Embroidery business evolves at Nuttalls’

featuring machines from Brother International Corporation

Rhonda Lopez doesn’t like to stand still. As a stay-at-home mom 27 years ago she began looking for activities that interested her. This led to becoming a sewing teacher, then a machine salesperson, and eventually to be the primary owner of Nuttalls’, a top-producing Utah dealership representing three brands of sewing and embroidery machines, including Brother.

Now, joined by three adult sons and supported by Brother International Corporation, she’s evolving again, this time into commercial embroidery, but with an all-important home embroidery touch. Nuttalls’ will be one of the first Brother home sewing machine dealers authorized to offer the Brother BE-1201 industrial 12-needle embroidery machine to its hobbyist customer base.

For Lopez, this is more than a product line expansion. She’s bridging a gap. Nuttalls’ will also open its own embroidery school to support and teach customers who are interested in a no-risk way of exploring commercial embroidery as a home-based business. The goal is to offer the kind of dealer support that can’t be found anywhere else.

The new facility -- Nuttalls’ Embroidery Business Institute -- was scheduled to open in mid-May in newly acquired space at the existing Salt Lake City flagship Nuttalls’ location. The Institute has three missions: 1) to help customers produce a trial embroidery order as a way of evaluating if they want to start a home-based embroidery business; 2) to train customers on their new Brother industrial machine purchases; and 3) to stimulate embroidery business from the surrounding community that can then be passed around to various Nuttalls’ customers who have embroidery operations.

For Lopez, it’s one of those magic moments when three irresistible elements -- vision, drive and resources -- come together.

“We wanted to make the industrial machine buying process more like the home machine buying process,” Lopez said.

The missing pieces were training, and on-going support, just like a machine buyer receives with the purchase of a home unit.

Nuttalls’ has a busy empire already, with five locations around Utah offering machinery, software, fabric, classes and clubs. And because Utah is a thriving market for home-based businesses, Lopez said her dealership has sold many of Brother’s PR-600 six-needle model, which she views as a “semi-industrial machine.”

“That first sale takes a great deal of education. We are really taking them from zero,” Lopez said. “When someone buys a piece of equipment from us, we tell them to keep us on speed dial. We are always available for support, assistance and advice.”

Customers eventually reach a break-through point with their small businesses and want more industrial equipment.

“At that point, the customer asks ‘What else do you have?’ and we didn’t have anything,” Lopez recalled.

She and her sons decided to fill that void. They investigated the commercial market, looking for possible ways to provide the next step for their business-minded customers. They even began selling a 12-color single needle machine that uses air-threading technology, but it wasn’t the total answer.

“We needed an industrial product with a name and a reputation,” she said, and they found it in Brother, whose home sewing and embroidery machines Nuttalls’ has represented for five years.

Nuttalls’ floor model of the BE-1201 12-needle machine will, of course, be used for sales demonstrations, but it will be set up in what amounts to a working embroidery shop, and provide a unique opportunity for customers to produce a trial embroidery order, as they evaluate whether they’d like to take the plunge into business. Shirley Ceci, a former multihead machine owner, has been hired as Nuttalls’ trainer for this program, and she and other dealer employees will help customers price and produce their trial orders. It’s sort of an apprenticeship situation, explained Lopez.

Once the order has been completed, Lopez said, the customers have the option of having the order fee applied to the purchase of their own industrial machine, or if they decline to take the leap into business, the order fee merely pays Nuttalls’ for the production time, and the customer walks away with embroidered products.

Although the Institute will be a working embroidery shop, Lopez is clear on the point that it will not compete with Nuttalls’ small-business customers. Because commercial embroidery tends to be so specialized, with businesses often catering exclusively to highly defined segments, such as horse owners or race car clubs, to name two examples, she said the focus will be on sharing any leads with Nuttalls’ small-business customers. She also sees the opportunity to have a coalition of embroidery business owners, who would meet for ongoing education, and perhaps co-advertise and share ideas and opportunities.

“We want to be their support system, not their competitor,” Lopez said. “The idea is that if we keep them busy enough, they need to buy more than one machine.”

Customer response to the Institute has been very positive, Lopez said. Some are already calling to find out when they can come in with their trial orders, and many existing small-business customers are asking for more specified training on their existing machinery.

There’s been no shortage of corporate support for Nuttalls’ new venture. Lopez credits Dean F. Shulman, Brother senior vice president and head of the company’s Home Appliance Division, with breaking through existing corporate policies to create this innovative option. And Lopez’ rep, district sales manager Bob Procknow, has helped her hone the Embroidery Institute concept. Procknow says he is confident about Nuttalls’ chances for success with the 12-needle machine and the Institute.

“Brother recognizes that Rhonda and her team have a vision, and the drive and proven ability to be successful. They’re offering a potent combination of training and support that will help their customers achieve their goals of small-business ownership, and we’re going to back them up at every step,” he said.

Reprinted from SQE Professional, June 2007