Meet the Broker: Michael Guyer

Today we meet Michael Guyer, who works in list brokerage at International Direct Response Inc., a family-run agency based in Berwyn, PA. Guyer works primarily with life insurance and mortgage companies, as well as clients in a smattering of other markets.

Guyer does list brokerage for such firms as Protective Life, CorCell and Greentree Mortgage. He mostly works on campaigns targeting consumers, rather than business-to-business.

“I got into list brokerage by accident. I was between jobs. My father, who started this company asked me if I could ‘help out for a few days.’ I’ve been here 16 years now,” said Guyer.

His mother, father and eight siblings have all worked for IDR at one time or another. Guyer is married, with a son, 12, and daughter, 10. Outside of work he enjoys camping, fishing, and hunting small game and waterfowl.

Guyer recently returned with his wife and children from a vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. “It was great: swimming, hiking, mountains, the beach and jungle,” he said.

What do you look for when reviewing data cards?

“What I usually see is a lot of fluff. I look at every data card suspiciously,” said Guyer.

“I want to know what’s driving the response. Just saying direct mail on a data card isn’t enough. Was it an incentive offer? If it was a sale, what was the unit of purchase? Did the names come from a catalog or an FSI coupon clipping?”

It’s especially challenging to make recommendations for compiled lists, because there is always the chance that segments of the same list are being offered under multiple data card titles, he added.

What attracts his eye most is last-12-month usage history, especially if there’s a breakdown between tests and continuations. Guyer believes data becomes less valuable with age. Ideally, all tests and campaigns associated with lists should be available on spreadsheets, he added.

“If I see a company has rented a list five to 20 times that targets customers with demographics and psychographics similar to my client’s, oh yes, I’m interested,” he said.

What’s changing in list brokerage?

The lines distinguishing list companies from agencies are blurring as fewer companies focus exclusively on list brokerage and management to generate revenues.

New growth areas such as search engine optimization are creating new data streams, without adversely affecting the postal list market, according Guyer.

“Online lead generation and co-registration data are not replacing direct mail. The bulk of the names our clients use still come from offline,” he said. “Direct mail lists still beat other media, because you’re dealing with known buyers.”

The growth of new media has led companies to offer more services, such as managing Internet banner advertising campaigns and the data being generated.

“There are more opportunities to work with clients on a broader and deeper basis. Companies that don’t evolve lose clients,” he said.

And in Guyer’s opinion, the slow and steady decline in e-mail list prices observed in recent years won’t stop until postal and e-mail list prices reach parity.

Clients are clamoring to test e-mail lists, but the CPM is still too high compared to less expensive postal lists that typically generate higher response rates, he said.

“Response from e-mail lists is still not there to justify the cost. E-mail list prices will have to come in line with postal lists,” Guyer said.

Know someone you’d like to suggest for Meet the Broker? E-mail Jim Emerson at [email protected]