Stacking the deck

Stacking the deck

Larry Golden and Dave Tropf have made RSVP Publications a successful direct mail business with a niche: the affluent.

By Dave Szymanski | Tampa Bay Editor

Larry Golden used to be in the printing business. It was a tough, grind-it-out daily existence, he says.

"Today, I love this. I feel I can make people happy," says Golden, 53, chief executive officer of RSVP Publications, a Tampa-based direct mail company, which gets hundreds of "thank you" cards a year from franchisees and clients.

RSVP works in the shadow of industry behemoth and fellow local company Valpak, which is based in Largo.

But RSVP has a distinct difference: It sends a pack of 20 to 72 glossy, four-color postcard-size advertisements for clients to more than 11 million affluent households in the United States and Canada between four and five times a year.

These are owner-occupied homes in 130 major metro markets with home values in the top 20% to 30% of that market. The clients include companies from restaurants to home tile to laser hair removal. Ninety franchisees get the cards printed and mailed.

Dave Tropf founded the company in Tampa in 1995. Golden, who sold printing services to RSVP, joined in 1998. It had two employees then, 14 now.

Tropf and Golden are co-CEOs. Tropf handles franchise development and training. Golden takes care of large network vendors and national accounts.

Their strategy: Put the interests of clients and franchisees first. That sometimes means changing card sizes, penetrating markets more, shrinking mailings, modernizing its printing and offering more training.

"We are continually refining our business," Golden says.

RSVP buys the list of homeowners and filters it, removing those who don't want the mailing and taking out others, such as homeowners in foreclosures.

In the future, Golden sees RSVP continually expanding in Canada. Some other markets in the United States are also viable.

It plans to continue to embrace the Internet. On the front of an RSVP card is a photo of the business and a headline. On the back, there's text and a Web address for the customer to go to print off a coupon or learn more.

RSVP's Web also site lists client companies. Visitors can check a box on companies, click through and get bonus offers from them.

"We look at ourselves as billboards to the Internet," Golden says. "The Internet is passive. We are proactive."

Franchises cost $30,000 for every 50,000 in mailable homes. Franchisees come to Tampa for 10 days of training.

Despite having affluent clients, the economy has pushed RSVP to adjust. Some markets are having their best year. Others are challenged.

"It is challenging out there, but we tell our franchisees, 'Let the economy make you or you can make the economy,'" Golden says.

Yet despite the economy, overall RSVP has grown every year since at least 2000. Revenues rose from $15.04 million in 2000 to $51.2 million in 2007.

RSVP franchisees need at least 60 clients for a successful mailing. The corporate office offers training and support. It recently held a special training seminar in San Diego. Most of its franchisees are in California.

"We help our franchisees look a little harder," Golden says.

The 14-person staff in Tampa does accounting, adds content to the Web site, supports franchises, serves national accounts and manages the company. A printer in Wisconsin prints all the cards, which are different in each market.

Most advertisers that appear on the mailing cards are local, but they also can sell into other markets. So an advertiser in Hillsborough County may also want to place a card in a mailing to Pinellas County, Sarasota and Fort Myers, Golden says.

- Dave Szymanski