How I Became The Ironing Board Cover Lady

Squabbles & Tittle Tattle About An Ironing Board Cover!

It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? Couples squabbling over a cover. And what can there be to gossip about?

But I have the stories to prove it.

A telephone call at 6:00am one spring morning takes me by surprise. It’s an order for an ironing board cover! What a relief. I was sure someone had died!!

The caller is apologetic and explains he’s a forestry worker on his way to work. He needs the cover urgently and wants to make sure we post it that day so he gets it the next day. He isn’t far away. Just the other side of Bathurst NSW.

I always do some market research when I take an order. Simple questions like:- Are you a new customer or an existing customer?

His answer? I’m both!

He sheepishly explains his predicament. He and his wife are separated. His wife took their Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover with her and left him the ironing board and the ‘tattiest cover I’ve ever seen’. He buys a supermarket cover but can’t iron on it. It never stays still. Always jumps around.

He goes further. To tell you the truth, my wife and I don’t speak. But I want your cover so badly, I swallowed my pride and rang her to get your telephone number so I could order one.

I’ve seen forestry workers and they’re not known for their sartorial elegance! Why does he need a really good cover like The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover? And why does he need one by tomorrow?

With a little prodding (I’ve got to be quick:- he’s on his way to work), I discover he has a new woman in his life. He sees her almost every night and he wants to show her his best side – which is his well ironed side! Tomorrow’s Friday and on Saturday they’re going to a wedding and he needs to iron his best suit to perfection.

Lucky me and lucky him!

Every April the Bathurst Show Society stages the Royal Bathurst Agricultural Show. When we exhibited there in 2000, a previous customer purchased a cover to replace the one she bought 3 years before. We chit chatted like old friends, caught up on the latest news, and then she was off.

In July that year, she comes to our exhibit at The Mudgee Field Days. She taps her well manicured nails on our ironing board and says she needs another cover, plus felt underlay, plus pressing cloth. The whole set. While packing it up, I ask her who she’s giving this to, as I assume it must be a gift.

It’s for me, she says. My husband left me suddenly and when my back was turned, he came back and took your ironing board cover off my board and took it with him!

Samantha and Regina flatted together for quite some time. Their mother, Margaret, is a customer of many years. She bought them a cover as a present when they first moved in together.

Samantha fell in love and moved in with her boyfriend. But wanted to take their Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover with her. Regina flatly refused. Margaret says they resolved the stalemate by flipping a coin. Heads, Samantha takes the cover with her, tails Regina gets to keep it. Regina won and Samantha’s boyfriend bought her a cover as a surprise present!

Then there are the couples who both iron, but don’t like the other partner ironing for them. They bicker over each other’s ironing techniques. They have separate boards and buy their covers in their favourite, albeit different, colours.

A butler in the wealthy eastern suburbs of Sydney is a continuing source of referrals for me. His referrals are always unexpected and their stories colourful.

When I recently asked a new customer how he found out about us, I was given this answer.

I was at a dinner party in Bellevue Hill and the subject turned to ironing.

(Can you believe this? Super wealthy business moguls and their wives chit chatting about an ironing board cover!)

Everyone at the table complained about ironing board covers never fitting properly or staying put. Including my wife.

Although my wife has an ironing lady, she does her own last minute touch ups. She’s always so grumpy at the ironing board, I avoid her so I don’t become a target for her bad mood as well.

As I was leaving the dinner party, the butler takes me aside, gives me your telephone number and details and tells me I’ll never regret this purchase. He assures me my wife will be a different woman at the ironing board from now on.

How soon can you put a Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover in the mail to me, he asks?”

No matter who you are, it’s the day to day little things in life that really annoy you. It’s also the simple solutions that make your life happier and less stressed.

The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover has found its niche and is quickly becoming the simple solution for difficult ironing board covers amongst the discerning.

Take care,

Carol

Bikers In Helmets! Is This A Raid?

We live and work in the Australian bush. In an absolutely beautiful part of the Central Tablelands of New South Wales (NSW).

Ilford is a little village of a few farming families tucked between the scenic hills of Bathurst and the burgeoning vineyards of Mudgee. We’re 970 metres high, have cold frosty winters and hot dry summers.

Our remote property is 54 hectares (130 acres) and our nearest neighbour is a few kilometres away. Our garden is a hectare (almost 2.5 acres).

Autumn in our garden is a kaleidoscope of falling autumn leaves and spectacular colour over a long period.

Spring is the harbinger of sensual pleasures that only wet winters across the Great Dividing Range of Australia can produce, with fragrance filling the air.

Intoxicating wattles, thousands of fragrant bulbs of jonquils and freesias abound; flowering honeysuckle drapes a hectare of our fence line as well as our house; more than 200 scented roses fill the air; the 20 philadelphus shrubs in bloom for just a few weeks turn visitors weak at the knees and our thousands of lavender shrubs are billowing early musky blooms in every direction.

Bathurst is an hour away. Mount Panorama is the mecca for the Bathurst Car Races and Bathurst Motorcycle Races. At two different times of the year.

We’re also only 15 minutes away from the historic gold mining town of Sofala and a hop, skip and jump away from the Turon Technology Museum. Hill End is a little further away, but a more spectacular old gold mining town than Sofala.

All are weekend getaways for touring bikes.

Then there’s the world famous vineyards in the town of Mudgee, 70 kilometres west, which hosts annual general meetings for the Ulysses Club and other national bike clubs.

The sound of bikes on the Sofala Road, 400 metres away from us, down the dirt lane from our front gate, is a week-end given. And when it’s a serious bike convention, I’m standing at the gate, watching them ‘vrooooom’ by, in awe.

So why does a convoy of bikers coming up our dirt lane in early spring concern us?

Because we’re from the city. If we can’t see the whites of their eyes, we distrust them!

So when a group of about a dozen bikers storms our front gate, we become a bit anxious.

The lead biker takes off his helmet to reveal a full growth of beard, longish curly red hair and a full moustache. The only thing missing are the tattoos on his upper torso, which we can’t see because he has his leather biker’s jacket on.

We meet him at the gate. Him on one side and Victor and me on the other side with our dogs as a backup.

He politely asks us if this is where they can buy The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover.

I’m sure I haven’t heard him correctly, so ask him to repeat his question!

I’d heard him right the first time.

My next thought is, “they think we keep cash on the premises!!”

But there is something about his polite demeanour that makes Victor and me think this young man isn’t a threat.

And he isn’t.

The dozen bikers are from the Australian Navy, on leave for a few weeks and letting their hair down.

One of their group was given a Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover by his mother and they all came to take one back to their naval base to use.

Our tentative suspicion quickly turns to a warm welcome, with the gate opened wide and 12 leather booted and leather clad bikers marching through to the front door.

They all squeeze into our tiny packing room, select their colours, pay for their purchases, refuse the offer of a cup of tea/coffee because they have a 4 hour bike ride ahead of them, and leave in the same haze of dirt that brought them up to the gate.
Victor and I look at each other, shake our heads in amazement, and disclaim, “Can you believe that?”

And we can’t.

This accidental business has taught us to expect everything and be surprised by nothing. It’s also enriched our lives and given us many stories to dine out on!

Take care,

Carol

The Sydney Morning Herald Blows Up Our Fax Machine

“In the future, everyone will have their fifteen minutes of fame”.

Andy Warhol’s 1968 throwaway line becomes the inspiration and aspiration of everyone in business.

Including us!

Ever since we launched The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover in 1994, we’ve earmarked publicity as important. The cover meets all the criteria for a successful publicity campaign. Breakthrough invention. Made with love and care in rural Australia by men and women who have a disability. Architect solves a difficult problem with a simple solution.

But it has one overwhelming handicap. IRONING IS A DULL AND BORING SUBJECT!

And another handicap. An ironing board cover isn’t high tech. It’s low tech, or worse, no tech.

Just one big yawn for journalists.

Until 2002.

The first break is in July 2002 with ABC Radio National. Julie McCrossin’s Life Matters program is doing a special series on Innovative Businesses In The Bush. After listening to three programs, Victor prods me into ringing them with our story.

A call to Julie’s producer, Kathy Gollan, is met with the response the series is finished. In dismay, I blurt out to Kathy it can’t be because she hasn’t heard our story yet! Then I start talking and don’t stop until I run out of air. When I can no longer breathe, I have to stop.

Kathy, sensing an opportunity to get a word in, gives me a reply that stuns and delights me. She’ll run the story the following week, if I’m available for a live on-air interview. I think I’ve died and gone to heaven!

The rules for the interview are simple. Absolutely no sales hype. And just keep talking until Julie asks another question. Then keep talking until the next question. This is no problem for me as I can talk under water with marbles in my mouth!

I am allowed one piece of sales hype. To tell the listeners that The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover is sold by telephone marketing by the charity The Guide Dog Associations in NSW/ACT, SA, and WA to raise funds to train their guide dogs and pets as therapy dogs.

But I can’t give any details about contacting our company. And Julie is very adept at adhering to this!

Not expecting much to happen, I don’t tell The Guide Dogs’ in any of the three states about the upcoming interview.

Remember the Scout motto of ‘always be prepared’? Guess who wasn’t?

10 seconds after the interview ends, the public jams the incoming lines of Guide Dogs NSW with queries and orders, to the extent that no one in their offices can make any outgoing calls for the rest of the day! It takes three people in NSW to staff the switch. WA, 3 hours behind, is forewarned by NSW, so is ready!

An email to me from Guide Dogs NSW asks just one question. Who’s your PR agent?!

Flushed with a new sense of confidence, we venture forth into renewed activity to generate publicity. And are met with the familiar lack of interest.

Until Victor approaches Guy Allenby of the Sydney Morning Herald. He’s full of interest because HE IRONS!

A journalist who irons is as valuable as a Japanese princess who produces a boy child!

But he’s also full of pessimism because he’s never had, or heard of, or seen a cover that doesn’t move on his board.

To prove it, we send him one to test drive.

The deal is done. He’ll run a story about the cover and us in a Thursday edition of Domain magazine. In October or November 2002.

October and November 2002 come, go, and no story appears. So we forget about it. Chalk it up as another case of lack of interest by the publisher.

December 12, 2002 is a beautiful, balmy pre-Christmas day in Ilford. My early morning walk with the dogs down to the creek and back is pure bliss. The rising sun of early summer warms the heart and cheers the soul.

And the day just gets better.

The first call comes at 7:30AM. A young lady from Clayton Utz Solicitors wants to order a cover. “How did you find out about us”, I ask. “In the Sydney Morning Herald”, she replies. “A full-page story about you is in Domain magazine”.

Victor is just leaving for a meeting. As he goes out the door, I manage to tell him the article finally appears.

That’s the last minute I have to myself. Because the phone rings, and rings, and rings until 8:30PM!

In 2002, our website doesn’t have online ordering yet. But we do have a downloadable order form that can be faxed to us. And the faxes come non-stop until our geriatric fax machine runs out of puff at 3PM.

Victor arrives back at 4PM to be greeted by a mad woman. Me!

I race out of my office, the cordless phone permanently attached to my left ear. I frantically wave and point to the fax machine and in between phone calls try to tell him the fax has blown up and he has to fix it.

He has no idea how busy I’ve been with phone calls all day and doesn’t understand why I can’t speak in a complete sentence. Nor does he fully comprehend the language of frantic waving and pointing.

It’s as if he’s come back to unfamiliar surroundings!

But he quickly gets the gist of the waving and pointing. He’s also an excellent Mr-Fix-It and inspects the internal workings of the fax. “That’s it”, he says. “It’s sent and received its last fax”.

In the meantime, the fax telephone keeps ringing because people are still trying to send faxes. To keep our sanity, we take it off the hook.

At just before 5PM, we urgently ring Pencraft in Mudgee to organise a new fax.

Malcolm has one ready for us at 7AM the next morning. Victor is back by 8:30AM with an assurance that all we need to do is plug it in. And at the flick of the ON switch, we receive our first fax order of the day!

The phone calls continue until the 22nd of December, 2002. To our dismay, each day is as intense as the first day. We send out so many parcels, our local post office in Kandos NSW isn’t big enough to contain the daily deliveries. The overflow goes out the back door. We even deplete their supply of parcel post bags.

As every company winds down for the Christmas break, we also deplete our sewing company’s ability to supply product. Their Christmas break starts on the 17th of December and they get out all they can by then. And ditto again for our supplier of felt underlay. They have nothing left to send us by the 22nd of December, their last day of business.

This isn’t just 15 minutes of fame. This is a gala performance worthy of bringing the house down.

And no one knows why.

Guy Allenby of the Sydney Morning Herald is truly surprised at the response. Other articles that appeared that day in Domain generated no response, so he’s at a loss as to why this is so remarkable.

But remarkable it is. The calls continue well into March of 2003.

And people still remember the story. Our latest sale from that article is 2nd September 2006 at Mosman Arts & Craft Market in Sydney. Dorothy remembers it when she sees our cover on display. And takes one home with her.

There’s a conundrum in business. If I tell you we have the most wonderful, time saving ironing board cover in the world, you don’t believe me. But if Guy Allenby of the Sydney Morning Herald writes that this is the greatest cover he’s ever used, the whole world believes him. Third party endorsement is that powerful. Which is why publicity is so valuable and highly sought after.

And why we wish ironing wasn’t such a dull and boring subject!

In spite of this, there are now more than 150,000 covers in use around the world. And growing daily. All made with love and care in rural Australia by men and women who have a disability.

Take care,

Carol

Why Retailers Turn A Deaf Ear

Our dedicated customers always ask us why we don’t have the The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover in every retail store in Australia. It’s almost like a failing on our part.

I used to want to hang my head in shame, but no more. Our quality is far too superior to appeal to most retailers. That’s not bragging, it’s unfortunately a fact of life. Major retailers think everyone wants to buy cheap. I call it the Wal-Mart/Big W/K Mart syndrome.

Sometimes we want cheap. But many times, we want quality. And we often yearn for something different. Don’t we?

When you shop in large Australian stores, do you ever wonder why there’s a sameness in product from store to store? It doesn’t matter what store you visit, everything looks the same. There’s little difference between David Jones, Myers, Coles, Woolworths, Big W, K Mart and Target.

Just about everyone complains that it’s very difficult to find something unusual. Do you?

I always wondered about this sameness. Until we ventured into the retail environment.

Major stores don’t buy product with their customers’ satisfaction in mind.

They buy product to make the most amount of money they can in the shortest time span. If enough of us don’t buy something within a proscribed period, they delete it and replace it with something else. No matter how good it might be.

Their buying criteria is very strict.

Let’s start with David Jones. A store I personally like and have made a number of large white goods purchases because they stand by their customer if you have a problem. I’ve been a cardholder there since 1970 and have never been let down by their customer service.

In the mid 90’s, our customers kept asking us why The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover wasn’t in David Jones. They associate the quality of our cover with the quality sold by David Jones.

So I ring DJ’s. On the plus side, their buyer politely takes my phone call. And explains to me that she knows who I am. Also knows people come to their stores asking for The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover.

But they won’t stock it because we don’t go through a distributor. They have a policy of never buying one product only from a supplier.

Why?

It’s an accounting issue. The Accounts Department doesn’t want to have too many invoices to pay at the end of the month. They prefer buying many items from one distributor. Even though this adds to the cost of any product. After all, the distributor wants their share as well.

We don’t have enough profit margin in our cover to add the distributor, David Jones and us into the profit share. You’d pay close to $75 for the cover if we did. Would you? I don’t think so.

So a door is closed.

And many small, innovative businesses that make superlative products within Australia find themselves cut off from the major stores for the same reason.

Stores like Peters of Kensington, Lincraft, Myers, all the chain stores, share a common policy. They don’t pay ‘freight’. They expect the manufacturer (us) to absorb the cost of getting their product to the stores. Or add it on to the wholesale price.

Many of the really big stores are notorious for making their suppliers wait to be paid and rarely pay their suppliers’ invoices in less than 60 days. A period most small businesses with limited or no overdraft, find difficult to manage.

It wasn’t so long ago that retailers paid cash for their goods before, or on, delivery. Before the behemoth stores like Woolworths and Coles began to dominate the retail industry and insisted all purchases be on account. It was a time when a manufacturer could make a decent profit and keep their manufacturing within Australia.

How long ago? Would you believe up until about 15 years ago?

When the Roth family owned Lincraft, the up market fabric and haberdashery chain, we had our cover in 30 of their 60 stores. It was a huge seller in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Perth. When Philip Roth visited the stores, he expected to see The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover on the shelves. He loved the cover because it was innovative and Australian made. And the family paid their suppliers religiously every 30 days.

When the Roth family sold their stores, the new buyer had a different perspective. Lincraft moved from a family owned, know your supplier and customer philosophy, to a discount store philosophy.

We received a letter curtly telling us the name of the new owner and his terms of trade. They were:- no price increases, no freight to be charged, and payment of our invoices every 90 days. The letter lacked empathy and interest in who we are and what we made.

We asked ourselves if this is how they’ll also treat customers. And decided, yes it was. So we withdrew our product immediately. And over time, Lincraft has become a shadow of its former self.

There’s a saying that if you swim with sharks, expect to be eaten. And large retailers are eating up Australian suppliers at a dangerous rate. If suppliers were animals, they’d now be on the endangered species list.

Many suppliers are told to compete with prices from third world countries, or be deleted from the retailers’ list. Which is why Made In Any Third World Country is the label most commonly seen on the bottom of, or sewn into, the goods you buy.

With this philosophy also comes a lack of customer care, customer service and knowledge about what they sell.

We have no department stores in my nearest regional centre, Bathurst NSW. All we have is K Mart and Big W. Plus a specialist appliance store, RetraVision, which has an enviable, helpful approach towards customer service and product knowledge. They are simply the best in product knowledge and customer care.

When my food processor did its last spin in the bowl, I went looking for a new one. Unfortunately, at that time, RetraVision didn’t sell food processors. Only Big W and K Mart, albeit a limited range.

Big W has the largest range. When I managed to track down a shop assistant (an achievement in itself) for advice, I was stunned by her answer. We receive no training and know nothing about any of these appliances. All we do is sell them. You’re supposed to know what you’re buying.

It’s this remote, no care and no responsibility attitude that prompted our decision to carefully choose only small, friendly retailers or else stay out of the retail network.

And another. As our customer, we’d be offended to discover a retailer told you they know nothing about our cover. To direct you to the packaging to find out whatever you might need to know that will help you make a decision, isn’t how we want you to be treated.

And yet another. We’re not prepared to be ordered to run our business to please anyone other than you.

Oh, and one more. We won’t cut corners to provide an ever-cheaper price and an ever-diminishing product quality.

Yes, there’s one more. We love helping you.

Let’s see. That makes us unacceptable to all large retailers!

Which is good. Because if we don’t swim with sharks, we can’t be eaten!

Developing a market and a customer following away from the retail sector is a hard road to travel. It requires constant energy and almost Sherlock Holmes type investigation to find you.

There’s no market segment called ‘ironer’ that we can tap into easily. Our customers are mums and dads, celebrities, professional men and women and hobbyist quilters and sewers dedicated to their craft. Plus schools, laundries, dressmakers, fashion and bridal gown designers. You come from all walks of life and all over the world.

You’re sometimes as hard to find as a needle in a haystack.

So why do we choose this path?

This is so old fashioned, but it’s true. Because we think pleasing you, one on one, is so much more rewarding.

We like the warm, fuzzy relationship we have with you. We really like seeing the family tree grow with your referrals and your word of mouth. We like your positive emails, your phone calls, your suggestions for new products and your friendship. Most of all, we just really like you!

Establishing our business like this is similar to travelling down the yellow brick road with Dorothy and her friends to find the Wizard Of Oz. Always interesting, often delightful, and we look forward to the happy ending where you love The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover!

We have 150,000 covers in use around the world, and growing daily. All made with love and care in rural Australia by men and women who have a disability.

This is our reward. We have 150,000 customers who no longer buy their ironing board covers from major retailers.

There’s more.

Take care,

Carol

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