Whatever Works: Where Product is King

In terms of response, Whatever Works gets half its orders by phone and another 10 percent via the Internet. The warehouse is remarkably small and efficient, with all orders printed in pick sequence, enabling the company to get 5,000 to 6,000 orders out in a day.

The partners preside over five businesses comprised of a group of brick buildings cluttered with merchandise, raw materials and a fascinating collection of Rube Goldberg machines that manufacture and package product for their various businesses (e.g., holiday decorations for Las Vegas hotels and department stores, footcare products for the retail trade and a slew of proprietary items that are wholesaled to other catalogers).