NK 12_2022-LR-Englisch

WWW.NETWORK-KARRIERE.COM 12.2022
4,75 €
EUROPAS GRÖSSTE WIRTSCHAFTSZEITUNG FÜR DEN DIREKTVERTRIEB
Initiative
Nebentätigkeit 20 23
ZKZ 66685
„IT FASCINATES ME TO
HELP PEOPLE DEVELOP
THEMSELVES AND SEIZE
THEIR OPPORTUNITY.“
Dr. Andreas Laabs, CEO LR
Health & Beauty SE
Marc T. Tümmers, HAKA Kunz
GmbH Geschäftsführer:
HAKA investiert über
750.000 Euro in die
Produktionsprozesse.
Michael Winter, proWIN
Geschäftsführer:
Das Erfolgskonzept der
proWIN Akademie wurde
vervierfacht.
Sascha Gamper,
PM General Manager
Sales South Europe:
Mit „We Are PM“ wurde ein
besonderer Spirit
geschaffen.
Markus Miller, Chefredakteur
Kapitalschutz vertraulich:
OneCoin: Die Doku zur Kryptoqueen
und Bitcoin-Killerin!
www.seitz-mediengruppe.de
NETWORK-
KARRIERE
VERBINDET

TITELSTORY
17
„WE HAVE EVOLVED OUR BUSINESS
MODEL TO MEET PEOPLE‘S NEEDS
PRECISELY.“
The first 100 days are a time of testing
for every new boss. After all,
it‘s a matter of meeting the expectations
of colleagues, employees,
partners and, ultimately, of oneself.
This was also the experience
of Dr. Andreas Laabs: on May 27,
2022, he assumed the role of the
new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
of LR Health & Beauty SE, with the
management responsibility for the
entire LR Group.
Getting to know the company in
the famous first 100 days was
not something Andreas Laabs had to
claim for himself. After all, the
Hamburg native had already been
CFO and COO of LR Global Holding
GmbH for eight years before becoming
CEO. Accordingly, the
people and business units of the
company, which was founded in 1985
and is now one of the leading digital
social selling companies in the field
of high-quality health and care products,
are anything but foreign to
him.
In terms of products, LR has made a
name for itself with its cutting-edge
technologies, high-quality ingredients
and formulas. The
top brands LR ALOE VIA, LR
ZEITGARD and LR LIFETAKT
stand for timeless beauty,
more health and more
power - in short: More
quality for your life..
LR stands for Health
Health is more than just a
business. It means one
thing above all: well-being.
With strong brands like LR LIFE-
TAKT, LR, as one of the major European
manufacturing companies,
bundles first-class nutritional supplements
into individual solutions. To
achieve this, LR combines the best of
nature and science - confirmed by
renowned testing institutes and
tailored to the demanding national
and international sales partners and
customers.
Dr. Andreas Laabs
CEO LR Health & Beauty SE
LR
stands for
beauty
Beauty is not a matter of chance.
Through the use of modern technologies
and high-quality ingredients
LR sets standards. This is what
makes the extensive product portfolio
in the area of face and body care so
popular. Whether young or old - the
LR product variety offers the right
thing for everyone.
LR stands for safe production
LR has more than 20 years of
expertise in the field of
Aloe Vera Drinking Gels.
The high standard of the
products already begins
with the cultivation of
the plant in Mexico.
The crop grows in arid
regions on barren
farmland and provides
and provides communities
in economically depressed
areas with a livelihood.. Cultivation
is based on strictly controlled
quality criteria.
After harvesting, the pure aloe vera
leaf fillet is extracted from the aloe
vera leaves in a complex testing
process. In the state-of-the-art LR
production facility in Ahlen, the valuable
inside of the leaf is then gently processed
into the versatile Aloe Vera
Drinking Gel. In the process, every
step of production - from the cultivation
of the plant to the delivery of
the finished product - is strictly tested
by independent institutes. For all
Aloe Vera products from LR, only
the Aloe Barbadensis Miller is used.
LR stands for Social Selling
As a modern social selling platform,
the company combines personal
exchange in its community with
efficient, digital solutions. This expertise
is particularly evident in LR‘s
self-developed „LR Connect“ app,
which helps the community build
and develop its business. The community,
which often acts as microinfluencers,
is young, flexible and
increasingly uses social media as a
sales platform.
Network-Karriere Editor Bernd
Seitz in conversation with LR CEO
Dr. Andreas Laabs.
NK: Dr. Laabs, our career paths are
similar. We both come from large
media houses and then, without
knowing much about direct sales,
we landed in this industry and
really caught fire. What excites
you most about direct sales?

18
TITELSTORY
Dr. Andreas Laabs: I‘m fascinated by
helping people to develop and seize
opportunities. With us, they have the
opportunity to contribute something
to their family income with the fantastic
LR products and the easyto-duplicate
LR business model, or
to build up their own sustainable
livelihood full-time without a huge
financial commitment. The need to
enable many people to have a parttime
job will increase quite significantly
in the coming months and years.
NK: Is the point of „further development“
also one that is reflected in LR‘s
goals and values, i.e. the corporate
culture?
Dr. Andreas Laabs: Absolutely. Our
goal is to improve the lives of our sales
partners and customers. We want to
give our partners a plus in quality of
life, the so-called „more“: diverse
career and influencer opportunities,
more personal freedom, and more
financial development opportunities.
We have developed many successful
careers in the last six months, not only
at entry levels, but also at the top
partner level. By developing their
teams, these partners have also
grown their personal and business
environments to the point where
they‘ve achieved sustainable financial
independence.
NK: Usually with new leadership
comes a new corporate direction.
What are your plans for the future
of LR?
Dr. Andreas Laabs: I am in a new
position, but I have already been
able to contribute to and implement
some positive changes in the past
eight years as part of the management
team. The vision of enabling people
to lead healthy and successful lives
remains unchanged. At the same
time, the topic of growth is increasingly
taking precedence over everything
else. For our partnership, we are continuously
developing innovative product
concepts that support business
growth. The new Zeitgard Pro Cosmetic
Device, the most successful
launch ever in the company‘s history,
is currently enjoying great sales success.
Zeitgard Pro has also been nominated
for the German Design Award
2023. That‘s great! For the future, my
focus is on internationalization and
digitization. In doing so, I am counting
on increased cooperation with our
most successful sales partners
worldwide
NK: What does that mean in concrete
terms?
Dr. Andreas Laabs: I have launched a
new, international event format in Ahlen,
which has already taken place twice
this year. At these Top Leader events,
we pick up our most successful partners
from various countries to discuss
important topics such as new products
and new sales initiatives. We
also want the partners to feel the size
of our company and have the opportunity
to share successful ways of
working with other LR distributors.
Even though expansion into further
markets, especially in Asia, is relevant
for us, I still see great potential in all
existing LR markets in Europe.
NK: Speaking of existing markets
and company performance, how
has the war in Ukraine actually affected
LR‘s business? What will
happen there now?
Dr. Andreas Laabs: February 24, 2022,
and the subsequent situation in Ukraine
were a shock for all of us. Unfortunately,
due to the war, we had to close our
LR business there until the end
of April 2022. The safety of our
employees, as well as that of our sales
partners, was and remains our top
priority at all times. At the request of
our employees and partners, we resumed
business in Ukraine in May. It
is important for them to generate
their own income and thus also contribute
to the reconstruction of their
country. Especially when the situation
in a country is difficult, we are not one
of those companies that simply leave
the country. On the contrary, we invest
in our sales partners - even when
they are unable to pursue their LR
activities because of the war. For
example, since the beginning of this
war, we have been paying our sales
partners in Ukraine their lost bonuses
every month and also enabled them
12.2022

TITELSTORY
19
to attend partner meetings in other
countries. We see this as our obligation,
this is what we understand by LR
partnership in action.
NK: All respect! There are probably
very few companies in the war zones
that think and act like this -
especially at a time when the
energy crisis is creating further
challenges. How is LR dealing
with the energy crisis?
Dr. Andreas Laabs: We prepared
ourselves at an early stage for the
challenging energy situation in
Germany. As a manufacturing company,
we didn‘t hesitate for a second.
This included both the testing of processes
and the search for alternatives
for technical equipment that has
been operated via gas to date. To
further secure the power supply, we
also rely on renewable energies and
have just installed a new energy park.
The project includes around 3,200
photovoltaic panels with a capacity
of 1,200 kWh/peak on the roofs of
our logistics halls and aloe vera production.
The photovoltaic system will
go into operation on January 1, 2023.
NK: Now we‘ve talked a lot about
values, the Ukraine war and the
energy crisis, but not yet about
LR‘s product-side development.
What‘s the way forward here? To
what extent will LR continue to
manufacture and sell fragrances
in the future?
Dr. Andreas Laabs: LR has grown up
with fragrances. They will continue to
be a relevant product segment for
us. In terms of cooperation with
celebrities, we are focusing on
working with Guido Maria Kretschmer,
Bruce Willis and his wife. In
addition, our product philosophy in
the fragrance segment is to regularly
offer limited-edition fragrances, for
example for Valentine‘s Day or Christmas.
We will not deviate from this in
the future. And in Health & Beauty,
our main business, we are also
aiming for new products that demonstrate
our
innovative
strength. We are already
working on these at full speed.
NK: Finally, I would be interested to
know what your general outlook is
for LR, possibly even the entire direct
selling industry?
LR CEO Dr. Andreas Laabs with Thomas Heursen, General
Manager Global Partner Relations, LR Health & Beauty SE
Dr. Andreas Laabs: The importance
of our business model will continue
to grow, because the high costs for
households are bringing about an increased
need for additional income
throughout Europe. Our business
model is right on target in the current
period of high inflation. In addition, it
is already evident that sales partners
who use digital ways of working via
social media develop their careers
faster and are also more successful
in attracting new partners.
Nevertheless, business will not be
exclusively digital in the future. Quite
the opposite: the „one to one“, i.e. the
direct, personal exchange, will
remain indispensable for the
sustainable relationship building
in the respective teams..
https://www.lrworld.com
LR Health & Beauty launches a new beauty era with the new ZEITGARD PRO COSMETIC DEVICE.