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The Conversation Advantage

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E-commerce giants and the gig economy are fierce opponents, but direct selling’s unique marketing strategy could be its best chance to weather the competition.

Meaningful human interaction can seem like a dying art in this digital age. Front porches have been replaced by neighborhood Facebook groups, teachers assign homework by email, and political candidates rely on prepared text and voice messages to spread the word about their platforms.

So, it’s no surprise that business has followed the trend. Every transaction, whether shopping online or checking out in a brick and mortar store, usually begins with asking for a phone number, a loyalty card or an email address. Traditional retail is now taking notes from direct selling’s playbook, realizing that a digital connection after the initial sale will bring them back again and again. And it works. But something is getting lost in all of that automation. It’s a missing link that accounts for the number one source of revenue in the industry, and direct selling wields it better than just about anyone else.

The Power of Personalization

Face-to-face meetings still trump digital. Paris-based global market research firm Ipsos conducted a study of the direct selling workforce in the European Union and discovered that these types of personal interactions are the source of more revenue than any other type of communication. Customers like knowing who they’re buying from, even if it’s a new acquaintance.

“In the direct sales industry, that’s how we stand out,” says Kalaia Chief Executive Officer and Founder Gaya Samarasingha. “That’s what we’re all about. We cut out the middle man and just talk to the customer and provide them with a more custom solution.”

When it comes to receiving advertisements through emails or text blasts, customers know they are just one of thousands. Even the slickest TV commercials must cast a wide enough net to meet the needs of a large number of people, and customers are savvy enough to recognize that their individual wants aren’t the top priority when these mass-marketed solutions are thrust at them.

“Whether you start with a relationship and then connect online or the other way around, it has to turn into a conversation.”
— Gaya Samarasingha, Kalaia Chief Executive Officer and Founder

Face-to-face marketing rests in this gap, between marketing to the masses and understanding the individual customer. It’s an underserved category in traditional marketing that won’t fit into a mold that depends on celebrity endorsements and generalizations. Within this combination of transactions and interpersonal communication is where the true power of direct selling lies and what differentiates it from all the other retailers and e-commerce businesses out there. The result is not only a tailored, personalized solution, but one that comes from a trusted source.

Is Customization Worth the Cost?

One-to-one marketing is effective, sure, but it’s also expensive. Direct selling’s bread and butter is its consultants. They’re the ones telling a product or company’s story, providing the marketing and public relations that would traditionally come through other channels. While the cost of building a successful team and paying them well through lucrative compensation plans and bonuses is more expensive in the short term than retail’s quicker, leaner marketing routes—like emails with discount codes, for instance—it’s the repeat business and loyal customers that create ongoing, growing revenue for direct selling. The value, Samarasingha says, is in the long game.

“It’s a good investment that is going to pay you off in retention of that customer,” she says. “You might get that first sale out of somebody much easier if it’s an impulse buy, but retention is critical. It costs so much money to bring in a customer, but to continue to get that impulse buy, having some level of relationship with the brand or the person is going to play a part. Otherwise, they will move on to the next discount or product that comes along the way.”

Connection Requires Conversation

We crave connection. In a 2018 SurveyMonkey study of more than 1,800 Americans, 42 percent of adults say they favor in-person communication over any other interaction. That preference spans generations, as the study revealed face-to-face communication was preferred by 44 percent of adults ages 18 to 34, 40 percent of those ages 35 to 64, and 45 percent of the 65 plus crowd.

Even though texting and online conversations still carry weight, with 28 percent of adults under 34 leaning heavily on texting to communicate, the numbers reflect that personal interactions matter more to consumers. With direct selling, those interactions often convert to sales, meaning time spent one on one is time well spent.

But just because face time took the number one spot for revenue generation doesn’t mean it works in isolation. Digital connections may not be the source for the most sales within the direct selling channel, but they are still relevant.

“You have to be both, and I think it goes hand in hand,” Samarasingha says. “Whether you start with a relationship and then connect online or the other way around, it has to turn into a conversation.”

The challenge for any marketer on social media is that because of its digital nature, it can easily become a voyeuristic mechanism, where retailers and sellers watch customers rather than engage with them. The key, she says, is creating and committing to the interaction.

“We have to turn that lead generated through social media into some sort of a conversation where we can really understand what the customer’s needs are, then offer a solution and show them how we can help,” she says.

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Surviving the Competition

A lot has been said about the voracity with which e-retailers like Amazon and gig economy companies like Airbnb are scooping up customers and market share. In fact, Direct Selling News reported in November about the threat that these models represent for the direct selling industry. But it’s also fair to point out that the retail space has taken cues from the direct selling industry in the way it is seeking to create a relationship with consumers.

The game is changing, however, and even though retailers are now tapping heartily into the trend of connection and personalization, the competitive edge has shifted to include more than just customized solutions. Consumers now want to be immersed in the buying experience, to have an Instagram-worthy moment or a story worth telling later, and e-tailers and traditional retail brands are earnestly seeking to create these occasions through mobile app games, lottery-style discount codes, virtual reality adventures and wacky store displays. Direct selling’s unique conversational advantage could be its greatest resource for weathering the competition, but as customers continue to flock toward not just great products, but great experiences, leveraging the unusual or the disrupting to attract new customer and media engagements will become increasingly important to remain relevant.

Why Direct Sellers Need A Following in Order to Lead

Skepticism kills sales but relating to others by sharing your own experience can be a powerful antidote.

“That’s why storytelling is important,” Samarasingha says. “It makes someone say, ‘If she can do it, so can I.’ You connect with that person on an emotional level, rather than just science and factual information.”

But as connections multiply, face-to-face interaction with every customer isn’t always feasible, which is why building a following on social media plays an important role for direct sellers. Starting or continuing the conversation by engaging people through a story they can relate to and adding value to their lives, rather than simply broadcasting your own show, is the definitive difference that makes a direct seller’s online presence noticeable in a sea of marketing campaigns.

“Going live or making a post on social media is a good way to consistently communicate with a potential customer base without picking up the phone every single time you want to share something,” she says. “That’s not practical.”

SENEGENCE: The Challenge of Growth

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Finding solutions to hyper growth has given Senegence a strong foothold on the future.

SeneGence
Founded: 1999
Top Executives: Joni Rogers-Kante, Founder, CEO and Chairwoman | Ben Kante, Chief Strategy Officer | Alan Rogers Kante, Chief Experience Officer
Products: Health and Wellness
Headquarters: Foothill Ranch, California
Employees: 400
Operation & Manufacturing Centers: California and Oklahoma
COUNTRIES: Currently operating in 14, expanding into Hong Kong in April

Impressive growth is usually a wonderful situation—business owners rarely object to people clamoring for their products. However, when a demand for product exceeds the ability to fulfill orders, business seas can roil. It takes a steady, innovative hand at the helm to keep the business on an even keel and moving forward when hit with such a gale force. This is what SeneGence International, based in Foothill Ranch, California, experienced starting in 2015 when the phenomenon that is social media catapulted the company’s products into a veritable typhoon of demand.

“We just went back to ‘always do the right thing and do it in the old-fashioned way’…we were open like 24 hours a day.”
— Joni Rogers-Kante, Founder, CEO and Chairwoman

Founder, CEO and Chairwoman Joni Rogers-Kante says this overwhelming situation continued into 2016 and became a “full-blown disaster” in 2017. Rogers-Kante, her husband (and Chief Strategy Officer) Ben Kante, and son Alan Rogers Kante, chief experience officer, found themselves awash in orders and no way to quickly fulfill those orders. As the family members and principals of the company, Joni, Ben and Alan addressed the situation head on and made sure their Distributors were kept in the loop throughout every phase of solving the dilemma.

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Social Media’s Amplification Effect

According to Rogers-Kante, issues began when the company started responding consistently to social media bloggers with information about the products, which quickly increased sales and Distributors. When this surge hit the same time as the company’s exponential growth, SeneGence had no way to handle the huge volume of distributors coming on-board. “The company was not prepared with its system, we were not prepared with any kind of backup for raw materials and inventory,” says Rogers-Kante. “Of course, we find solutions—we never considered anything else.” They were helped when companies sold SeneGence their additional raw materials while other companies put their product production aside to give it priority.

Ben Kante says their vendors went above and beyond to help them. “All of our vendors did double shifts, worked Saturdays and Sundays,” he explains. The Kantes also took action themselves. Joni and Ben flew to Europe and designed a machine for high-speed manufacturing, and they acquired additional facilities and began putting the plans in place not only to sustain their current volume but also to accommodate future growth.

Taking Complete Control

Rogers-Kante says it was a blessing that everything happened at once since it forced everyone—from distributors and suppliers to vendors and employees—to realize SeneGence needed to control everything from beginning to end. They created “win-win” situations for all those involved and, notes Rogers-Kante, “It gave SeneGence complete control globally over the expansion, the volumes, the production, the creation, the quality of every single thing that we sell.”

This sudden product demand affected 98 percent of the company’s product line. Given that Rogers-Kante founded the company in 1999 and SeneGence now features over 300 products, that’s a lot of SKUs. Of course, excessive demand also means fast and furious online ordering, a situation that put a serious burden on the company’s computer system. “We’d get over 10,000 orders within 30 minutes and our computer couldn’t talk to the merchant processor fast enough,” explains Kante.

Rogers-Kante says this situation turned into a positive. “We just went back to ‘always do the right thing and do it in the old-fashioned way’…we were open like 24 hours a day,” she says. This required calling Distributors to make sure their orders were placed correctly and even double shipping items if there was any doubt an order had not been fulfilled.

Harnessing Technology

Today SeneGence’s computer system is in the Cloud. “We moved web pages, order pages, streamlined the pages for mobile,” says Kante. “We were able to move to the largest credit card merchant processor in the world …[it] can handle 10,000 to 20,000 orders in an hour.” The company still uses a few outside manufacturers, but most of the manufacturing is controlled by the company. Kante says they have kept some of the best vendors (for fulfilling small orders), so if they need extra help in the future those vendors can assist them.

SeneGence also has a contingency plan for handling another exponential growth spurt: The company has vendors in various countries who can provide components and raw materials if a production problem develops elsewhere. Plus, the company has third party contractors ready to produce products when needed. “We’re very cautious about ensuring we have backup so we don‘t go through the same thing again,” adds Rogers-Kante.

Transparency Kept Distributors Loyal

Keeping the Distributors apprised of the situation was critical for Rogers-Kante and her team. “Our volumes literally broke everything we had in the company,” she points out. Therefore, she and her family knew they had to be completely transparent if they were to retain the Distributors’ trust. They regularly made videos of new processes and upgrades, held conference calls and webinars, and shared photos detailing what was happening within the company. “We’re very grateful for the Distributors who believed in the company and the fact our heart was always in the best place to serve them…to find solutions to our growth and our challenges,” says Rogers-Kante.

In addition, the company took steps to improve its day-to-day operations. Alan Rogers Kante explains: “We brought in professional management from both Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 [companies], enhanced our employee benefits incredibly to showcase to them we really do care for them, and managed to take these professional ideals and attitudes and just put as much as we could into the company to make sure we could withstand future growth.”

Current & Future Operations, International Expansion

SeneGence now has three buildings in California and three in Oklahoma to handle all phases of its operation and a roster of 300 employees in the U.S. and another 100 in other countries. It will start construction in 2019 on a 300-acre facility in Sapulpa, Oklahoma (Joni’s hometown) that will serve as the company’s main campus. This site will include manufacturing, distribution, a convention center and other support facilities. Plus, the Kantes are restoring three historic buildings in downtown Sapulpa that will house a hotel, bakery, ice cream parlor, steak house, sports bar and retail space.

Always looking to the horizon, Rogers-Kante says their plan is to open three to five countries a year (the company operates in 14 countries). The company opened in Mexico this past fall and in New Zealand in January and will open in Hong Kong in April—the company’s 20th anniversary—all while keeping a wary eye on the company’s growth.

Celebrating 20 Years in Business and 16 Years Helping Others

SeneGence turns 20 in April, and to highlight this milestone it is holding a celebratory seminar event April 11-14 at the COX Business Center and BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Billed as the biggest company training and networking event of the year and led by SeneGence Founder and CEO Joni Rogers-Kante, participants will hear the latest updates from the executive team as they discuss the company’s future. Breakout sessions will offer training skills for effective business building, and event sales and specials will be offered.

In 2002 Rogers-Kante created The Make Sense Foundation to help women and children in need. Now celebrating a “Sweet 16” of helping others, the foundation donates to deserving nonprofit organizations throughout the country that are committed to making a real difference in the lives of women and children.

Neora: A Company for a New Era

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With the launch of a new name and compensation plan, Neora brings a new aura to the company formerly known as Nerium International.

 

Jeff Olson, Founder and CEO

Deborah Heisz, Co-CEO
Neora (formerly Nerium International)
Founded: 2011
Headquarters: Addison, Texas
Top Executive: Jeff Olson, Founder and CEO | Deborah Heisz, Co-CEO
Products: Skincare, Personal Care and Wellness

 

In the beginning, there was Nerium International, founded in 2011 with just one product—Nerium Age-Defying Night Cream. The company name and the product name were both based on oleandrin, an ingredient derived from the Nerium Oleander plant. But after seven years of success and expansion into new product categories and new international markets, the company realized it had outgrown its namesake. It decided to change its name to Neora, which can be translated as New-Aura—or new energy, new light, new era and new edge.

“What’s so exciting about the new name, Neora, is that it means a new era,” says Neora Chief Leadership Officer Renee Olson. “So, it’s perfectly symbolic for us.”

The name Neora shines a brand-new light on the company formerly known as Nerium International. “We as a company feel like this is a new beginning for us,” says Neora Founder and CEO Jeff Olson. “We not only survived as a startup, but we thrived. But we felt like it was time to hit the reset button. We’re going to leverage everything we have learned in the previous seven years and retool ourselves.”

Why New? Why Now?

Why did Nerium International decide to change its name to Neora? The short answer is that the name Nerium was no longer reflective of all that the company has become. “We feel like Neora, as a name, better serves our mission than Nerium as a name did,” says Deborah Heisz, Neora Co-CEO. “The new name provides an umbrella for the whole brand.”

“We feel like Neora, as a name, better serves our mission than Nerium as a name did.”
— Deborah Heisz, Neora Co-CEO

Although the name change may seem sudden to onlookers, the truth is it has been in the works for years. Back in 2013, the company started to realize it would need a new name as it continued to grow. The company’s executives consulted with one of the largest agencies in the United States, and the name Neora was the result of that collaboration.

The name Nerium limited the company in scope, both in terms of its product lines and expansion into international markets. “We have evolved into a multi-vertical skincare line, and the vast majority of our products do not contain Nerium Oleandrin,” says Jeff Olson. “We have also evolved into wellness, which does not and will not ever include that ingredient.”

According to Heisz, Nerium Oleandrin is not in any product launched in the past 5 years, or in any of the international markets.

A Company’s Coming of Age

Truly, this is a company’s coming of age story. As the company evolved, it was apparent that the brand needed to forge that new path says Bo Short, Neora President. “Neora is symbolic of the more comprehensive direction we are taking as a company in our product offerings and global expansion.”

“We’ve grown up quite a bit,” Heisz says. “We’re no longer a single-product company. We are an anti-aging company. Our products range from skincare to nutritionals. We sell a dozen products in over 13 countries around the world.”

The company’s expansion of its product lines—from one skincare product to multiple product categories—was a natural step in its evolutionary growth. “We’ve strategically positioned ourselves to be a leader in holistic anti-aging,” says Neora Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Amber Olson Rourke. “This includes your face, your body, your internal health, mental health, cellular health and gut health—all the different aspects of living your best life and being your best you.”

Alongside the launch of the new company name, Neora will also unveil a new compensation plan. “We believe this is going to be a state-of-the-art compensation plan in the industry because it reflects where the industry is going,” Jeff Olson says.

Heisz says Neora’s compensation plan focuses as much on brand partners growing their customer base as building a business. “It rewards both business builders and customer acquirers in a very powerful and unique way,” Heisz adds.

“These are two huge shifts to make,” Jeff Olson says. “It’s a big, bold move. I’ve never seen it done in the industry. We’re not thinking small, we’re thinking big, and we’re thinking long-term.”
How do Neora’s brand partners feel about the company’s new name and comp plan? To the field, it’s like the best of both worlds Renee Olson says. “They’re so excited about it because it’s new but it’s also familiar at the same time. They see it as the launch of a new company but one that they already know and love.”

What Will Change & Stay the Same

Although launching a new name and comp plan are big steps, Neora intends to preserve the aspects of the company that have landed it where it is today—to keep what works. “All the things that made us are better today,” Jeff Olson says. “We now have a chance to take all those things and re-launch them with a whole new energy.”

What will definitely not change is Neora’s commitment to quality product development. The company considers its focus on R&D a competitive advantage. “Our products are each uniquely custom-formulated to give people real results,” Olson Rourke says. “We handcraft our formulas and source from 15 different partners around the world to create the best products.”

“We’re not thinking small, we’re thinking big, and we’re thinking long-term.”
— Jeff Olson, Neora Founder and CEO

From a marketing standpoint, the company took steps to ensure brand continuity by retaining its signature logo—the capital N with the circle—which will remain the same. “This is a key and iconic element of our brand that partners and customers recognize,” Olson Rourke says. “In terms of our brand recognition, that was something we did very intentionally because we wanted it to still feel like who we are but upgraded and fresh.”

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The mission that the company was founded on—make people better—will continue to define its culture, on which Neora prides itself. “Culture is the DNA of any company,” Jeff Olson says. “It attracts who you are and repels who you’re not. It’s done that for us.”

Something else Neora feels it has done well and will not change is its high customer-to-distributor ratio. “We have one of the best customer-to-brand partner ratios I’ve ever seen,” Heisz says. “The vast majority of our sales are to customers who buy our products on an ongoing basis because they see the value both in the price point and the results they get.”

What the company has not fully capitalized on yet is its international footprint, Heisz says. “We are still heavily North American in terms of our sales volume,” she adds. “So, there’s still a lot of opportunity internationally, which we have plans in place to fully capitalize on.”

Leveraging “Not for Resale” Internationally

Neora intends to continue to strategically grow its international presence by offering its products in additional European and Asian markets. “We have a great opportunity to continue to build our international footprint, while also growing our existing markets,” Short says.

But perhaps the most significant benefit of Neora’s new name and compensation plan is its ability to offer the best of both worlds—to change and yet remain the same—to its existing and potential brand partners.

“A potential brand partner can have a first mover advantage without the risk associated with a startup company, but instead with a company that has already demonstrated meteoric success, selling in excess of $1.5 billion in products in seven years,” Short says. “Neora represents a new opportunity and a new beginning, built on a platform of a company with a proven track record.”

Neora’s Mission: Make People Better

Eight years ago, when Neora was founded originally as Nerium, the company’s leaders chose three words as its mission: make people better. Although a lot has changed for Neora over the years, its commitment to making people better shines through everything they do.

“Make people better—that’s our goal, our commitment,” says Jeff Olson, Neora Founder and CEO. “We’ve done that with our products and our opportunity. But we spend the same amount of time helping people be better—whether that’s personal development, our investment in Live Happy, or our commitment to giving back through Big Brothers, Big Sisters.”

Olson says Neora chose to partner with Big Brothers, Big Sisters because it’s a nonprofit with a mission that can be embraced by brand partners in every community and across the globe. “People really want to be a part of a company that makes a difference in the world’s eco-system,” Olson says. “We’ve tried to do that.”

Juice Plus+ Attracts Moms with Genuine, Authentic Value

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Authenticity and a genuine desire to help others are at the heart of the direct sales industry. The “Juice Plus+ Presents Motherhood” program illustrates that perfectly, helping moms create a healthy lifestyle for their family.

The program is part of the company’s Healthy Starts for Families initiative to inspire healthy living and help families make meaningful lifestyle changes. This is done in two main steps. The first is by providing recipes and educational content to help families improve what Juice Plus+ identifies as the core pillars of wellness: fitness, nutrition, hydration and sleep. The second is by documenting positive changes real families are making through short testimonials and stories. Qualifying customers can even receive free product.

Tackling Issues Important to Moms

Through the Motherhood program, real moms talk about how small, healthy changes have made a big difference in their families, and how they have overcome certain challenges. Video episodes are posted on the Juice Plus+ website and Facebook page. In one episode, four moms sit down to discuss how they overcome the chaos of getting their kids ready for school in the morning, and how to get their kids to eat healthy meals.

“Most of the time, it’s having them help me cook and seeing where the food comes from,” Georgette, a mom of three, says in the episode. When asked what healthy habits they would like to start for their families, Sarah, a working mom of two, says that she wants to find healthy meals that the whole family will eat. Cera says she wants her kids to be more active outside. Angela wants to be able to invest more in herself so she can be a better mom.

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Education Wins the Day, Not Promotion

In another episode, another group of moms were asked how they fit nutrition into their kids’ meals. “I actually blend it with smoothies…it works pretty well,” Artavia says. “I put spinach in the meatloaf. If you blend it in, you don’t see it,” another mom adds. The group also talks about how they maintain their own health, juggling their jobs, homes and families.

The setting and tone of the videos is anything but promotional. Instead, they are educational and value-driven but are still aimed at their target market of busy moms. In addition to the videos, the initiative includes the company’s Family Health Study. Families can enroll in the study, which includes Juice Plus+ products for eight months and a survey asking about the family’s health changes. Results reveal that 66 percent say their kids were visiting the doctor less, and 71 percent said they were consuming less fast food and soft drinks.

Distributor Personal Websites

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Powerful Marketing Tool or Compliance Nightmare?

Personal websites are one of the most effective online marketing tools independent direct sellers use today. These websites, which are separate from company-provided replicated sites, allow direct sellers to build a personal brand and utilize their marketing and communications strengths to attract people to their business. Written content, as well as how-to videos, work as lasting portals that can potentially send a steady stream of traffic back to their website. This can turn targeted visitors into loyal following customers and business partners.

Of course, allowing independent distributors to market products, services and the business opportunity through a personal website can potentially be a compliance headache for direct sales companies. How are companies handling it today?

Compliance Do’s & Don’ts

We reviewed several updated policies and procedures documents from both product and service-based companies. The consensus: most companies do allow distributors to market their business on a personal website, but with a few specific rules:

  1. The personal website cannot operate as an online storefront. All purchases and enrollments must go through a company-provided website/online portal.
  2. The site URL cannot include the company name, as not to confuse visitors.
  3. Any content on the website related to the company, products or services must be reviewed and approved by the compliance department.
  4. Corporate-approved marketing assets, such as product images or logos, must be used.

Policing these sites for any compliance issues can be as simple as combing over the content. Most sites have static pages, but others do post fresh content, such as a blog section, on a regular basis. However, one of the most effective strategies savvy independent direct sellers are using when creating online content is not to promote specific products or services directly, but to focus more on what their potential visitors want and need. This comes in the form of educational, value-based content created around specific keywords people are searching for online.

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Content Should Educate First

For example, instead of writing about the key ingredients of a pre-workout supplement, a blog post might focus on five ways to get more energy for early-morning workouts. Or instead of writing about the latest makeup product line, a tutorial video might detail current face contouring techniques. A link to a specific product and/or company-provided replicated website can then be used as a recommendation or a specific solution to the topic.

Personal websites can be a great way for your independent sales force to attract people from outside of the industry who are searching for solutions to their problems and answers to their questions. This type of attraction marketing isn’t pushy or salesy, but instead aims to pull people in by providing on-going value.

Sampling Made Simple— Even Overseas

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One of the biggest ongoing challenges—for both direct selling companies and their Distributors—is effective, efficient sampling. When sending samples becomes complicated, costly or time-intensive, Distributors simply don’t do it.

Distributors who don’t send product samples struggle to build a customer base; struggle to make money; and struggle to commit to the company.

Right From The Palm Of Your Hand

That’s why giving your Distributors an easy-to-navigate app that can handle sampling right from their smartphone or tablet is so essential. Noah Westerlund, Senior Vice President of SUCCESS Partners, says their app is a business-building tool that helps distributors onboard, share, sample and sell—helps guide distributors’ daily business activities, prospecting, follow-up and more.

Westerlund says that several North American direct selling companies have adopted the app since its launch in the Summer of 2018. He also adds, “While direct selling is often done around your neighborhood or town, the possibilities of a global business are lucrative and exciting.”

The Continental Divide

Sampling abroad brings with it a unique set of challenges, but it’s a service Distributors building global businesses desperately need. Westerlund adds the mOS is the first app of its kind to launch sampling to European Union (EU) countries.

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“Sampling—especially overseas—has notoriously been a challenge for Distributors building a global business,” says SUCCESS Partners Founder and CEO Stuart Johnson. “We are thrilled to offer this service that completely eliminates that barrier.”

RAIN International is the first mOS client taking advantage of this new capability and is enjoying tremendous success with it. As CEO Byron Belka explains, “This platform has given our Distributors the tools they need to succeed. We’ve been able to implement powerful systems that yield powerful results.”

Rain International CMO Daniel Scarpino agrees, “We looked for a long time for a platform that could deliver results in a simple-to-use way; we finally found that in mOS.”

Westerlund says the mOS sampling supports multiple payment modes allowing Distributors to send samples free of charge to prospects or options where the prospect pays either for the sample or just for shipping.

For those looking for a turnkey solution? “mOS handles all aspects of sampling from selling credits, processing sample orders and shipping,” says Westerlund.

For clients who want an integrated solution, mOS interfaces with the client’s backoffice software so Distributors can purchase credits through their backoffice, sample orders can be fulfilled by the client and Distributors can receive CV for credits/samples purchased.

The Law of the Inner Circle

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Those who are closest to me will determine the level of my success.

Good leaders realize the significance of surrounding themselves with talented people. That’s why leaders repeatedly ask me, “How can I be sure to hire the right person?”

I have never discovered a foolproof hiring practice, but I do know finding a great hire goes hand in hand with identifying potential leaders.

Over the course of this article I’ll explore eleven questions I use to spot a potential leader.

Before I begin, I’d like to give credit to my mentor and friend Fred Smith. Several of these questions were developed from my conversations with him.

1. When looking for a leader, do I see a constructive spirit of discontent?

Constructive discontent is a leader’s unscratchable itch. It’s the trait making a leader averse to average and opposed to the status quo. Potential leaders possessing constructive discontent will question existing systems and push for improvements. They perceive problems and come up with solutions.

As Kouzes and Posner say, leaders have a pioneering instinct. They are not afraid to step out into the unknown. They are willing to take risks, innovate, and experiment in order to find new and better ways to operate.

2. Do they offer practical ideas?

Highly original thinkers can have problems leading when they are unable to judge their ideas realistically. Brainstorming is not a helpful practice in leadership unless useful ideas are generated.

In the words of John Galsworthy, “Idealism increases in direct proportion to one’s distance from the problem.” Potential leaders have the rare ability to translate idealistic goals into realistic and workable actions. Leaders are not frozen when obstacles disrupt the perfect plan. They have the flexibility and fortitude to account for resistance to the ideal.

3. When they speak, who listens?

Potential leaders have a “holding court” quality about them. Their words carry weight. What they say is valuable and inspires action. When watching groups of people interact, in a matter of five minutes, I can pick the leader every time. When it comes time for the group to make a decision, all eyes focus upon the person with the greatest influence.

The extent of a person’s influence speaks volumes about their potential in leadership. Here are seven key areas to evaluate the level of influence in a possible hire:

Character Who they are.
Relationships Who they know.
Knowledge What they know.
Passion How strongly they feel.
Experience Where they’ve been.
Past Successes What they’ve done.
Ability What they can do.

4. Do others respect them?

Respect is vital for leadership, yet it can be difficult to discern in young leaders who have not fully developed. Peer respect doesn’t reveal ability, but it shows character. I’ll conclude this edition with the following acronym on respect. I have found it to be a helpful device to evaluate the respectability of emerging leaders.

R  Respects their coworkers and exhibits self-respect. Instead of asking for respect, they give it and earn it.
E  Exceeds the expectations of others. Naturally sets the bar higher than anybody else sets it for them.
S  Stands firm on convictions and values.
P  Possesses maturity well beyond their years and shows self-confidence.
E  Experiences a healthy family life.
C  Contributes to the success of others.
T  Thinks ahead of others. Potential leaders are marked by their ability to outpace the thinking of those around them.

 

Your inner circle will prop you up or pull you down as a leader. You cannot afford to place the wrong people by your side. An unethical or divisive leader can be poison to the bloodstream of an entire organization. That’s why I’m a firm believer in making a comprehensive evaluation of a potential hire. Here are questions 5-11 that I ask when choosing potential leaders:

5. Can they create or catch a vision?

I have a subset of four questions I try to answer when evaluating a potential leader’s ability to catch or cast a vision:

Are they able to become a part of someone else’s vision before they demand that others follow their vision? I watch emerging leaders to see if they can catch a vision before I determine whether or not they can create a vision. I look for potential leaders who are willing to follow before they lead. I want to see if they can serve before they empower.

Do they add value to the vision given to them? In other words, do they have the creativity to take a vision and make it better? Rather than blindly implementing the vision of another leader, potential leaders are able to improve upon the vision and make enhancements to it.

Do they show a high level of commitment to the vision? After they buy into the vision, I want to know if they will pay the price to make the dream a reality. Potential leaders are willing to take responsibility for the vision.

Are they passionate about the vision? A person can accept a vision and take steps toward its fulfillment, but I am searching for an added dimension of excitement and energy. I want a person with a contagious passion for the vision; someone with an infectious enjoyment who spreads the vision to others.

6. Do they show a willingness to take responsibility?

In my opinion, The Statue of Liberty should have a sister-statue—The Statue of Responsibility. People are quick to defend against infringements upon their freedom, but slow to take responsibility for their actions. Benjamin Franklin said, “I never knew a man that was good at making excuses who was good at anything else.” Avoid choosing employees who are unwilling to take ownership or averse to responsibility. It’s easier to go from failure to success than from excuses to success.

7. Do they finish the job?

The bookends of success are initiative and closure.

If you cannot initiate, you cannot make things happen.

If you cannot close, things that could happen never will.

Take notice of the projects you delegate to a potential leader. Do the jobs get completed 100 percent, or do they end up back at your desk demanding time and attention? The answer will tell you a lot about the leadership ability of the potential leader.

8. Are they emotionally strong?

No one can lead without being criticized or facing discouragement. A potential leader needs mental toughness. I don’t want a mean leader, but I do want a tough-minded leader who confronts reality and pays the price of success.

9. Do they possess strong people skills?

Leaders with people skills will be more enjoyable to work with, and they will get more accomplished. Be wary of hiring a potential leader without friendliness, tact, or team spirit.

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Observe whether the potential leader motivates or manipulates others. Motivation is moving people for mutual advantage, and it is a necessary leadership skill. Manipulation is moving people for personal advantage. Manipulation is always wrong and damaging to the health of teams and organizations.

Even without experience in a leadership position, potential leaders are already exerting influence in some capacity. Research their track record—both their achievements and their impact on the lives of those nearest them. If they can lead people without having a position, they’ll do very well when they get one. If they can’t lead people without a position, giving them a title will not help. The leader makes the position; the position doesn’t make the leader.

10. Will they lead others with a servant’s heart?

Servant-leaders never pursue a mission at the expense of their people. Rather, servant-leaders earn the loyalty and best efforts of their people by serving the interests and investing in the development of those they lead. A servant-leader leads to see others succeed.

Rabbi Kushner was right when he said, “The purpose of life is not to win. The purpose of life is to grow and to share. When you come to look back on all that you’ve done in life, you will get more satisfaction from the pleasure you have brought into other people’s lives than you will from the times that you outdid them and defeated them.”

11. Can they make things happen?

Some people make things happen, and others wonder what happened. Make sure a potential leader can produce.

Kansan poet Walt Mason gives expression to the value of a results-oriented producer in his poem, The Man Who Delivers the Goods.

There is a man in the world who never gets turned down,
Wherever he chances to stray.
He gets the glad hand in the populous town,
Or out where the farmers make hay;
He is greeted with pleasure on deserts of sands,
And deep in the isles of the woods;
Wherever he goes there is a welcoming hand—
He’s the man who delivers the goods.

One is too small a number to achieve greatness. To accomplish anything of significance, you must have the right people by your side. I trust these 11 questions will aid you as you pick potential leaders.

This article is used by permission from John C. Maxwell’s free monthly e-newsletter Leadership Wired available at www.INJOY.com.

4 Key Attributes of Great Leaders

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Creating a fun, exciting, attractive environment.

I have A few topics that I want to talk about that are very close to my heart that can help create a winning environment that leads to constant growth. I believe the key for all of us is to build something, build a business that’s bigger than any of our personalities, that continues to change lives long after we’re gone. And that requires you to build an environment. The leader is responsible for the environment.

So, I want to talk to you about a handful of leadership keys that have served me well during my time in this wonderful industry.

Confidence

If you told me to describe what is the mission of our industry in one sentence, it is that we transfer confidence to unconfident people. But that starts with you. You’re the leader. It’s how you think, act, and the words you say. You have to build a team with unshakeable confidence. And that starts with you.

You may not be the CEO, but you’re an influencer, you’re the leader. What you do every day, how you live every day, that creates that culture.

I’m here to tell you the number one thing that you’ve got to work on every day is your confidence. Not everyone else’s, yours. The truth is, we’re all basket cases. We all have dark corners of our brains we’d just as soon not go to. We all have squirrels in our attic. We all have scary little things that we wake up with at 3:00 AM in the morning. Those doubts, those fears, those insecurities, those frustrations, can hold you in place in life.

You need to understand, we’ve all got a screw or two loose in us. And that’s okay. We have our fears, and we have our doubts. Look, personally, I am more motivated by the fear of failure than I am by the desire for success. I always feel like I’m not good enough. I always feel inadequate. I know it doesn’t sound like it when I’m up here doing this, but God knows how many times I have said to myself why would anyone listen to me? Who am I? I’m Johnny Addison from Route 2, Brown Bridge Road, Covington, Georgia. How did this happen? There is this fear that somebody is going to show up at my house and say ‘Okay, you were not supposed to have this kind of success, God figured it out. He made a big mistake. We’ve got a double-wide trailer in Covington you’re supposed to be living in.’ We all have those fears. I am motivated by the fact I don’t want to let anybody on my team down, and I want to deliver for my friends and my family.

You need to understand what those fears are and overcome them. You’ve got to become a force of nature. In life, you can either feed your fears or you can feed your dreams. You have to work like crazy every day on feeding your dreams, so you can feed others. When you’re around other people, think about what you say. Words matter. Are they positive and affirming or do they tear people down? You’ve got to understand, in your business doubt spreads like wildfire. You have to spread confidence like wildfire. You have to be the most confident person on the team. You’re the leader.

Art Williams used to always say to us, “When they look you in the eye, they can’t see fear or doubt. They have to see confidence. They have to see a mission. They have to see where you’re going.” You have to spread confidence.

Courage

The second is courage, and it matters more than anything. Winston Churchill said, “It is the most important of human characters because without courage all other virtues lose their meaning.”

Courage matters. It’s tough to win. It’s hard to get up every day and be positive and get after it, particularly when you’re scared and when you doubt yourself. But you’ve got to have courage.

A few summers ago we went on vacation to France and visited Normandy. I’d arranged with a historian to take us for three days and visit the D-Day beaches. We did the Band of Brothers Tour the first day, where Easy Company landed when they parachuted in the night before. We were told the story of Dick Winters who was the young lieutenant who led them. His captain was killed, never making out of the drop plane. And he—a 24-year-old lieutenant—was in charge to lead a mission to take out four giant, fixed guns aimed at Utah Beach. He and bunch of 20-year-olds took out all four guns in a matter of two hours. The maneuvers he and his men used are still taught today at West Point all these years later. He led that battalion all the way through to the end of the war.

Now that’s courage. I pray to God none of us will ever have to do anything like that. But you soon realize learning about what happened all those years ago was that decisive moment in history wasn’t won by generals with a plan; it was won by a bunch of 24-year-old kids that wouldn’t give up, that fought and won freedom for Western civilization.

It takes courage to win. Art Williams use to say “People won’t follow dull, disillusioned, dadgum crybabies.” People won’t follow timid leadership. The leader has to show courage. The leader sets the pace. Sir Winston Churchill said, “Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.” You’ve got to decide to have that courage, even when you’re scared. And you’ve got to show up and shine that light for your team, to create the kind of environment that produces consistent growth.

Consistency

My third key is consistency. People need to know where you stand. Look, I always told people when they were dealing with me, ‘If I’m upset about something, they pretty much knew how John was going to react to something. They’ll know how I will react. I have always wanted to be consistent, where the team didn’t have to go, Oh, God, I wonder how John’s going to react to this.

Your business does not need to run on your ego, your hormones, your mood whims, or whatever psychological drama is going on in your life at that moment. You’re a coach. You’ve got to show up and be consistent because people are watching you. They’re looking at your eyes, not just what you say. They’re watching you every day.

I’ve always wanted the team to know, number one, I’m just one of them. I’m just a kid from nowhere that worked hard and things wound up going right for him, but I’m no better than you, I’m one of you. I’m not above the team, I’m proud to be on the team. And you can count on me. If I say I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it. If I say this is what our priority is, this is what our priority is. You’ve got to understand, you’re the leader, you’re the compass, you’re the rudder. You set the direction.

Fun

A final point I want to talk to you is about having fun. If you’re not having fun, you’re done. One of the first speeches I gave when I became Co-CEO is, ‘We’re fixing to put the fun back in fundamentals.’ People need to have a good time. Our businesses are a celebration—a celebration of the entrepreneurial spirit, life and the human spirit. Ask yourself “Are we having enough fun?”

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So, I always tell people, number one, lighten up. It’s not that big a deal. We don’t deal in crisis, we deal in situations. Dick Winters faced a crisis: ‘Commander’s dead. I’m on the ground trying to take these guns out.” That’s a crisis. We face situations and challenges. Lighten up and loosen up. If your team is sitting around all knotted up waiting on what’s going to happen next, you need to remember that loose teams play better.

Just like when you’re watching a sporting event like the Super Bowl and they are doing player introductions. Some look all wound up, and some look like they have been there before, mainly because they realize that people aren’t going to die out here. It’s a game.

This is just a business. Enjoy the journey. Enjoy the adventure. Create an environment of fun, where your team wants to be around you and wants to be a part of your business for years to come. You’ve got to create a fun, exciting, attractive environment. Our businesses are organisms, not organizations. This is a business where you are working with human becomings every day, not human beings. Human becomings you’re helping to grow.

Disclaimer: This content was an excerpt from the 2017 SUCCESS Partners University

John AddisonJohn Addison, author of Real Leadership: 9 Simple Practices for Leading and Living with Purpose, Leadership Editor for SUCCESS magazine, and President and CEO of Addison Leadership Group, engages and inspires audiences with his relatable messages. Most recently, he served as Co-CEO of Primerica Inc., a company he joined more than 35 years ago.

Direct Selling’s “Re-Defining Moment”

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Some years ago, on this page, I wrote about a “defining moment” for direct selling. And during last year’s DSA Annual Meeting, I spoke of the changes that were taking place in direct selling, and those changes I predicted we could see over the next few years.

Now, as we move full ahead into 2019, those changes are beginning to take shape, and the reality of a new “defining moment” for direct selling is becoming apparent.

Every day, it seems, I receive calls from passionate industry leaders who want to explore the dynamics of social media, e-commerce and social and political shifts influencing their business strategies. How will they compete in a burgeoning entrepreneurial economy? How will they compete with low priced goods delivered almost instantaneously? What will the move to a freelance based/independent worker economy mean for direct selling? How will we collectively improve the reputation (and behavior) of direct selling in a way that allows us to effectively compete in this changing market? These are the questions these executives explore with me, each with their own perspectives and experiences, concerns and enthusiasms. Similarly, outside observers–investors, reporters, academics, regulators–are asking me the same questions.

My answer is the same to all questioners. In this new defining moment, both the industry and DSA will transform themselves. Direct selling itself will no doubt adapt, as it always has, to a changing marketplace. We will learn from other retailers (even as they have learned from us) and perfect our opportunity with better compensation plans, better suited for the maximum flexibility sought by a younger salesforce looking to blend their social, personal, and professional lives. Customer servicing, always a strength of ours, will become even more important moving forward with prompt delivery and reasonable product pricing.

The relationship between direct selling company and ultimate customer (beyond the individual direct seller) is becoming even clearer as direct selling companies set up preferred customer programs to better identify, define, and service those consumers, even as we better target our message, marketing, and compensation to the “business builders” in our salesforces. DSA’s data gathering and educational programs are focusing on this shift.

“We will learn from other retailers and perfect our opportunity with better compensation plans, better suited for the maximum flexibility sought by a younger salesforce looking to blend their social, personal, and professional lives.”

In this new defining moment, with a new activist Congress coming into power, it will be even more vital that direct sellers work together on the critical issue of the independent contractor status of our salesforce. The sharing and gig economies have transformed the working status of many in the workforce, and that transformation has given rise to new threats and questions about independent contractors. Recent developments in California have thrown worker status into great question, and the same issues are being debated in many states, and even at the national level. Our “defining independent contractor moment” may be on the horizon as we respond collectively to this continuing challenge. It will be vital for us to define ourselves as a political grassroots powerhouse in the halls of Congress and state legislatures, fighting on behalf of millions of people with facts, logic, and sound public policy on our side.

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And most significantly, direct sellers have come to together in what might best be called a “re-defining moment.” Leaders from network marketing companies, door to door sellers, party plan companies–from every business in DSA’s membership–have come to the understanding that we all must do more to address the criticisms of our business model–when those criticisms are valid, and we must also deal with the misperceptions that sometimes drive those criticisms. DSA must take a leadership role, and individual companies must do their parts as well.

Accordingly, DSA has partnered with the Council of Better Business Bureaus to create the DSSRC–the Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council–to deal with issues of income and product claims throughout the direct selling channel. The independent, funded, credible and transparent DSSRC will identify marketplace problems–through proactive social media monitoring, competitor challenges, and consumer and salesforce complaints–and deal with them. When problems arise, companies must comply or be publicly reported as non-compliant and referred to directly to law enforcement–DSA member or not.

Industry leaders have unanimously recognized that we will be able to most effectively compete in this new marketplace once we have dealt with the real and perceived problems that have dogged our business channel. DSA and the DSSRC can and will take the next important step in this re-definition, but it is only one step. Ultimately, the competitiveness, the reputation, the viability of direct selling will be determined not by these actions alone (important as they are) but by the commitment of all direct selling companies to find their “re-defining moments.”

Joseph N. Mariano is the President of the U.S. Direct Selling Association and the Direct Selling Education Foundation.

The State of Cybersecurity in 2019

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Late last year I pulled up at a gas station to pay for gas and my credit card gets denied.

That’s strange I think to myself, there’s money in there. Moments later I get a call from my bank asking me if I had tried to make the following three purchases. Puzzled, I tell her none of them are mine, and that I was still in possession of my card. The customer service rep said the person who tried to make the purchases had a physical card with my number on it.

Thankfully, the gold chip that is embedded in my card didn’t allow the charges to go through, and for the time being halted the cybercriminal who somehow got my number. My experience is a drop in the bucket compared to the recent data breaches some of the largest companies in the world are facing today.

As we live more of our lives online, cyberspace has become a web burglar’s playground. No gold chip is going to stop organized hackers from getting what they want: customer data they can sell to the highest bidder. Our cover story tackles the danger to the direct selling industry, who are among the most vulnerable to cyberattacks, given the treasure trove of customer and distributor records all over the globe.

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Our company spotlight this month is on Neora, formerly known as Nerium. So why the name change? The short answer is after seven years of expansion into new product categories, they had outgrown their previous name. “We feel like Neora better serves our mission than Nerium as a name did,” says Deborah Heisz, Neora Co-CEO.

In this issue we also take a look at how SeneGence survived the hypergrowth years, and what lessons every company can take in implementing their own growth plan.

Next, we have heard so much about the impact Amazon, e-commerce and the gig economy are having on our channel that it’s easy to forget that our channel’s biggest advantage is the conversations our distributors have with customers and future business partners. Be sure and read The Conversation Advantage starting on page 30.

Our team at DSN is laser focused on bringing you the most up to date and relevant content, so let us know how we are doing. Have an idea for a story? Shoot me an email at my address below. See you next month!

Jeunesse Announces Sales of $1.46B in 2018

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Jeunesse® recently announced worldwide annual sales of $1.46 billion in 2018, a record for the Lake Mary, Fl-based direct selling company.

According to the company, the growth was fueled in part by new product launches, increased event attendance globally, and the development of marketing support tools. Growth in Jeunesse’s top three markets averaged more than 60 percent.

“The past year has been amazing, and we are thrilled to have reached milestones and broken records,” said Jeunesse Chief Visionary Officer Scott Lewis. “But what excites me most are the milestones and records yet to come. With the global footprint we have in place and the extraordinary leadership, drive and determination of our family of Jeunesse Distributors around the world, I know we’ve only just scratched the surface of what Jeunesse can become.”

The company also stated it has raised $3 million for its nonprofit foundation, Jeunesse Kids™. Funds will be used to aid children around the word with projects that include the financing of life-saving cancer treatments and funding hospitals and classrooms, as well as supporting communities in developing countries with a development model that provides a sustainable plan to lift communities out of poverty.

Jeunesse has been named to the Inc. 5000 list of American’s fastest growing private companies for five consecutive years, and in 2018 was named to Inc. magazine’s inaugural Private Titans, which denotes the largest American companies that remain private. In addition, Jeunesse has ranked among the top 20 in the Direct Selling News Global 100 since 2015. In 2018, Jeunesse garnered a total of 139 corporate awards.

Avon Products, Inc. Announces Structural Reset, Reductions

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London-based Avon Products, Inc. (NYSE: AVP) announced steps to simplify its operating structure, reduce product line complexity and reduce inventory holding levels.

For its strategy to “Open Up” Avon, the company says it has taken decisive action over the past several months to identify and capture cost savings within existing commercial practices, supply chain operations and global infrastructure footprint. In keeping with a focus on ensuring operations and infrastructure are fit-for-purpose, the company is pursuing a structural reset of its inventory processes, including a 15 percent reduction in inventory levels and 25 percent reduction in Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) and a 10 percent reduction in its global headcount.

15% Inventory Reduction & Write-Off

Avon is taking a one-time inventory obsolescence expense of approximately $88 million, as a result of its SKU reduction efforts, which will advance the simplification of Avon’s operations, and drive cost savings through lower raw material and procurement cost.

According to Avon, this reset will result in lower operational and ongoing obsolescence costs.  Over the longer term, it will result in a more concentrated focus on high-turn, higher margin products, driving greater earnings for Representatives due to lessened discount pressure and enhanced service levels.

“Core to our ‘Open Up’ Avon strategy is to have simpler, leaner operations, and for our infrastructure and mindset to reflect Avon’s reality, said Jan Zijderveld, CEO of Avon. “The initiatives announced all advance these objectives. This reset is an opportunity for us to sharpen our portfolio and concentrate on products that are important and relevant to our customer.  This represents an opportunity not just for Avon, but for Her to accelerate her earnings through a more focused portfolio, experience better service, and deliver high quality, modern products she can be proud of.”

10% Reduction in Global Workforce

The company today also announced plans to reduce its global workforce by approximately 10 percent to align with ongoing operating model changes and to create a leaner organization that is better aligned with Avon’s current and future business focus. These actions are expected to be substantially completed by the end of 2019. This announcement is on top of an 8 percent reduction of the global workforce completed in 2018.

“Decisions like these are always difficult; however, we must take the actions necessary to improve our operations and strengthen our ability to continue investing in our transformation initiatives and fuel our future growth” said Zijderveld. “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the talented employees affected by this restructuring, and we will do our utmost to ensure everyone is treated with fairness and respect.”

In connection with the reduction in force announced, the company expects to achieve annualized pre-tax savings of approximately $97 million by the end of 2019. The company expects to record total charges related to these actions of approximately $100 million before taxes incremental to the approximately $51 million in charges associated with “Open Up” Avon that had been approved to date.