Psst, you got a minute?

I’ve got a great business opportunity for you: you make money and help to save the world’s starving at the same time! That was the proposition that confronted me recently when I attended a presentation about Mannatech at a central London hotel. The speakers talked to the 40 or so assembled ‘guests’ about the global issue of malnutrition and pitched Mannatech’s products as literally ‘manna from heaven’. 

How does it work? Selling Mannatech’s cutting edge supplements triggers an automatic donation of the products to the world’s malnourished. Mannatech, established by Samuel L. Caster in 1994 is an international supplement company with annual sales of more than $400 million, publicly traded on NASDAQ trading in several countries, including in, Canada, Japan, Australia,  the United Kingdom, South Korea, New Zealand, Denmark, Germany, South Africa, Singapore, Sweden…you get the picture.

Vitamins for the malnourished? 

It’s a simple donation process: Mannatech distributors sign up customers to pay for Mannatech’s high-tech supplements by direct debit, as a result of the sale the same supplements are donated to the world’s malnourished, through pre-existing channels, and distribution partners: ‘donation through consumption’. This is known in the retail sector as BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free) but in this case the free one is donated or paid for by the third party customer. As a sales pitch, it doesn’t come much better. There is a ready pool of customers (Mannatech is sold through word of mouth marketing) who wish to feel weller, slimmer, stronger etc. Mannatech is marketed in developed countries that have an active wellness and nutrition market, and the sale is made easier by the warm glow of ‘doing something’ to reduce global malnutrition.

The other advantage that Mannatech supplements have over established food donation programmes is that their products provide a range of vitamins and minerals, rather than being grain-based food aid. Grain is mainly a bulking agent, with very little nutritional value, so recipients can still be vulnerable to infection or disease. The speaker powerfully described Ambrotose - a glyconutritional dietary supplement - product as ‘a whole bag of rice in a small bottle’.

Supplement donation: A way out of malnutrition?

What are the products made of?

There is a lot of science and smoke n’ mirrors around the production of nutritional supplements and they talk of using plant-based active ingredients, rather than synthetically produced supplements, but of course an element of mass production is necessary to meet the needs of this large-scale enterprise. If you are considering taking them or selling them, naturally you will need to do your research and ensure that you are comfortable with the ethics of the products you are selling.

The ‘science bit’ http://mannatechscience.org/home/ingredient-information?q=U

Developing products a case study: http://www.sbnonline.com/Local/Article/20357/71/0/How_Rob_Sinnott_drives_product_development_at_Mannatech_Inc.aspx

What sort of business is Mannatech?

Mannatech is a Multi-Level Marketing operation, MLM promoting health and wellness supplements with snappy product names like Glyco-Slim, Em-pact and OsoLean (my favourite, say it out loud). Acres of information already exists online about multi-level marketing as well as their website.

As a marketer, I support it as a sound sales approach, which relies on a system of ‘leaders’ who sell product, usually by word of mouth, to family, friends and existing networks. It’s not a get rich quick scheme, but with the right personality, marketing and selling skills, the potential for making money is real. The company also cleverly helps you here too, with an array of literature and media resources, that distibutors can purchase. Good product extension here! If you are prepared to put the time and effort into developing this sort of business, it’s worth a closer look.

Sporting fitness

‘Team Mannatech’ is a group of over 100 current and legendary athletes from around the world who credit Mannatech products with contributing to their sporting success. They actively credit the Mannatech range  with improving their training ability and recovery – thus assisting them to attain even greater heights and promote the products. In return Mannatech supplies them with their product requirements.

It’s a savvy marketing strategy because sportspeople will usually only ingest substances that will improve their performance, as their performance = their livelihood.

You can read about some of the athletes who take the products here: http://www.mannatecheurope.com/team_athletes.asp

“It’s not just about making money; it’s about enriching lives and truly making a difference.”

Source: Mannatech official website. 

Also worth a look: Feed My Starving Children: http://www.fmsc.org/Page.aspx?pid=342

Another post you might like: http://tinyurl.com/265xgdt

© Suzy Rigg