Ben Woodward

Ben Woodward
The Joy and Pain of New Opportunities

I once watched my stepdad grimace as he sat down at the kitchen table with the most foul-smelling fish pie I’ve ever come across in my life. Every bite that he took looked painful. I asked him what he was doing, and he cringed as he replied, “I bought it and don’t want it to go to waste.” Even worse, it had been on sale for about fifty cents.

How often do we feel obligated to get value out of what we’ve sunk time and money into, long after the value is gone? Far beyond fish pie, we do this in misaligned business plans, off target projects and a hundred other strategies, commitments, choices and decisions. Companies pour thousands of dollars, sometimes millions, into projects (or people) that have failed beyond reason, and will keep investing in them for thousands more, all for fear of losing what has already been spent.

We have an inbuilt mechanism within us that tries to get the maximum value out of things, and another to avoid loss whenever possible. When those mechanisms are at war, we’re left with the sunk cost fallacy. We’re doing what we can to avoid loss of what has already been invested, even when it creates more loss than redirection might.

Frustratingly, we often persist even when it ceases to return benefits, simply because of what it meant to us in the past. And the cost doesn’t have to be great for this to be true, either. Yet when we cling unhealthily to the past, we’re likely to miss present opportunities and future possibilities.

Once we’ve put our heart and soul into something, we don’t want to admit when it’s time to move on. We want to save face—to believe that it’s going to work, not because of where it’s taking us but because of what we’ve put into it.

This, at its core, is ego. It’s a distorted view of reality that tells us doing what we’ve done will get us something other than what we’ve already gotten.

So here’s a critical question. What are you refusing to recognize or admit isn’t working in your business in spite of your persistent investment of time, money and resources?

Let me confront the elephant in the room of Network Marketing. We aren’t collectively doing a great job of being customer centric. Sure we talk about it. And yes, we make policy changes to keep up with changing regulations, and yes, perhaps we are now starting to segment our data better than in the past, but let’s be serious here. It isn’t enough! Too many companies in our industry are grimacing while they eat fish pie on this issue. I had one new senior employee of a large MLM say to me, “I knew there was a problem when I saw the size of their legal team.” Ouch! Are we just used to getting a bad rap? There is an old poem by Alexander Pope that applies here:

“Vice is a monster of so frightful mien
As to be hated needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.”

We wouldn’t have the FTC on our backs like we do, or companies like TINA.org keeping watchful eyes on us if we were world leaders of customer experience. And we wouldn’t be watching the court cases of other MLMs so closely when they happen if we didn’t see the seeds of their issues sprouting in our own backyards. Have we not seen the trends in the courtrooms? What are the typical issues? Customer vs Distributor ratios, earnings opportunities for the masses, product claims and product prices.

Now, please don’t misinterpret my strong words here as unhealthy criticism. I love our industry, yet I think we have an opportunity to really transform and become better. Much better. We see the trends. We see what technology is offering the consumer and we know how entrepreneurship is evolving. To anyone who wants a business that matters in the future – this is a transformation journey you cannot ignore. Where-ever we are on the road to better customer acquisition, retention and engagement – we need to level up. What’s the biggest barrier? Culture. This kind of change for many is very uncomfortable, will take a long time and will require support and engagement at all levels – both in the corporate office and in the field. But it is possible. And not only is it possible – it can be a thrilling experience too.

If the thought of confronting these issues seems a little daunting, you’re not alone and it isn’t unnatural to feel. Author Daniel Kahneman once explained that all decisions involve uncertainty about the future, and in response, the human brain has evolved an automatic and unconscious system to protect against potential loss. Our default setting becomes a focus on the loss rather than potential future gains. Of our naturally inclined perspectives, he writes: “Organisms have placed more urgency on avoiding threats than they did on maximizing opportunities, and these are more likely to be passed on in our genes. Over time, the prospect of loss has become a more powerful motivator to our behavior than the promise of gain. Wherever possible, we try to avoid losses of any kind, and when comparing losses to gains, we don’t treat them equally.” Knowing this, we must fight against our instincts and march uphill to the higher ground where throngs of loving customers reside.

When we can reward distributors better and support them more in the acquisition, retention and engagement of customers we will see the culture of the business start to shift. The message will align more appropriately between the office and the field. The right behaviours will start to duplicate. Earnings will reflect effort more healthily and industry reputation will evolve. Regulators will have less concerns and companies and distributors will have more freedom.

Let’s not sit here eating fish pie when there is so much more on the table up for the taking.

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Let’s hear what Ben has to say on his experiences.

Your last corporate role was with Nikken. Could we start with your educational background and work experiences before joining Nikken?

I hold a BA (hons) in English Literature and Language. Prior to joining Nikken, I was the General Manager for Amway UK, European Sales Director for Melaleuca and General Manager of Europe for Agel. That is my MLM history. Prior to this, I worked in advertising as a creative in New Zealand, and was also the Manager of Training for the Preston, England Missionary Training Centre for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

You worked for Nikken for over four years. What responsibilities did you have there?

I joined Nikken as the Director of Sales for their European region. This saw me travelling extensively across the region working very closely with the field. I was then appointed as Managing Director and from there, became President of Nikken. This move took my family and I to California where our global HQ is. During my time as Managing Director, I also served on the Council for the UK DSA and on the CEO Council for Seldia. I found this association with the DSA to be richly rewarding and very instructive.

And then, you decided to move into field to become a Nikken Consultant. What made you take this decision?

It was a total sense of ownership of our strategies and a huge commitment to see it through. In 2015, we introduced some very important and positive changes to our business strategy. In a nutshell, we radically changed our pricing strategy to ensure that the customer was truly at the center of our business. Not just in the message, but in the true expression of their experience. We are continuing to invest in the customer experience, as we know this enhances the distributor experience. We also removed the ability to qualify for commissions with any self-consumption. Any experienced leader will know that strategy is one thing and execution is another. Critical to strong execution of the plan is the culture of the organization. For me as President, one of the biggest challenges I faced was to help change the culture in the field to adopt the new approach to business building that offered greater balance in field activities. So, I rolled up my sleeves and jumped into the field to work side by side with them in making the change.

There were a small number of leaders that chose to move to other companies, so I took a position that gave me the chance to lead the field. Most of the organization in Nikken is my downline now. I must say how humbled I have been in seeing the field leadership openly accept me as their upline. We had close relationships when I was President and now the relationship is even closer. We are all working very closely together to integrate the corporate vision and direction. The leadership group is incredibly unified and focused on a single message for growth. Anyone who has lead a mature market or business will know – that can be unique. But we have that and it is inspiring.

It has not been so long but I am sure you have enough first hand experiences and observations to share with us. What are the major differences between being on the corporate side and on the field? 

Communication and change is much slower in the field than in the office. In the office, the team is together every day. They have clearly defined roles and their personal proximity makes alignment easier. In the field it is different. Everyone is the head of their own business, they are all volunteers and they are spread out. Coordinating efforts, vision and activities takes more time and more discussion. Seeing it roll through the organization requires time, repetition, consistency and persistence to get the whole group in the right place.

I was very interested in the power of social media when I was in the office. I saw people outside of our industry with hundreds of thousands of followers and wondered why we couldn’t do the same. The reality is, this takes time and monthly sales targets govern the field. This sets the priorities for them every time. The fastest way to bring someone into the business is through established relationships. Getting leads on Twitter or Facebook is good but not as powerful as in person activity. Your conversion rate is much lower online and maintaining loyalty and interest is a demanding job.  Online activity has great potential and I see its importance but it is a slow burn approach.

What would you recommend to a corporate person thinking of making the same move as you did?

I was always very close with the field in my corporate roles and felt I had strong understanding of their experience as a result. This change is really opening my eyes to what is required to grow the business. I wholeheartedly recommend it. In fact, I would be inclined to make it a necessary part of the journey with some field facing corporate roles to broaden their understanding and deepen their appreciation of the business and our partners. Many companies forbid an employee being a distributor. Now I wonder if that makes any sense at all.

Would you like to add anything before we close?

My first mentor in this business, John Doughty, taught me an important lesson in marketing. He said, “Always communicate to the lowest common denominator. And never underestimate the lowest common denominator.” Seeing how quickly things can dilute in the field or how fast messages can go missing with such a large team has taught me that both field leaders and company leaders will always be better served when we keep things simple, minimize change, and keep the business exciting. I knew that before – but now I really see it!

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