Meet the Broker: Lori Badman

Today we meet Lori Badman, executive vice president at Boutique List Services Inc., where she handles list brokerage for publishers and other clients. Badman has worked with consumer and business-to-business lists for about 30 years.

She began her career processing list rental orders at Accredited Mailing Lists. She left to work on Wall Street, wasn’t her cup of tea, so she returned to Accredited to work in list sales and management.

She became a list broker a few years later at Concept One, and stayed there for 15 years until the firm closed after the owner died. Faced with a decision of whether start her own company, Badman decided to join Boutique List Services in May 2007.

Many of her clients are publishers. She makes list recommendations for Stay Well Publishing, Practicing Law Institute, Fairchild Publications and EH Publishing. She also finds lists for clients in the seminar, financial services, health and other markets.

“The first thing I do is to picture myself as the target for a particular offer, says Badman. I’ll think of what would get me to respond and then I start looking for lists.”

It’s always important to ask lots of questions, rather than merely relying on data card descriptions. “More than 50% of the time there’s information available from lists that’s not spelled out on data cards,” adds Badman.

For niche markets especially, it’s important to search for lists not offered for rent on the open market. Groups like trade associations and other groups might release list data privately, she notes.

Badman has many interests to keep active when she’s not working. She’s married, has a 15-year-old son and enjoys spending time with extended family and a new puppy. Her hobbies include practicing yoga, jogging and working out at the gym. She loves reading thrillers and murder mysteries. “The bloodier the better,” she says.

What are the pros and cons of enhanced list selections?

“They’re great for opening up lists for use in more markets, but they don’t make a big difference in response rates,” Badman says.

She often looks for interest selects such as “health” or “do-it-yourself” on catalog or subscription files, which she typically uses in combination with standard selections such as source, gender and age, depending on a client’s needs.

“The pricing is ridiculous though. We’re seeing $15/M and $20/M charges for enhanced selects. Some of my clients take three or four selects and the pricing has gotten out of control,” she says.

What’s current climate like for negotiating list prices?

“Brokers are always negotiating. If you don’t ask for discounts you don’t get them,” Badman says.

Historically, brokers and managers have spent more time negotiating deals for consumer lists, while negotiations for discounts on business-to-business lists have been less common, according to Badman.

“Lately though I’ve been doing more negotiating for business-to-business lists, she says. I’m negotiating more because I’m asking for more discounts.”

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