THE FIRST THING Novus List Management’s president Joanne Capria wants people to know is that her company is no dark horse.
“A lot of people say the company has come out of nowhere. It wasn’t out of nowhere. It was a lot of hard work. We experienced a lot of rejection-we weren’t seen as competitive to Millard and Direct Media.”
It took five years before Novus, Tarrytown, NY, was viewed as competitive. Founded in 1992, when the Minneapolis-based direct response print advertising firm Novus Marketing Inc. spun off a list operation on the East Coast, Capria accepted the mission of making it fly. There were just two clients: catalogers Damark and Sportsman’s Guide.
August 1997 was the big break. Smithsonian chose Novus as its list manager, followed later that month by TV Guide. The publishers were impressed by proposals that read like business plans. “TV Guide said they felt they’d found a diamond in the rough,” she adds.
“List owners don’t want to be the first major list in a company’s portfolio,” Capria recalls. “So it was a big obstacle to overcome.”
Today, Novus has 75 clients and 150 lists, primarily publishing-related. Its most recent acquisition was the high-profile Wenner Media files (Rolling Stone, Us, Men’s Journal), which Novus picked up April 1. Also last month, it purchased business-modeling software company DMAS, of Shelburne, VT, ensuring Novus’ ability to offer clients value-added business-strategy services.
“Long term, it secures our stake in the product,” Capria says.
Moreover, in a calculated gamble that growth will continue, Capria signed a five-year lease on a Tarrytown location big enough to accommodate the firm’s 29 managers-and those who will be added later.
The space showcases that “we’ve brought ourselves up to the Minneapolis level,” Capria says proudly. “We’re like a young adult who got our first new car.”
Still, success has a price. Novus achieved profitability only last year.
Perhaps that’s partly because Capria’s strategy is uncompromising. A Novus proposal is actually a customized business plan demonstrating how “to take the prospect’s revenue from where it is today to where we see it in the future,” she explains. Informing these numbers are industry trends and in-depth analysis of the prospect’s company.
When prospects say that Novus’ numbers are below a contender’s, Capria counters: “I believe what we put together and plan is achievable and I’m not going to submit a higher number just to get the client. Because I know six months from now, I’ll have to submit another plan. I’m looking for long-term value.”
And there are other rules. Novus won’t guarantee revenue, cut commissions or offer discounts.
“If list management companies were truly doing the job they were hired to do, they shouldn’t need to fall back on these tactics,” Capria charges. She has turned away companies that are poor risks so Novus won’t become top-heavy with clients that won’t perform well over time.
“We don’t want to manage 500 lists. We want to manage the premier lists in the industry,” Capria says.
She’s quick to point out that long-term clients shouldn’t worry about Novus racing out of touch. While containing growth, the company adds list managers as it acquires business, resulting in the current ratio of about 30 managers to 75 clients.
Sound controlling? “People would say I am anal-retentively controlling,” Capria admits with a laugh. This has resulted in some turnover: Traditionally trained list brokers don’t do as well as “young, aggressive entrepreneurs with an analytical mind-set,” Capria insists.
This spring, a top Novus executive-Monica Smith, who was to head the analytical group-left the company. A Novus “type,” entrepreneurial and driven, “she and I together were a very powerful team,” says Capria. But “the business is going to move forward at the same pace.”
Capria describes herself as: “Persistent. Impatient. I want to see results now. But I think what clients respond to is my passion. I’m very passionate about my commitment to their business and their success.”
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