Elaine – The Three Wins Woman
The way Elaine drops her experience, skills, capabilities and innovative ideas and approaches to business during the course of a one-hour conversation is done with the equivalent nonchalance of you or me saying “I’m going down the local shops, anything you need?”
A little bit of background
Elaine Sturgess is a direct marketer with an enviable pedigree – she has, for example, a three year stint at the (then) incredibly successful and profitable Book Club Associates, with responsibility for £20 million+ marketing spend to her name.
As it turned out, aside from a thorough grounding in direct marketing techniques, there was also some key learning about the need to invest in research into market and distribution developments and the importance of such in protecting future growth – BCA in its solitary successful splendour waited two years to respond to the new kid on the block (does anyone recognise the name Amazon?) and has been paying the price ever since.
This experience, added to consequent involvement in the creation of a major web project for a key player in the entertainment industry just at the beginning of online, led to Elaine deciding to learn programming languages herself.
Elaine subsequently set up her own marketing agency with brand, communications, marketing, web, events and multi media offerings and said she’d help out her brother in law by developing a website for his upmarket kitchens, as you do if you’re her.
Stick with this and you’ll see it’s going somewhere very special 
…
Where we are now
One idea led to another and Elaine set up mykitchenstore which sells quality products, many of which have previously only available to kitchen fitters and manufacturers or huge organisations (like B and Q), direct to the consumer.
18 months on the site has proven successful both in turnover and profit with very little marketing. And, talking to her, it’s no real surprise to find that Elaine is a woman on yet another mission that dovetails perfectly into all of those skills, capabilities, experience and so on that we started this post off with, by opening the door to others to participate in the opportunity and the fun…
What’s in store?
(My pun 
) For work-at/ from-homers Elaine is in the process of offering business opportunities for Associates (part way between what’s usually termed an Agent/ Rep and Franchisee), each to have their own Kitchen Kitten website where their customers order from them.
Elaine’s team set the site up, with all the available products listed, ready to trade and supported by a content management system that can handle 30,000 products.
For the Associate, it’s a ready made store, but without the need to handle customer service, product fulfillment or administration – all that support is managed for you. I remembered that according to a survey by Orange back in 2007, almost half of UK adults have thought about acting on their entrepreneurial impulses but one in two of them were too scared to do anything about it. It struck me that this was a nice way for any individual (even if currently employed) to discover whether they have what it takes to be an ‘entrepreneur’.
Elaine sees this as a ‘First Step’ to developing a business from home without the risks and headaches that typically come with a business start up. And to help people to develop better understanding of the products, coming soon are some ‘how to’ videos that will help take the mystique out of kitchen fitting – it’s actually pretty straightforward according to Elaine…
Upfront investment is currently just under £100 (July offer – it’s normally £199).
What’s in it for Elaine?
She has proven that there is potential to grow this business. The more it grows, the more products she buys, the better prices she secures from the manufacturers. What would work really well is representation at grass roots level across the country growing the word of mouth and supporting the online activity .
3 wins:
Elaine sells more products
Associates make not only a reasonable to good to very good living (depending on individual skills and effort) but also, for those who really take to it, the chance to build a saleable business in which they share ownership.
The end customer often gets a better price on kitchen and associated supplies (did you know that includes lighting, TVs, DVDs and so on? I didn’t) than at their local kitchen store; they get the personal touch of their own local representative; they can ask any product/ technical questions of the knowledgeable folk they can phone via their rep’s website (and who handle the actual fulfilment of the orders) and get most things delivered to their door within days (bar bespoke stuff which, for obvious reasons, takes longer ).
Where you come in
As we spoke it occurred to us that this would be a great place to pose some constructive questions that you would want answered if you or someone you cared about were contemplating joining Elaine’s growing band.
So please dive in with your thoughts in the comments and Elaine will answer them
About Linda MattacksDoing what you love, your bit for humankind and the planet (if that turns you on) and making a decent, let alone great living don't necessarily come in the same package! With a background of sales training, marketing and market/marketing research spanning decades, for individuals and companies across the world from micros to corporations, Linda's finally found her niche... and some truly fabulous collaborators. Female employer, employee or entrepreneur, if you're not seeing the fruits of your potential value in the marketplace why not talk to Linda? Call +44(0)7879 628 367
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12 Responses to Elaine – The Three Wins Woman
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Review of: Cousin Alice Jazz Music by Cousin Alice: Elaine Sturgess Reviewed by: Elaine Sturgess Rating: 5 On January 21, 2012 Last modified: January 30, 2012 Summary: What makes Alice so distinctive is her wonderfully smokey voice, a quality that furniture designer William Yeoward found so arresting at a concert she was performing for the [...]
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Fantastic stuff Linda and Elaine, Kitchen Kitten Associates is a fantastic project for all the women involved, it will help get money into the hands that need it in a really innovative way.
Thanks Sarah – and for the chance to feature Kitchen Kitten Associates on here. We're very excited about the opportunity for women to earn from these products; after all the DIY industry reckon their biggest growth market is in sales to women, so we reckon it's all of us that should share in it!
And my thanks also to Linda for getting the opportunity across so well!
One thing that did occur to me last night seeing yet another “half price sale on… must end…” and I realised we hadn't addressed it, Elaine:
How do you combat these offers?
Twitter: Linda_Mattacks
Hi Linda; good point!
Many half price kitchen offers are based on carcasse (that's the cupboard part) and doors or on total kitchen prices – you never get to see the component part prices of the kitchens. Often, the storage systems, decor and accessories are charged extra and at full price.
We don't sell 'whole kitchens' we sell all the component parts and extras like storage etc. at very competitive prices, often lower than you pay in a major store. Our pricing is completely transparent and you only buy what you need. It's always best to identify all the items that you need to make up the kitchen and then price check; that way you get the best deal on all of it.
So if I wanted just a cupboard door as one of the kids had drawn on it, or some new handles – say just 3, that would be ok? is there a minimum order?
Also for KKA do I have to be already in business to do something like that?
You can have as many as you need – aside from a few parts like nuts, bolts etc, we don't have any minimum orders or force you to buy a pack of 5 when you only need 1. Door handles are a great example, we have a cracking range and mostly a great deal cheaper than the major retailers – and if you need 1, you can have 1! With the doors, we have a range of replacement doors and again, you can have just 1 if that's all you need!
You don't have to have any business experience to be a Kitchen Kitten Associate, just enthusiasm! We will help with lots of support on how to market the products and ways to gain exposure online. Because we handle all the admin, customer support and deliveries, you can just focus on promotion; and there are loads of free ways to do that. All you need is time!
That is an interesting idea, buying only the bits that you want means that you are not stuck with stuff for which you have no use!
absolutley Ida, means less waste – and you can save money; it's amazing how the cost of those extra 2's and 3's you don't need can add up!
There has to be a blog in that Elaine… has to be