Marketing grad jumps feet-first into business of selling safety by Cliff johnson Taking one hundred trips down an enclosed nylon rescue slide in a single day to promote a new product al a local home show would make a less intrepid person start looking for another job. But Dave Opoien ('83) figures it's just another challenge in a difficult (irst year of selling safety (or a living. The recently graduated marketing major jumped into a hectic professional career feet·(irst when he and a partner decided to take on statewide marketing of the Tualatin, Ore. based Palladium Emergency Evacuation Systems. The product line allows rapid escape from multi·story homes, buildings, derricks, amusemenl sky-rides and other structures. Knowledge that his fabric-enclosed escape slides may some day save some of his customers' lives helps to keep him going despite initial sales resistance to the device. "This first year has been very, very challenging," Opoien admitted during a recent interview. "Just stepping out at 23 years of age and knocking on doors trying to convince people that this is the new way to do things has been extremely difficult. But I keep plugging along with it," he smiled, "and we have made a lot of progress." Several Palladium (the word means "safeguard") models are available 10 meet customers' needs, Opoien reports. In permanent building installations, the flexible cocoon o( rip-stop nylon is easily released from its anchored storage cabinet so that it unfurls to near-ground level for safe descent. Equipped with aluminized coating and elasticized panels, the escape slide can protect large and small people alike from heat, flames and flying cinders as occupants enter it feel·first and then inch their way down to safety. Pushing outward with arms, hands and legs helps to control the speed of descent. The device is so flexible, reports Opoien, that occupants ranging from infants to adults with as big as 55-inch waists can be served by the same slide. Even unconscious, injured or disabled users can be accommodated, with the aid of staff training provided by Opoien and his sales partner, Bill Deane. Fire department officials are a key sales target for Opoien's firm, and one Palladium model can be deployed from the operator's bucket located on the tip of a fire truck's telescoping aerial boom. Another can be strapped to a firefighter's back and carried to the upper floors of a building for emergency use. Since custom·built Palladium systems are already in service in several hospitals, rest homes, historic 6 buildings as well as in fire departments throughout the Pacific Northwest, one would think that selling the device would not present many difficulties. But as of the end of March, the Palladium systems had not yel been reported used during an actual fire situation, and the lingering skepticism creates a sales problem for Opoien. It is all reminiscent of the introduction of smoke detectors, which people were reluctant to install but later found to be a life-saving investment, says Opoien. But Opoien does have a growing cadre of customers who are convinced this is indeed an idea whose time has come. "I love iI," he enthused. "It's one of the best ideas I've ever seen, and that's why I got involved. Every time I'm out in the field giving demonstrations, it's a different situation. Vet we can always make our product fit the need, because it's so versatile." Opoien credits both his PSU education and his own initiative with puning him in the front line of his embryonic industry. "This business I have is very much like you might find in a senior-level case study class, where you're given something new At a recent Portland home show, Dave Opoien ('83) demonstrated the nylon rescue slide he markets for a living. At left, Opoien helps a youngster into the long cocoon, and below, he shows how the slide can be twisted to slow the descent of children and disabled victims. and told to wrestle with making it work," he noted. "It's the same situation in business," he emphasized. "You can't let anything slide. Although you might be able to do that in a class or two. you can't do that here, because everything you do results in either a profit or loss. And," he smiles, "this is real money we're talking aoout." Transferring to PSU from linn-Benton Community College, Opoien was attracted by the University's School of Business Administration as well as its baseball program. He played ball under Coach Jack Dunn for two years but concentrated on his marketing studies during his senior year, while working part·time for a local parcel delivery service run by the man who shortly would become his current business partner. "PSU and the Marketing Department and the Business School taught me quite a bit about having to work hard," he concluded. "I learned you have to keep plugging every day to do well. And I think I've jU5t carried that over into my business life." Th. Tflp 01 fump. SCANDINAVIAN HOLIDAY DENMARK. NORWAY SWEDEN. FINLAND August 5-26 A SCANDINAVIAN PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE TOUR Tour leaders Ross Fogelquist, BS '62, MST '65, president of Portland's Scandinavian Club, and Robert W. Matson, professor of history, University of Pittsburgh, have planned a very special journey to the Top of Europe. We'll meet people as they enjoy their own special activities . . . kaffee klatschs, folk dancing, saunas. We'll see Lapland and North Cape...cross the Arctic Circle...and participate in warm Scandinavian hospitality as we visit. • COPENHAGEN. . the Christiansborg and Amalienborg palaces, city hall, Royal Theatre, Round Tower and more. An overnight steamer takes us to .. • OSlO ... the Royal Opera House, Akershus Fortress, the Vigeland sculptures in Frogner Park. Stay at Hotel Continental, then to .. • MORA and STOCKLHOLM ... the Royal Palace, Old Town, the Great Cathedral, a day of leisure, then board a ship to • HElSINKI ... Presidential Palace, the University on Senate Square, a day's excursion to Turku, Ivalo . sail along the Norway coast, stopping at small fishing villages to . • TROMSO AND BERGEN. . Old Town, the home of Edvard Grieg, the harbor ... "Norway in a Nutshell" by rail, ferry and motorcoach. Enjoy a farewell dinner to remember! Call or write PSU Alumni Tours now for brochure and reservations. $2795. PSU ALUMNI TOURS f I ~ I I)" 1" .... I. I " ~
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