That's why we need to get to the consumer directly. We have been doing trade advertising for 15 years and just started consumer advertising five years ago. We get e-mails and phone calls from people in places we used to call flyover states who say, "I saw your nail polish advertised in Cosmo. Where can I find it?" Some people e-mail and say, "Why isn't Essie in our town?" And that gets brought up in our sales meetings, which I have weekly.
I get detailed reports once a week from all the outside salespeople and the 12 in-house staff members who support the field team. I'm in constant touch with my reps in the field. So if my Southeast guy is in Georgia meeting with distributors, he'll stop by salons or spas to take photos of how our product is being displayed so I know what we look like. If a retail outlet is not using shelf talkers -- those little strips that say, "As seen in InStyle" or "Winner of Allure's Best of Beauty Award" -- we can send them a package.
I used to do all the trade shows. But then my knees started to give in. It's such a great way to meet the people who sell our product and form relationships with them. I still go to as many as possible.
I am, like, a numbers freak. I used to look at them every day. It became an obsession. Then Max said, "Why don't you just look at them every month?" That was hard for me. But then I realized, if you have people you trust, you can let go. Now, I ask my VP of sales once a week how we're doing. Or, if we are having a particularly good week, he'll hover around my office, waiting to be asked. He keeps me posted.
I go out for lunch a few times a month, usually meeting with a magazine or if a customer is in from out of town. But if I'm in the office, I don't have lunch until 4 o'clock. I get so wrapped up, and then suddenly I'm starving. I love to cook; it relaxes me. So I'll run across the street to this great market and buy things to make lunch. When we bought the building, 10 years ago, we did a renovation, and I had a kitchen built adjacent to my office.
I f I have appointments in the city, either with designers, beauty editors, or sales reps, I always make a point of popping into random salons to say, "Hi; I'm Essie." And they say, "Manicure? Pedicure?" And I say, "No. I'm Essie." I take out my business card, and then they get all excited, and they start speaking in their native tongue. Who knows what they're saying about me? I ask what colors are really doing well, what's hot. We recently added new products to our line, so I ask if they're selling the cuticle pen or our hand and body lotions.
I've been going to the same manicurist for 20 years and get my nails done every Friday at 5 p.m., unless I'm traveling. She's in a salon on 65th between Madison and Park and has an incredible clientele: high-powered working women. I often find myself networking when I'm there. I was looking to do a charm, a little ballet slipper to put on our color called Ballet Slippers, and, sure enough, I met this woman there who recommended a jeweler, and I had the cutest ballet slippers made.
Media requests come in daily. Usually, it's a quick phone call, though occasionally my PR rep will set up an editor meeting or lunch. Getting product placement or editorial write-ups is even more powerful than advertising, so these meetings are incredibly important. We'll meet in the city at a restaurant or do a deskside meeting with an editor, depending on what we're launching. Our launches are very controlled. We know what the launch date is, 90 days before on long leads, so we do a marketing calendar and a publicity plan.
I also spend a lot of time thinking about marketing. Part of our strategy is to put the voice behind the brand. A lot of people didn't even know there was an Essie! Or they think I am Asian! So we teamed up with an advertising agency to help us with branding and started coming up with a new tag line for each season. The first one was, "Hi. I'm Essie, and I'm a color-holic." The agency came up with that one. But I love coming up with them, too. My favorite was, "From the bedroom, to the boardroom, to the ballroom." And then for a color in this past winter's collection, I came up with the name Rock Star Skinny, and the agency came up with the line, "All of the color, none of the calories."
I often work until 8 or 9 o'clock at night. When everyone leaves, I get a lot done. That's when I do what didn't get done -- e-mails, calls to the West Coast. I need quiet to really concentrate, because I'm a little bit scatterbrained; I'm doing a lot of things at once. I get home late, so Max and I might go out for dinner. Or, if we have had a big lunch, then I will throw together a salad and call it a night. I do my cooking at the beach house on the weekends. I like to read before bed -- Danielle Steel and Sidney Sheldon are my favorites, but often I am so tired, I conk out. If we're up, Max and I both love David Letterman, but I am addicted to Dancing With the Stars. I'm a frustrated dancer. I thought I was going to be a prima ballerina.
The end of last year was the first time our monthly sales were down. It was devastating. We're used to a double-digit increase. We were going to close almost 20 percent ahead for the year. Max tracks that with our accountant -- I used to. Now, I don't even look until the end of the month. And while I'm not happy with the way the economy is falling out, I always say, "We still make women feel good for very little money." We're the affordable luxury. Even if you're out of a job, you still have to look perfect. So, we're in a really good spot in a bad economy.
