Strategy-Hurdling to Profitability (1,147 words)

Let's assume you print four times annually; spring, summer, fall and holiday. If you print four times a year, you most likely mail 12 times a year. For each printing, you are probably mailing three times; in other words, one seasonal drop with two re-mails every season.

Leaping The Hurdle

For each and every item in the catalog, you can determine a "hurdle rate" to measure the performance of the product. For example, a hurdle rate of 100 percent represents the break-even point. Any item doing less than 100 percent is below break-even. Any item generating above 100 percent is performing better than break-even. Here is how the hurdle rate is determined.