Provider in touch with feminine side

NEENAH, Wis. - Provider Tom Wilson has had seven years to perfect his business model and is confident that it's time to make a leap.

The president of The CareGiver Partnership, a mail-order provider of incontinence supplies, is seeking investors to help grow the company over the next three years‚ from its current $1.1 million to $50 million in sales.

“I totally believe that is possible in a reasonably short period of time, as long as consumers are aware of us,” said Wilson. “It's all scalable at this point.”

To drive consumer awareness, the provider plans to use investment funds to ramp up marketing, in particular TV advertising and direct mail, both avenues in which it has enjoyed success.

Wilson, the former global sector president of Kimberly-Clark, along with his wife, Lynn, launched the company in 2004 to tap into a growing demand for products that help the exploding baby boomer population age in place. The CareGiver Partnership offers skin care, aids to daily living, wound care and diabetes products. The provider ships samples so customers can try before they buy, but it accepts no insurance.

There's enough people out there willing to pay more for good service, says Wilson.

“We cost considerably more than Walmart and we make no bones about that,” he said. “We do things big stores just don't do, and there are people that say this is more important.”

One thing you won't get when you contact The CareGiver Partnership: men. The call center is staffed entirely by women age 55 or older with caregiving experience.

“We spent a year doing research with caregivers and conducting studies to learn who they would prefer to speak with on the phone,” said Wilson. “They all said they would prefer to speak to a woman. Sometimes, when we are overloaded, I'll pick up the phone and hear this big sigh like, 'Oh, it's a man.'”