Small Business School
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Customers From Everywhere
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Overview Transcript Case Study Video
Andy Correa works with his dad to grow the business.
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Target Your Direct Mail
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Transcript Segments
Small Business School
1. Give More Than You Take
2. Lead With Quality
3. Know Your Customers
4. Be Where Your Customers Are
5. Target Your Direct Mail
6. Get Customers To Talk
7. Market On The Web
8. Treat Customers Like Family
9. Take Calculated Risks

HATTIE: (Voiceover) Tony Correa, founder of A.G.A. Correa & Son, is an artist turned entrepreneur.

TONY CORREA (A.G.A. Correa & Son): Oh, I was about 19 or 20 when I realized I'd better do something on my own.

HATTIE: (Voiceover) His son Andy joined his firm in 1998. ANDY (A.G.A. Correa & Son): All of our jewelry is nautical, and that's about the biggest demographic we look for.

TONY: I was brought up on sailing a great deal, and sailing hardware on boats appealed to me very much...

(Voiceover) ...the shapes and the functions of the hardware, so I started designing jewelry after marine hardware accessories. We're not limiting ourselves to the universe of sailing. We're limiting ourselves only to people who have good taste. In the direct-mail catalog business, which we are in, we undoubtedly have the highest average order of any mail-order company in the world. Now coupled with that, we also get the fewest amount of orders. So you can get two $500 orders or one $1,000 order. OK.

HATTIE: And you're always going to get $1,000, $2,000 or a $10,000 order.

TONY: Well, the average order is less than $1,000 but not much less, depending on the month of the year, whereas many other mail-order companies, regardless of their product, the average order is way under $300.

HATTIE: (Voiceover) So there's got to be some huge trust factor.

TONY: (Voiceover) OK.

HATTIE: (Voiceover) The catalog itself, it must have something that makes me feel confident. TONY: (Voiceover) Read it.

ANDY: (Voiceover) Yeah. The copy makes you feel confident. Copy is very important in selling our products and just the pictures alone will really sell our jewelry. Frankly, it's a beautiful piece of jewelry, and you see the picture and it really draws you in.

TONY: And it's also important to remember that when we're looking for people to send this catalog to, I think it's very difficult for people to be confused by the fact that they think that we're looking for people who are well-off. That is not the primary thing; we're looking for is people who have a mail-order buying history. There are many, many people who can afford to buy anything they want to, but they don't buy through the mail. So when we talk to this list broker, he's presenting us with names and addresses of people who have a mail-order buying history. And we usually insist that they have a minimum in their list; we're talking to people who have brought at least $100 worth of something through the mail in the last given period of time--can be three months, six months or a year.

HATTIE: Fantastic. So why do you guys live in Maine?

TONY: Stick around. HATTIE: Oh, are you moving?

TONY: No, no. ANDY: No, no, no, you should stay here for the full year.

TONY: Yeah.

HATTIE: Oh, I need to stick around?

TONY: Yeah.

ANDY: Yeah.

TONY: No. Look, when I started this business, I had the opportunity to live anyplace in the world I wanted to, as long as they had a post office box and a telephone. And here I am.

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