Scent-Sations rises above the competition

By RON BARTIZEK

rbartizek@timesleader.com

"We make scents, you make dollars."

That slogan painted on the side of a van owned by Scent-Sations, Inc., the

maker of Mia Bella candles, sums up an important aspect of the company's

success.

Two of three partners in the venture, Bob Scocozzo and Charles Umphred, were

successful direct marketers for several years before they joined with Carmen

Milazzo to form Scent-Sations. Also known as multi-level marketing, or MLM,

direct selling uses a large network of mostly part-time distributors to

promote and sell products person-to-person rather than in stores.

"When a direct selling business works it is far superior to a 'shelf'

industry," Umphred said. "To me it is a superior model."

Unlike its two largest competitors, PartyLight and Gold Canyon,

Scent-Sations does not use the party model. According to Gold Canyon's Web

site, a party host earns $60 if sales are between $400 and $549.99. The host

also is allowed to buy two items for half price.

But to get started, distributors must purchase a "demonstration kit" that

costs $175. That kind of fee is how most direct marketing companies make

money, Umphred said, as well as by keeping the vast majority of the profits.

PartyLight doesn't even pay hosts in cash, instead offering free or

discounted merchandise, according to its Web site.

Scent-Sations makes it much easier for the distributor to make money. The

minimum purchase is only six candles, bought at half the average $18.95 each

retail price. If sales exceed $45 per month, which represents just a handful

of candles, Scent-Sations sets up and maintains a Web site for the

distributor and handles all the order processing of Internet sales. There is

no upfront payment and no contract.

Distributors are free to sell products any way they wish - at parties and

craft shows, for fundraising or by "walking and talking" as they go through

the day.

Even with incentives like that the typical distributor is looking only for

supplemental income and sells $100 to $300 per month, Umphred said. That

makes it imperative that direct marketers build large networks of

distributors. Scent-Sations already has 6,000 of them covering all 50 states

and several United States territories and is adding 15-20 a day.

Scocozzo says that is only the beginning; his goal is to reach the level of

a Mary Kay, which has 50,000 or more distributors, many of them earning $1

million or more a year.

Distributors reach that lofty income by signing up others on whose sales

they receive commissions - that's the "multi-level" part. Scent-Sations

helps by devoting 37 percent of its revenue to commissions and support for

master distributors. Already that has allowed its largest distributors to

earn $200,000 a year.

"One is a housewife who is now outearning her pilot husband," Umphred said.

Sandy Saimond, a distributor from Allentown who was visiting the plant last

week, said Scent-Sations offers more earning opportunity as well as the best

support and a superior product.

"There really is no other company to compare," she said.

Saimond, 46, is aiming to retire from her regular job and rely on income from

Mia Bella product sales within four years.

Scocozzo and Umphred are optimistic about Scent-Sations' growth potential.

With sales estimated to hit $15 million this year, they now are a small

player in the $2 billion candle industry.

But their niche - fragrant candles made with natural waxes that give off

less soot than paraffin - is growing fast and so are Scent-Sations' sales,

at between 40 and 50 percent a year, while the industry as a whole is

stagnant.

Smells like the team spirit

Candle makers' philosophy: Have fun, make money

By RON BARTIZEK

rbartizek@timesleader.com

WILKES-BARRE - The mixture of ingredients used to make Mia Bella candles is

secret.

The formula for the success of Scent-Sations, Inc., the company behind the

aromatic jars made on George Avenue in the city's Parsons section, is easier

to discern. It's just not the usual one touted in how-to books and business

school lecture halls.

"Have fun, make money," sums up Bob Scocozzo, a partner in the business that

was formed in 2002 and is expected to reach $15 million in sales this year.

That attitude carries over to the company's relationship with its 6,000

distributors, who market the candles at home parties, craft shows and simply

by taking samples along as they go about their daily business.

"We don't want people to be in stress," Scocozzo said.

Neither he nor partners Charles Umphred and Carmen Milazzo looked like

harried entrepreneurs during a recent interview in Scocozzo's office.

Dressed in jeans and with a Blackberry nowhere in sight, they resembled

aging rock musicians more than operators of a business that is growing at

nearly 50 percent a year. But their appearance only thinly camouflaged an

underlying ambition to grow.

Partnerships can be a volatile mix, but this one is thriving in part because

each brings unique talents and the maturity of having run a business before.

"We don't try to interfere with each other's areas," Umphred said.

Like their duties, the trio's styles contrast but don't clash. While

Scocozzo races through the plant, eager to describe every detail, Milazzo

seems almost disinterested, until the topic turns to production, his area of

expertise. Umphred splits the difference, with flowing hair and an amiable

nature.

While Carmen Milazzo and his wife Lynn oversee manufacturing, Scocozzo acts

as CEO and Umphred manages relationships with distributors.

There was less time for fun and more long hours in the early days of the

business.

"You don't get something like this running overnight," Carmen Milazzo said.

"In the beginning we just worked to increase our inventory," and it took two

years to find and develop a reliable workforce. Profits were plowed back

into the business.

Now Umphred said a typical week is 35 to 40 hours and Scent-Sations is

comfortably profitable. He credits technology, such as e-mail that eases

communication with vendors and distributors, with helping cut the time

demands.

Already doing $10 million in annual sales, Scent-Sations could be a $100

million company within a decade by commanding just 10 percent of sales by

domestic manufacturers in the candle industry, Umphred, 54, believes.

The beginning

This local powerhouse got its start not as someone's MBA thesis or even on

the back of an envelope. Instead it began when Scocozzo, 57, helped put

together a fundraiser selling scented candles for his son's youth basketball

team. When the Milazzos delivered the candles, Carmen mentioned that he had

developed a new version made with alternative materials that produce less

soot and toxins than paraffin, the main ingredient in most candles.

Milazzo, 57, knew that Scocozzo had been a direct marketer and asked for

advice on how best to sell the new candles. Scocozzo was so excited at the

potential that he and Umphred, already business partners, signed Milazzo to

an exclusive agreement that led to an equal three-way partnership.

"I realized nobody was doing anything" with non-paraffin candles, Scocozzo

said.

The Mia Bella name was borrowed from Scocozzo's daughter.

At the time Scocozzo and Umphred were selling skin care and nutritional

products through a multi-level marketing network of distributors. They got

into marketing in 1988 after Umphred left a 20-year career as a printer at

the Sunday Independent.

Scocozzo at the time was running the Sarno & Son formal wear franchise store

on North Main Street. By 1990 he sold the franchise back and both devoted

full time to their marketing efforts.

The contacts they had made over the years helped them get the new venture

off the ground.

"We just called people we knew in marketing," Scocozzo said.

Now Scent-Sations takes up all their time, Umphred said, although they still

receive some residual income from sales networks they established in the

past.

Growing fast

Carmen and Lynn Milazzo started making candles at their home in 1995,

selling them at CarLyn's Craft Gallery, their store in Kingston. But worried

about concerns being raised about toxic soot generated by paraffin candles,

which are made from petroleum, Carmen began to work on a line made with

other waxes.

At first he tried 100 percent soy, but it would not absorb enough fragrance

to maintain the couple's reputation for producing exceptionally pungent

candles, Lynn Milazzo, 47, said. Eventually Carmen came up with a formula

that uses soy and vegetable based waxes.

The Milazzos continued to make candles by hand at their home, using nearly

every room.

"My parlor was a warehouse," Carmen said. Wax was melted on the couple's

kitchen stove and poured into canning jars.

Production first graduated from hand work to a $25,000 machine, purchased on

credit cards, that an operator could use to fill one jar at a time. The

machine still is used to top off jars filled on a machine that can pump out

eight jars or 16 votive-sized candles at a time.

Growing demand led to leasing production space first in Nanticoke, then in

Forty Fort, as well as a warehouse in Wilkes-Barre. In September 2004, just

two years after the company was formed, Scent-Sations moved into its present

28,000-square-foot facility on George Avenue, next to Schiel's Market.

"And we're outgrowing this building now," Scocozzo said, describing the need

for more space within a year to handle demand for candles and allow the

introduction of new products.

"We took baby steps because we didn't have big bucks behind us," he said.

Eventually he anticipates needing three distinct facilities - an office, a

manufacturing plant and a shipping/warehouse building.

The product line already includes candles in several sizes and more than 90

fragrances, natural soaps, body wash, hand wash and even car fresheners. "We

have a whole line of skin care ready to go in 2008," once there is room to

produce it, Scocozzo said.

Candles first

For now candles are the mainstay of Scent-Sations' business, with more than

five million sold. And while Scocozzo claims Mia Bella candles smell better

than others, that quality comes at a price.

"It's one of the most difficult candles to make," Carmen Milazzo said. "Even

with machinery it's not very production friendly. It's just the best."

Scocozzo says they're also the most expensive to manufacture, partly because

they contain more fragrance than any other candle. "That's our claim to

fame."

The biggest selling fragrance by far is sweet orange and chili pepper, which

Umphred said was created in Europe as a soap scent. Scent-Sations asked to

use it in a candle and it sold so well that it is now exclusively theirs.

"They have locked away the formula for us," Umphred said.

Scocozzo said other suppliers now court Scent-Sations because of its rapid

growth, particularly as more candle companies move production out of the

United States. For example, introducing a new candle - which Scent-Sations

does each month - requires about a ton of fragrance, with the promise of

continuing orders if it's a success.

Umphred said another key to Scent-Sations' rapid growth is its direct sales

method. He anticipates 50,000 distributors will be selling Mia Bella

products within a decade, and that the best of them will earn $1 million

annually. Already the top distributors are making $200,000 and, he says,

probably not working more than a normal week.

Distributor Sandy Saimond, Allentown, finds both the product and the

financial opportunity attractive. She first bought a Mia Bella candle from

another distributor about four years ago.

"I was hooked from the moment I started burning it," she said, because of

the long-lasting fragrance. So she contacted Scocozzo and became one of the

first distributors.

Saimond, 46, plans to retire from her job as a project coordinator for

clinical medical trials by age 50 and live on the proceeds from Mia Bella

product sales.

"It is an incredibly easy and affordable business to start," she said.