“Oh Canada”
By: Frank Cornacchiulo
During my tenure, at W. Braun Company, I was responsible for many multinational and global cosmetic companies in the Northeast region of the United States. These personal care clients such as Estee Lauder, Revlon, Avon, Gillett, Lever Bros, Colgate, L’Oréal etc. whose orders were for plastic bottles that ranged in quantities of 100,000-5,000,000 or more and were priced accordingly. So, when their company affiliates in Canada would need 5% of that amount for the Canadian market, it was impossible to supply Canada at the same price point unless they were able to tie into the USA production. To complicate matters Canada was serviced by Braun International located in Miami Florida.
When I attended our national management meeting in Florida I proposed that the responsibility for Canadian affiliates be reassigned to the Northeast region. Since the dollar volume was less than $100,000 Braun International was more than happy to do so. I said to myself, Oh crap! you got what you wished for. Now what? I thought about it and came up with a plan. First, I must meet with the various Canadian companies in Montreal. Problem, I don’t speak French, how will I get around? Well, there must be multinational distributers that I can recruit to inventory for our Canadian customers, on consignment for one year with a return agreement. I set my plan in motion. I made appointments with customers and distributers in Montreal. When I got there, I found a taxi driver who spook English and hired him for the day. My plan worked like a charm. I told the customer my plan and formed relationships. On the other hand, I told the distributers if they don’t agree to my plan, we will be forced to establish an office in Canada and compete with them.
It was happenstance and luck that everywhere I went, they mentioned Jack Lietman who is multilingual, we eventually met at a packaging show at the Javits Center in Manhattan. I told him my plan and we agreed to travel together in Canada. As we traveled and reached the designated client, Jack would unload his four custom designed large suitcases on wheels from his car. I helped him roll his suitcases into the client’s office and Jack would unlock each suitcase and open them. As we opened the four suitcases, they formed a wall display of samples, of what he had to offer. In all my life I never seen this type of presentation. Jack was traveling with his “Showroom”. I was amazed. Well, it didn’t happen overnight. Jack and I became great friends. I suggested to Jack that if Braun purchased his agency and open an office in Montreal he would have the might of the Braun Company financial resources, network and purchasing power. Months went by after Jack final realized that his one-man agency wasn’t sustainable in the long run. That’s when we founded W. Braun Canada and fully staffed the offices in Montreal and Toronto. During his first five years at W, Braun Canada he brought our $$$ volume close to six million dollars. Big difference from the $100,000 start.
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