When Melani Bros. lost a critical source of telemarketing leads, it also lost $2.4 million in sales. But it recouped the lost revenue and then some by embracing direct mail.
It started three years ago with a 160,000-piece test. And next year, the Yorktown, VA-based home improvement construction firm will mail 1.4 million pieces.
The loss of leads was a classic case of a few bad apples spoiling the bushel. Melani Bros. was one of several firms capturing leads for sunroom construction projects via kiosks at Lowe’s retail outlets. But in 2002, after the do-it-yourself retail chain received complaints about a handful of the other contractors, Lowe’s eliminated the in-store referral program.
That decision was a major blow to Melani Bros., which generated 92% of its telemarketing leads through the program. Without this source of business, Melani Bros.’ annual revenue fell from $12 million to $9.6 million, and it had to lay off workers.
Initially, the company tried to make up the leads through predictive dialing programs, which contacted homeowners in areas most likely to use its services, as determined by home value and ZIP code. But when the federal do-not-call list went into effect in June 2003 this channel also dried up for the firm, as many of its previous prospects registered their phone numbers.
At this point Melani Bros. (two brothers, Ray and Ron, run the business) brought in Rick Menendez as vice president for sales and marketing. Menendez, in turn, retained Jerome Group, a St. Louis direct mail firm.
Menendez had his work cut out for him: The Melanis didn’t exactly embrace direct mail at first. They’d tried it a decade before, and it didn’t work.
Network
