Growth Strategies

Many of the typical efforts explored by most circulation managers produce incremental improvements, which shouldn’t be overlooked. But to move the needle in a significant way, more should be done. The following ideas can produce breakthrough results in your prospecting work.

• Create a prospect version of your catalog. If your merchandise assortment is broad and your current catalog is more than 48 pages, use your marketing database to determine which items, categories and price points are frequently purchased by your first-time buyers. If the resulting assortment is much different, or is smaller and more focused than your current assortment (and still big enough for a 24- to 32-page book), you may be able to improve results by producing a separate catalog with this edited assortment. You can give more space to the right items and really focus prospects on the items new buyers have shown the highest propensity to purchase.