Philip Coffey made an impression.

Here’s an example.

To show the harmless nature of the plant-based odor eliminator his company sold, Mr. Coffey would smile broadly at the folks gathered around his booth at trade shows, stroller pushing moms at in-store demonstrations, or his children’s classmates on career day — and with the push of a pointer finger spray the stuff into his eyes.

“He’d say ‘Look. See? No problems.’ It was pretty theatric,” said his son Tim Coffey. “That was his party trick, all his idea. There’s really no better way to demonstrate how safe a product is. He’d say, ‘Now try doing that with Febreze or Lysol.’”

The sales tactic helped OMI Industries branch out from a mainly industrial client base to retail with clients that grew to include giants such as Amazon, Target an

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