We had the pleasure of being one of the companies that participated in QVC's Quest for America's Best trade show. QVC is visiting every state looking for unique products that have limited distribution. The state organizes a trade show and the companies show their wares to a QVC buyer and to quality control people if required.
There were about 350 companies and entrepreneurs that participated. QVC will select 20 products and 5 alternates to appear in a live 3-hour television broadcast on August 26, 1995, QVC is cabled into 50 million homes. During any 15 minutes, there are about 10 million viewers. Nice exposure for a small company. If the product sells well, QVC will re-order and run the segment again. "As seen on TV" seems to have a lot of credibility in our society. We should know in about 2 weeks if we are selected.
Time is growing short to move our operation, but now we have a place to go. A little more room and more money, but it will work. Now the fun begins. We will try to minimize the business disruption factor. I'll report on our move next month.
We are doing some new things (for us) to increase our market. The first is running an ad in Giftware News, a national trade magazine for gift retailers. Our product will now be seen by thousands of buyers who have never seen a Sunchime. Also, we will be participating in a major trade show that will bring us face-to-face with thousands more buyers. The best product in the world goes nowhere if no one knows about it.
We don't really know what to expect from these efforts, but I have to think that they will pay off — especially if we do proper follow-up. On-going efforts include new product development, product quality enhancements, cost reduction and new supplier identification.
Monday, May 15, 1995, marked our 4th year as a manufacturing corporation producing a patented product and selling on a (somewhat) national scale. Although we are still small and struggling, just staying in business this long seems to me to be a fair accomplishment. The goal is still out there and we will continue to pursue it.