Meet the Broker: David Dotson
Today we meet David Dotson, managing partner of the Southwest division for American List Counsel Inc. Besides running the Dallas-area office he still does brokerage work for response and compiled lists.
Dotson primarily brokers deals for financial services and insurance marketers targeting the small office/home office market. He figures he splits his time about equally between consumer and business-to-business clients.
He deals more with brand name companies now, but earlier in his career Dotson did brokerage work in the timeshare market and for businesses selling low- and mid-ticket general merchandise.
Dotson says he currently works with the insurance group HealthMarkets, Blockbuster, Sony, Honda, Hertz Corp. and TXU Energy. Through agencies he also works with several nonprofits.
He joined ALC in Oct. 2003, after spending 10 years with Contact Marketing Solutions Inc., working with compiled lists. Dotson started his list career about 17 year ago at Gnames Advantage.
“I like working in brokerage because it’s something that helps keep the GDP growing and it’s not just a paperwork job, says Dotson. “Whether it’s a for profit or nonprofit, there’s no greater feeling than when you see something you’re involved with in the mail.”
When he’s not working Dotson focuses on family activities and maintaining physical fitness. “I work out and lift weight weights so I can keep up with my kids,” he says.
Dotson is married and has five children, four boys and one girl, ages 1 to 13. He enjoys attending his children’s sport events, and getaways to amusement parks, the beach and skiing. “It’s about having fun times, but there’s always some physical activity.”
What can you recommend for list fatigue?
After using a list for three to five years it’s common for response to start slipping. When that happens Dotson recommends testing statistical models. It’s a way for mailers to reduce postage and paper costs by cutting back on circulation, while lifting response.
“Many lists are generic and the file sizes are dropping. You’re going to be mailing less anyway, so why not get better response by doing some modeling,” he says.
Success with modeling requires setting concise parameters for extracting data from lists with 100,000 or more names and of course large hotline counts. It’s not unusual for a mailer using modeling to be able to reduce the size of mailing by 20% while increasing response, based on his experience.
“Models can be used for customer acquisition prospecting, cross selling, retention or winning back customers. I use models mainly for customer acquisition,” he says.
What’s your response to list owners who are reluctant to release data for modeling?
List owners need to consider that mailers who do modeling are likely to keep coming back for more data over the long run, rather than renting larger quantities for the short-term and then abandoning a list. The alternative is for list owners and list managers to be constantly looking for new customers to rent data, according to Dotson.
“I think more companies are using modeling. It’s all about hitting the bull’s eye,” he says.
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