Monday, August 31, 2009
RMI Round-Up: Meet Debbie
In 1985 - back when hair was big, acid-wash jeans were all the rave, and Marty McFly was a household name, RMI Direct Marketing was born. And with it, our first receptionist - Debbie McLain. Twenty-four years later, Debbie has grown from an RMI rookie to a mail planning sensation as RMI's Senior Vice President; Director of Nonprofit Brokerage.
In an "exclusive" interview [cue the Access Hollywood music] that I had the pleasure of conducting with Debbie we uncover everything from quirky anecdotes, to family life, to industry outlook and more.
Q: How would you spend your ideal day?
A: Hanging out with my 13 year old son, Tyler, and husband, Matt, at the beach on a beautiful sunny day.
Q: You just won a sweepstakes and have the choice of getting a lifetime supply of anything. What would it be?
A: Good red wine.
Q: If you could have any super power what would it be?
A: The power to protect the ones I love.
Q: What three things do you want to do before you die?
A: Take my son to the Grand Canyon, see my son grow up, see Greece with my husband.
Q: Without forfeiting anything (work, family, money) you can pick up and move from Connecticut to anywhere in the world. Where would you move to?
A: There’s no place else I’d rather live full time. However, I wouldn’t mind having a house in CT, a house in FL and a house in ME.
Q: What is your biggest pet peeve?
A: I have so many!!! But, if I had to choose one, I guess I’d have to say when people are inconsiderate of others.
Q: How did you fall into the direct marketing industry and become the broker you are today?
A: Hanging out with my 13 year old son, Tyler, and husband, Matt, at the beach on a beautiful sunny day.
Q: You just won a sweepstakes and have the choice of getting a lifetime supply of anything. What would it be?
A: Good red wine.
Q: If you could have any super power what would it be?
A: The power to protect the ones I love.
Q: What three things do you want to do before you die?
A: Take my son to the Grand Canyon, see my son grow up, see Greece with my husband.
Q: Without forfeiting anything (work, family, money) you can pick up and move from Connecticut to anywhere in the world. Where would you move to?
A: There’s no place else I’d rather live full time. However, I wouldn’t mind having a house in CT, a house in FL and a house in ME.
Q: What is your biggest pet peeve?
A: I have so many!!! But, if I had to choose one, I guess I’d have to say when people are inconsiderate of others.
Q: How did you fall into the direct marketing industry and become the broker you are today?
A: Long story but I’ll try to make it brief. When my future husband brought me to NY in 1985, we stayed with his friend and his fiancé while we looked for a place to live. The fiancé worked at RMI and told me they needed a receptionist so I applied for the job. Within 3 months, we all knew I had a future in direct mail! They promoted me to Assistant Account Manager, then Account Manager. Martin took me under his wing and proceeded to teach me everything he knew. He pushed me on to the next step, even when I thought I wasn’t ready, and he was always right. He gave me every opportunity to expand my knowledge and experience and I continued to take on more and more responsibility.
Q: As a broker, what success story are you most proud of?
A: That’s a tough one. There are so many, I can’t name one specific thing. But I am always proud to be a part of so many terrific organizations and to be able to help people through them. It fulfills the social worker in me - which is what I actually went to school for.
Q: What advice would you give to marketers looking to “mail smarter”, and “do more with less” in today’s climate?
A: Look at every aspect of your program to see where you can save money, be more efficient and get better results. Whether it's improving list selections, negotiating better deals, improving the merge process, tweaking your control, getting a better price from your printer, leave no stone unturned and never stop asking “how can we do this better, cheaper, more efficiently”.
Q: Now that economic recovery is underway, how have response rates trended thus far in the 2nd quarter?
A: Some mailers are starting to see improved results in 2009 but it varies a lot. The mailers who started seeing the decline earliest are seeing the most improvement, whereas those who started seeing it the latest are still struggling. Some are seeing improvement simply due to the fact that they are only mailing their core files. And some are flat compared to last year. But I definitely think we’re seeing some improvement over last year.
Q: As a broker, what success story are you most proud of?
A: That’s a tough one. There are so many, I can’t name one specific thing. But I am always proud to be a part of so many terrific organizations and to be able to help people through them. It fulfills the social worker in me - which is what I actually went to school for.
Q: What advice would you give to marketers looking to “mail smarter”, and “do more with less” in today’s climate?
A: Look at every aspect of your program to see where you can save money, be more efficient and get better results. Whether it's improving list selections, negotiating better deals, improving the merge process, tweaking your control, getting a better price from your printer, leave no stone unturned and never stop asking “how can we do this better, cheaper, more efficiently”.
Q: Now that economic recovery is underway, how have response rates trended thus far in the 2nd quarter?
A: Some mailers are starting to see improved results in 2009 but it varies a lot. The mailers who started seeing the decline earliest are seeing the most improvement, whereas those who started seeing it the latest are still struggling. Some are seeing improvement simply due to the fact that they are only mailing their core files. And some are flat compared to last year. But I definitely think we’re seeing some improvement over last year.
Labels: employees
posted by becky terhaar at 2:10 PM
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