GREAT 84 IDEA: Become an Exclusive Importer
Being first to introduce a unique product to the United States is one of the best ways to establish a successful small business. This was the strategy used by Mara Seibert and Lenore Rice, two former high-powered Wall Street players who traded in their briefcases for a New Jersey warehouse full of handmade Italian terra-cotta pottery.
Mara Seibert was on the fast track as a mergers and acquisitions specialist at Chase Manhattan Bank, structuring big leveraged buyouts and hostile corporate takeovers during the 1980s.
Tax attorney Lenore Rice was working as a Wall Street lawyer during the 1980s mergers and acquisitions boom. Tired of the rat race, Seibert and Rice opted to quit their jobs to stay home with their young children.
Seibert spent her free time collecting ceramic art, remodeling her home, and working in her garden. Rice studied Italian prior to booking a villa in Tuscany. She invited the Seiberts to join them on the vacation, beginning their long-standing friendship.
In Tuscany, the women wanted to go somewhere while their husbands played tennis. The women drove to Impruneta, a tiny village located about two hours outside of Florence. The town's signature craft, deep orangey-pink and white-tinged pottery, intrigued them. They selected pots to buy and dragged their husbands back to the village. Their husbands agreed that the pots were beautiful and durable. Thinking big, the women called customs brokers to figure out whether it was feasible to buy a pallet full of pots. If they couldn't sell them, they would just keep them. They spent $3,000 on pots and another $1,000 to ship them back to New Jersey by boat.
Tips for Becoming an Exclusive Importer
An exclusive importing relationship is based on trust. The people you buy from have to honor the relationship, and you have to make every effort to sell their products. Here are some tips on how to establish a trustworthy arrangement with an overseas company:
- First, confirm that they don't have any existing relationships with other U.S. companies.
- If necessary, hire an interpreter to help you negotiate the agreement. Work with a local attorney to draft an agreement in the local language. Make sure you understand all the terms and aren't breaking any local or national laws.
- Start with a short-term deal to test the market for the product. If things look promising, extend the contract.
- Find a reputable customs broker to handle the shipment of goods from the manufacturer to your warehouse.
- Set up a system to track sales and shipping information.
- Communicate frequently with your supplier. It's easy to keep in touch via e-mail, Skype, and telephone calls.
Back home, they showed the pots and planters to landscape designers and upscale nurseries. Everyone loved them, and the pottery, which averages $500 for a small pot and $1,500 or more for a big planter, spawned a successful business.
Knowing presentation was important, the partners spent $5,000 on a high-quality brochure. They sold $20,000 worth of pots in their first year in business. Sales reached several million dollars in 2008, despite the recession and business is picking up again.
Looking for a new angle, they launched a line of Italian pots designed by American designers. In a recent interview, Siebert said their biggest challenge is keeping their business going, since the potters who craft their exclusive line of pottery are getting old. Unfortunately, only two of the potters' children intend to stay in the pottery business.
Siebert and Rice are so concerned about other companies poaching their suppliers, they decline to reveal the surnames of their potters. The relationship is much more than commercial. The women consider the potters and their families close friends, not just vendors. And once or twice a year, they visit the village to place orders and visit with the potters they know and love.
Check out the company's beautiful pots at www.seibert-rice.com.