Telecommunications company Lightyear Network Solutions LLC, (Louisville, KY) a company that provides internet based pone service, is opening its doors to market a brand new product……an Energy drink. Say what?
Josh Henderson, who is president of Lightyears Alliance division, announced last week that the company will now brand its own drink. The announcement served as the official launch for the new drink, Lightyear Xstream Energy.
Lightyear Xstream Energy contains caffeine and yohimbe, which claims to boost the metabolism. The non-carbonated beverage will be available in mango and pomma punch flavors.
Lightyears sales representatives – over 37,000 strong, will begin selling the bottle this week. A shipment of 12 bottles will cost $29.99 and the sales representatives will make a 30 percent commission on sales of the drinks.
While it is unusual for company to veer away from their main source of revenue, Lightyear has a strong background as a direct sales company. The company was founded in 1993 and originally called UniDial. They have been a profitable company since then. The company wanted to use its direct sales background to branch out. Following the success of other direct sales company’s focused on energy drink products, the Lightyear Sales reps felt that the energy drink was the best fit for the company. So the question is….are the the 37,000 reps going to be selling the telco service or the energy drink? According to the company, both but clearly the reach of the energy drink will out weigh that of the telco service so could the reps become “distracted”? This is a very unusual approach for a direct sales company to take but one that if it does pay off, could breed other types of hybrid sales strategies. We think this move is so far removed from the company’s core business that it’s actually a mistake but we would love to be wrong!
The drink will not be available in stores and can only be obtained through a Lightyear Sales Representative.
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