Read All About It The founders of the <i>Levenger</i> catalog wrote the book on selling to serious readers.

To read, you need nothing but words. But to read seriously--thatis another proposition. Serious reading involves equipment.Accessories. Ingenuity. Style. Serious readers need monogrammedvelvet pillows to support their books. They need cherrywood lapdesks to compose letters, gold-nibbed fountain pens to lend splashto their signatures, and note pads with night lights to capturelate-night inspirations.

Until Lori Granger Leveen, 39, and Steve Leveen, 42, creators ofthe Delray Beach, Florida-based Levenger catalog, beganpurveying what they call "tools for serious readers," noone dreamed readers were such a vast--and acquisitive--market. Infact, no one outside the publishing industry dreamed readers were amarket at all.

The Leveens don't scoff at this kind of ignorance.That's because they didn't recognize the market themselvesuntil months into their venture. How did this husband-and-wife teamparlay an $8,000 investment into a $60-million-plus mail orderpowerhouse with its own built-in market? Their road-to-riches storybegan with a bright idea.

Coming To Light

In 1987, Steve and Lori Leveen decided to go into the lightingbusiness. It wasn't due to a lifelong devotion to lighting; itwas more like a whim. Steve had read about halogen lighting inThe International Design Yearbook and, having recently beenlaid off from his job at a software design firm, thought halogenlamps would be an interesting product to market. Lori agreed. Shewas pregnant, contemplating maternity leave from her job as amarketing consultant, and open to new career directions.

"We both liked the idea of selling a product instead of aservice [such as consulting]," says Lori. "With only twopeople, we could see there was a limit to how much we could do in aservice business. With products, there was no suchlimitation."

The potential may have been boundless, but start-up capital wasnot. They had retirement savings to help cover personal expenses,but their business fund consisted of proceeds from the sale oftheir 1985 Mitsubishi Montero, for which they netted $9,500. Theyused $1,500 to buy Lori's father's station wagon; theremaining $8,000 was used to start the business.

Levenger's elegant-sounding name (a combination of thefounders' last names--Leveen and Granger) was perhaps the onlyelegant thing about the initial operation. The Leveens'apartment served as headquarters, while their neighbor's garageacted as a warehouse. Their catalog was a modest black-and-whitebrochure featuring a handful of halogen floor and desk lamps."Frankly, it was just one large piece of paper, foldedtwice," says Steve.

Lack of glitz wasn't their only problem, though. Their firstfew ads drew only a lukewarm response. The Leveens had nearlyresigned themselves to obscurity when inspiration struck. Maybewhat they needed was a hook. The appeal of halogen lighting was itseffectiveness, not just its good looks. If they could highlightfunction over fashion, perhaps customers would respond.

So, on October 12, 1987, they placed a 1-inch ad in The NewYorker magazine promising "Serious Lighting for SeriousReaders."

A Light Bulb Goes Off

And the phones rang. At first, the Leveens figured they hadfinally tapped the nation's need for good lighting. But slowly,they realized it was the other half of their pitch--the"serious reading"--that customers were passionateabout.

It was a classic case of good luck disguised as bad. Because oftheir meager funds, the Leveens answered all their own calls. Inconversations with customers, what they heard again and again wasthat serious readers needed serious help. "They'd ask us,`Do you really know about reading light? I read a lot, and Ican't get a decent lamp,' " Steve recalls.

"Of course, the truth of the matter was, we didn't knowa thing about reading light," Steve says. "But we didknow enough to listen to our customers and realize they wanted usto become experts." And that's exactly what the Leveensdid. "We talked to several lighting engineers at GeneralElectric, GTE Sylvania and elsewhere to learn more about lightingfor reading. What we learned, we passed on to our customers andexplained in our catalog." Just like that, a resource wasborn.

But it wasn't until February 1988 that the Leveensrecognized the full potential of their discovery. "A lightbulb went off, and we suddenly realized we could look at readers asa group and think of other products to sell to them," saysSteve. "Our list got longer and longer--bookcases, dictionarystands, chairs, desks, bookends--objects serious readers needed tomake their lives more comfortable and productive."

Good as the idea sounded, it was a gamble. Were readers really acohesive market? And were they serious enough about reading to buyparaphernalia to enhance the reading experience? In 1988, no oneknew for sure. But the Leveens had stumbled on some fairlycompelling anecdotal evidence, and they seemed to be the only onesprivy to this knowledge.

Every day calls came in from lawyers with eyestrain. There weresquinting college professors, writers, editors, doctors, actors,politicians, analysts, architects--all sorts of people who read fora living. And that didn't even include the people who read forpleasure.

Since so many people needed help seeing their reading material,perhaps they'd need help organizing it, too. Maybe ergonomicitems such as footrests weren't so much a luxury as anorthopedic necessity. Best of all, here was a need no one elseseemed to know about. All the world looked at readers and sawnothing more than people who read. But for the Leveens, wholistened to the concerns and wishes of avid readers every day, thiswas a market with life and breath.

Small Wonders

Starting small meant plenty of hard work for the Leveens, whojuggled new parenthood and homebased BIZ Experiencesship all at once."We had a newborn that first year, and it was crazy,"Steve says. "There were times we felt claustrophobic,especially being holed up in our apartment for longperiods."

Close quarters and a small staff (limited to the two Leveens)kept costs low, which enabled the partners to develop their conceptand skills at a slow pace, learning as they went along. Time andeffort were two critical ingredients in the Leveens' newfangledventure. After all, they had entered a market withoutguideposts.

How, for example, do you reach serious readers? The Leveens usedtrial and error--and a plethora of inexpensive small-space ads--tofigure out which publications their market read and what they wouldbuy. It was a slow process but an effective one. "By the timewe were ready to rent outside lists and do our first unsolicitedmailing in 1991," says Steve, "we had a pretty good ideawhere to go, what to sell and what business we were in."

Levenger Style

The Leveens resolved to provide Nordstrom-level service, evenwhen their business was operating on a Kmart budget. Like many newfirms, Levenger encountered its share of product defects early on.Although it hurt to cut into profits, "we would send[customers] replacements or pick up their returns for free or dowhatever it took [to make them happy]," says Steve. "Evenif we lost money on the transaction, we wanted a customer who lovedus at the end of the day."

Naturally, it's not just royal treatment that keepscustomers calling. Levenger's product mix isunparalleled. Exclusive products are a Levenger hallmark,and many are created in-house by the company's designers.

Originality is clearly what differentiates Levenger fromother catalogs. You can find note pads anywhere, but only inLevenger will you uncover the Pocket Briefcase, an ingeniousleather case that holds business cards, a pen and 3 x 5 cards fornote-taking on the fly. Chairs may be commonplace, butLevenger's exclusive New Dream Chair, with its"butter-soft aniline-dyed leather" and "lower backsupport engineered to perfection," sounds more like somethingyou'd want to marry than merely a place to sit. Everywhere inthe Levenger catalog are products you never imagined beforebut suddenly can't live without, especially if you love to readand write.

Exclusive products were an obvious choice for Levenger since thecompany set out to pioneer a new market. The Levenger staff comesup with hundreds of new product ideas every year. Some aredeveloped during brainstorming sessions; others come from what theLeveens call "industrial archaeology"--culling new ideasfrom old products and modifying them for modern use."We're constantly trying to find the thing that willdelight people," says Lori. "You've got to keepdeveloping and growing, or the business isn't alive."

Their creative process is serious but offbeat, the domain of anextraordinary staff. "Many of them are curator-types; theyhave a background in museum fields," says Steve. "Onerequirement for our latest merchant position was that the candidatehave an advanced degree in a useless subject." This offbeatjob requirement feeds the unique creative atmosphere."We're a wacky group of people," he laughs, "butwe inspire each other."

No Small Thing

The creative department clearly isn't the only one to haveevolved over Levenger's nine-year history. Fulfillment,customer service, human resources and operations--Lori'sbailiwick--also run like a large, well-oiled machine. In fact, with230 employees year-round and another 100 to 150 seasonally,Levenger is a large, well-oiled machine.

The company has a whole new shape. After moving from theLeveen's Boston apartment to Delray Beach, Florida, in 1989,where commercial real estate was more affordable, Levenger toppedthe $1 million mark in 1990 and continued to post annual growth of100 percent or more for the next three years. In 1994, the companymoved to its current 130,000-square-foot location, which housesexecutive offices, telemarketing, a warehouse and two retail stores(one of which is an outlet).

Unstoppable growth has been a blessing, but also a challenge. Infact, jokes Lori, "There are many categories ofchallenges." Maintaining the company's high standards forinnovation and quality is one. Another is "attracting andretaining the best people possible. There are so many advantages tobeing located in Florida, but we aren't in a real hub like NewYork or San Francisco. We're really lucky to have a great groupof people we can trust to do a good job."

Becoming a real corporation does not happen overnight, and itdoes not happen automatically. Over the years, the Leveens haveworked with various consultants to tweak management systems, boostcreativity and cultivate leadership skills.

They've also had the good fortune to find mentors. In 1990,award-winning mail order BIZ Experiences Ric Leichtung, retired CEO ofLeichtung Workshops, dropped in at Levenger's headquarters andbegan asking some questions about the business. When he offered tocritique the company's catalog, Steve jumped at the chance.

"Two days later, I got his response in the mail,"Steve recalls. "It was a single-spaced, typewritten thingwhere he ripped the catalog to shreds. But everything he said wasright on the money. I called him back and said it was the bestthing I'd ever read, and that started a friendship that wasextremely helpful to us."

Read On

However humble their beginnings were, the Leveens began thisadventure with a largeness of spirit that persists today. Define anew marketplace? Dazzle the likes of the brilliant and well-read?Only people with serious vision would attempt such a project.

And only people with serious vision would succeed. Today, theLeveens enjoy unique measures of success. Lori speaks for both ofthem when she says, "It's rewarding to have created aworkplace where people are appreciated and are passionate aboutwhat they do."

In their downtime, when they're not looking after their twosons, the Leveens visit a lot of antique shops and crafts fairs,where the possibility of a new discovery lurks around every corner.And they read, of course--comfortably, productively, seriously, andwith equipment, accessories, ingenuity and style.

Contact Sources

Levenger, 420 Congress Ave., Delray Beach, FL 33445,(800) 544-0880, (561) 276-2436.