Company Profile

Founded: 2006
Headquarters: Dallas, Texas
Founders: CEO Jere Thompson, Jr. and Chief Marketing Officer Chris Chambless
Products: Electricity and natural gas
Markets: California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington, D.C.

In early 2006, two Dallas natives began talking to their friends about ways to capitalize on the growing opportunities presented by energy deregulation in Texas. While they did not know it at the time, those two men—Jere Thompson, Jr. and Chris Chambless—would soon become the founders of the fastest-growing retail energy company in the world.

Four years earlier, at precisely midnight on Jan. 1, 2002, Texas had opened its electricity markets to retail competition for the first time. After experiencing a number of hiccups and setbacks, including several consumer lawsuits that caused what the Texas Coalition for Affordable Power described as a “crisis of confidence,” the market was beginning to stabilize by 2006.

With a common background in the telecom industry, both Thompson and Chambless believed that there was an opportunity to apply the discipline, systems and expertise of that industry to the retail energy market.

Humble Beginnings

Introduced through a mutual acquaintance, the two men met for the first time at a sandwich shop in Addison, Texas, for a friendly chat about energy deregulation. Over turkey sandwiches, Thompson and Chambless became so excited about the synergy between their ideas that they resolved that day to begin building “the finest and most-respected retail energy company in America.”

From the very beginning, they wanted to leverage the power of the direct sales model to build their company. In fact, they even decided to name their company Ambit, which means “one’s circle or scope of influence.”

Prior to co-founding Ambit, Chambless had been hired as only the 52nd employee at Excel Communications. Describing the experience as “drinking from a fire hose,” he explains that is where he learned the direct selling business as he helped Excel to reach $1 billion in annual sales in a little over six years.

“I learned the importance of great IT systems, how to incent and motivate independent entrepreneurs and, more importantly, I learned what doesn’t work. All of that was great preparation for starting Ambit,” he explains.

Immediately after they met, the co-founders borrowed office space from Thompson’s brother and went to work. A few weeks later, they moved into a large, renovated warehouse in the historic West End district of downtown Dallas.

As their website explains: “The expansive office space suited their needs perfectly—helping to establish a feeling of ‘openness’ and enabling faster communication. As a way to reduce costs and preserve capital, they bought several $19 fold-up tables to use as desks and put together a team of experienced executives who shared their vision. Ambit executives continue to use these same tables to keep that spirit and commitment alive today.”

That August, Ambit shipped its first New Consultant Kits to the “Founding Four” consultants. Today, there are more than 200,000 independent consultants driving sales to more than 1 million customers each month.

While it is now the fastest-growing company in the retail energy sector, Ambit has retained its roots in those humble beginnings. This is perhaps best represented by the official corporate motto that Chambless and Thompson developed the day that they met: “Never sacrifice integrity for growth.”

“On our first day working together, Chris and I sat down and talked about what kind of company we wanted to build,” says Thompson. “There are some great companies in this industry and there are others who have been poor operators who have given the industry an undeserved reputation. We wanted our company to be one of the great examples and we wanted to make our families proud of our accomplishments. We decided that motto would be something that our employees could use as a guide when we weren’t there to help make a decision for them.”

---

In 2010, Ambit had reached $415 million in revenue. The next year, the firm posted $664 million. That number grew a whopping 40 percent in 2012 to over $930 million.

---

That attitude has obviously not stunted Ambit’s growth. In 2010, Ambit had reached $415 million in revenue. The next year, the firm posted $664 million. That number grew a whopping 40 percent in 2012 to over $930 million—and the company’s trailing 12-month revenue passed $1 billion in March 2013.

Ambit’s open environment fosters communication.The Wall of Fame highlights consultant achievements.Ambit’s motto is prominently displayed at its headquarters.

The Key to Ambit’s Growth

“Jere and I both came from the telecom industry and so I think our experience there led us to look at this opportunity differently than many of our competitors. We never considered ourselves an energy company or a direct selling company. We considered ourselves a data processing company,” says Chambless.

“We sell energy and we use direct selling as the channel to acquire customers, but at our core we store, manage and share data. In telecom, we saw companies with great systems prosper and grow and we saw companies with inferior systems wither and fade. We compete now with many energy companies and several direct selling companies, but I’m not sure we are competing with any data processing companies.”

Entering its seventh year, Ambit Energy is poised to be the first direct selling energy company in history to reach a billion dollars in revenue. The company provides electricity and natural gas services in deregulated markets across the United States.

Ambit’s website describes the company as a “Top Electricity and Gas Provider.” But Chambless, who graduated from college with an English degree, defines the company as far more than simply its product offering.

“Ambit is thousands of individual dreams powered by a single vision: to be the finest, most-respected retail energy provider in America,” he says. “In that way, the opportunity to help customers in our markets across the country save money on their monthly energy expenses is also a vehicle for our independent consultants to achieve their financial goals. Their passion for achieving those goals is what is making Ambit such a tremendous growth story.”

Thanks to the strength of these 200,000+ consultants, Ambit now powers over 1 million homes in the markets of California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington, D.C.

Ambit Energy Today

Click here to view large image.

Two years after Chambless and Thompson—now Chief Marketing Officer and CEO, respectively—ate their first turkey sandwiches together, Ambit Energy recorded revenues of almost $200 million. By the end of 2009, annual revenues had increased to nearly $325 million. As a result of this tremendous growth, Ambit was named the fastest-growing privately held company in North Texas by the highly prestigious Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business in their annual Dallas 100™ rankings. In 2010, Ambit made the SMU/Cox Dallas 100™ for the second year in a row, and was also listed among the Top 100 Places to Work by The Dallas Morning News.

And yet the greatest recognition came later that year, when Inc. magazine named Ambit “America’s No. 1 Fastest-Growing Private Company.” Before it had turned 5 years old, Ambit had captured one of the most respected titles in the entire business world—driven by the power of the direct selling model. 2012 marked the third year in a row that Ambit ranked on the Inc. 500|5000 list of “America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies.”

“I love the direct selling industry. I think it’s one of the last bastions of capitalism still accessible to the average person,” Chambless says.

Eric Johnstone, Ambit’s Vice President of Marketing and Field Services, is similarly passionate about the impact of the direct selling model on Ambit’s future: “The great thing about the Ambit Opportunity is that it is truly an opportunity for everyone. We sell a service that everyone needs and uses every month. You don’t have to be a professional salesperson or need to learn a lot about the benefits of a product. For that reason, our consultants come from all walks of life—doctors, teachers, real estate agents, engineers, stay-at-home moms, retirees, people who were formerly unemployed—anyone who is looking for a vehicle to earn extra income with the goal of reaching financial freedom.

“Our business presentations focus on those individuals who want to earn a little extra residual income every month,” Johnstone continues. “And we have a number of people who are earning enough to pay off debt, save for retirement, or plan for their children’s education. Those consultants who are most successful are those who have a strong ‘why’—they make the commitment and work at it.”

Ambit’s consultants pay a one-time fee to start their business (there is no annual renewal fee). This fee provides them with access to Ambit’s back office business management system called “PowerZone,” as well as the business-building kit that Ambit sends out to new consultants.

Johnston explains that Ambit’s approach is different than some direct selling companies because “electricity and natural gas are products that everyone uses. So, we train our consultants to gather customers by asking people they know to be their customers. A consultant only needs 20 personal customers to qualify for all commission levels, so we teach them to find good, loyal customers who will stay with their business.”

Given its reliance on online videos for both recruiting and training, Ambit also maintains a very strong presence on all major social media platforms. The firm even has a dedicated social media group to maximize the online experience for Ambit’s consultants and to keep them informed about news from the corporate office.

Click here to view large image.

Ambit’s Operational Innovations

Chambless believes that one of the key factors to the company’s ability to manage such rapid growth is its exceptional technology. These tools have equipped Ambit and its leadership to handle the unique challenges presented by rapid growth within an emerging industry.

For example, Ambit’s IT team has created a custom, patented Customer Care and billing platform from the ground up called BlueNet®, which the team says has provided a competitive edge for the company. The technology manages all aspects of the customer life-cycle—from utility transactions between customers and transmission providers to web-based account management and billing tasks.

Additionally, Ambit’s leaders pride themselves on their firm’s exceptional, U.S.-based Customer Care Center, in which a highly trained American staff is equipped to handle all customer relationships. For the independent consultants, Johnstone explains that Ambit has gone to great lengths to make its program accessible and manageable for everyday people: “PowerZone is our consultants’ back office business management system where they can track their commissions, find a local business presentation, track their customers and downline organization, and get the latest news and information from corporate. PowerZone also includes Ambit University, which includes a suite of training videos from corporate staff and some of our top income earners. There are also scripts and market-specific information they can download.”

Johnstone continues, “When a consultant sponsors a new consultant, the first place they typically send that new consultant is to Ambit U to watch the training videos. We also send out a business-building kit and a series of training emails to our new consultants during their first week in the business to reinforce what they learn in the videos.”

In addition to relying on technology, Ambit also sponsors a number of live training events throughout the year. This includes a simulcast broadcast at the first of the year, which is shown via satellite to a number of Ambit’s markets across the country. Johnstone explains that “each market has a live component that beams back to the other locations. This past January, we broadcast to 10 different markets. The day includes training, motivation and the latest information from corporate.”

Ambit offers its premier event every September in Dallas, called Ambition. This three-day event includes a Thursday and Friday dedicated to training consultants on new tools and personal development. The event culminates on a Saturday with recognition, announcements, messages from the co-founders and premium guest speakers.

Celebrating Success

Ambit has developed some very high-impact forms of recognition that have motivated both top-performers as well as consultants who are just looking for some extra income on the side. One of the firm’s signature recognition pieces takes a page from the playbook of the PGA Masters by providing a custom jacket to its most stellar performers.

When a top achiever has earned more than $1 million, he or she becomes a member of “The Millionaire Club”—complete with a tailored yellow sports coat. Those earning over $5 million earn a special purple sports coat. As of January 2013, Ambit has awarded 18 yellow sport coats and three purple ones to this group of very high performers.

These high-profile leaders are an inspiration to other consultants to dream big. The company has also re-introduced their free energy program, where both customers and consultants who refer a minimum of 15 customers to Ambit receive a Free Energy Credit every month, up to their total energy cost.

Figuring out how best to motivate its army of consultants is one of the primary hats that Chambless wears. When asked how he responds when people ask him, “What do you do?” he replies, “It depends on what day you ask me that question. Today, I’m a pricing strategist working on a new idea for a promotion. Tomorrow, I have to speak at an Ambit event and I’ll be a cheerleader. But at a high level, I’m responsible for two things: eliminating any excuse for our consultants to fail by providing them with all the tools and training they need to be successful, and teaching them all to tell our story.”

As they look past $1 billion in revenue this year, Thompson and Chambless see no reason why the company will slow down.

“The deregulated energy industry is huge and I think we have barely scratched the surface of the opportunity to gain market share,” says Thompson. “There is a large population of customers in these markets who are largely unaware that they have the right to choose a new provider and save money. Our model is perfectly designed to solve that problem.

“I think the Internet and social media are also making it easier for people to share information and build large networks. So, from a technology standpoint I see tremendous opportunity.”

And yet, despite their success, Thompson remains grounded in his corporate motto’s standard to “Never sacrifice integrity for growth.” He says, “We could have grown even faster if we had been willing to take more risk, but that would not have been consistent with our values.”

Click here to order the Direct Selling News issue in which this article appeared.

Company Profile:

Launched: 2002
Headquarters: Chandler, Ariz.
Co-Founders: John Anderson, Master Formulator; Jim Coover, Chairman and President; and Kathy Coover, Executive Vice President
Products: Solutions for transforming lives that include weight management, energy and performance, healthy aging, and wealth creation

Just 11 short years ago, John Anderson, a master formulator of nutritional supplements, along with Jim and Kathy Coover, who had more than 20 years of experience in the direct selling industry, cast a vision to impact world health by freeing people from physical and financial pain. These three co-founding partners joined forces to create what has become health and wellness company Isagenix International. Based on what the company has achieved in this short time, Isagenix is truly fulfilling that vision and making a difference in the lives of those being touched by their products and opportunity.

---

Last year Isagenix reported revenues of approximately $335 million, up 28 percent over prior year.

---

In 2005, Jim and Kathy Coover acquired the company from John, which gave them majority ownership, but John remains an important contributor as “Master Formulator” of Nutritional Supplements and still has a very passionate presence within the growing organization. It was his creation of the Isagenix Cleansing and Fat Burning System—teamed with the Coovers’ focus on field leadership development—that helped sales skyrocket up an astonishing 1,300 percent in only five years. And just last year Isagenix reported revenues of approximately $335 million, up 28 percent over the prior year. According to Kathy, the success of the Isagenix business is based on real product consumption producing real results. There are currently 190,000 active associates in Isagenix. The products, referred to as “solutions,” include weight loss, energy and performance, healthy aging, and of course, wealth creation. The company has even been featured in leading health and wellness journals such as Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism and the Nutrition Journal.

When Kathy talks about her company, she exudes pride with every word. Last October she was selected and recognized by Direct Selling News as one of the 20 Most Influential Women in Direct Selling. She is very active with Isagenix’s sales associates and spends much of her time traveling to visit and encourage them. Her personal and hands-on approach to building relationships has resulted in a culture that she feels to be the company’s primary asset.

“It’s all about the people! Our events are like a big family reunion,” Kathy says. “It’s really important to us to maintain our culture as we expand. That’s why we travel so much! We have built an amazing company and we offer solutions to transform people’s lives. We equate success with the number of lives we transform, and that is what we are most proud of.”

Time to Change

Jim, Kathy and Erik Coover

“There are a lot of stay-at-home moms and dads who just wanted an opportunity and to be with a company that they thought would be long term.” —Kathy Coover, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President

Isagenix experienced steady growth in its first few years. It wasn’t until 2008 that the company plateaued a bit and reexamined its approach to building the business. The U.S. economy was clearly uncertain at that time and many businesses were beginning to deal with the great recession and the ramifications and implications to corporate strategy. The Isagenix executive team focused on their most important asset, their independent associates, who were both their consumers and their business leaders. The team decided to introduce promotional incentives that they believed would provide associates with a pragmatic approach to building their businesses by offering them quick wins to build on.

Isagenix invests over $15 million annually into these promotions, which feature an opportunity for associates to earn daily pay, weekly pay, monthly pay and yearly pay. These changes, along with the simplification of company messaging and the training/development process, reignited the sales field, resulting in solid and continued growth. These promotional incentives have yielded a business model that allows people to earn income immediately and also is developing field leadership that will help sustain the company for years to come. Kathy says that associates feel a real sense of accomplishment and the ability to build their businesses. It has also allowed them to better set personal targets, resulting in more highly motivated associates.

A Culture of Family

Isagenix is a family-owned business but also a business created for family, which not only includes Jim and Kathy Coover, but now also their son, Erik, who was Kathy’s original inspiration to start the business. When Erik was a baby, Kathy knew she wanted to be with him and desired to be in control of how she worked. This desire brought about the idea of providing parents with the ability to take care of their children yet still have the flexibility to earn a healthy income. Erik is now Director of Field Development and responsible for enhancing the effectiveness of the field.

As Kathy describes the Isagenix sales organization, she says, “There are a lot of stay-at-home moms and dads who just wanted an opportunity and to be with a company that they thought would be long term.” This caring attitude and concern for family and control of personal and work time has been the foundation of the Isagenix culture. The mission and culture of the company have remained unchanged since the business started in 2002. Kathy adds, “You have to attract the right quality of people to your company. If it’s not right for our associates, it’s not right for our company. And we have very strong relationships with our field. They are our best friends with a common goal to change this planet and make a difference in this world.”

CEO Kevin Adams agrees that maintaining the culture at Isagenix is a huge priority and that the relationship between the field and the corporate office is excellent and very beneficial to the company. He joined the team in 2007 after spending 20 years holding multiple senior financial positions with companies such as ConAgra Foods—one of the world’s largest packaged food companies. Kevin says that, by including the field as much as possible through listening, involvement and solicited feedback, Isagenix is gaining in key performance indicators. In the past year, he adds that recruitment was up 30 percent and fewer associates left the field as retention rates increased more than 10 percent in 2012 alone.

Isabody Challenge weight-loss winners.

Technology and Social Media

One way Isagenix is keeping this momentum while doing business in an ever-changing world is through evolving its social media capabilities. The company is very focused on this and considers it key to future growth. In fact, it currently employs 70 people in the IT Department alone. The IT specialists support an extensive array of member solutions to help their associates take control of their destiny. One example is a new “Social Entrepreneurs” program where Isagenix fully embraces many social media platforms—YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and more. According to Kathy, this ensures the company is constantly communicating with their associates but also helping them build their business while sharing the opportunity for better health and income with others.

Associates have access to free tools such as Isageeks, a social entrepreneur site offering solutions and support for establishing an online business as more and more people learn about the company through social media. Here they can share content on selling strategies and programs, as well as view and create their own videos and blogs. All of these channels are being leveraged for two-way communication with current associates and new ones as well. For example, Isagenix-to-go provides mobile apps for people on the run as well as iPad and iPhone apps.

Kathy says, “We are very much an Internet-driven company. Ninety-five percent of our orders come online. Applications can be completed via smartphones where they also have access to all presentations and training. All of our training is based on a systems approach inclusive of the associates’ product site, which explains everything about all products, as well as their business site, which provides guidance on everything pertaining to building a business.” Kathy adds that this includes a focus on personal growth with a dedicated personal-development coach, as well as an extensive array of product videos and online chats, videos and blogs led by doctors and experts in the health and wellness industry.

Having been in business for only 11 years, online is not new for Isagenix—they actually started that way. Through their use of social technology and functionality, the stories of those who are benefitting from Isagenix solutions become excellent business-building tools.

Online strategies are growing in significance and contributing to the company’s success even though live events and personal interaction continue to play a huge role in the corporate strategy to build and maintain relationships and trust with the field. Using the web has become a natural way for Isagenix to conduct their business because its vast capabilities enable associates with a direct line of communication at all times. They don’t have to wait for personal help because there are always opportunities to gain instant access to a solution through online tools.

Generous Nature

While technology continues to bring people closer together, personal interaction is still vital to the Isagenix culture and this extends beyond its employees and field. It also includes giving back to the community. The company has donated $3 million to Childhelp, an organization that exists to meet the physical, emotional, educational and spiritual needs of abused and neglected children. Additionally, more than 1 million meals have been delivered to families in Haiti and 50,000 meals were sent to victims of Hurricane Sandy. Isagenix has most recently pledged over $500,000 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

This generosity all began with the founding family, as Jim and Kathy Coover, along with their son, Erik, strive to be strong role models for how a family business can be started and built upon basic ideals that can expand into solutions for hundreds of thousands of people. Women, in particular, have built several iconic direct selling companies upon these same principles of creating an environment for families, and today they represent brand names that are recognized throughout the world.

“Women bring a whole new life, heart and spirit into the industry,” Kathy says. “There’s a huge opportunity for women to be part of the corporate world in network marketing when they come to us with that experience of the field and have built successful businesses. They bring a brilliance of information.”

Through creating this nurturing family environment, the sky is the limit for Isagenix and its associates. In 2013, Isagenix looks forward to sharing health and wealth as it focuses on regional and international expansion. The company already has a presence in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico and is set to expand in Singapore, Malaysia and China over the next year. Isagenix also plans to increase the number of African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and young people in the company.

---

“We as a company are focused on numbers, but our numbers are a reflection of the number of lives being changed.”
—Kathy Coover

---

“We have over 300 people who lost 100 pounds through the IsaBody Challenge, five people lost 200 pounds, and two people lost 300 pounds,” Kathy says. “We are not only changing lives, we are saving lives! We as a company are focused on numbers, but our numbers are a reflection of the number of lives being changed. That’s why I love what I do!”

Click here to order the Direct Selling Newsissue in which this article appeared.

Today, with the focus on quarterly financial performance and the need to deliver positive numbers quarter over quarter, taking shortcuts to produce “quick fix” results at times may seem the right choice to make. Taking shortcuts to achieve short-term gains, however, often leads to long-term difficulties. Building a successful business in the direct selling industry requires the vision and the fortitude “to get it right,” in order to enjoy a lasting legacy.

Over the last 12 months, a few of our industry’s leading companies have been challenged in terms of how their direct selling business model actually works. These occurrences challenge the model of the industry as a whole, perpetuating false ideas about illegitimate practices. Those who may be looking for short-term gains by taking shortcuts could end up faltering, and even contributing to the misrepresentations that linger in some sectors of the public mind.

We must continue to focus upon and define those qualities and standards that show our integrity and our commitment to long-term legacies. Today, let us reflect upon the components of what makes a successful, innovative and reputable company in the direct selling industry.

• Products and Services: The product and service offering must be of the highest quality and standards. The offer must deliver on valid, legal claims backed by facts and research.

  Products and services must be able to stand on their own merit, with no “smoke and mirrors.” It does not matter how talented your marketing team is; if your products or services cannot stand the test of time, the business will falter and, in the end, it will fail. Quick-to-market launches, without the proper testing and research, are not the way to ensure longevity.

  It is also important to have a return policy that is straightforward for the distributors to explain and easily execute. Transparency when explaining the efficacy of products and services will build trust, belief and loyalty.

---

• Compensation: The compensation plan must be fair, generous and ethical to those distributors willing to invest their time and effort, all the while sustaining the long-term health of the business.
  

  We must continue to focus upon and define those qualities and standards that show our integrity and our commitment to long-term legacies.

  The compensation plan must allow distributors an opportunity to build a business at an affordable entry point, and to earn a steady and recurring income, directly based on their level of involvement and performance. The plan must be innovative, dynamic and robust. It should emphasize product sales rather than gimmicks. It should emphasize getting products and services into the hands of consumers as well as helping new distributors do the same.

  If the plan is overly “generous” to its distributors, it runs the risk of driving the organization into financial ruin; therefore, the need to design a plan aligned with the organization’s margins, products and services and desired salesforce behavior is vital.

---

• Opportunity: The business opportunity must be presented honestly and openly, not as a “get-rich-quick scheme” but rather as an opportunity to succeed if you are willing to make the required effort.

  As we know, people come to direct selling for many reasons. Some come in order to supplement their present income, others because they want to start a home-based business, and others come to grab the full potential of the opportunity and maximize its benefits. It is important to paint a clear and accurate picture of the time and effort that is required to achieve one’s goal in order to build strong, reputable relations with the distributors.

---

• Infrastructure: It is vital that sufficient resources are allocated to build and maintain a strong infrastructure that will provide the distributors appropriate reporting, training and tools required to succeed.

  Making entry into the business straightforward and easy is the first step toward building a credible relationship with new distributors. In order to cultivate this relationship and build trust and ultimately success, the organization must invest in training and tools that can be accessed by the distributors easily and at minimal cost to them. Investing in ongoing training and tools that evolve with market demands will keep both the organization and distributors current and even ahead of the curve.

---

• Caring Culture:  The culture must show that the company cares through motivation, ongoing support, frequent follow-up training, recognition, and above all, communication.

  A caring culture starts from inside the organization and grows out. The organization’s corporate team must be just that—a team of individuals with like-values, dedicated to nurturing the success of the distributors. To maintain a caring culture and a dedicated team, hiring practices must be clearly defined and adhered to. At times, finding the best candidate can be a lengthy process and the urge to stop the search and fill the position quickly can be great, but it is often to the detriment of the culture.

---

• Technology: The willingness on behalf of the company to demonstrate that they are able to grow and adapt to new technologies in order to support the field through dynamic websites, mobile applications, social media, videos, viral marketing, webinars and more is essential.

  Staying current with technology and having the ability to project the benefits of new emerging technology when applied to one’s organization is important when making decisions that will affect future growth.

---

The culture must show that the company cares through motivation, ongoing support, frequent follow-up training, recognition, and above all, communication.

• DSA Code of Ethics: Adhering strictly to the commitment of ethical business practices and consumer service and abiding by and supporting the DSA Code of Ethics, is paramount.

  The DSA Code of Ethics lays out values and principles that each associate member benefits from as it guides their decisions and strategies that will help sustain their longevity. It allows distributors to confidently rely on their leaders that they are upholding the highest levels of honesty, integrity, responsibility and accountability.

---

• Mission Statement: Industry leaders require a clearly defined mission statement that represents their values, vision and objectives and is supported by the entire organization.

  The foundation for this mission statement is based on the company’s core values that are the principles and standards at the very center of the organization’s character.

Putting the above components into practice, maintaining a strong and ethical leadership team and applying the company’s core values on a daily basis takes effort, commitment, dedication and time. In sum—no shortcuts!

Bob Henry is Chairman and CEO of Immunotec Inc.

European Commissioner for Entrepreneurship Michel Barnier with Seldia Executive Director Maurits Bruggink at the European Parliament earlier this year.

Click here to order the Direct Selling News issue in which this article appeared.

Earlier this year, hysteria and panic followed the finding of horse meat in some “beef-labelled” burgers and lasagnas in England. Uproar and consternation in the wake of this scandal led to a sweeping mistrust of mincemeat [British English for hamburger] an average Englishman would consume on a daily basis, having enormous repercussion for both industry and economy.

As direct selling representatives, we have to be vigilant, making sure our “beef” is not only held to the highest standards, but also protected from those attempting to stain the industry’s image through unethical trading practices. As it took only one rogue slaughterhouse to damage the food industry’s image and scare consumers, it could take one deceiving direct selling company to cause problems for Europe’s entire sector.

The direct selling sector in Europe will continue to vigorously fight companies that do not comply with the World Federation’s Code of Ethics. As a well-regulated sector, we can claim more fitting regulations and build on the already well-established consumer confidence. It is a true testament to the direct selling industry as a whole, and to the Code of Ethic’s insightfulness and diligence in particular, that the turnover grew by over 8 per cent in 2011, with similar statistics expected for 2012.

Due to Seldia’s efforts, direct selling is recognised as a form of entrepreneurship that can help Europe out of the economic crisis. Entrepreneurship has not always gotten the recognition it deserves on the Continent, but times are changing and government and citizens both realise that the State can no longer guarantee jobs or prosperity. Entrepreneurship has become a part of the solution.

Seldia is able to highlight its spirit of entrepreneurship through one of its unique characteristics: 84 per cent of all direct sellers in Europe are women. At the same time, only 30 per cent of all entrepreneurs in the EU are women, a figure that politicians want to see grow. There is therefore a widening interest to learn about the prospects that direct selling has to offer, as illustrated by the exhibition on Women Entrepreneurs organised by Seldia at the European Parliament earlier this year.

The exhibition attracted over 500 participants and was partnered with 25 women entrepreneurship organisations. Throughout one week, politicians at all levels learned about the issues facing women entrepreneurs and the opportunities that direct selling has to offer. Now that entrepreneurship is at the forefront of EU institutions’ agendas, it is the right moment to work with them to reduce the red tape and tax rates, recognise the status of independent direct sellers, promote direct selling and work on training and education.

Over the last three years the European market had a positive growth despite the economic crisis. However, our sales figures are still well below those of the United States. Sales in the European Union are around US$ 17.5 billion, compared to almost US$30 billion in the US. The difference in number of direct sellers is even bigger, with 4.7 million in the EU, compared to 15.6 million in the US. With the current climate in favour of entrepreneurship, the European direct selling figures are bound to increase further, something which will only happen when we successfully target unethical trading practices undermining our market.

Maurits Bruggink is Executive Director of Seldia, the European Direct Selling Association.