Meet the Broker: Shirley Schoevaars

Today we meet, Shirley Schoevaars, who serves as director of marketing and brokerage at Name-Finders Lists Inc. in San Francisco. Schoevaars has been with Name-Finders for the last two years and in the list business since 1989. She spent much of her earlier career working with Direct Media and American List Counsel.

Schoevaars started out as a postal list broker working with consumer files, but before long she broadened her reach to business-to-business lists. She currently splits her time about equally between working with fundraising lists and with consumer postal and e-mail lists.

"I like working with clients, testing, planning and offering ideas and suggestions to get them to think outside of the box, says Schoevaars. I love teaching people and I think that's the key to success in brokerage."

One thing that never changes for brokers is the need to always be on the lookout for new business, making cold calls and sending out mailings.

"Unless a broker has huge clients, a broker is always prospecting for new business. Really that's where I'm at now—is going out and bringing in new business," she says.

Schoevaars is married and has adult children and seven grandchildren. Her hobbies include handicrafts such as crocheting. For ultimate relaxation she enjoys taking walks on the beach.

What's it like working for a small list company during a time of industry consolidation?

"It is getting harder and harder to make a living in the list business," says Schoevaars.

Small list companies working one-on-one with clients can successfully compete with larger firms though, even those that can send out an entourage to client meetings.

"A small company can still hold a client's hand more, because we're not so large that we lose the perspective of individual clients," she says.

For brokers at all sized firms the biggest challenge has been the emergence of so much new media competing with direct mail, including banner ads, blogs and white papers being used to bring in new customers, as Schoevaars points out.

"Direct mail certainly is not as strong as it was when I first started in the business," she says.

What's the state of the fundraising list market?

The emphasis for a while has been on out-of-category lists, because demand is so high for a limited number of fundraising lists on the market. It's a challenge compounded by reciprocal list arrangements required by most list owners.

Schoevaars says the solution to fundraising list challenges often comes down to finding selections that work on lists from other categories. For example, a pet selection from a non-fundraising list can oftentimes bring in a new donor.

The best fundraising lists have always been and continue to be those generated by fulfilled fundraising pledges, she adds.

Know someone you'd like to suggest for Meet the Broker? E-mail Jim.Emerson@Penton.com