Today we meet Bridgette Timmins, an account executive at List Strategies Inc. in New York City. Timmins was thrust from being an assistant account executive to a full-fledged account executive when her mentor passed away.
She landed her first job with List Strategies six and half years ago, not long after receiving a B.S. degree in marketing from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.
Like so many brokers, Timmins wasn't planning on a career in the list business, much less taking charge of major brokerage accounts in just a couple of years. But that's what happened.
"I really fell into this business. I saw an ad in the New York Times and I applied for the job," she says.
Timmins was a protégé of the late Charna Weindruch, who had 17 years of list brokerage experience. When Weindruch passed away in May 2004 Timmins inherited her accounts.
"Since then I've been able to get new clients on my own. I've gained some clients and I've lost some clients, like any broker does," she says.
Her main client—North American Affinity Group —is like six clients wrapped into one, Timmins says. She makes list recommendations for half a dozen continuity clubs: National Health & Wellness Club, National Home Gardening Club, Creative Home Arts Club, Cooking Club of America, MLB Insiders Club and the Motorcycle Riders Club of America.
Others mailers that Timmins works with include publications such as The Hollywood Reporter and the automotive products cataloger JEGS High Performance.
"I really enjoy the diversity of my job for researching different markets, whether it's finding lists of actors and actresses or women who really like cooking," she says.
Timmins recently returned to work from maternity leave. Her life is more hectic than ever with a two-hour daily commute from Staten Island, NY to Manhattan. She and her husband are the new parents of a three-month-old baby girl.
"Hobbies? You must be kidding, right?" she says when asked. "I don't have time for anything except my work and taking care of and worrying about my baby. Believe me, I'd like to take a trip somewhere, but I don't think that's going happen for a while," she sighs.
Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the economy?
"Right now, I haven't noticed any problems with brokerage business going down, but I'm expecting it will happen. We're getting blasted with bad news everyday and hearing about job layoffs. But at the same time, I'm hearing from my mailers that they're planning to mail the same amount next year," says Timmins.
How can a broker practice due diligence?
"A broker has to be aware of bogus lists on the market and to be wary of certain list managers. It's a matter of due diligence to make sure lists are coming from the right sources," she says.
List managers raise red flags for her when they tell her a magazine has a list of 400,000 subscribers, but when she checks the publisher's audit and it turns out there are only 100,000 subscribers.
"I'm also concerned about some of the new health market lists with 800 kinds of supplement buyers," she adds.
Timmins feels little confidence in list owners if she cannot find the company's Web site. "Everyone has a Web site nowadays. If someone says they have a catalog file and I can't find a Web site, I'm not going to rent that list," she says.
Know someone you'd like to suggest for Meet the Broker? E-mailJim.Emerson@Penton.com
