The Direct Selling Association recently presented its 2011 annual industry awards for outstanding achievement in the areas of salesforce development, technology innovation, partnership, excellence in business operations and excellence in programming. The five companies honored during the association’s recent annual meeting were Team Beachbody, Harland Clarke, Rodan + Fields, Scentsy and Mary Kay.

Team Beachbody received DSA’s Rising Star Award, which honors up-and-coming direct selling companies that have dedicated themselves to achieving a high standard of excellence in business operations. Team Beachbody recognized early on that the best means of promotion was not television infomercials or ads, but instead Beachbody customers themselves. Recognizing this, the Team Beachbody Coaching Network was launched. The network gives customers the opportunity the start their independent business sharing the products they love. In one year, the program grew from 17,000 coaches to more than 50,000. Team Beachbody continues to grow in size and sales and continues to maintain high standards of ethics, philanthropy and customer service.

Harland Clarke received DSA’s Partnership Award for its work with a number of DSA member companies. Harland Clarke began its partnership with Mary Kay in 1994 with their branded personal check program. Their partnership grew to include an area known as MKConnections and includes business cards, stationary, and sales and business tools. In 2007, Harland Clarke took the lead on the project of the creation, development and maintenance for the new MKConnections site and completed the project flawlessly and on time. Most recently, Harland Clarke developed the MKConnections Prize Voucher program, which has had overwhelming success and, because of this, the program has been extended into 2012. Over the years, Harland Clarke has demonstrated their commitment to the success of Mary Kay’s consultants as well as their commitment to the industry.

Rodan + Fields received the Excellence in Salesforce Development Award, recognizing companies that have implemented an innovative salesforce development program with demonstrated results. In the summer of 2010, Rodan + Fields launched the Atlanta Project after realizing Georgia was one of their “top sponsoring states,” but the independent consultants were not advancing up the compensation plan and their desired new leadership was not emerging. Their three-module program saw increasing attendance as well as a 300 percent sales growth in the months following the workshops. Following the success of the Atlanta Project, Rodan + Fields is executing similar programs in three new markets: San Francisco, Denver and Dallas/Austin.

Scentsy, the winner of the 2011 Success Award, received this honor for its innovative “Bring Back my Bar” program. Recognizing the typical slump in sales in January and July, Scentsy listened to their consultants’ requests to return to sale certain retired scents and set an interactive voting campaign in action, with a re-release of the winning scents in the months of January and July. With the launch of the program, consultants and customers were asked to vote during the two highest volume sales months (April and October) for 20 scents to be released for purchase in January and July only. The results for the program boast more than 660,000 votes and more than 2 million bars sold.

Mary Kay received the Technology Innovation Award, recognizing companies that have developed an innovative use of technology that has had a demonstrable impact on the business and/or the field sellers. Mary Kay was selected as the recipient of this award by a live audience poll during one of the Annual Meeting general sessions. For the marketing of their new line of Mary Kay TimeWise foundation, Mary Kay utilized a line of business cards with two dimensional bar codes that linked directly to a video about the product. These cards were distributed to their independent sales directors and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Since their introduction, sales of cards have remained strong at more than 2,000 sets of cards being sold to date. Usage of the barcode has been tracked around the country and its usage shows a positive response to the introduction of this technology.

In addition to these awards, DSA recognizes the philanthropic efforts of member companies. Direct selling companies help millions of people every year through their earning opportunities, but for many companies, charitable giving also makes up an important part of their corporate structure. The following companies have volunteered the details about their philanthropic efforts and were recognized for their contributions:

• ACN
• Aloette
• Amazon Herb Company
• Amway
• Avon
• Gold Canyon
• Herbalife
• Isagenix
• LifeVantage
• Mannatech
• Mary Kay
• Nu Skin Enterprises
• Princess House
• Reliv
• Rodan + Fields
• Simplexity Health
• Stella & Dot
• Tastefully Simple
• USANA
• Vemma
• XanGo

All of these companies were recognized during the 2011 Annual Meeting. Member companies are encouraged to enter next year’s Annual Awards program and be a part of this industry-wide recognition.

About the Direct Selling Association

DSA is the national trade association of the leading firms that manufacture and distribute goods and services sold directly to consumers. Among its more than 220 active and pending members are companies selling both via a party-plan method and in the traditional person-to-person style. In 2007, U.S. direct sales were more than $30.8 billion with more than 15 million direct sellers nationwide. The vast majority are independent business people – micro-entrepreneurs – whose purpose is to sell the product/service of the company they voluntarily choose to represent. Approximately 90 percent of direct sellers operate their business part-time. 

For more information on direct selling, DSA and its Code of Ethics, please visit the DSA website at www.dsa.org.