Subject: [NEXTEL-1] The Floor Shook, But They Didn't

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 27 Oct 2002 13:45:10 -0500

Go Cathy!
===============================================================
The New York Times
Business Section

ON THE JOB
The Floor Shook, But They Didn't
By LAWRENCE VAN GELDER

10/27/2002

When times are tough, do the tough really get going? The answer is: Sometimes. As the mail
indicates, maybe the best strategy for maintaining business in a weak economy is simply to
sit tight. But when the outlook is bleak, well-planned action may also pay off in a big
way.

Catherine E. Sutter, the president and owner of Pro-Tec Mobile Communications of Casa
Grande, Ariz., was facing fierce competition in difficult economic times. Owning and
operating wireless radio stations that allow hundreds of business clients throughout
Phoenix and Tucson to dispatch their fleets of vehicles, Miss Sutter was up against six
major wireless carriers: AT&T Wireless, Sprint PCS, Nextel Communications, Verizon
Communications, Alltel and Western Wireless.

What did she do?

Nothing, she says.

"What I saw happening to the cellular industry was exactly what happened to the local
two-way radio shops that were forced to compete against one another 15 years ago," she
writes.

"There were too many of us providing mobile two-way service to the consumer. All of us
were guilty of giving away radios and installations at cost. None of us would raise our
rates for fear that our hard-earned customer would jump ship to our competitor."

Faced with a familiar situation, Miss Sutter says she paid off her company's long-term
debt, sat back and waited.

As the fight for customers continues, she says, her sites are built and her company is
debt free. Contemplating this competitive edge, she adds, "I now have the luxury of
educating the big carriers about how to keep customers."

Until a couple of months ago in Portland, Ore., Tamara M. Seymour, now a freelance writer,
was the senior marketing manager and creative director for Household International, a
consumer finance company based in the Chicago suburb of Prospect Heights. In the best
literary tradition, she introduces her account of taking exceptional measures to avert a
drastic fate with a biblical overview:

"In the beginning, an entrepreneur created a company, and the company was private and
profitable," she writes. "And the entrepreneur sold his small company to a much larger
Fortune 100 company. And the giant corporation said, `Let there be efficiency'; and there
were many layoffs."

She continues: "The work unit I managed served as the acquired company's internal
advertising agency, responsible for the creative development and production of all its
marketing communications. We were miraculously spared during the downsizing — seems no one
knew what to do with our little group, since we were an anomaly within a well-established
parent organization that traditionally relied on external ad agencies. But the new
management liked our pretty pictures, and the customer response rates to our ads were
high."

Still, danger lurked. "We knew the day would come when we would have to prove our value to
Chicago," Ms. Seymour writes. "Since we relied on internal clients to feed us business, we
launched a widespread self-promotion campaign."

Designers and copywriters stayed late to develop a whole new identity for the eight-member
group, including a catchy "agency" name and logo. They published a colorful promotional
kit with business cards, a team biography and samples of their finest work. They visited
satellite offices in other areas of the country, "passing out promo kits like Bibles at a
revival," as Ms. Seymour puts it.

Ms. Seymour slipped in a plug or two — along with some favorable comparisons with the cost
of doing business with outside ad agencies — at high-level management meetings.

"Within six months, we had booked half a dozen new clients and locked ourselves in as the
primary creative service provider for our division of the corporation," she writes.

"And to ensure we would not be forgotten, we offered follow-up care in the form of
occasional gifts. For example, top managers who enlisted our services received a set of
original greeting cards, handcrafted in-house, to send to their own customers and vendors
during the holidays. These types of simple and kind gestures were a big hit and helped to
secure our team's popularity.

"For a while, hoop-jumping was a way of life in our little creative corner of a
profit-driven world. But with tireless self-promotion, our collectively bleak outlook was
transformed. We generated exciting new business for ourself and bulked up the company's
bottom line.

"And in the end, we all kept our jobs."

October 27, 2002

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Today's News Past Week Past 30 Days Past 90 Days Past Year Since 1996

ON THE JOB
The Floor Shook, But They Didn't
By LAWRENCE VAN GELDER

hen times are tough, do the tough really get going? The answer is: Sometimes. As the mail indicates, maybe the best strategy for maintaining business in a weak economy is simply to sit tight. But when the outlook is bleak, well-planned action may also pay off in a big way.

Catherine E. Sutter, the president and owner of Pro-Tec Mobile Communications of Casa Grande, Ariz., was facing fierce competition in difficult economic times. Owning and operating wireless radio stations that allow hundreds of business clients throughout Phoenix and Tucson to dispatch their fleets of vehicles, Miss Sutter was up against six major wireless carriers: AT&T Wireless, Sprint PCS, Nextel Communications, Verizon Communications, Alltel and Western Wireless.

What did she do?

Nothing, she says.

"What I saw happening to the cellular industry was exactly what happened to the local two-way radio shops that were forced to compete against one another 15 years ago," she writes.

"There were too many of us providing mobile two-way service to the consumer. All of us were guilty of giving away radios and installations at cost. None of us would raise our rates for fear that our hard-earned customer would jump ship to our competitor."

Faced with a familiar situation, Miss Sutter says she paid off her company's long-term debt, sat back and waited.

As the fight for customers continues, she says, her sites are built and her company is debt free. Contemplating this competitive edge, she adds, "I now have the luxury of educating the big carriers about how to keep customers."

Until a couple of months ago in Portland, Ore., Tamara M. Seymour, now a freelance writer, was the senior marketing manager and creative director for Household International, a consumer finance company based in the Chicago suburb of Prospect Heights. In the best literary tradition, she introduces her account of taking exceptional measures to avert a drastic fate with a biblical overview:

"In the beginning, an entrepreneur created a company, and the company was private and profitable," she writes. "And the entrepreneur sold his small company to a much larger Fortune 100 company. And the giant corporation said, `Let there be efficiency'; and there were many layoffs."

She continues: "The work unit I managed served as the acquired company's internal advertising agency, responsible for the creative development and production of all its marketing communications. We were miraculously spared during the downsizing — seems no one knew what to do with our little group, since we were an anomaly within a well-established parent organization that traditionally relied on external ad agencies. But the new management liked our pretty pictures, and the customer response rates to our ads were high."

Still, danger lurked. "We knew the day would come when we would have to prove our value to Chicago," Ms. Seymour writes. "Since we relied on internal clients to feed us business, we launched a widespread self-promotion campaign."

Designers and copywriters stayed late to develop a whole new identity for the eight-member group, including a catchy "agency" name and logo. They published a colorful promotional kit with business cards, a team biography and samples of their finest work. They visited satellite offices in other areas of the country, "passing out promo kits like Bibles at a revival," as Ms. Seymour puts it.

Ms. Seymour slipped in a plug or two — along with some favorable comparisons with the cost of doing business with outside ad agencies — at high-level management meetings.

"Within six months, we had booked half a dozen new clients and locked ourselves in as the primary creative service provider for our division of the corporation," she writes.

"And to ensure we would not be forgotten, we offered follow-up care in the form of occasional gifts. For example, top managers who enlisted our services received a set of original greeting cards, handcrafted in-house, to send to their own customers and vendors during the holidays. These types of simple and kind gestures were a big hit and helped to secure our team's popularity.

"For a while, hoop-jumping was a way of life in our little creative corner of a profit-driven world. But with tireless self-promotion, our collectively bleak outlook was transformed. We generated exciting new business for ourself and bulked up the company's bottom line.

"And in the end, we all kept our jobs."

Technology Briefing | Telecommunications: Nortel Reports 11th Quarterly Net Loss  (October 18, 2002)

Nokia Shows Way to Profit In an Industry In a Slump  (October 18, 2002)
$

Talks on Russian Entry Into W.T.O. Hit Snag  (October 18, 2002)
$

Technology Briefing | Hardware: Harris Lowers Profit Forecast  (October 17, 2002)
$

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