Today we meet Jen Sager, vice president of the domestic division of brokerage accounts at American Name Services. Sager began her list career with the Orem, UT firm about 10 years ago.
“All of my clients are seminar companies,” said Sager. She handles list brokerage for Utah-based firms such as Stores Online Inc.
One aspect of the list business that she thrives on is negotiating deals. Sager usually avoids list managers who are unwilling to negotiate.
“Sometimes you have to butt heads with list managers,” she said. “My clients need discounts,” she said.
Her leverage and negotiating strategy is simple. For those who don’t know her already, Sager points out that she regularly orders large volumes of names.
“Some of my clients are ordering hundreds of files annually. They’re typically testing five to 10 lists every week. And they rent pretty decent size files, typically 150,000 names and larger,” she said.
Family time is her refuge from list brokerage’s wheeling and dealing. She’s married and has seven-year-old twin boys, and another son, age 5.
Sager keeps busy by attending and chauffeuring her boys to gymnastics events, soccer and other sports activities. For personal enjoyment, she creates scrapbooks and cools off in the water wakeboarding, which combines water skiing, snow boarding and surfing techniques
What kinds of lists do you normally recommend for seminar marketing?
“I deal with business opportunity files, investor files, financial lists and small business lists. I even use some specialty files, depending on whether other mailers similar to my clients have used them,” said Sager.
Geographic selections are the most important for seminar marketing, followed closely by recency, based on her experience. “I like 30- and 60-day hotlines,” she said.
Sometimes she tests lifestyle selections from master files, which indicate an interest in real estate and other types of investments.
When she’s struggling to find large quantities of names, Sager considers data overlays and statistical modeling. But such data can be less reliable for generating response.
“It’s on and off,” she noted. “Of course, if a list manager offers me a free test–I’m always willing to give a test a try. But any time that I test a list, I least a need a discount.”
How do you deal with duplicate names on lists?
Sager said she typically negotiates for 65% net discounts so clients can avoid paying for duplicate names from multiple lists.
Lists with 15% duplicate rates are acceptable, but any lists with 50% or higher duplicate rates raise questions in her mind.
She’s always on guard for files being marketed under different list names by more than one company. To stay vigilant, Sager examines service bureau reports and phones list managers to ask questions. “It’s a checks and balances system.”
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