How To Provide Custom Private Label Supplements To Your Patients (For Practitioners)
Summary
Dr. Donald Wiencek is the president and owner of Tru Body Wellness, a private label supplement supplier. Dr. Wiencek has held positions as vice president, as well as president and CEO of multiple product manufacturing businesses. He has a background in engineering and a Master’s Degree in Business.
Dr. Wiencek started Tru Body Wellness in 2001 with the goal of making high-quality and effective dietary supplements available to customers for private labeling, which allows doctors to go to market with confidence to build their brand and boost their success. In this growing market, which is becoming more and more complicated, there are so many amazing opportunities coming out.
In this video, Dr. Wiencek provides more insights for providers on:
- How to provide custom private label supplements to their patients
- Multiple benefits of having your own custom line of private label supplements
- How to make it a win-win for you and your patients with increased patient satisfaction and retention and improved patient care
The Private Label Supplement Industry
The market for private label supplements is vast and continuing to grow at an amazing rate. According to Dr. Wiencek, these products are close to a $120 billion worldwide market. In the U.S. alone, these supplements account for $45 billion in sales and are growing by 6 to 8% a year. In a market that large, that kind of growth brings lots of opportunities for others to enter the market and still be successful. This is especially true for well-known doctors and healthcare providers who already have an established reputation with their clients, to begin selling their own private label supplements. Selling custom products adds more revenue to their income stream and profits.
Private label products can also offer customers peace of mind with a brand they can trust. You can bring even more value to your customers by creating extra health programs and that incorporate nutritional supplements that work better for your patients and clients.
Establishing a known brand is important to growing your business. Selling supplements that have your own custom labels allows you to build this brand, expanding your reach.
Benefits of Offering Custom Private Label Dietary Supplements
Dr. Kent Holtorf recognized the win-win scenario in offering private label supplements. These custom products benefit not only the practitioner, but the customer as well.
There are good big supplement companies, but their products are expensive, and to many of your clients, unknown. You can build on the relationship you have with your clients by offering them a product you have endorsed. When they see your custom label, your clients will know it’s a product they can trust.
Instead of putting the money in the pockets of those large supplement manufacturers, you can build your own profits while offering patients higher quality at a cheaper price tag.
The Challenges
Even though the market is huge, it’s not as simple as it may sound to launch a private label dietary supplement. The private label supplement business, just like any other business, is also facing some serious challenges:
Trust Issues
Dr. Wiencek mentions that trust is one of the major challenges to having private label supplements. You can offer a custom product, but if people are unsure about what’s inside the capsule they may be reluctant to purchase your supplements.
This challenge can be overcome, however, if you leverage your patient’s trust. If you have already established your own brand name, this may come easily. When you have a well known product line with a great reputation, your clients will trust it, they’ll buy it, and they’ll may even pay more for it because they know that they can trust your brand.
The Problem with ‘Claims’
Although dietary supplements don’t need to be approved the same way prescription medications do, they are regulated, and you still need to be aware of the rules. It’s important that your label doesn’t make wild, unsupported claims. That’s how you can get into trouble with the FDA and/or the FTC!
According to Dr. Wiencek, “the FDA does regulate dietary supplements, but they don’t approve dietary supplements. That means that they set the rules and standards, the GMP, Good Manufacturing Practices, but it’s self-regulated. Your manufacturer should follow the rules set up, but they don’t have to submit the product to the FDA for approval. ”
Put careful thought into the wording on your labels. Know what you are – and are not – allowed to say. Be careful about claiming your supplement can cure any disease. Market your product in a way that is honest and transparent.
How to Private Label Supplements: Some Key Takeaways
In this video, Dr. Don Wiencek shares a 7-Step Plan that will help you achieve success in private label products:
Have a goal
You know your business and your clients best. You have a solid understanding of your specialty, and the goals you are trying to achieve for your client’s health. Regardless of what that specialty is, you need to have a health goal in mind before you can create an appropriate product line. Pay close attention to the issues your clients typically have, and design your product line to address those issues.
Don’t just think of a supplement
Consumers can buy a dietary supplement or other health supplements online, at Costco, or at any pharmacy. And they don’t even have to visit a health care practitioner first!
That’s why it’s important to think beyond the supplement. Your primary services will lead into the opportunity to market your supplement line. Dr. Wiencek advises you to come up with a comprehensive plan for a specific issue, then run a program that includes a range of strategies, including the supplement.
Think of the dietary supplement that you want to offer
Carefully consider which dietary supplements you believe will help the specific targeted issue, or what ingredients will help support the plan. There are many aspects to consider including custom formulation, product quality, benefits of the supplement, and more. You need to be able to articulate why this particular supplement is the best one to address the health issues your clients are facing.
Have a marketing plan
Consumers have so many choices on where to buy nutritional supplements. You can’t assume they’ll come to you first.
As with any product, before you launch your private label supplements you need to know how you’re going to market your brand to your patients and clients. A good marketing plan includes demonstrating how your product is different (and better) than the competition, knowing who your target customers are, setting clear goals and objectives, creating a budget for your marketing efforts, collecting data on your target audience’s needs, and knowing exactly what channels you’ll use to reach out. A website isn’t enough – you need multiple ways to reach your audience, which may include email, blogs, social media, and more.
Having a well thought out marketing plan with clear action steps will help propel your business forward.
Establish your Brand
When establishing a private label brand, you need to have a cohesive, consistent design that includes both your logo and your name. Creating a private label for the product will help you protect your brand and lend more credibility to the supplements you recommend.
Dr. Wiencek says that Tru Body Wellness can help you every step of the way. “We can help you all the way from choosing the ingredients and formula, the label design, the manufacturer, the manufacturing of the product, and the shipping. We take care of it all, from soup to nuts, and you just worry about what you do. We do have standard formulas which may be close enough. They may not be exactly what you want, but you can use them as a starting point. You have to prove that you can sell a private label product. Then, you can always go to the next step and customize.”
Work with a Private Label Supplement Manufacturer that You Trust
It is critical that you find a private label supplement manufacturer that you trust. There are a huge number of private label manufacturers out there, which can make it difficult for a practitioner working to build their own brand to choose the right one for their needs.
Some important things to consider when choosing private label supplement manufacturers are the manufacturing practices they follow and whether they have appropriate certifications, how experienced they are in helping to create labels that work, and how much trust you have in the people you will be working with.
Dr. Wiencek said that Tru Body has always worked with manufacturers that are not only GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) certified, but manufacturers that he knows personally. That means he knows the owners and the management team, and he trusts them.
Product labels can get complex, and you have to know what you can (and cannot) say on these labels. You can’t afford not to get the label right when building a brand. That’s why if you are considering dipping your toe in the private label waters, you need a reputable private label manufacturer to guide you.
It’s absolutely essential that you choose the right private label manufacturer, someone you trust as the right source for your custom product line.
Know the low minimum orders
Some private label supplement manufacturers have minimum orders that can be out of reach, especially when you are just beginning to build your brand. It’s important to be aware of how much of a product you will have to order and whether or not you’ll be able to turn around and sell that in a timely fashion.
Dr. Wiencek says Tru Body Wellness brings a lot to the table in this area. “We have low minimums, but we can also match you with the manufacturer you need, so you can trust their expertise. Not only do you get great quality, but you also get good competitive pricing. You’re matching your need to their special manufacturing expertise – whether it’s a liquid, powder, capsule or tablet, we can match you with the right manufacturer.”
