Coats Aloe's focus on R&D and high quality has resulted in product success.

If believing in your product was all it took to make it a success, Coats Aloe would have been on top without even releasing a single bottle of lotion. Owner and President Bill Coats believes in the healing properties of his product so much he's written five books about it. With high-profile partnerships with Herbalife and Loreal, it's clear Coats isn't the only person who has faith in his line of aloe-based personal care products, but he says it's taken a lot more than faith to get to where the company is today.

Innovative Beginnings
Coats says he began selling aloe products in 1962. He was running a small pharmaceutical company at the time and could only sell prescriptions to those doctors who specifically prescribed Coats' brand. Because aloe products were without side effects and contraindications, Coats could sell them without a prescription. Coats says a friend at the Pharmacy College in Austin, Texas, told him in 1955 that "if they find a way to solve the problems - being oxidation and bacteria - it will be a bigger seller than penicillin is today."

Coats says many aloe manufacturers will simply cut the leaf open and remove the gel from inside, ignoring the bacteria on the rind that reacts with the gel to give it its healing properties. After working on it himself, Coats patented the first whole-leaf production system for his products, and uses it in 220 skin care, sun protection and spa products. The company produces 80,000 bottles per day of its No. 1 seller, the Coats Aloe Vera Drink. Coats says the company has experienced growth of nearly 50 percent per year in recent years, and has just bought a 163,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Dallas.

The facility is one of the largest production facilities for over-the-counter aloe products in the world, Coats says.

Coats says even though he can be "a tough competitor," by "staying ahead of the curve" and always looking to the next innovation, the company owes its success to the quality of the product first and foremost.

"It's such a versatile product," Coats says, and adds his company's focus on applying smart science to the products sets it apart from other companies that lack a firm grasp on the plant's properties.

"There are so many charlatans in this business," Coats says.

Multiple Uses
Coats has made it his goal in life to find as many possible applications for aloe as he can. As of now, he touts the herb's benefits to those suffering from psoriasis, arthritis and even ulcers.

The company has developed products to deal specifically with each one of those afflictions, and the company's list of top-10 sellers reads like a "greatest hits" for aloe. Skin cream, muscle liniment, shampoo and the aloe drink all appear as Coats' top sellers, but Coats says he's still not finished finding the plant's hidden potential.

Research and development is one area Coats doesn't like to skimp on. His research branch is investing nearly $5 million exploring aloe's potential as a universal antibiotic, one that could protect against any type of communicable disease.

"Maybe I am dreaming, but I don't think so. I think it's there," Coats says. "In time, when it's all done, society will admit that this plant is one of the greatest medicines God put on this planet for mankind to use."

Coats compares the aloe plant to the mold that brought forth penicillin. "Thousands of people had seen penicillin, but they didn't know what they were looking at," Coats says.

Integrity Counts
The most important things for maintaining a successful business, according to Coats, are integrity, reputation and quality.

The aloe used for the company's products is grown in a remote, mountainous region of the Mojave Valley in Mexico, where there are few cars and therefore less pollution. Coats also irrigates his aloe fields with artesian spring water, which he says is a huge improvement over the days when he operated an aloe field in Texas, which had to be watered by the Rio Grande.

Coats definitely takes a hands-on approach when it comes to marketing his products, as well. Part of his company's partnership with Herbalife has him traveling around the world, hosting seminars that play up the product's strengths and teaching representatives how to do the same.

"Not only do I sell the products, but I help train their people to sell the product," Coats says.

Partner in Quality
Herbalife contacted every aloe company in the world before choosing to work with Coats Aloe, Coats says, and loaned the company enough money to begin production on millions of bottles of product right away. Coats says without a solid reputation, his company would probably have been overlooked.

"In time, your reputation makes you or breaks you," Coats says.

Aside from producing a quality product and keeping prices low, Coats says a lot of what makes his company work is "getting results out in the field," and he has dozens of stories about people who have used his products and benefited from them that he's ready to share at a moment's notice.

Whether speaking before an assembled group of thousands of salespeople or in casual conversation, Coats is always ready to sing the praises of his products.

The enthusiasm Coats has for his job is readily apparent, and Coats wouldn't have it any other way.

"The people in the world I feel most sorry for are the people who wake up on Monday morning and say, ‘Damn, it's Monday,'" Coats says.