Profile of Success: Press Button for More Voltage

BIGGEST MISTAKE AND RECOVERY: About 10 years ago, DBL Distributing printed its catalog without pricing for its dealers so they could have a counter copy to show to customers. “We made a custom copy and the DBL logo was supposed to be stripped, but it hadn’t been stripped off three pages,” Lorsch recalls. “A dealer said he couldn’t use it. I had to refund $15,000 to $20,000. We stopped doing custom jobs.”

The key in all these things, Lorsch advises other catalogers, is not that you make a mistake; it’s how “you respond and react to the error,” he says. “You hope every day you make good decisions most of the time, react very quickly to the bad decisions, and minimize the damage.”

LORSCH’S KEYS TO SUCCESS: “Good price, good product, good service and take care of the problems,” he says.

HOW HE KEEPS THINGS FUN AT DBL: Lorsch hosts company barbecues every month if the company makes its sales quota. The cataloger stages “DBL Wars” (like “Star Wars”) and other sales competitions where it splits employees into teams.

For the complete interview, log on to CatalogSuccess.com and look for Profile of Success (Complete Interview): A Chat with David Lorsch.