Costco Cash card. The result: At Engle, one Owners ( seewww.prescriptions4profits.com),
of every five new home buyers comes via marketing consultant Robyn Levin advises
referral! “Word of mouth is probably one of business owners to make introductions and
the least expensive and easiest ways to get pass out business cards wherever possible. One
our name out,” comments Lisa Lockwood, of her favorites: in the checkout line at
Engle’s marketing director. Costco. “You’re mingling with other business
Shop costco. com’s Business Center. At owners, so it’s a natural environment,” explains
the La Conner, Washington, Best PLACE Levin, of Tiburon, California. “They’re often
Child-care Center (360-466-1861), the on-site purchasing supplies for their small business.
nutritionist prepares breakfast, lunch and two It’s a community of like-minded people.
snacks for the children. Since 2001, all 13 of Charge it (your vehicle) at Costco.
the Best PLACE locations have been able to Susan Church, who operates Cobo Insurance
go to costco.com and order food and other Inc. (626-331-0865), an insurance brokerage
supplies, which are delivered to each facility. business, and her husband, Jeff, charge their
“Before, the nutritionist had to make two or electric car at Costco while they shop. “My
three trips away from the site every month,” car, a General Motors EV- 1, gets about 125
says Williams. “This saves about three- miles on a full charge,” says Jeff, of San
fourths of the amount of time.” (Next-busi- Dimas, California.“Costco’s charging stations
ness-day delivery is available in areas with a substantially extend its range, making it
Costco Business Center.) possible to use on days when I otherwise
3C
year
Mon
(ww6onsolidate your shopping. For 20 couldn’t. And because my vehicle has a very
s, Will and Renee Gavin of Bozeman, large trunk, my wife can easily fit about $400
tana–based Yellowstone Llamas worth of supplies for her business while the
w.yellowstone-llamas.com) have been car charges.” (EV charging stations are avail-
taking outdoor enthusiasts on extended able at select Costco warehouses.)
hiking trips in the backcountry of Yellow- ”Shop early at Costco. “Time is tone National Park. The Gavins use lla- money,” the saying goes. If that’s the case, avoid mas to pack supplies on these guided Bthe crowds and savue yoursself timet(andimponey)
tours. “Before Costco moved into Boze- by shopping at Costco during special hours for
man, we had to buy supplies from many Business and Executive members only, 10 to 11
different sources,” explains Renee. “Now a.m. weekdays. C
we have a ready supply of the things we
need, like specialty foods such as seafood,
meat, fruit and wine. We also outfit our
trucks and trailers at Costco Tire Centers. It leaves us more time to spend
preparing for trips.”
Would you like to share a special tip that has
worked well for your business? If so, please
send an e-mail with your idea to us at
dialogue@costco.com.
Location, location, location. In researching where to build a new animal hospital and
clinic, Dr. Brent Johnson extensively studied
traffic patterns for high-exposure areas. His
choice for the Northwest Animal Care
Hospital (425-379-0400): a site near the
Costco in Everett, Washington. “I picked the
north side of Costco because of the traffic
flow,” he says. “I couldn’t be more pleased.”
His clients have the added benefit of being
able to buy pet food at the warehouse.
MICHAEL SHUFFAIN
52
Bring in the closer. As an additional
enticement, Sivas National Auto Sales
( www.SivasAuto.com) in Kent, Washington,
gives car buyers a Costco membership. “We
use it as a closing tool,” says Don Fleming,
general manager. “It makes us look good—
Costco is an established name.”
Open your house. Open houses are a
must when starting a business, but they’re also a
great way to introduce your established business to new clients. The key: Draw ’em in with
food. (Our hint: Costco has a full variety of food
platters, from salads to seafood).
Business partners Ron Johnson and
Alissa Leinonen had the kind of problem
that small businesses love, but hate,
to have. Gourmondo (206-587-0190), their
fledging Seattle-based catering company, was
getting rave notices and developing a high-profile client list. But the caterers needed more
space—translation, money—to meet demand.
They found quick access to capital through a
Costco business line-of-credit program, enabling
them to move to a spacious new location in
2001. A year later, they tapped the credit line to
double their space.
Network at Costco. In her book Top 25
Profit-Boosting Strategies for Small-Business
“The business line of credit offered through
Costco had a better rate than the banks, and
approval took only two days,” says Leinonen.
Tesseentnial
products
you gotta have from
• Greenway Hot & Cold Stainless Steel
Water Cooler with Digital Clock.
Item #105416
• Sharp XE-A202 Electronic Cash
Register. Item #712611
• Amano MTX- 15 Badge or Pin Entry
Time Clock System. Item #974739
• Fellowes Powershred C-220C
Confetti Cut Shredder. Item #920507
• Ricoh Aficio SP C210SF Color Laser
All-In-One Machine. Item #100583
• Saeco Magic Comfort Plus Super
Automatic Espresso Machine.
Item #963824
• Optoma EP745 Multi-Media
Projector. Item #987409
• Western Digital 500GB My Book™
Premium Edition Hard Drive.
Item #108993
• Bunn 12-cup Pourover Commercial
Coffee Brewer. Item #416909
• Portable Asset Tracking/Inventory
Control Kit, ABC Scan 2006.
Item #968288
To browse through a bigger selection of business
products or to search for a specific item, click on
“Business Products” at costco.com
Food
“Without it we wouldn’t have been able to grow.”
Lesson learned: Have access to capital
for growth.
Turning to Costco for a business solution
was a natural choice for Gourmondo. In starting
out, one of the company’s biggest hurdles
was getting quality foods without tremendous
waste. Distributors typically require minimum
purchases too large for a small start-up, but
Costco allowed Johnson and Leinonen to buy
in sensible quantities.
“We’ve always considered Costco to have
been our first business partner,” says Johnson,
“because we really would not have been able to
succeed without that access to small quantities
of really high-quality products.”—DW
