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Getting Personal: How keeping good company has created a company--and a culture

An Interview with Roger Hendrix, CEO

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  Interviewer

  grënx products appear too available by way of multiple distribution channels like traditional retail, direct sales through independent distributors, and online. What is the grënx marketing strategy and how and why does grënx blend these, seemingly competitive marketing methods?
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  Roger Hendrix, JR

  The simple answer to that question is that we don't market our products, we aren't a marketing company. We are an experience. A shared experience. Our people love our product and share it. It's that simple. We also all share a passion for living well, helping others to do the same, and really just doing what we can (big or small) to make the world a better place. This makes us more than a company; it makes us a culture, and really, a way of life.

  We don't really market our products in the traditional sense. We simply share our personal experience with GreenTeaHP with people who haven't tried it yet, and when our personal story resonates with someone and they want to try GreenTeaHP for themselves, we make it easy for them to do so by making our product available in all the ways customers buy product. We blur the lines between retail, online, and direct sales because that's the reality of how people want to do business and make purchases.

  Because we are small and growing fast, we have the ability to respond to what our customers want. And because we tend to attract cool, committed people who not only see us as a product but as a partner, we have a responsibility to really listen to them and allow their insight to help shape us as we grow.
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  Interviewer

  You mentioned the word "story" and the term "narrative marketing" or the use of personal stories is emerging as really the new wave of marketing and is now starting to get a lot of early buzz from top marketing gurus. It sounds like that's something grënx has been doing all along. Although you aren't a traditional marketing company, would narrative marketing describe the way grënx messages their products to potential customers?
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  Roger Hendrix, JR

  Yes and no. I guess if you had to put our communication style in a category, you could say we use personal narrative to message our products because we communicate by sharing the story of our personal experience with something that has improved our lives with people we care about or seem similarly minded. It's really basic and simple and doesn't require anyone to be a trained salesperson or scientific expert.

  The only thing required is that someone has a legitimate, powerful, life-changing experience with our products. And they do all the time. And when they do, they share it. There's really no training or marketing necessary. It's like when you see a great movie or read an amazing book or make a geographical change or take up running and so on...you are just compelled to share it with others because it seems to be some inherent part of the human experience to want to share our positive experiences with others and offer them the opportunity to experience the same benefits. You don't have to have a business degree to market "running" to your friends and you don't have to spend a year learning about the cardiovascular benefits to long-term health or the effect of endorphins on wellbeing and mood, etc., you just tell people in the course of normal conversations, "Hey did I tell you I took up running? It's changed my life. I feel great."
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  Interviewer

  On your website and in the communications that go to the people who use your products, there is basic product, company, and upcoming event information but you also seem to share seemingly unrelated information like stories, quotes, anecdotes and so on. What's the point?
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  Roger Hendrix, JR

  Well, there isn't one, except that like I said, we aren't a marketing company and we are more than just a product, we are really a paradigm shift, a way of living that is focused on living well. And by living well I mean living a healthy, productive and generous life. The foundation of this is your physical health, but it's just the beginning and a part of a larger culture of wanting to make positive change in our own lives, the lives of the people we care about, and the communities...even the world...we live in. So these stories are things that interest us or inspire us to make these changes and continue to be positive, productive people.

  I mean really what's the point of what we put in our bodies? It should be healthy fuel to help us live healthy physical, emotional, social, and mental lives. I don't mean to oversimplify, but only to really break it down to some core actions and outcomes. If we asked ourselves how we can live until we are 100 and never get sick and keep all our loved ones safe and healthy and change the world each morning, not many of us would get out of bed because it feels overwhelming. But if you say, hey, what can I do today, right now ,to take care of myself, and who can I help in some small way today, just today, then you do it and because you've done it today, you feel motivated to do it tomorrow.

  And who knows, we may or may not arrive at the destination we've envisioned for ourselves, but to say you did your best to take care of yourself and the people you care about and world you live in everyday feels pretty damned rewarding. So that's why I say that at grënx we really aren't consciously building a company so much as keeping good company. And again, it's because we are more than a company, we are an attitude and an atmosphere.

  To me, going to work doesn't feel like a job at an office. It feels like a wonderful dinner party or social gathering with friends and family where the good things in life are shared and funny, moving, motivating stories are told. Put simply, grënx is a culture of sharing our personal experience to benefit others. It's more than what we do, it's just who we are.