Management

A Chat With March’s Profile, Martin Smith, CEO of MindWare

WHAT GOT YOU HERE: A background in strategy and contacts. As a direct marketing veteran, Smith got his start in the catalog/multichannel business in 1984 with Avon Products (now Newport News) where he spent nearly 20 years before joining MindWare as CEO in October 2003. Before joining Avon Products, Smith worked at General Electric in an internal strategy consulting role. While there, Smith recalls, “a former senior GE executive, who was the CEO at Avon Products, wanted to recruit people with a GE strategic-planning background. I was interested, and a job came up. That job happened to be in the direct response division. I

I would have preferred my first column for Catalog Success to focus on good news. But I just can’t describe a rash of businesses that are about to close or sell in 2008 as good news. The 2008 valuations and acquisitions forecast for multichannel marketers looks cloudy, especially for those in the $20 million to $50 million range whose businesses remain print-centric. Paper and postal price hikes imposed last year will likely lead entrepreneurs to sell this year. The Storm’s Here A perfect storm of increased paper and postal costs has conspired to put a chokehold on mailers everywhere, particularly small and midsize

Earlier this month, catalogers and other businesses that rely so heavily on the USPS realized a “dream” more than a dozen years in the making. They were “treated” to their first postal rate adjustment under the new postal reform law. Under its new rate-making powers, giving it the freedom to set rates as long as they’re no greater than consumer price index (CPI) levels, the USPS announced the increase for noncarrier route flats, the key catalog category, would be less than 1 percent. The worst news was that it would take effect this spring, just a year after the final postage increase under the

HOW DID YOU BREAK INTO THE CATALOG BUSINESS: Two words: world travel. Working as a business consultant and traveling all over the U.S. in the 1980s, Stopka earned plenty of frequent flyer miles to take annual vacations in Europe, where he fell in love with European culture. “I told my wife [Design Toscano co-owner Marilyn Stopka] I could market European exotic products to the American public,” Stopka says. By sourcing through a friend in the statuary business, Stopka began selling his products through a new catalog. “We took its catalog, replaced the cover, put a price sheet in and advertised in the back of

Jim Garlow, director of advertising and marketing operations for technology products and services provider CDW, shares his feelings on matters ranging from why it’s important to be a knowledge source in the tech market to growth tactics for startup catalogers and much more. Catalog Success: Why is it important for CDW to be viewed as a reference source in the tech marketplace? Jim Garlow: We send our account managers through rigorous training because our target audience consists of IT purchasers and chief information officers, both of which are very tech savvy. They know they want somebody on the phone who knows what they’re

Catalog Success: How did you break into the catalog business? Mike Stopka: It’s kind of a romantic story. Now we’re going back almost 20 years. Professionally I was a consultant and I traveled all over the United States in the 80’s, when I was in my 20’s and early 30’s — working in financial institutions, doing feasibility studies. Very strong on the spread-sheet skills. With that said, with all that travel I had free tickets, so we used to go to Europe every year. This is when the dollar was strong. It was like cheaper than going to vacation in Wisconsin for an Illinois

In announcing its formal backing of the recently created American Catalog Mailers Association (ACMA) on Dec. 18, NEMOA board members are making a bold statement that the half-year-old organization can best represent their 110-plus catalog members’ interests, particularly in postal matters, going forward. Positioning itself as a catalogers-only group, ACMA is also focused on do-not-mail legislation and privacy. “ACMA will represent our specific needs relative to postal affairs, do-not-mail, privacy, environmental [policies] and whatever else comes our way over the coming year,” says Jon Fleischmann, president/CEO of the Potpourri Group and a NEMOA board member. Fleischmann believes potential benefits offered by the ACMA include

Much like the economic state of mind of many consumers today, CEOs polled in a recent survey said they don’t have very much confidence in the state of the economy. Such was the finding of The Conference Board’s Measure of CEO Confidence survey for the fourth quarter of 2007. With a measure of 39, the confidence of chief executives reached a seven-year low (a reading of more than 50 points represents more positive than negative responses). The last time the measure fell below 40 was in the fourth quarter of 2000, when it stood at 31. Here are some more findings of the report:

There’s that old Bob Dylan song about times a-changin’ that I won’t bother to quote further. But it seems to hold true moreso year after year, and 2008 is no exception. So while some of us continue to exchange “happy new year” greetings with one another, I’ll send along one last new year’s greeting with what I believe to be the top five actions you should act on, examine or just ponder to bring your catalog/multichannel business in sync with the times. 1. Get your matchback system working smoothly at once. Assign someone in either your marketing or operations departments to do nothing