Today we meet Phillip M. Agee, vice president of media services at Mail Marketing Inc. Agee has worked with catalogers, magazine publishers and card packs in various equine market segments for 20 years.
He works with lists in segments ranging from barrel racing to Western and English-style horseback riding, equine product marketing and horse shows, as well as lifestyle niches that involve avid horse enthusiasts.
Some of his brokerage clients include Rod’s Western Palace, Fort Western Outpost, The Barn Door Inc., Springtime Inc. and Walco International’s American Livestock catalog.
Agee joined Mail Marketing in August 2005 and works from a home office in Overland, Park, KS. Prior to that he worked for several list companies, among them List Locators, Total Media Concepts and Data America.
“A lot of people know me as an ex-lawyer. I gave up the practice of law to become a broker. With no credentialing agency this truly is a no holds barred profession. I love this industry,” says Agee.
He became enamored with the business of lists while working as a general counsel for a consumer magazine publisher, where his responsibilities included overseeing list rental agreements, not unlike an in-house list manager.
Soon afterwards, Agee was handling list brokerage for a direct marketing agency. His early experiences coalesced into a lifelong career in list brokerage and management.
“I enjoy dealing with lists so much more than law work,” explains Agee. “It’s personally challenging for me to help a company succeed in business. It’s challenging too for a broker to stay in a market.”
Agee spends workdays brokering lists and seeking new list management business. “What I do is two-thirds list brokerage and one-third list management,” he says.
Agee is married and has two daughters, 22 and 13, plus three dogs. He works out daily at the local YMCA. For relaxation he watches sports events on television. “I’m an armchair sports enthusiast. I follow pro baseball, football and basketball.”
What keeps you excited about the equine list sector?
“Today there are more equine lists available than ever before. Maybe only one-third as many lists were available 10 or 15 years ago,” says Agee.
Currently there are about 150 horse-related lists on the market and plenty of others available directly from list owners, he notes.
This list sector still has significant growth potential. Start-up companies are building house files with space ads and some established companies have yet to enter the list rental market, which he says represent future growth opportunities for brokerage.
“I still see new catalog companies every year. I wouldn’t say there are dozens, but there are some. When they move from just advertising in magazines to list prospecting that’s when they need a broker,” he says.
How do you find new lists and new clients?
It takes common sense and hard work, which includes reading publications specializing in a market, monitoring list usage and mailings, talking to people in the industry and always asking people for more information, based on his experience.
Agee says he prefers to write letters to avoid the constant stream of rejection that cold callers must endure to establish new business relationships.
“When I do make calls, I want to be the third person who phones. The first person gets hung up on. The second person will be listened to but still told no. It’s the third person who phones who’ll be listened to and get someone to say yes.”
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