New England Mail Order Association

New York, NY, February 4, 2010 — The Direct Marketing Association (DMA), the leading global trade association of businesses and nonprofit multichannel direct marketers, today named Robert (Bob) Allen, Interim President & CEO. Mr. Allen, an award winning direct marketing executive, is the former President & CEO of The Vermont Country Store, a multichannel retailer of hard-to-find products. He will assume the title of Interim President & CEO effective Friday, February 5, and be based in DMA's New York office.

By and large, attendees at industry conferences throughout at least the first half of this year had something of a bewildered look. Kind of a “What the hell am I supposed to do now?” sort of thing going on. Then again, so too did just about anyone in this country amid the brutal recession. But perhaps the Fall NEMOA Conference, held last week at the gaudy Foxwoods Casino complex in Mashantucket, Conn., showed signs of a new, more encouraged, more aggressive attitude among attendees and speakers.

Writing this issue of The Corner View from Cambridge, Mass., during the Spring NEMOA conference this week, I found myself reflecting on the types of people who attend this conference, as well as the types of people in this industry today. Although the catalog business has undergone much consolidation over the years, which has stripped some companies of their entrepreneurial spirit, when you come to a NEMOA, it reinforces the industry’s ages-old character. NEMOA people are warm, caring, entrepreneurial and very social. They share a unique passion for the catalog business. In many respects, they’re indicative of the traditional cataloger. But guess what? They’re

Eileen Schlagenhaft, Cushman Fruit Company, Catalog Marketing Director With over 25 years in the catalog industry, Eileen’s expertise includes marketing and strategic planning, from circulation development through profitability analysis. She is instrumental in merchandising and handles all aspects of creative production. She is also responsible for web site development and advertising. Formerly Eileen was with Palm Beach Groves, Duncraft Birdfeeders, EMS/Eastern Mountain Sports and CBS/Columbia House. Eileen was an officer on the Board of Directors of the New England Mail Order Association for 8 years and served as NEMOA’s President from 1990-92. She has spoken at several DMA Catalog Conferences.

“The goal of any change to an e-commerce platform is to decrease the customer’s cost of time and effort in doing business with you,” said Eric Svenson, vice president of DMinSite, an e-commerce service provider to the catalog industry, in his talk “Advanced Web Selling Techniques for Catalogers” at the New England Mail Order Association conference held in Cambridge, Mass., last week. Customers will respond to a simplified shopping experience with higher average order values (AOV) and higher conversions, noted Svenson. In order to facilitate this goal, Svenson offered the following techniques: * Test, test, test! Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind is

Have your call center reps ask one question per week to gather aggregate data on your housefile. —Jack Schmid of catalog consultancy J. Schmid & Associates on market research methods at the fall conference at the New England Mail Order Association in September:

During his seminar "Growing a Catalog and Internet Business," held at the fall conference of the New England Mail Order Association, Jack Schmid of catalog consultancy J. Schmid and Associates offered a few survival tips for catalog entrepreneurs. "The things that new catalogers need most are the right skills assigned to the right tasks," said Schmid. Some jobs easily can be outsourced to professionals, he continued. "But you should keep some tasks in-house by either doing them yourself if you're the catalog owner or hiring personnel with appropriate skills and experience." Following are Schmid's general recommendations: Keep These Tasks In-house Merchandising. Product sourcing,

Sure! According to Jack Schmid of catalog consultancy J. Schmid & Associates, you can insert a customer survey in your outgoing packages. To encourage customers to complete and return the survey, have a raffle and offer gift certificates for merchandise sold in your catalog. —This tip was offered at the fall conference, New England Mail Order Association, held in Burlington, VT, in September. Reported by Donna Loyle.

When taking consumers' orders via telephone, try to avoid asking for customer contact information before the SKU. This is especially important if you're selling to women, said Missy Park, president of Title 9 Sports, a women's athletic wear catalog. "Women like to shop. Let them do it!" Park said during her seminar at the fall conference for the New England Mail Order Association held in Burlington, VT, in September. "Women get excited about the item they've found in your catalog. Get the item number from them first, not last. "In addition," she noted, "there's nothing more deflating than giving a lot of personal information

Recruiting and retaining seasonal workers through the holiday rush is always a challenging task. Tena Perrelli, customer contact center manager for Gardener's Supply catalog, offered the following tips during the panel discussion "Ramping Up for the Holidays," held during the fall conference of the New England Mail Order Association. * Offer free five-minute chair massages to workers to reenergize them and keep them working at full throttle. * Offer to those who volunteer to work Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas a drawing for products from your catalog. * Stage an employee holiday craft fair in which seasonal and permanent employees