Singular Sensation
A Slow Start
|
Article Tools
Article Contents
The road to Home Depot was a long one for Carter. Like most
inventions, the Gutter Pump was born of necessity. Carter, an
engineer, regularly encountered trouble with his home's
downspouts-they always clogged during major rainstorms. Heavy rains
pushed leaves into the downspouts, plugging them up and causing
water to overflow. Fed up, Carter finally decided to solve the
problem himself. In 1993, he created a simple, mechanical PVC
gutter pump with no moving parts. For a while, Carter was quite
content just letting his prototype do its work on his own gutters.
But then in 1995, Carter's father-in-law fell ill-leaving
Carter in need of extra money to pay the medical bills. He decided
to develop and sell his invention. By the spring of 1997, Carter had made 1,000 units and was ready
to attend two trade shows-the Rocky Mountain Home Show and the
Denver Spring Home & Patio Show. Using an effective display to
demonstrate how the pump worked, Carter sold 500 units for $6
apiece. He also met several experienced salespeople who were
selling a noncompeting product. They liked the Gutter Pump so much
that those eight manufacturer sales reps committed to selling it
during the 1998 home-show season. | One-Product Pals | | If you're ready
to sell your product but lack much-needed cash, log on to Ideavillage. The site posts information
for free on products that have passed its initial screening
process. If your product sells well, company founder Andy Khubani, who pioneered the "As Seen On
TV" category, will help finance its rollout to retailers. For
details, visit the Web site or call (973) 808-7355. If you're
still early in the process of trying to sell a patent or product
idea, try one of these sites:
|
Later in 1997, Carter attended a QVC event in Denver, where
hundreds of inventors competed for QVC's attention. "There
were 250 people with new products at the event," Carter
remembers. "QVC only chose 20, and we were one of the
20." The Gutter Pump sold so well on QVC that the channel did
ask him back, but only a few more times. "QVC was our first
big sale, but it didn't last," says Carter.
"Fortunately, we had good sales from our representatives who
worked the home shows throughout the country." Carter
approached big retailers in this crucial early period. But, he
says, "They just weren't interested in carrying our
product." Content Continues Below
Carter knew that even his success at the home shows wouldn't
last for long. "They just want new products all the
time." So he packed his bags and took the Gutter Pump to the
1998 Hardware Show in Chicago. Several catalogs bit-such as
Brookstone, Improvements, Jerry Baher Master
Gardener, Lee Valley Tools and Silvo Home. Those
sales kept the company alive in 1999. But the big retailers? Again,
says Carter, "We were perceived as just another 'one-SKU
wonder.'" That show opened up another door for Carter, though. While
there, he met husband-and-wife reps Alden and Beverle Kottke of
Beverle Alden Enterprises, who eventually sold the Gutter Pump to
nearly every independent hardware store in Oregon and
Washington. At that point, Home Depot was starting to feel the pressure.
People would see the Gutter Pump in a hardware store and think it
was a great product but put off buying it till later. Then,
they'd head down to Home Depot, money in hand. After two years
of turning customers away, telling them they didn't carry the
Gutter Pump, Home Depot's buyer for the Northwest finally went
to see Carter. Customer pressure also helped Carter's company
land an account to sell it in Ace Hardware stores nationwide.
Originally published in the November 2001 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine
 Page 1 | 2 | 3 
![]()
|
sponsored by
Security
Resource Center
Protecting your customers' information or preventing physical theft and keeping your company secure is a fundamental part of doing business
More Resources
|