January 8, 2025 • 33 mins
Ever wondered how intuition can play a role in product selection for health stores? Join us in an enlightening discussion with Ed Jones from Nutrition World in Chattanooga, as he unravels his meticulous approach to curating high-quality products on his shelves. Discover the unique blend of intuition, social media insights, and rigorous certificates of analysis that Ed employs to ensure only the best make it to his customers. He reveals the importance of transparency, understanding a brand’s ethics, and the critical role of customer feedback in maintaining trust and integrity in the natural products industry.
Shifting gears to holistic healthcare integration, we explore the transformative benefits of a higher protein diet, focusing on responsibly sourced animal-based products. Learn how to navigate the transition from seed oils to healthier natural fats like tallow and olive oil. Ed shares valuable insights on bridging natural products with conventional medicine, highlighting the necessity of a collaborative team approach in healthcare. With challenges like finding practitioners who embrace this model, Ed emphasizes the need for continuous learning and adaptation to deliver the best care possible.
Imagine a wellness center where various health practitioners unite under one roof, offering a comprehensive health approach. Ed guides us through the vision of building such a community, addressing the challenges and rewards of collaboration with independent practitioners. Gain strategies for developing referral relationships and building credibility and trust within the healthcare sector. With Ed’s expertise, discover the untapped potential of reaching new clients who may be unaware of the services provided by nutrition stores, opening up opportunities for growth and outreach.
Connect with us:
Email: info@naturalproductsmarketer.com
About Amanda Ballard
Amanda has worked in natural products marketing in the retail setting since 2016 and has a great understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities that retailers in this industry face. More than anything, she wants this industry to continue to boom and believes much of that success hinges on the ability of retailers to do well in their businesses and market their products effectively.
About Tina Smith
Since 2014, Tina has worked with multiple natural products businesses, discovering how to market their CBD products online, without having their payment processor shut them down, to letting customers talk about their health issues those products have helped them solve. She knows first hand how experts like you offer the best products and a superior customer experience, that is why she is committed to helping you find an easy way to grow your natural product business.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ed Jones (00:00):
But we have to have a team where we learn, because we,
if we don't learn every day,we're going backwards, we just
are, or we get frozen, and beingfrozen is a recipe for disaster
in life and from, I think, inmany, many levels, and so I want
to embrace more and more andmore, as long as I can.
Tina Smith (00:22):
Welcome to the Natural Products Marketer
podcast.
Amanda Ballard (00:24):
Welcome to the Natural Products Marketer
Podcast.
I'm Tina and I'm Amanda andwe're here to make marketing
easier for natural productsbusinesses so you can reach more
people and change more lives.
Ed Jones, thanks for joining us.
So for those that don't know Ed, I've known Ed for a long time,
dear friend, great boss that Ihad for many, many years.
(00:48):
So Ed is with Nutrition Worldin Chattanooga, industry legend.
So really, really happy to bewith you today, ed Thanks for
joining us.
Ed Jones (00:57):
Thank you, amanda, so much and love you too and your
family, and it's all justwonderful how things worked out
and you're back kind of workingwith us again.
Yeah, yeah, it's all justwonderful how things worked out
and you're back kind of workingwith us again.
Amanda Ballard (01:05):
Yeah, yeah, it's great.
So we wanted to just pick yourbrain on how you're successful.
I mean, you've been sosuccessful over the years and I
think so much of that has beenyour dedication to quality
products and how particular youare with vetting all of the
products that you get on theshelf.
(01:26):
So can you just walk us throughkind of what that process looks
like and from the time that youfirst encounter a brand, you
know whether it be at a tradeshow or someone just stops in to
, even as they've been on yourshelf.
Like how do you make decisionswhether they stay or whether
they go?
Ed Jones (01:43):
You know that's not an absolute one ticket solves all
these problems, and it certainly.
In 40, almost 46 years.
The old school methods weredifferent than the new school
methods.
I use a lot of intuition thesedays, one of which is I go to
their social media platform.
You know you can get a lot fromInstagram if you hear the
(02:04):
consumers or the testimoniesfrom people who have used the
product, and or you can get asense of their ethics.
If they look like and I hate touse the word hustler hustlers,
but if they're hustling it tojust simply sell a product to
make a lot of money, it's prettyapparent.
It's hard to hide a hustle.
It's easy to see the authenticnature of someone if you look at
(02:25):
YouTube or you look at theirmainly Instagram and then maybe
Facebook and see what kind ofpostings are doing.
Secondly is demand somepaperwork, demand some
certificate of analysis If youhave any questions of heavy
metals.
I'm huge about the metals andthe molds and I want to have
some defining confidence thatthat is being tested.
(02:47):
I don't demand perfection onthat.
I mean, we know the soils havecertain things that we can't
eliminate fully, so it's notlike I have to have 100% free of
everything, but if they'reunwilling to test, it gives me
some skepticism.
So, between their social media,their demanding certificate of
analysis or requesting and thoseare two big ones.
Thirdly, personality like at ashow.
(03:08):
If you've been doing this along time, you start getting a
second sense, a second sense ofthese people really care, these
people really know.
I mean, you walk up to I'm justgoing to use example Vital
Planet you go up to there orTrue Grace, or some of these
companies that are, you know,privately owned.
It's very apparent that theyare on their game.
(03:29):
Or even people like LifeExtension.
You know that they're on theirgame when you start talking to
them.
It's pretty apparent.
So that's where a beginnerwould have a hard time, but with
some experience it's not thatactual difficult.
But again, demanding some actualconfirmations of certain things
, because even the bestcompanies can have something
that they didn't check or slipthrough, and we don't want, we
(03:52):
want to be the protector of thisindustry within our city and
when the clients that we have Imean we have almost, you know,
400 a day who come through here,they come because of trust and
that is paramount to me is tocontinue that trust factor with
the products that we carry.
I mean we eliminate probablyone to two products a month
(04:13):
because it starts to be a littlebit suspicious.
And I don't say every time alocal or a property owned
company sells to a bigcorporation.
That doesn't mean always thatit's terrible.
But we eliminated Bragg vinegarand it wasn't because just they
sold us, because we startedgetting feedback, and our
feedback is the other thing.
It isn't the same as it used tobe.
(04:34):
I don't feel the same.
So we felt that, even though Icouldn't put a finger on it, I
felt like, nah, we better notkeep doing this, and we posted a
post that we eliminated bragfor this reason.
So doing those things and thentelling the public why you did
them is very important.
Tina Smith (04:50):
Yeah.
So it sounds like to me there'sa few factors that go into this
, which I love, because there'sso much out there where it's
publicized regularly thatsupplements don't have what's on
the ingredient label, that theydon't really contain all the
efficacy of the products thatthey're getting out there.
But it sounds to me like you'relooking for that, to make sure
(05:13):
that you've got paperwork,you're making sure it's
alignment with your culture,which is consumer first and
taking care and building trust,and then you've got customer
feedback going on.
So if a customer is telling youthis is working, or if you
start hearing, hey, it's notworking.
Ed Jones (05:33):
You're going to have that product under review,
absolutely.
And the last thing that I tendto forget is I do subscribe to
consumerlabscom.
It is, you know, under.
It's always kind ofcontroversial.
Sometimes companies will saythey didn't test it right, but I
can tell you that I believethat 90 of what they do is quite
accurate.
We have pulled products offprobably more from consumer labs
(05:53):
testing the heavy metals andthe molds and the lack of
potency than any one source.
That I've ever done.
I don't pick products becauseof them, but I pull products off
because of them.
So I recommend any retail storeor even a consumer or anybody
concerned, go to consumerlabscom.
I will also say that about 85%of the products they test are
(06:15):
perfect.
They never have a problem.
We have an industry that ispretty darn good at
self-regulating.
Amanda Ballard (06:21):
So, when it comes to local products, um, you
know, I think it's it's superimportant to support your local
farmers and just local productsas much as you possibly can,
because I think, as as a localbusiness, that's, that's part of
the draw of just localsupporting local and it just
being this network of peoplethat all support each other.
(06:42):
So so for farmers that like,maybe can't afford, you know,
like a USDA organiccertification or all of these
certifications that costthousands and thousands of
dollars to get, how do you vet,you know, your meat, your
produce, things like that fromthese local farmers that maybe
don't have the paperwork to showit.
Ed Jones (07:01):
Well, the same way that you would build a
relationship with a great friend.
You get to know them and youdon't ever take it on face value
for the first time you meetthem.
It is about learning who thatperson is.
And you know this very well,both of you, that when a person
has a passion, they don't hideit and you sense it.
And these farmers, like FarmerBert that we have now, he comes
(07:22):
every Saturday.
I mean he gets up in themorning for his growing of
healthy foods and soil that hehas protected almost like he
would a pet and he's done thatfor so long and he loves his
customers because they're goingto ask him every question on
demand, as we did when he firststarted.
And it is kind of like going ona date you don't just jump
(07:43):
right in, you start slow, youwork up, you get to know
somebody and then now, afterit's probably been a year, you
know that farmer has nowestablished themselves as great
credibility.
Most of the local foods that weget between Katie, myself, the
people in this store likeChristy, who really deal in
local foods First off, weconsume it ourself deal in local
foods.
First off, we consume itourself.
(08:04):
Secondly, we ask the deepquestions what kind of treatment
do you do if they're sick?
Do you give antibiotics, do younot?
What happens if you do give anantibiotic?
Do you sell the animal?
And then, secondly, what foodsdo you feed those animals?
It's not perfect, but I don'texpect perfection, but I expect
a far better choice than wouldat a normal store that doesn't
ask those questions.
(08:24):
And I feel really solid with the, the connections we've had with
our local people, all the wayfrom the honeys to even the
soaps, you name it.
We really become their friendsand they're our friends.
And we've had a couple timeswhere we started to distrust
just because of vague reasonsthat we couldn't put our finger
(08:45):
on.
And I think following intuitionis one of the most important
things.
As we age I think we're youngerwe may not have the ability to
connect with your intuition, butas we age, I think we're
younger we may not have theability to connect with your
intuition, but as we age, if youdo develop that skill, it
speaks very strongly to us.
And most of the time that Idon't follow that intuition, I
generally regret it.
Tina Smith (09:06):
Well, I was thinking about, like a lot of times,
local so good, because the biomethat's in the soil is exactly
what we need for our area, somaybe it reduces allergies or
things like that happen.
So the tradeoffs between goingto a big box store and getting
organic or even regenerativefarming, which I love.
(09:26):
I love supporting regenerativefarming right now, but at the
same time, it might not be fromthis area and you know honeys
from the area or getting thingsfrom the soil in the area.
I just always think it's abetter choice than even organic
or something that you can get atsome of the bigger box stores.
What do you think about that?
Ed Jones (09:45):
I tend to agree with that and one is like several of
our farmers they'll bring thefoods that they harvested, that
two days ago, three days ago.
You're not going to get that atmost grocery stores.
I mean, it just can't happen,it's not practical.
So I'm hugely invested in thatand I'm also again invested in
the fact that we can ask theperson questions who actually
grew the food.
(10:05):
The honey that we sell here.
It just, you know, it just wasthe best honey I've ever had.
But does that mean it's thebest quality?
No, but I start askingquestions of this, that and
whatever.
And of course, a lot of theseare interesting older people who
have developed a whole life offarming.
I'm not a farming person, butyou know, they're really cool
(10:28):
people and they're really neatto talk to and they're salt of
the earth.
Sometimes there's no doubt andI love doing it because you can
see that they put their heartand soul into it and there's
very few things in life if aperson puts their heart and soul
into it.
That doesn't come out to be avery positive.
But again, I think you're right.
The more local we can becomebecause we weren't really meant
(10:49):
to eat bananas from other partsof the world.
If you look at kind of the waythe world has developed over the
tens of thousands of years, itdoesn't hurt us to do it.
Amanda Ballard (10:57):
But I think it's better if we can support our
own body with the energies justthe energies alone from the
local uh soils I am curiousbecause I know, just because
I've known you guys for so longand I've seen kind of just the
transformation of your storeover the years, I know you had a
lot of you know grocery earlyon when Chase and I started
(11:18):
working for you eight, nineyears ago, and that kind of went
away once.
All of the gluten-free and allof that kind of went more mass
market and then we kind offocused more on supplements and
then now you've started bringingin more of the grass fed meats
and more of the organic produceand things like that.
How, what, what caused thatshift to go back into more of
(11:42):
the food again Not that you havea lot of dry goods, but to
bring in more of the freshproduct?
Ed Jones (11:48):
Well, I think the word commodity we wanted to get out
of the commodity foods.
What are those?
Those are the same crackers,the same soy, soy sauces, the
same all those things that younormally dressings.
They're found everywhere.
We don't need to do that.
We want to support people'shealth where they're having
difficulties finding the itemsthat they need to feel
comfortable with with growingolder, being healthy, giving
(12:10):
their kids things.
And so it is.
And also I tended personally tokind of switch into more of an
animal-based, not reallystraight carnivore, but I
started seeing the results of ahigher protein diet than I used
to eat and I also startedsensing the more and more
(12:30):
dangers of eating animalproducts that were not raised
properly.
And then also seed oils andthings like that.
And the more research I reallydelve into as I get older, the
more I want to commune back towhat I think is the natural way
that our bodies need to have theproper oils and fats.
And it is from the tallow andit's from the olive oils and
(12:54):
it's from beef and it is fromthe tallow and it's from the
olive oils and it's from beefand it's from things like that
and seed oils, which are thecanolas I mean, I remember we
had in caps of canola oil 25years ago we had no idea.
you know, you do the best youcan with what you know.
At the moment, with knowledge,we truly thought it was a
healthy oil.
We I mean we carried canolabefore a grocery store carried
it, then the grocery storecarried it, then the grocery
(13:14):
store carried it, and now wewould never carry it because
it's so unhealthy.
But I really think wefine-tuned our knowledge base at
this point, certainly betterthan in history, and it is time
to offer that to people whoreally don't have that offering
anywhere else.
And also the fact that most ofit's local, a lot of it and
(13:34):
you're not going to find that atthe big grocery store.
Tina Smith (13:38):
Yeah, so talk to us now about practitioners.
That's a big part of what youguys do, some referrals back and
forth between people who areintegrative or holistic in
nature and can help bridge thegap between what you guys do,
which are natural products, andalso the medical community.
I know that you guys areinvolved in that community and
(14:02):
helping bridge that gap.
So I'm just curious how do youknow when it's a good
practitioner that you can sortof bring into the fold and do
referrals back and forth or evenhave them here at the wellness
clinic?
Ed Jones (14:12):
Yeah well, great question, tina, and I think the
word bridging the gap you saidis really ideal, because the
complexity of putting a plantogether to stay healthy, be
healthy and age gracefully isnot a one shot deal.
This isn't like you're going toget new tires for your car and
you just go get and you find theright ones, you put them on.
(14:33):
There's so much that comes intohow do we stay healthy, be
healthy, and I think that it'smore complex today than it ever
was before.
Covid One.
I don't and without any superexplaining that I don't I'm not
blaming everything on a shot,but I do think that just the
infection alone has caused a lotof grief.
I think mold is causing atremendous amount that just the
(14:54):
infection alone has caused a lotof grief.
I think mold is causing atremendous amount.
And so having a team approachand I constantly talk on my
radio show, vital Health Radio,about creating a team and part
of that team is how do we learnwhat we need to take the next
step toward?
Who do we trust?
What kind of ideas can webelieve in?
And to do that, you got to havepeople that can walk with you
(15:15):
down this path.
You got to have people youtrust that can hold your hand
and be informing of you, andthey're there for you to ask
questions when you're feelingpretty much confused or down or
frustrated because your regularmedical doc's not going to be
that going to be that.
I'm hugely invested in thevalue of regular general
(15:36):
practitioners and traditionalmedicine.
I mean, I have two new hips.
I wouldn't have done thatanywhere but a traditional
hospital, of course.
But for chronic aging, chronicdiseases, and how many times are
we asked what kind of foods doyou eat?
Do you eat seed oils?
How do you sleep?
What's your stress level?
Do you drink clean water?
How many antibiotics have youtaken?
You don't get those questions.
Those are so important.
(15:56):
So you have to find people whoare skilled in that and we vet
practitioners very, verystrongly at Nutrition Room.
We have 17 or 18 practitionersat this point and we may have
more in the future.
The thing is, partnering withfarmers is far easier than
partnering with practitioners,because sometimes they don't
(16:20):
have the skill set to understandthat this is a team approach
and they kind of set up a solobusiness.
If you don't watch it, thatsolo business will just kind of
operate on their own.
There's no real referring, andif we refer to them, there's no
give and take, and it's not likeyou have to scratch my back for
me to scratch yours, but therehas to be a cooperation between
(16:44):
practitioners and the core group, which is Nutrition World
myself, katie, whatever andsometimes it doesn't happen, and
so I encourage anyone who'strying to develop practitioners
to not lock yourself in a cornerwith a lease.
Make sure that every year youreview are we helping each other
to help each other and withthat help it filters to the
(17:05):
client and the patient.
That's what we really want isto help the end result, which is
the client patient.
But you can't do that if peopleare not communicating, if
they're not talking, if they'renot learning from the other
people.
The thing is, I'm frustratedsometimes because these little
solo operations, they're doingexactly what traditional
(17:26):
medicine's done, which isthey've locked themselves behind
some closed doors.
They're not willing to createtheir own team of learning.
Every morning I walk into thisstore.
I have my team, my team on thecomputer.
I spend 45 minutes to one hourevery single morning, six days a
week, listening to a little bitof business, like Gary Vee, but
(17:46):
the rest of it's all DrSaladino, dr Peter Attia, dr
Mercola, several of my what Ifeel is confidence, confidence
have a lot of confidence intheir skill set because they
know things I don't know.
I want to learn from people thatI can learn from, and I have to
do it every day.
I don't do this once a month.
(18:07):
I don't go to a seminar for oneday every three months and
expect to get this.
You get it in snippets, becausethat's why we all work very
well.
I do two minutes of one person,three minutes of another, and
I'll do an audio book, sometimesdriving, and I also believe in
quiet time, so I don't justindulge all the time with
chatter, but we have to have ateam where we learn, because if
(18:29):
we don't learn every day, we'regoing backwards, we just are or
we get frozen, and being frozenis a recipe for disaster in life
and from, I think, in many,many levels.
And so I want to embrace moreand more and more, as long as I
can.
Tina Smith (18:45):
So it sounds like you're looking for a way to help
from all angles and that youwant all of these different
practitioners talking to eachother.
So I'm just curious, like whatare the different types of
practitioners that you'rewelcoming into the fold?
Ed Jones (18:59):
Well, I've determined, at least mentally, what is
necessary.
So what is necessary is someonewho understands very deeply the
effects of mold and lime, theeffects effects of like Katie
specializes in young childrenand and pregnant mothers.
We have people who, of course,work on the physical body the
(19:21):
chiropractor, the massagetherapist, the gym Mackie, max
Fitness at the gym.
We have individuals who dotesting.
We have blood testing.
That's one of our practitioners.
That is very valuable.
To be able to walk in and havethe blood test that you want,
based on what you have learned,is invaluable.
Just did somebody yesterday whohas been through the medical
(19:44):
parade with all the things thatthey could do and they cannot
diagnose him, and I said howmuch blood work have you done?
And it's basically worth $30.
Why have they not done more sowe can take control by doing
things like that Acupuncture,somatic therapy, psychological
stuff we need all thesecomponents.
(20:05):
I mean I've said this before Ithink at this point we almost do
everything but surgery.
Now we also have a pediatrician, so a nurse practitioner we
have.
I mean, I just keep going on.
We've covered almost all thespots.
(20:25):
If we could truly integrate allof those, as I have done with
my personal coaches, likenutritional positions for
coaches that we have.
That's under the umbrella of me.
They work for me.
Well, when there's practitionerson the outskirts, which are all
in this building but they'reindependent, it's like they rent
the space.
That makes it a little moredifficult in some ways to create
that team approach.
In other ways it makes it lessdifficult for me because I don't
(20:49):
have to manage.
So I'm wanting independentpeople who can do their own
thing and get their ownpaperclips every day and figure
out their own phone problems,but can be almost like we're
sister brother kind of situation.
So it's a challenge, it is, butwe have still accomplished a
tremendous amount with havingthe platform that we have in
this business.
(21:10):
There's no doubt, and ourbusiness would not be where it
is without these practitioners,because the practitioners alone
give us credibility.
That's the other thing we are.
Uh, what do you think a GNC isknown as?
It's a vitamin herb storethat's ran by high school
students.
Basically, nutrition World willnever be known by that, because
(21:31):
we have mature, educated peoplewho are partnering with us.
So when I advertise Dr Johnsonon our billboard, a medical
physician who's the onlyChattanooga integrated physician
there is, what do you think,they think of Nutrition World,
because it's all I mean, he'sat's at nutrition world.
They're like, wow, wow, that's.
They must know what they'redoing to have someone like that
(21:53):
and along with the other 16people.
So I'm courage, we, I think we.
I don't call myself a nutritionstory more anymore.
I call it a wellness center,and that's what I want.
That's what I've always longedfor as a wellness center,
something that would cover thebasis of people as we age.
You don't really need this,probably till you're, you know,
40 ish.
(22:13):
Some people do come, but theaging population, which is
growing significantly, needsthis because the traditional
model is broken.
It's still operating.
What Peter Tiaz talks aboutmedicine 1.0.
We need to be on medicine 2.0,which is we actually look for
the reasons why we're sick, lookfor the reasons of how do we
actually get healed and well,instead of putting a Band-Aid on
(22:36):
with certain pharmaceuticalsthat make you feel like you're
okay or your blood test looksbetter and your cholesterol is
better because you took a statin, those aren't fixing the
machine at all.
There's times and places forthose, yes, but they're going to
end up quit working and thenyou're in a worse situation
because you wasted five to 10years of not actually fixing the
issue at hand.
Tina Smith (22:58):
Yeah, and one of the things that I love about what
you guys do is you're talkingabout.
You can put a physician on yourbillboard and advertising that
gives you credibility.
But gosh, dr Brian Johnson isbooked up now, so you guys have
given him credibility as well.
Like he's going to take thewhole body and the whole health
view of your health and help youget well naturally, as well as
(23:24):
help you if you need medicine.
So I think it gives himcredibility too.
Ed Jones (23:29):
It does work both ways , because when a traditional
person steps outside the medicalmodel, they're facing some
challenges, especially thatwe're not on the other side of
the United States.
They become kind of an oddcharacter and they don't have
any referrals from their peersbecause this doesn't work in the
medical model.
I mean Dr Litwin's thepediatrician.
She's very kind of an oddcharacter and they don't have
any referrals from their peersbecause that's this doesn't work
in the medical model.
I mean Dr Litwin's thepediatrician, she's very busy
(23:51):
with us.
Brandon, he's amazingly skilledin the mold issue that is beyond
belief and parasites.
Those are his two skill sets.
So I want people who arepassionate about a narrow view
of not a narrow view, apassionate that in this certain
(24:14):
avenue of health, that they'reso passionate that they're an
expert.
They're not expert abouteverything, but they're an
expert in what they talk about.
That's what we want is thosekind of experts and like you,
you and your business, you would, you are considered an expert
in your business and and, as Iage, we have to have those
people on our team.
That's, that's the people whomake me look good.
(24:34):
So, um, that's the kinds thatwe need to get and also the
kinds that we need to get rid ofwhen they're not producing a or
at least B level uh effects.
If there are C's and below,it's time to move on and find
somebody else.
Amanda Ballard (24:48):
So for our listeners that don't have the
facilities to housepractitioners in-house or even
like just in their strip center,wherever they are, how would
you recommend them going aboutfinding these practitioners in
their community and developingthese referral relationships
with, if they can't have them onsite?
Ed Jones (25:10):
It takes effort and this is not something you're
going to send out a postcardonce a year and expect anything
to happen.
It takes calling on them,reminding them, talking to them
the one thing I have done for 25or 30 years.
A client customer comes in andsays hey, you won't believe I
went to Dr So-and-so or thisother practitioner.
I can't believe how much betterI am.
(25:31):
Tell me who they are, what didthey do for you?
We always write down their name.
We write down where they're,where they worked at.
We start the process of sendinga thank you.
Note that that sometimes isnice, but we have to keep
reminding them.
If you do something two orthree times and in six months
that is almost like you didn'tdo anything.
We send them Christmas cards.
(25:52):
We send them gift cards atChristmas.
I now have a person, catherine,who will be visiting these
people door to door when we havelike 28 people physicians and
she'll be making these runs oncea month with probably a small
gift Sometimes.
Other times we're going tooffer free lunches.
I can get Adam, my one of mycoaches, very intelligent.
(26:13):
He can come in and talk aboutspecific topics of health.
They and we go in there sayingdo you realize that 82 percent
of all your patients are takingnutritional supplements and
probably 10 percent are tellingyou they are and they are
pursuing alternative options?
And we are here to help you tobe more empowered, that you can
(26:35):
help your patient, becausethey're wanting what maybe you
don't have right now.
And we do it verydiplomatically, of course.
So there are so many ways thatyou can produce that momentum,
but it is a connection.
You're going to work very hardfor the in 10 people.
You're going to work very hardand get one to two.
That's all you're going to get.
But you got to throw thefishing line on all 10 because
you don't know what two you'regoing to get.
(26:56):
We have some hard hitters thatwill send us people every other
day.
Now that's pretty amazing whenyou don't have to do any work
for this.
Now that's pretty amazing whenyou don't have to do any work
for this.
I don't have to run any ads,and they're going to walk in
with a piece of paper andthey're going to say my doctor
said I need this blank, blank,blank, blank, blank.
And it's usually not a plainmultivitamin, it's several
(27:19):
things, and it builds suchconfidence.
Back in the day, 25 years agoone of the earliest physicians,
dr Terry Smith, a great, veryintelligent man about nutrition
he was.
He had about 10 years where hereally talked up nutrition
because he believed in it.
We still have people today withhis sheet.
That was 20 years ago.
They worship that sheet ofpaper.
(27:41):
They don't see him anymore butthey still come in and say I
need to get my stuff.
That Dr Smith told me and Iknow it was 20 years ago.
So their credibility ishumongous and they will.
They go deep into patients ifthey can tell people and you're
the hero because they sent youto, they sent them to us.
Amanda Ballard (27:58):
We talk a lot about having this one to many
approach, and so it sounds to melike that's exactly what you're
talking about is put in thework, to get in with that one
medical practitioner, whoever itis, and they are going to do
the work for you and bring youthe flocks of people flocks, uh,
and it starts slow.
Ed Jones (28:17):
But once you get it going, they want a trusted
partner too.
They want to look good, theywant to be the hero of the day
we all do.
The biggest thing withpractitioners, if they're
medically based, is you have tohonor what they want the person
to take.
Unless you know for a fact it'swrong, which I've done a few
times and I would have to callthe office and say you didn't
(28:39):
mean to take 4,000 milligrams ofCOQ10, did you?
And they would say, oh no, itwas 400.
I put an extra zero on thereand that just confirms to them
that our credibility also.
And most of them don't mind,like if you see that they
weren't taking omega three thatyou might mention, hey, omega
three is also very good for yourhealth in these regards.
(29:01):
But we can't go out.
We can't take away what theywant them to take.
We have to be on it like adrugstore does, which is fine,
very ethical that way.
Tina Smith (29:11):
Well, perfect, adam.
Thank you so much for having ushere First lovely studio.
We don't get the opportunity tobe together like this with our
guests or even each other.
So this is very nice of you tobring us in here and let us do
this, was very nice of you tobring us in here and let us do
this.
But just your time, your brain,all of your experience that you
bring to the table and lettingus get this out to everybody.
(29:32):
You guys do such an amazing job.
You are still growing.
You've been growing for a verylong time.
You're still growing by leapsand bounds and you know there's
still so much growth that'sstill out there and you continue
to add things to what you guysoffer as the customers need it
and you realize that there'sdemand and that it will help
(29:54):
other people.
So first, thank you for doingthat, thanks for letting us be
here and, of course, thanks forgiving us your time and all your
wisdom.
Ed Jones (30:03):
Well, thank you both.
I care the world for both ofyou and you both are such
helpers to Nutrition World asits platform does continue to
grow the need, we will never runout of potential clients and
customers.
There's no, because I mean, Igo to places and it's really
interesting.
I go to Starbucks on Saturdaymorning, I read for three hours,
and I'll go to Panera's onSunday, and I read for three
(30:25):
hours and I'll go to Panera's onSunday and I'll read for three
hours.
I never see one customer walkin those two places.
So when I go to those places,one is I wonder why.
And Needloves, that's the otherplace downtown we never Katie
and I talk about.
We never see a client orcustomer in any of those three
places.
Why is that?
Well, one is they don'tprobably even know about us.
I could probably ask them doyou know what nutrition rules?
(30:46):
Yeah, I've heard of it, but Idon't even know where it is.
But it also shows no one doeswhat we do.
So the potential to help otherpeople who are clueless that
this is even available isunlimited, and any nutrition
store could access this.
I don't care what town you'rein.
Now I'm sure on the other partof the United States, more
(31:10):
people would realize the valueof it.
But they don't realize what youcan do to your health if you
embrace and have a team to helpyou embrace.
What foods do we eat?
How do we sleep better?
How do we lower our stresslevel without pharmaceuticals
and access the green pharmacy,access lifestyle.
I think we are a ministry.
I truly believe that the peoplewho are in this industry as I
am, who've ever had, because thewave has turned, the momentum
(31:50):
has shifted.
There's no one who can call usold hippies who sell granolas
and they're quacks.
We're not quacks and we canargue now to the ends of the
earth with PubMed literaturesand all the science behind what
we do.
We couldn't do that 15 yearsago, maybe 10.
We could start.
(32:11):
Covid helped us immensely in allregards because it showed the
lackings of traditional medicalthinking.
Yeah, traditional medicalthinking are very smart people
in their avenue of thinking, butit also showed where they are
lacking.
And guess who picked up thepace from that?
It has to be more integrativenutrition and more common sense.
And we are common sense Eathealthy.
(32:34):
How do we do that?
And there's all kinds of ways,but let's have a team, let's
have a coach that can help us tolearn how to eat and supplement
healthy, so got me on a ranthere.
So sorry about that becauseit's my fault, so I've got to go
now.
You know what I have to do now.
Eat lunch.
Tina Smith (32:52):
That's right, but we appreciate it.
We think it's a ministry to you, which is one reason that we
feel aligned with what you guysdo.
Your purpose is the same asours, and so that's why we love
working with you guys.
Ed Jones (33:04):
Thank you both Thank you.
Amanda Ballard (33:07):
Thank you so much, Ed.
Thanks so much for listening tothe Natural Products Marketer
Podcast.
We hope you found this episodeto be super helpful.
Make sure you check out theshow notes for any of those
valuable resources that wementioned on today's episode.
Tina Smith (33:18):
And, before you go, we would love for you to give us
a review.
Follow, like and subscribe onApple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
or wherever you're listeningtoday, and make sure you join us
for our next episode, where wegive you more marketing tips so
that you can reach more peopleand change more lives.
But we have to have a team where we learn, because we,
if we don't learn every day,we're going backwards, we just
are, or we get frozen, and beingfrozen is a recipe for disaster
in life and from, I think, inmany, many levels, and so I want
to embrace more and more andmore, as long as I can.
Tina Smith (00:22):
Welcome to the Natural Products Marketer
podcast.
Amanda Ballard (00:24):
Welcome to the Natural Products Marketer
Podcast.
I'm Tina and I'm Amanda andwe're here to make marketing
easier for natural productsbusinesses so you can reach more
people and change more lives.
Ed Jones, thanks for joining us.
So for those that don't know Ed, I've known Ed for a long time,
dear friend, great boss that Ihad for many, many years.
(00:48):
So Ed is with Nutrition Worldin Chattanooga, industry legend.
So really, really happy to bewith you today, ed Thanks for
joining us.
Ed Jones (00:57):
Thank you, amanda, so much and love you too and your
family, and it's all justwonderful how things worked out
and you're back kind of workingwith us again.
Yeah, yeah, it's all justwonderful how things worked out
and you're back kind of workingwith us again.
Amanda Ballard (01:05):
Yeah, yeah, it's great.
So we wanted to just pick yourbrain on how you're successful.
I mean, you've been sosuccessful over the years and I
think so much of that has beenyour dedication to quality
products and how particular youare with vetting all of the
products that you get on theshelf.
(01:26):
So can you just walk us throughkind of what that process looks
like and from the time that youfirst encounter a brand, you
know whether it be at a tradeshow or someone just stops in to
, even as they've been on yourshelf.
Like how do you make decisionswhether they stay or whether
they go?
Ed Jones (01:43):
You know that's not an absolute one ticket solves all
these problems, and it certainly.
In 40, almost 46 years.
The old school methods weredifferent than the new school
methods.
I use a lot of intuition thesedays, one of which is I go to
their social media platform.
You know you can get a lot fromInstagram if you hear the
(02:04):
consumers or the testimoniesfrom people who have used the
product, and or you can get asense of their ethics.
If they look like and I hate touse the word hustler hustlers,
but if they're hustling it tojust simply sell a product to
make a lot of money, it's prettyapparent.
It's hard to hide a hustle.
It's easy to see the authenticnature of someone if you look at
(02:25):
YouTube or you look at theirmainly Instagram and then maybe
Facebook and see what kind ofpostings are doing.
Secondly is demand somepaperwork, demand some
certificate of analysis If youhave any questions of heavy
metals.
I'm huge about the metals andthe molds and I want to have
some defining confidence thatthat is being tested.
(02:47):
I don't demand perfection onthat.
I mean, we know the soils havecertain things that we can't
eliminate fully, so it's notlike I have to have 100% free of
everything, but if they'reunwilling to test, it gives me
some skepticism.
So, between their social media,their demanding certificate of
analysis or requesting and thoseare two big ones.
Thirdly, personality like at ashow.
(03:08):
If you've been doing this along time, you start getting a
second sense, a second sense ofthese people really care, these
people really know.
I mean, you walk up to I'm justgoing to use example Vital
Planet you go up to there orTrue Grace, or some of these
companies that are, you know,privately owned.
It's very apparent that theyare on their game.
(03:29):
Or even people like LifeExtension.
You know that they're on theirgame when you start talking to
them.
It's pretty apparent.
So that's where a beginnerwould have a hard time, but with
some experience it's not thatactual difficult.
But again, demanding some actualconfirmations of certain things
, because even the bestcompanies can have something
that they didn't check or slipthrough, and we don't want, we
(03:52):
want to be the protector of thisindustry within our city and
when the clients that we have Imean we have almost, you know,
400 a day who come through here,they come because of trust and
that is paramount to me is tocontinue that trust factor with
the products that we carry.
I mean we eliminate probablyone to two products a month
(04:13):
because it starts to be a littlebit suspicious.
And I don't say every time alocal or a property owned
company sells to a bigcorporation.
That doesn't mean always thatit's terrible.
But we eliminated Bragg vinegarand it wasn't because just they
sold us, because we startedgetting feedback, and our
feedback is the other thing.
It isn't the same as it used tobe.
(04:34):
I don't feel the same.
So we felt that, even though Icouldn't put a finger on it, I
felt like, nah, we better notkeep doing this, and we posted a
post that we eliminated bragfor this reason.
So doing those things and thentelling the public why you did
them is very important.
Tina Smith (04:50):
Yeah.
So it sounds like to me there'sa few factors that go into this
, which I love, because there'sso much out there where it's
publicized regularly thatsupplements don't have what's on
the ingredient label, that theydon't really contain all the
efficacy of the products thatthey're getting out there.
But it sounds to me like you'relooking for that, to make sure
(05:13):
that you've got paperwork,you're making sure it's
alignment with your culture,which is consumer first and
taking care and building trust,and then you've got customer
feedback going on.
So if a customer is telling youthis is working, or if you
start hearing, hey, it's notworking.
Ed Jones (05:33):
You're going to have that product under review,
absolutely.
And the last thing that I tendto forget is I do subscribe to
consumerlabscom.
It is, you know, under.
It's always kind ofcontroversial.
Sometimes companies will saythey didn't test it right, but I
can tell you that I believethat 90 of what they do is quite
accurate.
We have pulled products offprobably more from consumer labs
(05:53):
testing the heavy metals andthe molds and the lack of
potency than any one source.
That I've ever done.
I don't pick products becauseof them, but I pull products off
because of them.
So I recommend any retail storeor even a consumer or anybody
concerned, go to consumerlabscom.
I will also say that about 85%of the products they test are
(06:15):
perfect.
They never have a problem.
We have an industry that ispretty darn good at
self-regulating.
Amanda Ballard (06:21):
So, when it comes to local products, um, you
know, I think it's it's superimportant to support your local
farmers and just local productsas much as you possibly can,
because I think, as as a localbusiness, that's, that's part of
the draw of just localsupporting local and it just
being this network of peoplethat all support each other.
(06:42):
So so for farmers that like,maybe can't afford, you know,
like a USDA organiccertification or all of these
certifications that costthousands and thousands of
dollars to get, how do you vet,you know, your meat, your
produce, things like that fromthese local farmers that maybe
don't have the paperwork to showit.
Ed Jones (07:01):
Well, the same way that you would build a
relationship with a great friend.
You get to know them and youdon't ever take it on face value
for the first time you meetthem.
It is about learning who thatperson is.
And you know this very well,both of you, that when a person
has a passion, they don't hideit and you sense it.
And these farmers, like FarmerBert that we have now, he comes
(07:22):
every Saturday.
I mean he gets up in themorning for his growing of
healthy foods and soil that hehas protected almost like he
would a pet and he's done thatfor so long and he loves his
customers because they're goingto ask him every question on
demand, as we did when he firststarted.
And it is kind of like going ona date you don't just jump
(07:43):
right in, you start slow, youwork up, you get to know
somebody and then now, afterit's probably been a year, you
know that farmer has nowestablished themselves as great
credibility.
Most of the local foods that weget between Katie, myself, the
people in this store likeChristy, who really deal in
local foods First off, weconsume it ourself deal in local
foods.
First off, we consume itourself.
(08:04):
Secondly, we ask the deepquestions what kind of treatment
do you do if they're sick?
Do you give antibiotics, do younot?
What happens if you do give anantibiotic?
Do you sell the animal?
And then, secondly, what foodsdo you feed those animals?
It's not perfect, but I don'texpect perfection, but I expect
a far better choice than wouldat a normal store that doesn't
ask those questions.
(08:24):
And I feel really solid with the, the connections we've had with
our local people, all the wayfrom the honeys to even the
soaps, you name it.
We really become their friendsand they're our friends.
And we've had a couple timeswhere we started to distrust
just because of vague reasonsthat we couldn't put our finger
(08:45):
on.
And I think following intuitionis one of the most important
things.
As we age I think we're youngerwe may not have the ability to
connect with your intuition, butas we age, I think we're
younger we may not have theability to connect with your
intuition, but as we age, if youdo develop that skill, it
speaks very strongly to us.
And most of the time that Idon't follow that intuition, I
generally regret it.
Tina Smith (09:06):
Well, I was thinking about, like a lot of times,
local so good, because the biomethat's in the soil is exactly
what we need for our area, somaybe it reduces allergies or
things like that happen.
So the tradeoffs between goingto a big box store and getting
organic or even regenerativefarming, which I love.
(09:26):
I love supporting regenerativefarming right now, but at the
same time, it might not be fromthis area and you know honeys
from the area or getting thingsfrom the soil in the area.
I just always think it's abetter choice than even organic
or something that you can get atsome of the bigger box stores.
What do you think about that?
Ed Jones (09:45):
I tend to agree with that and one is like several of
our farmers they'll bring thefoods that they harvested, that
two days ago, three days ago.
You're not going to get that atmost grocery stores.
I mean, it just can't happen,it's not practical.
So I'm hugely invested in thatand I'm also again invested in
the fact that we can ask theperson questions who actually
grew the food.
(10:05):
The honey that we sell here.
It just, you know, it just wasthe best honey I've ever had.
But does that mean it's thebest quality?
No, but I start askingquestions of this, that and
whatever.
And of course, a lot of theseare interesting older people who
have developed a whole life offarming.
I'm not a farming person, butyou know, they're really cool
(10:28):
people and they're really neatto talk to and they're salt of
the earth.
Sometimes there's no doubt andI love doing it because you can
see that they put their heartand soul into it and there's
very few things in life if aperson puts their heart and soul
into it.
That doesn't come out to be avery positive.
But again, I think you're right.
The more local we can becomebecause we weren't really meant
(10:49):
to eat bananas from other partsof the world.
If you look at kind of the waythe world has developed over the
tens of thousands of years, itdoesn't hurt us to do it.
Amanda Ballard (10:57):
But I think it's better if we can support our
own body with the energies justthe energies alone from the
local uh soils I am curiousbecause I know, just because
I've known you guys for so longand I've seen kind of just the
transformation of your storeover the years, I know you had a
lot of you know grocery earlyon when Chase and I started
(11:18):
working for you eight, nineyears ago, and that kind of went
away once.
All of the gluten-free and allof that kind of went more mass
market and then we kind offocused more on supplements and
then now you've started bringingin more of the grass fed meats
and more of the organic produceand things like that.
How, what, what caused thatshift to go back into more of
(11:42):
the food again Not that you havea lot of dry goods, but to
bring in more of the freshproduct?
Ed Jones (11:48):
Well, I think the word commodity we wanted to get out
of the commodity foods.
What are those?
Those are the same crackers,the same soy, soy sauces, the
same all those things that younormally dressings.
They're found everywhere.
We don't need to do that.
We want to support people'shealth where they're having
difficulties finding the itemsthat they need to feel
comfortable with with growingolder, being healthy, giving
(12:10):
their kids things.
And so it is.
And also I tended personally tokind of switch into more of an
animal-based, not reallystraight carnivore, but I
started seeing the results of ahigher protein diet than I used
to eat and I also startedsensing the more and more
(12:30):
dangers of eating animalproducts that were not raised
properly.
And then also seed oils andthings like that.
And the more research I reallydelve into as I get older, the
more I want to commune back towhat I think is the natural way
that our bodies need to have theproper oils and fats.
And it is from the tallow andit's from the olive oils and
(12:54):
it's from beef and it is fromthe tallow and it's from the
olive oils and it's from beefand it's from things like that
and seed oils, which are thecanolas I mean, I remember we
had in caps of canola oil 25years ago we had no idea.
you know, you do the best youcan with what you know.
At the moment, with knowledge,we truly thought it was a
healthy oil.
We I mean we carried canolabefore a grocery store carried
it, then the grocery storecarried it, then the grocery
(13:14):
store carried it, and now wewould never carry it because
it's so unhealthy.
But I really think wefine-tuned our knowledge base at
this point, certainly betterthan in history, and it is time
to offer that to people whoreally don't have that offering
anywhere else.
And also the fact that most ofit's local, a lot of it and
(13:34):
you're not going to find that atthe big grocery store.
Tina Smith (13:38):
Yeah, so talk to us now about practitioners.
That's a big part of what youguys do, some referrals back and
forth between people who areintegrative or holistic in
nature and can help bridge thegap between what you guys do,
which are natural products, andalso the medical community.
I know that you guys areinvolved in that community and
(14:02):
helping bridge that gap.
So I'm just curious how do youknow when it's a good
practitioner that you can sortof bring into the fold and do
referrals back and forth or evenhave them here at the wellness
clinic?
Ed Jones (14:12):
Yeah well, great question, tina, and I think the
word bridging the gap you saidis really ideal, because the
complexity of putting a plantogether to stay healthy, be
healthy and age gracefully isnot a one shot deal.
This isn't like you're going toget new tires for your car and
you just go get and you find theright ones, you put them on.
(14:33):
There's so much that comes intohow do we stay healthy, be
healthy, and I think that it'smore complex today than it ever
was before.
Covid One.
I don't and without any superexplaining that I don't I'm not
blaming everything on a shot,but I do think that just the
infection alone has caused a lotof grief.
I think mold is causing atremendous amount that just the
(14:54):
infection alone has caused a lotof grief.
I think mold is causing atremendous amount.
And so having a team approachand I constantly talk on my
radio show, vital Health Radio,about creating a team and part
of that team is how do we learnwhat we need to take the next
step toward?
Who do we trust?
What kind of ideas can webelieve in?
And to do that, you got to havepeople that can walk with you
(15:15):
down this path.
You got to have people youtrust that can hold your hand
and be informing of you, andthey're there for you to ask
questions when you're feelingpretty much confused or down or
frustrated because your regularmedical doc's not going to be
that going to be that.
I'm hugely invested in thevalue of regular general
(15:36):
practitioners and traditionalmedicine.
I mean, I have two new hips.
I wouldn't have done thatanywhere but a traditional
hospital, of course.
But for chronic aging, chronicdiseases, and how many times are
we asked what kind of foods doyou eat?
Do you eat seed oils?
How do you sleep?
What's your stress level?
Do you drink clean water?
How many antibiotics have youtaken?
You don't get those questions.
Those are so important.
(15:56):
So you have to find people whoare skilled in that and we vet
practitioners very, verystrongly at Nutrition Room.
We have 17 or 18 practitionersat this point and we may have
more in the future.
The thing is, partnering withfarmers is far easier than
partnering with practitioners,because sometimes they don't
(16:20):
have the skill set to understandthat this is a team approach
and they kind of set up a solobusiness.
If you don't watch it, thatsolo business will just kind of
operate on their own.
There's no real referring, andif we refer to them, there's no
give and take, and it's not likeyou have to scratch my back for
me to scratch yours, but therehas to be a cooperation between
(16:44):
practitioners and the core group, which is Nutrition World
myself, katie, whatever andsometimes it doesn't happen, and
so I encourage anyone who'strying to develop practitioners
to not lock yourself in a cornerwith a lease.
Make sure that every year youreview are we helping each other
to help each other and withthat help it filters to the
(17:05):
client and the patient.
That's what we really want isto help the end result, which is
the client patient.
But you can't do that if peopleare not communicating, if
they're not talking, if they'renot learning from the other
people.
The thing is, I'm frustratedsometimes because these little
solo operations, they're doingexactly what traditional
(17:26):
medicine's done, which isthey've locked themselves behind
some closed doors.
They're not willing to createtheir own team of learning.
Every morning I walk into thisstore.
I have my team, my team on thecomputer.
I spend 45 minutes to one hourevery single morning, six days a
week, listening to a little bitof business, like Gary Vee, but
(17:46):
the rest of it's all DrSaladino, dr Peter Attia, dr
Mercola, several of my what Ifeel is confidence, confidence
have a lot of confidence intheir skill set because they
know things I don't know.
I want to learn from people thatI can learn from, and I have to
do it every day.
I don't do this once a month.
(18:07):
I don't go to a seminar for oneday every three months and
expect to get this.
You get it in snippets, becausethat's why we all work very
well.
I do two minutes of one person,three minutes of another, and
I'll do an audio book, sometimesdriving, and I also believe in
quiet time, so I don't justindulge all the time with
chatter, but we have to have ateam where we learn, because if
(18:29):
we don't learn every day, we'regoing backwards, we just are or
we get frozen, and being frozenis a recipe for disaster in life
and from, I think, in many,many levels.
And so I want to embrace moreand more and more, as long as I
can.
Tina Smith (18:45):
So it sounds like you're looking for a way to help
from all angles and that youwant all of these different
practitioners talking to eachother.
So I'm just curious, like whatare the different types of
practitioners that you'rewelcoming into the fold?
Ed Jones (18:59):
Well, I've determined, at least mentally, what is
necessary.
So what is necessary is someonewho understands very deeply the
effects of mold and lime, theeffects effects of like Katie
specializes in young childrenand and pregnant mothers.
We have people who, of course,work on the physical body the
(19:21):
chiropractor, the massagetherapist, the gym Mackie, max
Fitness at the gym.
We have individuals who dotesting.
We have blood testing.
That's one of our practitioners.
That is very valuable.
To be able to walk in and havethe blood test that you want,
based on what you have learned,is invaluable.
Just did somebody yesterday whohas been through the medical
(19:44):
parade with all the things thatthey could do and they cannot
diagnose him, and I said howmuch blood work have you done?
And it's basically worth $30.
Why have they not done more sowe can take control by doing
things like that Acupuncture,somatic therapy, psychological
stuff we need all thesecomponents.
(20:05):
I mean I've said this before Ithink at this point we almost do
everything but surgery.
Now we also have a pediatrician, so a nurse practitioner we
have.
I mean, I just keep going on.
We've covered almost all thespots.
(20:25):
If we could truly integrate allof those, as I have done with
my personal coaches, likenutritional positions for
coaches that we have.
That's under the umbrella of me.
They work for me.
Well, when there's practitionerson the outskirts, which are all
in this building but they'reindependent, it's like they rent
the space.
That makes it a little moredifficult in some ways to create
that team approach.
In other ways it makes it lessdifficult for me because I don't
(20:49):
have to manage.
So I'm wanting independentpeople who can do their own
thing and get their ownpaperclips every day and figure
out their own phone problems,but can be almost like we're
sister brother kind of situation.
So it's a challenge, it is, butwe have still accomplished a
tremendous amount with havingthe platform that we have in
this business.
(21:10):
There's no doubt, and ourbusiness would not be where it
is without these practitioners,because the practitioners alone
give us credibility.
That's the other thing we are.
Uh, what do you think a GNC isknown as?
It's a vitamin herb storethat's ran by high school
students.
Basically, nutrition World willnever be known by that, because
(21:31):
we have mature, educated peoplewho are partnering with us.
So when I advertise Dr Johnsonon our billboard, a medical
physician who's the onlyChattanooga integrated physician
there is, what do you think,they think of Nutrition World,
because it's all I mean, he'sat's at nutrition world.
They're like, wow, wow, that's.
They must know what they'redoing to have someone like that
(21:53):
and along with the other 16people.
So I'm courage, we, I think we.
I don't call myself a nutritionstory more anymore.
I call it a wellness center,and that's what I want.
That's what I've always longedfor as a wellness center,
something that would cover thebasis of people as we age.
You don't really need this,probably till you're, you know,
40 ish.
(22:13):
Some people do come, but theaging population, which is
growing significantly, needsthis because the traditional
model is broken.
It's still operating.
What Peter Tiaz talks aboutmedicine 1.0.
We need to be on medicine 2.0,which is we actually look for
the reasons why we're sick, lookfor the reasons of how do we
actually get healed and well,instead of putting a Band-Aid on
(22:36):
with certain pharmaceuticalsthat make you feel like you're
okay or your blood test looksbetter and your cholesterol is
better because you took a statin, those aren't fixing the
machine at all.
There's times and places forthose, yes, but they're going to
end up quit working and thenyou're in a worse situation
because you wasted five to 10years of not actually fixing the
issue at hand.
Tina Smith (22:58):
Yeah, and one of the things that I love about what
you guys do is you're talkingabout.
You can put a physician on yourbillboard and advertising that
gives you credibility.
But gosh, dr Brian Johnson isbooked up now, so you guys have
given him credibility as well.
Like he's going to take thewhole body and the whole health
view of your health and help youget well naturally, as well as
(23:24):
help you if you need medicine.
So I think it gives himcredibility too.
Ed Jones (23:29):
It does work both ways , because when a traditional
person steps outside the medicalmodel, they're facing some
challenges, especially thatwe're not on the other side of
the United States.
They become kind of an oddcharacter and they don't have
any referrals from their peersbecause this doesn't work in the
medical model.
I mean Dr Litwin's thepediatrician.
She's very kind of an oddcharacter and they don't have
any referrals from their peersbecause that's this doesn't work
in the medical model.
I mean Dr Litwin's thepediatrician, she's very busy
(23:51):
with us.
Brandon, he's amazingly skilledin the mold issue that is beyond
belief and parasites.
Those are his two skill sets.
So I want people who arepassionate about a narrow view
of not a narrow view, apassionate that in this certain
(24:14):
avenue of health, that they'reso passionate that they're an
expert.
They're not expert abouteverything, but they're an
expert in what they talk about.
That's what we want is thosekind of experts and like you,
you and your business, you would, you are considered an expert
in your business and and, as Iage, we have to have those
people on our team.
That's, that's the people whomake me look good.
(24:34):
So, um, that's the kinds thatwe need to get and also the
kinds that we need to get rid ofwhen they're not producing a or
at least B level uh effects.
If there are C's and below,it's time to move on and find
somebody else.
Amanda Ballard (24:48):
So for our listeners that don't have the
facilities to housepractitioners in-house or even
like just in their strip center,wherever they are, how would
you recommend them going aboutfinding these practitioners in
their community and developingthese referral relationships
with, if they can't have them onsite?
Ed Jones (25:10):
It takes effort and this is not something you're
going to send out a postcardonce a year and expect anything
to happen.
It takes calling on them,reminding them, talking to them
the one thing I have done for 25or 30 years.
A client customer comes in andsays hey, you won't believe I
went to Dr So-and-so or thisother practitioner.
I can't believe how much betterI am.
(25:31):
Tell me who they are, what didthey do for you?
We always write down their name.
We write down where they're,where they worked at.
We start the process of sendinga thank you.
Note that that sometimes isnice, but we have to keep
reminding them.
If you do something two orthree times and in six months
that is almost like you didn'tdo anything.
We send them Christmas cards.
(25:52):
We send them gift cards atChristmas.
I now have a person, catherine,who will be visiting these
people door to door when we havelike 28 people physicians and
she'll be making these runs oncea month with probably a small
gift Sometimes.
Other times we're going tooffer free lunches.
I can get Adam, my one of mycoaches, very intelligent.
(26:13):
He can come in and talk aboutspecific topics of health.
They and we go in there sayingdo you realize that 82 percent
of all your patients are takingnutritional supplements and
probably 10 percent are tellingyou they are and they are
pursuing alternative options?
And we are here to help you tobe more empowered, that you can
(26:35):
help your patient, becausethey're wanting what maybe you
don't have right now.
And we do it verydiplomatically, of course.
So there are so many ways thatyou can produce that momentum,
but it is a connection.
You're going to work very hardfor the in 10 people.
You're going to work very hardand get one to two.
That's all you're going to get.
But you got to throw thefishing line on all 10 because
you don't know what two you'regoing to get.
(26:56):
We have some hard hitters thatwill send us people every other
day.
Now that's pretty amazing whenyou don't have to do any work
for this.
Now that's pretty amazing whenyou don't have to do any work
for this.
I don't have to run any ads,and they're going to walk in
with a piece of paper andthey're going to say my doctor
said I need this blank, blank,blank, blank, blank.
And it's usually not a plainmultivitamin, it's several
(27:19):
things, and it builds suchconfidence.
Back in the day, 25 years agoone of the earliest physicians,
dr Terry Smith, a great, veryintelligent man about nutrition
he was.
He had about 10 years where hereally talked up nutrition
because he believed in it.
We still have people today withhis sheet.
That was 20 years ago.
They worship that sheet ofpaper.
(27:41):
They don't see him anymore butthey still come in and say I
need to get my stuff.
That Dr Smith told me and Iknow it was 20 years ago.
So their credibility ishumongous and they will.
They go deep into patients ifthey can tell people and you're
the hero because they sent youto, they sent them to us.
Amanda Ballard (27:58):
We talk a lot about having this one to many
approach, and so it sounds to melike that's exactly what you're
talking about is put in thework, to get in with that one
medical practitioner, whoever itis, and they are going to do
the work for you and bring youthe flocks of people flocks, uh,
and it starts slow.
Ed Jones (28:17):
But once you get it going, they want a trusted
partner too.
They want to look good, theywant to be the hero of the day
we all do.
The biggest thing withpractitioners, if they're
medically based, is you have tohonor what they want the person
to take.
Unless you know for a fact it'swrong, which I've done a few
times and I would have to callthe office and say you didn't
(28:39):
mean to take 4,000 milligrams ofCOQ10, did you?
And they would say, oh no, itwas 400.
I put an extra zero on thereand that just confirms to them
that our credibility also.
And most of them don't mind,like if you see that they
weren't taking omega three thatyou might mention, hey, omega
three is also very good for yourhealth in these regards.
(29:01):
But we can't go out.
We can't take away what theywant them to take.
We have to be on it like adrugstore does, which is fine,
very ethical that way.
Tina Smith (29:11):
Well, perfect, adam.
Thank you so much for having ushere First lovely studio.
We don't get the opportunity tobe together like this with our
guests or even each other.
So this is very nice of you tobring us in here and let us do
this, was very nice of you tobring us in here and let us do
this.
But just your time, your brain,all of your experience that you
bring to the table and lettingus get this out to everybody.
(29:32):
You guys do such an amazing job.
You are still growing.
You've been growing for a verylong time.
You're still growing by leapsand bounds and you know there's
still so much growth that'sstill out there and you continue
to add things to what you guysoffer as the customers need it
and you realize that there'sdemand and that it will help
(29:54):
other people.
So first, thank you for doingthat, thanks for letting us be
here and, of course, thanks forgiving us your time and all your
wisdom.
Ed Jones (30:03):
Well, thank you both.
I care the world for both ofyou and you both are such
helpers to Nutrition World asits platform does continue to
grow the need, we will never runout of potential clients and
customers.
There's no, because I mean, Igo to places and it's really
interesting.
I go to Starbucks on Saturdaymorning, I read for three hours,
and I'll go to Panera's onSunday, and I read for three
(30:25):
hours and I'll go to Panera's onSunday and I'll read for three
hours.
I never see one customer walkin those two places.
So when I go to those places,one is I wonder why.
And Needloves, that's the otherplace downtown we never Katie
and I talk about.
We never see a client orcustomer in any of those three
places.
Why is that?
Well, one is they don'tprobably even know about us.
I could probably ask them doyou know what nutrition rules?
(30:46):
Yeah, I've heard of it, but Idon't even know where it is.
But it also shows no one doeswhat we do.
So the potential to help otherpeople who are clueless that
this is even available isunlimited, and any nutrition
store could access this.
I don't care what town you'rein.
Now I'm sure on the other partof the United States, more
(31:10):
people would realize the valueof it.
But they don't realize what youcan do to your health if you
embrace and have a team to helpyou embrace.
What foods do we eat?
How do we sleep better?
How do we lower our stresslevel without pharmaceuticals
and access the green pharmacy,access lifestyle.
I think we are a ministry.
I truly believe that the peoplewho are in this industry as I
am, who've ever had, because thewave has turned, the momentum
(31:50):
has shifted.
There's no one who can call usold hippies who sell granolas
and they're quacks.
We're not quacks and we canargue now to the ends of the
earth with PubMed literaturesand all the science behind what
we do.
We couldn't do that 15 yearsago, maybe 10.
We could start.
(32:11):
Covid helped us immensely in allregards because it showed the
lackings of traditional medicalthinking.
Yeah, traditional medicalthinking are very smart people
in their avenue of thinking, butit also showed where they are
lacking.
And guess who picked up thepace from that?
It has to be more integrativenutrition and more common sense.
And we are common sense Eathealthy.
(32:34):
How do we do that?
And there's all kinds of ways,but let's have a team, let's
have a coach that can help us tolearn how to eat and supplement
healthy, so got me on a ranthere.
So sorry about that becauseit's my fault, so I've got to go
now.
You know what I have to do now.
Eat lunch.
Tina Smith (32:52):
That's right, but we appreciate it.
We think it's a ministry to you, which is one reason that we
feel aligned with what you guysdo.
Your purpose is the same asours, and so that's why we love
working with you guys.
Ed Jones (33:04):
Thank you both Thank you.
Amanda Ballard (33:07):
Thank you so much, Ed.
Thanks so much for listening tothe Natural Products Marketer
Podcast.
We hope you found this episodeto be super helpful.
Make sure you check out theshow notes for any of those
valuable resources that wementioned on today's episode.
Tina Smith (33:18):
And, before you go, we would love for you to give us
a review.
Follow, like and subscribe onApple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
or wherever you're listeningtoday, and make sure you join us
for our next episode, where wegive you more marketing tips so
that you can reach more peopleand change more lives.
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