By GLENN GARNETT
You’ve probably had a vacation something like it. You booked a cottage based on a two-line ad in the local newspaper and discovered your concept of "beach" or "scenic view" departed drastically from the well-meaning person who placed it.
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| Kerry & Craig White in their snappy CottageLink track suits at last year's Cottage Life show. Come visit them at their booth at this year's show at Toronto's International Centre from March 31 to April 2. |
About five years ago Craig & Kerry White and their three kids, Erin, Kevin and Austin, found themselves inside a cottage that had recently been trashed by the previous tenants.
"The smell was awful," Kerry recalls. "No lights were working, there was garbage strewn about and there was a large unidentifiable stain in the carpet we couldn’t get out."
After heated words with the landlord, Craig got his money back and managed to find alternative lodging nearby, although the journey to the beach meant passing by a fragrant row of portapotties. They also discovered their new home away from home had a leaky roof with just enough pots and pans to catch the drips.
It was the capper to a very forgettable summer vacation, a week in which Craig got his first speeding ticket in ten years, Kerry’s thumb had swollen up in an allergic reaction, all three children suffered wasp stings, Erin fell out of a tree resulting in minor injury and a truck hauling hazardous waste spilled some of its contents on their car on the highway.
"We had had mixed success renting cottages through standard newspaper ads, but this experience got me thinking," Craig said.
At about the same time, Craig, a computer programmer with a major Canadian insurance company, and a friend were exploring the Internet for commercial opportunities. After a pitch to the Ontario Camping Association to set up a website was rejected, Craig and Kerry decided to strike out on their own.
" I thought a cottage angle would be great because of what we’d just gone through," Craig says. "Obviously, there was a need for it." CottageLink was born.
In the spring of 1996 the White prepared for their first cottage show. While Craig concerned himself with setting up the site, Kerry learned everything she could about trade shows and how to set up a booth.
"We really went in cold," Craig recalls. "We had just one listing and sent out some forms Kerry made to prospective customers, offering a free ad just to get the ball rolling. We also offered free listings at the show and came away with about 40 takers."
Back home the Whites started typing and scanning like mad, and began advertising the site in local newspapers. Notices in newspapers and favorable reviews in magazines helped, but the Whites feel word-of-mouth endorsements did more to get CottageLink established.
"It was at the time when the Internet was just coming into its own," Craig says. "At that first show in ‘96, maybe one in seven people coming to our booth knew about or had access to the Net. Now we do a show and it’s every other person and it’s, ‘What’s your URL? I’ll look it up.’"
Perhaps the best illustration of the success of CottageLink – and the power of the Internet – comes in the story of a rare "walk-in" customer. Being a web-based business, not many people ring the White’s doorbell in Waterloo, Ont. with cash in hand to place an ad. But one day a Mitchell, Ont . man did just that, filling out a form and leaving some photos of his cottage for rent.
"We scanned in the pictures and put up the ad right away," Craig recalls. "I got an e-mail from him later that week saying that he had two calls waiting for him when he got home later that day."
Craig says CottageLink marries two things he really enjoys – exploring the Internet and cottaging.
"When I was growing up we had a cottage on Lake Huron near a town called Kintail," Craig says. "There were six of us kids and spent a good chunk of every summer up there until my father sold it in 1970. Today, 30 years later, the cottage still comes up in conversations. They were very defining years for our family and it stays with you.
Another thing the Whites like about CottageLink is that it gives them a chance to work together.
"Kerry shoulders more of the work than she thinks – typing in submissions, mail handling, phone calls," Craig says. A lot to handle for a busy mom of three.
"What I like best is all the business we’re bringing to cottage owners out east," Kerry says.
CottageLink is very much a family affair. Erin, 15, scans in the photos while sons Kevin (12) and Austin (10) like browsing CottageLink’s site log , checking out the far-flung places readers have been sending correspondence from. They get plenty of hits from France, Germany and other countries in Europe. Craig hauls out the atlas and the kids get a lesson in geography.
You’ll find a healthy number of endorsements from CottageLink customers on the site. "I love it when we get e-mails telling us they’ve received a lot of phone calls, that this really works for them and that they don’t advertise anywhere else – the $35 they spend with us is all they need," Craig says.
"One person wrote to say he sold his cottage in nine days. Stuff like that is really neat."
Ironically, business is so good, it’s been difficult for the family to get away to a cottage themselves. And when they do contact a CottageLink client, often the time period they’re looking for is booked.
But the Whites aren’t complaining – their "cottage industry" has far exceeded their expectations.
"Our strategy was to get there first which seems to have worked – we have more than 500 listings now, we’ve expanded into cottage sales and we’ve never been busier," Craig says.
