"I had become involved with an MLM after 18 years in the hairdressing industry, having been made aware of the dangerous chemicals in hairdressing products .

 

 As you can imagine I was pretty upset to think that my whole working life I had been literally soaking my hands in this toxic chemical everyday at the back basins and washing MY clients hair in it!

Why were we not made aware of this? We went to training school a day a week for three years and not once was it ever mentioned.

 

My thoughts turned to all the people over the years I had sold shampoo products to .They trusted my advice and I felt sick to the stomach that something this important was left unspoken in our industry.

I felt a burning desire to write a letter to our National Association and to every salon owner in New Zealand.

Did anyone know about this?Or were they like me and only told what the big  companies wanted us to know and that was enough to move their products out our doors for them.

 

I was furious,I looked back over the companies product list they had 2 ranges one for their normal distributors and one for qualified hairdressers to sell.I had a plan what if I could educate our industry on these harmful ingredients and offer them a solution with the range that this company sold.

 

Easy! A week later ad my samples had arrived armed with them I went to see a friend who owned a shop in town I explained what I had learnt and showed her the products and the benefits and left her with them to try.

A week later she rang and was keen to change over.

 

Fantastic I thought this is just the beginning ,with my contacts I'll have them in every town in New Zealand.

Over the next month I went in and taught her staff about the products and how to recommend them to their clients.

The interesting facts were although the clients were pleased not to be using harmful products on themselves they didn't like the fact that the hair didn't feel cosmetically smooth and silky like it did with their old products and they also thought the image of the product was pretty drab.

 

After several months of trial Linda called me back  in and we talked about the feedback she had received .

I then rang the company and told them of our concerns and were they able to do any  t.v or magazine advertising to help us promote their product.

 

I went back to the company armed with my feedback but unfortunately this fell on deaf ears and it dawned on me that without the company doing any form of marketing what was the point of having great products that I was passionate about selling  if the company had no business plan or marketing method to help us sell them.

Quite frankly it  sucked that Linda was left holding a salon full of safe hair products that nobody particularly wanted to buy. 

 

 I wondered how many other people had gone down the same road as us only to find that there was no system or support to help them.

I guess I should be thankful I failed fast and learned my lesson early on .

 

So what about Linda? Well I ended up going in to work for her part time to train staff .It felt good being able to help her we ended up using up the rest of the  products at the basin and now the apprentices always wear gloves.

What happened to the Company ?

I'm not sure but I let my membership lapse as my conscience wouldn't allow me to sign anyone else up knowing the company had no marketing support, although I still buy the odd product through another distributor I know.

 

Breakfast show  on T.V 1 .New to the Market a Home Hair Care range that doesn't contain SLS .Another company came in and has taken the home hair care industry in New Zealand by storm.

The best way to get your audiences attention is through TV or magazine advertising  and as you can imagine it is walking out the door!

 

In Network Marketing 97% of the people in the industry spend more than they make I can see why when your given a product to sell but no marketing system or support to help sell  it.