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Company History Key People News Newsletter Customer Profiles Contact Us Employment |
Category: Marketing Margolis Wylie Associates Mines a Wealth of Information for Higher Education In 1993, Peter Wylie, now of Margolis Wylie Associates, made a career change and became a marketing consultant to higher education - something he might not have done if it hadn't been for Data Desk. A Ph.D. in industrial psychology, he had established himself as a specialist in reconciling business partners who had come into conflict. But he was losing interest in the partners and their problems and looking around for something else. He had a strong background in statistics and happened to notice a Macworld review of Data Desk. On the basis of the article, he purchased Data Desk and set out to determine its capabilities. His reaction? "Holy cow! This is cool!" At about the same time he came across a publication for public affairs officers at colleges and universities that mentioned the fact that most institutions of higher education had enormous data bases but were ignoring what could be learned from them. Peter took his cue and set off with Data Desk to pitch university development departments on the idea of analyzing data on their alumni and donors. Margolis Wylie Associates currently serves about 15 client institutions at any given time, analyzing which characteristics make a person likely to be a good donor and where to find those prospects. To accomplish this, Peter uses a technique known as list scoring, in which he rates variables according to their influence and then creates a model to score prospects accordingly. His scoring is based on discoveries made with Data Desk because, he says, "Data Desk is very good at discerning which variables are influential in predicting returns." Institutions that use this system benefit because it enables them to focus attention and spending on the most likely candidates for giving. Once Peter has provided the initial analysis and model, he invites his client to buy Data Desk and take over the process of ongoing analysis. Peter believes that every nonprofit with more than 5,000 people in its data base should have in-house analytical capability. He says it's essential for someone to be overseeing the database all the time, and so a major component of consulting with Margolis Wylie Associates is to receive training on Data Desk. He isn't worried that putting the software in clients' hands will put him out of business. His expertise remains essential, and as an experienced user, he says, "I can do things with Data Desk its biggest competitor can't dream of doing." |
Name: Peter Wylie Company: Margolis Wylie Associates
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