Divide & Conquer: Focus on B-to-B Creative

For Edward Don & Co., supplying “everything but the food” has long been its motto. The foodservice equipment supplier sells its customers, including Applebee’s Restaurants and the Opryland Hotel, a range of items, from serving glasses, plates and napkins, to kitchen utensils, stoves and fryers.

While those clients enjoy browsing their “Don” catalogs for the latest trends in how to use a martini glass to serve chocolate mousse, the same restaurant managers aren’t likely to buy a new $10,000 refrigerator unit off the page of a catalog.

So Don’s 11 business-to-business (b-to-b) catalog titles always will be an integral part of the company’s overall sales and marketing efforts. Don also has a team of national and regional/local account reps who call on not only the large chains but also mom-and-pop restaurateurs, cruise lines, universities and hotels.

As Jan Baiden, director of marketing communications for this North Riverside, Ill.-based company, explains: “When selling this complex product line, we don’t pretend our catalogs could tell about some of this equipment. If you’re buying a restaurant refrigerator, for instance, you need to ask questions such as what capacity do you need? Where is the handle located, and which way will the door open?

“By the same token,” she continues, “our catalogs do a great job of supporting our reps and illustrating what we offer. One wouldn’t work without the other.”

The $406-million company sells more than 1,000 Don-branded products, as well as a huge number of other brands from more than 2,000 vendors. Categories most frequently shown in its catalogs:
- tabletop, the trendiest area, includes items such as glasses and place settings;
- small items such as ladles, spoons and small utensils;
- equipment including refrigerators and ovens;
- paper/disposable goods such as napkins, takeout containers and plastic plates;
- janitorial items including cleaners, brooms and mops; and
- furnishings such as tabletops and bases, linens and skirting.

Among the greatest challenges Don has faced in recent years is communicating with its customers about its broad product line — precisely an area where catalogs can play a key role. As Baiden explains, the company has an ongoing need to customize its products and communication to customers’ needs. Here’s how it’s doing just that.

A Range of Customers

In addition to offering a wide array of products, Don serves a range of customers — and this makes the challenge of customer communication even greater. Its catalogs must cater to various types of customers, says Baiden. “Some control multimillion dollar purchasing budgets for national chains, while others are small-restaurant owners, country club managers, chefs, food and beverage directors, caterers, healthcare facility managers, purchasing agents for colleges or universities, and others.” Baiden herself has a background in hotel services, having previously owned a small hotel in England.

In the foodservice industry, primary decision-makers include chefs, managers and purchasing agents. But in many locations there are multiple decision-makers: The chef identifies some needs, while the food and beverage director identifies others. Also, there’s a lot of movement in the restaurant industry. Chefs move from restaurant to restaurant; plus new restaurant construction drives change in the industry.

Says Baiden, “Typically, we found the best way to locate prospects is through our sales reps. In prospecting, we ask them to identify potential accounts in their areas, since they always have new business targets. Some large accounts give us decision-makers’ names in their facilities and ask us to mail to them.”

On rare occasions, Baiden will rent names. For example, to do a recent targeted mailing in New Jersey, Don worked with a service bureau to find credit-worthy restaurant businesses. “That way I could check the credit-worthiness of their new accounts with us. I’ll send catalogs just to those prospects who are credit-approved,” Baiden notes. “I’m not going to send prospect catalogs to everybody since we’re not interested in just selling tongs and spoons. We want to get the new-restaurant business first, which requires a substantial amount of equipment and supplies. We can do the whole package for them — work with their managers to help tell them what they need. Then supply and install it.”

For that reason, new businesses are an extremely important segment. Any facility just opening up and needing foodservice equipment and supplies is a veritable goldmine of opportunity for Don product sales. “Developing new business — seeking ways to open new accounts — has been a challenge and a goal,” says Baiden. “We mail catalogs as part of that effort.”

Catalogs Used in Marketing

Edward Don creates an annual big book, but the bulk of its mailings are of its smaller Advisor catalogs. These are the regular pieces mailed or distributed to customers to keep them abreast of the product lines, explains Jeff Powell, marketing and promotions manager. “In the late 1980s we changed the name of the circular to the Advisor. We write copy that not only describes the product but also gives customers ideas on how to merchandise their food and beverages,” says Powell, who has been with the company for 25 years.

When Powell started in 1979 as a junior copywriter, he worked mostly on The Binder, the 700-page catalog the sales reps carried on sales calls. “It was updated every three weeks, so there was always plenty of work. Those were the days of typewriters, drawing boards and light tables,” he reminisces.

Powell says that in the 1960s and early 1970s, the foodservice supply market was very different, and Edward Don didn’t have the competition it has today. The company’s emphasis back then was on building order size. “We needed to find ways to differentiate ourselves. We wanted to position ourselves as the industry’s premier supply company with the most experienced and knowledgeable reps. We upgraded our photography, went to bullet-style copy and started publishing magalogs with better paper stock.”

Baiden says today’s restaurant and hotel professionals tend to be trend-conscious; they want to know the latest styles in serving and are always looking for new ideas to try in their facilities.

To meet the demand, “We print the largest quantity of Advisor catalogs. They’re spaced throughout the year. The catalog highlighting new items called Hot! New! Now! is created quarterly. It shows customers that we have new products that keep up with trends,” says Baiden. The big catalog, she explains, is distributed primarily to large-sized companies.

Additional specialty catalogs are distributed based on the buying season. For instance, the catalog of day-care and preschool supplies is distributed in July and August, prior to the start of the school year.

On the national accounts side of business, Don creates solo mailings, which are followed up by the sales pros who provided the lists of prospect names. As national accounts are such an important part of the business, Don creates individualized custom catalogs for those customers. This way its biggest clients, those with multiple sites, can enable their franchisees to shop from their own catalogs.

Overall, the role of the mailed catalog is to support the sales effort. Says Baiden, “Mailed catalogs pique a customer’s interest, frequently resulting in a phone order, a Web order or a call to the sales professional to discuss our products. But sales are not divided by channel. We believe our customers should be able to order in the manner they prefer.”

However, she adds that the Web, in particular, is extremely important for ordering. In fact, 10 percent of its orders are placed via that channel. Customers who prefer to order on the Web can create their own “favorites list” that pops up when they log in, so they can order more quickly and easily. Baiden says giving customers a way to list their favorite items on the Web site has worked well for reordering purposes.

“For certain types of products, we’re going to continue to gradually see more online ordering, and we’re gently pushing in that direction,” adds Baiden. “But for much of what we offer, a salesperson always will be key. The combination of the catalogs, sales reps and Web will continue to be our strategy.”

Creative Testing

The fact that Edward Don has a wide variety of catalog styles and formats means the company regularly tests creative concepts. “We sometimes test concepts with small, targeted mailings,” says Baiden. “We frequently ask our sales professionals for input, since they see customers on a daily basis. Our customers tell us they like seeing formats that are new and different.”

The catalog creative team includes Powell and Jill Dudones as copywriters, along with designers Chad Meyers and Tracy Tomkowiak.

Database Manager Kris Laszczewski keeps track of all 15,000 photos and their copy blocks in the database. The creative staff also includes Elliott Stein who creates the customized catalogs by working off of an Excel spreadsheet and pulling the SKUs and associating them with the appropriate pictures. “It’s quite a process, which he has down to a science,” says Baiden.

Catalogs generally are targeted by category. “We identify segments most likely to order the categories in a specialty catalog,” says Baiden. “For instance, the Tables of Content catalog features products to improve food presentation on buffets. Good audiences [for that catalog] are caterers, hotels and country clubs.”

An added boon to the marketing and creative department has been the creation of a database system to enable it to build customized catalogs quickly and easily.

Themed Catalogs

The truck-shaped Hot! New! Now! catalog is an extremely popular addition to the catalog lineup. Introduced in the first quarter of 2003, the die-cut, themed catalog emphasizes the company’s competitive advantage of having its own trucks and distribution centers, and at the same time introduces the newest items to customers every quarter.

“Though the products are from various manufacturers, the Don truck theme ties the products specifically to us. Moreover, all the items included are not only new but in stock — important factors for a distributor serving trend-conscious customers,” Baiden says.

Don has six distribution centers — in or near Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. — and a fleet of 101 trucks. This differentiates it from most of its mid-sized foodservice equipment distribution competitors, and, it believes, gives it an edge in servicing customers quickly and efficiently.

The Don trucks are brightly colored red and yellow, so they’re widely recognized. The Don truck is featured in the company’s national advertising, its big book and the Hot! New! Now! catalogs. As a matter of fact, the Hot! New! Now! catalogs are die-cut to look like the trucks.

“Die-cutting is less expensive than it used to be, and the unusual shape attracts a lot of interest,” says Baiden. “We do very well with the catalog, so the cost is justified.” Based on the success of Hot! New! Now!, the company already is developing additional new catalog ideas to keep its customers interested.

Another unusual catalog piece was a racing-themed book. Each page featured one specific manufacturer. It was a small format, so a sales rep could go through it with a customer in a few minutes. Powell observes, “The one thing that strikes me when I sit in on a sales call is the short amount of time the sales rep has with the customer. And that time is often filled with interruptions and distractions. That’s why I think the small format and unusual shapes are so well received. They get the customers’ attention and don’t require a lot of time to present.”

Along similar lines, Powell says, “We’ve started doing some direct mail pieces targeted to specific chains or market segments. We sent a post card offering samples of new disposable dinnerware to caterers, and that had decent response. And we’re currently working on pieces that will go to operations such as health clubs and optometrists, which have not traditionally been Don customers.”

Appealing Copy

To speak to its customers, Edward Don’s catalogs use a combination of consumer-style and straight business approaches to copy. “I use a conversational style to try to get the reader interested. That’s more like a consumer catalog,” Powell notes. “I always try to also present financial, efficiency or safety benefits to the customer’s business.”

He continues, “Our Advisors and the big catalog generally use traditional, b-to-b, feature and benefit, bulleted copy. When presenting trendy tabletop products, our headlines can have a less-traditional style.”

Here’s an example: “Why does the food always taste better when the presentation rocks?”

However, Powell says when writing the Hot! New! Now! catalog, they use a fresh, witty style more often seen in consumer catalogs. The response from customers has been very favorable, especially with regard to headlines, such as: “A tisket, a tasket, sell more bread with this basket.” And a wide-rim plate features the headline: “Take a walk on the wide side.”

Product information is the key ingredient to all of the copy — and as such, the amount of copy differs depending on the type of product described. Baiden explains, “Some have relatively little copy since it’s easy to make a decision about tongs or spoons. But decisions about many equipment items require huge amounts of information. Our sales professionals play a vital role there. Our catalogs often provide enough information for an order, but we wouldn’t expect a customer to order a walk-in refrigerator based on the information in the catalog. These are extremely complex decisions [for customers],” Baiden says.

Powell adds that the amount of text written depends on the product. For glassware and china, he says, “The customer always will want to know what it’s made of, its capacity and size, so they can decide what menu items they can serve in the product. Large equipment usually is sold with detailed cut sheets from the manufacturer, so we don’t need to list all the specs in our copy.

“The role of our copy is to get customers interested in the product by presenting benefits,” Powell continues. “Then the salesperson can go to work on making the sale.”

Making the Offer

When it comes to offers, Don does not rely on a lot of special offers and incentives.

Customers buy because of the large variety of foodservice products and high availability for in-stock shipment, and because of the knowledgeable salespeople, Baiden says. The catalogs that present the product offerings make it easy for customers to order.

Of course, the catalogs remain promotional in nature: Cross-selling copy is designed to direct customers to related items. For instance, glass racks (for use in dishwashers) are referenced on a glassware page. Grill-cleaning products are sold or referenced on the page where grills are sold.

These products frequently are not made by the same manufacturer, but would be purchased by the same decision-maker.

Future Catalog Strategy

Baiden sees the catalog playing a role in two important growth areas.

First, Don is targeting key segments with new catalogs — such as the Tables of Content book — used as prospecting tools. “The database really enables us to do very selective targeting,” says Baiden.

A second, and perhaps farther-reaching strategy, can be found at the national accounts and regional multi-unit accounts levels, which aim at using catalogs to gain deeper penetration into existing accounts.

“To reach more people in existing accounts, we’re using a strategy we’ve termed, ‘The truck stops here,’” says Baiden. “We’re looking within an account to see if it makes sense to expand our reach, say, to not only the restaurant manager in the hotel but also the sanitation person. Our truck already is delivering to that site, so why not see if they can use some Don products, too?”

Instead of having just one catalog mailed to an address, as many as five catalogs may eventually get mailed to a major account site, says Baiden. “We may look at sending catalogs to different people with ordering responsibility in a large customer site like a hotel or university.”

According to Baiden, this mailing strategy could help Don reach more management and buyer levels within its existing accounts, thereby achieving its deeper account penetration goal.

Because as Baiden points out, whether it’s offering bulk rolls of paper towels to the maintenance manager or new stoves to the head chef, Edward Don’s goal has always been to sell its clients “everything but the food.”

About Edward Don & Co.

Headquarters: North Riverside, Ill. (near Chicago)
Products: Foodservice equipment and supplies
Founded: Family-owned since 1921
# of customers: 15,000
Annual revenues: $406 million
# of SKUs: 15,000
# of catalogs: 11 titles, some created more than once per year
Total volume of catalogs mailed annually: 90,000 (some are distributed only through salespeople)
Printers: Ries Graphics and Liberty Graphics

Design on a Dime: Cost-saving Moves

To enable it to be creative with its catalogs, the marketing staff at Edward Don & Co. always is looking for ways to save money, but without sacrificing quality. Following are some of the steps taken.

1. Gone digital: A recent move to digital photography is saving the company about 40 percent on photo production costs. That change occurred in two stages beginning in 2002.

First, the company stopped using a traditional studio that shot film on a day-rate basis and brought in a freelance photographer three days a week to shoot in a studio in its warehouse. Then it bought a digital camera to save on prepress costs.

Says Jan Baiden, director of marketing communications, “I have a technical manager on staff who re-touches all the digital photos before printing. The 40-percent savings resulted from the reduced cost of the regular freelancer and no longer needing to have film developed and scanned.”

Adds Jeff Powell, marketing and promotions manager, “It saves an incredible amount of time and space. For a long time, we filed every shot we used mounted on cardboard. Just the act of searching out photos for a small flyer could take hours.”

2. Changed the printing schedule: Another innovative cost-savings tactic implemented in the past year entailed doing some of its non-time-sensitive catalog printing in its printers’ off-season months.

Don was able to shave a few dollars off of its own printing costs by working with its printers to use slow times in their schedules, such as in July, Baiden notes.

3. Paper savings: Says Baiden, “I’m always looking at paper options, many of which are coming from overseas.” But she’s learned it’s worthwhile to work closely with your printer on paper options, too. “Last year our printer found us an outstanding paper buy at a mill where it had been made for a customer who went out of business. It was priced extremely competitively and suited my needs.”