Yesterday’s Financial Times featured this article (registration required to view in full) about Cecilia Qing Tang, one distributor who has made her way in a new country by leading and growing her Amway business.
Amway United Kingdom General Manager Andy Smith is also interviewed about the growing trend of migrants exercising their entrepreneurial spirit through direct selling.
In four years, Cecilia has defined her own success. We applaud her, along with the millions of other Amway distributors worldwide who focus their time, talents and energy on their Amway businesses.
Our Chief Marketing Officer Candace Matthews sat down with CMO.com recently and talked about her role in transforming marketing at Amway while ensuring the company maintains the identity that served it so well for more than 50 years.
Matthews talked about creating a global strategy and global branding to the business to help our more than 3 million distributors be more successful. And she talked about the importance of listening to the younger generations.
“They live in a digital world,” she said. “And what they’re thinking about is beyond what we baby boomers could ever imagine.”
While the younger generation of distributors may go about things a bit differently from their predecessors, the core of what they do remains the same — building relationships. And Matthews said that is the key to success.
“Digital enhances our business model; it won’t replace our business model because that contact is who we are,” she told CMO.com. “What digital does is it brings relevance, but it won’t replace relationships. That’s the core of who we are.”
With more than 3 million distributors worldwide providing “word of mouth marketing” for our business opportunity and brands, what’s the role of marketing for Amway?
To make it easier for our distributors to sell our health, beauty and home products to their customers.
Candace Matthews, Amway’s Chief Marketing Officer, recently met with Forbes.com and other media to talk about how marketing efforts support our distributors from Australia to the Wake Islands.
“What we’re trying to do now is build awareness about not only Amway the company and the business opportunity, but also our major brands like ARTISTRY and NUTRILITE,” Matthews explained in one of two videos posted at Forbes.com. “We are in essence greasing the skids so that when distributors are talking to people about the products or the opportunity, the awareness is there and it makes it easier for them.”
That’s why our Fulton Innovation team is privileged to win the Gold Edison Award in Applied Technology for Power Management for eCoupled Intelligent Wireless Power in the internationally renowned 2012 Edison Awards.
Fulton’s innovative entry impressed the judges – a group of more than 3,000 senior business executives and academics – with a collaborative effort with Motorola Mobility to provide a wireless power option for the DROID™3.
“We are honored to receive this recognition from the prestigious Edison Awards,” said Dave Baarman, director of advanced technologies for Fulton Innovation, in a news release. “Our work with Motorola, the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), and our many partners enable us to bring advancements in wireless power directly to consumers to simplify their lives.”
Record-breaking sales and the opening of a new nutrition powder products plant are evidence that Amway is on a roll, according to CBS Detroit journalist Carol Cain.
Bringing new jobs to Michigan makes Amway a “rock star,” she says, among Michigan companies.
We think that our new nutrition powder facility is the real starring attraction, as it will bring more than 50 jobs to West Michigan and produce our top-selling Nutrilite protein powder for consumers all around the world.
Three Amway leaders recently shared their experiences and tips on what helped make their markets successful. Responding quickly to the needs of a specific market is a common thread, but what that looks like in different markets is, well, different.
At Amway Russia, it meant quickly expanding the support network – stores and staff included – to provide distributors with products as their businesses grew exponentially when this market opened, general manager of Amway Russia Richard Stevens told The Voice of Russia.
For Amway Malaysia, where more than 60 percent of distributors are age 35 or younger, success required providing them with meaningful ways to interact with the company and its products, said Amway Malaysia’s Paul Yee in an interview with the radio station BFB 89.9. For example, Amway opened experience centers and stores so distributors could get the “touch and feel” experience they prefer.
Amway Vietnam has focused its efforts in educating the public, government officials and the media about the direct selling business model, which until recently was largely unknown in that country, general manager Kam Chiong told BaoMoi.com. The market also has provided continuous training to its distributors to ensure they have the best tools to successfully build their business.
Leveraging these differences supports active entrepreneurs and helps our businesses grow stronger together. How has innovative thinking helped your business transform?
Fulton Innovation made a big splash at the Consumer Electronics Show this month in Las Vegas. The eCoupled wireless power technology that is making all this innovation possible comes from an Amway core product — our eSpring water treatment system. And Consumer Reports has an article on our product this month. Click here for more information.
When is the best time to start a business? According to Amway President Doug DeVos – a passionate champion for free enterprise – it’s a personal decision not to be swayed by fears about the economy or other external factors.
“Start it now,” he told business leaders and students gathered recently at the Detroit Economic Club. “You have the ability to allocate resources, to make investments of your time, your talent and your treasure. Invest them now.”
DeVos singled out the key role business can play in reinvigorating the economy. He suggested that the business community partner with government officials to create an environment that can help unleash the power of the entrepreneur.
Business, he said, has the capacity to create prosperity which generates economic freedom and, in turn, leads to personal freedom. Making investments in time and talent right now will help the economy recover.
“It’s up to us to take action and do something about it. And I believe improving the quality of life for people in our communities is a cause worth fighting for.”
“Amway continuously looks for ways to better serve its customers, whether it is through education or constant innovation through research and development,” said Vidhi Yaduvanshi, a consultant for Frost & Sullivan’s Asia Pacific Environment & Building Technologies team.
Frost and Sullivan called Amway an “industry leader in the region” in water treatment.
That “constant innovation” is the result of nearly three decades of research in water treatment and purification led by some of the industry’s top scientists.
“Amway has engaged some of the world’s top research and development talent to develop innovative products that are relevant to people around the world, and we are dedicated every day to continue to improve these products,” said Roy Kuennen, Amway’s director of Durables Research and Development.
Last week nearly 100 leaders from major U.S. companies convened at The Wall Street Journal CEO Council to discuss policy issues affecting business and recommend a course of action for policymakers.
Amway President Doug DeVos was among them, co-chairing a discussion about forging a stronger U.S. – China relationship. One of the key recommendations was to create a framework for building trust through economic cooperation agreements, but doing so by being clear about expectations.
“We have to be patient, take a step-by-step approach,” Doug told the group. “We’re not going to fix everything tomorrow.”
