Features

10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS: Be Persistent and Work Hard
Investor Business Daily
Leaders and Success
October 29, 2004 Friday
NATIONAL EDITION; Pg. A04
LENGTH: 508 words
By Cord Cooper

When Hal Reiter took the top spot at Herbert Mines Associates in 1993, the firm was doing $4 million a year. By 2000, it hit $20 million, up 400%. Though revenue dropped after the Internet bubble burst, margins held steady at 20% plus. With just 25 employees, the firm's on track to do $15 million this year.

Mines is a leading executive search firm in the retail and fashion sectors. The last few years, Reiter has steered the business through a minefield of retail dot-bombs and search-firm roll-ups. It's now the 12th largest exec search firm across all industries, up from 19th place before its acquisitions, Reiter says. Last year's 9% revenue growth outperformed most of the top 40 search firms, says Executive Recruiter News.

Reiter's kept the firm moving forward by sticking to these principles:

• Protect the brand. "In 1993, the first thing I noticed was that while Herb (Mines) had a wonderful reputation personally, we weren't getting any kind of recognition for our work. We weren't celebrating our successes," he said. "Herb was very well known in retail. Our biggest challenge early on was (spreading) some of that stardust."
  

Reiter pumped up the publicity machine with one goal in mind: "Make Mines the go to in the industry," he said. "We gave interviews and got out front on the public side. We made sure the industry knew what we were achieving. And that spurred a lot of business," said Reiter, now chairman, chief executive and president.

• Get ahead of the curve. Soon after taking over, Reiter "moved Mines from department store executive search to recruiting execs for specialty stores (such as Ann Taylor and the Gap)," he said. "That's where the growth was." Reiter also targeted big-box retailers.
  

By the late 1990s, clients included Internet retailers such as Priceline.

• Find ways to score new markets. In one case, "we focused on a function -- human resources -- instead of an industry. I brought in a guy who'd done a lot of search for HR positions, and we exploited his resources to move into sectors (such as) quick-serve restaurants and grocery stores. Once we filled their HR slots, the parent companies gave us everything (in top management search)."
  
• Watch expenses when times are good. During the 1990s, several top search firms had bloated budgets, large staffs and offices worldwide. "They had huge overhead, and when the crash came they got killed. We still had one office," he said. "We'd grown while keeping our overhead relatively low, with between 25 and 29 employees."
  

When revenue dropped in 2001, Reiter kept his margins firm.

• Keep growing. When Internet retailers got clobbered and consolidations continued in retail and fashion, Reiter added a new market: consumer packaged goods. Clients range from Cadbury Schweppes to Absolut vodka. He also expanded into another niche: home improvement. Clients include Home Depot and Linens 'n Things.
  

Reiter's ultimate goal in hitting new markets? "To grow and keep the strongest top-of-mind share in the industry."

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