Take a Look Outside

“Usually all of these areas are silos within a catalog company, but I’m able to bring them together for a more holistic approach,” says Mollo, an industry veteran who spent many years in management roles at Lillian Vernon, J. Crew and other catalog companies.

John Kinsella, a Petaluma, CA-based consultant who specializes in strategic catalog planning, operations and marketing, agrees that you should look for consultants who have real-life cataloging experience. In this way, he says, the consultant can provide more value-added services. “Often catalogers ask for help in one area, but they really need help in something else on the boundaries of that problem,” says Kinsella who previously held management positions at Illuminations.com, Smith & Hawken and Williams-Sonoma.