A Day with a Pro: List Broker

Competitive, Aggressive, Pressure-Cooker, Intense

Editor’s Note: Starting with the following profile, each month Catalog Success will spend “a day with a pro,” delving into the daily ins and outs of the workings of a particular segment of the catalog industry.

With a phone firmly plastered to his ear, Stephen Bogner haggles with everyone and anyone to get his clients the best lists possible.

Bogner, like list brokers everywhere, is a fast-talker with a personality, and he says that is what rules the list brokering industry.

“It is a business of personalities,” Bogner says and follows an adage of the late Mal Dunn, founder of Mal Dunn Associates. “If the guy [client] likes you, he’ll give you the business; if not, he won’t.”

With 25 years of list brokering experience and 13 years as president of NRL Direct in Cresskill, NJ, Bogner offers much insight into the roles of a list broker.

A list broker primarily locates, recommends, tests and evaluates lists for clients. If this sounds mundane, think again.

Consider this scenario: A young catalog client of Bogner’s is cut off from exchanging lists with an established cataloger of the same genre.

The established cataloger refuses to continue exchanging its list to the start-up, claiming it is a direct competitor. The underlying factor is that the list broker of the established cataloger previously worked in its marketing department and felt threatened by the young catalog.

The solution: Bogner and his staff spent several days taking each catalog apart. A product-for-product comparison was made, revealing that just 16 percent of the products overlapped. Of the comparable products, one catalog was lower-priced than the other on 27 items and the other was lower on 28. They were priced the same on 10 of the overlaps.

Within a week 150,000 names were exchanged between the companies.

“It was all logical,” says Bogner, who asked the other list broker to leave his emotions at the door. “By trading the names we each had a nucleus of house file names.”

Bogner describes a list broker’s job as one that requires juggling, quick decision making, high levels of human interaction, persistence and ingenuity.

List Man

With that charge, a list broker will try to find lists that closely match a client’s needs. Most are constantly searching for new response or compiled lists and thinking of how to use effective techniques, such as segmenting. A good list broker doesn’t just look at what’s available, but inquires about making lists available and is first in line for recently released lists.

As we all know, lists are normally rented or exchanged in the catalog business. Rented lists are used for a limited period of time in the hopes that some names will become customers. Brokers negotiate terms of the rental agreement on behalf of the client. Bogner, for instance, will present a client’s mailing piece to the list owner. If the offer is acceptable, Bogner will work out such details as price, length of use and when the list can be used.

Exchanged lists are usually obtained from another company whose customers closely resemble yours. Often, exchanges are done between two companies that compete in the same market for a similar demographic.

In the list brokerage business, it is necessary to know all of the products available to your clients.

“It is a business of parallels,” says Bogner.

Determining which lists might work is done by logic and common sense and often by looking beneath the surface. The more similarities between customers, the better the list, he says.

In addition to recommending lists, your broker might also be able to suggest ways to improve your house file sale revenue. While it is not a list broker’s job, many can offer insight on segmenting your house file so that it will be more attractive in exchanges.

Trust

The relationship between a list broker and a client should be one based on trust. Lists used to grow your catalog—names from which might become customers—are a significant strategic component to your business. It is important that your broker be aggressive yet discreet and take a personal stake in your business.

“If you are sitting in your office counting your commission, you are not doing your job,” Bogner says of inattentive brokers.

Brokers have an incentive to work in their company’s best interest. Working on your catalog nearsightedly will not ensure a steady income for the broker.

Brokers don’t make money by recommending lists just one time. They make money by diligently working to help you meet your long-term goals, says Bogner. In several instances, Bogner has recommended his customers use lists or databases that yield him no commission.

“I am only as good as my client’s next mailing,” says Bogner, emphasizing that if there is no next mailing then he won’t make any more money.

Negotiation

“The list business is now a negotiation business,” says Bogner. “An experienced list broker can make you money every time out.”

Not only is this statement bold, but it gives an indication of the stress brokers live with every day.

Bogner, like most brokers, battles daily for his clients. As a tactic, he has proposed jumping on a cross-country plane within two-hour’s notice to make a deal come together. He takes cell phones and computers with him on vacation, and has been known to negotiate a deal with surf nipping his ankles.

Daily, he negotiates net name pricing and volume discounts, makes available lists that previously weren’t, works out exchanges, solves problems and advises clients on their next list moves.

Through negotiation, brokers save clients money on lists, increasing cost efficiency.

Day’s End

Bogner’s service mentality is a good example of what clients should expect.

The list brokerage business has become so competitive that service is the deciding factor in attracting and keeping customers.

When all is said and done, Bogner suggests measuring your broker by the amount of service he or she provided. He says the most effective quantitative measurements are: responsiveness to needs, communication of product status, presentation and supporting information for list use, success at exchanging lists whenever possible and price negotiations.

Bogner has a philosophy that summarizes how he wants his clients to feel. “Treat them like a king or a queen. If you haven’t jumped over a desk to answer the phone at least let them think you did.”