Winning Ideas -- Travel-Pillow Firm Flying High With New Marketing Idea
Like many entrepreneurs, Terrie Schmitt and Nondice McFall are trying not to think ``small.''
They have operated their business, Winning Ideas, out of Schmitt's Snohomish home since mid-1988. Their product, an air pillow that fits around the neck, has generated sales of $4,500 since hitting the market in October.
Most of the 550 pillows have been sold to individuals, even though they've spent nearly a year sending marketing information, free samples and order forms to dozens of large airlines. One order from a major carrier could change their business into a massive operation.
They say several airlines are interested, but none has placed an order so far.
``At first we were running to the mailbox every day, expecting a gigantic order,'' McFall said. ``We've learned they don't make decisions that fast.''
The lack of orders from airlines may raise eyebrows among skeptics. But other customers say Schmitt and McFall are on the right track.
``It's a good product,'' says Bob Whitworth, manager of Long's Drugstores in Anchorage. ``I tried it while traveling myself and figured it would sell.''
Whitworth ordered about 50 pillows in mid-December to sell in Long's two Anchorage stores. Nearly all have sold, he said.
Made of vinyl and covered with a velvety material, the pillows when inflated fit over the shoulders and provide support to the neck and head.
Some customers have purchased the pillows to use as lower back
supports. Backpackers have liked them because when deflated they are small enough to fit in a purse or backpack.
An entrepreneur at heart, Schmitt, 43, worked for 16 years as a Western Airlines, now Delta, flight attendant. During that time, she started a dating service and a schedule-swapping service for other flight attendants, and sold real estate.
Her energy appealed to McFall, also a Western flight attendant.
``She had good ideas,'' McFall, 44, said. ``I always wanted to be in business with her.''
Both left Western in 1985 through an early retirement plan. Schmitt moved to Anchorage to get married; McFall went to California to go into business with her sister.
McFall quickly learned that doing business with a family member doesn't always work and returned to the Seattle area to teach.
Schmitt, meanwhile, began dreaming with her husband, Gary, a seafood broker, of becoming wealthy enough to live in the Seattle area and spend summers in an Alaska vacation home.
The fastest way to achieve that goal, she figured, was to start a business.
At first, she tried to devise a bath pillow. A flight from Salt Lake City to Anchorage two years ago, though, convinced her that she should switch gears.
``I was just exhausted,'' she recalled. ``I kept trying to get comfortable. Everyone around me looked equally tired and uncomfortable. I thought, `Why doesn't somebody come up with something that would let these people sleep better?' ''
She began studying other inflatable pillows and by mid-1988 had come up with a prototype.
Realizing the product could be marketed more effectively in the continental United States, Schmitt moved to Snohomish, rented a house and got a business license.
She sees her husband twice a month, thanks to a lifetime flying pass Schmitt received when she left Western Airlines.
She started Winning Ideas with $10,000 in personal savings and a $10,000 contribution from her brother, James Forcier, a silent partner.
Meanwhile, she and McFall had kept in touch, and when Schmitt suggested last summer that McFall join the business, McFall did.
The two now are major owners. Schmitt's brother and husband also own part of the business.
The pillows sell for $7.95 retail, but Schmitt and McFall figured they could sell them wholesale to airlines for $5 each.
To convince airlines they were right, Schmitt mailed a brochure last spring, asking those that were interested to request samples.
When nothing happened after they mailed several samples, they decided to take a new approach.
They obtained an 800-line, 1-800-RELAX, and mailed news releases to newspapers and travel magazines throughout the country.
Travel writers listed the air pillow as a new product and orders began to come in from individuals who, as it turned out, were finding unexpected uses for the pillows.
Take Rosemary Schmidt of Fort Wayne, Ind. Schmidt was in the hospital in November and spent several weeks recovering in bed. Using the pillow to prop up her head helped her read more comfortably, she said.
It also made riding in the car easier. ``I'd put in on, take a nap and found it really supported my neck,'' she said.
The response convinced the pair that the pillow can be more than an air-travel accessory. They're now working on new packaging to illustrate its other uses.
But neither has abandoned the plan of selling pillows to airlines. Schmitt even invites visitors to lean back in a plane seat in her living room with a pillow under the neck.
``On the plane, that's when the people are really desperate for something comfortable,'' Schmitt said. ``We're convinced that if the airlines stock them, they'll sell like hotcakes.''
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WINNING iDEAS
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- Location: Snohomish
- Owners: Terrie Schmitt, Nondice McFall
- Business: Sales of inflatable travel pillows
- Goal: Wholesale sales to 2 to 3 major airlines this year
- Tip: Customers can help you find new ways to sell a product. Schmitt and McFall saw their pillows primarily as an air-travel accessory until customers began telling them the product was useful while watching TV, riding in cars and camping. These other uses have prompted them to change their marketing strategy.
Small Business Snapshot appears regularly in the Business Monday section of The Seattle Times.