ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9602050092
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
It took Jim Rock more than 10 years to sell as many fire-stopping towels as he sold in 10 minutes on the QVC shopping network.
Little wonder, then, that he's back on the network this weekend hawking what's become the sales channel's most popular product from Virginia.
Last February, Rock was one of 20 vendors who appeared on QVC selling products made in Virginia during the channel's ``Quest for America's Best.''
The towel, called the Fire Warden Safety Blanket, is a treated cotton towel that extinguishes fires. Rock invented the item in 1985 and had sold them mainly in catalogs where he could use space to explain how they work.
``The problem with the product is that it is so simple, people don't believe it really works,'' he said.
Since last year, Rock's product has appeared five times, and buyers have snapped up more than 40,000 of the towels. Rock says the exposure was just what his business, Norfolk-based Hearthsafe Corp., needed.
Rock got the QVC idea from an advertisement the network ran soliciting vendors to try out for its ``Quest for America's Best'' broadcast.
After letting Rock know he'd made it, QVC ordered 10,000 towels. He had only 6,000 in his inventory, but borrowed money from a friend, ordered the rest from a domestic supplier and paid $2,000 for a promotional video.
``A small business can't play it safe,'' Rock said. ``I knew if people saw the towel work, they would buy them.''
He was right.
``I went on and sold $50,000 worth of product in eight minutes; that is by far more than I've sold in 11 years,'' Rock said.
Rock is now trying to get his product onto store shelves nationwide.
``QVC proved the marketability and viability of the product,'' he said. ``I couldn't get people interested until they saw the sales.''
LENGTH: Short : 42 linesby CNB