List Insider November 2009 : Page 1

List BACKGROUND INFORMATION Name: Al Stanton Title: President Company: Stanton Direct Marketing Phone: (607) 734-1665 E-mail: Al.Stanton@StantonDirect.com Job Responsibilities: Manage the com- pany, be the “what’s next” officer. Prior Career History: I started in the direct marketing industry with Artistic Greetings in 1977, with responsibili- ties focused on using the company’s products as promotional items with Campbell’s Soups, Kellogg’s, Lever House, etc. My responsibilities changed to managing direct mail programs for three not-for-profit organizations to include overseeing creative executions, renting lists for the mailings, handling merge/purges, and managing the organizations’ lists for rental revenue. As sales grew and new products were developed, staff increased and became responsible for product sales and mar- keting. Involvement with lists became a small part of my responsibilities, and the focus changed exclusively to product marketing and advertising. Insider A Privately Circulated Letter for List Professionals and Mailers A List & Insert Media Professional Speaks: A Privately Circulated Letter for List Professionals Al Stanton President, Stanton Direct Marketing List Insider: How did you first get into the list busi- ness—and why? Al Stanton: The real answer is that it was “accidental.” The per- son who was handling list rental and list acquisition left the com- pany. I “won” the honor of being that person’s successor. LI: Who were your mentors in the business, and what are the main lessons they taught you? AS: Thinking about it now, my mentors were two list brokers— both long-deceased—from whom we rented a number of lists. While it may sound like encouraging a conflict of inter- est (learning from vendors), I view these brokers as being self- less. They taught me a lot about list evaluation, what to look for in specifying lists, seeking and evaluating recommendations—a lot of basics that helped give me a reasonable footing in an area that I was virtually clueless in. LI: Who were the two most memorable people you ever met in the list or direct mar- keting business—and why were they so memorable? AS: The first is Kris Friedrich, founder of Money Mailer, because of the special way he treated clients. The second is Leon Henry (Leon Henry Inc.) for the innovative ideas he had that were instrumental in devel- oping the insert media business as it is today. LI: What were your biggest sur- prises in terms of response? AS: The biggest surprise was not in the list business but in insert media, in placing advertising for Artistic Greetings. A new vendor wanted us to place advertising in a new mover program, which he claimed had a lot of unique features. The rate he was looking for was more than three times what I normally would pay for such a program. He asked what it would take to test the program. I told him we would test if we could pay per order, rather than on a cost-per- thousand circulation. He agreed. It actually responded so well that paying his asking price was a bar- gain. And, we continued in that program for a number of years. LI: What was your biggest misjudgment? AS: I am not sure I would classify the following as a “misjudgment.” It was (Continued on page 2) From the Target Marketing Group NoveMber 2009

A List & Insert Media Professional Speaks

Al Stanton President, Stanton Direct Marketing

List Insider: How did you first get into the list business— and why?

Al Stanton: The real answer is that it was “accidental.” The person who was handling list rental and list acquisition left the company.

I “won” the honor of being that person’s successor.

LI: Who were your mentors in the business, and what are the main lessons they taught you?

AS: Thinking about it now, my mentors were two list brokers— both long-deceased—from whom we rented a number of lists.

While it may sound like encouraging a conflict of interest (learning from vendors), I view these brokers as being selfless.

They taught me a lot about list evaluation, what to look for in specifying lists, seeking and evaluating recommendations—a lot of basics that helped give me a reasonable footing in an area that I was virtually clueless in.

LI: Who were the two most memorable people you ever met in the list or direct marketing business—and why were they so memorable?

AS: The first is Kris Friedrich, founder of Money Mailer,Because of the special way he treated clients. The second is Leon Henry (Leon Henry Inc.) for the innovative ideas he had that were instrumental in developing the insert media business as it is today.

LI: What were your biggest surprises in terms of response?

AS: The biggest surprise was not in the list business but in insert media, in placing advertising for Artistic Greetings.

A new vendor wanted us to place advertising in a new mover program, which he claimed had a lot of unique features. The rate he was looking for was more than three times what I normally would pay for such a program.

He asked what it would take to test the program. I told him we would test if we could pay per order, rather than on a cost-perthousand circulation. He agreed.

It actually responded so well that paying his asking price was a bargain.

And, we continued in that program for a number of years.

LI: What was your biggest misjudgment?

AS: I am not sure I would classify the following as a “misjudgment.” It wasMore a lack of attention to details— and a lesson I will not forget.

We were in the middle of a direct mail campaign for one of our non-profit clients, and finalizing production of the components.

As I was rushing off to do something, the art department said that it needed a sign-off on a proof. I quickly looked at it and signedoff.

It was the mailing envelope—I thought I was giving the okay to the house file envelope, but it was the prospecting list envelope. The only difference between the two was that the house file list normally requested address correction. Can you imagine what happened when the client started receiving address correction charges as a result of prospect lists?

Needless to say, a number of the lists did not follow good list hygiene procedures. We almost lost the client. My lesson was two-fold: pay attention to details and find out when a list was last updated before renting it.

LI: What was your most difficult challenge from a client and how did you deal with it?

AS: The most difficult challenge from a client was because of the “misjudgment” [mentioned] above.

The client rightfully wanted reimbursement for all the postage spent for the prospect mailing address correction responses received. It was a significant sum.

We had all the envelopes that had corrected addresses on them shipped to us by the client. They were sorted by key code, and counted against the list quantity rented. The list owners were confronted with the evidence and agreed to list rental rate reductions to compensate. No, this did not cover the misspent postage, but it helped a great deal.

LI: When a client hires a new product manager or marketing manager with no direct marketing experience, how do you go about bringing that person up to speed and how long should it take?

AS: In my opinion, the best way to bring such a person up to speed is to find a mentor who is willing to teach with information— and, more importantly, by example.

A reasonable expectation is six months, although every manager would like that time frame to be less. It just takes time to experience the nuances of the business.

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