Case Study:
Vector Marketing
Data-analysis tool boosts recruitment drive.
6-796 (06-08)
“It’s an ongoing challenge for us to find
and recruit good people,” says Rhancha
Connell, National Sales Manager for
Vector Marketing.
Canada Post helps company
zero in on target markets
Vector Marketing is the exclusive sales
agent for Cutco, a manufacturer of
high-quality cutlery such as kitchen knives,
utensils and tools. All Cutco products carry a
lifetime guarantee. Vector’s marketing team
is comprised largely of university students—
young men and women from across Canada.
Rather than sell door-to-door, Vector’s sales
agents secure in-home appointments with
potential customers to display and
demonstrate Cutco products.
During the summer months, Vector
maintains a Canadian sales force of
approximately 6,000 agents working out of
30 offices. The company’s operations shrink
considerably during the school year, when
only 15 regional offices remain in operation.
Vector’s ongoing
recruitment challenge
The vast majority of Vector’s sales staff
works for short-term stints; and while many
students return to the company for multiple
summers, Vector must continuallly recruit
new sales agents.
Each year, the company undertakes
a recruitment campaign. In the past,
the campaigns have involved sending
personalized letters via Canada Post’s
Addressed Admail™ service. In most years,
the company dispatches approximately
100,000 mailers—multi-page packages that
highlight the advantages of working for
the company. To better target recruitment
efforts, Vector purchases mailing lists from
independent suppliers. In recent years,
however, the strategy has produced
increasingly unsatisfactory results.
“The quality of the mailing lists we bought
were inconsistent,” says Connell. “In many
cases, the addressees no longer lived there,
or their kids had already grown up and
moved away. We just weren’t getting
the quantity of recruits we needed.”
Canada Post helps develop
new strategy
In collaboration with Canada Post, Vector
Marketing implemented a new strategy
in 2007. The strategy focuses on using
demographic data to improve the targeting
of Vector’s recruitment efforts. Canada Post
suggested the company try GeoPost™
Plus—a sophisticated tool that matches
data sets and postal codes. The GeoPost
tool references data from a number of
sources to create lists of addresses that
share particular attributes such as household
income levels and spending patterns, age
and gender of residents, proximity to
urban centres, and the like.
Canada Post worked with Vector to
identify the locations and characteristics
of households likely to include potential
sales agents. With this data, GeoPost Plus
targeting service created a list of households
that satisfied three criteria: they were located
within 20 kilometres of a Vector regional
office; at least one resident was between
the ages of 16 and 20; and household
annual income was at least $60,000.
Strategy reduces costs,
increases reach
Canada Post produced a list of approximately
600,000 addresses—six times the number of
mailers sent out by Vector in previous years.
To help control costs, Canada Post suggested
a different approach—postcards sent via
Unaddressed Admail™ service. Given the
savings in postage and materials, the
approach ended up costing the company
less than in previous years.
“The campaign was successful in some
ways,” says Connell. “Given that it generated
thousands of hits on our recruitment website,
there’s no question that it raised awareness of
Vector. Unfortunately, though, it did not lead
to a big increase in recruitment.”
Connell feels that at least part of the
problem likely relates to the design of the
postcard. “In the end, we did the design
and layout ourselves, and ended up with
a relatively long and busy piece,” she says.
“I don’t think it was as appealing as it
could have been.”
According to Connell, the results of
the 2007 campaign will inform Vector’s
recruitment strategy for 2008. “I’m
convinced that working with Canada Post
will help us achieve our goals,” she says.
For more information about
Canada Post’s Unaddressed Admail
and GeoPost Plus solutions, please visit
www.canadapost.ca.
The results described are for illustrative purposes only. Results of other initiatives may vary.
™ Trademark of Canada Post Corporation
“We were delighted
by the expertise of the
folks at Canada Post.
They were able to
zoom in on precisely
the type of households
we need to reach
to recruit sales staff
effectively.”
Rhancha Connell
National Sales Manager
Vector Marketing