Make Millions Selling on QVC E-Book

Nick Romer

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 226

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Make Millions Selling on QVC is more than just a guide to getting you and your products in front of millions of potential customers; it's an inside look at how the largest television retailer in the world operates. The information and advice found throughout these pages will give you a distinct edge in this competitive business and allow you to exceed your professional expectations and enjoy the success you deserve.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Introduction

CHAPTER 1 - How a Niche Product Generated $441,158.40 in Ten Minutes

CHAPTER 2 - The Home Shopping Phenomenon

Mail-order Catalogs

Commercials and Infomercials

Home Shopping Channels

Golden Opportunities

CHAPTER 3 - How to Find or Create Hot Products

Improve an Existing Product

Research

CHAPTER 4 - Be First and Fastest to Mass Market

Selling to Stores: Overview

Infomercials—Direct to Consumers: Overview

Summary

CHAPTER 5 - How to Protect Your Product

Patents

Invention Submission Companies

Trademarks

Copyrights

Trade Secrets

Nondisclosure Forms

Provisional Application for Patent

Liability Insurance

CHAPTER 6 - How to Get on QVC

Mail-in Submission

Attend an Open Call

Networking

Trade Show Marketing

Use an Agent

CHAPTER 7 - What QVC Looks for in a Product

CHAPTER 8 - Your First Meeting—Pitching Your Product for Acceptance

Research

The Presentation

The QVC Mindset

CHAPTER 9 - Your Product Has Been Accepted—Now What?

The Product Submission Process

CHAPTER 10 - How to Prepare for Your Big Moment on TV

The Backyard Fence

Bullet Points

Broaden Your Market Reach

Train at Home

Field Training

Long Demonstrations

Stories Sell

Testimonial Calls

A Typical Segment

CHAPTER 11 - A Day in the Life at QVC

CHAPTER 12 - The Two Most Important Words You Can Associate with Your Product

CHAPTER 13 - Getting Paid, Returns, Backorders, and Surges

Getting Paid

Returns

Backorders and Surges

CHAPTER 14 - How to Add Easy Money to Your Bottom Line, and Other Ways to Drive ...

The Upsell

The Adapted Loss Leader

Building Momentum

Promoting Your Appearance

Use Your Web Site for Maximum Benefit

CHAPTER 15 - Six Mistakes that Can Snap the Back of Your Business, and How to ...

Costly Mistake to Avoid #1

Costly Mistake to Avoid #2

Costly Mistake to Avoid #3

Costly Mistake to Avoid #4

Costly Mistake to Avoid #5

Costly Mistake to Avoid #6

CHAPTER 16 - Open Doors to Greater Success

Retail Stores

Networking and Co-ventures

QVC United Kingdom and QVC Germany

Building Relationships with Professionals

Gaining Expert Status

CHAPTER 17 - Beyond QVC—The Big Picture

Final Thoughts

APPENDIX A - Resource Directory

APPENDIX B - Frequently Asked Questions

Glossary of Terms

About the Author

Index

Copyright © 2008 by Nick Romer. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

QVC, Inc., is not associated with any portion of this informational publication. QVC ® is a registered trademark of QVC, Inc. All other product or brand names are trademarks of their respective owners.

For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at [phone], outside the United States at [phone] or fax [phone].

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic formats. For more information about Wiley products, visit our Web site at www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Romer, Nick.

Make millions selling on QVC : insider secrets to launching your product on television and transforming your business (and life) forever / Nick Romer.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-470-22645-2 (cloth)

1. QVC (Firm) 2. Telemarketing. 3. Teleshopping. 4. Cable television advertising. I. Title. HF5415.1265.R67 2008

658.8’72—dc22 2007031888

For Joella, Ava, Nicholas, and Madelyn. The love that lights the way.

Acknowledgments

I am grateful for many amazing people in my life who have all been instrumental in illuminating the path and keeping the foundation of my business and life endeavors intact and upright.

First and foremost, Joella, my love. Thank you for listening to my dreams with or without the spoken words and for believing in me unconditionally.

To Marina, you are a great sister, thanks for always coming to my games and for being there in every other way throughout the years.

When I first thought I could launch a business and create an assembly line in my small condominium, my dear friends Brian and Diana Urbanski immediately offered the large basement of their home along with their willing hands for our countless packing parties. Their generosity and true friendship is something I will remain grateful for and will never forget.

To Rich Ennis and Frank Montemurro—thanks for taking the meeting and for all the guidance thereafter. Paul Haviland and Sergio Acle, true friends and believers, thanks for your constant interest, insights, and encouragement. Thank you Herb Niemi for great advice and manufacturing support throughout the years and Joyce Krompegel for keeping it all going in so many ways.

Starr Hall—I am grateful for your friendship and your nonstop pillar of positive get-it-done-and-I’ll-make-it-happen support and inspiration. You are perfect in every way.

And to Alisha Wright. Thank you for your endless generosity and friendship—just one phone call and see what happened. To Debra Englander and Stacey Small at Wiley, thank you for your insights and continued support.

I am also grateful to many others including Bill Wright, Neal Inscoe, Susan Stewart, Cindy Zontek, Patti Goodyear, Suzanne Runyan, Olga Romer, Miklos Homolka, Tom Annerino, Barbara Eastwick, Alicia Sheerin, Louie Ponstingel, Melinda Oakes, and also all the great people at QVC in front of the camera, behind the camera, and operating behind the scenes.

In the beginning, the middle, and the present, Divine Guidance brought it and us all together.

Introduction

I just might be the person sitting next to you on the train as you read this. I might be the man next to you at our children’s school function. I might be the man you see pumping his own gas at the gas station as you pass by. For I am an everyday person, with everyday needs not unlike any of your own, and I do everyday things with my family and friends, just like any other person.

One day though, in the course of a regular day, a remarkable thing happened to me. I invented something. It all started when a friend asked me to go to lunch with her. During the course of lunch she pulled out a shoebox filled with colorful envelopes. I have a very diverse background, so it’s not uncommon for one of my friends to seek me out for advice.

The envelopes were quite different. Other than the hand-decorated envelopes I used to receive from one of my high school friends after we went off to college, I had seen colored envelopes only around the holidays.

The envelopes she showed me that day weren’t just a solid color, though. They contained popular cartoon characters and other fun images. She was thinking about starting a business and wanted to know my opinion about whether she could sell the envelopes she had made.

The problem with her envelopes was that they contained characters that were trademarked and protected by law. It would involve getting in contact with the various companies and entering into a licensing agreement, a process a little more involved then going to the local church fair and setting up a table.

But as she was putting them away she said, “That’s okay; it takes me forever to make one anyway.” And in a flash, I saw a shape in my mind’s eye. It looked like a baseball diamond with a rectangle cut out of the middle. The image wouldn’t go away.

After I came home, the shape was still haunting me, so I made one out of cardboard. I literally cut it out of a manila folder and began tearing up whatever magazines and paper were near me to see if it would work. When I obliterated my immediate supply, I turned to the corner of the living room, where my roommate had piled magazines from various subscriptions. I couldn’t resist. In seconds I was at it again, cranking out unique envelope after unique envelope until I could hear the chirp of morning birds and saw the sun coming through the windows. By this time I had made about five hundred amazing one-of-a-kind envelopes. I was addicted. I needed more paper. In the kitchen I found some old newspapers and an old calendar and got back to business.

When my roommate woke up that morning and came into the living room he found me sitting at the table still going at it, a mess of shredded paper in my midst. Rubbing his eyes, he took it all in. As he looked around the room he spotted the empty corner and asked, “Where are my magazines?” I smiled a mile wide and handed him my colorful stack of envelopes. “You’re looking at them. Aren’t they cool?” I said. He smiled back, nodding his head, understanding fully what I had done. He totally got it, and didn’t mind at all. We still laugh about it to this day.

The tool was magic. Soon I had some made out of plastic and started selling them at a nearby shopping mall, along with my friend who I had had lunch with that fateful day. Then one day soon after, another friend told me to go to the local rubber stamp store. I didn’t know what my friend was talking about. I had never heard of a rubber stamp store before, but apparently there was one in my town, so off I went.

The store owner, Helen, was amazed. She said she wanted to stock them, but not with all the paper and stickers I had by then put in a box to be included with each one. Then, she had a thought. She was having a small open house that weekend in her store and wanted me to come. She told me, “Bring as many of those plastic things as you can.”

I showed up with sixty five. I was led to a room packed with eager rubber stampers, all women. I looked at Helen and wondered aloud if I was in the wrong room. She said, no, they were there to see me. She explained that not too many men show up to these things unless they’re dragged.

This I understood all too well. I didn’t know a thing about this rubber stamping thing—or crafts, for that matter—and seeing this room filled with what I thought were crazed women, I wasn’t sure I was in the right place. I was, after all, interested in sports and the normal guy things, not paper crafts and rubber stamping.

When the time came, I nervously began my demonstration. With the first tear of paper, one of the onlookers yelled, “How much?” I hesitated. I was unraveling as fast as a ball of yarn in the claws of a skilled kitten. I was just getting started. I remember thinking to myself, what did I get myself into? I continued working the magical template and ignored the question.

Then another yelled again, “How much?” I thought I was being heckled. This time I answered, “They’re five dollars each but I only have 65 of them with me.” And with that it was as if I was one of the Beatles. There was a sudden rush of women hurling themselves in my direction. In a matter of seconds, I found myself stuffed in the corner of the room until Helen rushed to my rescue and told the ladies to settle down, there were enough for everyone.

I ended up calling my two little pieces of plastic The Kreate-a-lope ® Envelope Maker. It is a template system that shows anyone how to make an envelope out of any kind of paper in seconds. I bill it as The Fastest Envelope Maker on the Planet!™And it really is. I can make an envelope in 11 seconds!

At the time I was working in the field of energy conservation for a subsidiary of ALCOA, the Aluminum Company of America. We would go into commercial buildings and retrofit their lighting and heating systems with new technology and, in the process, save the occupants as much as 70 percent on their utility bills. I had recently started a new sales territory for the company in the Washington, D.C./Baltimore area.

Additionally, I was flipping real estate on the side. I would find dilapidated homes and refurbish them to either rent or sell. Since then, and much in part to the recent real estate boom, this form has been popularized with more than one television show on the subject.

My regular job was like any other. It paid the bills. I felt it was important and that I was contributing to society, but after seven years I was ready for something else, and the envelope maker came along at the right time for me to make a change. Out of the blue one day, I called my boss and gave my two weeks notice. He asked me what I was going to do, and I said I didn’t really know. But I knew I was very interested in seeing what the Kreate-a-lope® had in store for me.

Somewhere before the craziness started, a patent was filed and subsequently issued in twelve months, which is quick. I was told there was nothing like it.

So once I quit my job and turned my focus on my two little pieces of plastic, I found myself in an industry far from my own. I was clueless as to what steps to take in order to share my idea with many. I had hundreds of questions about the marketing process, retailing, pricing, manufacturing, and everything else one could possibly think of the first time they ever develop an idea. The most pressing question of all, though, was where to begin.

If you have the same questions, you’re in luck, because this book contains information about what many believe to be a high-speed rocket to launching a new or existing product. It contains answers to many of the questions I had and have road-tested since the beginning to great success.

My little template was not an earth-shattering invention like the television, microchip, or the light bulb, but a simple little tool that could be used by a very small part of the population. It was a first for me in many respects, and I bumbled along with my innovative idea like the proverbial fish out of water.

A short time into this journey, another remarkable thing happened. I call it divine intervention, or perhaps—with respect for those who might be sensitive to such a description—a turn of synchronistic events. But no matter how I describe the path of destiny that seemed to open before me, the end result was that I went from being confused about where to begin to sitting in front of buyers for a then-fledgling television home-shopping channel called QVC.

The beauty of getting on QVC was that I could bypass most of the ground-level activities involved with launching a product, and the grueling learning curve of how to do it, and go straight to the top—direct to market in a plain brown box—broadcasting to millions.

That day changed the course of my life. This story is the testimonial of how an average person with a great idea and limited resources—but just the right opportunity—can make millions of dollars on QVC. This story is about what to do to get on, stay on, and change your business and life forever by getting you and your products in front of millions of eager people waiting for your idea in the comfort of their own homes.

This story is a billion-dollar inside look at QVC, the largest television retailer in the world. The information within can be used by anyone in any industry in any facet, whether an inventor, entrepreneur, salesperson, large or small corporation, mother of three asked to demonstrate a product for her inventor neighbor, or anyone preparing for their first meeting with the kingpin of the home shopping industry.

If the greatest product in the world were being shown in the middle of the woods, would anyone buy it? But bring in the cameras, pipe in 87 million viewers, and even the smallest business with the smallest innovative idea in the world can find success.

I did it. So can you. Here’s an anatomical view of how.

CHAPTER 1

How a Niche Product Generated $441,158.40 in Ten Minutes

Host: “Okay, we’re live with our next guest, Nick Romer . . . and he brings us a brand new product today. . . .” Bang! The demonstration. The back and forth chatter. The camera angles. Handheld camera coming close. An off-stage clatter of pans. An on-air caller with a question. Blip—ten minutes. Over. Done. What? What just happened? Where am I? How did I get here?

Just like that. Ten minutes, 22,080 units, over $400,000 in sales—seemingly unfathomable: $44,116 per minute.

Host: “Nick, thanks for bringing your product to us today. . . .”

Huh? Screech. Halt. Snap back to reality.

Let me put that in slow motion. Forty—four—thousand—one—hundred—sixteen—dollars—per miiiiinnnnnuuuuute. This is not the part of the story where the writer interjects, “and then he woke up.” It’s the part of the story where I come forward and say, “That’s what happened to me.” This is my story. What happened to me is what happens to many others just like me every day at QVC. Everyday people with a new or existing product, broadcast into the homes of millions of people, are generating millions of dollars in sales.

The possibility of this happening once you’re lucky enough to step on the set at QVC in the small Philadelphia suburb of West Chester, Pennsylvania, all comes down to numbers. Millions of people watching, a small percentage of them dialing in to buy, and you’re on your way to selling thousands upon thousands of units in virtually no time at all.

QVC—the largest home shopping channel, whose name stands for quality, value, convenience—is the power of leverage at work, and leverage is the vital component of any product and business success story. If you’re reading this book and you have a product already developed or you’re thinking of one, you’ve undoubtedly walked this problematic path before. How do you maximize your marketing efforts using as little human and fiscal resources as possible?

Whether you are an entrepreneur, small business, and even an established business with a substantial budget, your success is contingent on making smart marketing decisions that go a long way for as low a cost as possible.

When I first came to QVC, I did just about everything for my business. I created the products, I researched and contracted for the material involved in production, wrote the directions that went into the kit, created the Web site to support the product, researched trade shows for exhibiting, built the trade show displays, made the product samples—the list goes on and on, but it begins and ends with smart marketing.

I estimate the amount of time I spent marketing my products out of my then 70- to 80-hour work weeks was—sadly, but all too realistically—about 6 hours a week. If you’re doing just about everything in your own business like I was, you know what I’m talking about. For others, trust that what I’m saying is true. It’s a sad fact facing most entrepreneurs and small businesses in the beginning of the growth stage.

The tighter your budget or timeline, the more important it is to make connections with companies that can allow you to maximize your efforts using as little resources as possible. It’s critical for profits and growth, and it’s important for penetrating the market quickly. By finding QVC, I gained a massive lever under arguably the largest obstacle facing any new product—marketing. With this one connection I essentially gained a workforce numbering in the thousands—people taking phone calls, fulfilling product, operating cameras, marketing—all supporting my product during any given on-air stint.

But what is even more remarkable about my experience on that particular day is that I was selling a niche product. A niche product is something that is manufactured and marketed for specialized uses. By its very nature, it only appeals to a small part of a given market.

The fact that I sold over $400,000 of a niche product is hard to believe for many, given that when you tune in to QVC—or any other home shopping show or infomercial, for that matter—what you usually see are products that fit into the very description of mass appeal. These are items like jewelry, fitness equipment, weight-loss products, or fancy kitchen gizmos—things that attract large numbers of people because they are used by many people and have a place in every home. A large market plus large appeal add up to a greater chance of success.

But in my case, the phenomenal numbers QVC and I put up on the board that day (and for many appearances thereafter) came not from a mass-market product, but from a plastic template system that shows how to make your own gift bag out of any kind of paper, called the Kreate-a-bag®.

Now, you might be seeing a big red flashing sign in your mind inscribed with the simple question, “What?” But that is exactly my point. My product appeals to only a small part of a medium-sized industry—crafts. However, I was showing it to millions of eager people at the same time on the largest home shopping channel in the world. It might not have been a piece of exercise equipment, but I exercised leverage in a big way that day!

At the same time, it’s important to understand that not every item on QVC is a runaway success because of the massive exposure. You do have to have a great product, and the Kreate-a-bag® was and still is just that. This is not a shameless plug, but the Kreate-a-bag® is not only the first template system that shows anyone how to make their own gift bag, it’s also easy and fast. Plus, it has the vital component of emotion built into it because it provides gratification to the users when they custom-make a gift bag as part of their gift to a loved one.

Additionally, it saves people money. At the time of this particular big day on QVC, a single gift bag cost about $5. So, by allowing an individual to make their own, they only had to make four bags to pay for the $20 kit. The point is this: Although the massive exposure is critical, it’s not the only reason behind your product’s success. Demand and innovation play a vital role as well along with a host of other variables. (If you are curious about the Kreate-a-bag® you can view a short video of how it works at www.GreenSneakers.com/giftbag).

There are only a handful of places where a small or large business can sell 22,080 units in such a short period of time, and QVC is on the top of the list. In addition to the exposure and the benefits of your product, however, there are many other elements that lead to success.

When you are on-air, it’s like having your product next to the cash register at your local superstore, and two million people are standing there at the same time looking at it, thinking about putting it into their cart as they check out.

The big difference is that the person working the cash register is a trusted friend that you see all the time, and your friend is demonstrating the item to you while the other two million people look over your shoulder. After five minutes, you’ve all seen how it works and what it can do for you.

But wait, there’s more. In the middle of the demonstration, someone in the line behind you shouts, “I bought one, and it’s awesome. In fact, I’m here to buy another one.” Short of being able to touch it, now you’re confident that it’s what you’ve been wanting all along, and it is at your fingertips. You make your move and take it home with you.

The Kreate-a-bag® was not the first product that I sold on QVC. It was my second. I had been successfully selling my first product, the envelope template that I mentioned in the introduction, for a couple of years. Then, one day, my buyer asked, “So, what else do you have?”

I thought to myself, what more do I need?

“Bring us something else related to the envelope maker,” she said.

Now, I hadn’t really given much thought to expanding. Back then I thought I was going to be a one-hit wonder. I was proud of it, and I was taking the ride for all it was worth. After all, I didn’t know anything about crafts. I was a jock in high school. I liked to be outdoors. I didn’t know anything about retail, and I didn’t want to learn. The Kreate-a-lope® was it for me and was all there ever would be for me. It was a goldmine. I was going to make millions of dollars with it, then retire to live a life of leisure. These were my thoughts. Foolish, short-sighted young man I was at the time.

When the buyer asked me for a complementary product, I realized I had nothing to lose. I wasn’t doing anything else. So, I went home and started toiling, and I came up with my second item. My agent and I made the presentation a short time later, and much to my surprise, the buyer turned to me and said, “Let’s do a key launch.”

“Uh, okay,” I responded. She looked at me like I knew what I was doing, like I knew the rules of the game at QVC. Whatever she said, it sounded good to me. They use a lot of terms like this at QVC to signify big things. I looked at my agent and said, “I’m in, but what’s a key launch?”