Originally published June 1, 2001, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1437
I have to admit that, in the old days in Marvel direct sales, our best friends were the fine folks at DC Comics. Why? Because the programs, the approaches to sales, all the stuff that Carol Kalish (then-head of direct sales) came up with, was not only great in and of itself, but it always made DC look anemic in comparison. Most of the retailer programs had their origins at Marvel. Carol made them relatively easy to use, made the terms understandable. There was co-op advertising, rack programs, cash register programs, book programs (making books on improving business available at heavily discounted prices). In short, she made it a policy to go out of her way to make the retailers and distributors understand that Marvel was, and would always be, their friend.
And sure, the distributors used to get antsy, certain that at some point Marvel would try to shove aside the middle man by self-distributing, but those concerns would always be brushed aside. We didn’t have the manpower, we didn’t have the national set-up, and what it ultimately came down to is that Marvel simply wouldn’t be that stupid. Why go out of our way to shoot ourselves in the foot, when instead we could go out of our way to make our customers happy… our customers being the distributors, and by extension, the retailers (making the readers happy was editorial’s job.) When distributors would be angry about something, we went out of our way to placate them. When they were annoyed by a Marvel policy, we went out of our way to explain—to as many people as necessary, in as many ways as possible—why this particular policy had been developed. What need it filled. They may not have always agreed, but usually they understood, and I think on some level they appreciated that we had taken the time to go (say it with me) out of our way to address their concerns.
Now, y’know, we were just dumb sales folks back then, working for a company that was making money hand over fist, increasing sales, expanding the venues in which comics could be found, spreading good will. We lacked the foresight, the commercial acumen, the sheer business savvy of those who would come after us, all of whom were so much better, brighter, and cognizant of what was required to take a decades-old, thriving force in the industry and plunge it into bankruptcy.
We didn’t realize that all one had to do was go out of one’s way—not to make people happy—but to hack them off.
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