Watkins Products

In 1868, Joseph R. Watkins started The J.R. Watkins Medical Company in Plainview, Minnesota. Watkins began his company with a product which became known as "Watkins Red Liniment', which was originally patented as "Dr. Ward's Vegetable Anodyne Liniment". The main ingredients of "Watkins Red Liniment" were camphor, from an Asian evergreen related to the cinnamon tree, extract of capsicum (from red peppers), turpentine oil and other botanicals. Watkins mixed his first liniment in his kitchen. That formula has changed very little, and gets used frequently in our household today.

J.R. moved his company 25 miles south to Winona, Minnesota, in 1885, and developed a network of door-to-door salesmen to sell his liniment. In addition to his liniment, J.R. began to sell the spices, vanilla, black pepper and cinnamon. Watkins' network of door-to-door salesmen is the first recorded direct sales through network marketing endeavor. When J.R. Watkins died in 1911, his company had more than 2,500 people selling his liniment and species. The company was later renamed, "Watkins Products". In 1912, shortly after the death of its founder, the company headquarters was relocated to an office building near the banks of the Mississippi River where it remains today. Today there are many thousands of "Independent Associates" throughout the United States and Canada.

Today Watkins Products' goal is to make sure you and your family have the absolute best products available; made only from the world's finest ingredients. Watkins Products aren't delivered by horse and buggy anymore, but these products are still delivered straight to your door. It has been that way since J.R. Watkins sold his first products in 1868. In fact, J.R. Watkins created the first "money back guarantee",  a tradition that continues today. With Watkins, you can choose from more than 350 products that help you save money as you serve better meals, maintain your family's health, and make your home more inviting. There's never a risk; all Watkins products are 100% money-back guaranteed. Watkins stands behind every product with their top-notch reputation from more than 135 years in business. If a product doesn't work out for any reason, you can get an immediate refund. From classic remedies that made Watkins the first health and wellness company in North America, to spices that won the Paris Exposition's Gold Medal, to modern dietary supplements for increased stamina, these are products that every household needs. There are no fad products, just high-quality products at reasonable prices in four main categories; Specialty Foods, Health & Nutrition, Personal Care, and Home Care.

Watkins Guiding Principles

Statement by Mark E. Jacobs, President on 1-13-2005.

The Jacobs family's philosophies and strategies that guide decisions for Watkins.

It's been more than 25 years since my father, Irwin Jacobs, purchased the Watkins company from descendants of J.R. Watkins. And, it's been more than 8 years since my father asked me to step into the role of company President and to lead this time-tested company into a new century.

I'm writing this letter because my dad and I both feel it's important that we share with you, our loyal Associates, the underlying principles, philosophies, and strategies that guide our decisions for Watkins.

The foundation: Helping people improve their lives

Our number one principle that guides us is that we want this company to help people improve their lives.

Those of you who have heard my dad speak at Watkins conferences know a little about his background. As the son of immigrants, his family faced financial challenges (like many other families then and today). Through hard work and by providing value to others, his family was able to not only survive, but to thrive. One of my grandfather's businesses that resulted in a much better life for his family was the unglamorous job of collecting used burlap bags from produce vendors and reselling them as scrap. That's how my dad started his working life—collecting old burlap bags on the back of a pickup truck. Coming from those humble beginnings, my dad has always held tight to the idea that "helping others while we help ourselves" is simply the right thing to do. He and my mother passed that philosophy to my sisters and me from the time we were very young.

There are five areas in which our family is devoted to helping the people around us:

1. We are dedicated to helping our customers improve their lives by offering beneficial products of unmatched quality and value.

2. We are dedicated to helping our independent Associates improve their lives by offering the best business opportunity in North America.

3. We are dedicated to helping our corporate employees improve their lives with solid long-term employment and the best possible work environment and benefits.

4. We are dedicated to helping our suppliers improve their lives by consistently purchasing raw materials from them at a fair price.

5. We are dedicated to helping people who receive assistance from charities to which we donate products or money.

This company touches so many lives in a positive way, while at the same time providing for the future generations of our own family. Our family is very proud that our ownership of Watkins allows us to help so many people around us—that's what life is all about.

Associates are the key to helping even more people

We are thrilled with the number of people whose lives are better because of Watkins. But we want to help even more people by expanding the amount of Watkins products that are produced and sold. J.R. Watkins founded this company on personal service, and he built the business through a network of Watkins salespeople. My dad and I continue to believe that network marketing and direct selling are the best way to market these products—no other marketing method can compare to a friendly, compassionate Associate listening to a customer's needs and suggesting products to fill those needs.

There's no doubt in our minds that a network of active Associates can help us reach out to many more families than we could through any other method. That's why we reward our independent Associates with what is arguably the very best compensation plan in this industry—to give each Associate a strong incentive to help spread the word about our products and business opportunity.

We view the independent Associates as the heart of this company. We are dedicated to each of you—just as you are dedicated to the company and these wonderful products.

Goal: Every family, every month

My vision for this company is that every family in North America should be offered the Watkins products at least once every month by one of our independent Associates. There are many ways potential customers could hear from an Associate: by being shown a catalog by a neighbor or co-worker who was an Associate, by being invited to a Good Tastings event, by receiving a link to an e-Associate website, or by seeing an Associate demonstrating products at a trade show.

I can envision a day when almost every household in North America has a variety of Watkins products on their shelves. And why not? Certainly, other companies have at least one of their products in almost every home: Sears, Sony, Rubbermaid, Coca-Cola or Pepsi; and even companies who offer the same kinds of products as Watkins such as Procter & Gamble and McCormick.

To me, it only makes sense that our minimal expectation for ourselves as a company should be that we get the word out to every family, every month.

The truth is, however, that we're nowhere near meeting that minimum expectation. Several years ago, we hired a marketing research firm to evaluate our business. One staggering fact they found was that only .4% percent of North American households were currently being serviced by our independent Associates. Be sure you notice the decimal point in front of .4%—that's not four percent, but rather four-tenths of one percent. In other words, we're only reaching one family out of every 250. They also found that many people had never heard of Watkins products and that many who had did not know we were still in business.

On one hand, it's very frustrating that millions of families who could be improving their lives with our products and/or business opportunity don't even know we exist. But, on the other hand, it's a great reminder of just how much opportunity there is!

Helping more people requires healthy growth

Our challenge is figuring out how we can grow to reach 250 times as many families as we are today. That's certainly a tall order to fill, but I believe we can do it with healthy growth.

When I say "healthy growth," I mean expanding the number of Associates and increasing the sales of each Associate while maintaining the quality of our products, the stability of our business opportunity, and the integrity of our company.

Some companies in our industry have stooped to making exaggerated product claims or promising unrealistic incomes as ways to quickly increase sales or sponsoring. But clearly, that's not "healthy" growth. And that's why you won't see Watkins jumping on that band wagon—we have a wholesome reputation that J.R. Watkins began building in 1868, and we intend to keep it that way.

So, what are the ways we can achieve healthy growth? There are four strategies I've discussed with my father and the leadership team here at Watkins Corporate:

1. We will encourage a significant increase in sponsoring. The vast majority of growth in upcoming years must come from existing Associates sponsoring many more new Associates. We need literally hundreds of thousands of new Associates each working actively on a part-time basis. We will be counting on existing leaders in the field at the Manager or Executive levels to lead the way. But, we will need many newer Associates to develop into top leaders, too. So, we at Watkins Corporate will continue to develop programs, training, and tools that support your sponsoring efforts and help you reach higher levels of success.

2. We will help active Associates to develop more customers and to develop larger orders from each customer. Our Good Tastings by Watkins program is already showing tremendous gains in this area. And, just as in the area of sponsoring, we'll continue to develop programs, training, and tools that support your retailing efforts.

3. We will continue improving our product line. While we're very proud of the excellent products we have today, we will, as always, continue research and development so that we can keep the time-tested favorites while adding new products that attract more customers.

4. We will help the public become more familiar with the Watkins name. From the market research firm's report and other intensive studies of product branding, we know that getting the Watkins name and logo in front of more people means a warmer reception from those people when one of our Associates approaches them with the products or the business opportunity. (See details in the separate section on branding.)
   

How you can benefit from helping us achieve healthy growth

We need all four of these strategies working full-speed ahead for several years to move towards our goal of "every family, every month." You, as an independent Associate, can benefit by helping us in all of these areas.

First, if you have not been looking for other people to join your Watkins team, I urge you to start now. Contact your sponsor or upline leader for coaching on the best ways you can expand your team. There is potential for hundreds of Associates to reach the Executive level and to earn solid full-time incomes just by helping us find the huge number of Associates that we need. Certainly, it's okay for Associates to choose to retail only and to not sponsor. But, Associates who want to maximize their Watkins earnings can make the most progress by including a little or a lot of sponsoring in their business strategy.

Second, you can work towards expanding the size of your customer base and continuously improving the level of service you provide. This can lead to a significant increase in retail income for you. Make a commitment to contacting each of your potential customers every month through whatever method works best for you. Give good, friendly service. Enthusiastically share stories of your experiences with Watkins products. Share the stories you've heard from other Associates or other customers. Always ask your customers for referrals to other people who could benefit from the Watkins product line. And, if you're not on it already, consider subscribing to the monthly PEP (Promotional Earnings Pack) program, so you'll always have catalogs, samples, and other materials that help you service your customers.

Third, we'd like to ask for your help in improving our product line by relaying feedback about products that you and your customers like the most or that didn't live up to your expectations. You can e-mail or call the Support Hotline at Watkins Corporate with your input. Your comments can help us improve our product line, which can mean more sales and income for you.

And fourth, you can help us expose more people to the Watkins name. One great way is through the Associate Retail Initiative, which is part of our Branding Strategy detailed below. It can allow you to earn profits on sales of Watkins products made through independent retail stores.

Our Branding Strategy

A key component for achieving healthy growth is our Branding Strategy. I'll go into a bit more detail about this topic, because it can be confusing to those not familiar with the advertising and marketing world.

The basic concept behind "branding" is for a company to get their brand name in front of the public, so that their company's products come to mind first when people are considering a purchase.

Besides traditional newspaper, radio, and television advertising, here are some everyday examples of how other companies use branding:

• The Alexander Doll company puts special versions of Madame Alexander dolls in Happy Meals at McDonald's. The doll company likely ends up paying to have their dolls included, but they do it because they know it will spur many more sales of their other dolls on which they can generate large profits.

• Starbucks sells bottled coffee drinks in Target stores and specially packaged coffees in grocery stores. The benefit to Starbucks goes far beyond the small profit they make on those drinks. People who otherwise would not have thought of going to a stand-alone Starbucks coffee shop may remember seeing the Starbucks name and may choose to visit a Starbucks store the next time they drive by or the next time they're thinking of coffee (and this could happen even if a person didn't buy any Starbucks product from Target or didn't remember where they saw the Starbucks name).

• Six Flags amusement parks has advertising on Coca-Cola cans that offers discounted park admission for people who bring the Coke can to the park. It likely costs a lot of money for Six Flags to be featured on the Coke cans, but one of those cans may be right in front of someone to jog their memory when they're trying to think of something fun to do. It can bring many more people to the amusement park, resulting in bigger profits for the park.
  

Our challenge in Watkins is this: When people in North America think about preparing better meals, maintaining their family's health, pampering themselves, or making their home more inviting, some other brand of products comes to their mind for the vast majority. We must get the word out so more people think of Watkins.

And that's where our Watkins Branding Strategy comes in. In recent years, we enlisted the help of a marketing research firm, other outside consultants, and have even had a full-time employee at Watkins dedicated to researching product branding. We researched and tested many methods for building brand awareness. Some promotional methods, like national television ads, were cost prohibitive. Many methods did not produce the results we needed to see.

But one branding method that has shown promise is to offer a limited number of products through carefully selected retail outlets. We began testing this method of building brand awareness several years ago. We started in a few specialty boutiques, expanding later to include other "marketing channels" (larger retail chains, regional grocery chains, online retailers, mail-order catalogs, and even a few home-shopping shows on television).

We have learned that having a few products available through these other retailers gets the Watkins name in front of more people—many who have never heard of us, and many who didn't know we were still in business.

Certainly, some people purchase Watkins products when they see the products through these venues. But a far greater number of people see the products but don't immediately make a purchase. And that's okay, because even without making a purchase, those people have been exposed to the Watkins name, and they are more likely to be receptive to hearing about our products from an Associate later. Also, many people, upon seeing the limited number of products in the store, contact Watkins to inquire about purchasing other Watkins products—and of course we refer those customers to independent Associates through our lead program.

So, we are seeing favorable results from our Branding Strategy, and we look forward to continuing to use it to get the word out. It's very exciting to observe a definite increase in the number of potential customers who are now curious and interested when an Associate shows them our full catalog.

With all the good things that we're seeing from the Branding Strategy however, I also realize that it may be a source of concern for some Associates, especially for newer Associates. At the Watkins corporate office, we regularly receive calls and e-mails from Associates who were previously unaware of the Branding Strategy. They ask questions like, "I heard that Watkins products are in stores, including some Wal-Mart stores. Is that true? What does it mean? Is Watkins doing away with all the independent Associates?"

I completely understand why some Associates might feel uneasy. In fact, many of the top Associates in the company had at least some concerns when we first introduced the Branding Strategy several years ago. So, don't feel bad if you have a sense of concern. I hope that by having read this letter up to this point, you already understand the reasons behind the placement of Watkins products in these stores. And I hope you already feel confident that our commitment is 100% behind our independent Associates—your long-term success ensures the company's long-term success. Still, let me add a few more thoughts about our Branding Strategy:

• From the beginning of the Branding Strategy, we have limited any particular store or retail venue to offering a maximum of 20 different products from our line of more than 350 products. The Branding Strategy has been operating successfully under that rule for over two years, and we do not expect to change that policy.

• Unlike retailers, Watkins Associates can offer our entire product line.

• Associates are much better at getting products into customers' hands and into customers' hearts than any store display ever could. When you enthusiastically tell one of your friends or acquaintances about a great experience that you or someone else had with a Watkins product, the result is pure magic.

• Our statistics show that one average Associate presenting one average-sized Good Tastings event can sell more Watkins products at that one event than the typical Wal-Mart Supercenter can sell in an entire month. The volume created by Wal-Mart and other large retailers comes from having many stores.

• We must remember, that much of the benefit of having products in these stores is not from the sales, but from the exposure of getting our name in front of people who are in the store to purchase a competing brand. Seeing Watkins near the product they currently use can plant the seed in their head that Watkins may be a brand they'd like to try at some point, which can make them more open-minded when an Associate shows them a catalog or invites them to a Good Tastings Event—and that's the whole point of brand awareness.

• The vast majority of sales that do occur through these venues are to customers who would otherwise have purchased some other brand—a purchase of a Watkins product through one of these stores is almost always taking away a sale from a competing brand, rather than taking a sale away from a Watkins Associate. Remember that all of our Associates combined are currently reaching only one household out of every 250, so someone who buys a Watkins product off the shelf at these stores is most likely not being offered the products by an Associate.

• You can earn income from our Branding Strategy by signing up independent retail stores to carry Watkins products. It gets all of us more exposure, and leads to sales that can earn bonus income for you. (See the Associate Retail Initiative section below for details.)

We see the Branding Strategy as one important way that we can help boost demand for Watkins products in the months and years ahead. That higher demand for Watkins products can translate into more sales for you and for new Associates who join your team. You can be earning more income while helping us approach our goal of "every family, every month."

The Associate Retail Initiative

As part of our Branding Strategy, we have implemented the Associate Retail Initiative. It allows you, as an independent Associate, to contact non-chain retail stores and to enlist them to carry up to 20 of our products. It's a winning situation for everyone.

First, when you sign up an independent retailer, it helps our branding strategy by getting the Watkins name in front of people who go into that store looking for other brands.

Second, signing up an independent retailer can benefit the store owner in several ways:

• First, there are the profits on sales of the Watkins products. The owner of an independent store could sell a good volume of Watkins products if he or she becomes familiar with our products and recommends specific ones to customers (unlike the large chain stores where there's no personal service).

• Second, there's an opportunity for that store owner to build a Watkins business through sponsoring. Many owners of independent stores would love an additional source of income. And, a store owner who sees the vast opportunities with Watkins may choose to pursue the Watkins business beyond the products sold in his or her store. You can show store owners how they could use their store as a way to develop interest in the Watkins products, and then have a team of Associates who service the customers that develop.

• Third, the Associate Retail Initiative can, of course, benefit you directly when you sign up an independent retailer. You can earn income on the products they purchase for sale in their stores. And, if the store owner would choose to build his or her own team of Associates, it can benefit you even more.

Summary: The sky's the limit for your success

This is a very exciting time for Watkins because we have a clear vision of where we're going and because we are fortunate to have a solid core of dedicated employees and Associates. As I've studied the long, proud history of this company, I have not learned of any other time at which we had such a bright future. I sincerely feel we are on the brink of expansive, healthy growth.

I firmly believe we can turn our goal of "every family, every month" into reality. To achieve that, the team at Watkins corporate will be focusing on the four vital areas I mentioned earlier for healthy growth: 1) helping you sponsor more new Associates; 2) helping you reach out to more customers; 3) continuing the never-ending improvement of our product line; and 4) using brand awareness to attract many more people to our products and business opportunity.

Independent Associates like you are the future of Watkins, the heart and soul of this company. We realize that the success of Watkins as a company comes only when our independent Associates like you are successful—that's how it's been since 1868 and how it will be in the centuries to come. That's why we do all we can to help you grow your business quicker and more successfully. So, if you're ready to use your Watkins business to totally change your life for the better, we're ready to help you soar to new heights—I know you can achieve great things!

From our family (both the Jacobs family and the entire Watkins family at the corporate offices in Winona and Winnipeg), we wish you much success!

G5Net.com

G5Net.com is the creation of Grogan Five Enterprises, to showcase our premier business opportunity, to promote Watkins excellent products, and to support our growing team of associates. Grogan Five Enterprises is a home based family business, and, yes, we are a family of five. We started our business so that we could eventually leave our full time employment and spend more time as family. We are not there yet, but will be very soon. 

We first became aware of Watkins Products around 1993, and became a distributor shortly thereafter. We developed a good business and small group of associates. However, our lives became a wild ride of chaos when our twins were born, especially since we already had a three year old at the time. Sometime in the next few months our business just disappeared; not sure when or how. As a matter of fact I don't don't remember much of anything that happened in those early years!

In February of 2003, we renewed our Watkins Products journey. We truly love Watkins Products and you will find them in use in almost every room in our home. We like to say that we are our own best customers. While our business goal is to match consumers to quality products and make a profit along the way, our life's goal is to promote Jesus Christ our Savior. If you don't know Him personally, let me tell you about Him at this link.