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Upcoming Events

Welcome

Welcome to the 2nd edition of the Cross Examiner, Cross Country Computer’s quarterly newsletter designed to share the latest on our products and services as well as information on hot industry topics. We welcome your feedback and encourage you to submit topic suggestions for future issues. Enjoy!

SVP Cross Country Computer

Featured Employee: Douglas Nulty (a.k.a. Doug)

Douglas Nulty, Product Operations Manager

Doug Nulty is our Manager of Production Operations and cMail™ Services. In this role, Doug often works behind the scenes managing our team of production programmers and email coordinators. Doug’s team translates marketing instructions into programming language needed to execute MergePlus™, database updates and email processing. Doug is a hands-on manager who steps in as needed to ensure we meet deadlines or to accommodate rush delivery. Doug and his team are dedicated to providing quality output and adhere to stringent guidelines for each processing step that they execute.

Doug Trivia:

	Doug was one of Cross Country Computer's original email coordinators 10 years ago when we entered this space!
	While Doug has been with the company for nearly 11 years, he had many achievements prior to joining us; Doug earned his B.A. from Stonybrook, which is located in Long Island NY, majoring in Business Administration; He learned to be an effective supervisor during his tenure at Guaranteed Returns — a pharmaceutical reverse distribution company; He even had some retail experience as Technical Shop Manager for Sundown Ski and Patio.
	What does Doug do when he is not working? (He’s always working so we don’t really know!) Doug’s career is also listed as his hobby on his resume: computers. He also enjoys camping, mountain biking, golf and music. Doug would love to meet you the next time you visit the Cross Country Computer facility!

NEMOA Conference Highlights

The Fall NEMOA conference was great! A very intimate gathering of 200+ industry leaders who were very welcoming and forthcoming with case studies, best practices and a willingness to network.

One can walk an exhibit hall all day and not meet as many of the “right” people as you will attending one day at NEMOA. What a bargain! For a few hundred dollars, you can attend every session with the rest of the members and most meals are included (1 dinner, 2 breakfasts and 2 lunches — and countless snacks — as well as casino night). I highly recommend joining and attending the Spring conference in Boston — it’s not just for New Englanders. Conference attendees hail from 25 to 45 states.
Here are my key take-aways:

	Join the ACMA (American Catalog Marketers Association) This organization represents catalog marketers interests and has made tremendous progress dealing with the USPS and getting them to see marketing as a unique segment that needs to be handled differently.
	USPS Update USPS has forecast a projected $7 Billion deficit for 2009. The USPS is considering: reducing hours of operation, closing facilities (they have more locations than the top retailers combined), 5-day delivery schedule, congressional relief, incentives (Summer Sale), automation (IMB, FSS). What do we need to do? Consistent voice to Washington — Support the ACMA. Communicate and educate policymakers on our business model. Develop win-win solutions.
	Tips to Survive in this Economy Buy right — take advantage of good inventory deals and stock up on best sellers. Hold expenses tight & Deeply scrutinize marginal activities. Upgrade talent pool — there are good people out there/Keep the “A” Team. Grab market share from the fallen. Understand your customer and differentiate marketing accordingly. Get brands in shape & Assess your media mix. Be ready for the next “up” cycle! There will be one, long time industry veterans say this is cyclical. Outsource barcoding, trim call center hours and outsource, leverage UPS basic service, test smaller mail pieces and lower paper weight, add a wholesale channel, use “trigger” and “dynamic” emails, co-mail, try address hygiene beyond NCOA.
	Social Media Not everything is for everyone…now. Know your customer profile to determine what is best for your audience. Start with a Facebook account and Twitter. Socialize your website by adding video and allow for product ranking and feedback. Use social media to echo what you are doing with other media (i.e. direct mail, email).
	Search Engine Optimization Being found on the internet is key! 30% of new customers now come from organic search (not branded or URL). The three pillars for good search ranking: Links — Build link authority, ask business partners to link to you. Content: Go to your web site and click Ctrl-A to see what is text vs. image on each page. The more you can convert to text, the greater the likelihood that a search engine will pick up on the key words associated with your business. Google adwords has a keyword tool that allows you to see the monthly volumes associated with words. Sort to find the most popular terms and use them on your website. Make links Text. The underlined words in your content should be topics related to your offer as opposed to “Next” or “For more information click here”. Architecture — limit the number of clicks to get to important key words, Keep URLs short Website Conversion: Visitor to Buyer Status If they get to your site, don’t lose them! 70% leave because “the site doesn’t work”. Top 3 pages where customers abandon you: Home page, search page, cart Offer “Search Failure” Alternate Suggestions for product. Use this information to get new product ideas. Automated up-sell can double online AOV, people who buy this also buy this. Measurement Create a dashboard of key metrics. Make a distinction between what you are Tracking vs. Measuring. There are many things that can and should be tracked. However, measurement refers to those items that impact the bottom line of your business. Perform multi-channel match-backs. Avoid double counting sales across channels Determine incremental lift over existing business as usual.

Save the dates for the Spring NEMOA conference in Boston 3/10-3/12. Hope to see you there!

CCC Awarded First NextMark Select Certification

In June of this year, Cross Country Computer became the first service bureau to receive NextMark Select Certification for successful implementation of the NextMark Application Programming Interface (API).

Cross Country Computer has been a leader in list rental fulfillment technology and has received high customer satisfaction ratings with its proprietary solution: CrossSelect™. A powerful, cost effective, easy-to-use on-line database solution, CrossSelect™ is invaluable for list rental fulfillment. In addition to quick counts and speedy shipment of orders, all Cross Country Computer list managers and owners will benefit from the expanded reach and enhanced functionality that the NextMark integration offers. More than 4,000 list brokers use NextMark for list research, and they will soon have access to quick counts and marketing data for response lists hosted by Cross Country Computer.

“We pride ourselves on developing tools that make marketing simpler and more profitable for our clients which is why we jumped at the opportunity to be the first to work with NextMark to develop and introduce to the industry this revolutionary new data card update mechanism,” said Thomas J. Berger, CEO and Owner of Cross Country Computer “A fully-integrated, secure bridge between the Cross Country hosted databases and the NextMark Select data cards enables us to position our clients’ titles with top shelf functionality to thousands of list brokers. Furthermore, it creates a communication channel that our clients can leverage for cross sell and up sell opportunities.”

NextMark Select Certification gives Cross Country Computer clients a competitive edge in the marketplace by improving the recency of counts, reducing manual effort by as much as one week and providing more comprehensive list profiles on data cards which are automatically refreshed with each CrossSelect™ update. The ROI for list rental is expected to increase as a result of greater demand for titles with expanded segmentation and a “raised bar” for data integrity and marketing intelligence.

Cross Country Computer clients are also excited about this integration.

“These are great benefits for our list managers and brokers. NextMark Select eliminates redundant administrative tasks, enhances the presentation of our data cards, and profiles each list with actionable data. Best of all, it’s easy and free. Cross Country and NextMark worked together to provide this service to us.” — Debra Goldfarb, President of Institute Lists

“The data cards look great! This is a primary example of how NextMark Select enables list managers and service bureaus to work together more effectively.” — Joseph Pych, Founder and President of NextMark

As marketers turn their focus to housefile cultivation, the role of email as the most cost effective means of 1:1 marketing today has come into focus. Cross

Click here to download PDF

Country Computer understands the revenue potential associated with this media channel and has tailored a suite of services we call cMail™ (hygiene, appends and deployment), that work together to ensure Deliverability and Target Optimization.

Come Visit us at the DMA in San Diego

Come see us at

Booth #2213

at the DMA in San Diego for a Strategy Session on your Business

Cross Country Computer is committed to putting strategic marketing with the reach of all marketers. Whether you’re are an existing customer or a prospective client, contact us to make an appointment with our industry experts who will be at our booth so that we can discuss your goals for the coming year and offer recommendations.

We will also be conducting demos of our featured product, the DM Optimization Suite™. Our Direct Marketing Optimization Suite provides the tools for effective marketing planning, execution and evaluation from Start to Finish.

Click here to download PDF

	Know your customers completely
	Optimize contacts by buyer potential
	Evaluate multi-channel performance
	Make Every Marketing Dollar Count!

Come to our Booth #2213 for a demo that could change the way you market forever!

We will also be conducting a sweepstakes with two drawings for $100 AMEX Gift Certificates. Winners will be selected on Monday 10/19 and Tuesday 10/20. You do not need to be present to win. Our executives will be at the conference and would love to see you!

Our Clients are Lowering Costs Without Sacrificing Orders!

What’s Their Secret?
They have discovered the many benefits of outsourced offshore telemarketing through our friends at Cyber City Telemarketing Services Marketing Inc. (CCT) CCT is operated by industry veterans, including the former CEO of Lew Magram, who understand the level of service you require.

7 Ways Outsourcing to CCT Can Help You:

• Save money by sending CCT your ‘overflow’. Allow natural attrition and your desired in-house facility size dictate the volume outsourced
• Be prepared in the event of a disaster. When Mother Nature and system crashes impact your call center, simply flip the switch and increase your allocation to CCT until you are up and running again
• Expand your reach by taking orders 24/7 with none of the staffing and management headaches
• Eliminate second and third shifts that require an inefficient management structure… and are difficult to staff and control
• Staff your call center for mid-volume periods…no need to staff for the first week of a catalog drop with resulting overstaffing during second and third weeks
• Close your call center on Sundays and Holidays when per call costs are highest
• Stop worrying about high turnover or short term staffing increases needed for holiday call volume — once you are an established account, CCT is there when you need them

For a download of Erv Magram’s white paper please click here.
Cross Country Computer is dedicated to providing our clients with tips to weather these tough economic times. To learn more, please contact your account executive or email us at Inquiry@CrossCountryComputer.com.