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20 Things You Didn't Know About Rodan and Fields

Rodan and Fields is a highly popular brand of skincare products but it's not something that you can purchase from local stores. If you haven't heard of the brand, don't feel bad because there are a lot of people right there with you. The brand is upscale and it's only available through the manufacturer/distributor. It's highly respected by users for being effective in improving the appearance of the skin. We were interested in learning more about the company besides what is advertised. Here are 20 things we discovered that you probably didn't know about Rodan and Fields.

1. Rodan and Fields has been compared to Proactive for the mature crowd

Rodan and Fields is a brand that offers skincare products that are intended for mature women. It's been compared to Proactive because it's supposed to improve skin condition and appearance in older women, similar to improvements that are made for teens and women in their 20s with Proactiv. Rodan and Fields products are claimed to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and find lines in the skin, thus promoting skin that appears more radiant and youthful. This is something that is highly appealing to women who are starting to see the effects of aging skin and who want to appear to be younger. Some women use it because they want to have healthier looking skin.

2. Some Rodan and Fields kits are expensive

The majority of Rodan and Fields skincare products come in kits that perform specific functions. There are four different categories of skincare products including those that redefine those that reverse the aging process, those that unblemish the skin and those that soothe. The Rodan and Fields starter kit starts at $170 and it comes with a cleanser, a day and night moisturizer and a toner. Their most expensive kit costs as much as $363 and it is called their "Age Assault" kit. While these products may be quite expensive compared to some of the other well known brands on the market, they're by far, not the most high priced which are on the market today.

3. Rodan and Fields was founded in 1995

The brand has only been in existence since 1995. The Rodan and Fields company is named after its two co-founders. Dr. Katie Rodan and Dr. Kathy Fields are the two dermatologists who developed this full line of skin care products. This lends a great deal of credibility to the claims about their ability to effectively improve the appearance of the skin. These ladies have both dedicated their careers to treating skin conditions and they have a lot of experience under their belts. As experts in the field of skin care, they are highly qualified to develop these types of products.

4. Rodan and Fields also developed Proactiv

Here is a fun fact about Rodan and Field that most people are not aware of. The dermatologists who developed the popular brand Rodan and Field are also the ones who created Proactiv, the acne treatment that has been effective for so many. You may remember seeing the infomercials about these products. This is how they chose to do their advertising and they've gained the support of celebrities who share their experiences with Rodan and Fields products. They give compelling reasons why it's probably worth giving the skincare products a try.

5. The Rodan and Fields products are only sold online or by consultant

You won't see Rodan and Fields products sold at your local beauty store. You can only buy them online or from a trained beauty product consultant who is approved to distribute these products. They have a network of almost 300,000 consultants throughout North America. This is the way that their business structure has been set up. It 2017, the brand was ranked as the number one skin are product in North America. This rating was assessed in terms of its sales, which soared at the time. The products are sold at special events, on social media and by word of mouth.

6. Rodan and Fields products can help get rid of dark spots

Many women experience darkening of the skin in blotches that are referred to as dark spots, or age spots. These can be hard to cover up with cosmetics and there are a lot of women who have tried all kinds of home remedies to lighten these spots. They use everything from lemon juice and a healthy dose of sunlight to go with the juice to chemical skin lightening treatments. Rodan and Field products have a good success rate for lightening the dark spots and this is one of the reasons why the brand has become such a top seller in North America.

7. The Rodan and Fields Business model is working great

We recently learned that the Rodan and Fields system for selling their products is working amazingly for the company. In 2017 their sales hit a remarkable $1.3 billion. They have surpassed the sales of former leaders in the industry such as Olay and Neutrogena. What is so remarkable about this is that the brand is not as highly available, nor is it as visible as the other brands that you can pick up at any local retailer practically. This leads us to believe that the product lines they are selling must be highly effective and that they must be having a lot of repeat business from satisfied customers.

8. There are a lot of benefits to selling Rodan and Fields

Consultants who sell Rodan and Fields products enjoy many benefits. One of the biggest is that they do not have the hassle of maintaining an inventory. They sell the products by taking customer orders and sending them in directly to the distributor. They are mailed out to the customers and this adds a great convenience for consultants because they don't have to handle the products, nor do they have to worry about running out of certain products either. This is all handled by the distributor. In fact, the Rodan and Fields company discourages their consultants from maintaining a stock of inventory. While this is the opposite strategy from most beauty product distributors, it seems to be working very well when you look at how high the sales for the brand have been.

9. Consultants have two options for compensation

Here is another benefits for Rodan and Fields consultants. They have a choice of how they want to receive compensation. They can either have all of their sales applied towards discounts on the prices of products for themselves, or they can take a commission in the form of payment on the products that they sell. Statistics show that about half go for the commission based pay and half opt for discounts on the products. One drawback to being a consultant is that the company does not offer any type of bonus or compensation for recruiting other consultants to help sell the products.

10. Rodan and Fields sold the brand in 2016

The two dermatologists who owned all the rights to the brand sold the company in 2016. The purchase cost to the new owners was $50 billion. The two women are high on the Forbes list of richest self made women in America. Doctors Rodan and Fields are listed as the 27th on this exclusive list. They have made a fortune with their line of skincare products and they have done so helping women around the world to feel more confident about the appearance of their skin.

11. Estee Lauder bought the brand in 1996

There was a period of time when you could purchase Rodan and Fields products in department stores throughout the United States. Just one year after the brand launched its successful product line, Estee Lauder bought them out. They made them available to anyone who wanted to purchase them and it was through direct sales, which was a radically different approach than Rodan and Fields had taken prior to the sale. They soon learned that this was an ineffective way to market the products. For some reason, it just didn't work out and since Estee Lauder wasn't doing a good job of selling the products, the doctors bought it back from them in 2007. Once Rodan and Fields had the company back, they resumed the marketing methods that they were confident in and the company became highly successful.

12. Fields wanted her products to be available to help women

The reason that the company was bought back by its two founders is that they considered the benefits too valuable to allow it to go by the wayside because of marketing issues. They wanted to regain control of how the products were marketed to ensure that they would always be available to those who gained so much from using them. Dr. Fields shared that she knew the use of the products changed lives because they worked. They were effective in improving the quality of appearance of the skin.

13. Consultants use social media to promote their products

The most common way that consultants spread the word about Rodan and Fields products is through the use of social media. It's one of the most effective ways to reach the people who are the most interested in the products. Thanks to the new intuitive marketing technology that is in use by social media sites, there are mechanisms that drive the messages to people who have shown an interest in similar products and so the marketing can be done through the use of targeted messages that do not spam everyone with the ads, but rather, make them appear to those who show the highest likelihood of having an interest in them.

14. Social media gives you examples of what the products do

One of the most effective tools that consultants have through social media advertising is the ability to upload photos of before and after using the products. This gives everyone of preview of what they might be able to expect for themselves. It's especially effective for women who are more visually oriented. When you're not feeling great about your appearance, it's nice to see that something can be done to improve the way you look and boost your self confidence. The before and after photos are very compelling evidence for why you should try the product.

15. You can find hundreds of consultants on Facebook

If you're interested in trying Rodan and Fields skincare products, but you don't know where to find a consultant, it's not hard to find hundreds of them. All you need to do is type Rodan and Fields consultant in the search bar of your Facebook account. It will return a lot of consultants that are within the closest radius to your location.

16. They recently had some legal issues

In 2016, a class-action lawsuit was filed against the company. Claims were made that some of the ingredients in the Lash Boost Eyelash growth serum caused reactions that included swelling and burning. One of the ingredients in the serum is controversial to begin with because it has not been approved by the Food and Drug administration as a drug.

17. There is a ban in Canada on a controversial ingredient

Isopropyl cloprostenate is the ingredient that has generated the recent lawsuit that was filed in the United States. This means that Rodan and Fields products are not allowed to be stocked in the country. This is why you won't find any consultants selling the famous and popular Lash Booster there.

18. Some consultants make a good living

There are some Rodan and Fields consultants who do very well financially selling the popular skincare products. There are those who make six figure salaries. However, most of these successful sellers are celebrity figures with a high profile.

19. Rodan and Fields consultants have no guarantee of making money

The company does not guarantee that any consultant will make money selling the products. The company makes this clear in a statement that they place on their website. Statistics show that there were 60% of the consultants who earned an average of just $334 per year in 2016.

20. Rodan and Fields stand behind their products

After the lawsuit was filed, a spokesperson for the brand issued a statement that let the world know that they still stand behind their products. Most beauty products offer a disclaimer than warn users irritation can occur for some individuals. Rodan and Fields is no different and they have issued these warnings.

Dana Hanson

Written by Dana Hanson

Dana has extensive professional writing experience including technical and report writing, informational articles, persuasive articles, contrast and comparison, grant applications, and advertisement. She also enjoys creative writing, content writing on nearly any topic (particularly business and lifestyle), because as a lifelong learner, she loves to do research and possess a high skill level in this area. Her academic degrees include AA social Sci/BA English/MEd Adult Ed & Community & Human Resource Development and ABD in PhD studies in Indust & Org Psychology.

Read more posts by Dana Hanson

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