Total Life Changes, llc.
Founded: 2003
Headquarters: Fair Haven, MI
Top Executive: Jack Fallon, Chief Vision Officer
Products: Health and Wellness
TLC takes a different approach to impacting the human spirit while igniting sales.
In 2016, Total Life Changes hit the $100 million mark. One year later, the executive team made a decision to stop focusing publicly on the numbers. TLC prefers to focus on building a community that embraces the company’s seven core values. They believe these core values will continue to attract men and women that operate with honesty and integrity, which will in turn continue to increase the company’s sales metrics. “We want to separate ourselves to an extent from placing ourselves as a top 100 or having incredible sales metrics, and we just want to focus on holding ourselves more accountable to our core values,” says TLC Chief Communications Officer Scott Bania.
Money metrics are everything to most direct selling companies, so this shift was, initially, a shock to some of the company’s salesforce. “We lost several top earners and key leadership but as expected, it opened up doors for others to grow, mature, and diversify their teams. And now we’re enjoying exponential growth,” Scott says.
Their new focus includes operating with integrity and authenticity and maintaining the mindset that they would be dedicated to what they stood for. This translated into simple in-house slogans, like TLC Chief Operations Officer John Licari’s “SOI” in place of “ROI” to stand for “smiles” on investment rather than “return.” If the smiles come first, the leadership insists, the return soon follows.
Clarifying Their Culture
Sales initiatives like the G5 Challenge, which inspires brand-new distributors to attract five new customers within their first 30 days, launched to emphasize appreciation for fledgling Life Changers and the investment they were making in the company and themselves. TLC’s in-app sampling capability took the guesswork out of it for rookie team members, and the challenge significantly increased the number of samples in circulation. More importantly to the leadership, new Life Changers were introduced to the TLC community and culture of connection.
This culture was clarified at a 2019 Los Angeles event when TLC Chief Vision Officer Jack Fallon distilled his dream for this community and its values-focused measurement for success into one word.
“Jack spoke directly into the camera and said,
‘We are no longer a company; we are an energy,’” Scott says.
Weight loss challenges were eschewed in favor of individual transformation stories. Personal and professional development became a higher priority, and the leadership began highlighting the works of James Twyman, author of The Moses Code, a book about manifesting miracles and inviting him onto their live broadcasts.
“We want to communicate with people emotionally and spiritually,” Scott says. “We’re really focused on building this community and attracting people by way of our core values and what we stand for. If they want a sample, if and when they want to start a home-based business, we will wrap our arms around them and expose them to all of our company’s culture and tools and support.”
Influence, Ignite, Impact
In summer months, many direct selling companies experience a tapering in their sales activity, but in the wake of the pandemic and customers’ heightened interest in immune support products, TLC was growing. June and July pulled strong—albeit unannounced—numbers, with each week greater than the previous. “Our multivitamin NutraBurst went viral at the start of the pandemic,” Scott says. “We have strong Instagram influencers, Blac Chyna is one of them, so our sales for NutraBurst increased tremendously, upwards of 500 percent of what they were.”
To leverage this interest, the company combined their hemp extract products and instant tea products with NutraBurst into simple kits, which also ignited sales.
But what the pandemic gave, it also took away. TLC’s office logistics became complicated, as much of the staff was sent home to work remotely, but the fulfillment center was busier than ever. To meet the demands, the executive team spent five hours every evening after work on the line, picking, packing and shipping products. Amid the controlled chaos of disinfecting work stations and implementing new safety protocols, the orders continued to pour in.
For two months, they operated as “all hands-on deck” and in the process were able to analyze their system mechanics. New shifts were created, arrivals were fine-tuned, and the warehouse was restructured to accommodate the influx of products. While the company relishes its burst of growth, they must now create an environment that can retain the interest of these new customers and remodel their systems to withstand the strain of increased distributor needs
and orders.
“We continue to hire and acquire great local talent,” Scott says. “Our compliance department is fully staffed and working 24-hour days over several shifts. Our user experience and IT departments and call center have grown, and we are training and educating all of our support staff in our international offices.”
This staff expansion means the company has had to get creative, shifting offices and adjusting their warehouse usage. “We are busting at the seams here in our Michigan headquarters,” Scott says. The merchandise and apparel department relocated to the company’s original warehouse space to make room for an additional 1,500-square-feet of call center office space. The accounting department shifted to its own 2,500-square-foot office space, and construction has already begun offering an additional 3,000-square foot mezzanine above the fulfillment center in the Michigan headquarters. The 11,000-square-foot space that serves as their primary product warehouse has had to be supplemented by cube trucks and trailers that bring products to headquarters for final fulfillment and shipping.
Operating under extreme conditions has given the TLC executives opportunity to lead by example, which, Scott says, their team members—young talent especially—really appreciate and as a result provide greater service to the company when they see it happening.
“Where some companies may be hesitant to place someone as young as 20 years old in an executive role, what we’ve learned is that we can trust our instincts and place people in these positions as long as we support them. For example, our COO John Licari recently asked Evan Brengman to be our Director of Logistics & Fulfillment. Evan is a remarkable young man and is currently a college student at Michigan State University,” Scott says. “We love that we have been able to impact these young adults.”
Connection Amid Isolation
Making an impact has been the driving force for the company and has led to some powerful and unique connections. To celebrate with Life Changers and preferred customers, the executive team hosts live broadcasts, like Fun Fridays (closing in on 200 straight episodes at the time of publication), daily live broadcasts with Jack Fallon and John Licari, weekly exercise broadcasts and more; a total of 19 broadcasts weekly. During these talks, they interact with new faces, donate to charities, talk about ways to uplift the human spirit and even give away extravagant prizes, like the Mustang GT convertible they awarded in June. It’s one more way to invite people to try out the TLC community and maybe a sample, and see if they’re ready to start a home-based business.
This social engagement has been a building block for TLC for some time, and the previous investment in their auditorium and fully equipped AV team to support their broadcast has come in handy during a socially distanced season. Still, it is only part of their strategy. The company will be announcing a product launch in the fourth quarter, a new all-inclusive community and a new 30-day challenge. There is also a heightened urgency to get back to traveling and solidifying relationships with leadership across the globe. This isolating season is difficult for a company built on connection, but the company’s founder is devoted to broadening its impact and bringing new people into its fold.
“When you’re working with a visionary like Jack, he’s already past this pandemic,” Scott says. “He’s constantly operating in the future. So, we are always reaching for the next greatest innovative AI technology that we can use in a mobile app or training or product. TLC will last forever just as long as our staff keeps up with all of Jack’s visions and initiatives.”