for your attention and literally move you into their tiny shops to see their irresistible goods. What I didn’t realize at the moment is how these shopkeepers had developed an amazing science for buying and selling. Many sellers could detect I was American and some could even tell from what part of the country based on my accent. They would offer me a soft drink, invite me to sit down and then parade their wares in front of me until a sale was made. I had never seen such sophisticated service and salesmanship from such an unexpected place! Later, as I became more focused on selling NOW products to health food stores, I realized what an education I had received about true salesmanship. An equal, and unexpected, lesson came in the form of purchasing. By 1986, my father had allowed me to purchase some products and I went at it knowing that all things are negotiable. In the past, since our purchasing power was very small, we were forced into paying full price or simply price shopping for the best deal. But I soon learned just how negotiable our raw materials were and that helped pave the way for NOW to offer even lower prices than before. One purchase from R.P. Scherer was memorable for me since it was our company’s largest purchase to date, though unknown to me at the time. I ordered $80,000 in one order for only MaxEPA and Vitamin E, or over 10% of all purchases for the year. This deal was our first big purchasing discount and was only scarred by my ignorance of our bank balance, or the lack of a bank balance! I didn’t think enough about paying for the bill, only what great sales we could offer with the new discount. It’s important for businesses to have a balance between salesmen with dreams and practical managers who will have to pay the bills when they come due. NEW CUSTOMERS GALORE With a renewed focus on selling to new customers and the blessings of the MaxEPA craze, NOW products found their way to millions of new consumers everywhere. Chain health food stores like Vitamin Cottage in CO, Sun Harvest Farms (later part of Sprouts chain) in TX, Richards Whole Foods in FL, Arizona Health Foods in AZ and Boneys Markets in CA all became sales targets that sooner or later became large customers. These chains’ purchasing volume was a new thing to NOW and exciting for young salesmen like me. I still have notes from our first big sale, $1,368.34, to Vitamin Cottage of Denver in January, 1986. Sitting next to my father in our crowded Villa Park office became fun as orders like this meant that the company would survive and thrive. I can still recall relaying many technical questions from customers to Elwood and back, while trying to remember the answers for next time. The natural foods business has so many different products and so many different particulars that it takes a long time to become educated in the field. Indeed, one can never stop learning as science changes, new plant extracts are discovered and new issues demand new answers. In mid-1985, my father, Elwood, had a new idea of posting our weekly number of orders shipped and the dollars sold for the week. Prior to this sales numbers were considered confidential and most employees didn’t have any clue about how badly the company was doing. After our financial situation was explained to employees, the focus became how WE could grow sales and see the results immediately. By the end of 1985, an average week would total about 70 orders for just under $20,000. By 2013, NOW would sell each day what the same company did in an entire year! Though the idea of posting sales seemed minor at the time, it was a good idea that caught on with the small 56 BEATING THE ODDS
