Tea For (More Than) Two
Direct selling strategy helps Tonia Jahshan bring the goodness of tea into Canadian homes
Q: What made you start Steeped Tea?
A: Three years ago, my husband and I decided to start a family and were excited to find out I was pregnant in April of 2006. Things were moving along well until we suddenly lost the pregnancy. This was hard on both of us; our lives were at a standstill. We decided we needed to get away, so we took a trip to Nova Scotia.
The first B&B we stayed at was wonderful, and in the morning, our hosts served us a loose leaf tea called Crème
of Earl Grey. My husband and I love tea and were amazed at how good this one tasted. At that time, we had only
experienced tea bags and had come across just a few loose teas in our lives. This tea blew our socks off – we must have drunk three pots each morning! We decided we needed to bring the tea back home, so we asked the owners of the B&B where they had bought it. They directed us to a little tea shop in Mahone Bay where we discovered hundreds more loose teas. We taste tested so many that day, and ended up coming home with more tea than anything else!
I couldn’t wait to share the tea with our friends and family because I knew they were going to love it as well. I started thinking about ways I could get this exciting little secret out and it occurred to me that the best way to do it was through a tea party.
In the past, I had sold product for a direct selling company and thought this could be the perfect fit for tea. I took two months to research tea – where to buy it, what the health benefits were, and finally how good it tasted. We hired a graphic designer and together we came up with the design for our logo.
In October of 2006, we launched the company Steeped, Fine Loose Teas and Accessories, and by April of 2007, I was doing up to 15 parties a month in the Hamilton and Kitchener Waterloo area – the business was growing far faster than I had anticipated.
We decided it was time to take the next step and hire ‘tea consultants’. We incorporated our company in April 2007, hired a lawyer, and had the consultant agreements drafted and ready. Our first consultant from Waterloo, Ontario came on board in September of 2007. We are very lucky that our consultants have the same vision we have for this
company, and together we keep moving to the next level.
Q: Where do you manufacture or find your products? Do you have any tips on manufacturing or negotiating those agreements?
A: We love Canadian products and try to keep within our borders. Our accessories are mainly purchased through Canadian distributors except for a select few. We also try to feature a Canadian artist every year who makes a featured limited-quantity item for us, like our Steeped Tea Porcelain Teapot. Our tea, however, is grown all over the world in temperate climates and then gets shipped to us.
A good tip when negotiating agreements is to always be prepared with sales forecasts. The bigger your numbers are
for purchasing, even if they aren’t only for one year, the more likely you will get a better deal. Also never assume product quality is a given in an agreement especially if you are dealing with someone overseas. We clearly specify
quality requirements in every agreement we make and double check our deliveries to make sure.
Q. What is your best source for finding new sales reps?
A. Tea parties! Our consultants conduct tea parties all over Ontario and offer our business opportunity to everyone they meet. We have grown to nearly 100 consultants today mostly through word of mouth and people’s experiences at tea parties.
Steeped Tea parties are a great way for friends and family to get together and enjoy each others’ company. The whole idea is to make the gathering even more enjoyable with a brief tea presentation (facts and tidbits of information) and a whole lot of warm, tasty tea. There is no hassle of preparation that takes too much work or time, and no one is under any obligation to buy anything. Our catalogue also makes it affordable to recreate the same party in your own home with a bag of tea for under $6. Steeped Tea consultants have a lot of fun meeting new people, and there is never a dull moment when the product you are serving or discussing is as tasty and enjoyable as ours. The social aspect of our parties is very appealing, not to mention all the free gifts the hostesses earn!
We have had the privilege of being featured in the Globe and Mail, National Post, Hamilton Spectator, Ancaster News,
and the Kitchener/Waterloo Record to name a few, as well as a few local TV shows. The response we get from this exposure is always amazing, whether it’s to book tea parties or to become a consultant. People are looking for a healthier lifestyle and what better way to start than to brew a cup of green, rooibos or white tea.
Q. How do you manage your team of sales reps? Do you include a training program?
A. At Steeped Tea we realized right from the beginning that our sales force is the heart of our business. We have gone to a lot of effort to make sure training materials are readily available for our consultants and their leaders. We encourage direct contact between consultants and we hold monthly meetings where we share our ideas, thoughts and experiences. We introduce new products and policies during those meetings so everyone can participate and questions can be directly answered. Since we started we have created training videos for all aspects of the business including conducting parties and handling the paperwork. We also have a training blog where consultants can get updates on recent news and happenings at Steeped Tea.
Right now, we are working to create ‘back office’ software that will cut consultant paperwork out altogether. Consultants will be able to directly access our inventories and can place their orders online. This will help us make consultant orders simple to place and clearly accessible for updates in shipping or product availability.
Q. What are your biggest challenges?
A. Currently, our biggest challenge is handling the rapid growth of Steeped Tea. Training consultants and continuously connecting with everyone are difficult tasks as our numbers increase each week. Every member of our consultant family deserves our attention and we try our best to reach out.
Space is also another challenge as our inventories are always pushing our warehouse limits. Yet another challenge is the changing economic environment and the fluctuations in the Canadian dollar. This makes international purchasing difficult to predict which could jeopardize inventory stocks as we try to maintain profits.
Q. What have been your biggest successes?
A. We have enjoyed a number of successes with one being rapid growth. Since we started nearly three years ago, the word spread quickly about our fun, informative and entertaining tea parties. We have collectively done nearly
5, 000 tea parties and have hired more than 100 consultants Canada wide. The number increases every month and so do sales.
It’s a great feeling knowing we help families across Canada earn an extra income doing something that is fun, healthy, and informative. Our consultants are a terrific team and they always prove their drive at every party they hold. Spreading the word about the health benefits of loose tea has become our mission and the mission of all our consultants. We are converting people to loose tea, one tea bag at a time.
Other successes include the wonderful exposure we’ve had in the media. Our first experience on CHCH TV in Hamilton three years ago proved to us that media does work and that our product is something people are interested in and want to learn more about. Since then we have been on CHCH TV three more times, A Channel Ottawa and BT Halifax. We have also been nominated for the Savvy Mompreneur award twice!
Q. What are your plans for the next five years?
A. Every year brings its own challenges, but ultimately our goal is to enable enough consultants nationwide to throw parties in almost every household of this country. We hope our consultant base reaches a few thousand within the next five years.
Another goal is to establish a large warehousing facility within the next five years to meet the demands of our business. Space should become a problem of the past once we’ve picked out a larger and more versatile location.
Finally, an increased online presence will help us reach people where it may be difficult for consultants to go. We hope to pursue international development after five years.
