Making most of market vacuum

By IRENE CHAPPLE

Vacuum cleaners may not be the sexiest products on the shelf, but talk to distributors Brett Avery and Mark Robinson about Dyson and you can almost see their hearts beat faster.

"We're passionate about the product," says Mr Robinson, gesticulating enthusiastically to prove the point.

"And that's what got us the job."

He is talking about winning Dyson's New Zealand distribution contract four years ago, a major coup for two youngsters competing with experienced industry players.

"We always wanted to control our own destiny," says Mr Avery.

"We wanted to take an opportunity and see it roll out."

The two childhood friends have backgrounds in sales and marketing. Mr Avery has a bachelor of commerce degree and Mr Robinson a bachelor's degree in social sciences.

Both say they have always wanted to be their own boss.

So when Mr Robinson heard through the grapevine at Noel Leeming, where he worked, that Dyson was looking to crack the local market, he wasted no time.

Over the next month the two pored over a business plan, giving up weekends to polish the pitch.

They say it was single-minded commitment to the product that won them the job: "We live or die by it," says Mr Avery simply.

The Dyson product, launched in Britain in 1993, sent ripples through a staid market.

Inventor James Dyson had been frustrated with his cleaner's suction being reduced by dust clogging the bag's pores.

His new cleaner, with a clear plastic body and eye-catching colour schemes ("would you like the lime green, purple or yellow, sir?") tackled the problem.

The flamboyant colours, says Mr Robinson, were to indicate an exciting new product. And the two believe they were chosen to bring Dyson to NZ because they reflected the enthusiastic attitude of the company.

"For Dyson, choosing us was a gamble, but I think we fitted the mould."

The decision was fast - within a couple of months, Avery Robinson, the duo's new company, had been dubbed Dyson's New Zealand distributor.

"I was absolutely rapt," says Mr Robinson. "I quit my job that day."

Still, the project wasn't yet a guaranteed money-spinner.

As with most distribution contracts, Avery Robinson forked out cash for bulk importing, then relied on selling skills to recoup.

Thirty Dyson vacuum cleaners arrived in the first load. Mr Robinson and Mr Avery packed up their smalls and took samples on the road.

They split New Zealand into areas they would cover. Despite the common goal, there was a touch of competitiveness, says Mr Avery.

"I got the first sale," pipes up Mr Robinson.

"It was after four hours, to an independent shop in Whangaparaoa."

The two spent four nights on the road, crashing at mates' places and cheap motels.

"We didn't understand the meaning of no," says Mr Robinson.

"And we believed in the product."

It was a successful trip. After visiting 150 shops from Whangarei to Invercargill, the pair had signed up 95 per cent to stock Dyson.

Now, Dyson vacuum cleaners - which sell for up to $999 - hold 24 per cent of the New Zealand market.

For six months, the two did not take a salary. Now they pay themselves and 10 staff.

A year into the new venture, Avery Robinson was runner-up in the small business section of the TVNZ Marketing Awards.

In 1999, they were shortlisted for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. In 2001, Avery Robinson, in association with the Designers Institute of New Zealand, the British Council and ProDesign magazine, hosted the inaugural Dyson Product Design Award.

Winner Dion Christie took his invention - a long-lasting skateboard shoe with removable outer shell - to Britain, promoting product development in New Zealand.

"We wanted to give something back," says Mr Avery.

They will run the awards again this year.

Despite the accolades and success, Avery Robinson say they've barely started.

In Britain, Dyson vacuum cleaners hold more than half the market. "That's the potential," says Mr Robinson. "We've got a long way to go."