Former beauty titlist is now direct selling queen

MANILA, Philippines - “You have to believe in what you are selling.” This is the mantra practiced all these years by former beauty queen Aurora Claudia “Duday” Gaston who now heads the Philippine branch of Usana, one of the world’s leading multi-level marketing companies.

“It takes a lot of pains and patience to be in the business of direct selling so you have to love your work and believe in the product that you are selling to make it work,” Gaston said.

Gaston never knew she would love this business until she joined Avon Philippines as an image model and eventually as a management trainee.

“After I graduated, I won Ms. Philippines. After that, Avon hired me as a model. At that time, I was looking for a permanent career, I used to be just modeling. I had offers to be a model, an actress. But it’s not my cup of tea. I like the limelight but I don’t like the lifestyle. Then Avon offered me a job as a management trainee. There, I enjoyed being with a company of people aged 43 to 73. It’s nice because you learn a lot from them, from their wisdom but they derived their energy from me being young at that time. Now that I am 17 years in direct selling, it’s different, I am the one who’s 52 and my distributors are 22s and 32s. So I get the energy from them and they get the wisdom from me which is a nice combination,” narrated Gaston.

From then on, Gaston got to know what she actually wanted. Aside from Avon Philippines, Gaston has held sales and management positions with well-known companies such as Triumph International Philippines and Sara Lee Direct Selling.

Gaston, who holds a degree in Marketing Management from De La Salle University Manila, also worked as head of Triumph Direct Philippines for two years. 

She also gained her direct selling marketing and sales expertise from Sara Lee Direct Selling  for 14 years. She started as marketing director in 1992 and eventually became the sales and branch operations director in 1997.

In late 2008, Gaston was recruited by Usana Health Services Inc.

“The company is owned by a scientist, and not a businessman, who genuinely loves his sales force. The company is very considerate when it comes to distributors and associates. It genuinely cares for its employees. The company has been awarded the Best Place to Work in the US for four consecutive years,” said Gaston, who regularly attends Usana international conferences held every year.

Imbibing Usana’s culture, Gaston said they are making sure that the welfare of its over 30 employees in the country are also protected.

“We owe a lot of our success here from our dedicated employees so we see to it that we extend the same care and love being provided by our mother company,” she said.

Under Gaston’s stewardship, the local branch became the fastest growing operations of Usana globally, with more than 180,000 direct selling agents and about 30,000 active distributors.

With revenues of P2 billion last year, Gaston said they expect their revenues growing to P2.2 billion this year.

She said they are targeting to sustain an annual revenue growth of 10 percent and triple the company’s earnings in the next five years.

“I see a great potential of continuous growth for Usana. I don’t see any reason why not, especially now that it’s getting  to be more popular. The product connotes high quality, good potency health products,” she said. “We ship and sell sealed products to guarantee that all Usana products are of good quality.”

Gaston anchored her optimism of higher sales in the medium-term to the over-whelming response of Filipino consumers on Usana’s scientifically-based nutritional and personal-care products.

She said they would be launching new product lines in the near future which are expected to further boost the company’s revenues.

While she sees sustained growth for Usana, Gaston also acknowledged the presence of some challenges such as frequent queries on Usana being a multi-level marketing firm often mistaken for pyramiding; and the misconception that Usana’s products are expensive.

“We are a 20-year old company from the States. We are a publicly-listed firm at the New York Stock Exchange. We have an open exchange policy. All of these would get rid of fears and doubts about Usana,” she said.

“Should a sales associate or distributor decide not to pursue selling Usana products, they  have the right to return or exchange the products. We have a money back guarantee scheme.”

“Our products are not expensive. We just sell it by bottle so people think it is expensive. Imagine the savings you will make if you will prevent sickness by taking these health supplements,” she added.

Founded in 1992, Usana Health Sciences, is a nutritional company that manufactures high-quality supplements and personal care, energy and weight-management products in its FDA-registered facility in Salt Lake City. 

Usana’s products, used by more than 600 professional athletes, are developed by the company’s award-winning team of scientists.

In 2011, Usana Health Sciences recorded a net sales of approximately $582 million. Aside from the Philippines, it operates in 17 other markets: Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Caribbean, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Mexico, Malaysia, Thailand, France, Belgium, and the US.