HIGHLANDER CLUB

June 2003, Volume 8 – Issue 6 “Great fortunes are made through Fellowship, Knowledge and an Abundance of Opportunities”

Fight that Shrinking Paycheck by Being Resourceful

Dear Highlander Club Member:
Our Clubhouse has been inundated with phone calls over the last month or so, with fel-
low members complaining about a troubling new phenomenon within the American
workforce. I’m not talking about job-sharing or people losing their jobs outright. In this
Michael Newman
day and age, we are all too familiar with those two concepts. Rather, I’m talking about New Chairman
the distressing reality of shrinking paychecks. The days of across-the-board increases have Highlander Club
virtually disappeared.
To remain competitive, employers will do even more than slash paychecks and say adios to annual raises.
Many companies are asking their workers to start forking out more money for their company health plan,
and that is downright shameful. Already, most workers contribute about $174 a month for family coverage
(up from $124 back in 1993)! Pension benefits have also been hit now that companies are moving away from
traditional pension plans (where employees receive a guaranteed retirement income) to 401(k) plans which
are very much employee-dependent. Some firms have scrapped 401(k) company matches completely.
Right now, the Federal Reserve Board is openly vexing about deflation – the downward price spiral that cre-
ates unemployment, recession, and a loss of confidence in the banking system. The U.S. Labor Department
told us that, in the first three months of this year, median earnings adjusted for inflation plummeted by 1.5%,
which is the most dramatic drop since 1991.
Fewer benefits, fewer dollars, and more work! What should an American worker do? The answer is
clear…

If you want to remain employed look for ways to save the company money!
• Suggest to your boss that you want to head-up a “cost cutting” committee. Give him an outline that details
the goal of the committee (to cut expenses without sacrificing quality) and what he can expect from you
each month (a monthly report filled with cost cutting measures and the facts to back up your plans).
• Explain that you want to ask a few other employees to volunteer one hour a month to meet before work or
after hours to discuss ways to cut costs. Then explain that if he approves of any of your ideas; you’ll even
develop “action plans” to put them into place.

Your boss will be impressed that you are concerned about company profits. What’s more, he’ll view you as a
self-starter and a leader who likes to get things done. You may end up getting a promotion – or even a raise.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

Request a copy of the company’s expense reports. Examine those records to see where the company might be
spending excessively. Look for the following profit-stealers:
• Office Supplies. Is your company paying too much for office supplies or buying too many? Check out dis-
count and wholesale suppliers that offer better pricing.
• Telephone Expenses. Would the company save money by switching long-distance carriers?
• Vendor Pricing. Is the company negotiating for the lowest prices? Does it frequently ask for lower rates and
 get competitive bids?
• Equipment Purchases. Would leasing be a better
option than buying? Most leasing options offer ex-
cellent customer service and free repairs. Usually,
with purchasing, once the equipment is paid off,
chances are it will be obsolete or outdated.
• Travel Expenses. Is the company paying too much
for business travel? Do employees fly when they
could drive? Are they checking the best rates on
rental cars, airfare, and hotels?
If you own a small business, you can implement the
same strategies above and ask your employees for
their input regarding cost cutting. Make sure you of-
fer bonuses to the employee whose ideas you imple-
CHIEF COUNCIL
Michael Newman Chairman
Nina Walters Executive Director
EDITORIAL
Pam Clavir Editor
Moving? Missed an issue? Please let us know within 90 days
of moving or if you have not received an issue. After this
time period, missed issues can be purchased for US$10
each including shipping and handling. Write to: Highlander
Club, 777 S. Flagler Drive, Ste. 800W, West Palm Beach, FL
33401-6163, USA. Or call between 9am to 5pm EST; (905)
760-9929 x300; Fax (905) 760-2809.
Contact Us
If you have a question or comment about the monthly
memorandum, write to the Editor in care of Highlander Club,
777 S. Flagler Drive, Ste. 800W, West Palm Beach, FL 33401-
6163, USA, Fax (905) 760-2809.
Subscription rate for the Highlander Club newsletter is $80
per year. If you have a question about your subscription, or
want to renew your subscription, change your address, or
order a Highlander Club Special Report, write to Member
Services, 777 S. Flagler Drive, Ste. 800W, West Palm Beach,
FL 33401-6163, USA. Or call between 9am to 5pm EST;
(905) 760-9929 x300; Fax (905) 760-2809.
© 2003 by Highlander Club, 777 S. Flagler Drive, Ste. 800W,
West Palm Beach, FL 33401-6163, USA. All rights reserved.
The Club is not promising or guaranteeing that you will be-
come wealthy because of the information in this newsletter
or our special reports and programs. There is no guarantee
of future profits. Copying any of the Club’s published infor-
mation is strictly prohibited. The ideas expressed herein are
the opinions of Highlander Club only. That said, we believe
you’ll discover vital money secrets and wealth angles not
available anywhere else.
The Executive Staff, Research Department and the
Editors of Highlander Club are proud of the reputation
we’ve built since our inception in 1991. Simply, we believe
the advice presented to you in our published resources and
seminars is the best and most useful available to you, the
global entrepreneur.
2
ment. You don’t have to increase your payroll…a day
off with pay will show your appreciation just fine.
Some of our members who still receive annual
increases are complaining bitterly that the increases
are only used to offset higher health plan expenses.
Others, who have watched their paychecks shrink,
are grateful for steady money, but the feeling that the
crunch is on is definitely alive and unwell. That’s why,
in this month’s issue of The Highlander Club, we’re go-
ing to dive into the topic of how to cope when money
is tight.
How to Prepare for a Financial
Emergency
The Statistics Read: The Bureau of Labor Statistics
of the U.S. Department of Labor reported in April
2003 that the unemployment rate rose from 5.8 to 6.0
percent. Currently, 8.8 million Americans are out of
work. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, 53 mil-
lion Americans have a disability. About two-thirds of
these individuals have a severe disability.
The above statistics are alarming. Many situations
we face during our lifetime are out of our control,
but knowing what to do and how to react can mean
the difference between a financial crisis and a brief
setback. Here are some steps you can follow now to
protect your family’s future:
Step 1: Always have credit available – Consider
checking account overdraft privileges, credit cards
that allow cash advances, margin accounts that have
emergency cash advances at rates lower than the
bank’s, and home-equity loans or lines of credit. Start
shopping now to see what creditors are offering.
Step 2: Create an emergency savings account – Your
emergency account should contain enough money to
cover four months worth of your monthly bills, plus
an additional 10% of your total annual salary to cover
unexpected expenses.
For example, let’s say you earn $35,000 a year and
your monthly bills (mortgage, utilities, telephone,
cable, bank loans, and insurance premiums) add up
to $1500. You should have $6,000 in your account to
cover your bills for four months and an additional
$3500 to cover unexpected health, car or home re-
pairs, etc.
Let your emergency savings work for you. Place
your savings into a safe and flexible low risk invest-
ment account, such as short-term U.S. treasury bills,
money market mutual funds, savings accounts, or
90-day bank certificates of deposit. If you feel it will
take you a few years to reach your goal, that’s okay.
Just think how secure you will feel knowing you have
some savings to fall back on.
Step 3: Make sure you have disability insurance
– Either privately or through an employer, make
sure you have disability insurance. Government ben-
efits are usually smaller than your current monthly
income. There are, however, financial assistance pro-
grams available for persons with disabilities prepar-
ing for entry or re-entry into the workforce through
the One Stop Career Center. Call 1-877-US2JOBS (1-
877-872-5627) to locate the One Stop Career Center
in your area. Or, contact Mr. Ira Mills, Information
Technology Center, U.S. Department of Labor, Room
N-1301, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington,
DC 20210 Voice: 202-693-4122, Fax: 202-693-4228
Step 4: Know your unemployment options – If you
are not yet self-employed, review your company’s
personnel manual for its job-loss coverage. In the
event you become unemployed, you may be covered
by unemployment insurance, depending on why you
lose your job. Vacation and severance pay from your
former employer typically cover one month’s worth
of expenses. The Department of Labor’s toll-free Call
Center can assist workers and employers with ques-
tions regarding Job Loss, Layoffs, Business Closures,
Unemployment Benefits, and Job Training: 1-877-US-
2JOBS (TTY: 1-877-889-5627)
Step 5: Have a pool of people available that you can
count on – During a crisis it’s not always easy to think
rationally. Having someone to rely on for advice will
help you maintain perspective while examining your
options. Family and friends can provide emotional
support, but for sound financial advice you should
have a pool of professionals from which to choose.
For free legal advice and legal documents go to
www.lawsmart.com or www.legaldocs.com/misc-s.htm.
You should also consider joining a local business as-
sociation. Check your local yellow pages to see what is
available in your area.
What You Need to Do If You’re Faced with a Financial
Emergency
• Talk with your creditors and negotiate lower
monthly payments;
• Ask your utility company if they have a budget plan
3
available;
• Cancel all luxury expenses such as cable television
and upgraded telephone services (call waiting,
caller ID, voice mail etc.);
• Postpone vacations and other unnecessary, costly
activities; and
• Buy generic brand foods. Use homemade cleaning
supplies such as vinegar and water in place of glass
cleaner and rubbing alcohol in place of disinfec-
tant cleaners.
Emergency Cash Options
• Use your emergency credit. Only borrow what you
can afford to pay back at the time of billing;
• Borrow against the cash value of your life insur-
ance. In most cases you can borrow at an average
of 8% interest per year. Some policies let you keep
earning interest even during the period of your
loan;
• Liquidate non-performing assets. Review mu-
tual fund and stock holdings. Sell investments that
have not been performing well over time. Also sell
a few winners. Capital gains will be offset by capital
losses generated by losing investments, reducing
or avoiding any tax; and
• Consider a short-term withdrawal from your IRA.
No penalties or interest are owed if you replace the
money within 60 days; and
• Take a retirement plan loan. Use loans from your
401(k) or other retirement plan only as a last re-
sort. If you don’t repay a loan when due, you’ll owe
income taxes plus a 10% early withdrawal penalty
if you are younger than 59 1⁄2 and don’t qualify for
a penalty exception.
Slot Machine Secrets Revealed
Making money is great, but winning it is even better!
That said, don’t be fooled into thinking that it is fun
to lose money. The atmosphere of a casino is gold,
glitz, and glamour, and with all that luxury around it’s
easy to be tricked into believing that you are having
a great time throwing away your cash. Yet, gambling
is exciting.
That fact cannot be denied. Gambling is one of the
few ways you can legally turn $15 into several thousand
dollars in less than one day. Yet, it still stands to reason
that becoming aware of the casino’s ploys is your first
step to learning how to manage your betting allow-
ance.
When you play the slot machines, it is almost like
you are on another planet. Like the feeling you get
when someone brushes your hair, slot machines can
put you in a trance-like state. The person beside you
could have their hair on fire, and you wouldn’t know
it.
Learn the Rules Of The Game Before You Play
First, different cities and different casinos operate
under a slightly different set of rules. Read the rules
posted at each game, including the rules displayed
at the slot machines. For instance, one coin may not
pay out anything if one crown is displayed, but if two
crowns are displayed, you may get something back.
When it comes to slots, the house advantage usually
stands between 10 and 50 percent, which is not ter-
rific. These numbers vary depending on where you
play. The best odds are typically in Nevada.
Magic is Only an Illusion…So Stick to Your Limit
For starters, plan to cash in only a certain amount of
money. Make sure you stick to your limit, and call it
quits when you run out of coins, and don’t go back
for more. A lot of machines accept bills when they
are inserted face up, so the danger here is not having
to run to the nearest slots cashier. Give up when you
are out of coin. This is called “quitting while you’re
ahead.”
Slots are programmed to pay back only a portion
of the money they are fed. Depending on where you
are, the slots typically pay back between 80 and 98
percent (at least that’s the case in Nevada). Unless
you had some sophisticated way of cheating, you sim-
ply cannot beat the slots, which, nowadays, are run by
a microchip that establishes all the action. If you play
the machines long enough, you will most likely lose,
statistically speaking.
The truth about slot machines is that they are run-
ning all the time. So, if you put your coin in when
the clock says 2:15:01 or at 2:15:02 (just one second
apart) the display on your machine will read differ-
ently. Nothing the player does will make one speck
of difference. Slots are a case of the luck of the draw.
Once in a blue moon, in the smaller, less conspicuous
casinos (the ones on one of the less traveled streets),
you may still come across one of the more ancient slot
machines. An old-style machine is not constantly run-
ning even when someone is not playing it, and your
chances of scoring a win are sometimes higher on
one of these older, out-of-the-way machines.
Calculating the payoff probabilities of the newer
machines is not difficult. Naturally, we have to assume
that each reel spins independently of the others, and
4
is no more likely to stop at one spot than another.
If the machine you are playing on has three reels
with 10 pictures, then 1000 three-symbol groupings
can result (10 x 10 x 10 = 1000). The first wheel might
have one diamond (or cherry or any other symbol)
and nine other symbols. The second reel could have
three diamonds and seven other symbols while the
third wheel could have five diamonds and five other
symbols. So, 1 x 3 x 5 = three diamond combinations.
So, the probability of getting three diamonds or cher-
ries or whatever is 15 / 1000 or .015.
To see what the casino advantage is, you have to
multiply all payoff amounts by the probabilities and
then add up the figures. Casinos don’t mind advertis-
ing their slot machine payoffs, but remember to read
the fine print. A payoff of 98% might only mean on
the progressive machines, and if the jackpot’s theoret-
ical hitting is factored into the winning percentages,
the machine’s payout could be significantly smaller.
So, if it sounds too good to be true, alarm bells (and
not the ones on the slot machines) should go off.
Learn the Big Secret: When Are the Odds More
Favorable?
Someone taking the same number of turns at a
machine with a higher payback such as 99% would
have only lost half their money – not all of it. Rumor
has it that slot machines pay off patrons with bigger
jackpots toward the end of any given three-month
tax period. That way, casinos can show government
auditors that their establishments are paying off the
percentages advertised.
Claim Your Losses Especially When You Win
When you get home, jot down how much money you
lost at the casino. In case you hit the big one, you’ll
have to pay tax. The taxman will expect a piece of the
pie when your winnings hit $1,200. Yet, by proving
how much money you lost, you’ll be able to save some
of the money that would have gone straight to the
government. Be aware that you can’t write off your
losses against your earnings, but you are permitted to
write them off against your gambling wins, right up
to the very amount that you win. The casino doesn’t
mind sending in your winning information to the IRS
for you. Even if you don’t want them to, they are still
ready to “help out.”
Be optimistic, think ahead, and record your losses.
Hopefully, one day you’ll need to dig out the facts for
all the right reasons.
Always Play the Max Per Bet
Some machines will pay a higher percentage back to
the player when the maximum number of coins is
inserted. If you play one coin, you may get two back.
If you play two coins, you may get four back, and if
you play three coins, you may get 10 back. Unless you
are sure of the payouts, don’t put in the maximum
number of coins. Ask an employee which machines
are progressive. Progressive machines have the biggest
jackpots.
Generally, the payback is best when the maximum
number of coins is played. Although your chances of
winning remain the same, the amount of money you
win becomes proportional. If putting in more coins
gives you a payout of many percentage points more,
then slip in those few extra coins. The difference be-
tween a 93% and 98% payout is substantial. Simply
put, playing the maximum number of coins gives you
a chance to win the maximum payout. Paying less
than the maximum number of coins will get you only
a small percentage of the payout, even if you win the
jackpot.
It used to be rumored that the loosest slot ma-
chines were positioned near the restaurants and the
exit doors. To counter this belief, the casinos alleg-
edly started putting their tightest machines there,
which drove people away from them. It wouldn’t hurt
to flock back to those machines once again, because
one never knows what lurks in the minds of casino
operators.
Some people will sit on a stool in front of a slot
machine and operate the machines on either side.
This is not recommended since a passerby can dip
into your tray while you are focused on one of the
other machines.
When you play the slots, play using only the money
you brought for that purpose, and play all that money
once. Don’t touch your winnings. When your allotted
number of coins have disappeared, so should you.
10 Ways to Invest your Tax
Refund and Enrich Your Life
According to IRS reports, the average refund through
March was a little over $2,000. While your refund may
not be that high, any amount can go a long way if you
plan before you spend. Try one of these smart money
strategies:
1. Take stock. Buy into a stock fund. Even a few hun-
5
dred dollars can get your nest egg off to a nice start. A
mere $600 investment can grow to $10,000 if you get
a 10% return over 30 years. So examine your options
and don’t think that your investment is too small to
make a difference.
2. Set up an emergency savings account. Place your
refund into a flexible, low-risk investment account,
such as short-term U.S. treasury bills, money market
mutual funds, or 90-day bank certificates of deposit.
Getting access to the money won’t be as easy as a
checking or savings account so you’re most likely to
let it work for you.
3. Invest in your business. Are you working with out-
dated office equipment? You may want to consider
upgrading now. Maybe a new software program, a
printer, a fax machine, a cable modem, or DSL con-
nection would save you time, increase your productiv-
ity, and help increase profits for your home business.
Over the years prices have dropped considerably on
office equipment. But comparison-shop wisely to get
the best deal.
4. Pay down your credit-card debt. If you owe money
on your credit cards, and are paying interest rates
along the lines of 18% a year, this is one of the smart-
est ways to invest your refund check.
5. Refinance your home. If you’ve been looking at
refinancing, you’re smart. Interest rates have never
been lower, and don’t hesitate to haggle at the bank.
Bankers try to intimidate customers, but don’t let
them. You could save hundreds on your current
monthly payments. If you have an adjustable rate-
mortgage, you may want to lock in now with a low
fixed rate. What’s more, you maybe able to afford
to switch to a 15-year mortgage and pay your house
off in half the time. Start shopping now – check the
real estate section of your local newspaper for lender
advertisements and call your current mortgage com-
pany to see what’s available.
6. Add to your mortgage payment. Put your refund
on the principal of your home. Let’s say you have a
30-year fixed loan at eight percent. You would save
$3000 over the life of the loan if you added just
$300.
7. Start those home repairs. Preventative mainte-
nance can save you a lot of money and time. Look
around your house and make a list of the repairs that
you have been putting off. Now that you have the
money you may want to pump out the septic tank, get
the roof fixed, replace old windows, or simply touch
up your home’s paint. These repairs will increase the
value of your home and add equity at the same time.
8. Increase your insurance deductible. You could be
paying a high insurance premium if you currently
have a low deductible. Increase your deductible, and
put your refund in your emergency savings account.
You’ll lower you insurance premium and have the de-
ductible amount available, in case you need it.
9. Service your car. Get an oil change, a tune-up, and
have your tires checked. A well-maintained car with
properly inflated tires burns less gas and saves you
money in the long run.
EXPERTS’ CORNER
The Most Valuable Letter You
Will Ever Write
by Jeffrey Dobkin
Simple: it’s a thank-you letter. The first reason a
thank-you letter is so valuable is obvious – it makes
the recipient feel good. This elevates you from the
silent majority that never expresses its appreciation in
a letter. A phone call just doesn’t have the impact of a
letter. In a day, whatever you said on the phone fades
into the horizon like the sun. But not a letter; a letter
has time to sink
in. It can also
Jeff Dobkin is an original sit on the recip-
Highlander Board Member. Well ient’s desk as a
liked because of his fun, funny, lasting memento
yet information-rich writing and of your appre-
speaking presentations, he has ciation. A phone
written two books on direct mar- call just doesn’t
keting, plus an awesome course compare to the
on classified ads and direct mail, lasting goodwill
The Intelligent Testing System, generated by an
all based on the premise that all appreciative let-
you need is just one successful ter. So, the most
25-word ad to get rich right from valuable letter is
your kitchen table. His articles on a letter to thank
marketing have appeared in over someone.
100 magazines. ALWAYS write
6
10. Upgrade your quality of life. Before spending
your entire refund, think about what would really im-
prove your quality of life. Here are a few suggestions:
Invest in your health and education: Join a gym, go
to the dentist, get a check-up, or take a learning
course.
Invest in your child’s future: Start a college fund or
hire a private tutor.
Invest in your family: Go to a relationship counsel-
lor, take-dancing lessons with your partner, join a lo-
cal family pool or YMCA.
If you received a substantial refund this year you
may want to consider changing your W-4 withhold-
ings so that less money goes to the IRS. Why let the
government have your money, interest-free, when you
could be using it to enrich your life instead?
a thank-you letter whenever you receive a business re-
ferral. “Thank you for the opportunity and the privi-
lege to be of service to your colleagues.” A business
referral is not to be taken lightly or casually. Rather,
it’s the utmost show of trust a client or friend can dis-
play in you. It’s the leap of faith that you’ll perform
exceptionally well. “Thank you so much for your re-
ferral and your trust.” The person who recommends
you puts his or her own name and reputation on the
line for you. Does that deserve a friendly little thank
you letter? You bet!
When you pen a thank you letter, you make a
person feel comfortable with his/her recommenda-
tion of you, because you’re going to do the very best
job you possibly can for his/her friend or associate.
You’re going to lean over backwards to look good,
and to make him/her look good for giving a referral of
someone so conscientious. You can’t make a person
feel like this with an ad, but it’s easy to do with a letter.
Your letter can convince a person that you appreciate
the trust he/she has placed in your products or ser-
vices. You can make him/her feel, well, like he/she
should refer more people to you all the time. And
therein lie the beauty, the value, and the monetary
worth in the most valuable letter you can write: The
receiver will remember it, and when the opportunity
comes up again, he/she will continue to refer people
to you. You’ve heard of word-of-mouth advertising as
the best (and the cheapest) form of advertising? Well,
this is how you make it happen, time and time again.

Where to Get Free Mailing List
Catalogues
by Jeffrey Dobkin
I wanted to know what’s available in compiled lists, so
I dredged out a few of my direct marketing trade jour-
nals from under the mass of papers, old pizza boxes,
and the few remains of previous lunches on my desk
and called all the list vendors in each. Here’s what I dis-
covered: Pizza is only good for three, maybe four days
without refrigeration, but the pepperoni still remains
tasty for up to a week.
More importantly, Edith Roman (800-223-2194;
www.edithroman.com) publishes an excellent glossy
95-page catalogue of both consumer and business
response and compiled lists. Lists are alphabetically
arranged, also shown by SIC (standard industry code),
and geographic breakouts and counts are included
for each list. You can easily find lists of almost any
industry (27,827 stone, clay, glass and concrete prod-
ucts manufacturers), or any niche (2,822 ophthalmic
goods wholesalers, 2,711 ventilating systems cleaners,
3,086 tattoo parlors). The catalogue is easy to use for
both the experienced and others, with a logical layout
and explanation of how to use each section. Perfect
bound, 8-1⁄2” x 11”.
Dunhill International List Company (800-DUNHILL;
www.dunhills.com) publishes an easy-to-use 77-page 8-1⁄2”
x 11” catalogue on bleached newsprint. Dunhill offers
specialty lists shown in alphabetized sequence such as
25,921 foundations with officers, 811,000 health insur-
ance agents, and 2,825 single parent organizations, as
well as master files of, for example, 2,225,214 women
investors, or 588,482 lawyers. It also breaks out lists by
alpha and SIC. As expected, you can get businesses or
business executives by state, income, title, type of firm,
and attorneys or medical doctors by specialty.
American Business Information (800-555-5335, 402-
592-9000; www.infoUSA.com), the firm that went about
buying up almost every list company that would sell just
a few years ago, offers 11 million businesses by yellow
page heading, number of employees, SIC, sales vol-
ume, phone number, and credit rating code. It also of-
fers 195 million consumers by age, estimated income,
home value, and other selects. Its 72 page, 8-1⁄2” x 11”
catalogue is easy to use, and, like some of the other
catalogues, it offers a few specialty lists like 12 million
executives by ethnic surname, 3 million fax numbers,
7
663,000 work-at-home businesses, and 3 million busi-
nesses in affluent neighborhoods, to name a few. The
company also offers lists by SIC, including some pretty
darn esoteric, like 1,068 beverage dispensing equip-
ment wholesalers and 403 bronze table manufactur-
ers. It offers free counts if you call. When I called and
gave my phone number, the representative gave me
my mailing address and asked if it was still correct.
Acxiom/Direct Media (203-532-1000) has the most
pages of advertising in the trade magazines, so I called
it. But, its 48-page spiral bound catalogue paled by
comparison to the ease of use of other list catalogues.
The book, mostly response lists, was separated into
Business and Consumer sections, showing 30 lists to a
page. Only the list name was shown, which was some-
times confusing (i.e. “Extensis” or “Jasune”) and some-
times not (“Eddie Bauer Baby Furniture”), along with
the Acxiom customer service rep and sales rep name
and phone number. Acxiom managed all lists shown
in this 8-1⁄2” x 11” book.
American List Council (800-403-1870; www.amlist.com)
sent a 60-page, 8-1⁄2” x 11” catalogue broken down into
segments containing consumer lists, business lists,
lists by SIC, and proprietary response lists – which
included some weird ones such as a master file of ail-
ment sufferers including 537,458 gastritis sufferers,
404,990 bladder control/incontinence sufferers, and
790,470 ladies with yeast infections – ouch – that’s
just gotta hurt. As most of the other major list ven-
dors, the American List Council also handles lists for
some of the larger mail order houses: 1,337,167 L.L.
Bean Buyers M.O.B., 2,695,137 Spiegel M.O.B., and
4,856,781 Victoria’s Secret M.O.B.; and some of the
larger magazine subscription lists such as 925,243 PC
Magazines Subscribers. The catalogue is nicely pre-
sented and easy to use.
Hugo Dunhill Mailing Lists, Inc. (888-274-5735;
www.hdml.com) puts together a well-designed and ex-
tremely information-intense catalogue of lots and lots
of lists. Arranged alphabetically then referenced in
SIC order, the Hugo Dunhill catalogue goes deep into
some wells that are dry in other list house’s catalogues.
Along with the traditional (108,472 accounting firms),
you can get tax preparers broken down by specialty
(144 associations, 4,305 attorneys, 558 bankers, 25,478
CPAs) and so forth. You can also get some esoteric lists
(129 Daughters of the Nile, or a selection of Church
Societies (women’s) selected by denomination, or
even 84,092 churches with video equipment). Pretty
much, if you can name it, you can get a list of all the
people in it. If you can’t name it, call Hugo and speak
to him like I did – he’s a lot of help in a short amount
of time.
Dun and Bradstreet (973-605-6457; www.dnb.com) is
one of the granddaddies of the list industry, and it
warehouses a master file of almost everything and ev-
erybody. It has a full resource file on your credit – it’s
true. That credit information is available in a list, even
if you don’t want your competitors to get it. You can
also get a CD-ROM with 11 million businesses on it – so
you can analyze and manipulate your own data, then
pay for only the list of names or businesses you use. The
48-page catalogue, organized by SIC-compiled lists, is
a common source of names and records that have
been gathered, collected, and entered into a database.
Most commonly the names might have been acquired
through public records such as vehicle owner registra-
tions or high school teachers, or through directories,
such as a directory of plant maintenance engineers.
One of the most common sources of information
for compiled lists are from yellow page headings: the
names are gathered from all the phone books across
the U.S. Examples would be all the luggage dealers in
the United States, or all the plumbing supply dealers.
Compiled information – like fish – gets old rather
quickly and doesn’t age particularly well.
Just a note in passing: On the other side of the list
industry are response lists. These are lists of names of
people who have responded to offers, most likely in-
quired or bought something from a catalogue or space
ad. Response lists are measured by different criteria:
How RECENT the names are; How FREQUENTLY they
purchase through the mail; and How much MONEY
they’ve spent on a purchase. Names and lists can also
be targeted with others who may have made purchases
of similar items or are responsive to offers from certain
industries. Logic applies: if you are selling a new type of
fishing rod, buy a response list from a fishing catalogue
or a fishing magazine. Response lists are best when they
are available for your target market and you are making
a direct-selling offer of retail products. Purchase com-
piled lists to reach your target market when response
lists aren’t available. Between response and compiled
lists, you can get almost anything you’d like in a list. If
you would like to mail to only the people who make the
little tiny screws that fit in your eyeglasses, there’s a list
out there, somewhere, with just the names of those folks
on it. It may be a short list, but it is available.
The list catalogues mentioned – and the list cata-
logues I didn’t mention – all have their own ease of
use and level of service they provide to their custom-
ers. Between the different list houses there are also
significant differences in pricing, return policies, and
freshness of lists and names. Some vendors clean their
lists more frequently. Some offer hot name files that are
one month old; some offer hot name files that are six-
months old – you never know until you ask. Different
vendors offer different service levels, too. Some give
good marketing advice, others, well, you know. Each list
house has its own counts and numbers for different se-
lections, and each treats merged data in different ways.
Most list houses have their own particular specialty – so
it pays to shop around. My advice: call around and talk
to each list house – see with whom you feel comfortable.
I’ll make you this guarantee: The more questions you ask
up front, the more response you’ll get when you mail.
When you need a great mailing list, just dig. These cata-
logues – and this article – will help you immeasurably.
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