Element of 'fun' encourages employees of Raymond Geddes & Co.

Raymond Geddes Jr. got out of the Army in February of 1946. A veteran of D-Day, Geddes had seen a lot in his young life, and now he wanted to get on with his life.

His father had founded Raymond Geddes & Co. in 1924, selling to confectionary stores around Baltimore. However, Raymond Jr. went to work for another school supply company. A year later, he enrolled at the University of Maryland under the GI Bill.

I might have been a teacher, he says, but while in college, I started selling for my father's company.

School growth was considerable after World War II. This was the beginning of the baby boom, and the country needed schools.

Geddes and his father recognized this expanding market, and began selling to school offices. Later, they began selling pencils, pens, and notebooks to school stores. A lot of the ideas came from the younger Geddes.

We started out as a 'one-horse' operation, Geddes recalls. At some point, I was in charge. We never knew when that happened. My father pulled back and I took over.

Will Geddes, the founder's grandson, started working for his father after graduating from high school in 1977. Like his father before him, Will had a lot of ideas. He saw school stores as a major profit center.

When I started working for the Raymond Geddes & Company, we had 300 customers and 6 employees, he explains. Today, we sell to over 50,000 school stores nationwide.

Will's transition from employee to partner was subtle.

I couldn't really tell you when it happened, Will says. It seems that somewhere along the line I stopped working for my father and started working with my father.

In 1989, the company produced its first catalog.

My father didn't believe in advertising, Will says. However, I felt we needed to spread a wider net. Actually, our first mailing was in 1985. It was just a sheet of paper listing items for sale and their prices. We mailed out 200 and got two customers. It more than paid for itself.

The first of the Raymond Geddes catalogs went out in 1989. It was a small printing. Today, the firm sends out 1.7 million catalogs each year. The catalogs are produced in-house by a skilled staff of graphics artists. Planning for a catalog begins ten months ahead.

Will wants to keep the Raymond Geddes name in front of the over 50,000 schools that buy from his company. However, the real customers are the end users, the students who buy at the school stores.

We serve a fickle market, he explains. Kids' tastes can change overnight. One thing we do know is that kids love to buy school supplies that make the school experience fun.

This means selling more than just the usual yellow pencils and clear plastic protractors.

We have things other people don't have, Will says. Our strength lies in the fact that we have unusual things.

Will noticed this early on when he saw that brightly colored pencils sold much faster than the traditional pencils.

One of the biggest and longest running sellers is a Fighting Frog pen. Press a button, and the frog jabs like a boxer.

Keeping up with ever-changing kids' tastes requires a lot of research and planning.

The marketing staff at the company is constantly monitoring what kids are buying in other markets and what they aren't.

Will keeps detailed and highly accurate records of all products to make sure he isn't selling things that will wind up sitting on a shelf.

Currently, the company is partnering with Universal Studios Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat. It also teamed up with Hershey's.

Will took over the company in the same way his father took it over from his grandfather. There was never a detailed discussion on an exit strategy, no negotiations, and no contracts. One day, Raymond Geddes Jr. graciously stepped aside to let his son take over.

To remain competitive, Will realized he would have to deal directly with the manufacturers. The company maintains an office in Shanghai with seven employees. During the last 20 years, Will has traveled to Asia 80 times - sometimes as many as six times a year.

Will credits the Maryland Department of Economic Development with helping him deal on an international basis.

They did a great job for us, he says. They were instrumental in helping us get set up.

Will enjoys working with his Asian staff.

The Chinese have an incredible work ethic, Will says of his experience in China.

Today, he faces the same challenges that other entrepreneurs face: namely, to expand market share and customer base.

Sure, I would like to work with the big national retailers, says Will. However, I don't want to fall into the trap of having a few big customers representing 50 percent of my business. I don't want to find myself in the position of hiring up to satisfy one big customer and then losing the account. It happened to me once, and it won't happen again.

While investigating possibilities, Will continues to focus on school stores, selling unusual and fun supplies to his end users, the students.

Thinking up these products is fun for us and it's fun for the students, Will says. I'd like to think the 'fun' part encourages them.

Neil R. G. Young, CLU, ChFC, is president of Young & Company, a financial planning firm in Lutherville. If you have any comments or questions, you can send him an e-mail at neil@yco.com or call at 410- 494-7766. The Web site is http://www.yco.com.

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