DirecTech Labs

In this episode, we interview Kevin Guest, CEO of USANA who gets personal and shares the things that have helped him become both an inspirational and successful business leader. We get a glimpse into how behavioral insights has become an important part of his routine to better communicate with his company's leaders who are driving stellar results.  We also get insights into how important positive customer and distributor relationships are for a brand, some personal experiences playing the guitar at the Grand Ole Opry and the unique experience that inspired authoring his new book: All The Right Reasons.

Asma Ishaq joins DirecTech Labs Podcast Series to provide her thoughts on customer-centric core values and the importance of adapting to shifting paradigms in the direct selling channel. Click to read or listen to the interview. 

In this episode, DirecTech Labs interviews Paul Jarvis, COO of The Juice Plus+ and chairman of Seldia. Paul shares his thoughts on the future of the gig economy and the real role of a direct selling company. He also talks about initiatives taken by Seldia and DSA. Click to read or listen to the interview

Although pricing is the key to higher profits, setting the right price for a product or a service is often underestimated or left to chance, which leads to missed opportunities. As a remedy, sophisticated tools for pricing analytics & research have been developed, focusing on cost analysis, historical data and competitor’s pricing. Atenga Insights’ founder Per Sjöfors was already an established pricing expert when he saw a gap in the industry. Combining world-class proprietary tools with deep market experience, he developed a ground-breaking method for predictive pricing which is fast, accurate and highly actionable. [source: Atenga.com] He joins DirecTech Labs today to talk about his method to obtain the optimal price that will generate higher sales and profit.

With 20 years’ experience, Ryan Napierski is a veteran of the direct selling industry. Since joining Nu Skin in 1995, Ryan has held multiple positions of influence including, most recently, president of global sales and operations. He has also served in multiple positions internationally including president of Nu Skin’s North Asia region and president of Nu Skin Japan. DirecTech Labs CEO Michel Bayan caught up with Ryan to ask him a few questions about innovation, business, regulations, competitors and more.

Data analysis and the operational shifts that come along with it are changing the way direct selling companies are interacting with their customers and field. In this second installment of our series ‘Executive Perspectives’, we've taken snippets of various interviews and cut them together, sharing the perspectives of : James Rosseau, Chief Commercial Officer of LegalShield Jennifer Burn, Partner at Quesnays Lori Bush, Former CEO of Rodan & Fields Kris Shenk, CIO of Cabi Clothing

This is the first in a series of podcasts where we're aggregating multiple conversations with different world class direct selling executives around a single topic and this one is about technological unemployment, an idea that AI, automation and robotics are beginning to take away more jobs than they create. This is a phenomenon that is transforming the future of how people work. In this conversation you'll hear from: Traci Lynn, Founder & CEO of Traci Lynn Jewelry Al Bala, CEO of Mannatech Mark 'Bouncer' Schiro, Chariman of Stream Energy Jared Richards, Former President of Jamberry Kris Shenk, CIO of CAbi

Visionary business leader and President & CEO of Princess House, Connie Tang joins The SourceDS podcast to discuss her leadership style and diversity as a crucial dimension for productivity, innovation and growth opportunities. Under her direction, Princess House underwent a brand refresh focused on the understanding that diversity and inclusion are not a "nice to have”, they are just good business.  We also cover: Growing up in an immigrant family The power of diversity in Corporate and the Field Application of agility and accountability Women in leadership positions Integrity and empowerment

James Rosseau, Chief Commercial Officer at LegalShield  LegalShield is a progressive example of what direct selling companies can be, James is the third executive of LegalShield to join The SourceDS podcast. In this episode, James shares a lot of his experience and how he got into direct selling, how They were able to improve LegalShield's member retention and how much value they give to data.  

Mona Ameli, President of OPTAVIA the direct selling arm of Medifast is a highly progressive executive, in this episode of The Source DS Podcast she shares her experience working in direct selling and the recent transition process they've had at OPTAVIA.  The conversation with Mona covers these topics: 1- The ideas behind the brand transformation. 2- How using multi-channel model for their benefit. 3- Running the business and creating culture. 4- Importance of data. 5- And how to be a female executive.    

Shama Hyder will be delivering a keynote at the 2017 US DSA Annual Meeting in Orlando.  Here in this episode of the SourceDS Podcast with Michel Bayan, they dive into many elements of the social strategy for direct selling including:    -How do executives know if it’s working? -The benefits of targeting and remarketing -Looking at the appropriate metrics -The value of consistency  

Jacob is the Vice President / General Manager of a new product called (Launch) by LegalShield; he is new to the direct selling industry bringing a great experience and strong career record in a couple of other startups from outside the DS industry. In this episode, he talks about how multi-channel can lead to Success and be compatible to your direct selling force and telling how LegalShield is going mainstream. 

Daniel Burrus Keynote Speaker, Business Strategist, and Global Futurist    Daniel was the keynote speaker at the 2016 DSA annual meeting where he shared his thoughts about understanding the future, as things are changing so quickly the only way for us get ahead and win is to anticipate the future better. In this Source DS podcast episode, Daniel shares absorbing perspectives about the FTC and the regulatory environment and the opportunities there. And he also talks about (Technological and Employment) and what kind of jobs going to be lost for robots and AI in the future. Listen to the Podcast.

This week's podcast features an interview with Traci Lynn from Traci Lynn Jewelry.  Traci has proven how transparency and vulnerability play an important part in communicating with your field, industry and where the business is going.  Traci also provides her thoughts on the future of the channel and digital tools she has used that are making a difference for her business.  Traci’s 3 keywords: motivate, inspire, change. 

Jared Richards

Interview with Kris Shenk, CAbi CIO - Combining big data & automation in direct sales - How to talk to your tech team and vendors - Building technology for direct sales companies - Her journey in direct selling 

Bouncer Schiro took the reigns at Stream in 2012 and when he'd done what he needed to do, he knew it was time to pass them on again.   Not an easy move for a CEO to make.  Bouncer shares his journey, process and thinking about how it was a natural step for him.    We also discuss -The regulatory environment.  His participation on the board of DSA and the push for anti-pyramid legislation to finally clarify the law -Why he spends so much time with DS Suppliers -The future of work and the role DS could play in adjusting for technological unemployment.    Referenced article:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2016/12/20/white-house-says-that-ai-will-grow-the-economy-but-lots-of-jobs-will-be-lost-on-the-way/#75f6818f24ba -His personal approach balancing personal and family with business and the lessons he's learned along the way.   

Bryan Franklin has coached 8 different executive teams from startup to over a billion dollars, including LinkedIn and Quantcast. He's also coached for Apple, Microsoft, Cisco and others. His Philosophy:  Hyper-growth is the natural state of a company.  If you're not experiencing it there is something artificial you are putting into the mix that's preventing it from happening.  Check out Bryan's book The Last Safe investment www.safeplan.org.  (Great message for a DS company's field) And his website: www.bryanfranklin.com  We cover:  -How marketing is becoming more of a science than an art. -Working with those who need to evolve -Shepherding change through an organization -Optimizing your effort to where it's most needed -What does being data-driven really mean?   -Executives must be willing to be proven wrong -The changing nature of what it takes to be an executive -Stories from within hyper-growth companies. and much more.  

Daren Fujii presided over two critical departments at different times during Isagenix's rise from $230M to $890M. He shares a lot of practical and visionary insight during this engaging discussion.

Jennifer Byrne, former VP at Amex now co-founder at Quesnay talks to Michel Bayan about rethinking ROI, partnering with startups and leveraging the data you already have to sharpen sales. Her wide-ranging experience helps drive innovation through large companies. 

Daniel Burrus is a technology futurist, innovation expert and business strategist and advisor. He was the keynote speaker at this year's DSA conference. In this interview, he shares his thoughts on how companies can use their data to ramp up their business. To learn more about Daniel, go to http://www.burrus.com/.  

Gabriela Draney Zielke is the Co-Founder and CEO of Tech Wildcatters. This Dallas-based tech accelerator connects startups with large, established companies to break out of stagnation and drive innovation.

Venture Capitalist Richard Chen loves direct selling companies and wants to bring more to China.  But if you're not tech and digital savvy... well, he may be funding your competition.  Learn about Richard, his large fund in China, how he looks at direct selling and what he looks for in companies to invest in and help enter and win in the Chinese market.   

Get to know your host, Michel Bayan.  His background blends mindfulness practices, tech startup knowhow and insider information & relationships in the direct selling space.  

Al Bala isn't your typical direct selling CEO.  He speaks 10 languages, grew up in the field, understands technology, and sees a future where direct selling can be a balancing force against technological unemployment.  Highlights of this talk: -Al's unique experience in the field and corporate -Bridging the distributor and corporate relationship -"Maximizing the distributor experience" -Direct selling today: Social. Mobile. Global.  -The Double edge of technology.  Massive unemployment. -And a lot more...  

Jeff Hayzlett knows how to keep a company moving forward.  He's been the CMO of a Fortune 500, is the host of 2 business TV shows including the #1 Show on Bloomberg, The C-Suite.  He's a best selling business author, electrifying speaker and genuine cowboy. In the podcast we cover: -What it takes to drive innovation through a big company -Staying relevant in the age of rapid technological progress -What's the real job of a CMO? -How to use fear to your advantage 

Lori Bush: Rodan and Fields' outgoing CEO shares her wisdom on data, leadership and the crossroads of innovation. Enjoy this fascinating conversation with Lori Bush where we cover topics including: -How important data really is -Balancing serving distributors and customers -A crisis of leadership during times of rapid change -Lori’s description of real innovation -The sharing/gig economy -Talk about a proposed new form of worker classification that’s not W-2 or 1099

After interviewing several executives and transcribing the interviews for our DirecTech newsletter, Michel Bayan felt that people would find the actual conversations with these dynamic guests would be a lot more interesting and engaging than transcriptions. This is the first episode of DirecTech. A Source for Ideas, technology and thoughtful reflection. We hope you enjoy it. You can also feel free to subscribe to the email newsletter at http://eepurl.com/bqSCb1. Inquiries regarding consulting, technology and potential guests, visit www.minglingmedia.com.