Profile of Success: Mission Accomplished
WHAT WAS HER BIGGEST MISTAKE AND HOW SHE SOLVED THE PROBLEM: Undervalu-ing the importance of multibuyers. “At Storybook Heirlooms, we started out selling high-end bedroom furniture and we had a gorgeous catalog,” she says. “We learned pretty quickly, fortunately, that furniture is complicated to deliver and that a significant part of mail order is having people rebuy from you. We were selling complete furniture sets, so they’d buy once, but not again. In either our first or second catalog, we put in a small insert of apparel and, within a year, we were an apparel catalog. We learned really fast that apparel was a much better niche for us.”
KEYS TO SUCCESS: Montessori Services Owner Jane Campbell “has very high values,” Killeen says. “The Montessori community is small. Being true to your values is well-respected in this community. Everything is done in the most ethical way possible — from product selection to customer service.”
- Companies:
- Bullock & Jones
Joe Keenan is the executive editor of Total Retail. Joe has more than 10 years experience covering the retail industry, and enjoys profiling innovative companies and people in the space.
