When Paula Abdul handed out Klegg Minis to audience members on The TonyDanza Show in February, she did more than put the smallest color-display MP3 player into the hands of eager recipients. The American Idol diva put the spotlight on a product developed by a black-owned firm.
The brainchild of Dennis Gentles, the Klegg Mini has appeared on CBS and NBC, on VHI's The Fabulous Life (on which Abdul performed while holding the MP3 player) and at the Virgin
Megastore in Times Square (where it was the focus of a three-day promotional event).
So what's the buzz about, you ask? Well, it's all over a 1.8-by-l.6-inch MP3 player that holds up to 250 songs and 10,000 images. It sells for $49.99 to $99.99, depending on memory size, via the company's Website (www.klegg.com) and at select retailers. The product was developed and manufactured by Las Vegas-based Klegg Electronics Inc., which Gentles, 32, launched in 2003 with $70,000 of his own money. In addition to MP3 players, the company's consumer products line offers slim-line televisions and high-end home theater systems.
Klegg's current product lineup includes the M6 501 surround-sound home theater system, the KP line of plasma televisions, the R6150 and R6110 LCD remote controls, and the C7 and I9 in-wall/ceiling speakers. Using technology and aesthetics as a foundation, the firm's engineers have designed a home theater system with speakers that are only slightly larger than a credit card yet powerful enough to provide "thunderous but precise base resolution," explains Gentles.
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The 13-employee company got its start as a distributor for a European-based consumer electronics brand, which Gentles later purchased and brought to the United States. Having previously run a computer consulting firm for 10 years, Gentles says his dream was to build a business that could bring consumer electronics products together in a seamless fashion through home networks and similar systems.
Working with a third-party marketing firm, Gentles set out to find a musically-oriented spokesperson who could spread the word about the Klegg Mini. Abdul's association with American Idol made her the perfect choice. Gentles offered her a combination of company stock and cash in exchange for touting the product in the national media, on the company's Website, and in other venues.
Currently, 24 dealers distribute Klegg's products nationally. In addition to high-end dealers such as Sound City, new retailers include Speaker City in Burbank, California, and Audio Vision in San Francisco; HomeTronics Lifestyles in North Haven, Connecticut; Summit Sound in Bangor, Maine; and TV Specialist Inc. in Salt Lake City. Gentles hopes to increase the number of dealers to 65 by the end of the year, and Klegg has just closed on a deal to sell the Minis at Tower Records.
Company sales have grown from $240,000 in 2005 to an expected $1.5 million this year, and several new products-engineered around marketplace needs and an aesthetically-pleasing design--are in the cards, including media server products. Gentles also plans to open retail stores that would focus on custom home installations for consumers.
Knowing the potential of the MP3 market alone, Sean Wargo, director of industry an@is for the Arlington, Virginia-based Consumer Electronics Association, sees potential for small firms that can rise above the noise generated by Apple's iPod. Sales of portable MP3 players more than doubled in 2004 to nearly 7 million units, accounting for $1.2 billion in revenues, according to the CEA. "Those brands that harness the opportunity and offer targeted products to a specific consumer group will definitely find opportunity in this growing market," Wargo says
Do You Have A Sales Prevention Department In Your Company?
Back in the February 1994 issue of Telemarketing magazine (the parent publication of this magazine), I wrote an editorial with the above title. Since then, I have received several inquiries about this very important topic. In fact, as recently as last week, we had yet another request for a copy of this editorial.
Based on the extreme importance of this topic, I decided to revisit this matter and expand upon it with greater detail.
Most Companies Have One, But They Don't Know They Do
As I have indicated in my editorial in 1994, many companies actually have a sales prevention department, but they are completely unaware of this fact. When I say "sales prevention department," I don't mean that these companies literally have a separate department with that tide. However, the regular violations of certain important rules that I have indicated in this editorial actually constitute a cancerous problem within many companies.
Sales And Marketing Are Everything In Every Company
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As you may know, I have been a student of marketing for the last 25 years; in fact, we do have a marketing test at TMC that 99 percent of the marketing managers who have taken it have failed. In my view, the test is a simple one and contains the basic knowledge that every true marketing manager must possess. There is no point in hiring a marketing manager who cannot even define marketing. In many of my previous editorials, I have elaborated on this topic, as you may know.
In many companies, the sales department is regarded as die most important department in die company. Of course, here at TMC, we do not subscribe to this thinking because we feel that every department is equally important. Having said that, my frequent associations with many CEOs within our industry and elsewhere have led me to believe that most companies, in fact, consider the sales department one of the most the important, IF NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT DEPARTMENT.
In my way of thinking, this is not true. I feel that if you are going to rank the departments, marketing should come ahead of the sales department. Here is why:
All Sales Begin With A Sales Lead
As I have indicated in several of my past editorials, one of the paramount responsibilities of the marketing department is to create awareness about the company, articulate the benefits of dealing with the company and highlight the company's differentiation from its competitors. The cumulative results of the above mentioned marketing functions eventually lead to the all-important lead generation which is vital to any company's growth and prosperity. In other words, the sales department will be crippled if the marketing department does not generate a stream of continuous, qualified sales leads for the sales department.
Sales Prevention Diagnostics
Having stated the above importance of the sales and marketing departments, there are many details that need to be addressed if sales prevention is to be avoided. In this editorial, I will try to refer to as many of these problems as possible, and I ask our valued readers to address whichever factors that are most appropriate for their situations. Here are the areas that are most likely to contribute to sales prevention:
1. Ignore The Golden Rule Of Integrated Marketing And, Most Important, Ignore The Golden Triangle. When a company ignores the rules of integrated marketing and the golden triangle, which includes print, online and event marketing, the company has, in fact, prevented maximum lead generation for the sales department.
2. Ignore Marketing Completely. Believe it or not, many companies give lip service to marketing and, as far as I have been able to study, such companies either go under or, if they exist at all, they really don't get anywhere.
I recall a pair of companies that started out in the Chicago area at the same time. Company A was a master marketer and Company B did not care about marketing at all. To make a very long story short, the owner of Company A is a billionaire today while Company B is still struggling and has gotten nowhere in the same period of time!
3. Waste Sales Leads. Many companies spend a tremendous amount of money every year to attend trade shows or advertise in print and online and generate a considerable amount of leads. However, research indicates that as many as 70 to 80 percent of sales leads generated are either ignored completely or followed up too late to be of any use. Indeed, this is one of the leading causes of sales prevention.
4. Ignore Your Customers' Needs And, Most Important, Ignore Your Customers' Customers' Needs. In this highly competitive business environment, the companies that go beyond the call of duty are those that will survive. Once again, as mentioned in many previous editorials, to succeed in business, you need to understand your customers' needs as well as your customers' customers' needs. Let us remember that customer care is the only sustainable competitive advantage.
5. Ignore Sales Training. Many companies, particularly the entrepreneurial small and medium-sized companies, have a tendency to ignore sales training. This is practically unthinkable. How can anyone expect a sales person to sell anything without knowing the benefits and features of the products or service they are expected to sell? Believe it or not, this problem continues to exist.
Based on the extreme importance of this topic, I decided to revisit this matter and expand upon it with greater detail.
Most Companies Have One, But They Don't Know They Do
As I have indicated in my editorial in 1994, many companies actually have a sales prevention department, but they are completely unaware of this fact. When I say "sales prevention department," I don't mean that these companies literally have a separate department with that tide. However, the regular violations of certain important rules that I have indicated in this editorial actually constitute a cancerous problem within many companies.
Sales And Marketing Are Everything In Every Company
Advertisement
As you may know, I have been a student of marketing for the last 25 years; in fact, we do have a marketing test at TMC that 99 percent of the marketing managers who have taken it have failed. In my view, the test is a simple one and contains the basic knowledge that every true marketing manager must possess. There is no point in hiring a marketing manager who cannot even define marketing. In many of my previous editorials, I have elaborated on this topic, as you may know.
In many companies, the sales department is regarded as die most important department in die company. Of course, here at TMC, we do not subscribe to this thinking because we feel that every department is equally important. Having said that, my frequent associations with many CEOs within our industry and elsewhere have led me to believe that most companies, in fact, consider the sales department one of the most the important, IF NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT DEPARTMENT.
In my way of thinking, this is not true. I feel that if you are going to rank the departments, marketing should come ahead of the sales department. Here is why:
All Sales Begin With A Sales Lead
As I have indicated in several of my past editorials, one of the paramount responsibilities of the marketing department is to create awareness about the company, articulate the benefits of dealing with the company and highlight the company's differentiation from its competitors. The cumulative results of the above mentioned marketing functions eventually lead to the all-important lead generation which is vital to any company's growth and prosperity. In other words, the sales department will be crippled if the marketing department does not generate a stream of continuous, qualified sales leads for the sales department.
Sales Prevention Diagnostics
Having stated the above importance of the sales and marketing departments, there are many details that need to be addressed if sales prevention is to be avoided. In this editorial, I will try to refer to as many of these problems as possible, and I ask our valued readers to address whichever factors that are most appropriate for their situations. Here are the areas that are most likely to contribute to sales prevention:
1. Ignore The Golden Rule Of Integrated Marketing And, Most Important, Ignore The Golden Triangle. When a company ignores the rules of integrated marketing and the golden triangle, which includes print, online and event marketing, the company has, in fact, prevented maximum lead generation for the sales department.
2. Ignore Marketing Completely. Believe it or not, many companies give lip service to marketing and, as far as I have been able to study, such companies either go under or, if they exist at all, they really don't get anywhere.
I recall a pair of companies that started out in the Chicago area at the same time. Company A was a master marketer and Company B did not care about marketing at all. To make a very long story short, the owner of Company A is a billionaire today while Company B is still struggling and has gotten nowhere in the same period of time!
3. Waste Sales Leads. Many companies spend a tremendous amount of money every year to attend trade shows or advertise in print and online and generate a considerable amount of leads. However, research indicates that as many as 70 to 80 percent of sales leads generated are either ignored completely or followed up too late to be of any use. Indeed, this is one of the leading causes of sales prevention.
4. Ignore Your Customers' Needs And, Most Important, Ignore Your Customers' Customers' Needs. In this highly competitive business environment, the companies that go beyond the call of duty are those that will survive. Once again, as mentioned in many previous editorials, to succeed in business, you need to understand your customers' needs as well as your customers' customers' needs. Let us remember that customer care is the only sustainable competitive advantage.
5. Ignore Sales Training. Many companies, particularly the entrepreneurial small and medium-sized companies, have a tendency to ignore sales training. This is practically unthinkable. How can anyone expect a sales person to sell anything without knowing the benefits and features of the products or service they are expected to sell? Believe it or not, this problem continues to exist.
Environmental firms: ranked by number of L.A. County environmental employees
THE 20 largest environmental firms in L.A. County employ nearly 3,000 workers dedicated to environmental services.
Environmental firms provide a variety of services including water and wastewater treatment, landfill design and development, brownfield redevelopment, impact statements, asbestos remediation, cleanup of mold and other toxic materials, and consulting services.
Houston-based Waste Management Inc. continues to lead the list, accounting for 39 percent of the environmental employees.
Gardena-based California Waste Services is one of the fastest growing companies on the list. Its revenues have grown to $14 million in 2005, up $8 million or 233 percent from 2003. The company specializes in processing and hauling construction and demolition material. It moved up two spots this year with 145 employees.
No. 14 Environ International Corp. saw local revenues increase in 2005 to $17.3 million, up $6.5 million compared with the previous year. The L.A.-based firm saw total revenue increase to more than $100 million in 2005, up 54 percent from the previous year.
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Overall, the 20 largest environmental firms employ 94,000 people in 2,722 offices worldwide.
THE PACESETTER WASTE MANAGEMENT INC.
Waste Management Inc., the Houston-based owner and operator of Bradley Landfill in Sun Valley, has 1,100 employees in L.A. County, more than any other environmental firm.
The company specializes in solid waste collection and disposal, hazardous waste disposal, recycling, and electrical power generation.
The green energy program at Bradley Landfill converts "landfill gas"--methane produced from the waste--into electricity. The program produces enough electricity to power 10,000 homes per year.
The firm is doing its part on the pollution-fighting front and is saving money in the process, It lessens the blow of high fuel costs by operating the largest natural gas fleet in the nation. Its 430 trash trucks operate on liquid natural gas and compressed natural gas.
Waste Management Inc. reported net income of $186 million for the first quarter ended March 31, up 31 percent from $150 million for the same period a year earlier. First-quarter revenue exceeded $3.2 billion, versus $3 billion in the first quarter of 2005.
Environmental firms provide a variety of services including water and wastewater treatment, landfill design and development, brownfield redevelopment, impact statements, asbestos remediation, cleanup of mold and other toxic materials, and consulting services.
Houston-based Waste Management Inc. continues to lead the list, accounting for 39 percent of the environmental employees.
Gardena-based California Waste Services is one of the fastest growing companies on the list. Its revenues have grown to $14 million in 2005, up $8 million or 233 percent from 2003. The company specializes in processing and hauling construction and demolition material. It moved up two spots this year with 145 employees.
No. 14 Environ International Corp. saw local revenues increase in 2005 to $17.3 million, up $6.5 million compared with the previous year. The L.A.-based firm saw total revenue increase to more than $100 million in 2005, up 54 percent from the previous year.
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Overall, the 20 largest environmental firms employ 94,000 people in 2,722 offices worldwide.
THE PACESETTER WASTE MANAGEMENT INC.
Waste Management Inc., the Houston-based owner and operator of Bradley Landfill in Sun Valley, has 1,100 employees in L.A. County, more than any other environmental firm.
The company specializes in solid waste collection and disposal, hazardous waste disposal, recycling, and electrical power generation.
The green energy program at Bradley Landfill converts "landfill gas"--methane produced from the waste--into electricity. The program produces enough electricity to power 10,000 homes per year.
The firm is doing its part on the pollution-fighting front and is saving money in the process, It lessens the blow of high fuel costs by operating the largest natural gas fleet in the nation. Its 430 trash trucks operate on liquid natural gas and compressed natural gas.
Waste Management Inc. reported net income of $186 million for the first quarter ended March 31, up 31 percent from $150 million for the same period a year earlier. First-quarter revenue exceeded $3.2 billion, versus $3 billion in the first quarter of 2005.
Full of hot air: how to handle big egos on your sales team before they're blown out of proportion - Sales Force
ALONGSIDE SUCH PERSONALITY-describing adjectives as "competitive" and "assertive," the word "egotistical" is often cast in a pejorative light. But being a little egotistical can be a good thing in sales. Without a firm concept of their own worth, salespeople would quickly be gobbled up by the quicksand of insecurity.
Since such a personality makes one well-suited to thrive in a selling environment, you may be harboring a few shades of ego in your sales force right now. Unfortunately, the same personality trait that makes your salespeople superlative deal-closers may also ruffle feathers in the ranks. Here are a few methods for managing big heads on your sales team:
* Know how to talk ego-ese. Joseph Weintraub, management professor at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and co-author of The Coaching Manager: Developing Top Talent in Business (Sage Publications), works with companies dealing with sales strife. To assess individual work styles and identify the ones likely to cause conflict, Weintraub uses a "Stop, Start, Continue" exercise. "Each person writes down what he or she wants the other person to stop doing, to start doing and to continue doing," he says. "We discuss the lists, and through negotiation, we try to build an agreement that fits the needs of the parties involved."
According to Star-Team's "Insights Survey" ($40 at www.star-teams.com), developed in part by Weintraub, effective communication with a dominant personality depends on sticking to the facts, supporting an efficient environment and putting all projects in writing. Communicating don'ts for strong personalities include wasting time, being redundant, using a paternalistic approach or dwelling on details.
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* Learn how to separate emotion from fact. "Ego is always emotional," says Dave Lakhani, owner of Balls Out Sales & Marketing, a sales consulting firm in Boise, Idaho. Lakhani advises entrepreneurs to address the issues and create a definable outcome. Lakhani also urges managers to let sales team members know they will be evaluated not on an ability to relate to just clients, but to each other as well. One way to encourage cooperation is to create competitions that force members to rely on each other to win. "You'll be amazed how quickly communication and support come around," Lakhani says.
* Know how to keep egos in check. "Egos are healthy up to a point," says Janice Calnan, a psychotherapist in Ottawa and author of SHIFT: Secrets of Positive Change for Organizations and Their Leaders (Creative Bound). While the ego helps humans survive, it can also interfere with relationships. "[Egos] put us in a 'judgment mode,' where we want to blame each other." It's when the ego takes charge of a situation that "the rational self is out of control," warns Calnan, who offers tips on handling squabbles in the ranks:
1. Encourage an environment in which salespeople provide each other with positive feedback It's hard to clash with someone who's offered you support.
2. Remember that what we focus on will expand. Focus on what's working, and you'll begin to notice more of what works. Focus on the negative, and suddenly more things seem not to work.
Since such a personality makes one well-suited to thrive in a selling environment, you may be harboring a few shades of ego in your sales force right now. Unfortunately, the same personality trait that makes your salespeople superlative deal-closers may also ruffle feathers in the ranks. Here are a few methods for managing big heads on your sales team:
* Know how to talk ego-ese. Joseph Weintraub, management professor at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and co-author of The Coaching Manager: Developing Top Talent in Business (Sage Publications), works with companies dealing with sales strife. To assess individual work styles and identify the ones likely to cause conflict, Weintraub uses a "Stop, Start, Continue" exercise. "Each person writes down what he or she wants the other person to stop doing, to start doing and to continue doing," he says. "We discuss the lists, and through negotiation, we try to build an agreement that fits the needs of the parties involved."
According to Star-Team's "Insights Survey" ($40 at www.star-teams.com), developed in part by Weintraub, effective communication with a dominant personality depends on sticking to the facts, supporting an efficient environment and putting all projects in writing. Communicating don'ts for strong personalities include wasting time, being redundant, using a paternalistic approach or dwelling on details.
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* Learn how to separate emotion from fact. "Ego is always emotional," says Dave Lakhani, owner of Balls Out Sales & Marketing, a sales consulting firm in Boise, Idaho. Lakhani advises entrepreneurs to address the issues and create a definable outcome. Lakhani also urges managers to let sales team members know they will be evaluated not on an ability to relate to just clients, but to each other as well. One way to encourage cooperation is to create competitions that force members to rely on each other to win. "You'll be amazed how quickly communication and support come around," Lakhani says.
* Know how to keep egos in check. "Egos are healthy up to a point," says Janice Calnan, a psychotherapist in Ottawa and author of SHIFT: Secrets of Positive Change for Organizations and Their Leaders (Creative Bound). While the ego helps humans survive, it can also interfere with relationships. "[Egos] put us in a 'judgment mode,' where we want to blame each other." It's when the ego takes charge of a situation that "the rational self is out of control," warns Calnan, who offers tips on handling squabbles in the ranks:
1. Encourage an environment in which salespeople provide each other with positive feedback It's hard to clash with someone who's offered you support.
2. Remember that what we focus on will expand. Focus on what's working, and you'll begin to notice more of what works. Focus on the negative, and suddenly more things seem not to work.
Interiors by design: how one woman went from handling direct mail to designing home interiors
When Dennese Guadeloupe Rojas was laid off from her production position at a direct mail company in the late '80s, she was disappointed about losing a job but she viewed it as a "golden opportunity" to pursue her life's passion. "Often when you lose a job, you have time to reflect. 'What do I really want to do? What is my life's purpose?'" she says. For Rojas, it turned out to be interior design.
Rojas earned a degree in interior design from Bauder College in Miami but never put it to good use. Unable to find work in her chosen field, she spent several years in advertising. Rojas relocated to Maryland with her daughter in 1988. While at the direct mail company, "I designed a friend's home as a surprise for his wife. That was so rewarding," she says.
Today, Rojas is the sole proprietor of Interiors By Design, which provides interior and exterior design as well as accessories. She is also the owner of a retail store, Interior Accents Etc., where she sells a broad selection of home decor. Last year, both businesses grossed $319,856; Rojas anticipates making $276,351 in the retail store with another $300,000 in design revenues in 2004.
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Making the transition to self-employment in 1990, Rojas began working out of her home in Burtonsville, Maryland, relying on word of mouth and attending trade shows in drum up prospective clients. She eventually courted high-scale clients, namely NFL players, including Anthony McFarland and Shaun King. By 2001, Interiors By Design was solid. But each buying trip was limited by Rojas' small-scale approach. She had nowhere to stock the quantities that allow designers to buy from the big players.
At that point, Rojas decided to set up shop. With her sights set on the high-income, middle-class suburban area of Silver Spring, Maryland, Rojas found a space to lease in October 2001. Lacking retail experience, she turned to a friend, someone who had a store selling home furnishings for 10 years. "I hired her as a consultant; we worked out a payment arrangement," says Rojas, whose startup costs were $70,000 to $90,000. She managed to snare a $45,000 micro loan through the SBA. She also used about, $20,000 of her personal savings.
For Rojas. adding a store to her existing design work was rocky at first. The construction of a loft to accommodate a design office separate from the 1,400-square-foot display floor was delayed, and Rojas had to have a friend fix what the original architect botched. Reliable employees were harder to find, although she now has a dependable crew of four full-time and two part time workers.
Nationally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, interior design is growing at a faster pace than average, with a projected 22% increase in the number of working designers by 2012. Annual billings, calculated per state by Dun and Bradstreet, stood between $200,000 and $900,000 in 2003, with most between $400,000 and $600,000.
While the flurry of home makeover programs on television has made interior designers popular commodities, Rojas notes that it's a blessing as well as a curse. Such shows "have more people coming into the store and seeking a designer to help with the interior of their homes," explains Rojas, who has worked with homeowners with budgets ranging from $10,000 to $4 million. "But people think they can get everything that they want for just $1,000
Rojas earned a degree in interior design from Bauder College in Miami but never put it to good use. Unable to find work in her chosen field, she spent several years in advertising. Rojas relocated to Maryland with her daughter in 1988. While at the direct mail company, "I designed a friend's home as a surprise for his wife. That was so rewarding," she says.
Today, Rojas is the sole proprietor of Interiors By Design, which provides interior and exterior design as well as accessories. She is also the owner of a retail store, Interior Accents Etc., where she sells a broad selection of home decor. Last year, both businesses grossed $319,856; Rojas anticipates making $276,351 in the retail store with another $300,000 in design revenues in 2004.
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Making the transition to self-employment in 1990, Rojas began working out of her home in Burtonsville, Maryland, relying on word of mouth and attending trade shows in drum up prospective clients. She eventually courted high-scale clients, namely NFL players, including Anthony McFarland and Shaun King. By 2001, Interiors By Design was solid. But each buying trip was limited by Rojas' small-scale approach. She had nowhere to stock the quantities that allow designers to buy from the big players.
At that point, Rojas decided to set up shop. With her sights set on the high-income, middle-class suburban area of Silver Spring, Maryland, Rojas found a space to lease in October 2001. Lacking retail experience, she turned to a friend, someone who had a store selling home furnishings for 10 years. "I hired her as a consultant; we worked out a payment arrangement," says Rojas, whose startup costs were $70,000 to $90,000. She managed to snare a $45,000 micro loan through the SBA. She also used about, $20,000 of her personal savings.
For Rojas. adding a store to her existing design work was rocky at first. The construction of a loft to accommodate a design office separate from the 1,400-square-foot display floor was delayed, and Rojas had to have a friend fix what the original architect botched. Reliable employees were harder to find, although she now has a dependable crew of four full-time and two part time workers.
Nationally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, interior design is growing at a faster pace than average, with a projected 22% increase in the number of working designers by 2012. Annual billings, calculated per state by Dun and Bradstreet, stood between $200,000 and $900,000 in 2003, with most between $400,000 and $600,000.
While the flurry of home makeover programs on television has made interior designers popular commodities, Rojas notes that it's a blessing as well as a curse. Such shows "have more people coming into the store and seeking a designer to help with the interior of their homes," explains Rojas, who has worked with homeowners with budgets ranging from $10,000 to $4 million. "But people think they can get everything that they want for just $1,000
Meet Woody Slaymaker, president and owner of Slaymaker Fine Art
. I really enjoyed reading your biography, as you are a true Renaissance Man. Tell us about your early introduction and interest in the worlds of art.
Art has been around me for as long as I remember. As a child, my mother was constantly painting ... canvas or bas relief works were on her easel as my sister and I drew pictures and surrounded her station. We were strongly encouraged to have drawing books and my mother, Martha Slaymaker, would tutor us on drawing and painting techniques as young children.
Once as a young boy, I drank a quart of turpentine when my mother wasn't looking, and I ended up in the hospital having my stomach pumped. This episode might explain my unusual behavior even today.
During my late mother's life, she had 150 one-person shows, and sold 40,000 works. It seemed that she was always preparing for an exhibit, so art was a consistent activity that dominated much of our collective lives. Her art is in the permanent collections of many museums worldwide. As we became older, my mother showed us how to use her intaglio collagraph press for relief prints and etchings. At some point, my sister and I would help her in the process, although, at the time, I was much more interested in athletics and other things young boys in Indiana found amusing, besides art.
I did have to deal with my sister because she was allowed only to draw girls, and I was allowed to draw boys. However, my sister, Jill, betrayed me at 12 years old because she also started drawing boys. This was my first art deal gone bad, and it forced me to become suspicious of the art business.
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Q. Tell us about your world travels and how that has affected your outlook on business?
When I began selling art, I couldn't believe that I was getting paid for traveling. The excitement of going to new cities and countries seemed too good to be true.
Over the past 27 years, I have worked every state in the Union, South Africa, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Ireland, England, Jamaica, all of Europe, Hong Kong, Tibet, New Zealand, P.R. of China, Japan and probably a few countries I have forgotten about.
Selling in non-Western countries is quite different than selling in the west. Negotiations and haggling are important parts of making the sale. Trying to "cut through the chase" will only make one's customer feel that they haven't honed into the best deal possible, so it is necessary to play the game.
Business manners range dramatically from nation to nation as well. One's best preparation is to present oneself in a traditional manner. Never discuss politics, religion and sex, even when people try to drag you into the discussions. Always be respectful of their customs. It is important to be polite and not to offend. It is also important to remember that the overseas accounts are usually making a great effort to use your art, and the value of their currency usually makes this more difficult than dealing with an account from the United States.
Q. You have a very talented wife, parents and family ... and why do you call yourselves "The Indiana Jones Family?"
When we were small children growing up in Indiana, our parents would pull us out of school early and bring us back late as we all journeyed by vehicle to central Mexico and Central America. My parents were passionate about archaeology and we would travel around excavating various Mayan, Toltec, Aztec and Incan excavation sites. We were a part of many famous digs. To this day, I have unusual artifacts acquired from that time. Some of the Mayan artifacts still have the original paint on them.
Towards the end of my life, I may donate them back to the governments from where they came. There is an entirely different political view today on our activity than there was in the 1950s and early 1960s, which I partially subscribe to.
Q. You have a friend who is in the Guinness Book of World Records. What was his qualifications?
In 1977, I was a foreign exchange student from Indiana University and attended La Universidad de Ibero Americana in Mexico City. As I was a piano major studying composition, I was placed in the home of Senor Jacobo Puentis, who had made a living writing Mexican commercial music and jingles.
When I met him, he had no legs and was on a respirator with emphysema, but he could speak well when it was removed. He is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having been legally declared dead 17 times. He had been declared dead eight times before he was 12 years old. He not only shared music and composition with me, but his philosophical outlook was amazing.
Religious leaders from around the world came to see him occasionally to gather his experiences of death before he came back to life. He said that his will to live was just so strong that he kept "bouncing back." He was a fascinating person, and I learned a tremendous amount of philosophy from him.
Art has been around me for as long as I remember. As a child, my mother was constantly painting ... canvas or bas relief works were on her easel as my sister and I drew pictures and surrounded her station. We were strongly encouraged to have drawing books and my mother, Martha Slaymaker, would tutor us on drawing and painting techniques as young children.
Once as a young boy, I drank a quart of turpentine when my mother wasn't looking, and I ended up in the hospital having my stomach pumped. This episode might explain my unusual behavior even today.
During my late mother's life, she had 150 one-person shows, and sold 40,000 works. It seemed that she was always preparing for an exhibit, so art was a consistent activity that dominated much of our collective lives. Her art is in the permanent collections of many museums worldwide. As we became older, my mother showed us how to use her intaglio collagraph press for relief prints and etchings. At some point, my sister and I would help her in the process, although, at the time, I was much more interested in athletics and other things young boys in Indiana found amusing, besides art.
I did have to deal with my sister because she was allowed only to draw girls, and I was allowed to draw boys. However, my sister, Jill, betrayed me at 12 years old because she also started drawing boys. This was my first art deal gone bad, and it forced me to become suspicious of the art business.
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Q. Tell us about your world travels and how that has affected your outlook on business?
When I began selling art, I couldn't believe that I was getting paid for traveling. The excitement of going to new cities and countries seemed too good to be true.
Over the past 27 years, I have worked every state in the Union, South Africa, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Ireland, England, Jamaica, all of Europe, Hong Kong, Tibet, New Zealand, P.R. of China, Japan and probably a few countries I have forgotten about.
Selling in non-Western countries is quite different than selling in the west. Negotiations and haggling are important parts of making the sale. Trying to "cut through the chase" will only make one's customer feel that they haven't honed into the best deal possible, so it is necessary to play the game.
Business manners range dramatically from nation to nation as well. One's best preparation is to present oneself in a traditional manner. Never discuss politics, religion and sex, even when people try to drag you into the discussions. Always be respectful of their customs. It is important to be polite and not to offend. It is also important to remember that the overseas accounts are usually making a great effort to use your art, and the value of their currency usually makes this more difficult than dealing with an account from the United States.
Q. You have a very talented wife, parents and family ... and why do you call yourselves "The Indiana Jones Family?"
When we were small children growing up in Indiana, our parents would pull us out of school early and bring us back late as we all journeyed by vehicle to central Mexico and Central America. My parents were passionate about archaeology and we would travel around excavating various Mayan, Toltec, Aztec and Incan excavation sites. We were a part of many famous digs. To this day, I have unusual artifacts acquired from that time. Some of the Mayan artifacts still have the original paint on them.
Towards the end of my life, I may donate them back to the governments from where they came. There is an entirely different political view today on our activity than there was in the 1950s and early 1960s, which I partially subscribe to.
Q. You have a friend who is in the Guinness Book of World Records. What was his qualifications?
In 1977, I was a foreign exchange student from Indiana University and attended La Universidad de Ibero Americana in Mexico City. As I was a piano major studying composition, I was placed in the home of Senor Jacobo Puentis, who had made a living writing Mexican commercial music and jingles.
When I met him, he had no legs and was on a respirator with emphysema, but he could speak well when it was removed. He is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having been legally declared dead 17 times. He had been declared dead eight times before he was 12 years old. He not only shared music and composition with me, but his philosophical outlook was amazing.
Religious leaders from around the world came to see him occasionally to gather his experiences of death before he came back to life. He said that his will to live was just so strong that he kept "bouncing back." He was a fascinating person, and I learned a tremendous amount of philosophy from him.
Fame and fortune: Klegg Electronics owner links with celebrity to compete with industry giants
When Paula Abdul handed out Klegg Minis to audience members on The TonyDanza Show in February, she did more than put the smallest color-display MP3 player into the hands of eager recipients. The American Idol diva put the spotlight on a product developed by a black-owned firm.
The brainchild of Dennis Gentles, the Klegg Mini has appeared on CBS and NBC, on VHI's The Fabulous Life (on which Abdul performed while holding the MP3 player) and at the Virgin
Megastore in Times Square (where it was the focus of a three-day promotional event).
So what's the buzz about, you ask? Well, it's all over a 1.8-by-l.6-inch MP3 player that holds up to 250 songs and 10,000 images. It sells for $49.99 to $99.99, depending on memory size, via the company's Website (www.klegg.com) and at select retailers. The product was developed and manufactured by Las Vegas-based Klegg Electronics Inc., which Gentles, 32, launched in 2003 with $70,000 of his own money. In addition to MP3 players, the company's consumer products line offers slim-line televisions and high-end home theater systems.
Klegg's current product lineup includes the M6 501 surround-sound home theater system, the KP line of plasma televisions, the R6150 and R6110 LCD remote controls, and the C7 and I9 in-wall/ceiling speakers. Using technology and aesthetics as a foundation, the firm's engineers have designed a home theater system with speakers that are only slightly larger than a credit card yet powerful enough to provide "thunderous but precise base resolution," explains Gentles.
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The 13-employee company got its start as a distributor for a European-based consumer electronics brand, which Gentles later purchased and brought to the United States. Having previously run a computer consulting firm for 10 years, Gentles says his dream was to build a business that could bring consumer electronics products together in a seamless fashion through home networks and similar systems.
Working with a third-party marketing firm, Gentles set out to find a musically-oriented spokesperson who could spread the word about the Klegg Mini. Abdul's association with American Idol made her the perfect choice. Gentles offered her a combination of company stock and cash in exchange for touting the product in the national media, on the company's Website, and in other venues.
Currently, 24 dealers distribute Klegg's products nationally. In addition to high-end dealers such as Sound City, new retailers include Speaker City in Burbank, California, and Audio Vision in San Francisco; HomeTronics Lifestyles in North Haven, Connecticut; Summit Sound in Bangor, Maine; and TV Specialist Inc. in Salt Lake City. Gentles hopes to increase the number of dealers to 65 by the end of the year, and Klegg has just closed on a deal to sell the Minis at Tower Records.
Company sales have grown from $240,000 in 2005 to an expected $1.5 million this year, and several new products-engineered around marketplace needs and an aesthetically-pleasing design--are in the cards, including media server products. Gentles also plans to open retail stores that would focus on custom home installations for consumers.
Knowing the potential of the MP3 market alone, Sean Wargo, director of industry an@is for the Arlington, Virginia-based Consumer Electronics Association, sees potential for small firms that can rise above the noise generated by Apple's iPod. Sales of portable MP3 players more than doubled in 2004 to nearly 7 million units, accounting for $1.2 billion in revenues, according to the CEA. "Those brands that harness the opportunity and offer targeted products to a specific consumer group will definitely find opportunity in this growing market," Wargo says.
The brainchild of Dennis Gentles, the Klegg Mini has appeared on CBS and NBC, on VHI's The Fabulous Life (on which Abdul performed while holding the MP3 player) and at the Virgin
Megastore in Times Square (where it was the focus of a three-day promotional event).
So what's the buzz about, you ask? Well, it's all over a 1.8-by-l.6-inch MP3 player that holds up to 250 songs and 10,000 images. It sells for $49.99 to $99.99, depending on memory size, via the company's Website (www.klegg.com) and at select retailers. The product was developed and manufactured by Las Vegas-based Klegg Electronics Inc., which Gentles, 32, launched in 2003 with $70,000 of his own money. In addition to MP3 players, the company's consumer products line offers slim-line televisions and high-end home theater systems.
Klegg's current product lineup includes the M6 501 surround-sound home theater system, the KP line of plasma televisions, the R6150 and R6110 LCD remote controls, and the C7 and I9 in-wall/ceiling speakers. Using technology and aesthetics as a foundation, the firm's engineers have designed a home theater system with speakers that are only slightly larger than a credit card yet powerful enough to provide "thunderous but precise base resolution," explains Gentles.
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The 13-employee company got its start as a distributor for a European-based consumer electronics brand, which Gentles later purchased and brought to the United States. Having previously run a computer consulting firm for 10 years, Gentles says his dream was to build a business that could bring consumer electronics products together in a seamless fashion through home networks and similar systems.
Working with a third-party marketing firm, Gentles set out to find a musically-oriented spokesperson who could spread the word about the Klegg Mini. Abdul's association with American Idol made her the perfect choice. Gentles offered her a combination of company stock and cash in exchange for touting the product in the national media, on the company's Website, and in other venues.
Currently, 24 dealers distribute Klegg's products nationally. In addition to high-end dealers such as Sound City, new retailers include Speaker City in Burbank, California, and Audio Vision in San Francisco; HomeTronics Lifestyles in North Haven, Connecticut; Summit Sound in Bangor, Maine; and TV Specialist Inc. in Salt Lake City. Gentles hopes to increase the number of dealers to 65 by the end of the year, and Klegg has just closed on a deal to sell the Minis at Tower Records.
Company sales have grown from $240,000 in 2005 to an expected $1.5 million this year, and several new products-engineered around marketplace needs and an aesthetically-pleasing design--are in the cards, including media server products. Gentles also plans to open retail stores that would focus on custom home installations for consumers.
Knowing the potential of the MP3 market alone, Sean Wargo, director of industry an@is for the Arlington, Virginia-based Consumer Electronics Association, sees potential for small firms that can rise above the noise generated by Apple's iPod. Sales of portable MP3 players more than doubled in 2004 to nearly 7 million units, accounting for $1.2 billion in revenues, according to the CEA. "Those brands that harness the opportunity and offer targeted products to a specific consumer group will definitely find opportunity in this growing market," Wargo says.
Do You Have A Sales Prevention Department In Your Company?
Back in the February 1994 issue of Telemarketing magazine (the parent publication of this magazine), I wrote an editorial with the above title. Since then, I have received several inquiries about this very important topic. In fact, as recently as last week, we had yet another request for a copy of this editorial.
Based on the extreme importance of this topic, I decided to revisit this matter and expand upon it with greater detail.
Most Companies Have One, But They Don't Know They Do
As I have indicated in my editorial in 1994, many companies actually have a sales prevention department, but they are completely unaware of this fact. When I say "sales prevention department," I don't mean that these companies literally have a separate department with that tide. However, the regular violations of certain important rules that I have indicated in this editorial actually constitute a cancerous problem within many companies.
As you may know, I have been a student of marketing for the last 25 years; in fact, we do have a marketing test at TMC that 99 percent of the marketing managers who have taken it have failed. In my view, the test is a simple one and contains the basic knowledge that every true marketing manager must possess. There is no point in hiring a marketing manager who cannot even define marketing. In many of my previous editorials, I have elaborated on this topic, as you may know.
In many companies, the sales department is regarded as die most important department in die company. Of course, here at TMC, we do not subscribe to this thinking because we feel that every department is equally important. Having said that, my frequent associations with many CEOs within our industry and elsewhere have led me to believe that most companies, in fact, consider the sales department one of the most the important, IF NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT DEPARTMENT.
In my way of thinking, this is not true. I feel that if you are going to rank the departments, marketing should come ahead of the sales department. Here is why:
All Sales Begin With A Sales Lead
As I have indicated in several of my past editorials, one of the paramount responsibilities of the marketing department is to create awareness about the company, articulate the benefits of dealing with the company and highlight the company's differentiation from its competitors. The cumulative results of the above mentioned marketing functions eventually lead to the all-important lead generation which is vital to any company's growth and prosperity. In other words, the sales department will be crippled if the marketing department does not generate a stream of continuous, qualified sales leads for the sales department.
Sales Prevention Diagnostics
Having stated the above importance of the sales and marketing departments, there are many details that need to be addressed if sales prevention is to be avoided. In this editorial, I will try to refer to as many of these problems as possible, and I ask our valued readers to address whichever factors that are most appropriate for their situations. Here are the areas that are most likely to contribute to sales prevention:
1. Ignore The Golden Rule Of Integrated Marketing And, Most Important, Ignore The Golden Triangle. When a company ignores the rules of integrated marketing and the golden triangle, which includes print, online and event marketing, the company has, in fact, prevented maximum lead generation for the sales department.
2. Ignore Marketing Completely. Believe it or not, many companies give lip service to marketing and, as far as I have been able to study, such companies either go under or, if they exist at all, they really don't get anywhere.
I recall a pair of companies that started out in the Chicago area at the same time. Company A was a master marketer and Company B did not care about marketing at all. To make a very long story short, the owner of Company A is a billionaire today while Company B is still struggling and has gotten nowhere in the same period of time!
3. Waste Sales Leads. Many companies spend a tremendous amount of money every year to attend trade shows or advertise in print and online and generate a considerable amount of leads. However, research indicates that as many as 70 to 80 percent of sales leads generated are either ignored completely or followed up too late to be of any use. Indeed, this is one of the leading causes of sales prevention.
4. Ignore Your Customers' Needs And, Most Important, Ignore Your Customers' Customers' Needs. In this highly competitive business environment, the companies that go beyond the call of duty are those that will survive. Once again, as mentioned in many previous editorials, to succeed in business, you need to understand your customers' needs as well as your customers' customers' needs. Let us remember that customer care is the only sustainable competitive advantage.
5. Ignore Sales Training. Many companies, particularly the entrepreneurial small and medium-sized companies, have a tendency to ignore sales training. This is practically unthinkable. How can anyone expect a sales person to sell anything without knowing the benefits and features of the products or service they are expected to sell? Believe it or not, this problem continues to exist.
CT triple header as Dunne team closes three major sales
The prolific Jeffrey Dunne scored a triple whammy with three major sales in Connecticut this week. Dunne, along with Steven Bardsley and Todd Newman of CB Richard Ellis' New York Tri-State Investment Team, represented an institutional owner in the sale of Greenwich Atrium. The team was also responsible for procuring the buyer, a partnership between Angelo, Gordon & Co. and Core Plus Properties LLC.
And along with CBRE's Christopher Leonard, he represented BlackRock, Inc. in the sale of Hillcroft Apartments for $29.05 million or $151,303 per unit. The pair was also responsible for procuring the buyer, Fairfield Residential, LLC.
In a third separate transaction, Dunne and Leonard represented BlackRock, Inc. in the sale of an adjacent 1.86 acre parcel of entitled land for $1.0 million. The development land has site plan approval from the City of Danbury for 20 residential units. The team was also responsible for procuring the buyer, RJR Builders, LLC of Danbury, Connecticut.
Greenwich Atrium is a 100,154 s/f office building located at 75 Holly Hill in Greenwich, Connecticut, arguably the country's most prestigious and site-constrained office location. The property is situated just off Route 1 (West Putnam Avenue) and roughly one mile from the town center, Interstate 95 and the Metro North train station.
Greenwich Atrium, which was 85.1% leased to 16 tenants at the time of sale, has a highly diversified and stable rent roll representing a variety of businesses such as financial services, real estate, medical treatment and technology. Major tenants at the property included the Bank of Ireland (19,653 s/f), Nextwave Wireless (13,441 s/f), Greenwich Hospital (8,699 s/f) and Citicorp (8,670 s/f).
Commented Dunne, "Greenwich Atrium, with its high quality tenancy, is poised to deliver significant upside through rental rate growth and lease-up by leveraging the numerous favorable characteristics of its quality location and marketplace. Angelo Gordon and Core Plus should fair well with this asset."
Hillcroft Apartments is a 192-unit garden apartment complex located within one-quarter mile of Exit 5 of Interstate 84. It underwent a $2.1 million redevelopment program prior to sale, with new exteriors, renovated amenities, and new landscaping, in addition to interior renovations on many individual units.
The renovation and convenient commuting location has enabled Hillcroft Apartments to achieve higher rental rates.
Interiors by design: how one woman went from handling direct mail to designing home interiors
When Dennese Guadeloupe Rojas was laid off from her production position at a direct mail company in the late '80s, she was disappointed about losing a job but she viewed it as a "golden opportunity" to pursue her life's passion. "Often when you lose a job, you have time to reflect. 'What do I really want to do? What is my life's purpose?'" she says. For Rojas, it turned out to be interior design.
Rojas earned a degree in interior design from Bauder College in Miami but never put it to good use. Unable to find work in her chosen field, she spent several years in advertising. Rojas relocated to Maryland with her daughter in 1988. While at the direct mail company, "I designed a friend's home as a surprise for his wife. That was so rewarding," she says.
Today, Rojas is the sole proprietor of Interiors By Design, which provides interior and exterior design as well as accessories. She is also the owner of a retail store, Interior Accents Etc., where she sells a broad selection of home decor. Last year, both businesses grossed $319,856; Rojas anticipates making $276,351 in the retail store with another $300,000 in design revenues in 2004.
Making the transition to self-employment in 1990, Rojas began working out of her home in Burtonsville, Maryland, relying on word of mouth and attending trade shows in drum up prospective clients. She eventually courted high-scale clients, namely NFL players, including Anthony McFarland and Shaun King. By 2001, Interiors By Design was solid. But each buying trip was limited by Rojas' small-scale approach. She had nowhere to stock the quantities that allow designers to buy from the big players.
At that point, Rojas decided to set up shop. With her sights set on the high-income, middle-class suburban area of Silver Spring, Maryland, Rojas found a space to lease in October 2001. Lacking retail experience, she turned to a friend, someone who had a store selling home furnishings for 10 years. "I hired her as a consultant; we worked out a payment arrangement," says Rojas, whose startup costs were $70,000 to $90,000. She managed to snare a $45,000 micro loan through the SBA. She also used about, $20,000 of her personal savings.
For Rojas. adding a store to her existing design work was rocky at first. The construction of a loft to accommodate a design office separate from the 1,400-square-foot display floor was delayed, and Rojas had to have a friend fix what the original architect botched. Reliable employees were harder to find, although she now has a dependable crew of four full-time and two part time workers.
Nationally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, interior design is growing at a faster pace than average, with a projected 22% increase in the number of working designers by 2012. Annual billings, calculated per state by Dun and Bradstreet, stood between $200,000 and $900,000 in 2003, with most between $400,000 and $600,000.
While the flurry of home makeover programs on television has made interior designers popular commodities, Rojas notes that it's a blessing as well as a curse. Such shows "have more people coming into the store and seeking a designer to help with the interior of their homes," explains Rojas, who has worked with homeowners with budgets ranging from $10,000 to $4 million. "But people think they can get everything that they want for just $1,000."
Full of hot air: how to handle big egos on your sales team before they're blown out of proportion - Sales Force
ALONGSIDE SUCH PERSONALITY-describing adjectives as "competitive" and "assertive," the word "egotistical" is often cast in a pejorative light. But being a little egotistical can be a good thing in sales. Without a firm concept of their own worth, salespeople would quickly be gobbled up by the quicksand of insecurity.
Since such a personality makes one well-suited to thrive in a selling environment, you may be harboring a few shades of ego in your sales force right now. Unfortunately, the same personality trait that makes your salespeople superlative deal-closers may also ruffle feathers in the ranks. Here are a few methods for managing big heads on your sales team:
* Know how to talk ego-ese. Joseph Weintraub, management professor at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and co-author of The Coaching Manager: Developing Top Talent in Business (Sage Publications), works with companies dealing with sales strife. To assess individual work styles and identify the ones likely to cause conflict, Weintraub uses a "Stop, Start, Continue" exercise. "Each person writes down what he or she wants the other person to stop doing, to start doing and to continue doing," he says. "We discuss the lists, and through negotiation, we try to build an agreement that fits the needs of the parties involved."
According to Star-Team's "Insights Survey" , developed in part by Weintraub, effective communication with a dominant personality depends on sticking to the facts, supporting an efficient environment and putting all projects in writing. Communicating don'ts for strong personalities include wasting time, being redundant, using a paternalistic approach or dwelling on details. Learn how to separate emotion from fact. "Ego is always emotional," says Dave Lakhani, owner of Balls Out Sales & Marketing, a sales consulting firm in Boise, Idaho. Lakhani advises entrepreneurs to address the issues and create a definable outcome. Lakhani also urges managers to let sales team members know they will be evaluated not on an ability to relate to just clients, but to each other as well. One way to encourage cooperation is to create competitions that force members to rely on each other to win. "You'll be amazed how quickly communication and support come around," Lakhani says.
* Know how to keep egos in check. "Egos are healthy up to a point," says Janice Calnan, a psychotherapist in Ottawa and author of SHIFT: Secrets of Positive Change for Organizations and Their Leaders (Creative Bound). While the ego helps humans survive, it can also interfere with relationships. "[Egos] put us in a 'judgment mode,' where we want to blame each other." It's when the ego takes charge of a situation that "the rational self is out of control," warns Calnan, who offers tips on handling squabbles in the ranks:
1. Encourage an environment in which salespeople provide each other with positive feedback It's hard to clash with someone who's offered you support.
Tis the season: the holiday season can be one of the most lucrative times of the year. Start planning now to boost sales by taking advantage of consum
When it comes to the holiday season, in both business and in life, there's really no better time of year. It's a time to reflect, give thanks and gather with family and friends. But it is also a time when success is as vital to the survival of retail establishments as paint was to Picasso's canvas.
The holiday season presents a special set of opportunities that enables artists and art gallery owners alike to stretch their minds and imaginations to bring customers into the shop during the season and beyond. Whether an art gallery specializes in six-figure sales of high-profile pieces or $60 sales of paper, posters and plates, creative marketing techniques can increase sales during the holiday season and bring customers back after the last ornament has been taken off the tree.
Don't just rely on the tried-and-true holiday art walk to increase your seasonal sales. Sylvia White, owner of Contemporary Artists' Services, a management-consulting firm in Los Angeles which specializes in career development for visual artists, encourages gallery owners to tap into artists' creativity to bring customers in. Ask a group of artists to make Christmas-tree ornaments, she suggested, or ask a them to make menorahs. Ask a group of artists to use their creativity in a way they never have before.
"What I like to do is think of the artist I am working with and ask them to make something that might be particularly relevant to their work," she said. "I once asked a bronze sculptor to do a fireplace screen, and it turned out great. It's something he would have never done himself, and he loved the idea of someone suggesting it."
Once the artist creates that holiday piece, White recommended the gallery owner display it next to some of the artist's traditional work. Ask a glass blower to make an ornament, for example, and display it next to one of his $2,000 vases or bowls. Ask a woodworker to carve a dreidel, she said, and sit it next to one of his most exquisite works. "If the artist is a painter, have them use their style and adapt it to a functional object for the season," she said.
Give the Gift of Creative Shows
White also recommends gallery owners create a show around a holiday theme. "There was a toy show once where artists were invited to make toys that really worked," White added. "It was fabulous." Or, recommended Susan Schear, owner of ArtIsIn LTC, an Oradell, N.J.-based marketing firm that helps artists develop and market their businesses, "you could do a whole lighting show with all different candlesticks made by different artists in several different media," she said. "Kwanzaa is really evolved," she added. "Why not do a show on the history behind Kwanzaa?"
Jack Appelman, c.e.o. of Applejack Art Partners in Manchester, Vt., a company that prints and licenses artists' works, said gallery owners need to do more than just package items together to create an unforgettable show. "Years ago, a gallery could have a Christmas print released for the Christmas season," he said. "They would do a show with an artist and have some kind of event, and it would bring people in. That doesn't do it any longer. Successful galleries are moving toward the model of a gift shop in a way, where they revolve a show around a print and include other products that carry that theme as well."
For example, a gallery might hang a print of an angel and couple it with a piece of glass work that is an angel or a box of hand-painted cards with angels featured on the front. "It also plants the seed for the customer to come back," he said. "And it allows that customer to make impulse buys."
Festive Promotions
You can be impulsive about your promotional ideas as well, White said. For example, why not stop in at the five-and-dime and buy regular items--colorful string, or a Plexiglas box--and ask your artists to create something holiday-themed in their own individual way? "When you give an artist a generic tool to work with and say, `Do something,' you can use the pieces as a hook to get people in there," White said.
If you're more comfortable with traditional marketing techniques, such as a direct-mail campaign, White strongly suggested you don't simply send out a black-and-white postcard. She advised investing in design and color to guarantee your customers will come in. "A lot of gallery owners and artists make the mistake of saving money by not printing a color image on an announcement or by not sending out something that is really gorgeous," she said. "What you send out can really make or break someone's mind in terms of coming to see the show."
Photo auctions attract aggressive bidding: sotheby's strikes gold while Christie's sales are off
It is becoming ever more important for the photo experts at the top auction houses to persuade important collectors to consign top-flight collections. Last year, in a major embarrassment for Sotheby's and Christie's, the upstart Phillips won the right to sell the Seagram's collection and subsequently walked off with the season's top honors. This season, Sotheby's struck gold with two major single-owner sales of its own.
Sotheby's strikes gold while Christie's sales are off.
On April 27, Sotheby's held a sale entitled "Important Photographs from a Private Collection." Of significance is the fact that it held the sale on that night in April, perhaps trying to emulate the powerful Impressionist and Modern paintings department. (Their top sales are ticket-only evening events comparable to glitzy Hollywood movie openings.) When the auction houses try to woo collectors away from each other, the promise of such an over-the-top production is a powerful lure.
Evidently, the ploy worked. It lured a standing-room only crowd that bid very aggressively--so aggressively, in fact, that nine out of every 10 pieces sold over-estimate.
Each and every one of the 43 pieces sold, and the auction brought in $3.9 million, 60 percent more than the estimate. The top lot at the sale was the disquieting Diane Arbus masterpiece, "Identical Twins (Cathleen and Colleen), Roselle, N.J."
"Disquieting" might be an understatement; according to Sotheby's, it served "as inspiration for the recurring motif of twin girls that appears throughout Stanley Kubrick's film, 'The Shining.'" Originally expected to bring $250,000 to $350,000, it ultimately sold to an anonymous private collector for $478,400, a new auction record for Arbus.
Another record was set when Walker Evans' "Negro Barbershop Interior, Atlanta," sold to the Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York for $198,400. This price is somewhat baffling, as this very work had sold just two years earlier at Sotheby's for only $95,600. This represents a 100 percent increase in two years--quite an enviable return on investment. The last of the three records set that night was for Robert Frank, when an image of his 1956 photograph "Chicago" realized $131,200; more than four times its high estimate of $30,000.
The second single-owner sale held at Sotheby's this season carried the following unwieldy title, "The Gordon L. Bennett Collection of Carleton Watkins 'New Series' Photographs of Yosemite." The set is remarkable in that it comprises 40 125-year-old mammoth photographs in "superb condition."
In fact, finding any Watkins pieces at all is difficult, according to the head of Sotheby's photographs department, Denise Bethel. "He lost his life's work twice," says Bethel. Once, when he was forced to turn over his entire stock of negatives to I. W. Taber, a rival photographic publisher, and then when the fires following the San Francisco earthquake destroyed his 'New Series' views."
The 40 photographs were purchased by Gordon Bennett in a rare book store in San Francisco in 1967. He found them hidden on the store's bottom shelves. One might hope that the shop's owner, who had priced them at $25 each, or less, is not around to read that the set brought $2 million, far exceeding its high estimate of $1,406,000. The top lot was "Aggasiz Rock and the Yosemite Falls, From Union Point," which sold to the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco for a record price of $310,400.
As for the main mixed-owners auction, the results were somewhat less extraordinary.
The sale totaled $2,795,200, (below the high estimate of $2.9 million), and approximately 20 percent of the 179 works on offer went unsold. Frankly, this may be a more accurate gauge of the general state of the photo market. It seems that when exceptional collections appear, so do exceptional buyers, which explains the phenomenal success of the two Sotheby sales. For those in the real world trying to sell typical items, the reception is not quite as enthusiastic.
Four works in the sale broke the $100,000 mark, and, interestingly, three of them were taken by the lovers Tina Modotti and Edward Weston. The one Modotti, "Bandolier, Corn, and Guitar," which sold for $120,000, is a politically charged piece intended to evoke thoughts of the Mexican revolution. The other two $100,000-plus pieces, still lifes by Weston, are far less radical: "Pepper (3P)" (which also brought $120,000) and "Shells" (which brought the highest price at the sale, $232,000).
FROM PLACING BUSINESS TO MAKING SALES
Over the past three years JMB Insurance has transformed itself from primarily a real estate-focused agency to a broad-based client-centered multiline agency that is targeting growth in excess of 15% a year. President and CEO Steve Topel and his four-person executive management team have instituted major technological, marketing, environmental and cultural changes, all focused on strong and efficient client service.
When JMB Insurance was formed in Chicago in 1971 through an acquisition of a small agency, its goal was to provide risk management services for the assets owned by JMB Realty Corporation. JMB Realty was one of the largest commercial real estate owners in the country. Finding business for the agency was not a concern. There were many opportunities as JMB Realty expanded its holdings. Agency employees were experts in designing sophisticated insurance programs that often involved several insurers and reinsurers, coupled with risk management services that served to mitigate or eliminate the risks facing their parent.
However, as anyone in the insurance business or any business knows, the only constant in life is change. And change came to JMB Insurance in 1986 as the result of a change in the commercial real estate marketplace. JMB Realty spun off the insurance agency and also began disposing of some of its properties. By 1990, the agency still had 75% of its revenue coming from the placement of insurance programs for assets owned by JMB Realty.
Lee Sacks, the agency's founder, headed up the effort to recruit sales-oriented professionals who could bring in new business and build on the substantial expertise that JMB had in placing and servicing commercial real estate insurance risks. At the same time, he wanted to diversify into other classes and lines of business, including employee benefits and individual life insurance. Then in 2003, there was another turning point for the agency when Lee retired. His efforts, along with his team, had borne substantial fruit, with 95% of the $20 million in revenue now coming from outside JMB Realty assets.
"Ownership decided to grow the business. They offered me the opportunity to help the agency move to the next level. I had been with another insurance brokerage as a P&C producer for 20 years. It was an attractive offer," Steve remembers. "I was being offered the chance to run a business that had an excellent reputation and was financially sound.
"On the plus side, there was a commitment from ownership to grow the business. There was also a terrific group of people who wanted to move to the next level." However some of the necessary building blocks were missing. The agency was still using a Delphi agency management system. And there was a shortage of middle management structure. "We needed to add more people, and invest in marketing materials, technology, and more space," Steve explains.
"This was a very successful business with an outstanding group of people. It was a perfect situation and I was honored to be offered the opportunity to help make the changes necessary for making the agency even more successful. I'm also fortunate to have a smart, talented senior management team. We're all focused on some pretty impressive goals."
No standing still
"One of the things you learn very quickly in this business is that you can't stand still," Steve continues. "If you try to stay even, you always lose ground. You need to constantly move forward. We needed to take the steps necessary to perpetuate the agency.
"I kept sticking 20 pounds of stuff into a 10-pound bag. There was change after change after change," Steve remembers. "Fortunately, we have a resilient team and they welcomed every challenge. The result is a stronger agency with a workforce that has really taken an active part in the transformation.
"It also helped me identify the key players at the agency. I was able to put together a team of excellent, highly motivated individuals to serve on the executive and management committees that we set up soon after I joined JMB," he explains. "This team is responsible for managing the changes and keeping new changes coming. You'd think that the constant bombardment might have had a deleterious effect on our personnel, but the opposite has been true. Every time they successfully respond to a change, we see the agency get better.
L.A.'s 100 largest private companies: ranked by 2005 revenues
Eighteen privately-held companies headquartered in Los Angeles County surpassed $1 billion in annual revenues for the 2005 fiscal year, led by Platinum Equity LLC.
MDFC Holding Co., David Murdock's holding company for Dole Food Co. and Castle & Cooke Inc., held onto the second spot. Trader Joe's Co. Inc. jumped six spots to the No. 3 position with $5 billion in revenues after the Business Journal revisited its estimate of the South Pasadena company's revenues.
High gas prices contributed to growth at two local independent petroleum companies. No. 13 World Oil, of South Gate, reported $1.2 billion in revenues, up $160 million or 13 percent from the previous year. Revenues at No. 17 United Oil of Gardena increased to just over $1 billion, up $177 million or 20 percent over the previous year.
Many companies on this year's list are not only the largest but also some of the fastest growing businesses headquartered locally. Three companies saw 2005 revenues increase by at least 50 percent over the previous year.
Superior Communications saw the largest year-over-year growth with revenues of $245 million, up $112 million or 85 percent. The manufacturer and distributor of wireless phone accessories moved up to No. 56 on ibis year's list, up 26 spots from the year prior. No. 12 Newegg.com moved up seven spots with 2005 revenues of $1.3 billion, up $320 million.
Apparel and accessories retailer Forever 21 Inc. jumped 11 spots to No. 19 after revenues increased to $924 million, up $281 million compared with the year earlier.
Numerous companies on last year's list no longer qualify due to mergers, acquisitions and relocations. Cook Inlet Energy Supply LLC, No. 4 last year with $3.4 billion in 2004 revenues, was acquired by Sydney-based Macquarie Bank Group. The purchase of the natural gas trader and marketer was announced last November. Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. acquired DreamWorks LLC, No. 18 last year. The motion picture studio founded in 1994 by David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg had previously spun off its successful animation unit DreamWorks Animation SKG before being acquired.
Also closing shop this year was No. 77 Fishking Processors. The Los Angeles-based frozen seafood retailer closed its downtown manufacturing plant after nearly 60 years in operation when owner Nippon Suisan purchased a Georgia-based competitor and merged the operations.
Three companies on last year's list moved headquarters to outside of the county. California Dairies Inc., No. 8 last year with $2.5 billion in 2004 revenues, changed its base to Visalia. STA Travel Inc., No. 56 last year, moved from Los Angeles to Lewisville, Texas. The student travel agency reported $223 million in 2004 revenues.
Call center operator eTelecare Global Solutions, No. 87 last year with $124 million, moved its headquarters to Tucson, Ariz. from Monrovia, although the company still retains a large operation locally.
Overall, the 100 largest privately held companies in L.A. County reported combined revenue of $77.3 billion, up $2.1 billion or 3 percent over the previous year. Listed companies employ more than 220,000 people in more than 1,000 worldwide offices.
THE PACESETTER
PLATINUM EQUITY LLC
Beverly Hills-based Platinum Equity LLC tops the list of the largest privately held companies headquartered in Los Angeles County for the second consecutive year. Platinum Equity's portfolio companies totaled $8 billion in 2005 revenue, holding steady from the previous year.
Founded in 1995 by Tom Gores, the firm buys and runs companies operating in sectors that include information technology, software, telecommunications, logistics, manufacturing, health care products and entertainment distribution.
The firm has made three major acquisitions since the beginning of the year. It acquired $1.5 billion PNA Group Inc., a steel processor, in May from TUI AG. A few weeks later it acquired Houston-based Metal Supplies Co. and integrated it into PNA. In July, it acquired Hispanic telecommunications service Americatel Corp. from Entek And its most recent acquisition was made in September when it acquired Textron Fastening Systems, a global provider of fastening technologies, from Textron Inc.
In May, the company reached an agreement to sell portfolio company NextiraOne Europe to ABN Amro Capital France, the French private equity business of ABN Amro Capital. The company was acquired four years ago from Alcatel and was Platinum Equity's first major venture into Europe.
"We broadened the focus of NextiraOne and shifted the business from a predominantly voice solutions provider to a fully enabled provider of integrated (internet protocol) communications and managed services in Europe," Brian Wall, Platinum Equity's managing director for Europe, said in a statement.
Desert's luxury home market shows pent-up demand in 2007 sales
The Coachella Valley's luxury home market priced at $1.5 million and higher is poised for a strong showing in 2007, primarily because buyers who sat on the sidelines since 2005 wary to buy are making lifestyle choices to purchase then-Baby Boomer dream house.
That's why long time luxury home Realtors like Joan Rothermund, of Rothermund and Rudman of Prudential California Realty and a member of the Desert Estates Network, are already seeing closed escrows on trophy properties in 2007. "We just sold a home at $3.1 million at Bella Clancy (the new Tuscany-inspired enclave at Rancho Mirage) and we have homes at $3.6 million and $3.19 million in escrow," Rothermund said.
"What we are seeing is people who are making lifestyle choices about buying the second home in the desert they have been putting off," she said. "Buyers, who sat on the sidelines in 2005 and 2006, concerned that the market may bottom out, are now instead going out to buy for lifestyle reasons. There is so much pent up demand."
According to the Multiple Listing Service operated by the California Desert Association of Realtors, there were 319 homes over $1.5 million that sold in 2006, up over 285 in 2005. The median price of a luxury home sold in 2006 was $2 million, up from $1.9 million in 2005.
"The luxury home market is doing well in the Coachella Valley because there is no recession, the stock market is doing well and personal income has not declined," said Greg Berkemer, executive vice president of the California Desert Association of Realtors. "We don't have any of the negative factors we had a few years ago when the housing market had bottomed out." Berkemer noted that the sale of luxury homes in the Valley has pushed up the median price of a home. "That's just a mathematical anomaly of our market," he said. "But that's not to say that the guy who has a median priced home is getting the price lie might want because prices are backing off somewhat."
A key advantage for the desert luxury home market is that the Coachella Valley's selling season is winter and early spring when the weather is postcard perfect, compared to the snow and cold of most parts of the nation. "As our season kicks in now, I hope more people will see clearly that can buy a home here in stead of leasing," Berkemer added.
Developer Mario Gonzales, a well-respected builder/owner of GHA Companies is also optimistic about the market price threshold of $1.5 million and greater to be a much more active market in 2007 than homes listed for half that price or less.
"We have seen an increase in the quality of buyers since the beginning of the latter part of the fourth quarter of 2006. The multimillion dollar and trophy home buyer market continues to be in demand in spite of the hysteria of a housing bubble," Gonzales said. "This type of buyer is not affected by interest rates but is most interested in a lifestyle and understands the value of real estate, location and most importantly, quality."
Gonzales' company has reported over six sold units in at its most recent Rancho Mirage community, Escala, with an average price of $1.6 million.
Other Realtors, members of the Desert Estate Network, which specializes in million dollar plus properties like Janine Stevens of Dyson & Dyson Real Estate Associates, Louise Hampton of Prudential California Realty and Sandi Phillips, of California Lifestyle Realty Team, say 2007 could be the "lucky" year for selling trophy estate properties. "The market is now a buyer's market so I am finding homes on the market longer and I am advising my sellers to make sure thenhomes are pristine and looking their best I or most exposure to prospective buyers to compete in this market," Philips said.
"We are seeing the Baby Boomers (buyers), wanting a second home to enjoy the sunshine and golf and for what will ultimately be their retirement home. We're starting to see more buyers from the harsh weather states like Oregon and Washington."
Hampton pointed out that the days of investor-buyers rushing in to buy a luxury home and flip it in a sale a few months later to make thousands of dollars in profit "are over."
"I'm seeing buyers all over the board, especially in Palm Springs," she said, "including retired couples, Baby Boomers looking for a second home; gay couples."
Jose Enrique Souto: vice president of sales and marketing, Rowland coffee roasters
Imagine a world without coffee. Worse yet, imagine a world with only decaf. As long as the Souto family has something to say about it, neither cataclysmic event will take place in the United States.
Since its founding in Cuba in 1865, Rowland Coffee Roasters has been a family-run operation. "Coffee, for Cubans, is a very, very strong part of your daily life," says Jose Enrique Souto, vice president of sales and marketing. The Miami-based company owns 80 percent of the market share for espresso beans as well as some of the most popular Latino coffee brands in the United States: Bustelo, Pilon, Medaglia D'Oro, Caffe' Signore, E1 Pico, Estrella, Ideal, Oquendo and the family's very own label, Souto.
Patriarch and owner, Jose A. "Pepe" Souto, 90, still comes into the company's south Florida office a few days a week, but Rowland is essentially overseen by his three sons: Jose Enrique, Jose Alberto and Angel. Enrique, the eldest, vividly recalls the humble beginnings of this coffee powerhouse.
"I was about 15 or 16 when I started helping my father over the weekend and after school, delivering coffee. It was small-a real family business." While Pepe was roasting coffee, Enrique and his mother were selling the beans door-to-door. "This was like 'Avon calling','" Enrique says. "It was the type of situation where families who were coming to Miami [from Cuba] knew each other. They knew us as coffee people, so they bought the coffee from us. It helped support my family."
The company's income enabled Enrique to graduate from business school at the University of Miami. After a short stint in the retail clothing business, he came back to the bean. His two younger brothers completed their studies shortly thereafter and the trio took the reigns at Rowland Coffee.
Cage Pilon had been owned by Tetley and, according to Souto, was probably the largest Hispanic coffee owner in the U.S. about 15 years ago. "Pilon was familiar. For Cubans, it was Cuban coffee. For Americans, it was espresso coffee." In the 1990s, Tetley approached Rowland to buy their coffee division. "We jumped at it. It was a very highly-leveraged buy, and the small guy bought the big guy!" The sale was finalized in February 2000. Rowland maintained its commitment to Hispanic coffee and its main buyers. Wee fe It that Cuba would open up and we wanted to be ready to do business in the old country."
Although Enrique and his family have been in Florida since the 1960s-and their island home hasn't "opened up"-their love of Cuba has never dwindled. "We have a strong Cuban heritage that we have passed along to our sons and daughters. We are proud to say that we are Americans, but we still have celebrations like we did back in Cuba, like el "dia de los tres magos" and "nochebuena"; things
we grew up with." Meanwhile, Rowland Coffee is trying to inculcate the new Latino generation with some new traditions, including a love for the company's Cubano-Euro cafes. In January, Rowland's first store, Bustelo Cafe, opened at Florida International University. "It's a blend of old Cuba with a European look," says Enrique. The cage serves hot and iced coffees, Cuban sandwiches and Euro-style treats. "It was received with open arms by the students at FIU." Rowland plans to open a dozen more Bustelo Cages at various Florida universities.
The company is also looking into expanding its sales of espresso pods (preground, pre-measured, and pre-tamped: coffee wrapped in filter paper). Souto admits "they haven't been as popular, but we have been selling pods and we felt that the business was developing." Just this month, Rowland's pods hit a few stores in south Florida.
But in spite of all of their success, does Rowland Coffee fear Starbucks, the giant of all U.S. coffees? "Back in 1985, I met one of the original owners," Souto recalls. "He came to our factory to see the Italian operation." The companies weren't, and still aren't, competitors. "What they have done for the coffee industry is marvelous," he says. "They created a new following of people. They took the coffee business that was in decline in the U.S. and revived it. On the other hand, on our side of the business, we had a niche. Our business was growing." Starbucks' success has only helped Rowland Coffee.
The best was hotly pursued, securing record prices, but there was little interest in the rest from buyers at the September Asian Art sales in New York
Asian art sales in New York in September, and a number of extraordinary prices. At its Chinese art sale on 21 September, for instance, a Qianlong-period zitan-wood three railing, or sage's, bed (luohanchuang) became the most expensive Chinese bed ever sold at auction when it went to the Asian trade for $847,500 (476,123 [pounds sterling]). Its particular interest lay in its combination of traditional Chinese form and a quasi Western style rococo ornamentation; both the 'hundred antiques' motif and the scrolling acanthus leaf carving were of exceptional quality. The style is associated with the Yuanmingyuan Palace, remodelled in the Italian baroque style by the Emperor Qianlong in 1747 with the aid of Jesuit priests. It would seem that the market chose to believe that this piece came from the palace itself.
A mighty $1.07m-601,966 [pounds sterling]-changed hands for the sale's top lot, a large Late Shang or Early Western Zhou Dynasty ritual wine vessel and cover or you dating from the eleventh to tenth century Be. Along with a rarer Shang bronze owl-form covered vessel or xiaoyou from the collection of the late Doris Duke (it had been acquired by her father in 1937 for a massive $10,000), it was sold, for $511,500 (287,359 [pounds sterling]), to London dealer Roger Keverne buying on behalf of the new Compton Verney art gallery in Warwickshire, which now boasts the most important collection of archaic Chinese bronzes in Britain outside the British Museum.
Also sold to benefit the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation was an exquisitely refined pair of celadon-glazed cylindrical jars still with their covers and bearing the six-character mark of the Yongzheng emperor. Estimated at $70,000 $90,000, London dealers Eskenazi paid $466,700 for them (262,191 [pounds sterling]). The same firm paid $820,000 (456,367 [pounds sterling]) at Sotheby's on 23 September for a white-glazed pear-shaped vase or yuhuchun ping of the Yongle period beautifully incised with fruiting and flowering pomegranate, which came to the block with expectations of $50,000-$70,000. Such pieces are exceedingly rare, not least in mint condition. It was always going to soar way beyond its estimate, but what its price reveals is the sophistication of the current market even among the newer collectors of the Chinese mainland. It is no longer just porcelains decorated with colourful enamels and with mark and period that make the huge prices.
What we saw more generally in the Chinese sales was a continuation of past trends, that anything of real quality and merit at any level would rocket while the mediocre or even the reasonable fell by the wayside. (Keverne, for instance, bid $40,000 for a lacquer box estimated at $2,000$3,000 and still did not secure it.) The sales also emphasised the importance of provenance in the West for archaeological material, and the additional premium paid for a glamorous, Duke style pedigree on anything. Yet the series's successes disguise pages of unwanted, bought-in lots.
This best-and-the-rest scenario was neatly illustrated at Sotheby's first thematic sale devoted to The Arts of Buddha, on 22 September. A private Chinese collector paid $1.9m (just over 1m [pounds sterling])--four times the published estimate--for five sheets of calligraphic script of the 'Perfection of Wisdom' Sutra by Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322), signed and dedicated by the artist, mounted in album form, bound in silk, and bearing two of the artist's deals, sixty collectors' seals and one colophon. Another Chinese collector also paid over the odds for an outstanding and large patinated gilt-bronze figure of Avalokitesvara of the Sui or early Tang Dynasty (Fig. 1)--$596,000 (331,701 [pounds sterling])--yet the entire $5m sale was only 59 per cent sold by lot and 47 per cent sold by value. Sotheby's $3.9m general Chinese sale was 60 per cent sold by let; Christie's $11m sale, 63 per cent.
Christie's $4m Japanese and Korean Art sale on 22 September fared slightly better in terms of percentages. Its top lot here was a spectacular and hotly contested pair of early seventeenth-century six-panel screens representing a Portuguese ship coming in to Japan to trade (Fig. 4). This telling historical document speaks volumes of the shock of the Japanese's early encounters with the curious 'southern barbarians' and their dark-skinned Indian crew. The screens were finally knocked down to an American collector for $589,900 (329,553 [pounds sterling]). An exceptional single-owner group of Nob masks and robes totalled $400,000. The great casualty here was the pair of massive
Tips On Preparing Your Home When Selling FSBO Pt 1
Preparing your home to be sold FSBO, or for sale by owner, is not a lot different to preparing your home for a real estate agent to start selling it for you. The only difference is that you are in complete control over the process. To get a good sale price, as well as a quick sale you will need to be determined, and focused on the task at hand, you will also need to get some things organized.
De-Clutter
The ‘de-clutter’ word may make people shudder at times, as they think that all of their treasured possessions are anything but clutter. The trick to selling your home FSBO is preparation, and presentation. Remove the possessions in your home that make it your personal haven. By doing this you will give your potential buyers the chance to imagine their possessions in your home, and that will lead to them imagining how great it will be to live in your home.
While your house is on the market, place all of the things that you don’t need in storage leaving only day-to-day necessities out. When you have done this walk around your home and look at it. If it feels impersonal, and a little bare you have reached your first goal.
Scrub, Scrub, And Scrub Some More
Once you have removed all of your personal effects, and any thing that doesn’t have to be in your home, you are ready to start on your next FSBO step. You will notice there is a lot of empty space, bare places. You will now need to start in one room of your home, and get the scrubbing brush out and keep scrubbing until you have cleaned the entire room from top to bottom.
Once you have finished in one room, then continue to the next room, and repeat this process until you have cleaned the entire inside of the house. If you are using cleaners while you are scrubbing make sure to use protective clothing and open some windows to provide adequate ventilation.
Paint Your Walls And Ceilings
Regardless of what many people may think painting it is vital to the sale of your FSBO home. For starters you will want to make your home look clean, fresh, and salable, old paint never has that effect even if it is washed.
Another reason why you will need to paint your walls is because you may have color preferences of your own, which may not appeal to other people. By painting your home in clean looking neutral colors you will appeal to any taste in buyer as they will see your home as a blank canvas ready for them to personalize according to their own taste.
Look For Faults
Once you have your home looking clean and fresh you will then need to look over it for any faults, or for things that need fixing up. Are there cracked tiles? What about holes in the walls? Is there anything that you have just never got around to fixing up? Look around the home, jot the jobs down on a pad, and begin fixing them. If you cant repair these things yourself, then call in the professionals.
De-Clutter
The ‘de-clutter’ word may make people shudder at times, as they think that all of their treasured possessions are anything but clutter. The trick to selling your home FSBO is preparation, and presentation. Remove the possessions in your home that make it your personal haven. By doing this you will give your potential buyers the chance to imagine their possessions in your home, and that will lead to them imagining how great it will be to live in your home.
While your house is on the market, place all of the things that you don’t need in storage leaving only day-to-day necessities out. When you have done this walk around your home and look at it. If it feels impersonal, and a little bare you have reached your first goal.
Scrub, Scrub, And Scrub Some More
Once you have removed all of your personal effects, and any thing that doesn’t have to be in your home, you are ready to start on your next FSBO step. You will notice there is a lot of empty space, bare places. You will now need to start in one room of your home, and get the scrubbing brush out and keep scrubbing until you have cleaned the entire room from top to bottom.
Once you have finished in one room, then continue to the next room, and repeat this process until you have cleaned the entire inside of the house. If you are using cleaners while you are scrubbing make sure to use protective clothing and open some windows to provide adequate ventilation.
Paint Your Walls And Ceilings
Regardless of what many people may think painting it is vital to the sale of your FSBO home. For starters you will want to make your home look clean, fresh, and salable, old paint never has that effect even if it is washed.
Another reason why you will need to paint your walls is because you may have color preferences of your own, which may not appeal to other people. By painting your home in clean looking neutral colors you will appeal to any taste in buyer as they will see your home as a blank canvas ready for them to personalize according to their own taste.
Look For Faults
Once you have your home looking clean and fresh you will then need to look over it for any faults, or for things that need fixing up. Are there cracked tiles? What about holes in the walls? Is there anything that you have just never got around to fixing up? Look around the home, jot the jobs down on a pad, and begin fixing them. If you cant repair these things yourself, then call in the professionals.
Owner-occupants continue to drive industrial sales activity - San Gabriel Valley
MARKED by the tightest industrial market outside of downtown L.A., activity in the San Gabriel Valley for the third quarter continued to be led by owner-users taking advantage of low interest rotes to buy buildings.
With vacancy rates at 2.2 percent on a base of 164 million square feet, according to Grubb & Ellis Co., demand for leased space was strongest among users in the market for less than 100,0130 square feet.
An essentially fully leased market coupled with an eager and able stable of buyers has helped push prices higher, as institutional investors cashed out of several properties.
Rents have followed property values higher. Third quarter asking rents were 50 cents per foot, 11 percent higher than the 45 cents being asked in the April-June quarter and near the upper end of the L.A. County industrial market.
Those factors have forced some tenants to look to the Inland Empire or even out of state in search of locations for expansion.We're running out of product," said Jim Center, a senior vice president at Grubb & Ellis. "We're really starting to exhaust the supply side. There's not a lot of new construction coming on line. We're running out of land."
With few substantial sites left for development, Majestic Realty Co. remains in the catbird seat when it comes to leasing large portions of space.
"Majestic is the only one with substantial holdings in the San Gabriel Valley," said Steve Bellitti, who along with fellow Colliers Seeley International senior vice president Tom Taylor works the market. "Finding a five acre (development) site is virtually impossible."
Majestic, in partnership with the City of Industry, is developing the 400-acre, 6.5 million-square-foot Grand Crossing business park near the intersection of the Pomona (60) and Orange (57) freeways at the eastern end of the city.
On the cusp of the San Gabriel market, and about to get underway, the Carpenters Pension Trust, with CB Richard Ellis Advisors as its investment manager, has been given entitlements for a 1.5 million-square-foot development between Rose Hills Road and Mission Mill Road. The site, in an unincorporated corner of the county, sits between Industry and Whittier, a Mid-Cities market.
Focus on sales
While those leasing opportunities remained limited, sales activity continued to drive the market.
"Interest rates are still historically low, and Southern California has always been a small business, entrepreneurial market," said Phil Lombardo, a principal at Trammell Crow Co. "There are always more buyers than there is product for sale."
Lombardo pointed to the $11.6 million sale of a 181,000-square-foot building in Industry. ABS Computer Technologies Inc. purchased the building, which is 70 percent vacant, from fund manager RREEF.
Most of the sellers were institutional investors, and while many of the buyers were owner-users, other large buyers took advantage of the buying opportunity as well.
Layton Belling & Associates did two substantial deals in the third quarter. The first was the $59 million purchase of the 667,000-square-foot Concourse industrial and office complex from AEW Capital Management LP. The project consists of a 420,000 square feet of industrial space, 158,000 square feet of office space and 88,000 square feet of flex plus 5 developable acres. The project, built in 1989, is fully leased.
The Newport Beach-based investment and management firm also struck a $26.2 million deal for the Kellwood Building on Temple Avenue in Industry. The 471,000-square-foot building was purchased from TA Associates Realty.
About the only large lease deal completed in the quarter was the 85,000-square-foot expansion signed by Scholastic Book Clubs in an Irwindale building owned by Clarion/ING. The 7-year deal was valued at $3 million.
Looking ahead, Lombardo said leasing activity would pick up in the first quarter of 2004, but the limited supply of land would continue to push demand further out.
Major Events:
* Manchester Tank signed a 42,000-square-foot lease at 88 Fairway Drive in Walnut for an estimated aggregate values of $1.2 million.
* Layton Belling & Associates purchased two industrial projects for a combined $85.2 million. One was the 667,000-square-toot Concourse industrial and office complex, the other the 471,000-square-foot Kellwood Building on Temple Avenue, both in Industry.
* Scholastic Book Clubs signed a seven-year lease in Irwindale as part of a 5,000-square-foot expansion valued at $3 million.
Companies look to the future by exploring online sales options - Timeshare: technology - Brief Article
While timeshare has only scratched the surface of the Internet, new applications are forthcoming. Online timeshare purchasing soon will be a reality, according to Howard Nusbaum, c.e.o. and president of the American Resort Development Assn.
Most developers are seeking new ways to exploit the Internet and service an information-craved clientele. Bluegreen Corp. is rolling out a Web-based central-reservations outlet that will allow owners to book real-time reservations, pay maintenance fees, view account activity and gather detailed information about the resort portfolio. Chad Jernberg, Bluegreen's marketing and e-business strategist, said there will be on-line telesale options in the future.
Fairfield Resorts is exploring online sales models through the company's branded portal, said Mary Mahoney, senior v.p. of service and resort hospitality.
The Internet's ability to post owner testimonials is another example of its power.
"They can post a negative experience, perhaps from a misunderstanding of a situation, or the product they purchased," Jernberg said. "This can cause bad-will about a property and shed a negative light."
David Pontius, president of Resort Condominiums International North America, said the biggest challenge with the Internet is realizing how to keep up with consumer's expectations.
"Customers get frustrated that there's not enough information," he said. "They become accustomed to the better sites and they get spoiled."
"We're making a lot of steps forward," Jernberg said. There's a lot of room for improvement about how it's marketed, what's there and what to do with the information onlineTouched by the top angel: Anaheim, thanks to its owner's willingness to pay big money to such talents as Vladimir Guerrero and Bartolo Colon, appears
A dozen cardboard boxes were piled up in a hallway outside the Angels' spring training clubhouse in Tempe, Ariz. They were serving as makeshift mailboxes for the team's better-known players. Spring training was barely a week old, but the boxes already were filling up--and no box contained more mail than the largest one, the one belonging to Vladimir Guerrero.
It seems the newest big-name Angel is fast becoming the most popular Angel. Judging from his 24/7 smile, Guerrero looks like the happiest Angel, too. Why not? After years of toiling for the Team That Bud Neglected, the right fielder has left Montreal and found work with a franchise ready to settle in with baseball's elite.
In 2002, the Angels went on a magical run to win their first World Series. After spending their first 41 seasons as mostly an afterthought on southern California's sports landscape, the team was on top of the baseball world. Seven months later, Anaheim got some really good news.
Arte Moreno, who made his fortune in the billboard business, bought the club from the tight-fisted Walt Disney Co. and quickly showed he does not plan to operate as most owners do. He cut ticket costs, lowered beer prices and wandered arouTo make good on his word, Moreno committed more than $145 million in the offseason to four free agents--including $70 million over five years for Guerrero. Now a club with a payroll of about $80 million last year will have one closer to $110 million in 2004. While the Yankees and the Red Sox hogged the hot-stove spotlight, it was the Angels who landed the best free-agent player in Guerrero and the top free-agent pitcher in power righthander Bartolo Colon. The signings of righthander Kelvim Escobar and outfielder Jose Guillen further strengthened the club.
"Those guys definitely provided the entertainment for the offseason," Angels outfielder Tim Salmon says of the high rollers in the American League East. "From our standpoint, even if we hadn't done anything this winter, we were thinking as long as we can get healthy, we'll take our chances. Then we go out and make some moves. We're thinking, hey, those are nice additions. Then ... all of a sudden, it's Guerrero. Now it's like we've been given more than we ever asked for, but we'll take it."
On paper, Salmon says, this is the most talented Angels club in his 13 seasons with the team, an opinion difficult to dispute considering what Anaheim added to a core that includes seven regulars and the heart of the pitching staff from the '02 championship team. "When you go up against the Yankees, sometimes they win because they have the most talent," Salmon says. "You can put this team in that category now. Guys like Garret (Anderson), Vladdy and Colon literally can put the team on their back and carry you to a win."
Of course, you must remember a favorite cliche of spring training: "The games aren't played on paper." On paper, most teams look like winners in March. But what's on paper means about as much as a fan letter. One example that the best team doesn't always win the biggest prize just happens to be those '02 Angels, who fielded no better than the fifth-best talent in the majors (after the Yankees, A's, Giants and Cardinals). But manager Mike Scioscia sold his players on his sum-is-greater-than-the-parts approach. By June, the club was making late-inning rallies a routine occurrence; before long, baseball fans across the land were going nuts for the rally monkey.
"We had to play that selfless style because we didn't have a guy or two who could carry us," says Salmon, the longtime right fielder who now is Anaheim's primary designated hitter. "We fed off each other. I watched the Marlins last year, and imagine that's what they had. Pressure is a lot less of a load when everyone is contributing."
Even though they'll have more players capable of picking up teammates, the Angels don't plan on changing their style. They won't ask Guerrero to curb his aggressiveness at the plate because they're confident that his run production will more than offset his disdain for walks. With the added power, the Angels might not need to move runners over as often, but Sioscia still drills his players on situational hitting. The Angels will continue to rely on defense and what has been the league's best bullpen over the past two seasons.
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