Our speaker last week was Arron Pinder, CEO of the Bahamian skin care brand Perfec-Tone. The brand, previously called Leila's Skin Care, was established in 1980 by his mother Leila Pinder. After moving to the Bahamas from London, she noticed there were no products for persons suffering from acne and dark spots in The Bahamas. Arron was involved with the family business from a young age. After building two fashion brands abroad, he returned to the family business in response to a decline in the business. In 2010, he became CEO of the company and renamed it Perfec-Tone.
Arron wanted to create a solid foundation and expand the business outside The Bahamas. People would travel to get the products. The products were good and they had clients such as government official's wives and the princess of Arabia who sought out his mother. Arron ensures that the customers had the best quality ingredients and best customer service and to this day he is always working with his chemists on improving and perfecting the products.
The company expanded and grew their online business and now ship to customers in many countries and continents including the USA, UK, Canada and Africa. There are store locations in The Bahamas and Trinidad and store locations will be opening in the USA starting in January. Perfec-Tone has also started wholesale this year and the product is now sold at non Perfec-Tone stores in the USA, Trinidad, The Bahamas and some African countries.
After reviews from influencers Arron's business ballooned and he had to scale his business quickly to keep up with the demand. He had to build a new business model and started fulfilling from the USA.
Some tips Arron gave to business owners were to think big and prepare yourself with proper infrastructure. One has to be able to scale quickly if a larger number of orders suddenly come in. Arron had to make sure the business had the proper phone system, website, inventory management and CRM. Knowing your customer and listening to them is very important. He obsesses about his customer's experiences and fine-tunes every detail. It is not just about the sale, but knowing the customer and educating them about your brand. He said that the lessons learned from his business and their customers can be applied to any business.
Perfec-Tone has become a cult brand with loyal and passionate customers. Some points he said we should take away from his presentation were to know your universal customer, market specifically for them, create your assembly line and grow your business beyond The Bahamas.
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