{Direct Selling News} pawTree’s Roger
Morgan Talks Dog and Cat
Check out pawTree in the Direct Selling
News this month! To read the full article on DSN’s website, click HERE.
pawTree’s
Roger Morgan Talks Dog and Cat
Roger Morgan founded Southlake, Texas-based pawTree in 2014,
armed with the knowledge gained as a CEO of a multinational pet products
company and service as a chairman of the American Pet Products Association.
He became a student of the direct selling
channel and has since expanded the company into all 50 U.S. states. Over the
past year or so, the company has begun to hit its stride thanks in part to the
introduction of a food seasoning product that allows people to add variety, and
boost nutrition, to their pets’ meals. Direct Selling News had an opportunity
to speak with Roger Morgan about his company’s progress. Below is a portion of
that conversation.
DSN: Let’s start by talking about one
of the most unique offerings in pawTree’s catalogue, pawPairings. How did the
product come to be?
RM: It’s an important part of our
growth and our story. The phrase we use that really seems to resonate with
people is, “You don’t like to eat the same thing every day and neither do your
pets.”
For people who have pets, we almost all
feed them the same thing every single day. There are reasons for that: Pets get
digestive upset very easily, and when you start mixing things up, their
stomachs react poorly and we end up with messes on our hands. People learn
quickly and they stop changing the food.
Talking about pawPairings is usually the
first conversation we have with people. Once they try that product, it’s an
entry to many other products and solutions that we have to offer. We think of
it as the tip of the spear.
DSN: It’s a product that might need a
little bit more explanation than some of the other things in your product line.
How does the direct selling model help in terms of introducing it to customers?
RM: It does resonate when people hear
the story, and most people would never consider it if they just saw a bottle of
something on the shelf at a retail store. The product is also very
demonstrable. Our petPros are having a lot of success showing a video on their
Instagram or Facebook pages. They’ll show a video of them putting the
seasonings on the pet food and watching how excited the pets get to have
variety in their meal plan, because it just gets so boring eating the same
thing literally every day.
This product story has a one-two punch. The
one is all about variety and giving pets some excitement at meal time. The two
is that all of our pawPairings include eight super foods and a vitamin and
mineral pack that goes into every one, and so it’s also very nutritious.
DSN: In addition to the use of video,
your petPros also have had success with a sampling program. Tell us a little
more about how that program works.
RM: We call our sales approach TSA,
for “talk, share, ask.”
First, we talk dog and cat. People who have
pets will totally resonate with that concept. When you find somebody who has a
pet, you just immediately go to that level, “Oh, let me see a photo of your
pet,” or “Let me tell you this story about mine,” or “look at this cute video.”
You talk dog and cat.
As part of the “talking dog and cat,” you
make the lead-in comment, which is, “You don’t like to eat the same thing every
day and neither do your pets. Here are some seasonings you can put on your pet
food, would you like to try this? And I’d love to call you tomorrow or the next
day and see what Fluffy thought about it.” So that’s the share.
And then the ask is just a follow-up, one
to two days later, with the question, “How did Fluffy like it?” And, of course,
we always get a resounding, “Wow, Fluffy loved it. That was amazing.” Then the
follow-up to that is, “Well, great, would you like to buy some for Fluffy?”
That’s how our sampling program has worked.
Also, it’s a smaller product and pretty easy to mail, so you can have a
Facebook conversation or a text conversation or a phone call with somebody who
is in a different geography and easily follow this same process.
Some of our products are appropriate for
certain pets in certain circumstances, but not all pets in all circumstances.
An example might be our Joint Support Plus. That’s a really good product for
obviously any pet that has joint issues. It can even be used proactively for
those pets that don’t right now have joint issues. But not everybody finds a
need or sees an immediate benefit.
With pawPairings, every dog and cat can
benefit from that product. It doesn’t matter what food you’ve chosen, you can
sprinkle this product on top of it. It really opens the conversation to anybody
with a pet. And when a pet parent sees how much their fur baby enjoys it, and
they know it’s healthy for their pet, they have an interest in buying.
DSN: Now that you have such a
replicable process in place, what are some of the things that you’re focused on
in terms of the business strategy as you head deeper into 2018 to continue to grow
and expand pawTree’s reach?
RM: It’s one of the things I’m most
excited about because, as you said, we’ve really narrowed down and simplified
and focused on what we call “The One Thing.” Our “One Thing” is pawPairings.
So, in 2018 our customer incentive campaigns are all around pawPairings. Our
petPro incentive campaigns are all around pawPairings. Our product trainings
are all around pawPairings. Our initial conversations that petPros have with
customers are all about pawPairings. We’ve really focused our messaging, our
training, our strategy, our incentives, our conversations, all around The One
Thing.
DSN: When you founded pawTree, you did
not come from a traditional direct selling background. You came out of more of
the traditional bigger-box pet retail environment. What are some of the things
that you’ve learned along the way?
RM: Direct selling is so much fun and
so rewarding. I’ve learned this is a people business and I absolutely love
these people. One of the things I’ve experienced is the incredible passion that
exists in this space. It’s a really exciting convergence of two industries
because the pet industry is also really passionate. People who have pets love
their pets. They get so excited about their pets. People who are in direct
selling, they love their companies and the products they represent. So you
combine two very passionate categories into one and you get these fireworks
that go off.
Another thing that I’ve learned is what a
powerful sales channel direct selling is for sharing stories. pawTree is a
story of unconditional love, and our story is being shared over and over in an
incredibly powerful way that could never happen through traditional retail
stores. My vision for what we’re building at pawTree and what motivates me as a
person at this stage of my career is helping to create more happiness in the
world. I believe that love is the key to happiness. Our vision statement is to
create a world filled with unconditional love where pets and their people
thrive. It is really, really exciting to watch that happen.
To
read the article on DSN’s website, click HERE.
Tags : CAT, CEO, DIGESTIVE UPSET, DIRECT SELLING, DOG, DSN, FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, MINERALS, MLM, MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING, NUTRITION, NUTRITIOUS, PAWPAIRINGS, PET FOOD, PETPROS, PETS, ROGER MORGAN, SAMPLING PROGRAM, SEASONINGS, SHARE, SOUTHLAKE, SUPER FOODS, TEXAS, TSA