Local firm finally finds a way to grow

When local entrepreneur Brian Weiner visits his daughter at college in North Carolina, he sometimes scouts for clients for his Manatee County data marketing firm in the downtime.

The pitch tends to mostly fail, though, for a reason many Gulf Coast entrepreneurs are intimately familiar with: a business network closed to outsiders.

“They aren't really keen on new faces,” says Weiner, whose firm, Lakewood Ranch-based One to One Group, helps schools and nonprofits raise money through targeted marketing. “They have the people they know and trust.”

Weiner recently found a way to break through the network. One to One, which Weiner co-founded with business partner Dana Place in 2002, partnered with DocuSource, a Research Triangle, N.C., area company that specializes in variable data research.

The deal is significant for One to One because it puts the company in position to grow in a new market. That is normally a challenge for a business like One to One, which relies on positive word of mouth referrals to generate a large portion of leads.

Indeed, One to One uses its strong track record when it pitches potential clients. For example, the firm, which uses personalized, full-color printed direct mail and Internet campaigns, has helped clients raise $64 million since 2003, including $12.5 million in 2010.

The partnership is also Weiner's specific way into the Research Triangle market, which has held stronger than some others in the recession. “It gives us a market space that I couldn't penetrate,” says Weiner.

It also gives One to One access to a client database, 30 employees and the potential to increase sales exponentially, says Weiner. Within the Carolinas, the business will be called One to One DocuSource.

In other areas the company will still be the One to One Group. “We make them better,” says Weiner, “and they make us better.”