June 2011 Recognition Review

Supplier Profile

An Emphasis on Design Crystal Blanc

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Crystal Blanc, Erlanger, KY President/Owner: Barry Dyas Phone: 888.283.0019 Fax: 800.806.4808 Web site: www.crystalblanc.com E-mail: service@crystalblanc.com Specialty: “The engraver’s choice for imaginative crystal.” We offer innovative designs, large inventory, quick turnaround, exceptional service, designer packaging, and competitive pricing. We have a very large selection of crystal and glass awards, vases, barware and business gifts. We sell blank glass and crystal and we also deep etch for our customers with no set-up charges.

Philosophy: To offer the most original creative designs to the industry, along with the best customer service and prices.

Five-year business goal: Our goal is continual growth and to be the most innovative supplier to the industry both in design and technology.

What ARA has done for us: ARA is a great organization that has given awards dealers and manufacturers a platform to grow their businesses together. It has been a great experience working with the association and its members, and it has helped form many of our business relationships throughout the years.

Greatest success: Many more dealers have purchased from us these past two years and recognize our brand more than ever before. Our dealer and partners are giving us the opportunity to be their key supplier, which has made the future look very promising.

s Crysal Blanc owner Barry Dyas and his sons Jeff and Chuck.

E

very once in awhile, the planets seem to align and the right elements come together to create a business that’s out-of-the-ordinary. That’s definitely the case with Crystal Blanc Company, Inc. President Barry Dyas grew up in the glass industry, but as a college art major his interest gravitated toward design.

The end result is that for almost two decades the company has been offering two product lines—one for awards and one for gifts—from what’s grown to be a 50,000-square-foot facility just south of Cincinnati.

While Dyas says he’d like to believe it’s his unique offerings that keep people coming back for more, he and Joe Howse, the company’s director of sales, agree that the company’s first-rate customer service also has an important role to play in Crystal Blanc’s continued success.

Designed for Success

Crystal Blanc opened for business in 1993; a time that Dyas says was really a launching period for crystal awards and gifts. “That’s when crystal started getting popular in the industry, and that was due to the accessibility of the technology to do the etching,” he says. “Companies such as Rayzist®� Photomask Inc., and Ikonics Imaging made it much easier for people. Once we notice�d that a lot of the awards dealers and trophy dealers started to get into this, we thought we saw an opportunity to supply them with the goods we were already importing. That’s how we got started.”

Already familiar with the glass industry through his father’s business selling to the retail and promotional products industries, Dyas launched Crystal Blanc with an emphasis on design. “I like to think that design is our� forte; Continued on next page

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continued ...

s A panoramic view of the 50,000 sq. ft. Crystal Blanc facility in Erlanger, KY.

s The Crystal Blanc showroom. The company offers awards in 10 broad product areas, including optic crystal, hollowware, theme awards, golf awards, world themes, art glass, plates, plaques, jade crystal, and clocks.

s Joe Howse, the company’s director of sales, is familiar to ARA members who attend the association’s annual show in Las Vegas.

how we’ve distinguished ourselves is with our different designs,” he says.

Howse takes that a step further. He notes that Dyas is the company’s lead designer as well as its owner, and Howse believes that influence shows. “We’re a design company; we’re not a ‘me-too’ line,” says Howse.

“Almost everything in the catalog is unique. Our designs are unique and they’re manufactured by us. Our customers aren’t just getting a knock-off of something else that’s out there in the industry.”

Dyas notes that the company’s art department numbers seven people, and design is often a collaborative process. When Crystal Blanc comes out with as many as 15-20 new products every year, it can be a challenge, particularly since one of Dyas’ goals is to also keep up with contemporary trends.

Asked how he does that, he laughs, before describing the process as both tough and intuitive. “Sometimes it comes by osmosis,” Dyas says. “Sometimes it happens when I’m out there shopping and I look at different fashions. Sometimes you look at the times. When times are not the best people want one thing, and when they’re more upbeat, they want something else.”

He elaborates by saying present trends are more towards conservative items, such as hollowware, which Dyas describes as encompassing items such as cups, bowls, and vases. By comparison, he says at the turn of the millennium, attitudes were a bit more progressive and people were looking at more futuristic-looking

pieces. “It goes back and forth,” he summarizes.

Even now, with the economy still a bit down, Crystal Blanc shows its share of futuristic designs. The company offers awards in 10 broad product areas, including optic crystal, hollowware, theme awards, golf awards, world themes, art glass, plates, plaques, jade crystal, and clocks.

In addition, the firm’s catalog includes a dozen gift areas, some of which—such as serving pieces, paperweights, vases, bells, picture frames, and cache boxes—are also suitable for awards.

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Unique and Innovative

Regardless of what event or activity they’re buying for, Dyas says today’s customers are definitely looking for value.

Howse agrees and says that’s one area where he really feels Crystal Blanc shines.

“Sure, customers are looking for something that’s unique and innovative,” the director of sales says. “But, one of our advantages is that we have price-points all across the board, from low to moderate to high. We’re not just selling at the higher end.”

Not surprisingly, the company sells a lot on the corporate side of the industry through its dealers, but Howse says it goes well beyond that. “Our award dealers also sell our items through schools, associations, and even the golf industry,” he says. “What’s nice about our line is that we’re not just doing awards. We have a huge selection of glass and crystal gifts. We offer barware and drinkware. We do beautiful vases. We have an entire spectrum of products to appeal Say you saw it in RecognitionReview

“Sure, customers are looking for something that’s unique and innovative,” the director of sales says.

“But, one of our advantages is that we have price-points all across the board, from low to moderate to high.

We’re not just selling at the higher end.”

to a wide range of clients, while some of our competitors are strictly selling awards.”

Crystal Blanc also offers etching for its customers who don’t have their own equipment, or perhaps need a job turned around more quickly than they can handle. “Not only will we etch the product for our customers, but we don’t have any set-up charges,” says Howse.

“That’s also unique.”

The company also doesn’t have any rush charges, although Howse says a best-case scenario is that the awards dealer gives Crystal Blanc at least two weeks to do the work.

“Obviously, we need a little lead time,” he says. “For one thing, we need approval of the artwork.”

However, he adds that if the client calls on Wednesday and needs the etched awards by Friday, “If we can get it done, we’ll do it.”

Another advantage Howse sees with Crystal Blanc is that it has no minimum-sized order on awards.

“Our minimums are one piece, and that’s something we’ve kept as our policy,” he says. “We get those orders all the time.”

Dyas speaks highly of his customer-service staff. And, he says one thing awards retailers who call Crystal Blanc can be assured of is always talking to a human being, not a machine. “Not only will it be a person, but it will be person with a lot of experience,” Dyas says.

“Our people are knowledgeable about the industry, knowledgeable www.ara.org

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about glassware and crystal, and knowledgeable about our product line.

They’re also knowledgeable about our packaging, and they take their jobs and accommodating our customers very seriously.”

Although they’re certainly capable of advising a retailer who isn’t quite sure what he or she needs, Dyas adds that he finds most of his clients know what they want and need when they place that phone call.

As for shipping, “Basically the customer’s schedule is our schedule,” says Dyas. “If they need something to go out today and it’s not a giant order, we’ll do all we can to get the order out today.”

Some of the shipping depends on the availability of United Parcel Service (UPS) to pick up at the plant, but the company keeps a good inventory, and orders that don’t go out the day they’re called in typically go out no later than the next business day.

Continued on next page

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Supplier Profile

continued ...

Howse believes Crystal Blanc’s location just south of Cincinnati is also an advantage many of its competitors don’t share. “A lot of our competition is located on the West Coast and the East Coast,” he says. “We’re pretty centrally located, and we’re only a day or two away from a lot of the United States.”

Nothing Like This

s Crystal Blanc’s art department, where design is often a collaborative process.

s The packaging department. Crystal Blanc is proud of its custom-designed packaging, which many customers use as gift packaging because of its presentation v�alue.

Perhaps shipping its products best epitomizes the strengths of Crystal Blanc. Not only do items go out in a timely manner, but Dyas’ interest in design has extended into the company’s custom packaging.

“Obviously, glass and crystal are fragile,” Dyas says.

s Clockwise from top left: start-to-finish example of crystal masking for engraving.

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“One of the paramount things we do here is good packaging. We wanted to develop packaging that’s both safe and aesthetic.”

Howse agrees. He says from a utilitarian standpoint, the company has very little breakage on its shipments.

However, it goes beyond that. “Our custom-designed packaging is very nice,” he says. “In fact, it’s so nice that a lot of people use it for gift packaging because it makes such a nice presentation. If our awards came in a generic white box, it wouldn’t look nearly as special.”

Not surprisingly, neither man says Crystal Blanc will be resting on its laurels in the future. From his perspective, Howse says he sees the company putting more emphasis on its electronic sales and marketing.

“We need to work a little more on Web design, and be a little more innovative with it,” says Howse. “Right now we’re in the process of updating our site, and that’s after a major overhaul about six months ago. We’re going to continue to head down that path because the Internet is definitely growing.”

The director of sales adds that a lot more people are ordering online now than even a couple years ago.

However, Howse says he believes there will always be a need for retail sales.

Although Dyas admits the company took “a few steps

backward” due to the current economic downturn, he says things are already starting to turn around. He also believes that with his staff of more than 40 employees, the business is poised to grow considerably over the next five years or so.

“It’s going to take some aggressive marketing and we’ll have to put our money where our heart is, but we will spend it and we will grow,” Dyas states. Certainly he’s confident about the role etched glass will play in the awards and recognition market in the future.

“Our segment is definitely growing,” he says. “More and more people seem to be getting into offering etched glass, and I think dealers are realizing the opportunities it presents.” And, he’s definitely enthusiastic about the awards industry.

“I love the awards and recognition industry,” Dyas says.

“We’re just nuts about it. Everybody is so nice that I’m just blown away. We’ve been in other markets, but nothing is like this. There are a lot of good people—American business people—out there.”

The president of Crystal Blanc adds that he just wants people in the industry to know the company will continue to offer innovative designs at competitive prices, while maintaining the large inventory necessary to provide quick turnaround and exceptional customer service. “After all, our customers are our most valuable asset,” he concludes. s

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