natura was founded in NUMBER_TOKEN by antonio luis siabra as a door-to-door business at that time antonio had been working as an economist at the brazil office of the remington electric shavers division of sperry ran corporation when he founded natura and he had nine thousand dollars in cash and a handful of cosmetic foundations by jean-pierre bergeau not much is said about jean-pierre and his formulas and my sources but we do know that he opened a small shop in sao paulo that was meant to be a luxury boutique with a staff of four promoting the natural creams and lotions according to my sources he gave consultations there coaching clients on how to use the products correctly and promising therapeutic benefits they were difficult years he recalled speaking in NUMBER_TOKEN with nelson belcher of brazilian business magazine exame sometimes there wasn't even money to pay the light bill this changed in NUMBER_TOKEN when natura abandoned retailing in favor of direct sales by door-to-door sales people working on commission during this period the company developed a network of NUMBER_TOKEN NUMBER_TOKEN sales people and raised its annual sales to NUMBER_TOKEN million dollars among the benefits of direct sales according to one of ciabro's partners was that it enabled natura to anticipate consumer trends in its fickle field before retailers could do so in addition this marketing method was said to make it easier for the company to promote and sell all of its products whereas retailers tended to concentrate their efforts on only a few hot selling items and that's pretty much the moment they became an mlm and i have no problem with actual sales people i've even been one myself i used to work in the auto industry but the massive difference between mlm distributors and sales people is that with mlms you need to recruit others to even have a hope of making money when i was in car sales i didn't get extra money if someone i knew came in and got a job also selling cars like that just didn't happen it's either you sell cars or you don't the point is though the NUMBER_TOKENs were rife with mlms but especially in the cosmetics market and the new york times reported that mlms were number one cause of fraud plaguing consumers at that time according to their NUMBER_TOKEN article this pyramiding type of sales organization plan which has been compared to the illegal chain letter scheme is under attack in many state jurisdictions and is also being investigated by the federal trade commission given that large well-known sources were speaking out against this business model at the time i don't really know why he thought this would be a good idea maybe he figured he would be at the top and didn't want to struggle to pay the light bill anymore who knows whatever the case may be zebra and jean-pierre finance their expansion by founding related companies with outside entrepreneurs by NUMBER_TOKEN natara was fielding NUMBER_TOKEN NUMBER_TOKEN consultants averaging growth of NUMBER_TOKEN per year and dominating high-end door-to-door sales of cosmetics in brazil that year the company introduced kronos a facial skin care treatment for fine lines and wrinkles that was the first in brazil to promote cell renewal this line exceeded the company's own expectations by accounting for sales of NUMBER_TOKEN NUMBER_TOKEN units scarcely in its first month and a half kronos remained a
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