|
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.
|