0816_TOEFL-Test-and-Score-Manual-1997

Develop and Launch New Products and Services ● 123
Back home, they showed the pots and planters to landscape designers
and upscale nurseries. Everyone loved them, and the pottery, which averages
$500 for a small pot and $1,500 or more for a big planter, spawned a
successful business.
Knowing presentation was important, the partners spent $5,000 on a
high-quality brochure. They sold $20,000 worth of pots in their first year in
business. Sales reached several million dollars in 2008, despite the recession
and business is picking up again.
Looking for a new angle, they launched a line of Italian pots designed
by American designers. In a recent interview, Siebert said their biggest
challenge is keeping their business going, since the potters who craft their
exclusive line of pottery are getting old. Unfortunately, only two of the
potters’ children intend to stay in the pottery business.
Siebert and Rice are so concerned about other companies poaching
their suppliers, they decline to reveal the surnames of their potters. The
relationship is much more than commercial. The women consider the potters
and their families close friends, not just vendors. And once or twice
a year, they visit the village to place orders and visit with the potters they
know and love.
Check out the company’s beautiful pots at www.seibert-rice.com.
GREAT
Launch a Green Product
On a rainy morning in 2005, Reza Tourzia was jogging
around his Los Angeles neighborhood when he
IDEA
noticed how many automatic sprinklers were watering lawns despite the
downpour. He realized many homeowners relied on automatic timers, but
timers couldn’t tell whether it was sunny or sprinkling. That’s when his
great idea hit.
An experienced software developer, Tourzia decided to develop a smart
device that could go online to check the local weather. Then, it would turn
the sprinklers on and off depending on the need rather than the time or
day of the week. Cyber-Rain hit the market in 2008.