FINDING A POINT OF DIFFERENCE

MICHELLE Doherty’s (pictured) life changed when she found a new skincare range in New Zealand called Alpha-H.

Having suffered with cystic acne for 11 years, she had tried countless products and medications with little luck. Alpha-H was the first product to clear her skin, she says.

Four years later she bought the business and took it with her when she moved to the Gold Coast with her husband Dean.

Their three daughters have since all entered the business. Libby owns the Arundel clinic, Taryn is salon manager of the Noosa clinic and Jamee is the company’s marketing manager.

About 85 per cent of the product, manufactured at the head office in Helensvale and at a small factory in Melbourne, is exported. The product is now sold in 11 countries, exclusively in salons and through television home shopping programs.

“Not every woman will walk into a beauty salon, we know that,” says Doherty.

“That’s why home shopping works so well for us. We dared go where others haven’t, but we’ve had to defend that as a brand.

“You won’t find Alpha-H next to hundreds of other products in department stores; it’s our point of difference.”

Next year will be a defining period for the company as it expands into China and the United States.

But the family insists on staying true to its customers and Doherty still trials each product on her own skin.

“Very few companies invest in the safety assessments we do, but we are selling products people are going to put on their face, there’s a lot of responsibility in that,” she says.