Who is João Appolinário, known as the most influential shark in Shark Tank Brazil?

Presleyson Lima
presleyson
Published in
4 min readAug 14, 2019

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João Appolinário is known as one of the most influential investors of the Shark Tank Brasil program.

But did you know that he founded the famous Polishop?

That’s right!

And the way the businessman made the company reach annual revenues of approximately $ 1 billion a year was much simpler than you think: he only bet on differentials.

Of course, creating a business and getting it to that level is not easy, but what is surprising is that some simple actions really make a big difference.

To learn more about João Appolinário’s balconies, take advantage of the information in this text!

After all, who is João Appolinário?

João Appolinário is well known for his participation in one of the most watched programs on television: Shark Tank Brasil.

But do not think that reaching success was simple.

The entrepreneur started as a partner in a family car dealership, but did not want to be a mere successor to a family business.

In fact, John really wanted to become an entrepreneur and set up his own company.

Of course, he left the dealership and went his own way as a businessman.

Appolinário soon bet on selling a weight loss product, which he met when he went to the United States. The item promised weight loss in just one week.

Enthusiastic about its effectiveness, the entrepreneur took some kits and introduced them to marketing and direct sales consultants, who soon talked about the difficulty of selling considering that the product had a high price and could not be shipped by the Post Office, as the Packaging was too large.

Not to mention their criticism of the selling method that João wanted to use, via television and telephone.

But Appolinário believed in the product and the method and went ahead with the endeavor.

The first thing he ruled out was trying to market it in drugstores because of the price.

Another important point he considered was that he would need enough time to explain its benefits to the consumer.

John then called in an important partner: former pilot Emerson Fittipaldi, who, incidentally, became the poster boy for the weight loss item, and spent $ 500,000 with him to start the company’s activities.

In order not to use the post office, they hired a carrier to make the deliveries.

And it worked! The great results showed John the relevance of the sales channels that everyone criticized.

In three years they sold 600,000 kits and earned a revenue of $ 138 million.

Of course Appolinario decided to expand the business.

And yes, it was the beginning of Polishop in 1999.

But don’t think she started out big.

In fact, the company had only 30 products in the catalog and all were sold on TV and in commercials.

It was enough for a salesperson to explain its features and advantages.

But of course this required more advertising time, prompting John to buy large spaces on small channels whose grids were not completely filled.

The strategy was to sell imported and manufactured products in Brazil so as not to compete with retailers, and to practice more affordable prices.

The company later partnered with suppliers to create unique products such as the grill of George Foreman, the former boxer.

Today, besides telesales, Polishop has physical and virtual stores, catalog and independent commercial representation of multilevel marketing.

Among the most marketed products are those of partner brands such as Conair, Arno, Philips Walita, Eletrolux, Cadence, Elgin and Ge.

Not to mention selling items like dietary supplements and beauty products.

Polishop still owns the rights to the Miss Brazil contest.

This is precisely why Appolinário is compared to the president of the United States, even being considered the Brazilian Donald Trump.

After all, the American also has a multilevel marketing company and is a former owner of the Miss Universe brand.

But what makes your annual revenues of about $ 1 billion a year rare when compared to companies of the same age? What is the secret of success?

It’s simple: the explanation of how products work and their benefits to customers. This is a big differential!

What does João Appolinário have to teach us?

What João Appolinário has more to teach us is not about offering a quality product or service, but about the differentials that companies need to have to gain space in the market.

The detailed explanation of how an item works and its benefits is what makes consumers trust Polishop, after all, the company provides everything they need to make their decision.

The customer may not even be considering buying, but as he sees so many advantages, as well as details and demonstrations, he begins to associate that product with his life, and ends up buying a George Foreman grill, for example, without even needing it.

Fantastic!

And their differences, what are they?

If you don’t have one yet, start studying them, deploying them, and publicizing them.

Just as the results were amazing for John Appolinario, they can be for you too.

Presleyson Lima www.presleyson.com.br

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Presleyson Lima
presleyson

I help entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs get results in their business through information security, talk to me now.