The Nonstop, 24-7 CEO Salesman

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Wrangling an invitation to an NBA tryout was, he says, an object lesson in how to win friends and influence people. Cavanaugh, who is six-foot-two, had an agent but quickly learned to market himself. "I'd get on the phone too and send teams my tapes," he says. "And then you've got to perform when you get the chance."

He got the chance in tryouts for the Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers, and Orlando Magic. "In the NBA I tried out three times," he says. The last cut was Orlando in October 1993. He wrestled with the big question: try again next season or move on? This was the man who as a kid had shoveled snow off the court in 20-degree weather so he could practice when the gyms were closed. "At that time all I wanted to do was make that damn team," he recalls. But in the back of his mind he was also thinking, "Who's going to run the business?"

At the end of the year he walked away from his hopes of a career in professional basketball for good. "It was the toughest decision I ever had to make," he says.

But he picked himself up and began to concentrate full-time on Cavanaugh Promotions. The challenge of getting a sales appointment wasn't so different from getting an invitation to an NBA tryout. In the beginning he worked on the basics. He figured out the best times to reach people on the phone and scheduled his days accordingly. Still, telephone selling wasn't easy. People would routinely cut him off, curse at him, and slam down the phone. It was then that he began formulating the game plan he still uses today and passes on to his new sales reps: (1) Keep the initial phone call as short as possible. (2) Make 'em laugh. (3) Don't try to get more than permission to "maybe" call again. (4) Call again and get a meeting in person.

In the promotions industry, recruiting sales help was a challenge, too. "Trinket salesmen," they used to be called. "I had this image of people selling out of a suitcase from the trunk of their cars," recalls Mark Algeri, who is now Cavanaugh's #2 salesperson. "Pat sold me on his high goals and vision." Hang on for the ride, the CEO said, and we'll build an organization second to none for customer service.

Together, Cavanaugh and Algeri racked up first-year sales of $226,000 in 1994. Net profits were 18%. But 1996 was the year that put Cavanaugh Promotions on the map. Pennzoil Co. commissioned a huge Super Bowl promotion for its Jiffy Lube chain. Soon after, two tons of footballs arrived in 53-foot tractor-trailers at Cavanaugh headquarters. Putting the deal together had required getting buy-in from hundreds of individual Jiffy Lube store owners. The $300,000 order catapulted the company over the $1-million mark.

In 1997 Cavanaugh himself surpassed $1 million in individual sales. That year, the four-employee company scored another victory that took it further away from the realm of trinket salesmen. A customer, 84 Lumber Co., in the town of Eighty Four, Pa., wanted to upgrade its promotional clothing. Cavanaugh and Algeri came up with the idea of private-labeling every item with "84 Gear." The new label included the company's Web address. Within six months 84 Lumber was one of Cavanaugh Promotions' largest accounts.

"When I do nothing but get on the phone, I can make 200 calls in a day."

While the industry grew 11% in 1998, Cavanaugh Promotions racked up a 70% increase in revenues -- hitting $4.6 million in sales. That landed it the #104 spot on the 1999 Inc. 500 list of America's fastest-growing private companies. But again its founder was feeling his mortal limits. "There were days in basketball when I would have to say, 'Pat, you can't work out today. You have to take a day off," he recalls. It was the same in business.

But in the end the choice between sales and administration was no contest. Last year Cavanaugh hired his first managers in sales, marketing, and operations. And he more than doubled his support staff, from 6 to 16. All the things he once handled himself -- from writing follow-up letters to interested prospects to making sure orders went out on time -- were now handled by his team of specialists. It all paid off late last year, when Cavanaugh captured the first of several high-level accounts. Alcan Aluminum picked Cavanaugh to be its U.S. supplier after a rigorous on-site inspection. "I could never have done this on my own," says Cavanaugh.

Cavanaugh's daily sales regimen rivals the intensity of his morning workout. "When I do nothing but get on the phone, I can make 200 calls in a day," he says matter-of-factly. Most of the company's sales begin over the phone; it does almost no advertising. On a typical weekday, Cavanaugh arrives in the office by 6:30 a.m. But unlike many CEOs, he says his first order of business is attending to his own sales prep work. "Pat controls his day, and not the other way around," says Brian Tony, who left a large health insurer to join Cavanaugh as chief operating officer last November. He describes his COO duties this way: "My main responsibility is to allow Pat to focus on sales."

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