PostScripts newsletter is considered a "must read" by member companies. Published monthly with a circulation of roughly 2,200, each issue of PostScripts highlights a theme relevant to mailing or fulfillment operations, such as production management or information technology.
JANUARY 2011 16 INSIDE >> 4 MANAGEMENT New Congress Will Pose Opportunities for Mailing Industry ASSOCIATION MFSA Program Can Help Speed the Transition to MSP 9 BUSINESS OPERATIONS Mailing Services Provider Training Held in California (Continued to page 12) (Continued to page 14) PostScripts MAILING & FULFILLMENT SERVICE ASSOCIATION DISASTER CONTROL- HOW SOCIAL MEDIA HELPS WILL YOUR BUSINESS SURVIVE AFTER A DISASTER? By John P. Foley, Jr. CEO & CMO – Grow Socially A natural disaster can happen at any time or any place, but even though a disaster may affect a certain area, the business world keeps moving everywhere else. So when your office is suddenly… unavailable, how can you quickly reach out to your employees and clients with updates, news alerts, and other critical information they may need to know? Social media can be the first hand of assistance in this particular situation. Social media is known for its abil- ity to spread information in a fast and effective way to a large amount of people. The second you publish a post or tweet, it instant- ly becomes visible to hundreds, even thousands, of people. An- other convenience of social media is that you can use it from any de- vice with internet. You can access it on smart phones, computers, iPads, and more. Now that you know why social media is a great communication tool to use dur- ing an emergency, you may then wonder, “How do I prepare myself to use it for this type of issue?” The first preparatory step would be to create a private group on your social media accounts, such as Facebook or LinkedIn. You can make these groups private since they do not affect the gen- eral public, and you can inform clients and employees that this site is the place to go in order to obtain emergency updates during a disaster. You can share news ar- ticles, quick announcements, con- tact information, or anything else that may be important and reas- suring to your audience. If your audience uses Twitter, you should create a “Company Alert” hashtag. Some examples for my company, Grow Socially, could be, “#GrowSocially911”, “#GSAlert”, “#GSEmergency”. You can post the hashtag on your company’s Twitter account in order to tell your audience that tweets with the alert hashtag are updates on your disaster control efforts. Us- ing hashtags in these scenarios are helpful because when people SPECIAL DISASTER RECOVERY ISSUE Reprinted with permission from Compliance Management International Business continuance (sometimes referred to as business continuity) describes the processes and procedures an organization establishes to ensure that essential functions can continue during and after a disaster. A disaster can be a fire, flood, terrorist attack, pandemic or other interruption to your business operations. Busi- ness continuance planning seeks to prevent interruption of mission-critical services, and to re-establish full functioning as swiftly and smoothly as possible. There are four main areas that, if interrupted, could cause significant impacts on your business functions, operations and processes: loss of information; loss of access; loss of people; and, loss of customers. In the event of an inci- dent and one or more of the above business interruptions have occurred is your company prepared? Ask yourself these questions: • Who will be in charge? • Where will you set up operations? • Where will you operate your business? • How will you continue to service your customers? • Will your customers find another source? • Will your employees seek jobs at your competition? • Will your business operations be able to survive after a disaster?
Transcript
JANUARY 2011
16
INSIDE >>
4
ManageMentnew Congress Will Pose Opportunities for Mailing Industry
assOCIatIOnMFsa Program Can Help speed the transition to MsP
9
BusIness OPeratIOns
Mailing services Provider training Held in California
(Continued to page 12)
(Continued to page 14)
Post ScriptsM a i l i n g & F u l F i l l M e n t S e r v i c e a S S o c i a t i o n
DISAStER CoNtRol- How SoCIAl MEDIA HElpS
wIll YoUR bUSINESS SURvIvE AftER A DISAStER?
By John P. Foley, Jr. ceo & cMo – grow Socially
a natural disaster can happen at any time or any place, but even though a disaster may affect a certain area, the business world keeps moving everywhere else. So when your office is suddenly…unavailable, how can you quickly reach out to your employees and clients with updates, news alerts, and other critical information they may need to know? Social media can be the first hand of assistance in this particular situation.
Social media is known for its abil-ity to spread information in a
fast and effective way to a large amount of people. the second you publish a post or tweet, it instant-ly becomes visible to hundreds, even thousands, of people. an-other convenience of social media is that you can use it from any de-vice with internet. You can access it on smart phones, computers, iPads, and more. now that you know why social media is a great communication tool to use dur-ing an emergency, you may then wonder, “How do i prepare myself to use it for this type of issue?”
the first preparatory step would be to create a private group on your social media accounts,
such as Facebook or linkedin. You can make these groups private since they do not affect the gen-eral public, and you can inform clients and employees that this site is the place to go in order to obtain emergency updates during a disaster. You can share news ar-ticles, quick announcements, con-tact information, or anything else that may be important and reas-suring to your audience.
if your audience uses twitter, you should create a “company alert” hashtag. Some examples for my company, grow Socially, could be, “#growSocially911”, “#gSalert”, “#gSemergency”. You can post the hashtag on your company’s twitter account in order to tell your audience that tweets with the alert hashtag are updates on your disaster control efforts. us-ing hashtags in these scenarios are helpful because when people
SpECIAlDISAStER RECovERY
ISSUE
Reprinted with permission from Compliance Management International
Business continuance (sometimes referred to as business continuity) describes the processes and procedures an organization establishes to ensure that essential functions can continue during and after a disaster. a disaster can be a fire, flood, terrorist attack, pandemic or other interruption to your business operations. Busi-ness continuance planning seeks to prevent interruption of mission-critical services, and to re-establish full functioning as swiftly and smoothly as possible.
there are four main areas that, if interrupted, could cause significant impacts on your business functions, operations and processes: loss of information; loss of access; loss of people; and, loss of customers. in the event of an inci-dent and one or more of the above business interruptions have occurred is your company prepared? ask yourself these questions:
• Who will be in charge?• Where will you set up operations?• Where will you operate your business?• How will you continue to service your customers?• Will your customers find another source?• Will your employees seek jobs at your competition?• Will your business operations be able to survive after a disaster?
2 MFSA PostScripts
Mark your calendar >>MidWinter conFerencethe doral golf resort & SpaMiami, Floridafebruary 2-5, 2011
annual conFerence antlers Hiltoncolorado Springs, coloradoJune 14–18, 2011
Postscripts is published monthly for MFSa members. For advertising information, please contact: Bill Stevenson at [email protected] or 800-333-6272.
JANUARY 2011 ISSUE 631
Chairman’s ColumnPost Scripts
Board of Directors
Chairman of the Board
Ken Gossett; AMI, Alexandria, VA
first ViCe Chairman
Tom Duchene; TDMS, Huntington Beach, CA
seCond ViCe Chairman
Ted Kulpinski; W.A. Wilde Company, Holliston, MA
treasurer
Mike Kellogg; Century Direct, LLC, Long Island City, NY
immediate Past Chairman
Michael Murphy; Japs-Olson, St. Louis Park, MN
direCtors
Charles Buchanan; World Marketing-Dallas, Dallas, TXTammy Caserta; Think Patented, Dayton, OHGreg Fischer; Marketing Support Services, Cincinnati, OHJoy Franckowiak; Valpak, St. Petersburg, FLLaura Harper; FPMSI, Haverhill, MATim Johnson; Impact Proven Solutions, Minneapolis, MNChris Lien; BCC Software Inc., Rochester, NY
Anita Pursley; RR Donnelley, Johns Creek, GABuz Prosser; Consolidated Mailing Corporation, Shawnee Mission, KSMike Stewart; Great Lakes Integrated, Avon Lake, OHEric Strand; RESCO, Hudson, WIGary Weinberg; Quality Letter Service, Inc., New York, NY
Mailing & Fulfillment Service association1421 Prince Street, Ste. 410alexandria, va 22314tel: 703-836-9200; 800-333-6272Fax: 703-548-8204email: [email protected] Ken gossett
Chairman of the Board
another year has passed, and we have all likely made a new set of new Year’s resolutions. do any of your resolutions include MFSa? if not, you’re going to miss out on many opportunities to learn, grow, and prosper both as an individual and as a business.
in no particular order, here are a few new Year’s resolution sug-gestions:1. read PostScripts every month. the new format features topi-cal and interesting articles designed specifically to keep you up-to-date with industry innovations and other members’ business improvements.
2. open and read PostalPoints. this unique electronic publication gives you the “straight skinny” on what’s happening with the Postal Service that you just can’t get anywhere else. MFSa’s leo raymond has the inside track on all things postal and skill-fully “decodes” postal speak!
3. attend as many MFSa webinars as you can fit into your schedule. if you can’t par-ticipate, make sure the appropriate people in your company do. You will not regret it!
4. attend my local MFSa chapter meetings and make sure you take along several of your associates. there is no better place to network with local industry friends and suppliers. Most meetings include food and drink, and they always include interesting speakers that speak about both local and national issues.
5. attend the Mid-Winter conference. You still have time to register (i hope you have already) for the Mid-Winter conference, to be held in Miami from February 2nd to 5th. this year’s conference sessions appeal not only to ceos and presidents, but also to those in operations, sales, and marketing. and, for the first time, the Mid-Winter will include plant tours. check out the MFSa website for details, and register today!
6. attend the MFSa annual conference. this year it’s in colorado Springs, June 14th through the 18th. Start planning now, especially if you missed resolution #5.
if, like me, you aren’t very good at making and keeping new Year’s resolutions, make these six suggestions personal and corporate goals. if you do, i can guarantee you a happy and more prosperous new Year. Happy new Year to all!
NEw YEAR’S RESolUtIoNS...Do YoU HAvE ANY?
tHE ANNUAl CoNfERENCE DAtES AND loCAtIoN ARE offICIAl!
Hold the date and make your plans now!
June 15 - 18, 2011
antlers Hilton4 South cascade avenuecolorado Springs, co 80903room rate: $149 - Single or double to make reservations call 866.299.4602 or contact the hotel directly at 719-955-5600 x 409 and mention you are attending the MFSa annual conference. More details to come soon - a great program, plenty of networking and social activities, a great vendor forum, plant tours and more!
ManagementNEw CoNgRESS wIll poSE oppoRtUNItIES foR MAIlINg INDUStRY
Cooper has been actively involved in major postal issues for more than ten years. He founded and chaired the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service, which helped organize the mailing in-dustry to pass Postal Reform in 2006. He also serves as Executive Director of Mail Moves America, the organization formed by DMA to fight Do Not Mail legislation in the states. He is currently a part-ner at Williams and Jensen. Prior to coming to Williams and Jensen, he was with the Printing Industries of America.
Ben CooperWilliams and Jensen
Postal watchers remember 2006 as a big year – the year postal reform legislation passed. if early signs can be believed, 2011 may be a bigger year. in many ways the stakes are higher. in addition, the political tidal wave that washed democrats out of the majority in the House of representatives washed in a republican majority with a very differ-ent set of objectives. the always difficult process of educating members of the House on the postal industry will need to start over with the basics. in the Senate where there was less change, the two primary champions of postal legislation have each introduced bills to address major issues.
in the House, the new chairman of the House over-sight committee will be rep. darrell issa of califor-nia. He has been very clear in his statements that he wants to see change and he has also suggested, however, that he is not favorable to providing additional changes to the postal retiree benefit program as was done in 2009. in addition he has raised questions about the over funding of the civil Service retirement System. nevertheless, he has also been very forthright about other changes, particularly as they relate to the employment costs of the postal system. issa has been particularly crit-ical of the supervisory structure of the uSPS.
rep. Jason chaffetz (r-ut) who was in line to chair the Federal Workforce Subcommittee, which over-sees the uSPS, is moving to a new subcommittee although he has said he wants to remain very ac-tive in postal issues.
the central problem for our industry is communi-cating the role of the uSPS in the broader econo-my rather than simply as a struggling federal en-terprise. in no area is this more necessary than the discussion of the federal civil Service retirement System (cSrS). the Federal employee retirement System (FerS) and the postal employee retiree benefit program. efforts to address the funding or over funding of these programs has often been called a “bail-out” by the taxpayers. the use of that politically charged term is inaccurate but under-standable. regardless, the burden is on the mail-ing industry to offer a correction.
two separate independent studies have concluded the cSrS is over funded in amounts ranging from $50 billion to $75 billion. these are not “taxpayer” funds but are the accumulation of excess postage and interest on those funds. Some have suggested that the taxpayer is on the hook if those funds are moved from the cSrS for the use of the uSPS. that raises two interesting problems. the first is that if
removing the excess postage funds from the cSrS creates a problem that can only be addressed by taxpayer funds, that leads to the conclusion that the cSrS is under funded for non-postal federal employees. So, the question is whether the post-age payer is in fact subsidizing the taxpayer. of course, the second issue is that moving the funds creates a budget “score.” that is ultimately the big-ger challenge and mailing industry supporters on capitol Hill are working to create legislative “fixes” that will attempt to avoid that problem.
Since the new congress, which convenes in Janu-ary, starts the entire legislative process anew, any postal legislation to be considered will begin from scratch. the House operates by majority rule so any postal legislation that will be actively consid-ered will likely come from rep. issa.
the Senate will see at least two postal bills in 2011. the two bills introduced in the 111th congress are expected to be reintroduced in some form in 2011. these bills S. 3831 and S. 4000 were introduced by Senators tom carper (d-de) and Susan collins (r-Me) respectively. While they differ considerably, each bill addresses “fixes” to the cSrS and retiree medical payments. Since the Senate works more in a consensus mode, it can be expected that ele-ments of each of these bills will be in a final prod-uct. the primary difference in the bills in the 111th congress relate more to the purpose of the bills. Senator carper who chairs the subcommittee that oversees the uSPS wanted to introduce a bill with several legislative changes sought by the Postal Service. it was not intended as a comprehensive bill. Senator collins was moving more toward com-prehensive legislation so her bill dealt with a num-ber of issues, which have needed to be addressed since the passage of Paea in 2006.
MFSa and its allies will be working with the new congress to assure that any legislation that is con-sidered will be structured as much as possible to improve the cost and efficiency of the postal sys-tem. these issues will include among many oth-ers changes to the extraordinary employment cost structure of the uSPS, facility closing, and the burden of regulation imposed by the uSPS on the mailing industry.
all in all, next year will be a critical time for the industry. We know legislation will be introduced and debated. We also know that the vast majority of members of congress need to continue to hear from their mailing industry constituents about the problems we face.
JANUARY 2011 5
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the newly appointed Postmaster general Patrick donahoe was the host speaker during the 70-minute MFSa webinar held just days before his official swearing-in. donahoe addressed current operational issues faced by many mailing service companies and shared a glimpse of his vision for the future of the united States Postal Service (uSPS). MFSa vice President leo raymond moderated the webinar with nearly 40 member-company loca-tions logged into the Pitney Bowes-sponsored webinar.
donahoe was asked by MFSa members in advance to cover five postal related issues: mail acceptance, intelligent Mail Barcode, service standards, facility consolidation, and what the impact of the significant reduction in cash flow would be.
Acceptance IssuesMFSa members have heard from their uSPS acceptance facilities that Sarbanes-oxley (SoX), the 2002 law that reformed corpo-rate accountability to investors and mandated accounting and auditing procedures, stipulated additional requirements in how to manage and receive mail and postage. But each Business Mail entry unit (BMeu) has its own requirements it seems to many MFSa members. donahoe acknowledged that the Postal Service was concerned about inconsistencies in training and the accep-tance process at BMue facilities across the country. to ensure consistency, the uSPS has adopted lean Mail acceptance Prac-tices that specifies how the uSPS accepts, verifies, and stages mail for processing. donahoe went on to explain that to-date about 20,000 acceptance employees have been trained.
the uSPS has a drop ship mailing hotline 1-877-569-6614 and email address [email protected] to receive any feed-back or concerns about other mail acceptance issues.
donahoe encouraged participants to first approach the local guys at district management to seek any resolution. Webinar participant, Michael Kellogg of century direct llc in long island city, new York, commented that one of his MFSa colleagues, dennis lacognata, owner of Prompt Mailers on Staten island, had recently requested and took part in a meeting between some local mailers and the district manager in new York city to address mail acceptance and other issues. He felt it was a suc-cessful meeting.
donahoe added, “SoX is not supposed to be a problem for cus-tomers. We’ve gone through that a thousand times with our people. customer service. acceptance … if we have problems here, i would like to know about that specifically and i will ad-dress that.”
Evolution of IMbdonahoe acknowledged the additional it costs involved with moving to Full-Service iMB but he wanted to be sure that mailers recognized the benefits of transitioning to Full-Service. “if we are causing some requirements in it changes and it costs around mail preparation on your part that you are not seeing some of the benefits, you need to raise your hand. You need to let [MFSa] know.”
When asked whether Full-Service iMB would become mandatory, donahoe replied that that issue had not been resolved internally. He added that the Postal Service should not force the is-sue with “with very small mailers. Zero benefit for them.”
plans to Adjust the Networkdonahoe outlined five areas where the postal network is being adjusted to ac-commodate the decreasing mail vol-ume: eliminating airport mail facilities from 85 to zero; changes in network distribution centers. elimi-nate annexes and logistics and distribution facilities as we con-solidate work into ndcs; full closing of large processing facilities; continue to close down small offices that serve few customers and offices that are located close to each other; and, consolidate back offices.
potential Impact of Running out of Cashdonahoe pointed out if the uSPS had to make the same $5.5 billion payment at the end of FY2011, “we will not have the cash on hand to make that payment.” despite efforts to remove labor costs out of the system – over 100,000 people out of the orga-nization in past 3 years, or 238 million work hours – cash flow is still a problem. donahoe said the goal in FY 2011 that began october 1, 2010 was to reduce work hours by 9 million hours.
He encouraged participants to follow Senator tom carper (d-de)’s bill to provide long-term stability to the Postal Service, called the Postal operations Sustainment and transformation (PoSt) act (S.3831).
He also said that to encourage volume the uSPS would offer more incentives for saturation and high-density mail after the first of the year.
His visionWhen asked what his vision was for the future, donahoe replied that he would continue to work the strategic plan that was an-nounced this past March and his focus would be upon the four main areas that support the plan: strengthen the B2c channel; improve the customer experience; compete more in packaged business; and be leaner, smarter, and faster.
in response to questions from the audience, donahoe also re-iterated the importance of the teamwork between MFSa and the uSPS to promote mail and to encourage MFSa members to work together with the local uSPS sales force.
the MFSa participants valued the opportunity to hear directly from the Postmaster general and his response to their concerns. Based upon some immediate feedback, MFSa members appre-ciated his forthrightness and presentation. if members missed the webinar, they can purchase a recording at the reduced rate of $35 or use one of their remaining 2010 complimentary webi-nar registrations, if applicable.
pMg DoNAHoE ADDRESSES “SoX” AND fUll-SERvICE IMb DURINg MfSA wEbINAR
JANUARY 2011 7
8 MFSA PostScripts
Christopher C. Antone is the managing partner of the Dallas office of Jackson Lewis LLP, our Association’s Labor Counsel. Celebrat-ing 28 years with Jackson Lewis, for the past four years Chris was named one of the top 100 labor law-yers in the country by the Labor Relations Institute. If you have any questions regarding this article, or for more information or assist-ance, please contact Chris Antone at (214) 647-2095 or [email protected]. For a description of Jackson Lewis’ services and more information on work-place law issues, please visit their web site at www.jacksonlewis.com.
Chris antoneJackson Lewis
Management
MY SUpERStAR EMploYEE JUSt gAvE NotICE...wIll HE tAkE bUSINESS SECREtS?today, several states, including georgia and texas, are providing employers with the legal right to stop a departing employee from taking valuable assets from the employer and using those assets in their new job or venture. You must be prepared for this contingency. if you suspect a former employee may try to steal your business assets (including confiden-tial data, proprietary information, or other employ-ees), here is a checklist to help determine whether to consider filing a legal action against the former employee and the former employee’s new employer:
What documents were given to the employee to use in conducting your business? Were these returned?
training manualscustomer listscustomer filesSales reportsPrice listsMarketing strategiesFinancial reports
How did the former employee keep track of things or store information? Was all information and equip-ment returned?
BlackberrylaptopHome computercontacts databaseuSB data storage device
consider having the computer hard drive imaged by a forensic expert to search for deleted items and other destruction of evidence. Have someone check the com-pany’s computer system for:
Job search effortse-mails to customers shortly before employee’s departuree-mails to home e-mail addressesdownloads
interview co-workers to find out if the em-ployee confided in co-workers regarding future plans. did the employee copy infor-mation before leaving?
What documents did the employee nor-mally use and where are they now? What information would the employee think is most valuable if he did not want to start from scratch at the new company in de-veloping customers? Was all of this infor-mation returned?
if the employee wanted an instant rev-enue stream in the new business, what
preparatory work would need to be done while still on your payroll? What documents might exist show-ing this work? consider having your attorney send litigation hold letters to third parties the employee was contacting to do the preparatory work.
How will the employee go about contacting clients after joining the new company? Where did he get the contact information? Would the hiring company have to admit that it views this type of information as confidential or valuable such that it would not want its employees taking it?
of course, if you wish, do not wait for an employee to leave before answering these questions. rather, you should consider using this article to minimize any current risky practices or holes in your system that may be creating existing exposure to information leaks and theft. if your state law supports confiden-tiality or non-compete agreements, you may wish to consider adopting such agreements now.
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JANUARY 2011 9
Business Operations
tRAININg woRkSHop IN SoUtHERN CAlIfoRNIA AttRACtS A CRowDMFSa held its first ever “Mailing Services Provider for the Future” 6-hour training workshop at the facility of Special-ized Marketing Services (SMS) in Santa ana, california, on november 17 in front of a group of 24 industry sales and marketing professionals. the workshop was sponsored by Streamline Solutions.
industry veteran tom Quinn led the workshop through an in-formative and interactive exchange by specifically focusing upon what an experienced fulfillment service provider must do to be able to successfully sell marketing services. Quinn be-gan the workshop with a discussion on the Market-ing Services value chain and why considering your company as a Marketing Service Provider (MSP) is important. Quinn noted experienced fulfillment service providers are well suited to make that transi-tion. He then reviewed how a successful fulfillment service provider could lay out or design a fulfillment center and what software, equipment, supplies, and personnel should be considered. He went into de-tail about sales and marketing approaches to incor-porating marketing services into a business model and presented various sales models, honing in on the consultative selling model. during the session participants worked through three sales exercises.
after lunch, the team at SMS provided all partici-pants a comprehensive facility tour and presenta-tion about SMS. Following the facility tour, Quinn summarized some approaches to overall pricing.
Summer gould, director of customer service for eye/comm inc. in Santee, california, found value in the “real-life details and examples [and that] direct questions [were] answered.”
MFSa thanks the host company, Specialized Mar-keting Services, and the sponsor Streamline Solu-tions for enabling this workshop to take place. as MFSa plans the 2011 calendar, it will be looking for other hosts and sponsors for this and its two other workshops:
• the 9-hour “Pathway to Success in Mailing operations” • the 6-hour “Postal Boot camp”
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10 MFSA PostScripts
Management
By eric HerrenkohlHerrenkohl consulting
if you ever try to sell your business, one of the first things a po-tential buyer will look at is your leadership team. do you have real leaders working for you? are they compensated the way real leaders would expect to be? or does the entire company revolve around you? there is nothing wrong with being a one-man or one-woman show, but don’t expect to sell your business for much if you are. as vic Haas, a business valuation expert in Philadelphia and President of Haas Business valuation Services (www.haasvalue.com) says, “Business is all about minimizing risk and maximizing return. a buyer will pay more for a company and its income stream if the risk of losing that income in the future is reduced. a broad management team is one important way for a company to ensure future earnings and reduce risk for investors.”
Potential buyers for your company are looking for a deep man-agement team. as a result, hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars may rest on your ability to be a leader rather than a loaner in your business.
Here are some steps you can take to do just that:
Start planning right now. as tom raynor, ceo of Fleet Feet inc. says, “the best time to plan your exit from your business is when you start it.” great businesses are built by people who under-stand the value of creating a business that runs without them and who are working a long-term plan to realize that value. this is not intuitive to many entrepreneurs but if you embrace it now, you will make yourself a lot of money.
Stop being a control freak. It is hurting your wallet. When you started your business, it was strength to be obsessive over every aspect of the business. things got done right because you made sure they did. now, your business has grown. if you don’t adapt your approach and learn to let go, you will stunt your company’s growth and hurt its long-term value. Without fail, entrepreneurs who build significant enterprises realize that they have to hire good people and entrust major pieces of the business to them.
Assess your current staff. do you have people in your orga-nization with the right stuff to buy the business from you one day? are there individuals in your organization you can envision promoting to President one day? do you have people who can run important segments of your business without significant in-volvement from you?
if your answer to these questions is no, you have to put a plan in place to bring in stronger talent. Your company is filled with B and c players who may do a good job following orders but will never be able to run the company. if your answer to these ques-tions is yes, you have two issues to address immediately. First, do you have a plan to provide them with more responsibility and commensurate compensation over time? Second, are you tak-ing steps to make sure that you keep them with your organiza-tion vs. losing them to a competitor?
Network. as a business owner, one of your primary roles is be-ing “recruiter-in-chief.” in the end, we all want to find someone whom we know, like, and trust to run our business for us. to find that person, you need to place a premium on building your network of relationships inside and outside your industry. the people you meet today may be running your business for you or buying it from you five to ten years from now.
Interview all the time. organizationally, your goal is simple – hire the best people possible and meld them into a team that produces superior results. in my experience, executives that do this well are interviewing job candidates all the time and insist that their managers do the same. Fred christen is president of Hallmark Stone, fabricator and installer of kitchen countertops in Fenton, Mo. Fred requires that his managers be interviewing job candidates all the time and that each one have a “farm team” of live candidates interested in working for the company. this is the kind of proactive recruiting that, over time, fills your com-pany with leaders.
Consider using recruiters. Many small businesses have never used an executive recruiter to fill a position. if you have a senior management position to fill, the right “headhunter” will be a real asset. ask around. You will be surprised at the companies that have used these services successfully. like every other service, get referrals from people you trust.
pay for talent. as a friend of mine says, money doesn’t talk, it screams. Find out what good people are getting paid in similar roles in your industry and be prepared to be competitive with this number. investment precedes return. if you want to hire a-players, you have to pay for them.
Don’t micromanage. accountability is critical but microman-agement never works. a-players hate to be micromanaged. on the one hand you must work with them to set the right goals and invest resources wisely. You also must provide appropriate accountability. But if you are going to hire and develop strong people you must give them the freedom to lead and manage. if you find over time that you have an executive or manager who must be micromanaged in order to create good results, you have the wrong person in that job.
Succession planning is about starting with the end in mind. if your goal is to sell your business one day, or even hire others to run it while you curtail your hours, the steps described above will get you on the right track. investment always precedes re-turn, and as vic Haas says, “if entrepreneurs want to increase the amount a buyer will pay for their business, they have to make an investment in people who can run it for them.”
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12 MFSA PostScripts
Member News
search the hashtag, all of the tweets you create that include that hashtag will appear on their screen.
using these techniques would also be helpful to your employees because this would inform them to avoid the work area if it is too dangerous. if they are able to work from home, they would be able to take over client needs while the people in charge take care of the actual workplace.
Social media is an excellent communi-cation tool when people have no time to talk to a large group of people indi-vidually. Your audience will appreciate knowing the situation your company would be in and knowing that you would be doing everything you could to resume to the usual schedules. if making individual calls to each client and worker is the last thing you want to do when you are trying to keep your business afloat, then social media is the way to go. Posting short, informa-tive messages throughout the day will give your entire audience a consistent, helpful update on what the situation is for your business.
Here are nine must-have’s for an emer-gency company group Page on Face-book:
1. Staff directory with all contact information 2. client directory with all contact information 3. link to the local news of work place 4. link to local map 5. emergency preparation kit 6. Be sure all employees are group members 7. company calendar 8. Shelter locations 9. contact information of local police, fire, and other departments
Social Media continued from page 1
United Mail, louisville, KY, designed a Holiday Program to give thanks to their clients while also supporting our armed forces. operation gratitude provides an online avenue for over 3,000 united Mail clients to select from a list of charitable military or-ganizations. united Mail will make a contribution in their client’s name. united Mail has mailed an operation gratitude package to their clients informing them how to go to a personalized
website and select an organization that specializes in prepar-ing special holiday gifts for our troops, veterans and their
families. these charitable organizations provide a morale boost to our troops and veterans through care packages, greeting let-ters or gifts to their families while they serve our country.
Chris Lien, president of bCC Software, Inc., rochester, nY, has been elected to the idealliance Board of directors. currently an idealliance representative to the Mailers technical advisory committee (Mtac), lien will begin his two-year term in February 2011. idealliance (international digital enterprise alliance) is a not-for-profit membership organization that works to advance technologies and develop and implement standards in the fields of information technology and publishing.
JANUARY 2011 13
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EmploymentReprinted with Permission from Jackson Lewis
Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimina-tion on New Criminal background Check law
Massachusetts’ new law on criminal offender record information (“cori”) bans the use of questions about criminal history on an “initial written application” for employment. this ban became effective november 4, 2010. the cori law provides that it is un-lawful for an employer to request criminal history information on an “initial written” employment application. the Mcad in-terprets that broadly. it instructs that any written form or ap-plication requesting an applicant’s criminal history prior to an interview falls under this prohibition. Prior to the Mcad’s guid-ance, employers interpreted the cori law to permit them to ask applicants about criminal history on documents other than the initial written application. the Mcad appears to suggest in the Fact Sheet that employers may request criminal history informa-tion from an applicant only after the interview commences.
Most employers must discontinue making written inquiries about an applicant’s criminal history on initial employment ap-plications. if employers wish to make such inquiries later, careful consideration must be given to the restrictions and interpreta-tions in the Fact Sheet. While it is unclear whether and how a court would interpret the Fact Sheet, given the inconsistencies between the Fact Sheet and the law, the Fact Sheet is instructive of the enforcement position the Mcad will take. thus, a careful review and design of hiring procedures, including the method and timing of a criminal history inquiry, may help to avoid cost-ly legal proceedings while ensuring that, consistent with their business needs, employers can screen applicants prior to hire.
Minnesota Court Denies Unemployment benefits, Says Misrepresentation in Hiring process is Mis-conduct
in good news for employers, the Minnesota court of appeals has clarified that “employment misconduct” includes a misrep-resentation made during hiring and affirmed the denial of un-employment benefits. under Minnesota law, an employee who is discharged for employment misconduct is ineligible from receiving unemployment benefits. While agreeing with the un-employment-law judge’s determination that the applicant was discharged for employment misconduct, the court reversed the finding that the discharge was also for aggravated employment misconduct.
“employment misconduct” is statutorily defined as “any inten-tional, negligent, or indifferent conduct, on the job or off the job that displays clearly: (1) a serious violation of the standards of behavior the employer has the right to reasonably expect of the employee; or (2) a substantial lack of concern for the employ-ment.” Minn. Stat. § 268.095, subd. 6(a).
a person making a material misrepresentation during the hiring process is therefore ineligible for unemployment benefits if he or she is later discharged because of the misrepresentation.”
14 MFSA PostScripts
if the answers to these questions are unclear, then your com-pany may want to consider preparing a Business continuity Plan (BcP).
When determining your company’s need for a BcP it is important to think about and identify the purpose of the BcP in meeting your company’s requirements to maintain business operations. the list below includes several general purposes that relate to the preparation and implementation of a BcP:
• ensure the continuous performance of a company’s es-sential functions during an emergency situation;
• ensure the safety of employees and visitors;• Protect essential equipment, records, and other assets;• reduce disruptions to operations;• Minimize damage and losses;• achieve an orderly recovery from emergency opera-
tions; and• identify alternate locations and ensure operational and
managerial requirements are met before an emergency occurs.
there are five essential steps to initiate when beginning your planning for a BcP. the following is a description of each.
Step 1 – Emergency Incident AssessmentsBefore you can begin gathering pertinent information to include in your plan, you must identify the types of disasters that could affect your business essential functions (i.e. flood, fire, storms; human factors such as cut-backs and layoffs; structural losses; and health issues). in this step you will also determine how these disasters will affect your business and how long your business can survive with a service interrup-tion.
Step 2 – Continuing operationsonce an assessment of incidents and disasters has been completed you can now focus on your planning. in Step 2 you will plan, gather and develop your BcP. You may need to set up a team, develop or conduct surveys, establish delegations of authority or succession of leadership and examine business operations and activities. es-sential functions should be identified and prioritized to determine resources needed for those essen-tial functions. alternate locations must be identified and you should plan for employees with special needs. once this infor-mation is gathered, the plan can be written.
Step 3 – Company Communicationonce the plan is written, communication within your company is vital to any BcP. Your staff will need to be trained and prepared in order to implement the plan. You can develop a communi-cation network including an emergency alert system and then train staff, test processes and systems and gather feedback. Be sure to provide instruction on individual or company functions, procedures and responsibilities and conduct exercises with the group. encourage personal and family preparedness and pro-vide support to staff to discuss critical issues. companies should identify multiple ways to communicate with staff. Some com-munications could include social media (see article on page 1)
telephone call trees, email messages or emergency e-blasts, voicemail or text messaging. it is important to also consider an off-site or out of state contact and a telephone system that can operate without electricity.
after an incident, help employees return to normal work rou-tines and encourage personal health. Provide opportunities for debriefing, discussion and family support.
Step 4 – protect Investmentsthe next step in the plan is to protect your investments, or en-sure that you are fully protected. this includes fully auditing and updating insurance policies and also understanding them. What does your plan cover? What doesn’t it cover? What are your de-ductibles? do you need to insure for flood coverage, physical losses or business interruption? now is a good idea to have your buildings inspected and identify alternatives like generators, emergency lighting, utilities and fire safety. install smoke alarms, detectors and fire extinguishers. You may need to develop a site floor plan and identify exits, and entrances as well as securing and identifying any necessary equipment, including computers, materials and supplies. also, include a plan to restore or replace equipment and have cyber security in place. an audit of your computer systems is imperative, including updating and using anti-virus software, firewalls, and back up systems. a great re-source to use is the department of Homeland Security’s nation-al cyber alert System, the united States computer emergency readiness team (uS-cert) at www.us-cert.gov.
Step 5 - RecoveryYour first step in recovery is to assign a company recovery man-ager who is not involved with the response efforts. this person
should be designated at the onset of the emergency and should focus on getting the company back to normal oper-ations. the company can main-tain limited operations while in recovery mode, but keep staff informed of the recovery prog-ress. Keep in mind that your goal is to ensure continuation of essential functions during and after emergencies. this can be accomplished by protecting assets, reducing or mitigating
operational disruptions, facilitating recovery to minimize loss of life, injury and property damage and providing family support planning for company personnel, if needed.
Statistics indicate that only 25 percent of businesses survive af-ter a business disruption. a BcP can be an excellent differentia-tion factor to customers. it assures them that your services and products will be available in the event of a disaster or interrup-tion of operations.
Compliance Management International (www.complianceplace.com) is an emergency management, environmental, and engi-neering consulting firm specializing in emergency management and preparedness, environmental, health and safety compliance. For more information or if you need assistance in preparing a BCP, please contact Donielle Dziedzic at 215-699-4800, ext. 103 or email [email protected].
Disaster continued from page 1
JANUARY 2011 15
16 MFSA PostScripts
Association
By tom Quinn and Kate dunn
the prolonged recession and the increased use of technology have forever changed the landscape of the print, mail and fulfill-ment industries. Because of this technological growth, spending on digital advertising will surpass spending on print advertising for 2010. there is no question that in addition to mail volume being down, electronic document fulfillment has become the norm. and although pundits predict an increase in mail volume for 2011, the industry will not return to its pre-recession glory days. in addition to trimming headcount and operating costs where possible, many firms are considering expanding their ca-pabilities in order to provide more marketing services and ben-efit an additional source of revenue.
MFSa has joined forces with tom Quinn, chief consultant at Q Fulfillment Solutions, inc. and recently retired MFSa director of Fulfillment Services, and kate Dunn, industry pioneer and in-ternationally recognized sales coach, to offer a unique program that combines both classroom and field coaching. the goal is to provide MFSa members with the support and reinforcement needed to successfully transition current sales professionals.
the technology required to make such a change is readily avail-able, more affordable than ever before and relatively easy to learn. However, it is the development of sound strategic and operational strategies, comprehensive marketing plans and the correct mix of skilled personnel that will ultimately lead to your success. the need for the evolution of personnel is perhaps most evident in the sales force transition. they must migrate from a transactional model where many do little more than “quote and hope,” to a consultative sales approach. this consultative approach requires access to higher levels of decision makers within organizations and the ability to build business cases for using more sophisticated solutions. the new approach will re-quire more patience to navigate increasingly more complex and longer sales cycles.
Many MSP pioneers can attest the goal of transitioning their sales force from a transactional to a consultative model has proven illusive. Sales training lasting a few hours or days in class-rooms or seminars does not provide the reinforcement needed for your sales team to develop the acumen and skills required to sell marketing services. luckily resources exist today to help make this transition less painful and more importantly, help companies become more profitable in less time.
the 52-week program is being offered for the first time in Janu-ary 2011. Participants will take part in two formal classroom sessions spanning two days. the first session will be provided at the beginning of the training and the second will follow ap-proximately six months later. the kick-off first session in January will cover the following topics:
1. definition and components of marketing services a. Personalized direct mail b. cross-channel marketing campaigns c. Web to print and e-fulfillment
2. definition of suspect or lead criteria3. Prospecting tactics for reaching higher level executives and identifying their buying style4. tele-prospecting skills5. Qualifying opportunities6. conducting a needs analysis7. advancing opportunities
in addition, students will be introduced to the marketing servic-es industry, review current trends, discuss tactics and vernacular to help them build credibility with prospective buyers.throughout the 52-week program, participants will meet once every two weeks via telephone conference from their respective locations. during these sessions, the instructors will help each participant fine tune their selling styles and perfect the skills and business knowledge necessary to be credible with senior level decision makers. other topics covered during these sessions will include:
1. Handling objections2. Building credibility throughout the sales cycle3. developing solutions4. Building roi calculations5. Presenting solutions6. negotiating contracts
the second two-day classroom training will take place midway through the program and will provide reinforcement, and intro-duce additional marketing or business concepts that will help expand the expertise of each participant. there will also be ad-ditional content provided in these areas:
1. Marketing and fulfillment best practices2. integration of social media in cross-channel strategies3. advanced sales skills4. Workshops to reinforce previous training
each participant will also meet with an instructor two times each month, one on one, to work on developing specific skills and account strategies.
the tuition for this program is $5,000. onsite training will take place in dolce, atlanta located in Peachtree city, ga. all the travel and related expenses are to be paid by participating firms. group discounts are available to MFSa members. Space is lim-ited to ensure effectiveness.
NEw MfSA pRogRAM CAN HElp SpEED tHE tRANSItIoN to MSp
tom QuinnQ Fulfillment solutions
Kate DunnDigital Innovations group
JANUARY 2011 17
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2010 G MFSA Ad Rock_Layout 1 12/10/10 12:31 PM Page 1
18 MFSA PostScripts
How I Did Itwhat did you want to “be” when you were a child? what was your favorite job and least favorite job before Mail Advertising?
i wanted to be a fireman or cowboy. i started to say “firefighter” but i would rather not go out into those fires. that’s down-right dangerous! Hanging out with the guys and girls in the station would be great. My favorite job was working in a gym while in high school. i got to work out and tan and the rest of the time, pretty much sit around and do my home-
work. My least favorite job was my first one: working in a pet store. i didn’t make the soccer team my fresh-man year of high school and Mom made me get a job. the pet store took me. they paid me cash, which was cool, but cleaning out the cages is no good. i’ll clean out the barn where the cows eat….and, uh, process food before cleaning out the kitty litter.
what is the history of your family’s company?the business was started in the 1920s. two women bought it. My father began working for them in 1954. dad has owned the company since 1973. He just turned 80 and still comes in most days to make sure we’ve got money in the bank. i started working here three weeks after graduating from the university of Washington in 1992. My sister started in 1998 after getting her graduate degree from Western Washing-ton university.
Did you always plan on going to work for Mail Advertising?no. i really was unsure what Mail advertising did while i was growing up. i lived on an island about two hours from the shop so rarely went there. We loved to go there once in awhile so we could play Pong on the big computer. But, we did plenty of hand labeling in front of cartoons at home, though.
what did you learn when you had to step up after your dad got sick?
i had only been here for a little while when my dad got really sick. He wound up in the hos-pital for about a month. there were many clients that worked only with emmet Sr. a number of them figured i was just a punk kid. i learned quickly how to read clients on the phone and figure out what they really needed. i learned the desperate need to manage expectations. if i am
given an expectation, i have a starting and hopefully ending point. Without that, you don’t know how to be successful. the hardest thing was learning how to manage the employees. i was 24 years old and had the need to be everyone’s friend. You cannot be that as the manager.
who are your role models? Mentors? biggestinfluence on your career?i had some good teachers and friends. i think it’s a combination of a number of people. Mike Seymour was a client in 1993 and quickly became a friend. He is a wonderful man that has really taught me a lot about how to interact with people with complete honesty and integrity. Mike is a great man that led me to do more non-profit work (with him i was on the board and subsequently the president of the board of a non-profit that helps at risk youths in Seattle). anoth-er mentor would be John Wolf iii. He took me under his wing when i started attending conferences. He helped me become more outgoing and he taught me a ton about marketing myself and our company, more and better.
what advice would you give someone who was considering starting a business today…either in or out of the industry?in? Wow, that’s a bold move. i would highly recom-mend looking closely at doing things digitally and invest in programs that are easy to communicate with. Watch your cash flow and make sure it remains positive. i have no great pearls of wisdom here. Hire good people. Fire ones that don’t fit. they might not be bad employees, they just don’t belong on your bus.
what is your educational background? How did it prepare you for day-to-day business, if at all?i started college at a small school in la called occi-dental college. i wasn’t there long as the business took a turn in the wrong direction. i flew home and went to the university of Washington and graduated in 1992 with a Bachelors degree in economics. this really taught me that as the business goes, life goes for the owner.
Emmet Marshall
President ofMail Advertising Bureau
emmet and his parents
MFsa pals at last year’s Mid-Winter Conference include John Wolf, scott schuh, Brad Chrysler, emmet Marshall and Chris Huber.
JANUARY 2011 19
How I Did ItHow is a family-run business different from a regular business?i think the main thing is we tend (at least speaking from per-sonal experience) to get closer and in each other’s “business” more than a regular business. it can make it tough to discipline someone shortly after being in their wedding.
what type of manager are you?good cop. i think i’m pretty good at more big picture things (what should we invest in) because the majority of what my focus has always been is working with our customers. i talk to them about where they are going and what they would like to do…then we talk about how we can get there. i’m extremely fortunate to call most of my customers my friends.
what makes Mail Advertising different from other companies?our people. We have an amazing crew. our people will do any-thing and work all night and weekend to make sure our clients are happy. We really do have an awesome group of people at Mail ad.
what do you want to be doing 10 years from now? 20 years from now?10 years – sitting on a beach while taking breaks to surf and swim in the ocean.20 years – much like 10 years but perhaps with more siesta time.
How hard is it to work with a family member?depends on which one. My brother had a short stint at Mail ad and it was tough. it was ruining our relationship (though we had some good times at MaSa conferences…for those of you who remember Hunter). i now work with my sister, christina. there is no one in the world i would rather do this with. She is an amaz-ing person. i’m so lucky to be so close with her. She is great.
How do you relax? How does that play into your business life?i love to hang out at our house in Mexico with my lovely girl, Kelly. People can tell when i’ve been there recently. i know i truly get to relax there. other than that, i love to play or watch soccer and go fishing with my great friend, chad richardson (Se-attle Mailing Bureau – competitor, just up the street). We go on fly fishing trips, which often gives us time in the car to chat about work, family, life. We are able to talk about the future of the in-dustry and can really relate (he, too, is in a family business). i’m quite lucky. these things help me look at the big picture.
what makes you smile? laugh?Smile – Kelly, nephews, niec-es, all family, friends, and the Sounders (our local soccer team).laugh – people falling down.
what is your favorite part about your job? least fa-vorite?the people. the people. the people, both in the building and out (employees and customers) are the best and the tough-est part of this job. it is the job. the people are everything. it’s not businesses you’re doing work with, it’s a person. i do love people.
what’s the best piece of advice you were ever given? don’t lie. not even the little ones. once you say, “Yep, it mailed” and it really hasn’t, that is when you’ve just guaranteed you will run short of material. that, and to go for it. Make bold moves. life would be pretty dull if you didn’t have fun and take some risks.
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emmet and Chad richardson, back, fly fishing.
emmet and Kelly
20 MFSA PostScripts
Business Operations
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How many public relations spokespersons does your company have?
the correct answer is, “as many employees as we have.” Sure, any organization can and should have a policy whereby only certain individuals are “officially” authorized to speak for the record. if a reporter calls and you have a designated spokesperson policy, the call will be probably be routed correctly -- but that doesn’t prevent your secretary, an intern or a ju-nior executive from giving their version of the facts to family members, friends, Pta members, golfing buddies and anyone else they know.
internal audiences are as, if not more, important than external audiences dur-ing a crisis, and yet those who aren’t ac-tually on the crisis response team often receive the least consideration when the stuff hits the fan. it is vital, during the cri-sis communications planning process, to formulate key messages not only for em-ployees, but also for others who are close enough to the organization to be consid-ered “internal” -- e.g., regular consultants and major vendors. they’re the ones who are going to be asked first, by external au-diences (including reporters, when they try to go around you), “what’s going on?”
Here are some tips for preparing inter-nal audiences to be an asset to crisis re-sponse: Develop one to three key messages about the situation that are simple enough for everyone to understand, remember and use in their day-to-day affairs. in an extremely sensitive situa-tion, messages might be nothing more than reassuring statements and “nice no comments” -- e.g., “our day-to-day busi-ness is completely unaffected by this,” “we know this is going to come out well for us when all the facts are known,” or “we’re a damn good company and i’m proud to work here.”
brief all employees in person about what’s happening and keep them in-formed on a regular basis. in-person briefings say “we care about you” in a manner which no memo or internal newsletter can accomplish, although sometimes written communications are the only option. and you don’t want
internal audiences to read facts, or alleged facts, in your local newspaper first!
Identify your best “unofficial spokespersons” and your “loose cannons.” the former are employees who you know are loyal, know when to speak and when to keep their mouths shut, and who are admired by their peers; if they feel that they’re re-ceiving accurate information and are being cared for, they’ll pass that feeling on to others along with the key messages you’ve shared. loose cannons are those who just don’t know when
INtERNAl CRISIS CoMMUNICAtIoN
(Continued to page 21)
JANUARY 2011 21
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New MemberstC Delivers, offers barcoding, co-mingled mailings, data pro-cessing services, desk top publishing, file maintenance, hand assembly, machine inserting, ink jet addressing, international mailing service, laser printing – sheet feed, list broker services, mailing lists, merge/purge, national change of address, packag-ing and shipping, polybag, presort services, resident list broker, tabbing and warehousing/distribution. tc delivers is located at 5911 Philips Highway, Jacksonville, Fl, 32216. MFSa contact dan lawlor can be reached at 904-281-2604 or by FaX at 904-281-9076.
w+D Machinery Company, Inc., offers high speed envelope inserting, intelligent mail applications, read and print as well as sells and services the very robust and reliable Buhrs envelope inserting line. W+d Machinery company is located at 9101 Qui-vira road, overland Park, KS, 66215-3992. gary Harris, product specialist, can be reached at 913-492-9880 or by FaX at 913-492-7641.
Southwest publishing & Mailing Corp., established in 1971, offers barcoding, co-mingled mailings, data processing ser-vices, embossing, envelope conversion, fulfillment-literature, fulfillment-product, machine inserting, ink jet addressing, inter-national mailing service, laser printing-continuous, letterpress printing, merge/purge, first class presort, tipping/affixing, tab-bing, turnkey and web offset printing. Southwest Publishing & Mailing is located at 2600 nW topeka Boulevard, topeka, KS, 66617. angie Mcatee, vice president, can be reached at 785-233-5662 or by FaX at 785-233-7258.
to shut up, whose feelings -- sometimes disloyal/disgruntled, sometimes zealously loyal -- lead them to communicate not only facts, but rumors and innuendo. during crises, loose cannons need to receive gentle, but firm extra counseling about appro-priate communication and/or be particularly well isolated from sensitive information.
Create a rumor-control system. Provide means by which inter-nal audiences can ask questions and get rapid responses. You can designate certain trusted individuals (white and blue-collar) as “rumor control reps” who will field questions and then ob-tain answers from someone on the official crisis response team. and it’s important to also have an anonymous means of asking questions, such as a locked drop box combined with a bulletin board on which answers to anonymous questions are posted. all employees can be encouraged to use either communication method without fear of reprisal.
Successful implementation of an internal communications pro-gram will carry your key message better, longer and farther than most external communications, while a lack of internal com-munications can completely undermine even the best external strategy. the two can, and must, go hand-in-hand.
Jonathan L. Bernstein, President/CEO of Bernstein Communica-tions, Inc. has 20 years experience in the design and conduct of public relations and strategic communications programs, with par-ticular expertise in what is commonly called “Crisis Management.”
Internal Crisis continued from page 20
22 MFSA PostScripts
Chapter NewsNorthwest ChapterPresident: gordon taschuk; Kirk integrated Marketing1st vP: Mark Weeks; international direct response Services2nd vP: chris Huber; virtual SystemsSec/treasurer: Wayne Modica; aKa directevents coordinatorand Membership: dan Minga; imagistyxFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.
pacific ChapterPresident: tom duchene; tdMS immediate PastPresident: Ken cachat; direct list technologyBoard Member: John Hodgman; direct connection MailingFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.
New England ChapterPresident: laura Harper; FPMSiimmediate Past President: Kerry Hannify; data-Mail2nd vice Pres.: Shannon campbell; W.a. Wilde companySec./treasurer: Paul Silvestri; FPMSiFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.
Southwest ChapterPresident: Jack gressett; advertising Mail corp.For more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.
Chesapeake ChapterPresident: Ken gossett; aMitreasurer: Milton olekson; aMiFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.
Rocky Mountain ChapterPresident: Jim albany; newmark Printingimmediate Past President: george Heinrich; the Postal Professorvice President: troy Fischer; on target Mailing ServicesSecretary: Wes Powell; tMr inc.For more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.
ohio valley ChapterPresident: tammy caserta; think Patentedvice President: John Palazzolo; adPhosSecretary : lori Swetlin; Pitney BowesFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.
Southeast ChapterPresident: Scott coggin; datadirectSecretary: townley chattman; Highcottontreasurer: chuck cairatti; McQuiddy classicFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.
philadelphia ChapterPresident: John rafner; Streamline Solutionsvice President: Michael Brenneman; intelligencer Mailing & Fulfillment For more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.
great plains ChapterBoard Member: Mike colestock; Japs-olson Board Member: rhea Friederichs; the John roberts companyBoard Member: craig Schiller; action Mailing ServicesFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.
New York ChapterPresident: carmen ocello; direct Mail depot 1st vice Pres.: Joseph gomez; Federal direct2nd vice Pres.: timothy Kennon; Mcvicker & Higginbothamtreasurer: John lagreca; Federal directSecretary: doug Branch; Mailtech Mailing SystemsFor more information on meetings or member information, contact Jim Prendergast at 212-217-6824 or visit www.mfsany.org.
great lakes ChapterFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-350-6177.
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JANUARY 2011 23
24 MFSA PostScripts
ClASSIfIEDS golD pARtNERSthe following supplier members have become gold Partners with MFSa due to their level of support.
AccuZIpAdphos North America, Inc. Alg worldwide logisticsbCC Software Hewlett packardinterlinkoNEkirk-Rudy, Inc.kodakMCS/think Inkpitney bowes RR Donnelley logisticsSatori SoftwareStreamline Solutions
For information about becoming a gold Partner, contact MFSa at 800-333-6272.
Join your MfSA Chapter todaychapters provide educational and networking opportunities and are a great resource of information that affect the mailing and ful-fillment industry. the 12 regional chapters are governed by local volunteers and function under the umbrella of the national head-quarters. they serve their specific regions, each with its own oppor-tunities and challenges. More information can be found online at: http://www.mfsanet.org/chapters.
NEED HElp – Call fulfillment 911... the MfSA fulfillment Hotline recently retired MFSa director of Fulfillment Services, tom Quinn, now offers all MFSa members the opportunity to get 30 minutes of fulfillment consulting at no charge. Whether your questions be on operations, warehouse layout, software, sales, or marketing, you are only a phone call or email away from getting the answers. to contact tom, please call him at 770-632-9253 or [email protected].
NEED HElp – Call postal 911... the MfSA postal HotlineSpeak with postal professor, george Heinrich, for advice on postal regulation, mail acceptance, or operational issues. this is an MFSa membership benefit – the first 30 minutes is complimentary. george can be reached at 303-325-3048, 8 am – 6 pm Mountain time. need help with a postal regulation? remember the MFSa listserve or contact leo raymond at 800-333-6272 ext. 203.
