Dynamic Dozen No. 10: Country Bunny Bath & Body

Active representatives, Bogart said, must sell $300 in product every six months.

In January and February alone, more than 700 representatives joined the sales force, and Bogart said the company's goal is to have a sales force of 40,000 by 2008.A nationwide sales force is a far cry from Country Bunny's beginning at the Bogart home, where Nancy Bogart made lotion bars to sell at craft shows and to friends. Now, the company occupies two warehouse facilities and employs a growing staff.

"We started out with one employee in our living room, and now have on-staff, on-site, 38," Nancy Bogart said.

Aurora Ruiz, who speaks both English and Spanish, recently joined Country Bunny, which now also offers a catalog in Spanish.

"We want to grow as big as we can," Ron Bogart said. "At 4 years old, we have a larger sales force than Mary Kay or Pampered Chef had starting out, and we don't plan on backing off."

As CEO, Ron handles nuts-and-bolts business issues while Nancy the founder, chairwoman of the board and vice president of sales trains and inspires the sales force, a task that includes conference calls, audio recordings and personal appearances across the nation.

Nancy notes that while people think it's a good thing when companies grow quickly, it doesn't happen without growing pains. For Country Bunny, finding enough space has been a challenge.

"We want to grow but stay local in the community. But finding someplace that has warehouses and loading docks isn't always easy," she said.

Ron is quick to add that they want to keep Country Bunny in Nixa as long as they possibly can.

"I still believe we could've grown faster, but it would have been at the expense of our small children," Nancy said. The Bogarts have three boys ages 10, 7 and 6, and just last year they adopted a daughter, also 6.

As for how the couple maintains a healthy balance as coworkers and spouses, Nancy said the solution is simple they don't work in the same building. Each has an office in one of the two company warehouses, although they're very much a team when it comes to running the company.

There are 164 items on Country Bunny's inventory list, including all the bath and body product variations such as the lotion barsin different scents.

Nancy is still involved on the creative end, working on additions to the product line.

The products are manufactured at Summer Scent, a company located next door to Country Bunny and owned by one of the original six Country Bunny representatives.

In 2003, 781,548 items were manufactured for Country Bunny, according to Ron.

The company that started as a way for Nancy, then a stay-at-home mom, to make some extra money has grown to the point that the Bogarts are in demand on a national basis.

The Bogarts and Country Bunny products recently were featured on "Livin' it Up with Ali and Jack," which broadcasts locally on UPN affiliate KDL, and Nancy was chosen to speak at the annual event of the Direct Sales Association, of which Country Bunny is a member.

Nancy said the Direct Sales Association believes that companies like Country Bunny must have three things to be successful: a good story or history, a good compensation plan and a dynamic product that people want.

Nancy said people love hearing about how she started the company in her home, so the story's there, while the growing sales force and product line demonstrates the demand for Country Bunny products.

As for compensation, the commission structure ranges from 15 percent to 25 percent on personal sales.

There are also achievement bonuses and tiered override commissions. Nancy noted that to participate in team total commissions, representatives must sell $300 a month.

The compensation plan is "multileveled, sound and built for the long-term," she said.