J.P. Ferreira: Determining how we complement each other in the eyes of consumers and their customers while protecting the identity and originality of each of those brands. Many of our associates don’t belong to any particular brand anymore – for example, some of our factory workers are producing products for all four brands, and our back-office functions … legal, finance, supply chain, HR, operating services for all of the companies. I think the pandemic helped quite a lot in terms of our culture. At the beginning of the pandemic, we pushed ourselves to go back to our roots and our purpose—that people come first. We didn’t know what would happen to the business.

We decided on three things. First, work to contain the compassion, and we did that by redirecting all of our production capacity to essential items for donations across Latin America. We’ve donated millions of units of those products. Second, protect our people—not only our own associates but moreover our huge network of consultants, 4.5 million in Latin America. We created emergency funds for them to support the most vulnerable with food, to provide telemedicine and, unfortunately, assistance for funeral services. Third, maintain the economy active because most of those consultants lost their jobs and didn’t have any other alternative to feed their families if not for their beauty consultant activity. So, we accelerated all of the digital features we’d been building for years and trained those consultants so they could continue to serve their clients remotely, which was a huge success. Because of that, during the pandemic, right after the arrival of Avon, everyone stopped asking “Where do you come from?” because the purpose was much higher than that. This is what connects all of us. We won’t lose the identity of the individual brands, but we come together to do good for society.

Q: Are there any plans to continue to build the Avon brand independent of the Natura &Co brand even though Natura &Co is now the parent company?

Angela Cretu: Natura &Co is a company for the world, but in terms of individual brand expression, we have the resources to express our uniqueness. Avon is all about women’s empowerment—our dignity, financial independence and equality. The identity of our brand will continue to evolve … the beauty of this group is its diversity. But we’ve created a stronger and more cohesive voice as Natura &Co.

Q: What have you learned during the last 16 months?

J.P. Ferreira: What I’ve learned is that people come first – that’s it. We have only Latin America, but we mapped the number [of COVID deaths] among our network of reps, and we’re counting 1,200 so far. If you look at the number of associates, it’s 20. We have some of the countries most affected by the pandemic here. So, what’s the sense of talking about this year’s sales or profit projections? We need to focus on people first and what we can do internally and externally to try and support and influence public policy as well. But let me tell you one thing I experienced through that period, and I hope it will be a unique experience in my professional life. Our business improved tremendously. Our brands in Latin America have been rewarded as the strongest brands for society, and our company has the best reputation among all sectors—over Amazon, Facebook, Google— we’re ahead of them. Consumers value the way we act. Consultant loyalty also is at its highest because consultants value and reward our loyalty. Similarly, our internal engagement surveys with our associates are well above internal benchmarks. So, in hindsight, it may sound obvious, but doing the right thing bears good results in the end for everyone because people are here for a higher purpose. In the toughest moment, we didn’t hesitate and forgot all of those short-term internal targets and did the most that we could for people, and that’s practical learning that I hope never to experience again.

Angela Cretu: People should always be the focus. That became obvious for everyone in this game. I hope that learning changes the way companies connect and nurture their own people. As a leader, I’ve learned that life is so dynamic—the market is changing at a fast pace, and as leaders, we should ask ourselves every morning, “Why would she choose me today?” I want to make sure I’m adding value to my own environment. It’s not an easy challenge, but it’s mine every day. I see my role as an enabler, not a dictator.

Q: How have the last 16 months changed Avon?

Angela Cretu: We were looking before to adapt our business model to meet trends in the marketplace, increase our omnichannel access and provide instant gratification. The pandemic completely changed the pace of that, but we still need to keep that high-touch relationship. We stepped up our digital tools so beauty advisors s felt comfortable nurturing their customer relationships as much as possible, even when they couldn’t leave their homes.

Initially, people were trying to process the pandemic and were paralyzed. By acknowledging all of those fears, we were able to find solutions. We engaged beauty advisors in the discussion so they felt included as partners, and they rose to the challenge more than I could have ever imagined. It was a great reminder of the power of direct selling to create relationships no matter the crisis. We’ve received feedback from thousands of women that they felt unbearable pressure to hold multiple roles without knowing what tomorrow held, and they felt alone and isolated. So, we launched a “global gallery” and asked them to share their stories of how they were overcoming adversity—juggling motherhood and career, surviving breast cancer, overcoming domestic violence—and we received over 450,000 responses. Women tell us that “Whenever I doubt myself, I go there and just read one story from Saudi, from Germany, from Australia,” and it’s amazing to see how women around the world are united. This is the uniqueness of our industry.

Q: How do you think Avon will continue to distinguish itself in the direct selling industry?

Angela Cretu: Online tools will always be part of the game, but one thing that won’t change and is more relevant than ever is our ability to offer so much more than products. We’ll continue offering tools so that our consultants can operate in an online environment, but what will distinguish Avon are the relationships that create value for the community, not just stakeholders. We can tap into those trusted, authentic relationships and continue to build on that legacy. And we need to remain humble and open to learning new ways to connect with beauty advisors and customers.

From the August 2021 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.

The post Q & A with J.P. Ferreira, President of Natura and CEO of Natura &Co in Latin America and Angela Cretu, Global CEO, Avon first appeared on Direct Selling News.

REMEMBER WHEN it was easy to network with your peers during industry events and meetings? Remember the insights and ideas that those conversations prompted? The DSN Executive Insights interview series is working to bring those priceless exchanges of stories and ideas back.

In the second interview in the series, Stuart MacMillan, President of MONAT Global, and his friend and colleague, Mark Pentecost, CEO of It Works!, discuss problems, pivots and plans.

Here is a partial look at parts of their conversation. For the entire interview you can listen to the DSN podcast or watch the interview.

STUART MACMILLAN: I have the honor and privilege of hanging out for a little while with my friend, Mark Pentecost, from It Works!. The last 18 months have been extremely interesting for both your company and ours. Where did you have to pivot? Where did you have to go, ‘Hey, we need to do this differently?’

MARK PENTECOST: We didn’t expect this. We didn’t say, “Let’s go home, work from home for the next 16 months.” We thought it was just going to be for a month or two. In the beginning, it was like, “Hey, this is fun, working from home. It’s exciting. It’s something different.” But over time, different things have crept in, and I hear different words today. I hear COVID fatigue, Zoom fatigue. Some highfliers that work well by themselves, and there are people that don’t.

My background’s coaching. So, I was thinking, what if I never went to practice and just rolled the balls out and said, “Hey, guys, practice hard. I’ll be back in two hours.” And so that really got me to thinking of how do we empower our people, but how do we inspect what we expect? I heard something the other day that I really liked— “Don’t let your comfort zone dictate your destiny or your success.” And I thought, “That’s happening here. We’re getting in a comfort zone.”

The biggest challenge to me has been with changes—especially big changes. We just didn’t know what they were. I love to read, but I couldn’t pull a book out and say, “All right. What is the playbook for COVID pandemic, and you have to go home for, you don’t know how long?” We’ve just had to maneuver. Is that how you feel?

STUART: I feel the same, and I think that it’s been enlightening. I know you and I are similar. We have this sense that we need to control a lot of things and watch it, and I think, if this has done anything for me, and I’m wondering if it has for you, it’s given me a sense of, “Hey, it’s okay.” It’s that balance, right? So, it’s the tension between, ‘Yes, we still need to measure, but hey, it’s okay for them not to be under my eyes 24/7.’

MARK: Our secret sauce is the hugging and acknowledgment, and pats on the back. It’s not as easy to do that out of your home. I think team and teamwork is so important, but an organization’s success depends on strong individual performances

Recently, I was looking at the different people in the Zoom. And I’m like, “Oh, my goodness, I haven’t said good job to her, or I haven’t congratulated that person.” It really overwhelmed me on how do I show appreciation, and how do I coach someone that’s maybe underperforming or someone that is really knocking it out of the park, and I let them know, “I see you. Nice job, I really appreciate it.”

STUART: I actually had the same challenge. One of the things I would often do is walk across the parking lot to the Cooper’s Hawk Restaurant and go, “Hey, you. You know what? You’ve done a great job. Come with me.” And having not done that for a year, I realized that a piece of my management style was gone. I hadn’t replaced it with anything. So, what are you doing to combat that, in this kind of environment?

MARK: There are three things I’m focused on—boosting engagement, encouraging collaboration, and increasing morale. I wanted to make sure our field team knew how much I appreciated how they’re working through this period. And those are the three things that I realized people needed the most.

I want to acknowledge that we started opening the office on June first.

We’re working on a hybrid solution, and I want it to be led by our employees. I want them to tell me what they need to be the most efficient. The world’s never going to be the same. We’re going to go back, and it will be different. There are no rules we need to follow. How much do we need to be in the office? What departments never need to be in the office? Who needs the collaboration and people?

We’ve started opening the office, so that if you want to come into the office, you’ll be able to. We’ll be there. We’ll sanitize. We’ll keep it safe. We’ll have some rules, but we’re not going to tell you yet that you have to come back, or you have to do this.

STUART: I think we’re all facing some of those similar challenges. One thing you said that I think is really interesting is that this hybrid initiative is going to be employee led. I think what that will mean is that while we can throw out some ideas, it’s going to be unique to the company. It’s going to be unique to the personality of the company and unique to the departments. Which departments, in your mind, are the ones that really seem to be missing that collaborative, creative catalyst? Sometimes, the hallway is a catalyst for great discussion. Where do you think that’s missing?

MARK: I love marketing. I love sales. I think one of the things It Works! does well is social selling, gathering customers. We do it with Zoom, but what inspires me and really gets my creative juices going is when I’ve got five or six other people together, sometimes a little bigger, at the office, and someone goes, “Man, I got a crazy idea.” That’s usually when my antenna goes up.

That seems to be code for, “This is about to get good.” I miss that part because I’ll have some good ideas, but after some people pick holes in it or push a little bit, or, “Why not this?” We’ve tried to create that. For those who live in the area, we met outside at my house. I was amazed by what happened to a great idea when we were in the same place together. We ended up doing a promotion. And when we’re trying to duplicate that, it’s just different.

STUART: It is. It’s not quantifiable, but it absolutely is true. You sit in the same room and ideas happen. It’s hard to get the energy you have in a room of a bunch of people who are trying to think about things. To get that on Zoom is tough. Speaking of energy, so one of the things I’ve admired is your ability to transfer passion. Part of the success of It Works! is for your ability to convey passion and excitement and take things to a whole ‘nother level. How do we channel that into getting people excited about our business and what we had to offer?

MARK: What I’m realizing is that I’ve got to try and be intentional. If people are laughing and enjoying, we’re winning! Winning doesn’t mean always just the score, you’re the winner. Winning is helping people pay off debt. It’s helping people control their time through this. Winning is helping people feel accepted wherever they’re at.

STUART: Let’s talk a little bit about customers. There was a bit of a pivot from where It Works! started to say, “Hey, we’re going to focus on having products that stand-alone, that would be bought by anybody, irrespective of the channel.” You guys are doing a great job in terms of your customer-to-distributor ratio. Talk to me about your adjustments.

MARK: We battled that for quite a few years. I think in the beginning, people thought we were a little crazy. Some people actually thought, if you got a customer, you had failed because you didn’t understand the opportunity to become a part of the team. That’s just the way they’re brought up, but we could see that it’s two separate things. We had two different buckets. One bucket was a customer, and one was someone selling products for us.

The biggest change out there today is how to get a customer because people don’t watch commercials anymore. So, we have the opportunity in our industry to talk to people. We realize customers are so important, and they are the lifeblood. We get customers so well because of the interaction. And the competition now is, you believe this as I do, it’s not the other companies. The competition is Amazon.

We have a little motto—Amazon leaves a box on your front porch with a smile on it. We stay around for the hug. We got to smile, but we got to hug them.

We don’t have to convince people to get customers anymore. I think they realize that if you don’t have customers, you don’t have the lifeblood of a strong business. And today, it’s how we keep getting better at it.

STUART: Well, when you think about it, we should have an unfair advantage over the Amazons and the retailers because we’re all about relationship, right? Talk to me about compliance and the environment. How are you adapting to the new world—where it’s very difficult to actually sell the opportunity. There are so many things you can’t say. How do you get around that?

MARK: That is tough. There are some rulings lately that maybe there’s some light at the end of the tunnel, but I do feel like some of the regulations have put more strain on our channel, industry than others. Sometimes you feel like, “Here. This is a brown bag. Look at it. See what you think. I can’t say anything about it.” It’s put more on us to be sure of our products—that we can get ingredients that we can have clinicals on. I think our product team has done a great job realizing this. There are some claims right now that we’re able to say because of the clinicals. We’re being very intentional.

On the business side, we’ve got our income disclosure. There are people like, “Why do we have to do it?” Almost like raising our kids. “Why do we have to be in at curfew? Nobody else does.” My response is “I don’t pay that group, but I know I want to keep paying you. I want to make sure we have a great opportunity. And yes, it is, but we take the extra step.” We’ve added more compliance. It protects and educates us. We’re training more on what we can say or not say.

We do a lot more in training, and we try to put more time into it. That’s our reality. You got to know the rules of the game, so that you can stay in the game, and that’s what we spend time, even behind the scenes.

STUART: At the end of the day, our role is to build a long-term sustainable business for customers and our distributors, and that’s what I told our folks. I would encourage other presidents and CEOs and other leaders of organizations, let’s take the high road and keep focused.

Our role as executives in this industry is really to create that level playing field, and to fertilize it, so that everybody has a place to play and everybody has the same opportunity. 

From the July 2021 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.

The post Stuart MacMillan Talks with Mark Pentecost About Pivots, Plans, being Customer-Centric & More. first appeared on Direct Selling News.

Candace Matthews has been with Amway since 2007 and is currently responsible for overseeing Amway’s global reputation strategy, Corporate Social Responsibility and Amway Brand. Candace is the executive sponsor of Amway’s Diversity & Inclusion Network, and she serves on the Global Leadership Team, Amway’s key decision-making body focused on strategy development and creating memorable customer experiences.

Patricia White: Before coming to Amway, you were with global brands like L’Oréal, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and General Mills. How did you make the leap from New York to Grand Rapids?

Actually, it was quite a welcomed leap. You know, New York is great with all that it has to it, but it also impacts your personal life. So, I was commuting three hours a day, an hour and a half each way to and from work. When I came to Amway, it felt like I gave half a day to my life, and some of the quality of my life dramatically changed. The cultures of the companies were very, very different, and I felt like I had come home. There was some comfort in the familial environment of Western Michigan and of Amway. With family being so important to me, it was just a great place for me to be.

What impressed you about Amway and the direct selling model?

Amway is about helping people live better, healthier lives and helping people be in business for themselves, but not by themselves. I found that an amazing thing to be able to be a part of. The other thing is that how important relationships are in this business. Being a people person myself, I just embraced the fact that Amway was a global company. I got to learn about all cultures worldwide by helping our distributors and, particularly in the U.S.A., our Independent Business Owners (IBOs) develop relationships with their customers, and me developing relationships with them.

What did you focus on to build the Amway brand and customer acquisition and retention through the Amway Independent Business Owner?

The first thing that we had to do was understand what brands were versus just products. Because we were so global, really making sure that we had global brand positioning and a reason for being. Not only the Amway brand but for our key products like Nutrilite and Artistry. In doing so, we were enabled to help our IBOs create value for their customers. They have to have a reason for being. They are an important part of this business model and a part of Amway.

John Fleming: In July of 2020, your role at Amway changed to become the Chief Reputation Officer. The CRO is a relatively new position within the corporate and organizational structure. Could you describe your role and responsibility and what a CRO means?

For me at Amway, the chief reputation officer role is responsible for all things that impact the company’s brand. That might be things that we currently do or things that we have not yet done that we need to do more strongly to move forward.

So, in my role, the main focus areas are around sustainability in leaving the planet a better place than what we found it and our reputation, both on and offline. Also, we focus on furthering our corporate social responsibility effort. In the past, we focused around nutrition and particularly around children’s health and nutrition. When we look at our distributor population, over 70 percent are women, and we’re beginning to focus also our corporate social responsibility efforts on women’s empowerment.

The chief reputation officer does all of this. I also support our diversity and inclusion efforts. It’s thinking about what are the things that impact our company? What do we do to impact others? And how can we make sure that we’re doing it well?

What are your goals as the CRO at Amway?

I am part of a big organization. It takes a village and a globe to manage the Amway brand. If we look specifically at some of the goals that our team is working on, it is being the beacon and guiding the rest of the organization.

If we talk about sustainability, we need to set long-term goals that we are actually still working on. The important thing is not exactly what that goal is, but it is figuring out what it is, setting it out, and being very explicit about it so that we can take people on the journey with us into how to deliver it. When you talk about sustainability, you can talk about it from an environmental standpoint, or from a product and packaging standpoint, or even from a human capital standpoint, but nobody can do sustainability by themselves.

It literally takes all of us to be a part of it. The goals that we will be setting are not only for what we want to do for the environment but also for how does each of us plays a part in making it different.

It’s learning that the journey to delivering this is almost as important as ultimately where you end up. That’s probably the biggest difference in all that we do because as far as our corporate social responsibility is, we will just be enhancing what we’ve already done and trying to touch more women around the globe, trying to teach them about entrepreneurship and empowerment in their habitat so that regardless of whether they become an Amway distributor or go into business for themselves, we are helping them with the skills that they need. As far as children and children’s nutrition, that’s foundational to whom we are in making healthier children because healthier children help make healthier families, which is what we want to be a part of.

Will more companies in the direct selling channel add the CRO position?

I think it’s something that we all should consider. Because there is what we do as a company, but there’s also what we do as an industry. And within our industry, what one does in a good way impacts others and in a negative way impacts others. It’s something that we should be more cognizant of and be putting more effort behind to make sure that we elevate this entire industry because we want direct selling to be around for a long time.

For that to happen, we all have to do things to elevate it because it’s very easy to build things up, but even more quickly can something be torn down. It is critical for all of us to be doing it.

Patricia White: Perception and reputation have long been issues within the direct selling space. We recently did a cover story titled: Direct Selling Redefined – Why Industry Language and the Behaviors that Shape It Need to Change. As the CRO, what is your perspective?

I loved that article. I think one of the important things that we have to realize is, as we are providing opportunities for others, we are also providing an experience that they can’t get anyplace else. And that’s what’s important to our industry, and that’s one thing that our industry can have a greater advantage over many of the other industries. It’s that experience. It’s that high touch that we’ve always had. And granted, we have to adapt the high touch to digital, especially after COVID, but that touch is so important. And that’s one of the things that will help elevate our industry.

What is Amway’s vision for the future of the model?

Amway’s vision for the future of the model is that we want to make it 10 times easier for people to join and to earn. One of the things that we’ve found as people explore what we’re now referring to the gig economy, getting these side jobs or side gigs to make more money, they have to have easy, early earnings. The three E’s. That is critical. So that’s part of our vision, but not only the easy earnings upfront, it’s making sure that they can then build a business beyond that. Because many can do easier early earnings, but they don’t necessarily take it through to a lifetime of earnings and a business that you can build for themselves. And so that’s what we want to do. We want to make it easier for them to have their business, acquire customers, build a community, and then for them to stay and build a business in the long run.

John Fleming: As the Executive Sponsor of Amway’s Diversity and Inclusion Network, please tell us more about what that means. Can you tell us about the diversity and inclusion focus at Amway and your role and responsibility as the Executive Sponsor?

Diversity and inclusion for me and at Amway is something that the entire organization is embracing. I want to start with a quote that I love to share. Diversity is like being invited to the dance. Inclusion is being asked to dance, and belonging is dancing like no one’s watching. And we want to make sure that at Amway, that’s how people feel. Our vision is to actively encourage everyone to be their true selves and share their diverse perspectives so that we can unleash their full potential and come up with greater solutions that will impact the lives of not only our employees but the communities we serve, our IBOs and our customers. Be you and be the difference. Allow people to celebrate who they are, bring that in, but listen to that so that we can make better decisions.

Being that we are so global, inclusion is so important because we have to make an environment that welcomes everyone and empowers people from all backgrounds not only to be their true selves but to bring their insights, to contribute to our success. For us, diversity is a workforce that unleashes the power of all these different backgrounds and cultures and experiences and preferences to ultimately help us accelerate growth and innovation. Because when you have all that great thinking, it absolutely leads to better outcomes.

Of the 11 corporate officers portrayed on the Amway Corporate Website, six are women—What significance should we place on this?

Our global leadership team really represents the diversity of the business globally, but it also represents the people need to be part of the conversation to help build our business for the future. The DeVos and the Van Andel families, which are still very much engaged and connected, really believed in Amway being an opportunity for everyone. Recently a new CEO, Milind Pant, was brought in from outside of the families. Milind is an amazing CEO, and he put the best people in the jobs. He just did what he felt the business needed, and I commend him for it and the families for supporting it. I commend Amway for leading the way in such an amazingly global and diverse leadership team, and I’m proud to be a part of it.

Patricia White: We are very excited that you will be speaking at our upcoming Direct Selling University. Do you have your topic, and can you share some highlights?

I’m looking forward to doing that because I’m going to be talking about trends that are impacting the Amway business now and in the future. Just to give you some highlights about what I’m going to be sharing—looking back at last year and the challenges that were caused by the global pandemic, and the social injustices that came to light last year, and talk about how that impacted our business and made us change. Also, around sustainability, particularly environmental sustainability. The third is the idea around making things simple. How do I take these three things and talk about their trends, and what they’ve done to shape our direction?

What is the way you stay true to yourself as a busy executive and as a person, wife and mother?

I think for all of us, and particularly for me, staying true to myself goes back to my humble beginnings. I don’t know if you are aware, but I’m from a very large family. I’m the youngest of 18 children. My father was a minister, and my mother was a homemaker. They instilled in us very strong values around faith and education. That type of upbringing and those humble beginnings make me understand that you can never forget who you are or from whence you’ve come, and that titles really don’t make you who you are. It’s really about what you are put on earth to do and give and share to others. And my mother taught me three mantras. She always used to say, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Secondly, “When the Lord closes a door, he opens a window.” And thirdly, “Unto whom much is given, much is required.” Those are the foundational pillars of me.

What do you want to be remembered for?

I’d love to be remembered as a person and a leader who loved to nurture people, who loved to develop people, and open doors for others, particularly those who may not have had the chance or the opportunity. And also, around being a lifelong learner. I love learning. I think the day you stop learning is the day you stop growing. I believe in learning and growing all the time.

What would you like to share with us?

The last thing I’d say is that I would encourage everyone just to engage and make the world a better place. Being an ally for someone, unlike yourself, or printing less paper, recycling your plastic, use a reusable bottle, instead of something that you’re going to throw away. Think about leaving everything and everyone you touched better than when you found it.

The post Q & A with Candace Matthews first appeared on Direct Selling News.

Remember when it was easy to network with your peers during impromptu hallway or dinner conversations at industry events and the resulting insights that came out of those conversations? DSN’s new Executive Insights series is the next best thing to those priceless exchanges.

The debut interview brings together Wayne Moorehead, Chief Marketing Officer at Young Living and Ryan Napierski, President at Nu Skin, in a one-on-one discussion about disruption, the New Normal, what keeps Ryan up at night, and so much more. Here is a brief look at parts of their conversation. To watch the entire interview, visit DirectSellingNews.com.

Wayne Moorehead: Thank you, Ryan, for being here today. When Stuart and Direct Selling News reached out to me with this opportunity to be the kickoff episode where one Direct Selling insider gets to interview another—you were the first name that came to my mind. I’ve always seen you as someone who’s able to understand and embrace the dynamics of change, identify those that are going to have the greatest impact and create the greatest change.

We’re all wrestling with this new normal because of the seismic changes that we experienced. We have closed out what was probably one of the most dynamic and challenging years. Trends and changes that were predicted to be decades out accelerated rapidly and are now staring us in the face. So this concept of new normal is something that we’re all still processing.

How much is this concept of the new normal present in your mind, on an individual basis and at Nu Skin?

Ryan Napierski: Great question, Wayne. Funny that you use the term new normal. I just gave a speech last week and used that exact phrase. That this is a perpetually new state of normal, that the change and disruption are prevalent and exciting.

For our leadership team and me, we absolutely have learned to love the disruption. Our industry happens to have been through multiple cycles of disruption. We’re in one now—that is more exciting and transformational in a favorable way than any of the preceding disruptive periods.

This new one, social commerce, is the most exciting transition or disruption that we’re seeing for our industry, largely because of macro trends. When you talk about value creation in any industry, the macro trends that are driving that now with the gig economy, with social commerce, influencer and affiliate marketing—those all feed so nicely together with the traditional or the analog direct sales model. As companies lean into those macro trends, with the right strategy, there’s enormous potential.

There isn’t a day that goes by that we’re not talking about a disruptive force and how Nu Skin is leaning into that disruptive force.

Wayne: Over the last several years, you and the leadership team there have made a big push from a technology standpoint. Obviously, technology was vital to us even being able to stay in business the past 10 or 12 months, to be able to interact and connect with our distributors and members.

Can you talk a little bit about how the focus on technology changed for you?

Ryan: Technology is the scalability element of the whole future-looking model. We initiated a pretty heavy technology transformation. Knowing that we didn’t have the capabilities in-house, I had to partner with some external firms to bring the right technology leadership in. We overhauled our technology. And we’ve been overhauling and going cloud, security, customer-first. We’re rebuilding all our processes internally. It was pretty disruptive, pretty transformational work.

2020 catapulted us forward to the future that we thought was coming, but we projected that to be 2023 to 2025. And so it accelerated the pace of change.

Everyone has talked about the return to normal. For our leadership team, we said, “Absolutely not. This is the new normal. We will continue to lean into this.” And largely, Wayne, because it’s so favorable to our industry, and to the companies that are leaning into the change. It was both—the last 10 months catapulting us in, but then burning the bridges behind us and saying, “We’re here.” Now we’ve got to learn how to win in this new market.

For us, there really is no going back. We have transformed the way we see the world and our own leadership capability as well.

Wayne: I think we’re going to be adopting a fairly similar model. I agree with that approach from kind of the collaboration and a culture standpoint, there needs to be some type of cadence of in-person meetings. There may be more flexibility in a hybrid model where it’s not the 9:00 to 5:00. Or where people are spending two hours of every day in the car, but we’re seeing a lot more efficiency. I think employees are happier with the flexibility. As time goes on, everyone’s getting a little anxious to get back and kind of interact and a little more face to face interaction.

How do you see kind of in-person events? I think a lot of us experimented this year with virtual events and found some success and advantages there and some obvious disadvantages.

Ryan: It is a blended approach. Culture is such a critical part of not only a company, but the entire organism, including our affiliates, members or consultants. I do believe that we will have a blended approach moving forward continuously. What I love about the digital first events are that we can connect much more frequently, and they’re very effective in conveying information. The motivation and aspiration elements of our business that are inherent in the channel growth I think do require some more direct in-person interchanges.

We’ll be experimenting throughout 2021 and beyond with more of a blended hybrid approach.

Wayne: From a work-from-home standpoint, as you look at the employees, the ability that technology lets us connect wherever—as far as talent acquisition or retention, geography isn’t a limiting factor anymore.

How are you and Nu Skin thinking about work-from-home going forward?

Ryan: My assessment of the work remote model is that there have been significantly more pros than cons. If I were to score the various characteristics of the work environment, most have improved. The only con that I’m really worried about, that is collaboration. I think not having that ability to sit in the same room and whiteboard and collaborate on something is one area that we’re struggling with. It’s critical to the strategic work.

When I look to the future, I think absolutely Nu Skin has and will continue to adopt a work remote model for all the good reasons. As we’re scaling that and accessing new capabilities, it is critical and allows us to work much more effectively.

I would anticipate that we will be opening our offices back up for a more shared remote to on-premises work environment. I would imagine it’s going to be a blend moving forward, but I do anticipate a return to the office in partial form, particularly for our collaboration work around the strategy and the mapping side of things.

Wayne: I agree with that approach from a collaboration and a cultural standpoint. There needs to be some type of cadence of in-person meetings. There may be more flexibility and employee satisfaction in a hybrid model. As time goes on, everyone seems to want a little more face-to-face interaction.

I want to talk a little bit about momentum. I remember being at the SUCCESS Partners University event two years ago…interacting and talking to a lot of companies that were down from a revenue and growth standpoint. At that time, there seemed to be an ominous change that was happening, where I think everyone was looking around going, “Whoa, what does this mean?”

And with 2020, we saw increased awareness and demand for a many of our products, which created this tailwind or momentum.

What changes did you see at Nu Skin from a momentum standpoint?

Ryan: The advantages that our model presents of being able to shop online, work remotely with products that help people played the industry’s advantage in our favor. And what I like to say more than anything is we were able to provide solutions to a world that was really true in need—from work, products, opportunity, culture and community.

When people were stuck at home, working remotely, they have an opportunity to connect with a team and be a part of something bigger than the problems they were facing. I think we provided solutions for what people needed.

Now, as far as looking forward to the momentum, citing your specific question. I believe that people have gotten a taste for what life can be. People are realizing human connection, relationships and flexibility matters. We provide all of that. We provide the opportunity for people to interact one-on-one. We provide the opportunity for people to have more flexibility in the way we work, anywhere, anytime. We provide solutions for their actual consumption needs.

The momentum that we started to build in 2020 will continue as we lean in and transform ourselves.

Wayne: When you’re thinking about 2021 and the business landscape, more than anything, are there one or two things that are really keeping you up at night?

Ryan: Internally what keeps me up at night is—are we walking the walk or just talking to talk? Because we’re all getting more proficient technologically and digitally, and we can talk about what we’re doing. A great example, I was on a call this morning with 240 of our top leaders here in the U.S. We’re not meeting the customer need yet. We still have a whole bunch of problems. So, when I look at that, I say, “Well, we can sit around and pat ourselves on the back. The scaling of the business is causing breaks all over the place and the cracks become wider. So, are we as a team, are we patting ourselves on the back and just talking the talk, or are we really walking the walk and making certain that we’re driving the action, everyone throughout the company?

At an industry level, what keeps me up at night is the misunderstanding and misinterpretation of our industry at a regulatory level, at a commercial level and at a human level. I think we have to be very candid with ourselves in that regard—that we have not historically done a great job always. I’m saying collectively as a direct sales unit, we have not done a good job of being truly customer-obsessed.

If we’re serious about being customer-obsessed and about capturing the market opportunities ahead of us, it’s on us to talk the talk, walk the walk, act the way we want to be seen. We need to rebuild or reposition ourselves, not just with a narrative or a storyline, but to truly get into the grassroots behaviors of our channel, of our Salesforce and help them to learn that there’s so much more success when we actually represent ourselves for what we have—amazing products in an easily accessible manner, a trusted person to person relationship, word of mouth and becoming a part of a community or a brand that actually values you instead of seeing you as a transaction.

My worry is that we as a collective industry don’t acknowledge that, or maybe more that we’re going for the short-term gain and win, rather than looking at this long-term and saying, we really have an opportunity as an industry to grow from a $200 billion global industry to a $2 trillion global industry, to a 20 trillion. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be ten times the size we are today with what we have to offer.

Wayne: I agree we need to work to change the perception and positioning of the entire channel. Not just at our own individual company level, but at that industry level. I think we all need to come together, but I believe that we can have real impact and real change on that.

Final question. What gets you out of bed in the morning? What are you most excited about for 2021 from a business perspective?

Ryan: Scalable empowerment. What I love most about this industry is that we are an industry of empowerment, right? We provide people with the opportunity to really direct their own future with effort, with work, with a commitment. It’s hard work, but we are an empowerment engine as an industry. What excites me the most is the scalability that a digital-first industry actually provides. So, what I’m really excited about, what wakes me up prematurely, because I need my sleep, is that just, are we moving fast enough? Are we taking advantage of this unique opportunity that’s in front of us?

The post Executive Insights: Wayne Moorehead Talks with Ryan Napierski first appeared on Direct Selling News.

With Dr. Fred Cooper and Brent Willis as the CEOs, NewAge, Inc. is now a global firm with an estimated pro forma revenue in excess of $500 million. Together they have created a global enterprise—and the only omnichannel company in direct selling with access to e-commerce and direct-to-consumer channels in more than 75 countries. Recently, I had the pleasure of a Zoom interview with both of these dynamic gentlemen.

In just three short years, NewAge Beverages saw growth from $2M to $254M for the year ended December 31, 2019, and with the merger, you will now be over $500 million in combined revenue. Can you share what you consider to be the factors of your success?

Brent Willis: The keys to our success for both companies are threefold. Both NewAge and ARIIX are very purpose-driven companies. We stand for something, and it is at the very core of our being and what we stand for. Number two, we cascade that purpose to all of our teams to build a very powerful culture. It is a culture of winning, a culture of performance and doing whatever it takes to be successful. The third key to success is about disruption. We have a disruptive strategy and strive to flawlessly execute that strategy. Being purposedriven, having a strength of culture and being disruptive in every aspect of the businesses have led to our success.

Dr. Fred Cooper: I want to add that NewAge and ARIIX both have an inherent belief that the field is first at all costs. It is the primary principle that governs us. We believe that our reps are our business. They create our brand and our image. We can only do well and succeed when the reps know they are of paramount importance to us.

With the recent mergers and acquisitions, what are your plans and predictions for the rest of 2020 and beyond?

Dr. Fred Cooper: We want to see a milestone pinnacle that has never been accomplished in direct sales. We want to merge two dominant organizations, both of which are successful. We will merge cultures, philosophies and bring them together so that instead of two families—we have a united blended family. We want to set an example that two organizations can come together and that blended families do work, and they work very effectively.

Brent Willis: When I look at the rest of 2020 into 2021 and beyond, one word comes to mind—MORE—more growth, more opportunity for everybody, more markets, more brands. I feel like we are very inclusionary and accepting as a group. We love all of the different aspects, and we champion all of the different brands in our group (from LIMU, MaVie, Zennoa and Noni). We want everyone to share in the wealth creation and monetization of this very strong public company. We have the right public and financial foundations. This translates to wealth creation for our reps that earn shares and for all of the other companies or brands that want to join us. We want to be seen as a very productive, inclusionary harbor. For all of the ships in the industry, in a sea of increasingly choppy economic water—we can be that safe haven for them. A haven where everyone sees the benefit of being bigger and protected while still maintaining your identity and monetizing it for your people—that is attractive! We want to be inclusionary going forward, and we want more! More growth and resources for everyone in our fields.

What approach will set NewAge apart?

Dr. Fred Cooper: We want to build $100 million global brands within our direct sales umbrella—a house of brands of sorts, where individuals can affiliate with particular brands and services they want. With this model, you can have a smorgasbord of your choice of products you love, which have made a difference in your life and you can advocate for others to use. There is also the product lifecycle to consider. As the retail sector sees the demand and introduce, like products, the prices fall. Direct sellers are left with a conundrum. How can we lower the price and pay commissions and not be left with an overpriced product? So, we have become a house of brands, and our field is learning about new brands.

Innovation through the collaboration of scientists, research organizations and product development companies, they introduce their products in the U.S. We introduce them exclusively to our brands and representatives. They always have something novel and new to talk about.

As those products go into the product life cycle, price becomes the competitive factor. We have what we call value pricing for additional purchases that are made by a representative. Now, they don’t make as much commission on those particular products, but they make more commissions because we have a greater wallet share coming out of each representative. So, the consumer feels like they are getting a better value, and the reps are not taking a pay cut on commissions.

Brent Willis: Just as we’re innovating in terms of product, product lifecycle and portfolio of healthy products, we’re also innovating in route to market. This is really what omni-channel is. We’re not just a direct selling company. We are a direct selling company. We are e-commerce. We are direct-to-store, and we have access to traditional retail. Consumers don’t just shop in the direct selling channel. They buy off of Amazon. They buy off of individual websites and shop now from Instagram. So, the entire shopping behavior worldwide with millennials and Gen Z’ers, which is more than 50 percent of the global population, is changing.

From a route-to-market standpoint, our goal is to be at every single one of those consumer touchpoints. We know that you can’t sell one brand or one product in more than one channel because you have anarchy, but you can have dedicated products for dedicated channels and meet all of those consumer touchpoints. This is what we do. We hope to provide our reps earnings streams from more channels.

That is very different and unique if you can provide multiple earnings streams for your reps by giving them access to sales and in different channels versus just their networks. This is a way that’s really differentiated and innovative, and one of the things that the reps love about where we’re taking the company going forward.

What factors make NewAge see direct selling as an essential sales channel?

Brent Willis: If you look at every single region in the world, North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia, the largest driver of purchase intent for consumers is word of mouth in their social feeds. This makes this a perfect unique time for our industry. That’s why we are doubling down on the direct selling and e-commerce aspects of our business because it is how consumers are making their purchase decisions. We want to be the Uber for CPG as part of this new shared economy. We see it very differently of where consumers are going in the future, not just in terms of how they purchase, but also for the needs of millennials and Gen Z’ers. Everybody needs a little bit of extra income these days, and we provide that opportunity in a very low cost of entry. We’re really focused on putting reps first, and we try to make it successful for them. We really want to provide that respite for consumers. That’s why we’re seeing people joining our system worldwide in droves.

Dr. Fred Cooper: In terms of the attractiveness of this business model versus other kinds of business models, we realize that word of mouth is it in advertising. We are letting our reps know that it is more than just recruiting someone into multi-level marketing—it is about the acquisition of customers who have no intent on earning commissions but have a genuine conviction because they have had a transformational experience with those particular products. What we are going to be doing in the future is pushing this customer acquisition platform—not because of legal requirements or regulator concerns—but because we believe in the products.

Brent Willis: We’ve got more than 400,000 reps in our company now working. Joining us because we have, what we stand for, our bill of rights for reps and the condition systems that we think are the most attractive in the industry. But going forward, we’ll still build on that number of reps, but as Fred talked about, we want to build more customers.

We want hundreds of thousands of reps and hundreds of millions of consumers. —Brent Willis

This issue of DSN is focused on Innovation. Can you describe how NewAge is innovative in the industry?

Brent Willis: Innovation doesn’t come from looking at the future. Innovation comes from looking around, and Fred looked around and said, “Here are the problems I see in industry.” He went to go fix that with the Bill of Rights for reps, with a unique compensation system, with an ability to acquire and integrate companies and to drive growth. We did similar things on the NewAge site. So together, we are taking this disruptive by design model and having growth through collaboration. So, this is a winning team with a great vibe. We are looking for advance through collaboration and disruptive innovation!

Can you share your strategies and thoughts on branding and product diversity?

Brent Willis: Our branding approach is that we want to build $100 million-dollar brands and invite other scale brands to join in. As a public company, one of our greatest assets are the intangible assets on our balance sheet which comes from brand value. We focus on three omni-channel brand platforms: Health and Wellness, Inner and Outer Beauty and Nutritional Performance. We never compromise on the efficacy and quality and superior functionality of each one of our products. So, we try to be the best in what we do in terms of true functional performance. We are following consumer trends with sustainable packaging, clean ingredients and addressing fundamental human needs states. We are working toward multiple organic growth initiatives: Noni/immunity shot, TeMana Shape expansion, Noni + CBD expansion, the LUCIM skincare launch and the core brand Tahitian Noni evolution.

Dr. Fred Cooper: The bottom line is when you are going after consumers—they only care about two things. Value and that get what the pay for—conformance to specification. And fitness for use. It does what we claim it will do. No more, no less. In our industry, hyping people up on a product that doesn’t work to earn money isn’t going to work anymore. That’s got to change. So, the big passion has to be—look, try our products and see if you notice a difference. Then share your story and success. When we focus on it in this matter— that’s when the money comes.

What is the goal for the future of NewAge?

Brent Willis: Combined NewAge now has a greater global reach in our focus markets in Japan, China, Europe and the Americas. We have penetration in over 75 markets and by having a larger global footprint benefits each channel which contributes to overall growth. We also have exposure in emerging markets. We have a new office in Brazil, which is one of the largest direct selling markets, and a focus in South Africa. Through this system, we are building and driving this disruptive portfolio and disruptive route to market to enable ourselves to win and grow the business.

Is there anything else that you would like to share?

Brent Willis: We have only been working together for a couple of months, but it is so easy and symbiotic. We each have relative strength, and we are building on those strengths. We share the same view that reps come first.This isn’t about an acquisition or a merger. All of that is very paradigm language. This is about two major companies coming together because we know we can do more. We know we can do more for the leaders. We know we can take the best of everything we have and build on that and become much more disruptive and much more powerful, much stronger for the benefit of all the leaders and everybody that touches this company. We have this very good public company that we think is the best public company structure in the entire industry. Everybody can benefit from that. I feel it every day that is just so easy with this partnership between Fred and the rest of the leadership team because we’re just focused on doing whatever it takes to win. It’s just easy.

Dr. Fred Cooper: Our company has been acquiring companies, learning and getting better at this as we bring them all together.

This isn’t about we take you over—It is about you join us. This is a message of invitation. So, sit back and see if this merger isn’t everything we said it was. See if it becomes a team. -Dr. Fred Cooper

And if that’s the case, you might want to consider that you can be part of a larger organization. People will see that …I can be my brand. I can promote and take care of my field. I can monetize and be apart of a larger infrastructure. Consider joining the team because it really is all about winning and not about competing or being right. That’s what we’re trying to establish. I have been the company that’s been doing acquiring other companies, and by all means, now my company has been converted to NewAge. So, what was good for the goose has been good for the gander, and I hope people will watch that in the industry and say, “Wow, ARIIX was doing it—now it has been to them.” It will be like a moth to a flame. People will see that fire burning in us and be attracted to it

The post Q&A With Brent Willis and Dr. Fred Cooper of NewAge, Inc. first appeared on Direct Selling News.

 I was fortunate to catch up with the WFDSA Chair and the CEO and President of Oriflame Magnus Brännström. He offered his insights on leading during the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges, changes and successes of the direct selling industry.

How has the pandemic shifted your thinking as a CEO?

I am not sure that the pandemic itself shifted my thinking. It just reminded us about prioritizing the right things. The times have changed, and this change started long before the pandemic. I do see that digitalization has speeded everything up. And of course, for me, it means faster decision making.

What new leadership skills must executives have to operate in the new normal we find ourselves in?

I am not sure that the skills are completely new. It was always important for an executive to be open, flexible, have high integrity, a clear vision and be close to people. The crisis sharpens the need for those qualities. As everything is happening fast, the authenticity and being true to yourself gives reassurance to the organization, and it is very important in times like these.

What does success look like for you as CEO?

Success to me is marked by a flourishing community. Our mission is to empower people to flourish with sustainable healthy living. If we can do that through our offering and community then that would be success. Of course, results are important too and we are very focused on growth. This helps move our mission forward.

How is your company navigating the work from home environment?

We had to postpone our physical conferences, both for our brand partners (representatives) and employees. As we clearly miss live interaction. It is one thing to see each other online; it is another thing to build and strengthen relationships, spark creative thinking and have fun together. We are trying to compensate with online meetings—they are exciting and fun. However, we are eagerly waiting to be able to meet in person.

What changes have you already implemented or put into action?

We have been working with digitalization for quite some time, and this year we have set the new Oriflame—a social selling beauty company—in motion. I clearly see how fast everything has become. Before the adoption of a certain digital tool would take years, now it’s a matter of days (sometimes hours). It is definitely exciting, and it opens up for new opportunities!

What have you learned about your company/ workforce that you didn’t know before COVID-19?

I am very impressed by the curiosity of our people, and our ability to embrace change. We are much more digital than I thought. We have also proven that we are a community of like-minded people and thatTogetherness, Spirit and Passion are not just our value words—they are what makes us who we are.

How and when does a company transition to bringing back their employees to the office?

We are following local authorities’ regulations when it comes to bringing people back to the offices, and we are ready for a gradual return. Of course, in light of new experiences, we are looking into our work practices, as new digital tools allow now for more flexibility and new opportunities.

How are you building culture when you can’t be together with employees in an office?

Culture and employee experience are super important to us. It’s much more difficult to feel a sense of belonging when you are not physically together. We are very digital. Working from home during the quarantine wasn’t really a problem, as we are used to communicating online—we are a global company.

One of our core values is Togetherness, and we pretty quickly understood that we need to stay close to each other and not lose the connection. During. pandemic, we focused on the personal wellbeing of our people, on expanding the digital mindset even more, and on supporting our Oriflame culture through very transparent communication.

We believe in daily routines. That is how we work with our skin care and wellness categories. We organized weekly wellbeing programs for our people, both globally and locally. At 8:30 every day, we have joint workouts, yoga, mindfulness classes and lectures about general wellbeing. We have also organized a live session with a psychotherapist, where we went into the nature of emotions. People could ask anything that was on their mind. It was very special and super appreciated. This is not the first time for us, as we regularly organize sessions about the so-called wheel of life topics—different areas apart from work, that help you develop as a person.

When it comes to communication, we are running frequent staff updates, team meetings, check-ins, even virtual coffee-station chats. We exchange updates via Teams, Yammer, our intranet. We actually chose to take a non-formal approach and organized CEO Connect sessions every second or third week for everyone in Oriflame to join. We ran it through Teams Live. Instead of showing a presentation with numbers, I did a live Q&A and answered all questions uncut. Any question. People posted questions and voted for them live, and I answered. As transparent as I could. People asked everything important to them. I got many tough questions as the times are tough. Sometimes I didn’t have an answer, but it is ok. I just had to say it directly as it is. I believe that trust can be earned only when you are you and when you are totally open—especially in times like these. I feel that we are coming out of COVID stronger than ever—as the trust we have now is unbelievable. We are definitely set for the future. We have adjusted our communications channels during this time, and we stayed true to our culture of Togetherness, Spirit and Passion.

What is our channel doing well, where do we need to improve?

It is clear that we are good at selling, recommending and supplying products online. We are all getting the DS reports on a weekly basis, and it’s is great to see that the channel is doing ok, better than some other industries. But of course, it’s too early to judge.

What advice do you have for leaders of our channel as we move forward?

As a WFDSA Chair, I have seen a big development of the channel during the last years. We are now talking about social selling, gig economy. We feel pride, and we feel the momentum. Digitalization is here, that’s for sure. So, all that is just great.

When it comes to moving forward, there is one thing that makes a difference for our channel. We are the People’s Business. No matter what times we are in, if there is a crisis or not, people always come first. And if you have the trust and good relationships in place, both with your representatives and employees, everything else will happen. New tools, new ideas, new products, new successes. DSN

The post Q&A with Magnus Brännström first appeared on Direct Selling News.

You have a new book called Positioned Right: The Forces Shaping the Future of Direct Selling and Network Marketing. Share with us what the book is about and why you wrote it?

Two and a half years ago, and seven full rewrites later, it came about because I started recognizing what I believe was an inflection point in our channel. You can only ride the wave for so long because, at some point, you realize that change is necessary and required. In my opinion, we are positioned right as a distribution channel and an opportunity for the future. It’s hard to argue you’re not when you’re in over 170 countries, over 120 million entrepreneurs using this business model, and doing over $200 billion in sales globally.

The whole first part of the book was letting people understand what both direct selling and what network marketing are all about. I’m an educator by nature, and I believe it’s important for people to be educated about who we are all about. The rest of the book is really focused on the evolution—the big areas we have to focus on. What are they?

• It starts with perception. How do we get the marketplace to have more raving brand ambassadors for the industry?
• Next, is focusing on improving the customer and distributor experience and journey.
• The last piece is culture—which I think culture is the ultimate differentiator in our business.

How do we as a channel adapt to this changing world?

We look at our channel in two components, one being the distribution channel, and the other being the opportunity. There’s obviously a lot of talk about the regulatory environment and what’s going on there. I noticed that the inflection point was the marketplace had evolved to a point where we had to change. If you went back ten years ago, there was no Amazon that was doing what they’re doing today, and the e-commerce component, that distribution channel wasn’t what it was today. So how consumers behave, how they shop, the tools they are given have all changed. I feel that as an industry we have fallen behind, and as a distribution channel we can do a better job.

To me, the best indicator of this is just go look at the number of customers we lose and how quickly we lose them. This is important to fix. We always have to be competing for customers because it’s the foundation of direct selling. I always tell people—no customer base, no business. That’s just reality number one of business.

We have to understand that our business isn’t about marketing hope, the next generation of the process is we have to be able to execute on
fulfilling that hope.

On the opportunity side of things, in 2017 and 2018 in the U.S. the industry lost over 2 million people. Part of that was segmentation and other issues. But you also have to look at ‘who’ we were losing in the industry. It is our part-timers, the micro-entrepreneurs, the lifeblood of our channel. With any established company, these are the people who are going to bring in over 90 percent of your sales, 90 percent of your customer acquisition and 90 percent of your recruiting.

So, when the things that are foundational stop working, you have to take a hard look at how do you go and get positioned to evolve this industry. And the book for me was step one. I think our industry right now is paying a lot of attention to the importance of evolving, and that’s a good thing. Now the question is how.

 “Either the pursuit of relevancy and leadership in the marketplace will define the future of direct selling, or inaction will create limitations—not focusing all energy on fighting the old, but on building the new.” Tell us what this quote from your book means.

You can get caught up in the turbulence of the present and fail to invest your energy in the creating of the future. I think a lot of people in our channel know we have to evolve, but there are different levels of commitment for different companies. But ultimately, what matters about that commitment is how committed you are to it. Everyone says we need to change. They just want to take any risks to get there, so they just dip their toes in the water. I think our industry honestly is very intuitive based, meaning they’re going to rely on past experiences. As soon as a big obstacle comes, they tend to want to pivot backward.

I remember Tony Robbins saying there is that moment in time where you decide you’re never going back. It’s that resolve. There’s always going to be headwinds. This is a reality in evolving businesses and cultures.

You share what you call the Historical Path versus the Next Generation path. Please explain the difference and why we need to choose the Next Generation path.

If you go back to the beginning, direct selling began when a preacher by the name of Graves began selling books door to door. The industry took a big turn in the mid-40s when all of a sudden, these people were allowed to hire other people to help sell their inventory on a quota-based system. It was this process of if I’m successful in bringing customers, then at some point when I get enough customers, I can come become a distributor, too. That was the beginning of network marketing.

Another big change happened in the 70s. Companies would present big checks on stage, and there was a lot of emphasis around money. That’s when we had the birth of the opportunity centric model where the opportunity drove the business and when the compensation plans started shifting differently.

At the core of this is ‘Hope Marketing,’ it’s the kind of marketing that is about getting people excited about the transformation of their lifestyle. It is about being more comfortable, having more freedom and making more impact. These are the kind of examples of what you market hope around, but ultimately, successful businesses are those that turn hope into reality. And what our industry is really big on is marketing hope. The path forward is to climb the marketing plan. The more people that climb it. The more successful it is.

If you look at it in practice, what gets lost is the execution necessary to turn hope into reality. We have to understand that our business isn’t about marketing hope. The next generation of the process is that we have to be able to execute on fulfilling that hope. We need to get into the execution, engagement and relationship building game. This needs to define us, and we need to do better in all of these areas.

The Historical Path of marketing hope, chasing the career path worked well for many decades because recruiting solved all problems, and now it doesn’t. We are starting to see the evolution away from that. So, when I talk about ‘Next Generation,’ it’s talking about getting back to the concept of the customer experience and customer journey. It works off of a principle I call, Relationship Stacking, where the foundation of our business is customers. No customers mean—no business. Then there are these micro-entrepreneurs. 80 percent of these individuals will never build a team, so they have to be able to succeed through retailing product, in particular, to end consumers. If you can do that effectively, what you can do is establish strong leadership.

Next Generation is built around that thinking of customer growth. To do that, we’ve got to take care of our part-time micro-entrepreneurs and make sure that we can addict them to this business model and make sure that they’re successful.

To me, Next Generation, is much bigger than just this pendulum between opportunity and product. I think the future will be more of a cultural centric model where a company’s culture is so strong that people won’t leave it because their identity is tied to it. If we do this well, the decade-long debate of do we lead with the opportunity or product goes away because we have built a culture around a larger mission that everyone can wrap their arms around.

The post Q&A with Gordon Hester first appeared on Direct Selling News.

Amway began the new year by welcoming in a new CEO. Recently, I connected with Milind Pant to talk about his thoughts and impressions of his inaugural year. He shared his insights, observations and his future goals.

Give us your initial thoughts since coming on board with Amway this past year?

It has been fascinating and I feel incredibly fortunate to be a part of this great company. The idea started with two friends—Jay and Rich—who were pioneers of helping people live better lives. That same spirit is alive and kicking at Amway today. It’s wonderful to be a part of that purpose.

What do you love the most about the direct selling business model?

The passionate energy and optimism of our independent business owners, entrepreneurs and distributors. It is truly second to nothing that I have experienced in my prior professional career. I believe this is a unique strength and outcome of the direct selling business model.

This is the first time the company has gone outside of the family for the CEO leadership. How has your prior experience helped you in your role as CEO of the largest direct selling company?

As I was going through the Amway interview process, my wife and youngest son had the chance to come to the headquarters here in Ada, Michigan. We were able to meet most of the DeVos and Van Andel family members during the trip, and the conversation with them focused less on business strategy and more on getting to know our family. The Amway founding families were so warm, genuine and welcoming. Upon leaving, I remember talking to my wife about the interview process. We both agreed that no matter what happened next, we felt lucky to have met such great people. It was then that we knew there was something very special nabout Amway. It’s something that Doug, Steve and the founding families should be very proud of continuing to build on Rich and Jay’s legacy.

“We want to pair these strengths with the megatrends that are changing the world around us.”

Regarding my experience, I believe I am a true work in progress and am privileged to be in this role. I spent the first 15 years of my career with Unilever, and the last 10 years of my career with YUM! My family and I have truly been global nomads since 2007. We’ve lived in Durban, South Africa; Delhi, India; Bangkok, Thailand; Shanghai,China; Dallas, Texas; and now, Ada, Michigan. These experiences across the globe have shaped my knowledge of people, culture, technology, business, and entrepreneurship. More than anything, I have learned that people around the world are more similar than different. We all have dreams to improve our lives and the lives of our families. And most of us desire to do good for others and contribute positively to the world. This mantra aligns well with Amway’s purpose of “Helping People Live Better Lives.” I look forward to working with our employees and ABOs to continue fulfilling this purpose each day.

Amway had their 60th anniversary this year with the event in Las Vegas. Tell us about what that milestone celebration means for the company?

Amway’s 60th anniversary celebration (A60) gave us the opportunity to thank all of our ABO leaders for living our purpose and building sustainable, growing businesses. As I was speaking during the main stage presentation, I had the help of interpreters who were doing simultaneous translation in 23 languages! This is a great picture of how far we have come since Rich and Jay started Amway 60 years ago. The products and business opportunity continue to inspire people on a global scale, and A60 was a massively important milestone.

Doug, Steve and I had a chance to not only celebrate our past, but to share thoughts on what our journey to our 70-year milestone (A70) will look like, and how we will evolve and enhance Amway’s traditional direct selling model. We took the A60 Vegas celebration as an opportunity to begin designing and executing this journey in close partnership with our ABO leaders.

How does your road to A70 or 2029 transfer to business operations?

It’s all about the journey to social commerce. Our journey to social commerce is about fulfilling our purpose in this fast-changing world and focusing on the new ABO and customer experience. We want to make it easy for our ABOs to delight their customers each day, with amazing products and frictionless shopping experiences.

In designing our future, we will build on our three biggest strengths: The entrepreneurial spirit of our ABOs; the existing, vibrant communities they have built offline-to-online; and our high-quality products from brands such as Nutrilite, Artistry and XS.

We want to pair these strengths with the mega-trends that are changing the world around us. These mega-trends include the gig economy and increasing competition among companies offering additional income opportunities; the expectation of an easy, frictionless shopping experience online; and customer feelings regarding social responsibility, quality and sustainability when buying products. With Nutrilite, as one example, we have a big foothold in this space with our amazing organic farms and seed-to-supplement traceability story.

We are investing significantly in building each of these capabilities, and we are doing this in partnership with our ABO leaders around the world.

The post Q&A with Milind Pant first appeared on Direct Selling News.

I recently caught up with Deborah Heisz, Co-CEO of Neora, to get some added insight into their decision to sue the FTC as well as what their chances of success will be going forward. 

What was the deciding factor to sue the FTC? Was there one main reason you just said like hey we’ve got to do this.

HEISZ: The deciding factor was when we realized the FTC’s main goal was to take away the multi-level compensation plan of our company, despite the fact that we’re not a pyramid scheme under any current laws or FTC guidance. When the company was founded, it was structured specifically to have a strong customer base and remove any reason for a Brand Partner to purchase product they don’t use. Ultimately, we made the decision to sue because we weren’t going to take away the businesses of our Brand Partners who have spent eight years building with us. The FTC can’t come in, change the rules of the game and damage the income of hard-working American families.

You’ve spelled out the reasons why Neora needed to take this action, what would the fallout to our channel if you didn’t fight back? 

HEISZ: Not settling with the FTC allows us to bring to light the FTCs overreach when dealing with our industry. They cannot make up the law or create new interpretations of the law and apply them to the direct selling industry without being called out for doing so.

If we had settled with the FTC, rather than challenge what we believe is a new interpretation of the law through unpublished guidance the FTC is employing when looking at direct selling companies, then we would have had to accept a deal to abandon multi-level marketing.  Although the FTC has continually indicated that a settlement does not apply to other companies, we all look to settlements as a guideline for what the FTC is considering acceptable or unacceptable business practices.

“The FTC can’t come in, change the rules of the game and damage the income of hard-working American families.”

With AdvoCare abandoning multi-level through the FTCs “fencing in”, I believe that a second company agreeing to the same, especially one with numbers like ours, would have emboldened the FTC to further attack our industry using their new interpretation of the law through unpublished guidelines. Also, the FTC is aware companies in our industry are exceptionally vulnerable to significant business damage if they are even accused of being a pyramid scheme (regardless of the facts or law) because of the  nature of our independent sales forces.

You had a meeting with your field leadership the day the news broke of Neora suing the FTC. What was your advice to them?

HEISZ: After we let them know we were suing the FTC to protect their business and really the businesses of the more than 20 million Americans involved in direct selling, we let them know it was going to be business as usual. This is now a court case and will likely take years to move through the system. Our home office staff is going to focus on building the business with our Brand Partners.  We also launched a new product line that day, so we advised them to focus on it. Looking at our numbers this week, it looks like they did.

Why do you feel your case is strong and will win out in the end?

HEISZ: Ultimately, we are going to win because our case is based on the data and the existing law and guidance. The data shows that we are not a pyramid scheme according to the law. Pyramid schemes do not offer legitimate products. There is a high demand for our product. 80% of our compensation paid in 2017 was related to product sales to end-users. More than 60% of our sales in 2017 were to customers that do not participate in the compensation plan, and that percentage is higher now. Our Brand Partner monthly orders are largely for personal consumption. Our enrollment pack sales are less than 5% of our current business.  These are not the numbers of a pyramid scheme.

Any advice you could give to other companies in the channel of what you have learned so far in this process that would be of help or guidance to them?

HEISZ: Make sure you double down on educating your field and taking action around product and income claims. And if we are a pyramid scheme in their minds, I don’t see how any direct selling company wouldn’t be considered a pyramid scheme  by the FTC. So once they are in the door you can expect exactly what happened to us.

A much stronger investment has to be made in every compliance department. The guidance goalposts have moved significantly to what they will consider in their consent orders, as was made known with the AdvoCare consent order and now with us. You need to have tough love conversations with field leaders on the new consequences of income and product claims. The FTC will now inappropriately try to use any piece of video, social media posts, hashtags, as evidence of a pyramid scheme.

How can people help your cause?

HEISZ: We have already heard from a lot of people in our industry that we will have their support. In the interim, letters or statements of support for our lawsuit against the FTC would be very helpful. We are a mid-size company, and it’s very expensive to fight the FTC—so we’re going to set up a defense fund. We’re hoping all of our colleagues in the channel will contribute, because we’ve taken a risk and filed an important case to protect the entire industry.

The post Q&A with Neora Co-CEO, Deb Heisz first appeared on Direct Selling News.

Last month, the Direct Selling Association applauded California Governor Gavin Newsom for signing Assembly Bill 5, which includes an exemption for direct sellers. Without the exemption, the bill would have created an uncertain framework for more than 2.2 million Californians involved in direct selling.

“We want to thank Assemblywoman Gonzalez and interested stakeholders for working with DSA and including exemption language,” said DSA President Joseph N. Mariano in a press release. “This language will allow the direct selling industry to continue thriving in California and independent salespeople to continue having the freedom and flexibility to operate their businesses. We want to thank all our member companies who engaged with elected officials in California to express the importance of the business.”

The DSA explains that the language in the bill incorporates state Unemployment Insurance Code Section 650, which has classified direct sellers as independent contractors for over 20 years. The DSA also stated in the press release that it hopes state and federal elected officials consider similar bills to include similar language that direct sellers are clearly and specifically independent contractors.

I invited Brian Bennett, VP, Government Affairs and Policy at the DSA to get further clarity if/how this action in California affects our channel going forward.

“Thirty-nine states clearly define direct sellers as independent contractors.”

Yes, we’re happy our channel was granted the exemption, but shouldn’t the DSA also stand in solidarity with other gig economy companies who need the same exemption?

Throughout the process, we were engaged with the “I’m Independent” Coalition. It included a variety of industries utilizing independent contractors, including platform companies. Together, we sought legislative language that would have applied to a larger breadth of industries. However, as we moved through the process, a broad legislative solution would not have been specific to direct sellers and most likely would not have provided the protections we needed. I think it is safe to say most, if not all, companies and associations in the Coalition had the same strategy as DSA and ultimately sought a specific exemption, although few were successful.

Doesn’t the passing of this bill set a dangerous precedent going forward for all independent contractors, regardless of industry?

The fight in California was not our first, nor will it be our last. That said, DSA has had great success at the state level over the past 40 years. Thirty-nine states clearly define direct sellers as independent contractors. In addition, direct sellers are also defined as independent contractors under the Internal Revenue Service Code. The new AB 5 has empowered state legislatures across the country and Members of Congress are having active discussions about the “Future of Work.” DSA has been, and will remain, engaged in these conversations to ensure a positive outcome for direct sellers.

Are you confident that direct selling will always get the same exemption if other states follow suit?

Every state, and bill filed will be different. We were fortunate that the political dynamics in California helped in granting exemptions for certain industries, including direct sellers—but, that may not always be the case. Short of a specific exemption, we will always work to ensure any legislation enacted has no harmful impacts on our businesses.

“Short of a specific exemption, we will always work to ensure any legislation enacted has no harmful impacts on our businesses.”

What is your assessment or knowledge of other states that will pass similar legislation? What are direct selling caucus members saying for example?

Other states, such as New York, are still trying to navigate what legislation can feasibly be passed. The process varies from state to state—from having a straight California bill that would put the ABC test into statute (with or without exemptions), to creating a new category of worker that will have some benefits of employment status, but also the freedom and flexibility of being an independent contractor. Most state legislatures will not meet again until January, so they are spending this time talking to stakeholders and analyzing what is achievable for next session.

What can the DSA do at the state level to encourage the same outcome as California?

As in California, we worked together to clearly demonstrate the substance of our position. There are times when state legislators, who are initially supportive of minimizing the use of independent contractors, need to understand the benefits that come from utilizing independent contractors. In addition, there is an Independent Contractor Working Group under the Government Relations Committee that is analyzing these specific issues and approaches. The group is comprised of people from numerous member companies, and we are working together to develop a strategy for future states that we will need to respond to legislation. The task force is also identifying other states to more clearly define our status as independent contractors.

At a direct selling company level, what should executive leadership be doing to help in the cause?

The easiest and most important thing you can do is get to know your local elected officials—preferably before there is a problem. These are the easiest and most important relationships to build. If they know you and your company, they can be helpful when specific policies and proposals arise that can impact your company. In addition, member companies can go to the company grassroots advocacy page on the DSA website, https://www.dsa.org/advocacy/company-grassroots-advocacy . It includes a variety of resources for how to engage in advocacy. Finally, it’s also important to have buy-in from the senior levels of leadership and designate a member of your team to be the government affairs contact for the company so they can participate in the DSA Government Relations Committee.

The post Q&A with DSA’s Brian Bennett first appeared on Direct Selling News.