An outside consultant has been hired to develop a formal plan for cataloger Lillian Vernon's business-to-business operations.
“They want to study it from an impartial, outsider's perspective,” company spokesman David Hochberg said, referring to the company's new management, ZelnickMedia.
He did not identify the consultant and provided no specifics regarding the time frame the consultant is working under.
“One of the possibilities is to do a separate BTB catalog,” he said. “Right now we market [the Lillian Vernon Corporate Sales] division on the order form in a catalog [where] there is a blurb for quantity discounts and corporate sales. There's a section on our Web site that promotes that division, and we have had booths at major trade shows such as The Premium Show.”
Account executives also handle the BTB business.
“If you're a Fortune 500 company, we have reps who service those major companies,” he said.
The company started selling in the BTB marketplace in 1954 after being founded in 1951. The Corporate Sales product line includes travel wallets, leather briefcases, desk clocks, bookmarks and paperweights.
“We do incentives, corporate gifts, premiums, gift certificates and fulfillment for other companies,” he said. “The BTB market has options. Which has the most potential, and which should we be doing more aggressively?
“We have one of the largest personalization departments in the U.S., putting our customers' names and initials on many of our products. That same equipment and technology is perfect for the BTB market. We have the infrastructure and the expertise to do this kind of marketing.”
