Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Strategy Session - Become a Stockist

Stockists versus Franchising

I have been asked may times which is a better option, becoming a stockist or becoming a franchisee. Before I understood the incentives, I thought that they should have been pretty even.
But given the incentives now, I would have to say becoming a stockist would give you better odds at better income.

For those not familiar with the term, a stockist is basically a Royale member who pays an additional 50T and gets 50T worth of Royale products. The stockists have bigger discounts than regular members and can thus sell to regular members for a profit. They can also sell to non-members.

For example: Royale sells the L-GlutaPower product for P1400 to non-members, P700 to members and P560 to Stockists.

Stockists have a number of advantages over regular franchisees:

1. They are mobile - they are not tied to a single location.
2. They require lower capital - only 50T to become a stockist.
3. They have a captured market in the form of Royale members in their area.
4. Most importantly, becoming a stockist increases your chance to partake in the profit sharing.

The Profit Sharing Program

Please make sure you read the incentives blog before you proceed. You can read it here.

First off: Please understand that each time you buy Royale in-house products, you get points. For example for L-GlutaPower, you get 275 points for the regular bottle and 375 for the L-GlutaPower700.

In order to be part of the Royale profit sharing program (PSP) requires two things:

1. You should consistently purchase products to maintain points on a monthly basis.
AND
2.You should have 2 direct referrals that also maintain a certain level of points monthly.


Let's tackle the first condition first: You should consistently purchase products to maintain points on a monthly basis.

If you read and understood the incentives article, you will find that maintaining the required number of monthly points could be pretty hard if you just use it for personal consumption. For example, for the lowest level (PSP level 1), you are required to maintain 3500 points/month. That translates to purchasing around 13 bottles of L-GlutaPower per month or around 10 bottles of L-GlutaPower700/ month. Unless you are a 'gluta junkie', you can never consume that much.

Here is where stockists have an advantage. They buy more products from Royale (and thus have more points) because they sell the products. 13 bottles of gluta for a stockist is very achievable.

Now for the second condition: You should have 2 direct referrals that also maintain a certain level of points monthly.

At first glance, this looks hard because you now have to make sure two other people are 'gluta junkies' otherwise you don't meet the profit sharing conditions!

Don't worry, I have talked to some friends and I learned that there are certain techniques you can use to achieve this. Here are some of them:

Tips and Techniques

1. Cultivate a circle of sellers and ask your direct referrals to do the same. - Here's how it goes. Say you talk to Inday, Tata, Baby, your neighbors who are not Royale members and who might not have enough money to become members themselves. Tell them you will give them discounts on Royale products. Your goal is to cultivate distributors. You sell them the products cheaper than the Standard Retail Price so that they can sell it to others. You buy more products, you get more points. Teach your direct referral to do the same.

2. Become a stockist, cultivate a circle of sellers and get a triple head - This concept is basically the same as above. The difference is that by becoming a stockist, you have a bigger discount and thus have a higher profit margin. Also, instead of depending on your other direct referrals to maintain points, you make your other 2 heads your direct referrals and distribute points to them for maintenance.

For example: Pedro is a stockist and has a triple head. His 1st head buys products enough for 6500 points per month. He assigns the 3500 points to the 1st head and gives 1500 points each to his other heads. Voila! Now you dont have to depend on your other direct referrals to maintain points. You have the control.

Another Tip: If you buy products worth 10,000 points this month. You can opt to use just a certain number of points for this month and 'reserve' the remaining points for the next months.

More Tips

1. Tap doctors and their networks. Some doctors actually prescribe glutathione to some patients.

2. Contact friends who are active in direct selling companies such as Avon, Natasha, Dakki etc. They might be willing to sell the products for you for the profit. They get some of the money, you get the points. Example: You sell L-Gluta for just P850 instead of P1400. They think it's a deal. You make P150 (for regular members) but get the complete points.

3. Supply to pharmacies. Our products are BFAD Food Registered and could be displayed and sold in pharmacies.

4. Tap the OFW market, especially Filipinos in Japan and HongKong. I heard they are avid consumers of our products.

As with other business opportunities, you have to act fast. The faster you establish your 'sellers circle' the better. Remember: your profit sharing depends on the number of months you consistently maintain your points. If you break your maintenance just for 1 month, your hard work will be erased.

If you are interested in this business scheme, contact me for more details. I'll be glad to help.

Good luck and God bless!

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