Remembering the “Unbrands.”
When was the last time you were forgotten? I’m not talking about a missed birthday or anniversary. No, do you remember what it feels like to be surprised to run in to an ‘old friend’ only to realize that your old friend doesn’t really remember who you are?
As bad as that is, it is even worse to not even be known.
Today, I was reminded again, that for the most part direct selling companies are unknown. Even companies that have reached sales of more than a half a billion dollars are not even many people’s radar screen. In fact, in a recent focus group, I asked direct selling professionals (women who were making money as direct sales consultants) if they had heard of the companies the other women represented (Pampered Chef, Making Memories, Body Shop @ Home, etc.) and I was shocked to learn that most of them had never heard of these other successful direct selling companies.
If Coca-Cola and Pepsi are the big cola brands – direct selling companies are the ‘unbrands.” For the most part, direct selling companies are non-existent to most of the population.
“Great, that means there is more opportunity!” is the common industry response.
But, baby boomers are the brand generation – and all of us following along have been conditioned from a very early age to look for brands. Brands are experts. Brands are trustworthy. Brands are markers of quality. We have in fact learned (for good or ill) to measure a portion of our self worthy by the brands we keep.
So, what do we think of the unbrands? We don’t know what to think or how to respond. Fortunately, many ‘unbrands’ are represented by persons we trust – and if we trust that person to be knowledgeable about the product or service s/he represents – then we can rationalize our way into stepping out of our comfort zone to buy an unbrand.
I think it’s no mistake that Avon’s success (sales of more than 2x more than any other company in the industry) is in part due to the fact that they learned a powerful lesson. When you combine a brand people know (because you introduced it to them they way they are accustomed to being introduced to brands), and you combine that brand with the good name of a person they know – sales are EASY!
While it is difficult to build a brand and pay a healthy sales commission early in a company’s history, by the time a company reaches $100 million in sales, the economies of scale are such that they can now afford to start the long process of introducing their brand to the general public.
Is your company choosing to be an ‘unbrand’ and making life more difficult for you? Or has your company awakened to the fact that their competitors of tomorrow will be those who already have a relationship with their potential customers, they just want to tell ‘the rest of the story’ by employing a direct selling force.
History is clear on this topic, and we all know what happens to those who fail to learn from history…. They fail. That is something all unbrands will want to remember.
Brett a Blake
As bad as that is, it is even worse to not even be known.
Today, I was reminded again, that for the most part direct selling companies are unknown. Even companies that have reached sales of more than a half a billion dollars are not even many people’s radar screen. In fact, in a recent focus group, I asked direct selling professionals (women who were making money as direct sales consultants) if they had heard of the companies the other women represented (Pampered Chef, Making Memories, Body Shop @ Home, etc.) and I was shocked to learn that most of them had never heard of these other successful direct selling companies.
If Coca-Cola and Pepsi are the big cola brands – direct selling companies are the ‘unbrands.” For the most part, direct selling companies are non-existent to most of the population.
“Great, that means there is more opportunity!” is the common industry response.
But, baby boomers are the brand generation – and all of us following along have been conditioned from a very early age to look for brands. Brands are experts. Brands are trustworthy. Brands are markers of quality. We have in fact learned (for good or ill) to measure a portion of our self worthy by the brands we keep.
So, what do we think of the unbrands? We don’t know what to think or how to respond. Fortunately, many ‘unbrands’ are represented by persons we trust – and if we trust that person to be knowledgeable about the product or service s/he represents – then we can rationalize our way into stepping out of our comfort zone to buy an unbrand.
I think it’s no mistake that Avon’s success (sales of more than 2x more than any other company in the industry) is in part due to the fact that they learned a powerful lesson. When you combine a brand people know (because you introduced it to them they way they are accustomed to being introduced to brands), and you combine that brand with the good name of a person they know – sales are EASY!
While it is difficult to build a brand and pay a healthy sales commission early in a company’s history, by the time a company reaches $100 million in sales, the economies of scale are such that they can now afford to start the long process of introducing their brand to the general public.
Is your company choosing to be an ‘unbrand’ and making life more difficult for you? Or has your company awakened to the fact that their competitors of tomorrow will be those who already have a relationship with their potential customers, they just want to tell ‘the rest of the story’ by employing a direct selling force.
History is clear on this topic, and we all know what happens to those who fail to learn from history…. They fail. That is something all unbrands will want to remember.
Brett a Blake
posted by Sydney and Emma at 9:22 PM
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