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Sustainable Essential OIls Standards

Selling the Wellness Benefits of Natural Essences

10/31/2022

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essential oils
By Terry Johnson, President of the SEOS Committee and Director World Heritage Program
On one hand, natural essences, including natural perfumes and natural essential oils, have had positive effects on human health for thousands of years. Additionally, there have been hundreds of scientific studies confirming and reconfirming the many benefits from natural essences for a significant number of human wellness issues.
On the other hand, for decades synthetic perfumes have prompted serious concerns among many health professionals.
​

There are now “perfume-free zones” throughout the US and Canada where perfumes are prohibited in almost every doctor’s office, dentist’s office, business office, school, and hospital due to the widespread recognition that synthetic perfumes have contributed to a significant number of allergic reactions among the population.
Yet despite these facts, synthetic perfumes have maintained a 99% market share of the perfume business for years. 
One reason for this disparity may be that many in Natural Perfumery and Aromatherapy haven’t yet picked up on the fact that health and wellness are high priorities affecting consumer purchasing decisions. We simply cannot  be shy about engaging consumers and their communities about these wonderful natural perfumes and oils that are so important to their health!

Here are some tips to successfully sell the wellness benefits of natural essences: 

   1. Target sales to consumers who can purchase more
One important Sales Principle: “Not all customers are equal. Some are more equal than others.” This Principle refers to the fact that you can spend about the same amount of effort selling to a customer who can only purchase $100 in a year than one who can purchase $1,000 per year! This means identifying and targeting those consumers in your market community that have annual household incomes of $100,000 and up. These high-value consumers also have the advantage of being least affected by current economic conditions.

   2. Become a wellness expert in your community
Natural Essences are an important part of the wellness industry, and because of this it is vital to first educate yourself properly by constantly learning from instructors with expertise, such as those found in the Teacher’s Academy. This education will give you the confidence to engage your community, seek out interviews in local news , conduct workshops, and find other methods to get your message out.

   3. Protect your customers and yourself
The essences we sell are valuable but can be misused, making it necessary to teach customers safety and proper usage of natural essences at the points-of-consumption. Your website should also include statements on safety and legal disclaimers. Liability insurance is also a must.
​
Emphasizing wellness benefits give everyone in natural essences a great opportunity to sell their strengths and differentiate themselves from synthetic competition.

Terry Johnson is also teaching Business and Marketing at Natural Perfumery Teacher's Academy
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The Paradigm Shift in Natural Essences

4/27/2022

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The Paradigm Shift in Natural Essences
By Terry Johnson, Chairman Essential Oil Standards International Committee (SEOS)
"In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.”  Eric Hoffer
It was Thomas Kuhn who first defined the term “paradigm shift” as the phenomenon where one conceptual world view is replaced by another.
In other words, it describes a major shift from one way of thinking to another– a transformation that doesn’t “just happen” but is driven by Agents of Change.
Anyone carefully examining the significance of our current market dynamics should reasonably conclude that the market for Natural Essences is certainly in the midst of a transformation, suggesting a paradigm shift could indeed be well underway.
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And what are the Agents of Change for Natural Essences?
The first Agent of Change involves retailers and consumers increasingly looking for assurances regarding environmental sustainability and social responsibility in the practices employed in the production and handling of Natural Essences. As with many other products, retailers and consumers want to purchase Natural Essences they can trust and have confidence in.
The second Agent of Change is the fact that the pandemic has focused consumers on their health and well-being at transformational levels, noticeably affecting consumer purchasing behaviors. This shift has created unprecedented potential opportunities for the Natural Essence Community to attract millions of new consumers who are becoming more aware of and very receptive to the many benefits for their well-being from sustainable, High-Value Natural Essences.
Opportunities, however, do not happen automatically, and three factors must be considered before the Natural Essence Community can benefit from these profound changes:

Highest Standards                                                                      
To gain and keep consumer trust and confidence, the Natural Essence Community must commit to having the highest standards possible. Adopting Sustainable Essential Oil Standards (SEOS) can be one of the key catalysts propelling us forward towards this paradigm shift.

Highest Quality                                                                                   
No consumer should expect superior performance from Natural Essences that are not superior products to begin with. Sourcing and purchasing of High-Value raw materials and sustainable packaging, therefore, is vital in achieving future market successes.

Highest Understanding                                                                                
The quote by Eric Hoffer above highlights the importance of developing superior knowledge and understanding of post-pandemic markets, rather than depending on pre-pandemic retail strategies and previous consumer purchasing behaviors that no longer exist. This need for the highest levels of understanding should encourage everyone in the Natural Essence Community to develop market- effective expertise by continually educating themselves and others within the Community utilizing up-to-date information available through courses offered by the Teacher’s Academy.
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ENGAGE WITH YOUR COMMUNITIES

1/30/2022

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By Terry Johnson, SEOS Committee Chair and Business and Marketing Teacher
for IPF Teacher's Academy 
In 30+ years of supply chain marketing I have never seen greater opportunities ahead for those who are Natural Perfumers, Natural Aromatherapists, Herbalists, Natural Candle Makers, Natural Skin Care Artisans, or those who want to be. 
Every community in the world benefits from products made from sustainable and natural sources, yet consumers within these communities currently have substantial market loyalty to giant perfume brands and billion-dollar essential oil retailers, leaving the Natural Essence Community with less than 5% market share.
Changing the trajectory of current market dynamics and re-capturing market shares for High-Value Natural Essences necessitates Natural Artisan Retailers to improve market strategies to reflect current business, social, and economic realities, and then engage with the communities they operate within.

Engaging local communities and households within those communities is not just a good idea; it is a requirement in a post-pandemic market.
For Natural Essences Retailers, the best way to engage a community is by becoming an Expert in and a Teacher of the many benefits of Natural Essences to consumers, their families and even their pets.
Of course, the knowledge of what Value Elements you can successfully teach is up to you and what your Value Proposition contains.

Here are a few suggestions to help you add the value you need to properly teach and engage your community:
  1. High-Value Components. Make sure that your completed products are a result of High-Value-related components.
  2. Natural. Work to ensure that your sources of raw materials are verifiably natural or organic.
  3. Sustainable. It just isn’t enough to sell High-Value products that aren’t produced sustainably.
  4. High Quality/High Performance. Consumers will not have superior results from products that aren’t superior to begin with.
  5. Add Value through Education. Learning up-to-date information from Natural Essences Experts such as the Teacher’s Academy is an excellent pathway to community expertise.
  6. Differentiate Your Products at Two Critical Points. Natural Essence Retailers need to teach consumers how to identify the greater value of Natural Essences (and products made from them) at critical points: Points-of-Purchase and Points of Consumption. Improvements at Points-of-Purchase gets them to buy. Improvements at Points-of-Consumption brings them back for more.

Good selling!

Do you want to know more, enrol for a 8 week Business and Marketing online course with Terry Johnson
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SUSTAINABLE ESSENTIAL OILS STANDARDS (SEOS)

4/10/2021

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Essential Oils Sustainable Standards

 by
​TERRY JOHNSON 

During these very difficult times, knowing where to obtain sustainable sources of essential oils is vital in gaining and keeping consumers’ trust in the wonderful products we market. Yet, what do we really know about which growers or processors are actually providing us with products that don’t contain Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) or synthetic pesticides?

Here is what consumers continually ask for from many of the products they currently purchase:
  • Authenticity—Consumers want their essential oils to really be natural, without synthetics or Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) in seeds or cuttings.
  • Integrity—Consumers want to know their essential oils are grown and processed sustainably, just like many of the other products they purchase and pay more for.
  • Transparency—Consumers want to know more about who grew and processed their essential oils and if they are doing business sustainably.

Two years ago, an independent international Committee of several essential oil experts was formed to strengthen the essential oil distribution chain. After more than one year of effort, the Committee developed Sustainable Essential Oil Standards (SEOS) for Growers and Processors of essential oil.     

SEOS is the most comprehensive sustainable standard in essential oil or, for that matter, any other related industry.
These standards are specifically for essential oils, rather than a general standard that is broadly applied to many industries.
For instance, growing organically is highly commendable, but unfortunately, USDA Organic Certification (which is also being used to certify organic within the European Union) allows the usage of synthetic pesticides, which retailers and consumers of essential oils and the products made from essential oils simply cannot accept. This is why SEOS Standards prohibit any usage of synthetics.
Sustainable Essential Oil Standards (SEOS), along with high value products and the Committee’s supply chain education programs, will lead to many profitable opportunities for all of the Value-Added Essential Oil Distribution Chain Community.
​
Look for the SEOS logo on high-value essential oils in the near future!
SEOS label
To learn more about SEOS, join me to a Round Table on June 1st 2021 

Sustainable Essential Oil Standards (SEOS)
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    Author

    Terry Johnson
    ​Committee Chairman

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