It feels like yesterday when Jared and I were at the Housewares Trade Show in Chicago, IL. I was running down the aisle in four-inch heels, running after a buyer who was wearing a Home Depot name badge. I couldn’t let him see me chasing him down the aisle, but thought this was my only chance to show this person our invention. He had hurried past our booth as Jared was talking with another retailer. I didn’t get a chance to stop Home Depot as he was passing, by so I took off after him. Once I passed him, I stopped and started to look around, pretending I was looking for someone. As he approached me, I was able to read his first name and called out to him by his name. He looked up and I said: “Can I please show you my invention?” Technically, it wasn’t my invention, but it sounded good and I’m married to the inventor so it’s kind of the same thing, right? He listened to my pitch, said it was a great idea, but he is not the buyer for that area. I said: “No problem, but you may know someone that knows someone, do you mind if I grab your card and follow up with you?” Done! It was that simple, I finally had some name and some email address of someone at Home Depot.
It was a good start.
After the show, I followed up with my contact. Unfortunately he didn’t know who to refer me to, and I was back at square one. However, we didn’t give up. In the following months, we met many other buyers at trade shows. We made connections at The Container Store, The Grommet, Brookstone and more, and collected enough business cards to get started.
During May 2014, we decided to attend the Hardware Show in Vegas because that’s where all the big-name stores – including Home Depot, Ace Hardware and Do It Best – go. To my surprise, I ran into a high school friend who just appeared on Shark Tank. After I said hello, his Home Depot buyer came by and I was able to get another Depot business card. I again followed up and – ding, ding, ding – we had a winner. I was introduced to the picture-hanging buyer Christopher (who is no longer in that department). Christopher requested a sample and I remember telling Jared: “It’s now all up to you. I chased, I emailed, I called, I followed up, I pitched, I sent pricing and now the sample is on its way and now it’s all in your hands of your invention. The decision is now on product”.
Two weeks later, Jared and I were making breakfast when my phone beeped. It was an email from Christopher. I thought this was it we were in like Flynn. Instead the reply read something like this: “Thank you for the sample great product, but I am no longer in charge of the picture hooks department.” I seriously wanted to cry. After all that work, he got moved and his position wasn’t replaced. But I didn’t stop there. I suggested placing our product online and he responded pretty quickly with the person in charge. To make my story short, I contacted that person and a few weeks later, she got moved. I was back to square one yet again, until a new person came on and finally put our product on HomeDepot.com. That process took 6 months. The entire process from start to finish was 14 months before we saw Hang-O-Matic on homedepot.com.
Needless to say, we were overjoyed to have started the journey with Home Depot. But as the weeks went on, there weren’t any orders. Then again, how could there be? It wasn’t like there was a huge billboard on the freeway that said Hang-O-Matic was available on Homedepot.com. Jared had invented a product that didn’t yet exist, so a customer wouldn’t know to visit Home Depot website in order to buy it.
We needed to make things happen in order to prove to the store buyer that it would sell. We did a few targeted Facebook ads to get things moving and, sure enough, orders started pouring in.
Another two years passed, and I found a new buyer who would never write me back. We had proof of sales online, we had proof of sales in other stores, and didn’t understand why the new buyer wasn’t responding. In mid-2016, we were presented with an opportunity to get Hang-O-Matic into another big box store.
We decided to sell our dream home to keep funding our business, rather than take on an investor that would only act as a bank account. We moved to a new city and, our next-door neighbor stopped by to say hello. It just so happened she was a manufacturer’s rep. She said she had a close relationship with Home Depot and could help get our product in there. It was music to our ears, and what were the odds that our new neighbor would be a rep? A few weeks went by and, again, there was no response.
Now let’s fast-forward another six months. Jared decided on a hunch to email the new buyer who ignored me. Within minutes, he received a response. It said: “How soon can you come to our corporate office for a presentation?”
The thing we learned from this experience is that buyers have a high turnover and they don’t make product changes in their department every day. It’s all about the space and when they’re reworking their shelves. It’s all about the timing. If Jared hadn’t gotten that bug to message the new buyer himself, we would have missed it. It was the perfect day, the perfect time, and perfect weather. He flew to Home Depot headquarters and presented the Hang-O-Matic to 10 people around a table. He had printed a power point, which wasn’t really used and flew home back to the waiting game of the decision, which took another month. From there, it took another eight months to receive 18 PO’s.
It was long three full years from start to finish. We never gave up and continued to follow up. If you want something bad enough, write it down and focus on your goal.
Phenomenal work right here. I in reality enjoyed that which you needed to state.
I have been looking for some good info about it almost three hours. You really helped me a lot indeed and looking over this blog post
Typewriter… […]It needs to become ironed with low setting right up until the graphic is entirely transferred towards the ribbon[…]…
Hello, you used to write great, but the last several posts have been kinda boring… I miss your great writings. Past several posts are just a little bit out of track! come on!
I see you don’t monetize your page, don’t waste your traffic, you can earn extra bucks every month
because you’ve got high quality content. If you want to know how
to make extra $$$, search for: Mrdalekjd methods
for $$$
Wow! This can be one particular of the most useful blogs We have ever arrive across on this subject. Actually Magnificent. I’m also a specialist in this topic therefore I can understand your hard work.
Hang o matic is good thing i like its way of working
you employ a fantastic blog here! do you want to cook some invite posts in my blog?
I have checked your website and i’ve found some duplicate content, that’s why
you don’t rank high in google, but there is a tool that can help you to create 100%
unique content, search for: Boorfe’s tips unlimited content
There are three eras of vintage watches, The Original Vintage Era, The Brand Years, and the New Designs Era.
Hi I really enjoyed reading this article
“An impressive share, I simply given this onto a colleague who was simply performing a small analysis for this. And hubby in fact bought me breakfast since I came across it for him.. smile. So permit me to reword that: Thnx for that treat! But yeah Thnkx for spending any time to go over this, I feel strongly about it and love reading more about this topic. When possible, as you become expertise, do you mind updating your blog with an increase of details? It’s highly of great help for me. Large thumb up due to this post!”
Awesome article my friend, keep updating your page
Thanks for the sensible critique. Me & my neighbor were just preparing to do some research about this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more clear from this post. I’m very glad to see such great information being shared freely out there.
I just could not leave your web site prior to suggesting that
I really enjoyed the standard info a person provide for
your visitors? Is going to be again incessantly to investigate cross-check new
posts
What does this mean? In the practical sense, not much… but in the legal world,
it works as a sort of sleight-of-hand that protects Uber in the event of a
lawsuit. You see, under the law, employers are considered
to be more responsible for the actions of their
employees than they are for the actions of their independent contractors.
Uber has used this argument to protect itself against third party plaintiffs many times, including in a lawsuit filed by the
family of a young girl who was killed by an Uber driver while crossing the street.
If they can use that defense against an innocent child, you can bet they’ll use it against you!
However, this issue is still a legally hazy one. Strong legal
precedent has not yet been established on this particular question, and different courts
have come to different conclusions. Right now, the status quo
seems to be that Uber drivers are considered employees
in some areas, and independent contractors in others.
Regardless, you can be certain that if you were hit by an Uber driver, the company will do what it can to avoid having to pay
you a dime. In these situations, a personal injury attorney is more
important than ever, and one with experiences in Uber cases is a definite plus.
If you find yourself in an Uber accident, you should take the same steps that you should take after
any automobile accident.
These steps include protecting your own safety by getting out of the line
of immediate danger and calling 911 if anyone has been injured, remaining at the scene and sharing insurance information with any other drivers who were involved, calling the police if the accident is serious, and reporting it to your insurance company.
Hurrah! After all I got a web site from where I know how to in fact obtain helpful data concerning my study
and knowledge.
I have read so many articles or reviews about the blogger lovers except this piece of writing is actually a pleasant
piece of writing, keep it up.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I truly appreciate
your efforts and I am waiting for your further write ups thanks once again.
Hey there! This post couldn’t be written any better!
Reading this post reminds me of my good old room mate!
He always kept talking about this. I will forward this page to him.
Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for
sharing!
Hey very nice blog!
If you are going for most excellent contents like I do, only pay a quick visit this site all the time for the reason that it provides quality contents, thanks
I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme.
Did you make this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it
for you? Plz answer back as I’m looking to construct my own blog and would like to know where u got this from.
thank you
Greetings from Florida! I’m bored at work so I decided to check out your site on my iphone during lunch break. I love the information you provide here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m surprised at how quick your blog loaded on my cell phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, great site!
I am really loving the theme/design of your blog. Do
you ever run into any browser compatibility issues?
A small number of my blog visitors have complained about my website
not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Firefox.
Do you have any advice to help fix this issue?
Thanks for finally writing about >How we got Hang-O-Matic into The Home Depot – Hang-O-Matic <Loved it!
This is my first time go to see at here and i
am truly pleassant to read everthing at one place.
I just could not depart your site before suggesting that I extremely loved
the usual information an individual provide to your guests?
Is going to be back frequently in order to investigate
cross-check new posts
I can’t believe how great this site is. You keep up the good work. That’s my advice pal.
you will have an amazing blog right here! would you like to make some invite posts on my blog?
Undeniably imagine that which you stated. Your favourite justification appeared to be on the internet the simplest factor
to keep in mind of. I say to you, I definitely get irked whilst people think about issues that they just do not know about.
You controlled to hit the nail upon the top as neatly as defined out
the whole thing without having side effect , people could take a signal.
Will likely be again to get more. Thanks
Hi colleagues, its great piece of writing regarding cultureand
completely defined, keep it up all the time.
Just fabulous. Who wrote this and how can we get more?
You sure know what you’re talking about. Everyone is going to soon be visiting your site.
Every weekend i used to pay a visit this web page, for the reason that i wish for enjoyment, since
this this web site conations really pleasant funny information too.
It works really well for me
Thanks for the excellent guide
Are you sick and tired of being bored? You’ll never have a dull moment if you visit http://camgirl.pw It’s by far the most exciting site on the internet. There, you’ll be able to talk to all kinds of hot babes. Don’t be surprised if everyone at work asks why you’re so happy. You don’t need to tell them that you visit this site each and every day. It’ll be your little secret.
I wish to get across my admiration for your generosity giving support to persons who should have help on in this area of interest. Your special dedication to passing the message along came to be extremely powerful and have helped professionals much like me to get to their desired goals. Your entire interesting guideline can mean a lot a person like me and much more to my office colleagues. Regards; from all of us.
This really answered my problem, thank you!
I and also my buddies were digesting the good guides located on your site then unexpectedly got an awful suspicion I never expressed respect to you for those tips. The boys were definitely as a result glad to read through all of them and have definitely been making the most of those things. I appreciate you for simply being simply helpful and for picking out certain extraordinary guides most people are really wanting to understand about. My personal honest regret for not expressing gratitude to you sooner.
I am just writing to make you understand of the fine discovery my girl encountered studying your blog. She even learned plenty of details, which include how it is like to possess an excellent giving nature to have other individuals quite simply completely grasp chosen tortuous matters. You truly did more than readers’ expectations. Thanks for rendering the priceless, dependable, edifying and easy tips on your topic to Emily.
Thanks, it’s quite informative
Thanks for the terrific manual
Thank you for the excellent article
Thanks to the excellent guide
It works quite well for me
Thanks to the wonderful manual
Las principales averías que sufren las lavadoras son por uso y desgaste de piezas., lavadora no coge agua, lavadora no responde al programador, lavadora no desagua, lavadora pierde agua, goma de tambor rota, puerta de lavadora no abre, lavadora hace mucho ruido, lavadora no arranca. Nuestro servicio técnico de lavadoras Zanussi, están disponibles de lunes a viernes de 9 a 20h y sábado de 9 a 2h en la reparación de electrodomésticos. Nuestras reparaciones en Barrio de Salamanca están garantizadas por escrito en los materiales empleados como en la mano de obra.
Whoa! This blog looks just like my old one! It’s on a entirely different subject but it has pretty much the same page layout and design. Wonderful choice of colors!
I think this is one of the most important info for me. And i am glad reading your article. But want to remark on few general things, The web site style is perfect, the articles is really excellent : D. Good job, cheers