Friendly Persistence and Willingness to Listen to Buyers Pay Off in Sales
A buyer for a major grocery chain rejected Kiddie Wonder’s Ed-U-Case childrens’ briefcase seven or eight times, telling company President George Rivera that it wouldn’t sell.
But, Rivera, president of Kiddie Wonder Products Inc. in the city of Industry, was determined to get the briefcase into the stores. So, instead of feeling discouraged, Rivera listened carefully to the buyer’s suggestions and spent the money and time to modify the briefcase and its packaging.
Rivera said the buyer was so pleased with the changes that he included the Ed-U-Case in a back-to-school promotion last fall. Now, it is sold at toy and drug stores around the country.
Persistence and a friendly but aggressive sales approach has paid off for Rivera, a former corporate controller and his wife, Merlyn, a former operations officer for a bank.
The Riveras, who have four children, left their corporate jobs to open a private school in 1984. They began designing educational products because they were unhappy with what was on the market.
Merlyn Rivera said the Ed-U-Case was born after they brought home a plain plastic briefcase from West Germany as a gift for their kids. She decided that if the case were brightly decorated with animals, alphabet letters, cartoon characters or safety tips it would not only carry things but be educational as well.
The company sells different versions of the lightweight, collapsible case both empty and filled with school supplies and other items.
Inspired by the success of the Ed-U-Case, Kiddie Wonder now designs, imports and exports dozens of educational toys, electronic gadgets, office supplies and housewares. But it wasn’t easy for the family-owned business to break into the highly competitive gift and novelty market.
“When we first started selling to the major stores, we were intimidated by the buyers,” said George Rivera. “The lobby is full of salespeople, and many buyers are fed up with them.”
Rivera said he always tries to break the ice with a bored or tired buyer by commenting on a family picture or some other personal object in the buyer’s office. Then the youthful-looking 38-year-old Rivera tells them that he has a 21-year-old daughter and three other children.
“Once they meet me, they remember me,” said Rivera with a smile.
Another secret of Rivera’s success as a salesman is that he develops a specific sales plan for each customer. To do this, he keeps a detailed information sheet on every company he deals with.
On it, he keeps track of whom to talk to, what they need, when they will need it, why they need it, where it will be shipped, how will it get there and what it will cost.
With a product line so diverse that it includes stuffed animals and a portable earthquake preparedness kit, Rivera said he can usually sell something to everyone he meets.
And, based on his experience with the Ed-U-Case, he said even the nastiest buyer can be helpful without realizing it.
“Don’t be afraid to ask what the problem with the product is and then do something with the item to change it,” he said.
Today, Kiddie Wonder Products has 14 employees, many of them Rivera family members. The company sells its imported products to Mexico, Chile and other Latin America nations through a network of 50 commissioned sales representatives. Several items are also available through popular mail-order catalogues including Lillian Vernon. The Riveras are hoping to boost their mail-order business in 1990.
As do most small business owners, the Riveras made several costly mistakes when they were starting out. At first, they had trouble figuring out how to package the Ed-U-Case and spent thousands of dollars on disastrous packaging and display stands. They finally found a way to pack the case flat and present it in a space-saving cardboard display.
Merlyn Rivera said they also learned a lesson about keeping quiet about their best ideas when competitors they met at trade shows took their suggestions and began selling the same products.
To maintain an exclusive edge, the Riveras are designing more of their own products, including a pen and safety whistle combination for children and an innovative toilet paper roll holder. Their dream is to own a chain of variety stores abroad, particularly in the Far East.
Meanwhile, they are busy selling premiums to cereal companies, expanding their exports to Mexico and dreaming up new products for manufacture here and in South Korea.
Last year, total sales reached $2 million. This year, the Riveras are projecting about $3 million in sales.
“If you really believe in a product, don’t ever give up,” said George Rivera.
The ‘Hard Sell’ Gets a Cool Reception
A recent survey of 432 buyers of corporate goods and services revealed that an informed and friendly sales approach is more appealing than the traditional “hard sell.”
Ninety-five percent of the buyers said they were more likely to respond to a soft, rather than hard sell, according to Kevin R. Daley, president of Communispond, the New York management consulting firm that conducted the survey.
Daley said the buyers wanted more sales people to think about their company’s specific needs.
Nearly 49% said the No. 1 problem with sales people was that they were “too talky.”
“The salesperson with a gift of gab may be fading fast,” said Daley.
Business Owners Cheer Congressman
Small-business owners around the country are cheering House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski’s decision earlier this week supporting repeal of a tax law that requires businesses to give executives and workers comparable fringe benefits. Small business advocates have been lobbying heavily for Section 89’s repeal, contending it would force many small businesses to eliminate all benefits offered to workers.
“The congressman kept saying how can we fix it, and the small-business groups kept saying it can’t be done,” said a spokesman for the Illinois Democrat. Rostenkowski issued a statement saying that although he favors repeal of Section 89, he still plans to support other proposals aimed at reducing discrimination in employee benefits.
Section 89 created so much controversy because the regulations attached were confusing and difficult to comply with, according to Marcia Bradford, spokesperson for National Small Business United in Washington, which represents 50,000 small-business owners throughout the United States.
“Small-business groups have always felt the best thing would be to repeal it,” said Bradford. She said the outpouring of letters and calls about the problems the regulation would have caused “was extremely effective in gaining the attention of Congress.”
