Meet the Broker: Kerri A. Mulhern

Today we meet Kerri A. Mulhern, a brokerage account executive with Adrea Rubin Marketing. Originally from New Jersey, now she lives and works from home in Texas.

A friend introduced Mulhern to direct marketing. She landed her first job in 1992 at Mokrynskidirect after receiving a BFA in advertising from the School of Visual Arts in New York.

Mulhern worked 13 years at Mokrynskidirect with consumer catalog clients in the apparel, home décor and children’s markets. She joined Adrea Rubin in January.

Mulhern keeps a beta (a.k.a. Siamese fighting fish) and a goldfish in her office, in separate tanks. “I find it relaxing to look at them.”

Fitness is important to Mulhern, who works out at Gold’s Gym. “I like to lift heavy weights, but nothing over 120 pounds,” she said. She also finds time to exercise her creative side, by drawing in pencil or charcoal and painting with acrylics, sometimes when two sons (ages 5 and 10) are asleep.

She’s studying to obtain a real estate license. “It’s not for a second career, it’s because I want to acquire investment properties.” Mulhern, who is married, enjoys reading “self-reflection titles” and is currently finishing the “The Power of Intuition” by Wayne W. Dyer.

Do you have a specialty?

“I’d say that would have to be catalogs.”

Her brokerage clients include Carol Wright, Dr. Leonard’s, Script and Scribble, Musician’s Friend and Baseball Express. She assists colleagues working with International Masters Publishers and on other accounts.

In her new position, Mulhern finds herself doing more prospecting work for clients. “Adrea Rubin is a smaller company with some big clients.”

“I love dealing with numbers and seeing results. I do things physically to be creative in my free time and I use numbers for creativity in my work time.”

What are some of your challenges and successes in list brokerage?

“Making clients aware of new options. The big mailers, especially, have already tried everything.”

Since the volume of new names coming on the market has shrunk, Mulhern said, for some clients this means looking at other options, such as insert media, Internet-generated data and how transaction data can be manipulated to acquire customers.

For others, it’s usually a matter of finding and testing new segments within proven lists. “We want to focus on the things that already are successful and obviously we want to try new things,” she said.

In a test involving a small gift cataloger, half the names on a particular file were people known to make online purchases. The client was able to improve test results by starting a Web site to offer customers the option of ordering online or by mail.

Mulhern typically arranges pre-approvals with list managers before she makes list recommendations to a client.

“I’ll tell them that when they’re ready the order has already been approved. I like doing things in advance to save time. I think it’s important to do things for a client before they ask.”

Know someone you’d like to suggest for Meet the Brokers? E-mail Jim Emerson at [email protected]