Sue Ismiel

Do you take the approach that your daughters are like other employees or do you need to play it a little bit differently?

Oh definitely, they are like other employees. Every one of them is required to submit their three KPI report on a monthly basis, no one gets away with that. Whether they are my daughters or anyone else, they are treated like employees.

You’ve gone into a different area for Nad’s in the last few years, which is franchising and setting up the laser clinics. What was the thinking there? Was it a different way to extend the brand or a new market you could tap?

The franchising model stems from our existing Nad’s laser clinic. We currently own five laser clinics and we provide services, laser hair removal treatment. So over the past three years, after obviously researching the laser hair removal market, we wanted to provide that service. We chose franchising as a vehicle for expansion because we believe when people have vested interests in their work, you know they can enjoy it more, they can bring more to the table and that can be more successful. So what we’re offering at the moment is, we’re targeting highly driven individuals, you know, aged 30-plus who have been climbing the corporate ladder of success if you like and are ready to start their own business and experience the success of Nad’s.

Your business is quite closely associated with your personality. Do you need to change your thinking to trust these new franchisees that are coming from outside the family and outside the business?

I’m very selective about my target market for franchisees. What I would be looking for is an entrepreneurial mind, a business-minded person who has high expectations of themselves, who really wants to improve themselves and they are ready to start their business. Someone who sees the value in the Nad’s global brand awareness. There is no point in selling a franchise to a wealthy person who has no idea how to run a business, so I have to be very selective in who I choose.

I know we spoke to Nadine last year and I think she sort of said the target for 2009-10 was around $50 million in revenue. How have you gone? What effect has the GFC had?

I don’t know about numbers yet, it’s not the end of the financial year and we’ve still got two months to go. But the Global Financial Crisis has obviously affected many small businesses. Particularly in the US; we lost two major accounts because of the financial meltdown. While the revenue has not been reached, the profit target has. I think we have been very wise in our cost-cutting strategy and the bottom line has been healthy. It’s produced the targeted profit results but the revenue wasn’t achieved.

I know you’re still keen on those overseas markets, but is it difficult to grow there at the moment, particularly in North America?

It is. I think people in America are still feeling the recession big time and the plan for this year for 2011 is really to consolidate the markets that we are in rather than try and grow the markets that we are in. So consolidation of the US market, the UK market and New Zealand and Australia is really the plan for the coming year.

With I guess growth coming through the franchise system?

The franchise system and also the launch of the new category which is PuraSkin. Nadine is actually repeating history with the introduction of PuraSkin which is an acne treatment which she developed for her own problems. So we’re very, very excited to launch this whole new range in Australia, prove the concept here and then obviously take it abroad and replicate the success of Nad’s overseas.

Is that range out now?

We’ve launched PuraSkin online at the moment but the plan is to go out there big time on television and Nadine telling her story again about how she created another problem solving solution and just sharing it with the world, and that’s happening in July.

Those personal stories behind the products and the brands has been a real focus of the marketing push throughout the building of this business.

People connect throughout the world when they hear stories from rags to riches if you like. People want to know how normal people can achieve significant results and it’s about that. It’s about sharing and encouraging people to have a go. When I went to the US with the Nad’s story, people welcomed not only the effectiveness of the product but also the reason behind the creation of the product and the story attached. Obviously we’ll make the most of repeating this winning strategy with everything we launch in the marketplace.

I know the reason you brought in that CEO in 2004 was that you felt that you needed a break. Do you see a day when you’ll have to hand the company over to your daughters? Or is that not in the foreseeable future?

Look, just because someone didn’t perform, someone didn’t have the ability to do what I expect of them to do, doesn’t mean that everyone will bring the same result to the business. Yes, one day I will hand this business over to my daughters but I’m not going anywhere anytime in the near future. I’m really enjoying the strength that I have achieved as a result of this major setback and the discipline that I had to bring onboard. You know, it has been a big learning experience for me and I’m really, really enjoying it.

But one thing that this experience has taught me is to look at the track records of the person that I employ in whatever part of the organisation. Be it sales or marketing, you know prove your track record first before you can join me. Make sure that your values agree with our values and the values of the company. So I am very selective and I know that there are people out there who can help and help the business grow when I decide to take time off.