluate and elevate your brand. With a five-step brand strategy development framework and a discussion of how technology affects the effectiveness of a branding strategy, we move past theory, strip the jargon and give you a simple guide to achieving the gold brand standard.

What Makes A Brand Great

Iconic brands—think Coke, Apple, Tupperware— achieve that status because they satisfy something beyond a utilitarian need.

“The end consumer isn’t necessarily thinking ‘I can’t wait to engage with the brand Coke!’” says Ryan Goodwin, Chief Marketing Officer for LiveVantage, a health and wellness company based in Sandy, Utah. “But they may be waking up in the morning hoping that Coke can help them engage with people they know.”

Of course, the quality of a product has to be solid. Unless the product has that intangible layer of unique appeal to our hearts and minds, we don’t remember or grow loyal to it. It’s just another option. Brands are not logos and taglines. They are the visual, verbal and emotional attributes that distinguish your company from the competition.

Brand Building Blueprint

Because they are the experience and perception people have of a product or service—not the product or service itself— brands are ultimately amorphous and subjective. But the process of creating a consistent experience is concrete. The “5D Framework of Brand Strategy” is the architecture of a meaningful, relevant, differentiated brand.

Discover

Before you get to the packaging, the slogans, the product names and the logos—do some research. Gather as much information as you can about what’s happening in the industry and in your niche. Critically evaluate the effectiveness of your own operations.

Identify great brand examples. Pay attention to direct selling companies with clear, strong brands. Note the immediate perceptions these brands create and how they maintain them.

Examine your category. Analyze the overall performance of the kinds of products and services you sell to determine if you can compete and if there is the opportunity for growth. Analyze how the companies in your space position themselves—compare your proposition to theirs. Is yours unique?

Finding a true differentiator can be particularly challenging in the health and wellness category, the most saturated segment of the direct selling channel and one in which companies tend to lead with their science. LifeVantage uses science to brand its health and wellness products but in an unexpected way. It purposely leads with a technical term: biohacking. “We teach our distributors that a great way to start a conversation is when someone asks, ‘What do you do?’ You say ‘I’m a professional biohacker’ and let it hang. I’ve never had someone not ask me what biohacking is.” (FYI—it means taking control of your own biology.)

Listen to your customers and distributors. What do your stakeholders honestly think about your company and your products? It’s important to have a grasp on this so that your branding best connects with your audience. Gilbert, Arizona-based Isagenix rolled out new branding that positioned the health and wellness company as “strong and bold,” says Travis Garza, Isagenix President of Sales and Marketing. Nothing wrong with strong and bold, “but we started to hear very quickly, ‘Is that really who we are?’ Customers and distributors wanted to see a company that is happy, warm and active and close to nature—a company they felt like the everyday person could be a part of.” So Isagenix is revisiting its branding with that feedback in mind.

Audit your internal processes. Reinforce what’s working well in your organization and fix what’s not. You can’t support a strong, consistent brand with unreliable corporate infrastructure.

Diagnose

  • When you build a distinct brand you decide what you are going to do differently from the competition. Ask yourself hard questions.
    • Is our strategy rooted in our purpose?
    • Do we have a legitimate market opportunity?
    • Can we successfully implement our strategy?
    • Is our strategy relevant to our perceived strengths, and do we have evidence to support those perceptions? u Do we provide value to customers and distributors or just extract it?
    • Do we understand the problem we are solving for our customers and distributors?
    • What are our barriers to success?

Define

Build a brand platform that will inform all of your branding and marketing decisions. If you align every new product, service and process with the eight foundational elements below, you will be more likely to create an authentic, sustainable brand.

    • Purpose—the difference you are trying to make in
      the world
    • Promise—the primary value you deliver
    • Positioning—your brand’s clearest distinction
    • Pillars—the powerful themes that support your brand
    • Personality—the characteristics of your brand in
      human terms
    • Vision—what success looks like
    • Mission—how you will achieve your vision
    • Values—your standards of behavior

Design

  • Now it’s time to get creative, to develop the materials that express your brand in images and words. Using the intelligence you gathered and the concepts you want to communicate, develop a brand style guide that keeps your messaging and materials on point. The guide should include the following:
    • descriptions of your audiences and what they want to hear from you
    • easily digestible, repeatable talking points
    • a logo, colors, graphics and photos that evoke the feelings and responses you want your audiences to have when they think of you

Deploy

Roll out your brand to employees, distributors and customers—in that order. Share the brand with your internal team first. They can buy into its promise and support field teams and customers effectively because your brand extends to the experience your external stakeholders have when they interact with your home team.

Distributors are next because they’re your primary brand ambassadors. However, most of them come to you with little or no sales experience. Help them reflect your brand appropriately by giving them templated tools—like product samples, marketing messages and business development rules—and teaching them how to use them. The training is critical, Goodwin says. Otherwise, it’s like expecting a bike mechanic to know how to repair a BMW. “You can’t say, ‘Here’s a big toolbox. Go fix that car.’ You have to say, ‘Here’s the toolbox, and here’s the tool concierge, and he’ll tell you what to use first. And here’s a video on how to use that tool. Now that you’ve done that part, you’ll use this tool next.’”

Once your staff and salespeople are on board, introduce the brand to your customers. They are the ones whose interpretation and ownership of your brand give it life beyond the logo. “Companies no longer own their brands,” says Brand Strategist Wayne Moorehead. “The customers and distributors do.”

Tech Effect

Any company that wants to stay competitive must think, act and plan like a digital native—which means your distributors need technology that’s a natural extension of what they’re already doing. And they’re doing a lot on social media and handheld devices.

So, develop business building apps and online platforms that keep them in contexts they’re familiar and comfortable with. Create Facebook groups where they can hang out with other distributors and give them ready-made social posts that help them share stories easily. Make it easy for them to share product information with customers via smartphones and even distribute virtual samples. For example, using the YouCam Makeup app, Amway salespeople can make personalized skin care commendations and allow customers to put virtual Artistry brand makeup on their selfies.

Tech tools have to be natural extensions of your corporate strategy. Pay attention to and leverage the conversations on social media. Look for evidence that your customers are hearing what you want them to hear. “Social media closes the feedback loop between brands and their intent and what you think those messages are and what those messages actually are,” Goodwin says.

Isagenix combines social media monitoring and analysis to determine how branding messages are working. People’s social behavior online often signals what their shopping behavior will be, Garza says. “We can say that we’re seeing a correlation between interest level and purchase intent.”

Your brand strategy must include an integrated plan that covers all technology touch points—from social media to websites to email. All of these channels either reinforce your brand strategy or dilute it. You don’t have a choice but to join in the digital revolution. Your customers and distributors will talk and learn about you online with or without your guidance, so it’s best that you lead, monitor and help shape the conversations.

Brand Imperative

Branding isn’t an option. It’s a requirement. The marketplace is crowded, and if you don’t have a distinct, emotionally connected brand, you become a commodity.

“One of the biggest misconceptions is that branding is not relevant or necessary in the direct selling channel,” says Moorehead. “Having a strong, differentiated brand is one of the only sustainable competitive advantages a company can have. The need will always be there. Building a strong brand should be the focus of every direct selling company.”

The Digital Leaders of Direct Selling

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Back in 2006, when Facebook was just a site for college kids, Twitter had less than 100 users, and Instagram, Snapchat, Tik-Tok, and Pinterest were still just ideas, the manner by which brands reached their consumers was relatively simple and straightforward. Traditional marketing—like print, television, and radio—was the only way to extend reach. If you had the budget and the creative, you would get the attention. Students interested in marketing and advertising were taught that this was the way to generate awareness, brand loyalty, and sales. Within a few years, this information was antiquated. Now, just over a decade later, it is almost completely obsolete. The paradigm has shifted. To granularly target your demographic, a strategic digital and social media strategy is not an alternative approach—it’s the standard.

This shift in priority has affected various industries at different rates. Those in the media and CPG spaces, among others, adopted this change early. On the opposite side of the spectrum, traditionally “one-to-one” industries, like direct sales, have been much slower to adapt since the word-of-mouth marketing model is the basis of the sales funnel. However, while companies can still survive without a sound digital strategy to complement their traditional tactics, they likely won’t be able to thrive.

So why is digital so important?

It comes down to adoption. Social media and mobile access to the internet is now one of the most ubiquitous facets of modern society. Over 5.1 billion people—67 percent of the planet—have access to a mobile device. Among them, 4.3 billion have access to the internet and regularly browse for information. About half of the people on earth, or 3.4 billion people, are social media users—95 percent of them access their profile on a mobile device.

As a marketer and advertiser, numbers like this mean one thing: broad, targeted reach. On the social media side, building a large, curated following means having a captive pool of potential consumers you can speak to daily with zero ad budget. That conversation, if executed properly, leads to awareness and brand loyalty.

It also means targeted advertising. Each of the major platforms, specifically Facebook and Instagram, allow us to granularly target users based on their interests, location, age, and preferences. Often, that leads to more quality for the advertiser and germane offers for the user. On the site side, it means easy access to a potential customer via their mobile device, which should ensure an easy-to-navigate and pleasant site experience that can further the user’s understanding and interest in the brand.

This “funnel,” from social media follower, to site visitor, to customer can drastically impact a company’s reach and revenue. Our goal was to see who within the direct sales industry was executing a sound strategy to further their brand goals.

How we performed our analysis

Over a 30-day period between April 1 and May 1, 2019, we used various monitoring services to track key metrics of 51 direct sales brands online. We were looking at social media size, average engagement rate, 30-day unique site visitors and 30-day total pageviews. The DSN Digital 100 will be published monthly—to submit your company for consideration, please contact editor@directsellingnews.com.

For social media insights, we used a mix of native site reporting, as well as third-party tools Sprout Social, Phlanx and SocialRank. For site insights, we used Alexa.com to estimate traffic and pageviews. While these services allow us to compare “apples to apples” by estimating KPIs, the actual data can only be seen by internal stakeholders and may vary slightly.

Social media size

The first category we analyzed was total social media size, which is a combination of Facebook likes, Twitter followers, Instagram followers and YouTube subscribers. The leaders in this category, with some exceptions, are largely excelling across Facebook and Instagram, where the key customer demographic is most engaged.

Social media engagement

This metric is much more important than simply size. A large page that lacks engagement has no value to the brand. And as we’ve seen with increasing frequency, especially as branded content sponsorships and influencer marketing gains prevalence, faking size by purchasing followers is becoming commonplace. On the flip side, a moderately-sized page with a high engagement rate can have a major impact on a brand’s reach, influence and revenue.

The brands leading in this category are activating their following through myriad content tactics. Some tell a compelling story. Some share product news and offerings. Some simply urge their distributors to engage as much as possible with the official company page. Whatever the strategy, the end result is an average engagement rate that is much higher than the standard benchmark, leading to increased reach, awareness and influence. This engagement properly directed could have a sizeable impact on lead generation and overall sales.

30-Day unique visitors

This metric gives us an idea of how many individual people are coming to a particular site within a 30-day period. Since our analysis largely examined the respective sites of each company, and didn’t look at distributer sites or subdomains, the totals give us an idea of overall public interest in the company at-large.

It’s worth noting that, with few exceptions, the brands excelling on social media are not listed in this category. This means that their engagement on social media, while valuable, is likely not being converted into traffic—this is a missed opportunity.

30-Day pageviews

This metric gives us a look into the site’s “stickiness”—once someone lands on the homepage, are they leaving immediately or are they clicking around and exploring the brand further? It can be perceived as a scale of how engaging your site is.

When you look at the sites of each brand leading in pageviews, you’re largely met with engaging content and an intuitive layout. They are also all mobile-optimized, meaning that regardless of device, the user experience remains consistent.

Digital presents a massive opportunity for the direct sales space

It’s well known that direct sales is a traditionally a one to one industry and companies have not wanted to interfere with what their sales force is currently doing. However, there is a tremendous opportunity for companies to partner with their sales force by weaponizing the traffic from social media and using it as a secondary customer acquisition platform.

The Evolving Retail Landscape and the Five Ways Direct Selling Can Achieve Sustained Growth

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DSA’s 2019 Growth & Outlook Survey results were just released, and after two years of modest decline, direct selling returned to growth, achieving $35.4 billion in estimated retail sales.

Riding on the tailwinds of strong macroeconomic conditions, the direct selling channel is well-positioned to achieve accelerated and sustained growth if it addresses the following:

2019 Growth & Outlook Survey

Revisiting The Retail “Apocalypse”

Before we go into further detail about the industry research findings, here’s some important context about the favorable macroeconomic environment.

Last year in this publication, I attempted to debunk the myth of the retail apocalypse and share a vision for how direct selling could return to growth.

Direct selling did return to growth. However, if you Google “retail apocalypse 2019” you continue to see tens of thousands of articles from prominent publications describing a grim reality of retail. It is true that many shopping malls are dying, which is driven by the closure of many “anchor” stores like JC Penney and Sears. And, there are already more announced store closures in 2019 than in all of 2018, including Payless, Gymboree, Walgreens, Victoria’s Secret, JC Penney, and Dress Barn.

It’s true many retail stores are closing. However, this only tells part of the story. Retail in the U.S. actually grew a healthy 4.8 percent in 2018, just a bit under the 5.2 percent growth of U.S. GDP. Reasons for retail growth include the strong economy and positive consumer sentiment.

Retail Isn’t Dead; It’s Just Evolving

E-commerce is one of the biggest segments of growth within retail at 14.2 percent in 2018. However, e-commerce still represents less than 10 percent of overall retail.

 

Other areas that are doing well continue to be experiential, discount, and omnichannel/harmonic retail (or companies that seamlessly blend multiple sales channels into an improved and unified customer experience). In fact, while many stores are closing, they are often being replaced by other brick and mortar stores.

How Did Direct Selling Perform?

There are numerous factors driving direct selling’s 1.3 percent growth in 2018.The direct selling wellness sector is the largest sector in terms of growth and share (representing 35.6 percent of total direct selling retail sales). Some of the wellness growth can be attributed to companies offering personalized service, coaching support, and accountability to help people become healthier within the context of a growing obesity epidemic and an aging population. Services and leisure & educational categories also experienced growth in 2018:

We also feel that growth is driven by the success of many companies that are responding well to the evolving retail channel and technology.

The 2019 Growth and Outlook Survey results also provide new clarity into who direct sellers and their customers are. In 2018, there were 6.2 million direct sellers (a 1.6 percent increase from 2017) and more than 36.6 million customers. (This customer count excludes customers that have not signed an agreement with direct selling companies.)

What’s The Outlook For Direct Selling?

DSA’s Industry Research Committee forecasts a 1-3 percent annual growth for the next three years. Rationale for the forecast includes: strong U.S. economy, retail growth, high consumer confidence, people are looking for part-time, flexible, entrepreneurial opportunities, many companies provide ongoing personalized coaching and provide unique value to the consumer. As more companies address retail and technological trends, including the recommendations below, we feel direct selling will be poised for continued growth in-line with GDP and overall retail sales. Direct selling is well positioned to achieve continued growth if companies address the following:

 

Segmenting Salesforce and Customers To Better Understand Your Salesforce and Become More Customer-Centric

Segmentation poses a business growth opportunity by tracking sales by segment, improving engagement with active and unengaged reps, and tailoring communications by segment. By developing preferred customer/ loyalty programs, companies are more easily able to cultivate customer data and identify how you can best empower your salesforce to meet customer needs.

Doing Research On Gen Z and Developing A Strategy To Attract Future Generations To Products and The Direct Selling Opportunity

There’s been much research done on millennials, but few in the industry are familiar enough to develop strategies to appeal to Generation Z (those born 1996-2011). By 2020, Gen Z will make up 40 percent of consumers and 36 percent of the workforce. Significant differences between Gen Z and millennials are emerging.

At DSA’s Annual Meeting, Josh Miller a 17-year-old entrepreneur representing XYZ University informed several DSA execs on how Gen Z is data-driven, competitive, and focused on financial stability and the future. Another fascinating insight Josh shared is that because Gen Z’ers don’t know a world without smart phones and social media, they now prefer face-to-face communication to online interaction. Information like this should help companies recognize if their direct selling strategy and model are poised to succeed with this generation. As the world’s largest upcoming generation, Gen Z represents the future of the labor market and consumer base. The sooner companies realize this, the more likely they will succeed.

Learning From The Gig Economy, Which Is Shaping Workforce Expectations

With the ubiquity of companies like Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb, it’s easy to forget that the gig economy is relatively new, nebulous, and rapidly evolving. What is evident is that the gig economy has already had a significant impact on reshaping workforce expectations (including direct selling) and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

For example, workers are increasingly expecting instant payments. Transportation services like Uber and Lyft allow for immediate payment following a ride, and even Airbnb provides payment at the start of a customer’s stay. Another way to learn and adapt from the gig economy is to make connecting with prospects easier. The appeal of many gig roles is that customers are connected to the gig worker through technology. The worker doesn’t need to do anything but show up. Some direct selling companies are addressing this challenge by matching prospects who visit their websites via geographic proximity. Companies may also be more proactive to drive prospects to their commerce sites, but traditionally many direct sellers view this as infringing on their prospect base. This is an area that needs further investigation. But technology and evolution of e-commerce platforms is likely a step in the right direction.

Another thing direct selling can learn from the gig economy is being able to control the whole business from a mobile device. There are many things we can learn from them that if addressed may make direct selling a better destination for those considering other gig opportunities.

During a tight labor market that’s achieved 50-year lows in the unemployment rate, the gig economy has increased the appeal of flexible, part-time earning opportunities. This should be direct selling’s sweet spot where we can compete and win.

While There Is Clearly Overlap, There Are Also Important Differences

Here are some key similarities and differences between direct selling and the gig economy:

2019 Growth & Outlook Survey

Innovating To Avoid Getting Left Behind During Rapid Evolution Of Retail & E-commerce

Another component of becoming more customer-centric is placing an increased focus on customer retention. It is well documented that the cost of retaining a customer is much less than acquiring a new one. Many e-commerce and gig companies are getting into the retention game with loyalty programs. A notable example of this is Dollar Shave Club, whose retention rate at 12 months is 50 percent—far exceeding many direct selling companies. Consider ways to engage loyal customers with targeted communications, product recommendations and promotions, and consider gamification.

Prioritizing Key Points Of Differentiation That Direct Selling Offers, and Minimizing The Impact Of Perceived Weaknesses

The direct selling industry is at a crossroads as the 100+ year old industry sees the retail and labor landscapes rapidly evolving. Questions emerge like how do you stay true to your core identity while embracing technology and change? What is the best path for direct selling moving forward?

The U.S. macroeconomic conditions create favorable tailwinds for direct selling to thrive, and its best path forward likely lies first in prioritizing key points of differentiation.

The late author and management consultant Peter Drucker said, “Waste as little effort as possible on improving areas of low competence. Concentration should be on areas of high competence and high skill. It takes far more energy and far more work to improve from incompetence to low mediocrity than it takes to improve from first-rate performance to excellence.”

Direct selling has the ability to achieve sustained excellence and comparative advantages in certain areas such as personalization, relationships, and experience. Monica Wood, Vice President, Global Consumer and Member Insights at Herbalife Nutrition and incoming Chair of DSA’s Industry Research Committee said, “Personalization is becoming ever important and is a key differentiator we have in direct selling. Our distributors listen to the needs of their customers and then they customize the wellness solutions we offer based on the individual needs of that customer.”

2019 Growth & Outlook Survey

“Direct Selling, like any industry, needs to evolve with macro and consumer trends, but it should not compromise on its inherent points of differentiation such as the priceless personalized experience a customer has with their direct seller,” says Jeff Kaufman, outgoing Chair of DSA’s Research Committee.

The unique direct selling experience is also a differentiator. As Qualtrics CEO Ryan Smith said, “we’re in the experience economy. People will pay a premium for a good experience, and experience is a growth lever… Either you’re intentionally racing to the top with experience or you’re unknowingly racing to the bottom.”

Focusing On Providing Value

No matter how hard direct selling companies try, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to beat Amazon on selection, shipping time, and price.

Amazon’s economies of scale, technological expertise, and relentless willingness to incur massive losses to compete for market share/growth make competing across any of these dimensions very difficult.

Will direct selling companies need to be able to beat Amazon on one-day drone shipping? Should direct selling companies match Dollar General on pricing? Beyond egregiously underperforming across these metrics, the answer is likely no. As long as you have value in other areas (e.g. the personalized ongoing service salesforce members offer their customers), 3-4 day shipping at a breakeven cost or selling cosmetics a dollar above the dollar store prices are likely fine. Otherwise, you’re on a race to the bottom.

However, at the other extreme, if we surrender entirely on selection, shipping time, and price, then you’re likely doomed. No matter how good your product is, consumers’ expectations have increased, and no one wants to wait weeks for their next order of protein powder. The answer lies somewhere in the middle. Being good enough to not noticeably frustrate customers here may be likely sufficient.

To see more statistics from DSA’s 2019 Growth & Outlook Survey, click here: www.dsa.org/benefits/research

Grounded in Gratitude

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DotDotSmile’s foundation of gratitude has helped build a culture of success as well as deliver on their purpose of creating smiles and building confidence.

DotDotSmile
Founded: 2013
Headquarters: Corona, California
Top Executives: Jeff Thompson, CEO and Founder Nicole Thompson, President
and Founder
Products: Clothing and Accessories

If you want to change your outlook try a little gratitude. Nicole Thompson resolved to do just that in 2013 when she started a gratitude journal. She sought perspective. What she ultimately found was an entrepreneurial inspiration. “Before you know it, I felt a weight lift from my shoulders even though our situation had not changed,” Nicole says.

She and her husband, Jeff and their two daughters lived in her parent’s basement, tucking away money for a southern California home of their own. Jeff commuted two hours each day and Nicole’s bridal hair and makeup business meant weekends away from family.

Her sketches from that night prompted a whirlwind trip to Los Angeles where she secured a pattern maker and spent their savings on fabric. The resulting little girl’s pink dress and leggings launched Nicole Thompson into the children’s apparel business and gave birth to DotDotSmile.

Instagram Heat

DotDotSmile launched hot on Instagram in 2013. “We went from zero to 10,000 followers quickly,” Nicole says. However, it wasn’t yet a direct selling company.

Demand was high from online consumers. The soft, comfortable fit and fabrics, as well as the unique prints were a hit with millennial moms. HQ and distribution were a spare bedroom in the Thompsons’ newly purchased home, and Nicole did it all. Life and business rolled along. They eagerly anticipated their third child, and Jeff took a VP of finance position with her parents’ company.

“At first it was simply word of mouth, and it continues to be; however, we have become more intentional about the growth and recruitment.” —Jeff Thompson, CEO & Founder

By 2016, it was clear to Jeff that DotDotSmile was destined for more than the spare bedroom. He joined Nicole full time as CEO and signed a lease for a 1,200 square foot warehouse space.

“It was a huge blessing to have him come on board. He saw the vision. He saw the growth. I’m really creative, but Jeff is very business-minded. He’s made some great decisions and can see the long haul,” Nicole says.

Nicole and Jeff added a capped sleeve dress, then an empire dress, as well as a romper to DotDotSmile’s initial tank dress and leggings product catalog. They looked to an international manufacturer to speed delivery time and lower costs while retaining quality. Their online sales expanded to include retail, then wholesale accounts. Growth was good, then great. In six months, they expanded their warehouse to 3,500 square feet and six months later, pushed it to 22,000.

Entrepreneurial Legacy

If there is a gene for entrepreneurism, Nicole Thompson has it. She comes from a long line of entrepreneurs. Nicole’s parents were direct sellers during her childhood, where she experienced the blessings of the direct selling business model, and in 2012, they founded a women’s apparel direct selling company.

While Nicole focused DotDotSmile’s business building online, her parents’ business gained ground in the direct selling space and sought a mother/daughter collaboration of sorts that would introduce children’s items to their women’s clothing catalog.

“Why not? I thought it would be fun,” Nicole says. DotDotSmile maintained its own business, vendors and grew online while this collaborative children’s clothing project spun along for two years. “It was an awesome experience for both of us, and it was really, really fun to see that come together. But in the end, we both agreed we were better off doing our businesses in our separate ways.”

Adopting Direct Selling Model

Faced with more individuals wanting to sell DotDotSmile products, Jeff and Nicole looked for options and business expansion strategies that made the most sense for everyone. It turns out direct selling worked best. In February 2017, DotDotSmile corporate announced its intention to adopt a direct selling business model. By July 2017, software and infrastructure were in place to welcome its first independent merchandisers.

“At first it was simply word of mouth, and it continues to be. However, we have become more intentional about the growth and recruitment,” Jeff says.

His three-year prep with his in-laws’ fast-growing direct selling company helped, but Jeff wanted expertise from direct selling veterans that knew the space. Six months since those hires came aboard, DotDotSmile’s field of independent merchandisers has grown from 1,100 (end of year 2018) to 1,700 (end of April 2019). The goal is 10,000 in three years.

“Everything has happened very organically so far. But since we’ve been here, we’ve started a lot of campaigns—everything from training programs to systems. We just had our first virtual opportunity call and had 69 people register and 45 actually on the call. It’s really impressive how many people are interested,” Silva Benlian, vice president of sales, says.

Gratitude Fuels Growth

Growth has come in many ways since choosing a direct selling business model. They recently committed to 70,000 square feet of warehouse space and now have three product manufacturers, rather than one. They hired an in-house graphics team to take fabric design from concept to print. They opted for a second, more accessible independent merchandiser entry package priced at $199. They’ve just hosted their third annual spring leadership event, as well as a 7-day incentive cruise to the Mexican Riviera for 100 independent merchandisers. They have also been doing introspective work looking into the “whys” of their independent merchandisers, creating a corporate culture based on core values and setting corporate strategy and actions based on their vision and beliefs.

“This whole thing was derived from a gratitude journal,” Jeff says. And gratitude is one of the springboards for DotDotSmile’s culture.

Their core values—gratitude, optimism, accountability, teamwork, fun, integrity, respect, empathy, innovation and quality—encompass the path they want everyone to take toward living out the company’s ultimate purpose, which is to create smiles and build confidence.

“We do that with the clothing. When the girls put them on, they are suddenly confident and twirl. It just happens naturally. At the same time, we expect that to happen for our merchandisers, as they are able to sell these dresses and prove to themselves they can build a business,” Jeff says. They also take their purpose to the world through charitable efforts.

Leveraging Social

DotDotSmile’s strategic 3-5 year plan is in place and includes road shows to meet with prospects, as well as a deeper look into their social media platform. “We’re looking at every avenue. You can’t just do one thing because that comes back to bite you. In this industry there a lot of tried and true methods, but there are also new ways,” Benlian says.

Now they reach millennial moms—their main customer and merchandiser demographic—where they are, and that’s on social media, sharing directly to merchandisers and prospects and encouraging merchandisers to do the same.

“Everyone can use their creativity on how they want to share and how they want to grow their business. They sell through Instagram, Facebook Live and we encourage them to do inhome pop-ups and live events,” Nicole says.

It’s Bigger Than Dresses

“Why do we exist?” Jeff Thompson, CEO of DotDotSmile, asked. That why becomes more nuanced with every passing year, but always centers on creating smiles and building confidence. They are establishing a culture that includes charitable good works that promote a higher purpose.

They began with a product specific sales campaign raising $50,000 for Children’s Hospital of Orange County, then raised $65,000 and coordinated a hands-on trip to the Philippines with Charity Vision, a Utah-based non-profit that aims to restore vision to people in developing nations.

“That opened up the eyes of our merchandisers to what we’re really doing here,” Thompson says.

At DotDotSmile’s Spring Leadership event, they announced collaboration with Operation Underground Railroad, a rescue and recovery non-profit focused on eradicating child sex trafficking.

“The goal is to raise $100,000. They (merchandisers) get it now. They get the purpose of DotDotSmile. They get that it’s much bigger than dresses at this point and what we’re doing and trying to achieve. We raised $12,000 in a week,” Thompson says.

Q&A with Laurie Ann Goldman

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Live Beautifully. Avon magic – which is one-part beauty, one-part iconic brand, and one-part powerful women!

New Avon began the new year by welcoming in a new CEO. I recently connected with Laurie Ann Goldman to talk about her thoughts and impressions in her new role. She shares her insights and observations and future goals.

What are your initial thoughts since joining Avon as CEO?

It’s a natural fit for me to be leading a company that celebrates women. My career has mostly been focused on women and understanding what they need. My time at Avon has been amazing. Our Avon Representatives inspire me and make the Avon magic—which is one-part beauty, one-part iconic brand, and one-part powerful women!

What is your biggest impression of the direct selling business model?

It’s ironic the model, which is modern, that is so personal, and doesn’t need brick and mortar stores was actually invented 134 years ago! It works more similarly to the way that women naturally want to buy and be sold to. It’s the perfect model for our time, and it’s getting stronger every day. The Avon brand promises to help women live beautifully—and that is both an invitation and a challenge. It’s an invitation to come join us on our journey and live beautifully. It’s also a challenge of how to build a business so you can live your life in a more beautiful way—whether that is having the flexibility to stay home with your kids, plan for retirement or by earning more money to buy the things you love.

In the role of CEO and being in a new channel, what has been your biggest challenge so far?

From a CEO perspective, I immersed myself in the business—as it’s incredibly multi-faceted and fast moving. I was grateful for the six months I was on the Board of Directors—it allowed me
to get a head start on knowing what to expect when I was in the chair. The biggest challenge was quickly assembling a strong executive team to steer the organization in the right direction.

What are your initial thoughts on LG Health & Household’s acquisition agreement of Avon?

We are thrilled. I couldn’t think of a better partner than LG H&H. They are a world class brand builder. Everyone knows them for their number one position in many product categories, including televisions and washing machines. What many people don’t know is that they have a large beauty and personal care business—38 different beauty brands in all. I’m excited to partner with them in helping build our brand position and category. They are true believers in direct selling as well.

Share with us a little bit about what Avon is doing to help enhance the customer and Representative experience?

Our mission is to celebrate women’s power to make a beautiful and positive impact in the world. When I think of our partnership with LG H&H—our vision is aligned. We’re going to build the brand by expanding our R&D capability, innovation, and making fabulous products.

From a training and onboarding perspective, what are you doing to ensure your new representatives have a good experience from the get-go?

To get new Representatives off on the right foot takes a well-planned process. People learn in different ways. Some are experiential learners, and some are more visual learners. The core of our onboarding strategy is understanding what these needs are, presenting them based on these needs and understanding how they want to consume and at what speed. They are individuals, and we have made our process as unique as they are.

What attributes (in your opinion) make a great leader?

Leaders are different—some are inspiring leaders, or effective leaders, or engaging leaders, or accessible leaders or—on your best day—a combination of all of that!

Leadership is always situational. Sometimes you have to create something from nothing. Sometimes you have to build on something that is already there. And sometimes you have to restore something that has been lost. Leadership always asks something different of us. Regardless of the situation, I think leadership demands some specific things such as surrounding yourself with the very best people you can find. Create an exciting destination and a clear sense of direction and communicating in ways that make people believe in the possibilities and not fear the barriers. Lastly,
show your passion—make it clear that you take the job personally and be exactly who you are.

What initiatives are you laser focused on right now that you could tell us about?

There are several strategies that we focus on as a team. One of them is igniting what I call the ‘Avon Nation’— generations of women who love Avon and are either Representatives or simply customers who have purchased products or have liked us on social media. So one part of the strategy is inspiring this entire Avon Nation to action and creating a stronger, tight-knit community.

We’re also focused on product innovation—adding to our line of premium products. They are at the core of the excitement of why women fall in love with Avon. We have a new product called NakedProof that gives women a new weapon in the battle against cellulite. It has been a huge success for us. Women are seeing results in as few as two weeks. When the product hit the market, my Instagram account just started blowing up. It’s been fun and rewarding to seeing the excitement that our product line is producing—not only in the marketplace but for our Representatives as well.

A woman falls in love with the product, and then they can’t wait to tell their friends and family about it. The brand grows as a result from sharing that excitement. In direct selling that kind of momentum is contagious. It makes the whole cycle work.

What do we do well as a channel, and where do we need to improve?

As a channel, we give personalization and one-on-one experiences. So many Representatives are both digital sellers and classicsellers. The beauty of our channel is giving women choices about how they want to work, how they want to sell and giving customers the choice of how they want to buy.

For a company that’s been around for 134 years, we were delighted when we were named one of the top 10 most engaging brands on Facebook. It’s great validation for us that our social media strategy is having an impact in helping our Representatives and customers alike in learning about our products. Commerce has changed so much in just a few years, and social media has been such a big influence on these changes.

What are you excited the most about going forward?

First, we are excited about our Representatives, the driving force behind our success. Also, all of the products we released this year have been successful. We launched a new product called Anew Ultimate Dual Elixir and for two months when we launched we sold one product a minute. We also have a record number of Representatives descending on New Orleans for our conference in August. I’m excited to get our community together and improve their entrepreneurial skillset and grow personally!

The China Conundrum

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What will be the impact of China’s 100-day action on the direct selling channel going forward? Time will tell.

When Direct Selling News released its Global 100 list of the top direct selling companies in the world in June, one country was conspicuously underrepresented. China, the second largest direct selling market, had only one company in the ranking—No. 4 Infinitus—compared to 26 in 2018.

How was that possible? High-profile incidents involving direct selling companies led to public outcry and negative media attacks on the channel, culminating with the Chinese government initiating a 100-day review of the health market. The increased scrutiny resulted in companies wanting to stay under the radar. “Coupled with the public opinion turmoil since the end of last year, many Chinese direct selling companies have suffered from poor performance and chose to act in a low-key manner,” said a Chinese source.

With several U.S. companies looking to China for future growth, what will be the lasting effect of this recent 100-day action? Will it be back to business as usual, or is it just the start of a new framework for the direct selling channel, one in which new guardrails will be imposed on the business model.

How It Started

The public opinion turmoil brewing over the last six months began in December 2018, when Quanjian, a Tianjin-based direct selling company, was investigated for false advertising. They were called out by a popular Chinese health website for using the photo of a child who had died in promotional materials for its cancerfighting products. Social media erupted, with people sharing their experiences with Quanjian products.

“When you talk about consumable categories like nutrition being the primary category that is down, it’s not like you are going to make that up in Q2, Q3 and Q4.” —Bob Bass, Lead Strategic Insights Analyst, Amway

One month later, another direct selling health company, Hualin Suanjianping Biotechnology Co. Ltd., made headlines when authorities investigated it on suspicion of deceiving customers and operating as a pyramid scheme.

Within days of the Hualin incident, 13 Chinese ministries and government agencies, led by the State Administration of Market Regulation, jointly launched a 100-day action to rectify the health market.

Officially begun on January 8, the “Hundred Days of Action” saw 2.741 million law enforcement personnel dispatched throughout the country to supervise and inspect key industries, key areas and key commodities. Forty-nine direct selling products were revoked during the investigation.

On April 18, the 13 departments reported that after 100 days of joint rectification, the “health market chaos was effectively curbed, but the hidden dangers caused by chaos and some deep-seated problems still exist.”

Impact On U.S. Companies

While the focus of the 100-day action was mostly on health companies, other direct sellers from around the world felt its impact, including those here in the U.S. Most analysts believed the government restrictions on holding meetings and the negative media toward health companies would show in net sales for the first quarter. That was true for most of the top U.S. companies.

USANA Health Sciences’ net sales decreased 8.7 percent in Greater China during the first quarter. In USANA’s latest investor call, CEO Kevin Guest attributed part of the decline to the action but is optimistic normal sales activity will resume once the company begins offering promotions. Guest said that while the government reviews are not uncommon in China, the company did not anticipate the significant volume of negative media coverage about health products and direct selling.

“This media coverage slowed the productivity of our Associates, and generated skepticism amongst customers and potential customers, all of which ultimately affected sales in China for the quarter,” Guest said. “Notwithstanding, we are confident that our strategies, plans and promotions for 2019 will drive sales and generate momentum.”

Herbalife Nutrition was down 25 percent in China for the first quarter. Alex Amezquita, the company’s senior vice president of Finance, Strategy and Investor Relations, said the impact on Herbalife’s business stemmed from the inability to hold standard business meetings and “that nutrition club operators faced increased scrutiny that created an overall hesitation in their activities.”

Securities analyst Doug Lane sees trouble looming ahead for Herbalife Nutrition in the second quarter due to very little momentum. “They are having to reboot from a standing start by having more meetings again,” said Lane. “They really rely on meetings for their business, and they were restricted from doing that. So now they have to recapture stalled momentum.”

One of the companies hardest hit by the action was NHT Global. Total revenue of $19.3 million decreased 63 percent compared to $52.4 million in the first quarter of 2018. Chris Sharng, president of parent company Natural Health Trends Corp., said, “While our financial performance was adversely impacted by this initiative during the quarter, we strongly support the actions taken by the Chinese government to root out bad products and deceptive practices in order to protect Chinese consumers. We have great confidence in our ability to navigate the business through uncertain times and to renew growth once the macroclimate improves.”

Nu Skin Enterprises had a stellar first-quarter performance for a company with nutrition making up 40 percent of its business. The company had 12 percent growth in Mainland China, which the company attributed to a focus on personal care products.

What’s Next?

China has always been a volatile direct selling market. In 1998, the government shut down the channel completely, calling it an “economic cult.” Companies like Amway, Avon and Mary Kay Inc. worked hard to bring it back by reforming the framework, only to see other companies come in and corrupt the model. The frequent government reviews are due to scams and pyramid schemes that continue to plague the channel.

 

However, as volatile as it has been, the market has always continued to grow. Analyst predictions that it would one day surpass the U.S. as the largest direct selling market were nearly realized in 2018: recent data suggests China is now tied with the U.S. for the No. 1 spot, although the 100-day action will likely cause it to fall back to No. 2 in 2020.

U.S. companies looking to enter the Chinese market can look to companies like Amway for inspiration. China is now Amway’s largest market, accounting for approximately 30 percent of its worldwide sales according to the company’s president, Doug DeVos. While not as greatly affected by the 100-day action as nutritional companies, net sales in China were down slightly for Q1 2019 according to an Amway source.

Bob Bass, lead strategic insights analyst at Amway, notes what was lost during the recent 100-day action, he believes, will most likely not be made up over the three remaining quarters in 2019.

“When you talk about consumable categories like nutrition being the primary category that is down, it’s not like you are going to make that up in Q2, Q3 and Q4,” said Bass. “It’s not pent-up demand. You lost that opportunity for people to be using your product during that full three-month period. While pent-up may apply to durable products, it should not be applied to consumables like nutrition.”

Governance May Stifle Momentum

While direct selling executives will try to recapture momentum over the coming months, the truth is that it may never be back to business as usual for nutritional companies in the China market for two reasons. One, the events of the past six months likely mean greater regulation in direct selling as a whole and more watchful eyes on health/nutrition companies. The 13 departments intend to build a system of joint governance—where none existed before—to safeguard the rights of Chinese consumers and to ensure a fair and competitive marketplace.

And two, some industry experts believe social media will play a critical role in shaping the channel. The Chinese government is sensitive to citizen unrest. The speed with which the Quanjian incident was widely shared—and the anger it generated—was because of social media. Consumers and those wishing to participate in direct selling as a business opportunity now have the means to quickly vocalize their suspicions and displeasures. The government will want the channel to regulate itself better and do better compliance so as to avoid more Quanjian and Hualin moments. Therefore, it can never again be business as usual. There must be changes if direct selling, which has received intense negative press over the last few months, can positively move forward.

What is encouraging amid all this is that the direct selling channel does have the support of the Chinese government. Dale Sun, CEO of the Global Direct Selling Research Institute based in Hong Kong, says that while the Chinese companies are currently hesitant about bringing any attention to their companies, the 100-day action could be the catalyst for a much better future for them all.

“All I see is positive,” said Sun. “The market is huge and the demand for direct selling exists. The question is, how do companies meet the customers’ need and in what way for the long-term benefit.”

Developing a Modern Compensation Strategy

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Today’s direct selling climate demands companies establish a compensation strategy, rather than just a commission plan.

In the world of same-day shipping, the gig economy and instantaneous communication, you want to know where you stand in the direct selling industry and how to stay competitive. The landscape is shifting, and it will soon become apparent who’s been paying attention and who hasn’t. To stay competitive, you need to know whether or not you’re a modern direct selling company. And, if not, how you can become one.

One of the best ways to determine the health of a direct selling business is to look at its compensation strategy. There are some key actions you can take in developing a modern compensation plan that will position your business for success in the current industry

Expand Your Definition Of A Commission Plan

In the past, many companies could get away with having a commission plan that featured 3-5 different commission types. However, as new companies entered the market, compensation plans needed to evolve to better accommodate all of the distributor types and stay competitive in the industry. Now, it’s common to see ten or more different commission types as part of any one direct selling company.

Making your plan more complex, though, doesn’t necessarily make it better. With the rise of technology and good data, you have a huge variety of ways to motivate distributors and customers. Companies are designing more contests, promos, and short-lived incentives now than ever before, and all of them have to be accounted for in the overall compensation strategy. Companies have implemented promos from, say, the marketing team that can weaken the commission plan by draining a pool commission or distracting distributors from building their businesses.

Today’s companies can’t afford to make decisions like these that undermine their commission plan. You need to have a clear picture of all of the ways you’re driving behaviors for your distributors and customers—you need to have a compensation strategy, rather than a commission plan.

Sustain A Flexible Mindset

One of the biggest differentiating qualities of modern compensation plans today is knowing that changes are inevitable. It used to be common practice to cement the compensation plan into a company’s fiber. Not only did early companies refuse to change comp plan brochures, they also opted to never alter the programming around their commission plan and payouts.

It’s not hard to see why companies had this mindset—making big changes to your plan after having a well-established salesforce can cause unexpected backlash and a mass exodus of your best sales leaders. It’s not a good idea to make adjustments that force a distributor to change their build strategy, but it’s imperative to make small changes over time.

“Modern compensation plans also need to be able to distinguish between customers and distributors. The FTC has made it clear that customer-centric sales models have to be a major part of our industry moving forward.”

We’ve noticed a big industry shift in distributor requests. Now that other companies’ plans are more accessible and transparent, influential sales leaders see a good idea in someone else’s plan and want to have the same thing in their own. Requests like these were unheard of in the ’80s and ’90s, but are now a common practice. ViSalus is a good example of this—when they came out with their “Three for Free” program, it was so popular that other clients wanted a similar incentive added to their plan as fast as possible.

Another reason that companies need to have flexible plans is the fact that expansion demands change. As companies reach a global size and enter new markets, they need to account for different direct selling laws and taxes for each country while keeping their plan relatively seamless. Staying consistent but flexible will help you adapt to both internal and external forces while keeping a strong, foundational brand presence.

Focus On The Customer

In reality, though, most people know why they want to join a direct selling company when they sign up and will become the kind of distributor they know they want to be. With the majority of people never signing up a new distributor, your marketing budget and focus are better spent targeting the right people and encouraging the behaviors they know they want to engage in.

How can you clearly distinguish between distributors and customers? Two popular choices are customer loyalty and auto-ship programs. Both options can help your business better care for and keep track of customers while communicating with them much more effectively. They also have the added benefit of giving you a way to reward loyal product enthusiasts with low prices and a sense of exclusive privilege.

Both of these programs provide you with a distinct group of customers, which is one of your best protections if you ever find yourself under FTC scrutiny. As your company designs incentives for finding and supporting customers, you’ll have an added level of defense and a better competitive edge.

Make Data-Driven Decisions

All of these actions are important, but what will make them work to your advantage is having good data to inform and streamline your decision-making process. Which changes to your compensation plan are really necessary, and how can you know when those changes need to happen? The answer is hidden in your data.

Detailed data reports can tell the story of your business’s past, but also map out its future. Emerging patterns will help you to spot trends, and trends afford you confidence in predicting outcomes, like which of your sales leaders has the potential to become your next dream builder. Educated guesses like these help you to stay ahead of the curve and avoid unpleasant surprises.

A modern compensation strategy considers all of the ways you motivate your distributors and customers. Each of your teams will have ideas for how to drive behaviors, and those ideas need to be thoroughly examined and carefully modeled with good data and sound reports to protect your compensation plan.

Great data also helps you deliver essential information to your salesforce to help them reach their goals. Especially for distributors who have busy families or work multiple jobs, they need to be able to quickly see their progress and what steps to take in meeting volume quotas or rank advancement requirements. If a distributor doesn’t know where they stand, they can become frustrated and disenchanted with even the best of compensation plans. Good data shows that you’re invested in your distributors’ success and that your salesforce can trust you to help them succeed.

Your compensation plan is your single largest expense. Developing a modern strategy for maintaining it needs to be a big part of how you protect and grow your business moving forward. Broadening your commission plan, staying flexible, investing in your customers and making data-driven decisions will pave the way for your success.

Creating Unforgetable Brand Experiences

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Amway’s XS Center for Optimal Fun immerses visitors in adventure and fun.

Brand experience is a term loosely thrown around in the direct selling industry. Maybe it’s hard to define, or maybe it’s undervalued. Creating opportunities for customers and distributors spread across the country or around the globe isn’t easy to execute, but it can be a terrific way to ingrain people in a company culture.

In the physical retail space, The House of Vans in London is a 30,000-squarefoot building merging music, art and skateboard/BMX culture. The bottom floor holds a full concrete ramp and skate/bike course, while other levels include live music, a café and art galleries. IKEA gave Facebook fans the opportunity to have a sleepover in a warehouse in Essex, complete with massages, salons, and the ability to select their own mattress and pillows customized to their sleep needs.

One unique direct selling industry example of a physical location offering visitors a total cultural emersion is Amway’s XS Center for Optimal Fun in Laguna Beach, Calif. Amway’s popular XS Energy drink has formed a brand and culture of its own, and the Center for Optimal Fun provides independent business owners a place to relax, work, and ultimately experience what the XS culture is all about.

“XS is a brand driven by experience,” says XS co-founder David Vanderveen. “We like to help people push themselves further and do more than they thought they could.”

Visitors to the XS Center for Optimal Fun can choose adventure experiences such as hiking, surfing, beach workouts, snorkeling, biking, or just a relaxing time in the sand. The location was a major factor for matching the XS Energy culture. Laguna Beach was founded as an art colony, and is now one of the top destinations for adventure, relaxation and fun. The XS brand is driven by art, adventure and entrepreneurship. The brand experience goal of the Center for Optimal Fun is to merge hard work and fun.

New DSN Digital 100 Provides Insight on Direct Selling’s Digital Leaders

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Starting with the July 2019 issue, Direct Selling News is introducing a new monthly ranking, the DSN Digital 100, that will offer added insight on the digital marketing efforts of direct selling companies.

The goal of the DSN Digital 100 is to see who within the direct sales industry is executing a sound social media strategy in furthering their brand goals by showcasing the Top 25 companies in four areas:

  • Social Media Size – the combination of Facebook likes, Twitter followers, Instagram followers and YouTube subscribers.
  • Social Media Engagement – the average engagement rate that leads to increased reach, awareness and influence.
  • 30-Day Unique Visitors – the number of individual people coming to a site within a 30-day period.
  • 30-Day Pageviews – the “stickiness” of a site’s user experience.

Traditionally, the direct sales channel has been much slower than other industries in adopting digital marketing since the word-of-mouth marketing model is the basis of the sales funnel. However, with social media and mobile access to the internet now one of the most ubiquitous facets of modern society, direct selling companies need a sound digital strategy to complement their traditional tactics.

DSN performed analysis for the initial list over a 30-day period between April 1 and May 1, 2019, using various monitoring services to track key metrics of 51 direct sales brands online. To create the ranking system, DSN used a mix of native site reporting, as well as third-party tools Sprout Social, Phlanx and SocialRank. For site insights, Alexa.com was used to estimate traffic and pageviews.

The DSN Digital 100 will be published monthly, both in print and online. To submit your company for consideration, contact editor@directsellingnews.com.

To download DSN Digital 100 click here.

 

Direct Selling Australia Announces 2019 Industry Award Winners

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Direct Selling Australia announced the winners of the 2019 DSA Industry Awards on June 24 at its 52nd annual conference, Get in Touch.

The awards recognize the achievements of member companies that are transforming the lives of those seeking flexible and meaningful ways to earn an income, often following an exit from the workforce due to children or wanting to care for elderly relatives, and aim to promote direct selling as a business channel that helps create better lives.

Categories for the awards were selected to recognize innovation, excellence, creativity and partnership among the membership.

The winner of the Partner Award was Corporate Theatre for its ongoing service to the industry, producing a measurable impact on the growth and development of an active DSA member company. Corporate Theatre has a long-standing relationship with Arbonne, Rodan+Fields, LeReve, Kyani, NuSkin, and The Body Shop At Home for their event production services.

The winner of the inaugural Distributor of the Year Award was Christine Tylee from The Body Shop At Home for embodying the principles of the DSA Code of Practice. Christine is an inspiring direct seller who has a passion for personal development, business growth, her customers and the wider community. Christine grew a successful business while supporting her young daughter fight a life-threatening illness that empowered her to then become a vigorous advocate for Camp Quality and RedKite.

The winner of the Connector Award was Thermomix for demonstrating excellence and creativity in effective Australian marketing to key field people for their “Thermomix Loyalty Offer” campaign. From this campaign, Thermomix reached its goals of increasing sales, providing consultants with an opportunity to re-connect with existing customers and successfully employed an online sales channel direct to customers that preserved the key role played by consultants.

The winner of the Empowerer Award was Mary Kay for its “Skin Analyzer” program that successfully empowered the sales field to succeed. This tool provides personalized skin care solutions in a very innovative way including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connection, 50x zoom camera lens, real-time skin observations and app compatibility whilst remaining compact and portable. The judges describe it as the ideal tool for the millennial generation.

The winner of the Local Award was Le Reve for being an Australian founded business that has dedicated themselves to achieving a high standard of excellence in business operations. Le Reve has been commended for remaining agile and innovative in an evolving marketplace whilst producing significant growth year-on-year. Le Reve demonstrated innovation through the staple of changes they implemented in 2018 including a new VIP customer program, online hub, format for parties, video training library and incentive program.

The winner of the Giver Award was The Body Shop At Home for providing a measurable impact on the Australian Childhood Foundation (ACF) for “The Healing Hearts Project.” The partnership began with the aim to bring love back to children affected by the trauma of abuse and violence. Their support has increased the number of counselling sessions ACF is able to offer extremely vulnerable children and their carers, empowering specialist counsellors with increased resources to support children and the sensory doll program has seen significant improvements in the children in the foundation.

Each award winner received an engraved Georg Jensen bowl. The awards were sponsored by valued DSA supplier members Freight Distribution Management (FDM) Destination Gold Coast Business Events and National Product Fulfilment (NPF).

USANA Recognized for Decade of Promoting Ethical Business Standards

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For the 10th consecutive year, USANA has been named to the Direct Selling Association (DSA) Code of Ethics Communication Initiative.

 

The initiative’s purpose is to encourage and promote the education and sharing of the DSA Code of Ethics among member companies, members of the field and the general public. Over the past decade, USANA has been consistently recognized for taking its ethical business practices to the next level within the direct sales industry.

 

“USANA is devoted to its commitment to ethical business practices, which is why we are proud to be a part of such an important initiative,” said Dan Whitney, vice president of ethics and market expansion. “Every year, we participate in the Code of Ethics Communication Initiative to strive to maintain the highest level of ethics in operating a direct sales business. A decade as part of this initiative proves to USANA Associates and the public our expertise in the code that guides ethical business practices and consumer services in this unique industry.”

 

Created in 2008, the initiative recognizes member companies that go above and beyond in their effort to promote awareness of the code by fulfilling the necessary criteria and adhering to ethical business practices within direct sales. The initiative encourages companies to be truthful about their products, services, identity and privacy. It seeks to eliminate deceptive or unlawful consumer or recruiting practices and creates an environment of ethical business practices.

 

To qualify for the initiative, USANA was required to complete a list of activities designed to promote the Code of Ethics to its Associate and customer base. USANA’s qualifications were then reviewed by DSA staff and verified by DSA’s code administrator.

Plexus Provides 10 Million Meals for Partner Feeding America

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Plexus Worldwide announced that it has helped provide 10 Million Meals* in the first year of its partnership with Feeding America under the Plexus Charities and Nourish One® Program.

For each serving of Plexus Lean™ sold, Plexus helps provide a meal to someone in need; this equals 14 meals for every unit of Lean sold. This achievement far exceeds the original first-year goal of donating 2.5 million meals and has emboldened Plexus to renew its commitment to Feeding America for a second year at the Mission Partner level.

“We are proud to share this exciting news at the mark of our first anniversary with Feeding America,” said Tarl Robinson, CEO and founder of Plexus. “By forging meaningful partnerships such as these, we can help people who face food insecurity and work with Feeding America to end hunger right here at home.”

The One Plexus family includes hundreds of thousands of Ambassadors who share health and happiness with others daily. In March 2019, Plexus achieved record enrollment and is currently in four global markets, with increased international expansion on the horizon.

“Seeing the positive impact our Nourish One program is incredibly rewarding,” added Christopher Pair, president of Operations and International for Plexus. “Having personally experienced food insecurity growing up, this partnership is close to my heart. We are looking forward to an even bigger and better second year with Feeding America, knowing that more children and families will have the support they need.”

*$1 helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America on behalf of local member food banks.