Profile of Success: A Victorious Resurgence
• Housefile deterioration: Although the company’s catalog production staff remained intact throughout the bankruptcy proceedings, employees and management in other key areas, such as circulation management and customer service, were either laid off or left the company on their own. During that earlier period, U.S Cavalry also was unable to cost-effectively mail its catalog.
• Loss of good faith relationships with suppliers: An obvious side effect of the bankruptcy filing was that many suppliers were hesitant to work with the company, Garvey says, even under new management.
• Reactivated old customers: Garvey and his team first identified the ideal U.S. Cavalry customer. He then sifted through the company’s extensive past buyer file searching for names to reactivate.
Garvey says that despite U.S. Cavalry’s past problems, the brand still carried a lot of respect with customers. Customers didn’t realize that the bankruptcy filing was the reason catalogs were only mailed sporadically for a few years; they were simply happy to be regularly receiving the catalog again, he says.
Along with renewed prospecting efforts, the reactivation campaign was a success, Garvey notes. Part of the company’s earlier problems was the inability to reach all the customers who were interested in its products. With a renewed catalog effort, the business bounced back.
