A NEW SYSTEM By mid-1988, David had rejoined the family business after 10 years in corporate America, mostly as Systems Analyst. His initial project for NOW was to purchase and implement our first computer system. That system served us well for several years and enabled billing to be automated. However, a new Comptroller named John Wallis joined NOW in 1991 and proceeded to work toward a new system that would take NOW to the next level. In the first system, our code numbers had included one letter and four numbers, but this caused problems with similar sounding letters. The new system solved that problem and many others and served NOW very well until 2002 when our Oracle era began. Prior to 1991, salespeople hand-wrote orders and gave them to order entry workers, who would input orders throughout the day. A big change occurred when I was told salespeople would have to type orders in directly, a new part of the job that I was not keen about. I was concerned that salespeople would stop trying to sell on the phone as they would be required to do the jobs of two people. My negative bias probably had more to do with my failure in college to survive writing Cobalt and Basic computer programs. “Once burned, twice shy” the saying goes. In a short time, however, NOW’s sales group learned the system, led by Nick Rana, who was the first to figure out how to use our new toy. Many significant new products were introduced during our years on Bloomingdale Road. Listed below were the top selling new products for these years: 1989 Chromium Picolinate Caps, Echinacea Caps, Goldenseal Root, Pau d’Arco, Barley Grass, Deodorant Stones and Evening Primrose Oil 1990 Essential Oils, Richard’s Line, Prescription for Nutritional Healing book, Silymarin and Pycnogenol 1991 Ester-C, 4x6 Acidophilus, Tea Tree Oil, CoQ10 60 mg, and 23 more Essential Oils 1992 Liquid Herbal Extract Line and Shark Cartilage By the end of 1992, NOW’s best sellers had changed significantly, again. # 1 Prescription for Nutritional Healing Book # 2 CoQ10 30 mg # 3 Goldenseal Root Capsules # 4 Evening Primrose Oil Softgels Due to our tremendous growth over the past five years, it became clear that it was time to move again. The warehouse was far too full, production had squeezed out every ounce possible and our offices were in dire need of space. As we prepared to move again, we could only count our blessings for having such problems. Elwood’s original strategy was paying off and we were making many right moves, but, as the good book says, “God gives the growth.” 70 BEATING THE ODDS
