Persistence Converts Buyer

A story about how persistent emailing to a retail buyer, despite initial rejection, led to a major business breakthrough.

"I'll never forget the buyer's name - Jen Sarah from Kohl's (with a K). I would email her every single day. One day I got an email reply from her, all in capitals, saying 'NICK I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR YOUR DAILY EMAIL COMMUNICATION PLEASE STOP EMAILING ME EVERY SINGLE DAY.'

I wrote back, 'I'm so sorry Jen, but I just think our product is really great.' At this stage, we knew we were in some legal trouble, but we had to sell something to survive, so I kept pushing and pushing.

Then eventually I got this email back from her - just two words, nothing else: 'Send sample.' We sent the sample, and she ended up ordering a full container - 20,000 units of this night frisbee. It was a big celebration because we'd never had a full container order of any product before.

The irony is today, nineteen years later, she's the director of Family Dollar Stores in the US, and we're their second biggest toy supplier after Mattel."