The US-based direct-selling giant, Nu Skin, has launched a regional project in Southeast Asia to support and strengthen its relationships with 100,000 distributors in the region.
The project, called "Hug Our Distributors" is Nu Skin's crucial preparation for a campaign to double its direct-selling business and number of distributors in Thailand and other markets in Southeast Asia within the next one or two years.
"Under the campaign, a set of projects and initiatives will be launched to help improve customer service for our distributors," said Melisa Quijano, president of Nu Skin Enterprises, Southeast Asia, in an exclusive interview with The Nation.
"We are a people business and need to be more conscious about service, which is a very important factor in our direct-selling business. Our success depends on the success of our distributors. We want to keep a strategy to make sure our employees are ready and equipped to serve our distributors very well," she said.
Nu Skin actually started a mindset campaign, called "We Love Our Distributors", last year. The "Hug Our Distributors" project was launched in Thailand and other markets in Southeast Asia earlier this year.
"The mindset campaign is set to remind us that our purpose is to help distributors to become successful," said Quijano.
"It recognises our thinking that the distributors are the centre of our business. Therefore our main job is to help them become successful," she added.
Quijano said that under the "Hug Our Distributors" project, the company would launch programmes and initiatives that enforced the mindset, which would start with training all Nu Skin staff on how they should serve distributors and creating an environment so that distributors would be more effective in what they do.
The programmes will also include awards and recognition to be provided to distributors.
"We are looking at value systems and processes that will improve the way we serve our distributors. It will be easy for them to place orders. And we will remove all barriers to our distributors in signing in and sponsoring," said Quijano.
"When we are able to build trust between the company and our distributors, the relationship will be even stronger. If we serve our distributors well, they will stay active with us. They will enjoy more productivity and bring more people into the business.
"We ourselves want to provide good and consistent services to our distributors," she added. Nu Skin currently operates in six markets in Southeast Asia and has about 100,000 active distributors totally. In Thailand, the company has 30,000 active distributors.
"Our 'Hug Our Distributors' programme also affects hiring employees. We hire new personnel for their attitude and train them for skills. They need to be friendly and service-minded," said Quijano.
She added that the company has a set of behavioural questions to help measure the attitudes of job applicants.
Quijano said that such initiatives created to serve distributors include "101 Ways to Wow Distributors", designed to teach how to greet distributors, and "Customer Recovering", created to provide several steps in addressing and correcting distributors problems leave them feeling happy.
The company in July also launched a new measuring system for its distributors called the "Vote System" aimed at finding out the satisfaction level of its distributors.
"We will do a distributor survey in the near future to find out their satisfaction levels. We want to be known as a company that know how to really take care our distributors," said Quijano.
Nu Skin achieved 14 per cent year-on-year growth in the first eight months of this year. The company expected to achieve Bt2 billion in sales this year, which is up between 10 per cent and 15 per cent over last year.
Quijano said that the company posted 14-per-cent growth in sales in the Southeast Asia region in the first eight months of this year compared to the same period last year. The company achieved growth at 18 per cent year on year in the second quarter this year.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Anti-ageing priority at Nu Skin
Nu Skin Enterprises, the US-based directselling business, will redefine itself as anti-ageing company after what it says is the biggest discovery in its 25 years,with new products to meet the needs of the rising population of older people globally.
Dan Chard, the company's president of global sales and operations, said during a Bangkok visit last week that Nu Skin had been defined as a supplement and personal-care products company. But from now on it will be known as an "anti-ageing firm".
Despite the poor economy and rising unemployment, the business of Nu Skin remains healthy with global sales up 4%to US$322 million in the second quarter of this year. This is because more people have turned to direct selling to earn additional income.
"There are many places that have a big opportunity for us including Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and even the US market where average purchasing rate has continued to increase over the past five years," Mr Chard said.
In fact, he maintains that the only thing preventing direct-sales companies from growing steadily is failure to develop innovative products.
He said Nu Skin next month would announce the introduction of "ageLoc",a new ingredient to be put into all Nu Skin anti-ageing lines, as well as its new anti-ageing strategies to grow in the long term. The new products will be launched in the US early next year and in Thailand in the middle of the same year.
"The new product platform will [help]double sales of Nu Skin in Southeast Asia over the next three years, faster than its original plan," said Melisa Quijano, president of Nu Skin Enterprises,Southeast Asia.
Currently, anti-ageing products are among the best-selling items of many skin-care and beauty firms, along with food supplements.
Mrs Quijano said birth rates worldwide over the next 10 years would continue to drop while the number of ageing people is expected to grow significantly.Such customer groups also have high purchasing power, so companies such as Nu Skin will benefit.
ageLoc, Nu Skin's new patented technology, is based on a research discovery that slows the effects of ageing sign on the skin.
"We grew from nothing in the past 25 years to US$1.25 billion in 2009. With the newest anti-ageing discovery, it will help us to accelerate our growth faster than in the past," Mr Chard said.
He said the company was highly confident of the growth potential of Thailand's direct selling business because it exceeded the sales target last year despite the economic downturn and political uncertainties.
Currently, Nu Skin operates in 48 countries and will open another two new markets, in Colombia and Turkey.
Dan Chard, the company's president of global sales and operations, said during a Bangkok visit last week that Nu Skin had been defined as a supplement and personal-care products company. But from now on it will be known as an "anti-ageing firm".
Despite the poor economy and rising unemployment, the business of Nu Skin remains healthy with global sales up 4%to US$322 million in the second quarter of this year. This is because more people have turned to direct selling to earn additional income.
"There are many places that have a big opportunity for us including Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and even the US market where average purchasing rate has continued to increase over the past five years," Mr Chard said.
In fact, he maintains that the only thing preventing direct-sales companies from growing steadily is failure to develop innovative products.
He said Nu Skin next month would announce the introduction of "ageLoc",a new ingredient to be put into all Nu Skin anti-ageing lines, as well as its new anti-ageing strategies to grow in the long term. The new products will be launched in the US early next year and in Thailand in the middle of the same year.
"The new product platform will [help]double sales of Nu Skin in Southeast Asia over the next three years, faster than its original plan," said Melisa Quijano, president of Nu Skin Enterprises,Southeast Asia.
Currently, anti-ageing products are among the best-selling items of many skin-care and beauty firms, along with food supplements.
Mrs Quijano said birth rates worldwide over the next 10 years would continue to drop while the number of ageing people is expected to grow significantly.Such customer groups also have high purchasing power, so companies such as Nu Skin will benefit.
ageLoc, Nu Skin's new patented technology, is based on a research discovery that slows the effects of ageing sign on the skin.
"We grew from nothing in the past 25 years to US$1.25 billion in 2009. With the newest anti-ageing discovery, it will help us to accelerate our growth faster than in the past," Mr Chard said.
He said the company was highly confident of the growth potential of Thailand's direct selling business because it exceeded the sales target last year despite the economic downturn and political uncertainties.
Currently, Nu Skin operates in 48 countries and will open another two new markets, in Colombia and Turkey.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Magnificent seven
In the most important, most revered event since the invention of the brontosaurus trap,Microsoft shipped the most incredibly fabulous operating system ever made; the release of Windows 7 also spurred a new generation of personal computers of all sizes at prices well below last month's offers.The top reason Windows 7 does not suck: There is no registered website called Windows7Sucks.com
Kindle e-book reader maker Amazon.com and new Nook e-book reader vendor Barnes and Noble got it on; B&N got great reviews for the "Kindle killer"Nook, with dual screens and touch controls so you can "turn" pages, plays MP3s and allows many non-B&N book formats, although not the Kindle one;Amazon then killed the US version of its Kindle in favour of the international one, reduced its price to $260(8,700 baht), same as the Nook; it's not yet clear what you can get in Thailand with a Nook, but you sure can't (yet) get much, relatively speaking, with a Kindle;but here's the biggest difference so far,which Amazon.com has ignored: the Nook lets you lend e-books to any other Nook owner, just as if they were paper books; the borrowed books expire on the borrower's Nook in two weeks.
Phone maker Nokia of Finland announced it is suing iPhone maker Apple of America for being a copycat; lawyers said they figure Nokia can get at least one, probably two per cent (retail) for every iPhone sold by Steve "President for Life" Jobs and crew via the lawsuit,which sure beats working for it -$6 (200 baht) to $12(400 baht) on 30 million phones sold so far, works out to $400 million or 25 percent of the whole Apple empire profits during the last quarter;there were 10 patent thefts, the Finnish executives said, on everything from moving data to security and encryption.
Nokia of Finland announced that it is one month behind on shipping its new flagship N900 phone, the first to run on Linux software; delay of the $750(25,000 baht) phone had absolutely no part in making Nokia so short that it had to sue Apple, slap yourself for such a thought.
Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web, said he had one regret:the double slash that follows the "http:"in standard web addresses; he estimated that 14.2 gazillion users have wasted 48.72 bazillion hours typing those two keystrokes, and he's sorry; of course there's no reason to ever type that, since your browser does it for you when you type "www.bangkokpost.com" but Tim needs to admit he made one error in his lifetime.
The International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations, which doesn't sell any phones or services, announced that there should be a mobile phone charger that will work with any phone; now who would ever have thought of that, without a UN body to wind up a major study on the subject?;the GSM Association estimates that 51,000 tonnes of chargers are made each year in order to keep companies able to have their own unique ones.
The Well, Doh Award of the Week was presented at arm's length to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the group's deputy secretary-general Petko Draganov said that developing countries will miss some of the stuff available on the Internet if they don't install more broadband infrastructure; a report that used your tax baht to compile said that quite a few people use mobile phones but companies are more likely to invest in countries with excellent broadband connections; no one ever had thought of this before, right?
Sun Microsystems , as a result of the Oracle takeover, said it will allow 3,000 current workers never to bother coming to work again; Sun referred to the losses as "jobs," not people; now the fourth largest server maker in the world, Sun said it lost $2.2 billion in its last fiscal year; European regulators are holding up approval of the Oracle purchase in the hope of getting some money in exchange for not involving Oracle in court cases.
The multi-gazillionaire and very annoying investor Carl Icahn resigned from the board at Yahoo ; he spun it as a vote of confidence, saying current directors are taking the formerly threatened company seriously; Yahoo reported increased profits but smaller revenues in the third quarter.
The US House of Representatives voted to censure Vietnam for jailing bloggers; the non-binding resolution sponsored by southern California congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said the Internet is "a crucial tool for the citizens of Vietnam to be able to exercise their freedom of expression and association;"Hanoi has recently jailed at least nine activists for up to six years apiece for holding pro-democracy banners. Iran jailed blogger Hossein "Hoder" Derakshan for 10 months - in solitary confinement.
Kindle e-book reader maker Amazon.com and new Nook e-book reader vendor Barnes and Noble got it on; B&N got great reviews for the "Kindle killer"Nook, with dual screens and touch controls so you can "turn" pages, plays MP3s and allows many non-B&N book formats, although not the Kindle one;Amazon then killed the US version of its Kindle in favour of the international one, reduced its price to $260(8,700 baht), same as the Nook; it's not yet clear what you can get in Thailand with a Nook, but you sure can't (yet) get much, relatively speaking, with a Kindle;but here's the biggest difference so far,which Amazon.com has ignored: the Nook lets you lend e-books to any other Nook owner, just as if they were paper books; the borrowed books expire on the borrower's Nook in two weeks.
Phone maker Nokia of Finland announced it is suing iPhone maker Apple of America for being a copycat; lawyers said they figure Nokia can get at least one, probably two per cent (retail) for every iPhone sold by Steve "President for Life" Jobs and crew via the lawsuit,which sure beats working for it -$6 (200 baht) to $12(400 baht) on 30 million phones sold so far, works out to $400 million or 25 percent of the whole Apple empire profits during the last quarter;there were 10 patent thefts, the Finnish executives said, on everything from moving data to security and encryption.
Nokia of Finland announced that it is one month behind on shipping its new flagship N900 phone, the first to run on Linux software; delay of the $750(25,000 baht) phone had absolutely no part in making Nokia so short that it had to sue Apple, slap yourself for such a thought.
Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web, said he had one regret:the double slash that follows the "http:"in standard web addresses; he estimated that 14.2 gazillion users have wasted 48.72 bazillion hours typing those two keystrokes, and he's sorry; of course there's no reason to ever type that, since your browser does it for you when you type "www.bangkokpost.com" but Tim needs to admit he made one error in his lifetime.
The International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations, which doesn't sell any phones or services, announced that there should be a mobile phone charger that will work with any phone; now who would ever have thought of that, without a UN body to wind up a major study on the subject?;the GSM Association estimates that 51,000 tonnes of chargers are made each year in order to keep companies able to have their own unique ones.
The Well, Doh Award of the Week was presented at arm's length to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the group's deputy secretary-general Petko Draganov said that developing countries will miss some of the stuff available on the Internet if they don't install more broadband infrastructure; a report that used your tax baht to compile said that quite a few people use mobile phones but companies are more likely to invest in countries with excellent broadband connections; no one ever had thought of this before, right?
Sun Microsystems , as a result of the Oracle takeover, said it will allow 3,000 current workers never to bother coming to work again; Sun referred to the losses as "jobs," not people; now the fourth largest server maker in the world, Sun said it lost $2.2 billion in its last fiscal year; European regulators are holding up approval of the Oracle purchase in the hope of getting some money in exchange for not involving Oracle in court cases.
The multi-gazillionaire and very annoying investor Carl Icahn resigned from the board at Yahoo ; he spun it as a vote of confidence, saying current directors are taking the formerly threatened company seriously; Yahoo reported increased profits but smaller revenues in the third quarter.
The US House of Representatives voted to censure Vietnam for jailing bloggers; the non-binding resolution sponsored by southern California congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said the Internet is "a crucial tool for the citizens of Vietnam to be able to exercise their freedom of expression and association;"Hanoi has recently jailed at least nine activists for up to six years apiece for holding pro-democracy banners. Iran jailed blogger Hossein "Hoder" Derakshan for 10 months - in solitary confinement.
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