Pat Cavanaugh not only sells more than just about anyone in his industry but also manages a fast-growing company at the same time. What's his secret? A personal discipline that makes the most of his every waking moment.
Pat Cavanaugh sells more than just about anyone in his industry and manages a fast-growing company at the same time. What's his secret? A personal discipline that lets him make the most of every waking moment. And we mean every waking moment
"The most intense part of my day is 4 in the morning," says Pat Cavanaugh. That's when he forces himself out of his king-size bed to begin his daily workout. At least he does on most days. But Thursday, April 13, was no ordinary day for the CEO of Cavanaugh Promotions -- the Pittsburgh promotional-products business that he'd started in college and recently rechristened simply "Cavanaugh."
On that day Cavanaugh would conquer Cleveland. So he was up a little earlier than usual, 3:45 a.m. to be precise. Rock music blasting from the gym in his two-story brick house, the 33-year-old mounted his Schwinn Airdyne stationary bike for a leisurely ride. Contemplating the day ahead, Cavanaugh started pedaling faster. Soon he was flying at speeds of 80 rpm. For an encore, he bench-pressed 300 pounds and hit the ground for 600 sit-ups.
With 127 miles between Cavanaugh and Cleveland, there wasn't a moment to waste. After gulping down a protein shake, he was out the door at 5:30 a.m., headed for the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Cavanaugh, who possesses a no-nonsense handsomeness, wore a black suit as well as a black watch bearing the Lexus logo, which incidentally matched his black Lexus sports utility vehicle. Both his watch and his car clock were set 15 minutes fast. He turned on the radio and popped open his Day-Timer. The seven-by-nine-inch black book is the key to his kingdom. He looked down at his jam-packed schedule. His first appointment: 8 a.m. with Jones Day Reavis & Pogue, a large law firm. That was followed by nine more appointments. Friday, the 14th, would be just as hectic -- 11 presentations in 11 hours. His prospects ran the gamut from Fortune 500 companies to the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, which wanted to talk about "unique miniature toilet-bowl items."
Cavanaugh recounts, "We were running to our cars to make the next appointment." By we, he means himself and the five uninitiated and slightly dehydrated Cavanaugh sales reps who were taking their first road trip with the CEO in Cleveland. By the end of it they would understand the meaning of a sales blitz Pat Cavanaugh-style.
Sales blitz? It was more like an Ironman competition. Imagine your salespeople dashing from one sales appointment to the next for 10 hours straight. Then imagine yourself doing the same. The final score: 114 sales presentations in two days. (See "Cavanaugh Does Cleveland," below.)
The Cleveland quest was just one more endurance test for Cavanaugh, who in the first three months of this year opened 100 new accounts, or about one a day. On the personal side, he runs a five-minute mile. He also happens to be a former NBA hopeful who traded his hoop dreams for a shot at the record books in an old-fashioned but highly competitive industry. (It hasn't changed much since Jasper Freemont Meek first slapped promotional "covers" on the backs of nearly every horse in Coshocton, Ohio, in the 1880s.)
These days the onetime basketball star doesn't have much time to spend on the court, aside from shooting baskets with his two young sons. The car-bound Cavanaugh complains of a chronic case of "cell-phone elbow." At the moment his body fat is higher than he wants it to be. But by all outward appearances, he's in great physical shape. And when it comes to selling, he's in a league of his own. Cavanaugh is not only founder and CEO of his 35-person company; he's also its #1 salesperson. What's more, he single-handedly outsells about 80% of the 20,000 companies in his field, which encompasses all manner of embroidered, minted, imprinted, and otherwise branded stuff.
Having burst on the scene full-time just seven years ago, Cavanaugh brought in $3.5 million of his company's $6.2 million in revenues last year. He makes it clear that his personal goal is to sell $5 million or $6 million a year while he builds a $100-million company over the next decade. If he can pull off the double feat, he's got a shot at making the industry's top 10.
At the heart of his balancing act is that well-worn two-page-per-day Day-Timer. And it isn't just his own Day-Timer that's crucial -- 25 of his 35 employees are required to carry one. Writing down lists of goals and assignments is more effective than putting them in the computer, Cavanaugh believes, and makes missing a deadline more painful. Everyone at the company can recite Cavanaugh's "two-day rule" for completing tasks. And lest you forget what you've promised to accomplish Monday morning, Cavanaugh leaves you a voice-mail reminder Sunday night. In his Day-Timer, he writes abbreviated to-do lists for key employees. In his car he's constantly on the phone checking employees' progress. The hard-driving CEO, who once considered a career in the military and attended West Point Prep, even regulates his staffers' downtime: every employee must take a "goof off" day once a quarter.
Cavanaugh's enthusiasm for sales dates back to his youth in Grove City, Pa., an hour outside Pittsburgh. At the age of 10 he launched his career by selling flower seeds door-to-door. Next he took orders for shoes door-to-door. One day a letter arrived from the shoemaker, asking the boy to be its Pennsylvania sales manager. "They didn't know I was just 10," he says.
Between sales calls he threw himself into sports. Years later at the University of Pittsburgh, he was a "walk-on" in basketball; he hadn't been recruited but proved himself on the court and earned a scholarship playing point guard for the Panthers in Division I competition. When he wasn't glued to a hoop, he worked on commission for an uncle who owned a promotional-products business. At 21 he started his own company. But after he graduated from college, Cavanaugh Promotions remained a part-time venture while its founder earned an M.B.A. and -- against the odds -- went out for the NBA.
