By Billy Sharma
David Foley
Talking to him reminded me of the famous words of Yogi Berra: “It's was like deja vu all over again!”
Eight months ago I got a call from David Foley asking me if I would be interested in hosting a seminar for one of his potential clients. “Your name is a bigger draw than mine in the direct marketing industry,” he said.
I was truly flattered but as we discussed the nature of the assignment, I hinted that a seminar might not be the right approach for his client and suggested an alternate solution. In the next few weeks as we planned an alternate strategy, the thing that impressed me the most was his thorough grasp and knowledge of database marketing. I knew right away that I was talking to a veteran who knew his subject thoroughly.
Equally impressive was his handling of the next few meetings with his client and his straightforward and honest style. Unfortunately the client abandoned the project and we never got to work together but I never forgot David and enquired about him from time to time from my friends and other sources in the industry.
We loved flying when we were young. We both gave up the comfort of agency life to go on our own and we both like teaching.
Those who know him well are always full of praise for him. They admire both his modesty and his sincerity. One mutual friend, Daniel Weist, said: “As an ex-New Yorker ( Manhattan), my earlier days in this business were spent surrounded by an abundance of boisterous chest-thumping types. One of the delights of settling in Canada was having an opportunity to work with brilliant marketers who didn’t find the need to constantly remind you of how brilliant they were.”
David Foley is one of those stars. He’s a savvy database expert who brings a wealth of technical expertise to the table, and that’s always fun to work with. But David is not merely a technical wizard. He also happens to be a confident direct marketer who offers sound insights and observations on consumer behaviour that will help you get to the heart of the data quickly and effectively.”
So I could not overlook the opportunity of interviewing him for my column. I called him up to set an appointment. He obligingly agreed but warned me that he was off to attend a seminar on copywriting in Florida the next week. Here was another similarity. I write for my clients and he wanted to become more proficient at it for his clients. I was intrigued and wanted to learn more about him.
When we finally connected this is what I learned.
His first job was as a counter clerk at Mercury Photo Service, a wholesale photofinisher. 3M soon purchased that company and several other wholesale photofinishers and renamed the new company Allied Photo Service. “I was moved into a marketing position by my boss, Ron McGinley. Not only was he a terrific boss but he also gave me the ‘rope’ I needed,” he explained. “Retail pricing of photo finishing was all over the place – if a retailer wanted a higher margin, we simply charged the end customer more. Our customers were drug, department and variety stores in those days. This shifting pricing structure utterly confused everybody. We were the first ones to develop a plan with a price cap and I was given the task of creating the collateral material.
“I can still recall the huge all caps headline in the poster – MAXIMUM PRICE PHOTOFINISHING! It did not occur to me – or anyone else who approved the copy - that this was the wrong way to express the value proposition, an early and important lesson.”
It was not long before he got into the agency world and joined McKim/Benton and Bowles as an account executive working on the SC Johnson account. Next he worked at Spitzer, Mills & Bates. His accounts there included Calona Wines, Warner Lambert and Hertz. Here he worked with the late, great Peter Zarry who he credits as his true guide and mentor. “Peter was both quick to criticize and encourage,” explained David.
Doris Wild Helmering in her book The 7th Sense clearly defines the criteria of constructive criticism, which is helpful and useful, as opposed to destructive criticism which is petty, degrading and useless.
According to her, constructive criticism is giving a clear direction which can be followed for improvement and change. It should have two components.
Start with, “Here’s what I like.” Give what you consider the good points of the project presented to you. The more points you can elaborate on the better. This preserves the recipient’s ego and softens the blow. It also sets a tone for a positive working environment.
Next say, “Now, if I had to do this,” and proceed with what you consider the points that need improvement. This phrase implies that you are expressing an opinion and not an accusation that is demeaning or sarcastic.
David went on to tell me that one of his colleagues called Peter “the bear who threatened to hug you” and that is a perfect and true description.
“ Even to this day when facing a perplexing business issue, I ask myself, "What would Peter do?" said David.
Because intuitively we all know that a customer database, be it 50,000 or 5 million names, is not homogeneous. And because of this diversity, it makes little sense to market to all customers the same way, i.e., the same level of marketing effort, the same offer, the same copy, the same creative. Yet, this is exactly what most direct marketers continue to do, perhaps without realizing it.
“The shopping habits of men and women are distinctive. Men dash into stores, get what they need and get the hell out. Whereas women examine, compare and window-shop. Their habits are entirely different and yet when we try to sell them something, we treat them the same,” he said.
When I enquired about his family life and hobbies or what he likes to do in his spare time he responded, “What spare time? “I am married but we have no children. My wife, Judy McFarlane, owns a winemaking business in Toronto and I am its marketing department.”**
When David finally decided to go on his own, his friend Peter gave him his first assignment - to develop a Database Marketing Seminar for what was then called the Department of Executive Development at York University.
“I recruited Arthur Hughes, the author of The Complete Database Marketer, and asked him to co-instruct the seminar with me. It ran for several years. Today, the Department is known as the Executive Learning Centre, Schulich School of Business, York University and I still co-instruct a Direct Response Marketing seminar there.*
“Probably the biggest shift for me was going from an employee to a self-employed person. The erratic cash flow of the independent consultant is always a challenge and I am terrible at networking. I am my biggest barrier. If I learned to network better, I would probably do more business,” he concluded.
So, please join me in wishing David all the best in his new endeavor. And, oh yes, if you want to get our newsletters, log onto www.davidfoley.cafor his and for mine email me at: designersinc@sympatico.ca.
(Billy Sharma is President and Creative Director of Designers Inc., Toronto)