Why We Keep Coming Back

Nikita Austen 0:00

Yeah, think about any any store that you might go to. Whether it's your esthetician, you're like, why do I keep going there? Or maybe it's your local health food store, or maybe it's your place that you get your oil change. Is there a reason? Is there a connection? Is there something that you're like, that's why I always like to go there?

Tina Maddock 0:14

Welcome to the Natural Products Marketer podcast. I'm your host, Tina Mattock. On this podcast, you'll hear from manufacturers, retail owners, and operators, and other business experts that will help you grow your business so you can serve more people and change more lives. All right, Nikita, I am so excited to have you here on the Natural Products Marketer podcast today. I know that you um were at Soho and that you gave a presentation. Tell us a little bit about who you are, what you do, and what you were doing at Soho.

Nikita Austen 0:47

Okay, so my name, like you said, it's Nikita Austin. I have been with the Better Being Co, which is the name of our company. And if you're like, who is the Better Being Co? You might know us as Nutraceutical, or you might know us as Soleray, Cal, Heritage Store, Zhao, Honey Gardens. I could go on and on because we have so many different brands within our company. And that's why we sort of changed our name originally from Nutraceutical into the better being co because we were like, we have so many brands. Like, how do we embrace that and how do we represent that better in our name? And so it's like the better being company, right? With the better being brands. So if you've been in the industry for a while, you definitely have heard of Nutraceutical, you know us that way. But I've been with us for 10 years in December. I am currently the senior director of global training and education. So that means you heard it, global. Any country that we sell our products in, I get the pleasure of going there and educating anywhere from the staff, right? The staff in your stores to the consumers and the customers. Or if you are in Europe or other parts of the world, a lot of supplements are actually sold in pharmacies. So I train a lot of the pharmacists or even the doctors. So it's a little bit different, right, than it is kind of here in the United States. Um, I don't want I don't want to say more advanced, but in a way, it's like, you know, you go to your pharmacy for your natural products. That's kind of new normal there. So I have been with us for a long time doing education, but also doing innovation. And I was on the innovation team for the past four years. And so what we'll actually talk about, which is probiotics, because that's what I talked about at Soho, I was part of the team that got to start that innovation and kind of start that project. And so not only can I give you a little insight about it, but I can give you a lot of you know, the background of like why we created it and what inspired us to create this new collection. So yeah, so I was at Soho talking about that ultimately.

How Probiotics Still Innovate

Tina Maddock 2:46

Yeah, and if anyone wants to hear your full presentation, you can hop into that Senpa community and um there's access for members only, but you can have access to the full presentation, which I think is such a gift that especially if people wanted to come hear you talk, but they weren't able to for whatever reason, they can always grab it now and um take a look at it. But I think it's interesting that you're talking about like you guys were doing innovations with probiotics because it feels like probiotics have been around for a long time.

Nikita Austen 3:19

They have.

Tina Maddock 3:20

So, how do you innovate with probiotics?

Nikita Austen 3:22

It's hard, and it's kind of hard in general because innovation, probably in any category, like I mean, we're in the nutritional, you know, wellness space, but I feel like in general, it's like, what's next? How do you continue to innovate? It feels like everything's already been done, you know. But the cool thing is that science evolves. So as science is evolving, there's more clinical studies, there are more ways that we look at something that's maybe always been there, and there's kind of things that have been there but hadn't really been studied and hadn't been talked about. An example would be like postbiotics, which is something I'll mention, right? We've talked a lot about probiotics, we've been hearing about prebiotics growing in the industry, and then we've kind of been hearing about postbiotics and you know, what does that really mean? And so the innovation comes in in many ways, but it's like what's what's newly being studied, what's newly being discovered? And postbiotics is something that we incorporated in our new line of probiotics because there's a lot more clinical data supporting the benefits of it, understanding even what it is. And so the innovation kind of comes with evolution of what's next, you know, and and what's being studied, and are there benefits and enough clinical benefits, right? Clinical studies specifically, that we can now bring that into our product and share that with our customers. So that's one of the pieces that's what I would say in the new line that's really innovative.

Why Clinical Studies Matter Now

Tina Maddock 4:48

I love that there are so many more clinical studies being done right now. When I first came into this industry, um, it felt like a lot of people felt like some of the natural products were the right things to do. And we had some wisdom that was given down to us over the years. But the science community was not really coming around this and getting on board with do these things work? And even when they were doing studies, I was not confident that it was a pure product, that it was anything that was actually being sold in these natural product stores. So they would come out and be like, multivitamins, there's nothing to it. Like, don't waste your money kind of thing. And now they're coming back around and they're doing really good clinical studies, and they're like, actually, multivitamins are very good for you. So I love that I'm seeing that in the science community. Are you guys seeing that more often now?

Nikita Austen 5:42

I'll tell you, we are seeing it more, and I'll tell you kind of why we're seeing it more, too, from my opinion. Being someone that was on team innovation, and I'm one of the people that goes, okay, let me sit down with the raw material supplier, right? The person that's selling that turmeric or that's selling that probiotic strain. And when we sit down with them, like the first question is, do you have clinical studies? So the demand, it's a supply and demand issue, or not issue, but sort of where that's coming from. It's it's the innovation teams and different brands going, I want clinical data because that's what the customers are demanding. And in order for me to make claims on the front of my package, whether that's a weight loss claim or whether that's a you know a joint health claim, whatever it may be, I need to have not just clinical studies, but human clinical studies. Like that's what we require. So if you buy anything from Solar A or Cal or any of our brands, and we have a claim on the front of PAC, that's probably because we've looked at at minimum two human clinical studies, like double blind, placebo controlled, and not just the study, but is it done on a healthy population? Is there a significant amount of participants in that study? Right. We need a legitimate source of data in order to make that claim. Our legal department is really strict and for good reasons. We want to give the customer something that we can really promise or at least back that it's going to give them some good results. That's kind of the reason. So I think it's the suppliers going, oh my gosh, every time we meet with an innovative team, they're like, Where's your clinical studies? You don't have it, I don't want it. And so yeah, there's been a kind of a combination of that, really kind of growing more clinical studies. And you know, and a lot of people do trademark. They've trademarked clinical studies, and that's great. And you see that even with things like KSM66, you know, that name has gotten really big because they sell ashwagandha, and now customers are even looking for that. Yeah, so yeah, but it's it's kind of growing in its in its own way, and it's it's been really positive, I think, for our industry.

Tina Maddock 7:42

It's funny, I feel like um part of the push, and I don't know, chicken or egg sometimes. You you wonder like who what really was the tipping point to cause us to talk about this a lot. But Shark Tank, Mark Cuban, he's always like, Where's your clinical study on any of the natural products?

Nikita Austen 8:02

Two, it's so true. And he loves the natural products, right? I feel like he's kind of into like from the vegan cheeses to like you know the natural things in general, but it's true. I think it's a the consumer really wants to see that. And B, when you look at it from a side of medicine, you know, I studied chemistry and biology, and I remember being in college, and I'm, you know, say my group of 30 people in my class, I'm like one of two or three in this corner who are going the nutritional route, right? And the other ones are going the doctor route. Both needed, you know, Western and Eastern were there for a reason. But my point is that like we learn totally different things. And when you when you go into, you know, the other route of me, you don't get all that nutritional study, that nutritional science. And so when you go to your doctor and you're like, hey, can I take berberine for my blood sugar? Right. They're sometimes, you know, if they're kind of balanced out or they're more naturopathic, they'll be like, yes. Other ones are like, I don't know anything about it. Are there clinical studies? I I they don't want to promote it. And I understand why there's a lot of legality that comes with it. But if there is clinical studies, if there's data to back it, if there's, you know, an understanding of it, they feel more inclined and safer to recommend these things. So it's kind of a positive that I think spreads out wider than we realize outside of just the fact that there's a claim on the front of the package. Yeah. But also that then doctors can find that balance between an antibiotic and a probiotic, right? And really understand why both might be necessary in different ways.

Tina Maddock 9:33

Yeah. So that makes me think about um the talk about shelf stable probiotics. I know you've mentioned um that whenever we've had conversations before, and probably it was also in your discussion at Soho, but Solar Ray really doesn't do that. So, or um Nutraceuticals or whatever company you used to talk about. So tell me, tell me more what's the deal with shelf stable probiotics. I know it's something that everyone would like to be true, but you guys don't really offer that.

Vacation Tips And Overformulation

Nikita Austen 10:05

Yeah, so let me just take a breath, clarify here for anyone's wondering. Like, did she say they aren't or they are okay? I've it's not black and white, but I have some answers to add to that. When let's just like take one step backwards, okay. This is my my favorite thing. You're just as we're talking about shelf stable probiotics, okay. What does a probiotic mean? This is like my favorite question. I ask it every training I do. Can you, if you're listening right now, what does prob mean in Latin, right? And what does BIOS mean or biotic? It means for life. Okay, probiotic means for life. Okay, so when you think of it, this is for your life, it feeds your body, right? It's it's keeping you growing. Your body's made out of bacteria. This is really important. Now, when we buy probiotics, whether we're buying a kombucha or our yogurt at the store or probiotic that's in a supplement form, they're usually found in the refrigerator because these probiotics, these bacteria, they're like living microorganisms, right? They're they're living bacteria. And so when things are living like that, you want them to stay in a cool environment. You want them to stay dormant, meaning that you know they're not awake yet, they're just kind of asleep, they're not activated because of heat or moisture or anything, which when they start to get activated, can start to ultimately make them work or kill them off if they're not yet in your you know in your intestines. So usually you want them in a cold environment. I mean, like in I use that example with yogurt. Do you buy yogurt that's on the shelf or do you buy yogurt that's in the fridge? You buy it in the fridge because you want that good bacteria to stay alive. So, typically speaking, bacteria in the probiotic sense is found in the fridge because it's a live microorganism and you want it to stay cool and cold and dormant. Now, with that being said, you know, when I talk about probiotics in supplement format, yeah, I'm nine out of ten times will tell you go to the refrigerator, pull the probiotic from there, that's where it stays alive. Are there probiotics supplements that can be on the shelf? There are some, very few, that I would stand behind. The ones that I would say that can go on the shelf are something that we call spore-forming probiotics. As you might have heard this term before, it's a little bit different than just your regular probiotic, but there are spore-forming strains like a bacillus collagulin, for example. So if you've ever heard of bacillus collagulin, that is a strain that is typically a spore-forming. And when I say spore forming, these these spore-forming bacteria, they um have this naturally protect, they're naturally protected by this outer shell that ultimately allows them to survive better at room temperature. And they're not activated until there's moisture available. Okay, so without getting too complex here, and I can keep going down the rabbit hole, it's there are certain strains that are spore forming, very select amount, really, not this array where you're looking for a probiotic that has 24 different strains, 50 billion bacteria, just a specific strain, they can do better on the shelf. Okay, they're not live in the same way. They're spore forming, they get activated more when they're in the intestine. Yes, you can find a few things like that. But typically speaking, again, when you're going into a supplement department and you're looking for a probiotic and you want a nice array of probiotic strains, I'll name some of them. It sounds like I'm talking Greek because I am. Like, you know, Helveticus and L breve and B. Infantis and all these different strains that are so good for supporting the immune systems, balancing vaginal health, help helping with colon and regularity. These strains are not your spore-forming strains. These strains are not the ones that are gonna survive just naturally by themselves on the shelf. They need to be cold, they need to be refrigerated and kept dormant. And really, we only want them activated when they go into the intestine. Okay. So this is why I'm like, I'm not gonna say that there's no no probiotics that can be on the shelf. There are some, but we're talking a very small selection that I would stand behind and say, yes, this is going to survive the shelf, meaning it's gonna survive moisture, it's gonna survive heat, and it's just gonna naturally survive time in that environment and still give you the potency and the product that you you want when you buy it. So there are some, but I most of the time, like I said, nine 9.5 times even, I'll go higher, out of 10, that I would tell you pull it from the fridge. Because even if you wanted it, even if you you told me, Nikita, I'm gonna go home. I'm not gonna put it in the fridge. It's gonna go next to my coffee maker because that's the only way. The first thing I do in the morning is coffee. I I remember to take it. I would be like, fine, if you want to put it by your coffee machine, okay, I can I can work with you. But at least buy it from the part of the store where it's been surviving the best. You know, let the timeline of the die-off, let's call it, start when you take it home, not while it was sitting there in the store and you don't know how long it was sitting there for. So I hope I didn't go too long here, but I just really want to emphasize that I really find it in this day right now in November, you know, of 2020, whatever year we're in, 25. Sorry. I'm like already prepping for 26. So I'm like starting to see 26 here. Um I just haven't seen a lot of scientific evidence that really shows that it would be equivalent to the fridge to the shelf.

Tina Maddock 15:45

Yeah, and when you and I were talking about this earlier, I was like, what about when I go on vacation? Because I take probiotics and I do believe that it's helping me. But what if what about when I'm going on vacation because I am not taking a refrigerator with me?

Nikita Austen 16:02

No, I don't expect you to. Um, and you know, you're lucky if you have one in your hotel. So maybe you have one in there. But that's let's just assume you don't have one. Um that again, I go back to the same thing where, okay, let's pull it from the fridge, the store, we come home, whether we put it in the fridge at that point or we leave it on the shelf. Okay, you want to go to Mexico for five days on vacation? Awesome. Take out your five pills for your your week, you know, to take put them in your pill container, whatever you want, take them on the trip. And then, you know, ideally if you can keep them in a cooler environment, meaning just maybe in the kitchen their area or you know, where wherever it is in your little hotel or Airbnb, yeah, that that's fine. I'm not worried about it in the five-day span. And a lot of probiotic companies, especially ones I can speak to that are sold like in a health food store, when they do make their products, they will overformulate them. So if it says it's 100 billion CFUs, the company's probably putting in, like, you know, depending on the company, maybe 130, maybe 180, right? That they're overformulating because they understand that naturally there's gonna be die-off. So that is a good thing that helps you, you know. Again, if you want to take it out for five days, or if you're driving home, you live in Arizona like me, and you know, it's the middle of the summer and you're driving home, but you you gotta make a stop beforehand. Okay, it's hot in the car, I get it. It's not the end of the world. There's a lot that's accounted for. It's just different when it's sitting on the shelf at the store, and I don't know how long that's been there. You know, and then adding more days when you get home. That's why I'm like, let's just play it safe. Let's just take it from the fridge, bring it home, and then you take it out for five days, cool. The one, the other thing that I I suggest people, because I again I try to compromise and find this middle ground, is if you are the pill person, okay. I have my little like pill container, right? And I open it up, and then you know, seven days I put in here what I need. If you're that kind of person, then cool, why not keep it in the fridge? And then Sundays, you know your pill days, take it out on Sunday, put in your seven pills, and then put that back in the fridge. At least keep the rest of them in there, and then you can start the timeline from there. I'll be honest with you. Again, I do live in Arizona, so it's we're obviously a warmer state, but and even if you're in California or Florida, or even if you were and maybe you're in another state, but I keep a lot of my supplements in the refrigerator in general. So I kind of have a little section for them in there, and it that's why I just remember to take them all out from that point. So if you think you're like, oh, I might forget, I mean, if you have an omega, I'd put that in the fridge too. Let's keep it from oxidizing, if you know, not to say that it would, but let's just be preventative in case. Yeah.

Tina Maddock 18:37

Yeah. So another thing that we talk a lot about is um um third-party testing. So tell I know that you guys have a very rigorous process that you go through. I'd love to hear all the nitty-gritty details around what that is and and maybe what's the process to make sure you have the best product for the consumers and that the consumers know how rigorous you've been so that if there's a price differentiation, or um, that they just will understand products that are better go through this kind of routine and products that might not be go through or maybe don't do any third-party testing or even internal testing. Yeah.

Nikita Austen 19:23

And some of you that are listening right now, you may be like, oh, I've been to that manufacturing facility before. Because we as a company, as Better Being Co., right, no matter which brand you want to associate us with, we have our own manufacturing facility. It's over 800,000 square feet. It's humongous. Okay. I've walked around it with heels, but I don't suggest it. So if you do come around, okay, get out your hookahs or your awn or any of those sneakers you got, because it is a huge manufacturing facility. And I think that's actually the thing that I love to brag about when it comes to our company. And I think also what really makes us stand apart from even just our own competition, it's the fact that we manufacture and produce our own products. And I'll explain what the benefit of that is. Because typically speaking, I think there's two things you usually see: a brand that either manufactures their own products or a brand that maybe distributes products. Okay, so let's kind of go through that. So if I manufacture, for example, our manufacturing facility is in Ogden, Utah, and uh we do a lot of facility tours, especially for our retailers. So again, if you haven't and you want a tour, just reach out to your rep and we'd love to take you around and show you kind of what we do. We're very proud of it. But in that 800,000 square feet, we do every single step of the process. So let's just simplify this. Let's say step one is buying that raw material. So we're making a joint product, and I've got a turmeric, and I've got a calcium and a magnesium, etc., right? And I take those raw materials. Let's say I buy the turmeric from the raw material supplier. When I buy that batch of that turmeric, the raw material supplier gives me this piece of paper. It's called a certificate of analysis, right? It's the analysis of that raw material. It's telling me that they've tested this raw material and they are telling me it's turmeric, that, you know, of that turmeric, 95% of that's concentrated, that's curcumin, the active ingredient we want, right? Um, it's been tested for heavy metals, uh, I think it's like parts per billion, for example. It's been tested for gluten, it's been tested for genetically modified ingredients and so on and so forth. Quite extensive paperwork, right? We read that paper and we go, awesome. Thank you so much. You know, this third party who you did this test. We're gonna save this paper, put it aside, but we're gonna throw it through our lab as well. And we have over 20 different scientists in our labs, okay, that are either doctors at this point, they are biologists, chemists, you name it, right? We've got An array of chemists and scientists in our laboratory who work with beautiful machinery or instruments, as we would call them, that they're testing to look for these things, whether that's heavy metals and so forth. They'll go through that testing process. If anything in that testing process does not line up with that certificate of analysis, meaning, wait a minute, it does actually show heavy metals at a much higher number than not just the ASTED, but maybe what we even allow as an industry. And not just the industry, but we as better being allow. So there's industry standards and then there's our standards. We actually go above the industry standards because as I mentioned in the beginning, we're a global company. So when you think of like countries that are known as like super clean, like a Norway, right? Or Sweden who wouldn't dare bring in anything that isn't top quality, we sell those same products in Norway. We we abide by by their laws and their rules as well. So we're very, very clean and we have larger standards than just the United States standards. If we do that test, like I said, and it doesn't meet the quality standards, we reject that raw material. We'll say, hey, you know what? Nope, we're not gonna buy this. We send it back to them. Now, when you send it back to the raw material supplier, what do you think they do? They sell it to somebody else, right? They're not gonna throw it away. That's their raw material, that's expensive, that's their their process. They're gonna sell it to somebody else. Maybe another company that doesn't manufacture their own products, maybe a company that distributes their own products. So when they distribute it, they're getting that, you know, probably even maybe capsule in capsules at that point, receiving it, going, cool, you tested it. Thanks for telling us, we'll put our label on it and we'll send it out. And I'm not saying that because you distribute your products, that that's bad. I'm saying when you do manufacture your product, that's really good. You have full control at that point to test the raw materials and make sure that it really is what it is. Now, once we buy that material and we test it and it's good and it's ready to go, there's still many, many steps along the way that we don't just test the you know the beginning product. We want to make sure that it's put in the right delivery format. So if it's in a capsule, it's got to dissolve at the right time. If it's in a tablet or a powder or whatever it is, then package it, label it. We do the finished product testing. So hold on, I just said that. Yep, not just in the beginning, in the very, very beginning, but once everything's come together, we do a finished product test as well. So what's is anything changed along the way of adding these ingredients or disintegration or potencies? Anything's changed, we do finished product testing and then we send it out to you. So we have full ownership over our raw materials, over our products, over every single piece of it from a capsule dissolving to it being a proper and clean ingredient. Manufacturing your products can guarantee the quality. And that's why it's so important for me to be like, that's my my biggest flex if I can sound like a young millennial, okay? That's my biggest flex to be like, yeah, we make our own stuff and we test it rigorously, like over 20 different scientists who some of them have been here for 35 years. You know, like these people know this machinery, they know this raw material, they do it quickly, they know what to look for at this point. So very skilled scientists that can really assure quality. And to me, is that not like the number one thing in our industry? Is having high quality supplements? Isn't that the thing that we feel like as a nutraceutical industry that we get pushed against from other people? Well, oh, I don't know, they're not, it's not tested, it's not clean, does it dissolve? Does it end up in, you know, your toilet? And are you absorbing this? I mean, we get a lot of pushback, right? They don't want the natural industry to thrive more than the pharmaceutical industry. So we always get back there. So to me, what's more important than assuring the quality, the potency, the identity, and every step of that way, that's what we do.

Retailer Questions That Build Trust

Tina Maddock 25:59

Yeah, and I I think it's one of the things that um retailers get excited about talking about to the consumer. They're kind of the gatekeeper because um not everyone does the kind of testing you're talking about. And the retailers are the ones that are sort of gatekeeping this about whether or not you're getting a clean product or what's on the labels actually in the jar, or um, that it is in the right delivery method for people to consume. So how let's just put you in the retailer seat. If you're a retailer, what are the questions that you're asking manufacturers or distributors? Um, what would you want to know from them before you bring that item into your shop?

Nikita Austen 26:49

I mean, I think that's kind of the perfect leading question into like what what I just talked about ultimately, right? And you said that when you when you go into a health food store, whatever health food store that may be, right? I mean, back back in the day, or at least where I used to live, like I used to live in Fort Lauderdale as well, where I was, the only health food store I really had was was Whole Foods Market. And I used to work for Whole Foods Market actually, come 13 years ago. And I'll just give you that example, right? You go into Whole Foods Market, they have their own quality standards, right? Natural Grocers, Sprouse, all of our great stores, big, small, and in between, we have quality standards that the customer knows when they walk in. I'm not gonna find anything that has an artificial color in it, an artificial flavor or sweetener or hormone or preservative, et cetera. The customer has the trust already with the store, knowing that they're there to get the best quality. So you as a store need to give that to them, right? You're the one vetting anything from the fro free fruit uh frozen food, excuse me, to the supplement on your shelf. So having that trust as a retailer with the partners that you're bringing in is vital. Knowing that at Better Being or Solar A, if you want to, that we manufacture, we test every single product we do. And our recall rate is extremely low, probably less than five since inception. Okay. As the company prior known as Neoceutical started in 1993. So that's how long that the NeoSeuital's been around. But our brands have been around for even longer. We kind of acquired them along the way. So like Solar Ace 1973 or Cal, which was you know one of the first brands ever in our industry, was 1932. Wow. So our brands have a heritage store, the Rosewater 1969. We have a lot of longevity in the industry, but since inception and creating our manufacturing facility, we've had very, very small, if any, kind of recalls because of that intense uh testing that we do. So that my point is if I'm a retailer, what am I looking for? What kind of questions am I asking when I'm bringing this in? Is you know, how do I build that trust with you? How do I guarantee that what you give me, no matter which brand I buy or which product I buy, that it's going to be that quality? Right? I don't want there to be a oops in the system. I want to make sure that I can deliver quality every time. That's 100% what we can guarantee and what we stand by is quality. We also have great customer service and everything else in between and a great sales team and et cetera. But coming down to the core of the product itself, why are you going to bring that in? It's knowing that we test every product. It's knowing that we manufacture, it's knowing that we label it, it's knowing that we stand by it. I think that's that's the whole point, right? Of that. And so there's not that many brands today that still do that type of it, you know, or ever even maybe did that type of test and and to assure that type of quality. And I think that's why we've been around for so long and have been number one in the industry in a lot of different categories a lot of different times, is is is because of that. And when I when I educate even our retailer staff, I tell them, I go, whether you're bringing in the Solar Ay liposoma multivitamin, the CalMag glycinate, the honey garden elderberry syrup, or the Xan lozenges, no matter which one you're bringing in, there's no cheaper product. There's no product that's like didn't get the same testing or gets the cheaper raw material. We have quality standards for the raw materials we bring in. If it doesn't meet it, it's rejected. If it meets it, then awesome. Then we'll distribute it where it is best fit. But if it doesn't meet it, it's not even coming in our warehouse. So, you know, quality and trust is kind of everything. And that's why you you build brand trust, you know, and that's why you, you know, shop at even different stores because you're like, well, they, you know, this clothing store that I love produces quality clothes every time it's organically made or it's whatever. It's the same thing here with supplements, it's building that trust, knowing what brands to bring in that really represent you as a storefront as well, you know.

Tina Maddock 30:55

Yeah, and so one of the things that you just mentioned is that you guys might have different brands. These things might have even different price points, and there is a different market depending on who your audience is made up of, right? They're looking for the price points that are important to them, that kind of thing. And it's great that there's no differentiation in this is what it says it's gonna be. We've tested for heavy metals and whatever else the standards are. I think that's important. And one of the things, since we're kind of on probiotics right now, I think probiotics is one of those um products that almost everyone could use. No matter what's happening in your life, almost every person, this would be a great thing to add into your regular health and wellness routine. But I'm curious that when people come into stores, if we're keeping our retailer hat on, if people are coming into the stores, um what is it that prompts you to go? Oh, wait, probiotic, this would make sense for you in your life right now. And this is a little bit of let's help the retailers see opportunities to give people things that would that they really need and probably want the effects of if we can put that hat on for a second.

Nikita Austen 32:14

Okay, cool. So basically, customer comes in. What would I open up in conversation or what indicator would I see or know that I would lead them to probiotics? Right. Okay, okay. Um, and I always have like little fun conversation starters for different categories sometimes of like, you know, what do you see that you know? Like, I'll just give you one little side one for a second. If you see any customer that has like a coffee, a tea, you know, or something like a black tea or a coffee in their hand, I always bring up the magnesium conversation. And that leads me right into magnesium. And just I know I'm going side note here, but this is just a fun one. Yeah, it's I always tell people that like coffee, tea, even alcohol, but I don't know that you'll see a customer walk in with a beer. I mean, maybe, I mean, you know what I have to say, there are some grocery stores, like even the health food stores, like that have the little bar in the corner and they have like a little wine as the customer's walking around. So, okay, maybe there's like a wine in their hand. Um, but you know, who knows? The point of that is is all of those drinks, even and sodas as well, they're all have that diuretic effect and they're all pretty caffeinated. And the combination really between the caffeine and the diuretic is what happens is like when it goes through the body. We know when we drink coffee, for example, we have to come to the restroom over and over, right? Because the diet, the diuretic aspect of it. Well, a lot of the times that's you know, excreting excess urine from the body, and that's excreting excess magnesium from the body too, because it can also often bind to the magnesium stored in the body and kind of push it out from the kidneys. And so that's like again, I'm I'm going off topic, but the point is like I see a coffee in hand and I'm like, hey, do you take magnesium? Yeah. And if you're like, no, like why? And I'm like, right there. I go, every time you drink that, and I'm like, I'm not judging, I'm like, I'm right here with you, okay? I'm like, I've got my coffee in my hand too. But every time we drink that, we're excreting more and more magnesium. We're already deficient as a population. So what a great way to be like, well, let's replenish every time we lose, right? It's not about you don't have to stop drinking coffee or tea, that's fine unless you want to, but let's just know how to replenish. So, like, that's a great way to like kind of lead in the magnesium conversation, right? How do we lead in the probiotic conversation or what do you look for? It's a little bit different. Coffee and tea won't be the exact answers for that. But for me, a couple of fun facts that lead that into me, it in for me is like I always kind of a like to even ask the customer, like, hey, what are you currently taking? Okay. Opening that up if you have the time for it is kind of nice because you're building that one-on-one relationship with them. You're asking them what they do take. So you can kind of assess their portfolio to begin with. And maybe you realize, like, oh, why are you taking three immune supplements? Or, or, or maybe it's just like, oh, you're only taking this, but you're not taking that. That's a great way because my top four supplements, probiotics are right in there. Probably my number one. Okay. And we've got magnesium in my top four as well. And then my other like standard two are probably a multi and an omega, right? Like that's kind of like if I had to build one for everybody, just standard, that's what it would be. So when I open up the conversation of what's in your collection, if I don't see probiotics in there, it kind of helps me leave that conversation in. The other thing is, is if you get into the fun facts, right when I mentioned this, you know, 10 minutes ago, was like, what does probiotic mean? It means for life. When you actually consume that, you're like, wait a minute, my body is made of bacteria. I think about my gut, and I know my immune system is housed there, and I know a lot of my bacteria sit in my gut, but my bacteria is everywhere on my skin, my eyes, my mouth, everywhere. Your body is more bacterial cells than almost anything else. Meaning your body is made of bacteria. So if you want your body to thrive, if you want your body to be healthy, you need to feed it with a good bacteria every single day, especially as bad bacteria, food, stress, pollution, alcohol, whatever it is that we do, gets constantly takes this balance between good and bad out of, right? Out of conjunction here. So you have this dysbiosis between good and bad. And so I'm like, you know, what are we doing on a daily to build the good? It's pretty minimal. Yes, I'm I hope you meditate. And yes, I hope you, you know, drink enough water. But I mean, let's be realistic here. You should need to have lots of kombucha, lots of kimchi, lots of yogurt, lots of good bacteria daily to keep it where it needs to be. So it's for your life, okay? Your body's made out of it more than anything. It's responsible or part of so many things that we do. So, like when you think about um your weight, if you're like, oh, I I struggle with my weight, yeah, okay, you can think about, you know, fat loss supplements or running a couple miles, but hold on a minute. Do you actually think about your gut? Because your gut's vital. That's where a lot of your sugar cravings are coming from. Okay, this is where a lot of weight is dealt with. This is where serotonin is often produced. And we know that one of the other things that really hinders weight is our mood. If we're depressed, if we are stressed, if we are tired, all these things also affect. So we gotta look at our gut and take care of our gut if we want to look at the rest of our body. If you're not taking care taking care of your gut, then honestly, the other things are just like the consider your gut like the roots of the tree, and everything else is like the branch, and you're just trying to band-aid the branch, that root isn't taken care of, it's still gonna create problems. So to me, probiotics are maybe opening it up with the top four, you know, supplements, maybe just asking them just straight up, hey, do you guys do you take a probiotic? It's you know, probably one of my top things. Or if they bring up, I'm struggling with my my weight, I'm struggling with my my mood, I'm struggling with um, you know, uh sugar craving, whatever, whatever, you know, I'm thinking more about um type 2 diabetes kind of conversation, you know, etc. It you can lean it that way and and really think about probiotics because even though they support the immune system and they can help with digestion and things like that, um, it's also the reason that you see a woman's formula, a men's formula, a 50 plus, an active, a postnatal, because there's so many things that these probiotic strains do in our, you know, to support our body, our microbiome ultimately.

Tina Maddock 38:44

Yeah. And you know, you bring up a really good point about asking people like, what's your what's your wellness stack right now? Or however you want to get into that conversation. I go into health food stores and to supplement stores a lot, obviously. It's part of my job. I know you do too. I typically know what I want before I'm walking in there because I've done some research, I'm having an issue, or I'm just getting my normal stuff, right? So I walk in there, I know what I want. So when someone comes up to me and they're like, Are you looking for something specific? Is typically that the question I get asked if I look like I'm not sure where something is. And then I'll say, Yeah, I'm looking for X, Y, or Z. I cannot remember a time when someone said, What all is on your list? Like, what all are you taking? Let's just, or just having some deeper conversation. Usually they're pointing me to the thing I'm looking for and they're moving on to someone else. And I just think there's so much opportunity in having a little bit of conversation about goals, issues, what you're currently taking. And that gives you the opportunity to really help someone get more out of what they're shopping in your store in that day.

Nikita Austen 40:01

And let's also think about it. Why would they come to the store as opposed to shop online? Yeah. They come to the store maybe because they happen to already be there, but they like to talk to somebody. They want to get someone's opinion, they want to look at the options, they want to feel them, touch them, etc. The more we continue to give them the reason to come to the store, the more they're gonna come to the store as well. Yeah. Right. And I've seen that. I've even had that when I worked at Whole Foods where I would have somebody who's like, no, I want to talk to Nikita. And I'm like, oh, and I'm trying to like say, like, I'm helping a customer, could you help, you know, her? And they're like, no, no, I want to talk to Nikita, I want to wait. And to me, there's like no cooler compliment than that, really, in a lot of ways. But the thing is, is that it can also get a little overwhelming when you think of the supplement section because you're like, okay, if you listen to any training, even like if I do a training, at the end I go, Oh, I should, I should be taking that too. It's like my own training. And I'm like, I need that one. Oh, wait, I need that one too. And next thing you know, I have 40 supplements that I actually want to take and I need. That's not realistic. There's a few of those people that take the 10 at once, and that's fine. But listening to what they have, if sometimes simplifying it, like I said, if you're like, why are you taking like two of these ones instead you could be taking like one of these? When they overwhelm themselves too and they don't realize it, it sometimes they just check out. Too much is the problem. I love to simplify it, simplify it, simplify. Yeah, yeah, you want to kind of build the basket and give them a good array of offering, that's fine. But at what point does it like push them away because it becomes too much? So if I ask them and they're like, I'm taking a mag glycinate and I'm taking this probiotic and I'm taking this, that I go, okay, well, when do you take them? They're like, oh, all at once, or I'm like, hmm, here's my suggestion. What if we took this one at night? If you feel like you're taking too many in the morning, and just even that alone makes them kind of feel like, oh, like I can handle this, or I can handle one more, or I understand why I'm taking it. The more you educate them too on like why they're taking it, the more empowered they feel, more and connected and interested they are to the product, and they'll want to come back and talk to you some more. So I know it's hard. I know a lot of stories are like, oh, we're so short-staffed and we're just trying to get everything done. And like, I get that. And I know there's a lot of difficulty there, but if you get the chance to talk, even if it's for five minutes, it can be so impactful.

Tina Maddock 42:18

It's I mean, you can build baskets that way, but you're also building such a big relationship. They're gonna keep coming back again if they feel like you steered them in the right direction. So yeah, yeah.

Nikita Austen 42:31

Think about any any store that you might go to, whether it's your esthetician, you're like, why do I keep going there? Or maybe it's your local health food store, or maybe it's your place that you get your oil change. Is there a reason? Is there a connection? Is there something that you're like, that's why I always like to go there? Because I just like to say hi to those people. I like to, you know, do that. That's the same thing applies here. Let us be the reason that they want to come back to talk to us, you know?

Akkermansia Explained Without Hype

Tina Maddock 42:55

Yeah, okay. I have another question because it's been coming up more and more. And I this is I might be a little bit late on the trend in having this conversation because I think it's been around for a bit and it's gotten more popular. But look, TikTok, um, Instagram, reels, YouTube influencers, for whatever reason, acromancia keeps coming up over and over again. Is that something that you guys talk about?

Nikita Austen 43:21

Yeah, acromancia. It's definitely been coming up and it will continue to come up as well. Acromancia is something that as a company we've been looking at for a couple of years now. And acromancia, you can find it in a probiotic, and you can also find it in a postbiotic. Okay. And because I'm gonna talk about it from a postbiotic sense here for a second, I just want to pause and explain what a postbiotic is for those that are listening. Again, we have pre, we have pro, and we have post as we know it today. While probiotic is really the one that's The live bacteria, right? That's what you kind of have in the center point of this live bacterium. The prebiotic is usually a type of fiber, okay, a prebiotic fiber. And the fiber ultimately feeds the probiotic. So since it's a fiber, it's not refrigerated, it's just like shelf stable, but it's food for the probiotic. And when the probiotic eats the prebiotic and digests it, it creates this sort of third product, this little end metabolite, if you will. And that's called a postbiotic. At this point, this is also not a live bacteria, it's processed through. It's this metabolite, it's this thing that gets produced from the digestion of it. But it's not live, so it can be shelf stable, for example. And even though it's this like dead bacteria in a way, it in itself still has a ton of benefits for the body. Okay. So in order to get a postbiotic, your probiotic needs to consume prebiotics. And in that process, postbiotic is formed. Okay. Now, with acromancia, and the reason why it took us a while to produce it, and the reason it's gained a lot of popularity is there was one other supplier, or not supplier, but um a uh like a supplement brand that was selling, that was selling acromancia and it was quite expensive online. Like we're talking $90 to $100, you know, for this one single strained product. That's really expensive in our industry. And that's very much more a select customer clientele that would buy that. And so as a as a company and a brand, we were like, well, we can't sell a $90, you know, single strain probiotic unless we knew that it did something magical, which we we we're we're getting to that point, but even then that's a bit much. Yeah. So it took us a while to, you know, wait for it to get to a good price point, uh, to be able to, you know, get more research on it and stuff. But where acromancia comes in and where people associate acromancia in simplicity is weight management and weight loss. Okay. I'm not stating here blatantly that taking acromancia is going to make you lose weight. I'm just saying that conversation, internet, TikTok connection, people are associating the term acromancia with weight loss.

Tina Maddock 46:11

Right.

Nikita Austen 46:12

And when you looked at acromancia, again, which is this bacterial bacteria ultimately that's kind of found in the body, when we looked at it in a clinical study sense from healthy population, healthy individuals that are not considered overweight or obese, just you know, general healthy population, there's about 4% of acromancia present in the body. Okay. Okay, great. When we look at people that are considered overweight and or obese, and we look at the percentage of acromancia in the body, it's little to none. So, okay, that's a great scientific theory, right? This is a starting point for us where we go, healthy people have it, um, and those that are considered overweight and obese have none of it almost at all. Is there a correlation there between weight management? Then they start to do kind of more studies where when they look at, you know, in a rat study, which again, we we as a company use human clinical studies in order to make claims, but we will still review like other animal studies as well, even though I'm not a fan of animal studies. Okay, I'm just throwing it out there. But you know, it happens. Okay, we'll get there where that just stops happening. Come on, use the humans, okay? We need money, I'll I'll be a test. Just just do it for me. I'll I'll use the 60 bucks an hour or whatever. So the point is, is when we look at the animal studies too, we've seen it where they can take the microbiome from, let's say, a human that is considered overweight, right? Without the acromansia, put it into a rat that's considered healthy, that microbiome, that bacteria, and then that rat starts to put on weight. So you see these types of studies where not just looking at it, they've pulled microbiome, they've kind of implanted it, or you know, yeah, maybe implanted is the right term here, but in into the animal, into the rat, and you notice that the weight does start to change, in fact, in a negative way when it's not present. So right now we do sell a necromancia, it's considered a postbiotic, it is shelf stable in this case as well. Uh, we don't have any claims on the pack for like weight management or weight loss because, again, there's still more studies to kind of come. But it's very popular in some countries in Europe as well, and they've really got on board with it, and a lot of people want it, and it is still a just a great thing to take. So I would say no harm, no foul in a lot of ways. Um, that's gonna support your microbiome anyway. It's just that that's really where the conversation is growing is the weight management aspect.

Matching Probiotics To Specific Goals

Tina Maddock 48:36

Yeah, and blood glucose control, that kind of thing. Yes, there's a lot of conversation around that. I'm not saying that this has um the efficacy for fighting that or changing anything, but that is the conversation, a lot of studies that are being done right now. Um so but that sort of let's pivot into if when a person comes in and they're specifically asking for a probiotic, um what how do you know which one that they need? Acromancia is on the list of things that you could steer them toward depending on what their goal is or what they're looking for or what problem they're trying to solve. But give me just some ideas. What are some questions that you ask and how do you steer them in the right direction?

Nikita Austen 49:19

Okay, yes. So which one would they need? I mean, so just to give you an example here, uh, because I can speak through my collection in particular. And and my collection will have some similar offerings that other brands would as well. But like in the Solar A microbiome complete, which is the line that I mentioned that I talked at Soho. So it's the pre, the pro, and the postbiotic collection. We have a woman's formula, a men's formula, active, mood, postnatal, 50 plus. What am I forgetting? I'm just gonna look at my image here on the side and make sure I'm like the vaginal one, um vaginal health or something. Uh yes, the vaginal health would be would fall under the woman's formula. Okay, in this case. So yes, that's what it was. So I said so 50 plus, oh, the ultimate, duh, the ultimate potency one. I can talk to you that as well. The women's, the men's, the post, the mood, and the active. Okay. Just to start with, no matter which one you're taking here, again, they're these products kind of have two different blends. There's one that's more of like a standard blend that that that's part of them all, and that's like, you know, your immune system and a lot of other things. And then there's more of the custom individualized blend that's in there as well that is gonna be more directive for the woman's one to help with supporting, you know, the vaginal canal and whether we're looking at it from a yeast perspective or a bacterial perspective or just healthy, you know, hormonal balance. Um, the men's one is gonna focus more on prostate health, more on colon health, as that is a higher concern for men, even cholesterol. Then the postnatal is going to look at breast milk production. It's going to look at mood support, it's gonna look at different things. So the custom blends at that point are going to support the different one. So if you're coming in and you're like, I just need a probiotic, I didn't have anything specific. My doctor told me, you know, take a probiotic, or maybe I told them take a probiotic. Where do I start? Well, if you feel generally speaking, healthy, balanced, and and I'm a woman, yeah, I'll go right for the woman's one. Kind of simple, you know, there's not too much to think about. And on the woman's one, the the three claims that we put on the front of PAC and just success to restate any claim I mention is based on not just clinical support, but minimum two double blind placebo-controlled human clinical studies. Okay. So not animal or anything, just human clinical studies. I have got vaginal health support, supports fat loss, mood and occasional stress support, because I've got strains in there that also support weight management and actually significantly show fat loss. Not just weight management, but fat loss in particular. So, okay, great, that's a great one for me. Now, maybe you're somebody who's like, okay, well, yes, this one does have mood, mood support in it, that's great. But maybe you're someone who struggles a lot more with maybe depression, you know, or anxiety or mood. And it could be situational or it could be kind of chronic, right? Depending on where you're at in your life. And you're like, I need a lot more boost with my mood. Then let's look at the mood formula. So if I look at the mood formula, my claims are cognitive support, mood support, and also occasional stress support. Remember, I still have the base blend. So there's still things in there that are naturally just gonna help my body and immune and and even probably vaginal health in some ways, you know. But you could be a man, a man taking this. It's no harm, no foul. There's no hormones or added ingredients in any of these, with exception of the probiotic strains. So it's okay to be interchangeable. Um, or maybe active formula. So maybe you're either a um, you know, a triathlete or somebody who's very active, or you're somebody who's like, I'm not the triathlete, but I'm the person that needs to focus on my weight. Maybe I need to focus on cardiovascular support, you know. Maybe I have, you know, cardiovascular disease in my family or, you know, cholesterol or heart-related, let's say, issues, um, or in general, I just need support with energy and weight management. The active one could also be really great for you in this case. And then one other example I'll give is if you are either A, taking antibiotics, right? If you're taking antibiotics, I will ask you every single time to take a probiotic.

unknown 53:21

Yeah.

Nikita Austen 53:21

How does that work? Take the antibiotic. Let's say it's eight o'clock in the morning, 8 a.m. Just to give an example. So you take that that antibiotic, it kills off the bad, it kills off the good. Wait two hours, let that process go through. Now we're at 10 a.m. Now let's take the probiotic and replenish our body's microflora. Let's replenish that bacteria because again, the antibiotic did what it needed to. Fine. It killed off the bad, but it also killed off the good. And when we kill off the good, then how does our body and our immune system function for the rest of the day? I don't know if any women on this call have had this happen, but I have had this happen too many times. I've learned the hard way, is taking an antibiotic and then getting a yeast infection every time. Almost like clockwork. Every time. And I'm like, oh my God. So here I am going, okay, we're not doing that again. We're going to take our probiotics at the same time because we are depleting that immune system, which allows other things to grow and become problematic. Now, even if you're not on an antibiotic, maybe you're like first line of defense. I think of that anything from a nurse to a teacher, you know, to a firefighter, that someone that's in a high stressful state, someone who is an airplane, airplane um flight attendant who's around a lot of people a lot of times. I would take the the ultimate one every time then too, you know, or maybe you're a mom with multiple kids that are everyone, you know, one time someone's gonna come home with this sickness and the other one with this one. This is a good one because it, yeah, it really helps your immune system. So it's not just because it's an obiotic, though, that's critical for that point. There are many other reasons why this could be a great one. And maybe you're like, I'm a woman who's also has really, you know, maybe bad depression and I need the mood one, but I also want to lose weight, and I also have five kids. Okay, don't freak out. Uh, you can do a couple things here. You can take one and they'll ideally support you. You can buy if you want to buy two, you when you want to buy two different ones and you just want to take one every other day, or you want to take a couple this weekend and then do like that's fine too, you know, however you want to. There they can be stacked in in some regards, they can be interchanged. I'm not really worried about that there, but just kind of lean towards which one your gut literally your gut instinct goes to first, and then you can change it out at that point.

Tina Maddock 55:37

Yeah, that's great. I think this helps. Um, if if you are a retail owner or operator and you're listening to this, there's this part of this podcast episode that I feel like you can let anyone in your store listen to to help be able to have some of these conversations that are a little bit more, you know, connection for the customer, a little bit more guiding for the customer. How are we helping people really get what they need? I know a lot of times we're talking from a marketing perspective. So we're like, how do we build baskets? How do we do these things? And we're talking about numbers and revenue and everything else. But the only way that works is if people continue to trust you. And the way they build trust is by building connection and for you to steer them to things that they need or a better way of doing what they're already doing or something that gets them to better health, they're gonna keep coming back to you again and again. So even though I do talk about building bigger baskets, because it's mostly because we're talking about there's so many things that people could use that would really make their lives better. And yes, it builds revenue for the company as well. But I feel like building some of the trust, some of the um conversations that we're talking about, having a really building trust with the consumer so that they come back to you again and again. Um, and and I do think you guys are the ones that are the gatekeepers for getting good products to the customers, things that actually work, that do what they say they're gonna do. But yeah, I just I think building that that relationship with that consumer, you guys are the gatekeepers for giving good product to the consumer and things that they need and that will make their lives better. And we know that there are companies out there that are not doing the right thing in the market, and you guys are the ones that can um keep this industry looking like what we all know it is, that most of the people and the actors in this industry are trying to do good things for people.

Enteric Protection And Real Results

Nikita Austen 57:42

And I want to add one thing, go ahead, if that's okay, just to what you're saying. Because I just realized I was like, oh, there was a whole piece I didn't even highlight, and I'll I'll tie it in quickly here. But when we talk about, you know, yes, we can build a basket, but we also want to just even at minimum keep that customer with what they have, right? We want to make sure that it does work for them, and that comes with the quality and that comes with things like that. Going back to the probiotic conversation really quick, because that is such a different category than the rest of the department. And so what I want to add there is like when you're taking a probiotic, the place in the body that you want it to open up, I mentioned is in your intestine, right? Down there below. Now it's not to say that like probiotics don't benefit every part of the body, but when you're taking it specifically like in a capsule format, right? As opposed to like food or or anything else, you want it to get to the intestine and you want it to open up in the intestine. So that's where a lot of the bacteria is and it can kind of cultivate through. Where you don't want it really to break apart is in the stomach, because the stomach has all that stomach acid. And unfortunately, these fragile and cold strains don't typically, most of the time, they don't survive stomach acid. And so the other thing I just wanted to add that's really important when you're buying capsule probiotics, it's something that we do as well for solarate, is we have an enteric protection on them. So we call it the enteric shield, like that's the name that you'll see on the box. But enteric, what that term ultimately represents is that it can uh withstand like stomach acid. It can the capsule can stay strong through stomach acid, bypass it, and actually get in the intestine, right? Okay, and you might see enteric like on fish oils um or like garlic. I mean, fish oils is always like a big one because you know when you take a fish oil and that capsule hits the acid, the oil hits the acid and boom, comes right back up for the rest of the day. It's not the rest of the week, it feels like. So that's why sometimes they enteric protect them because they want to push it past that stomach acid so that doesn't happen. Here with a probiotic, we do enteric protect them. And what that ultimately does is it guarantees it to get past the stomach acid and into the intestine. And when we talk about the product's gotta work for the customer to come back. If you know, I mean, sometimes they don't see it right away. Like some multivitamins people are like, I get energy, and others are like, I don't know, I just hope it works. Okay, great. And then there's other things that like probiotics and maybe even digestive enzymes and other categories where they can sometimes feel an immediate effect from it or they do get instant results. If someone's gonna spend 30, 40, 50 plus dollars for a probiotic, which these refrigerated ones cost, I want to make sure that they're actually getting that in into their intestine. And so that enteric protection is telling you, hey, we're guaranteeing it to get past timic acid and open up where you want it to get, which is in the intestine. That's another part of like not just the quality in the ingredient in the capsule, but now the type of capsule, knowing how it breaks apart, when it breaks apart, is the second part of assuring that the product gets to where it needs to go in order for the customer to feel it, in order for the customer to come back. You know, so that's just another piece that I was just like, oh, I really want to tie that in because that's a part of making sure the product works for them to have good results to want to continue it.

Tina Maddock 1:01:04

Yeah, and you kind of touch on something that I think is important, anyway, is setting some expectations around whether or not the product's working. Um, I there are some products that man, you can feel that immediately. Even with probiotics, sometimes it takes a minute for your body to start using that the way that it's meant to use it. And so just setting some expectations around come back and talk to me 30, 60, and 90 days later, being that connection for someone to be able to give you feedback, like this is working, this is not working, what should I be doing now? That's also just another point where you're building that relationship to you're their person, you're their store, and they're gonna keep coming back to you.

Nikita Austen 1:01:51

Yeah. I mean, especially when people struggle with like regularity. They're like, I can't go often, and that could be for many reasons. It could be medications they're taking, it could be food, stress. That's another one that there's a lot of bacterial strains, especially like in the colon formulas, that really help kind of push and move things through. They could get an immediate or very, very soon after result from a taking it, you know. So, yeah, so that's another point of come back, tell me how it worked. If it doesn't, let's adjust. I got you. We can we can work with it.

How Retailers Can Get Support

Tina Maddock 1:02:21

Especially when they're spending you're talking you're right, you're talking about someone spending $30, $40, $50 on a product. Please be a point of connection for them to give you feedback. Yeah, it's a lot of money to ask for people to spend. All right, this has been great. Let's say I and I this is hard to imagine that there would be a health store out there who doesn't already know who you are or doesn't carry at least one of your products in them. But let's just say that they're ready now after this conversation that we've had to pull you in and put you on the shelves. What do they do?

Nikita Austen 1:02:56

Yes. Okay, so let's say you don't have our products. Or maybe you have a few of them, but maybe you don't, you know, have buy buy them direct. There's a few little things that sometimes I think ended up in a catalog somewhere. Um, you can always go on our website. So Better Being Co. Better Being Company. And on there, if you scroll down, we do have an application that you can fill out. But I'm also going to throw out one other just little quicker maybe connection. I'm going to give you my one of my work emails that's usually for my education. And if you are like, I went through the website and I can't figure that out, email this email. It's retailer, just like it sounds, retailer trainings within us. Retailertrainings at betterbeing.com. If you send us an email there, we're more than happy. I can direct you to the right person and get you more of an immediate connection there. Otherwise, like I said, you can go through the website and there's an application you can fill out. But if not, when in doubt, I I got you. So go ahead and and you can email that way, and I'll certainly support that and get you, you know, um the right person to talk to.

Tina Maddock 1:04:04

Well, and also just retailer trainings. Everyone would love more and more training. And this is a way to get connected to the right people to help you get that for nutraceutical products or CRA or something.

Nikita Austen 1:04:15

So if you are listening people and you do buy any of these products here, as you can see, um, then you can absolutely email retailertrainings at betterbean.com. If you have some questions from us, we are more than happy to answer that for you. Otherwise, you can also go through your rep and set up education. We've been looking at that all year. Like we do consumer lectures. I do tons of consumer lectures or speeches or podcasts or radio shows or whatever it may be, we are there to support it in any way.

Tina Maddock 1:04:46

That's wonderful. And I do know having events like consumer education, absolutely great for building trust and building community and also building your sales. So appreciate so much that you decided to come on today. I know you thought we weren't gonna have that much to talk about and look at us now.

Nikita Austen 1:05:06

I well, I we could keep going per usual, right? So here we are, an hour, an hour later, I think. So yeah, absolutely.

Tina Maddock 1:05:14

Well, I appreciate it so much for you being here and everyone that's listening today. So glad that you decided to spend a little time with us today. Hope you got everything that you wanted out of this episode, and we will be back. See you soon. Thank you so much for joining us for the latest episode of the Natural Products Marketer podcast, where we're here to help you grow your business so you can serve more people and change more lives. If you have any questions that have come up during this episode or others, or there's just a retail challenge that you're facing today, I would love for you to reach out to us at info at naturalproductsmarketer.com. We're here to answer questions. But most of all, if you have a question, then another retailer probably also has that question, so we can bring extra experts onto the podcast to give you the information that you really need. And if you liked what you heard, give us a thumbs up or give us a review on uh YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening today. All right. It was great to see you.