Big corporation vs. local supplier, again

[danbob]

I regularly rant on here about big box stores vs local fly shops for buying your fishing gear. This story is even better!

We were designing a new product for fly fishermen and tiers last summer, and went to the Retailer's Show in Denver to find a source for one of the components.....a plastic divider box with our logo imprinted on it. But we had specific requirements -- none of the 'normal' imprinted fly boxes you can get would work for our product. We contacted a few manufacturers there, and a big multinational corporation (which shall remain unnamed) rep said they could do it, even for a small order, and gave me a card for the person to contact.

I emailed them, no response. I emailed again, no response. I called, and no return phone call. Called again, 3 different times, and never even got the courtesy of a single return phone call. Since our order was to be less than $500, nobody at that big company was interested. I gave up on the whole idea for the product.

Then last January Randy from New Phase Inc. in Idaho emailed, wondering if we'd ever found what we needed, because they now had a box that might work for us (he evidentaly remembered us amongst the thousands of people at that show, and noted what we were looking for).

To make a long story short -- we got our boxes last week. The price was so close to the giant corporation's that the difference is insignificant. He answers his own phone when we call, and answers his own email. The setup charge was half what the big boys charged. The boxes and imprint are high quality. The minimum order was only 128.

We'll be putting the product together after we return from the washington fish-in, and test marketing it at local fly shops. After that, an FAOL sponsorship, and mail them out for new product reviews in the magazines.

It's such a relief to finally deal with somebody who cares about the small fish in the business world! Thanks Randy!
You can contact New Phase at: http://www.newphaseinc.com/
They return phone calls, even!
DANBOB

[Terry Lightle]

Looking forward to seeing it here,Ialways like checkingout new fishing gadgets.

[Gnu Bee Flyer]

Dan I hope your bringing a test/showoff model of your product to the CWFI so we can be the first to see it. I always like to be in on the cutting edge of progress.

[billknepp]

Good luck on the new business...And newphase looks to have some handy items of their own!...geared toward the fly fisher/Tyer....