Investing in USANA's Future

A key to increased growth and expansion within a company is making the right moves to stay ahead of the curve and making adjustments and investments in your business to remain an industry leader. I just got a glimpse at some of the photos from our new location in Korea and they reflect our investment in this country and the hard work of our Associates to spread the word about USANA.

Our company continues to grow and expand worldwide and a part of that expansion is making sure that we have the facilities necessary to support our Associates and customers. It's a necessary step to maintain a quality image in a very competitive marketplace and differentiate yourself from others in the same area of focus.

This new facility was just completed and is getting great reviews from the local media in Korea as well as our Associates and customers as they experience the new look of the offices. 너무 좋아요! We would like to thank all of our Korean office staff, our Associates, and our customers for your continued support and sharing the vision of USANA and our world class products!

We know this office will see a lot of new faces in the coming years and will reflect the pride all of us have in our Korean USANA family members. From all of us here in the US, 축하드립니다!

That's congratulations for those of us unable to read Korean!

Don't Forget About The People of Haiti

Donate to CHF

If you recall back to September 11, I did a blog post touching briefly on the sad fact that the world we live in thrives on always wondering and waiting for "what's next?"

What will be the next big news story? What catastrophic event will capture our thoughts? Or what will a celebrity or athlete do next to get into the public eye? That's what sells newspapers, magazines, draws people to television, etc. It's something we all saw as the attacks of September 11 capture our hearts and minds and we dealt with one of the worst terror attacks on US soil ever in our history.

It also gave us a phrase that has lasted and sums up what we all need to do, and that is "Never Forget." We struggle to keep major events in mind as life takes us on to the next big thing. Well, here we are again, faced with a time in history that we should never forget.

An Unforgettable Event
The people of Haiti experienced a catastrophic earthquake and continue to try to move from response to recovery. For days the world was glued to the Internet, television, newspapers, and magazines to see what had happened and try to assess the situation and help out where we could. It started out as shock and moved to swift response as the US military jumped into action. And very closely behind, the people of our great country rallied in support by sending over food, medical supplies, water, blankets, and money.

To see the numbers in dollar figures of support has been staggering and should make us all feel good that as a country we can rally behind a cause and do something like this so quickly.

But the sad fact is, it's far from over! Already the news has shifted on to other world and local events, and every once in a while you hear a blurb about Haiti and get a reminder that their recovery is far from over.

At USANA, we are very fortunate to be partnered with The Children's Hunger Fund, or CHF, and their work continues on a daily basis. We work together with our Associates to send nutritional supplements and money to CHF to assist in the recovery of the Haitian people and those less fortunate around the world. They work tirelessly to help those in need, but they are quickly getting overwhelmed.

Please Continue the Effort
Our first response is to send over health items, supplements, blankets, food, etc. and that has helped a great deal, but CHF finds itself in a very difficult position. Getting items into the country and to the right people, especially in Haiti, has become increasingly more difficult. Haiti is a small country with completely crippled infrastructure. There are people on the ground in the country, but they are begging for our help in terms of money donations.

Money allows them to make decisions and moves on the ground in Haiti, ensuring that the road to recovery continues and at a faster pace. Please take the time to watch the video below. It is a personal message from Dave Phillips, the founder and president of CHF updating people on the progress that they are making in Haiti.


Helping With Monetary Donations
So how can you help? It's very simple: Don't focus on purchasing vitamins to send to CHF or working on gathering items to send to the needy people, just reach as deep as you can and make a monetary donation to CHF!

They need our help and as a USANA family I know we can make a difference. We are working on putting a new item in our Specials box in the USANA shopping cart to make it easier for you to donate and it should be up early next week. Until then, you can go to CHFus.org and make a donation on your own.

Think about it, for the cost of two custom coffees at your local coffee shop, you can impact the lives of several people in a devastated country.

So please join us and see what you can do to help the lives of those that are living with little hope of what will be in the coming days. We can't forget about the Haitian people and wait for the next big event to happen. They need our help now.

Here's a link to CHF to donate. Thank you for joining us in our efforts.

Customer Service is Key to Customer Loyalty

Well, many of you follow us on Twitter and Facebook and probably know the customer service issue I'm having with my snowblower. I know this probably seems like a crazy blog post topic, but it made me focus on something that I wanted to share.

I bought a Troy-Bilt snowblower two seasons ago after doing some research and looking for what I thought was one of the top rated snowblowers around. Why all of the research? Well we live in Park City, Utah, where the annual snowfall is around 355 inches a year and buying a snowblower is a rather significant investment.

I bought my Storm 1130 and it worked absolutely fantastic once I got it fired up. In fact, I was having a great time. There's something about a power tool that picks up snow and throws it ten feet into the yard. The kids loved watching the snow go flying and I loved not having to shovel the driveway! I take very good care of my tools in my garage and this one was no different. Changed the oil regularly, cleaned it at the end of the season, replaced worn parts that dragged on the ground as it worked, basically trying to keep it as close to new as I could.

Then, at the beginning of this winter season, all of a sudden the wheels stopped moving. No big deal, these things happen. I loaded it up into the car and took it into an authorized shop here in Utah and they looked at it and said it was just a worn drive belt. They ordered the part on December 17th and that's where the story gets good. It's only a $20.00 part, but it is crucial since it makes the machine move. You would think someone in their purchasing department or warehouse staff would monitor crucial parts like this and would have them readily available, right? Not the case. I was told that the part would be available next week and I waited, then I got a call, another week, and another, and another.

Finally, I called their customer service department and I was told that there weren't any in their warehouse or with any of their distributors and that they were ordering them to be made (yes, actually manufactured) and would be in around January 15th. Guess what, that date came and went and they still don't have them. I was told by their customer service department that there was nothing they could do. In fact, one of them told me that they "couldn't magically make one appear." Nice sarcastic comment to one of their customers, isn't it? I felt like they didn't even care.

I'm still waiting for the part and have been told maybe February 6th. I'm not holding my breath, there's no chance of it coming in and I would venture to guess that I won't see it until the spring or summer! So what went through my mind with this whole story? The solid truth that the people who answer the phones or respond to emails in customer service are the true reflection of the company that they work for. They are the primary point of contact and help keep or kill a relationship with their customers.

At USANA, our customer service reps are amazing people! I know because I send calls and emails I receive to them and they get them handled almost instantly. In fact, this amazing group of people are the ones people want to see the most when they tour our facility. They are so helpful that people want to put a face with the name and just say thank you. I can honestly say that I have had calls from our customer service team asking for help with an issue that is unique or a challenge and I am glad to help out. They are taking care of our customers and Associates who are the most integral piece to our business.

If our customers went through the experience that I am still in the middle of, I can only imagine what people would think of our company. I am proud to say that I work at USANA and that we have world class customer service representatives that truly represent what our company is all about. We take care of our customers and Associates because without them, our business would not exist. My thanks to all of our team here at our home office and our group at our Tooele location! I appreciate all that you do for us!

Any chance someone upstairs can get me a belt for my snowblower:) That would be magic, wouldn't it!