What'cha Drinkin'? with Steve Schlesinger
Editor's note: Automated speech-to-text transcription, edited lightly for clarity.
Steve Quirk:
Hello and welcome to What’cha Drinkin’? I'm Steve Quirk, president of Quirk’s Media. We launched this series of interviews because while we are all social distancing, we can still be social. My guest today is Steve Schlesinger, CEO of the Schlesinger Group. Hello Steve and how are you doing?
Steve Schlesinger:
Good, Steve. Nice to be with you here today.
Steve Quirk:
Yeah, thanks for taking some time. So, let's first start with, do you have a drink there that you're drinking or that is your favorite drink?
Steve Schlesinger:
Yeah, so I'm an equal opportunity drinker. I like my wine, I like my tequila. And probably more recently, over the last few years I've been leaning a little bit more towards the brown fluids and drinking bourbon and rye. Oh, so I'll tell you my go-tos. My go-tos are Don Julio on the tequila side with a little bit of Patron Silver in there. And then on the brown side, I love Angels Envy, which is a brand I've been involved with as well as a new one called Heaven's Door that I'm also involved with. But I pretty much like most bourbons that are out there on the rocks or an old fashioned.
Steve Quirk:
All right. Ooh, good stuff. Today I am drinking a German beer. It's a Hofbrauhaus. I actually picked this because I know you've got the beer house, the German bar right across the street from your offices there on third. And while I know they're closed, I thought, well, in honor of them, I would at least have a German beer today.
Steve Schlesinger:
Yeah. When we're there, we go there for lunch and it's great.
Steve Quirk:
Wow, that's cool. I'm going to have to check that out next time in Munich, hopefully this fall for the Research and Results Conference. So I have been in marketing research probably longer than I want to admit. It's been a long time and for you Steve, it's been even longer. And I have to say I am amazed and super impressed on what Schlesinger Group has become. Your transformation and your growth has been nothing but extraordinary. So why don't you talk a little bit about, now that you've become this great global brand, why don't you talk a little bit about how you have transitioned into such a big organization?
Steve Schlesinger:
Sure. So first, thanks for the kind words. Yeah, it's been a great ride for us really probably since 2000 we've been on this really strong growth trajectory. First it was a lot of organic growth in the U.S. and then right around 2006/7, we started making a number of acquisitions primarily in Europe, a few other companies in the U.S. more recently. And yeah, just incredibly interesting. I mean, I would tell you that for me personally, it's a ton of learning. You're learning about different cultures, you're learning about different businesses, different ways of doing business. You're aggregating and then integrating a large group of people and trying to figure out how all those things fit together. And then at the same time, what you're trying to do is really develop, build a brand and an organization that makes sense in the world that we live in, which is the research industry.
So I'd say that we didn't necessarily go in with a specific roadmap or a set plan in mind. It's been a bit on the fly and making adjustments as we go. But I think what we've realized is probably a good solid decade and a half later, we're sitting with I think is an incredible story a really, really strong brand that we've cultivated well both internally and externally. And I think the best part of it is we're really having fun. I mean, outside of this virus situation we're dealing with now, it's really been an enjoyable journey for all of us and we look forward to what the next bunch of years has in store for us.
Steve Quirk:
That's great. And that's one thing I always tell people. It's like when you're running a business, I don't really want to run a business unless I'm also having fun. I mean, I think that's a really important aspect. Tell me a little bit, you've recently made a couple of big acquisitions in both Market Cube and 2020. Tell me a little bit about how you see those fitting in with the current brand.
Steve Schlesinger:
Absolutely. So I'll take a step back from there and even go to last winter when we first acquired Focus Point Global. So the whole idea for us is really around both sort of strength within our core business, but also complimenting what our core assets and capabilities have been through the years. So with Focus Point, it was really around an addition of a very strong qualitative, in-person player in a variety of markets that we weren't in a lot of secondary markets, but it also creates a consolidation of two really big players in the U.S. to just give us added strength. The other piece is that we were very much a health care and B2B type of in-person qual player where they were doing a lot more consumer work and that was a nice compliment to us.
Then we added in Market Cube, which really just has unbelievable strength in the quantitative data collection area, an incredibly strong tech development and automation team, primarily based in India and a great compliment to our quant business, which again, was also health care dominant. And now we've got a team that does health care, consumer and B2B work with great proficiency. So again, a really nice compliment.
And then we added on 2020, which is just a great addition to our family. We've got this really strong digital qual platform toolkit organization, great reputation for customer support and service. Isaac Rogers is a great leader adding to our leadership group. And now we've got what I think is really the broadest and strongest comprehensive data collection toolkit out there, both qual and quant, geography, types of audiences and recruitment capabilities and so on. So it's really been interesting to piece all these things together and it really adds to everything that we've been doing from those earlier days in the 2000s when we were really out there making the acquisitions in Europe. So again, it's just building to that story and we hope that we'll have more to add to that and whether it's this year or in the next series of years to come.
Steve Quirk:
Yeah, great story. I mean, just really impressive that you guys are continuing to evolve. One thing that your business and our business shares in common is that we're second generation. Your mother of course started Schlesinger Group I believe probably from her home back in what, the 1950s I believe.
Steve Schlesinger:
Early sixties. Early sixties.
Steve Quirk:
Early sixties. And my father started this company after a long marketing research career in the mid-eighties. I've always been involved. So there's still so much, even though my father hasn't been in this business now for almost 20 years, there's so much still a part of him. Do you feel the same way about, you know, even though you've really expanded, do you still feel the presence of your mom in your business?
Steve Schlesinger:
Yeah, absolutely. My mom passed away about 10 years ago, but what's really fascinating to me is how her presence still lives on in our business today. And the way I simply put it is that she really laid a foundation back in the sixties, seventies and eighties when she was much more engaged in the business of hard work, honest work, really focused on clients, on the team, on just doing good. And her picture graces the front desk of every one of our facilities, which is awesome.
I still get clients who come up to me who remember my mom. I still have obviously plenty of staff that knew my mom, and we talk about her quite a bit in terms of our belief system, our philosophy and culture and just how we think about growing the business. And it is very common that someone will come up to me and say, what do you think your mom would think today if she looked at what the company has become? And thankfully, my mom was there for a lot of our growth years and she got a chance to witness a lot of that sort of success. And she used to say to me all the time, can you believe I started this thing in the bedroom and then the kitchen and then the basement? I said, I know it's really pretty much a great American business story or for that matter anywhere business story.
Steve Quirk:
That's such a great story. Thanks for sharing it. Really quick, I know you've got another meeting. We always like to just grab a random question here and ask just so people can get to know you a little bit more. And your question is, what is the one thing that you are going to do first once the stay at home orders are over?
Steve Schlesinger:
Well, I live in New York City where pretty much everything's shut down, so I've got a whole list of things. I'd say that one for sure is getting a couple slices of pizza because all my favorite pizza places are closed. I'd say I can't wait to get on a plane again and do some traveling and get to move around. Looking forward to seeing my team, although it's been a lot of video chats and things like that that are incredibly useful and helpful it'll be a lot more fun to be sitting around and being able to talk in person with each other. And then the most important thing is I miss my kids and my grandson. I haven't had really a chance to spend any time with them physically other than video chats. And I look forward to seeing them hopefully in the next couple weeks.
Steve Quirk:
Yeah, that sounds like some good things to do once this is all over and I'm there with you. Well, listen, I know you've got to go. I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with me today, stay safe and well and I look forward to seeing you in person real soon.
Steve Schlesinger:
Absolutely, Steve, same to you. Stay well and have some more drinks with others, please.
Steve Quirk:
Will do. Thank you.
Steve Schlesinger:
Thank you.