Our system scans the database each night to identify customers who signal their need for attention. We can then contact them within 24 hours and service their need. Not only are we more successful, [but] our customers feel the difference in treatment. They actually appreciate us contacting them, rather than having to complain about junk mail or annoying phone calls. We meet them when they have a need.

You can't picture NOTHING, because as soon as you do, it's SOMETHING.

In our system, at about 11:30 on election night, they just push you off the edge of the cliff-and that's it. You might scream on the way down, but you're going to hit the bottom, and you're not going to be in elective office.

The timing (of establishing the gold fund) couldn't be better as the recent gold price surge has caught the attention of investors, both incumbent and potential ones.

We are continually looking at ways to help our customers. We know there are many more opportunities to act on. Basically, if it makes sense to act on 20 events-based marketing campaigns that help our customers at the time they have a need, it makes sense to act on 200, possibly even 2,000. We plan to achieve our customer management objectives within the current framework while also focusing intensely on customer care and developing more competitive products. We still have a long way to go.

The ROI from our very first campaigns was impressive. While we were used to [conversion] rates of 1 to 5 percent, our first batch of campaigns were a phenomenal success. We achieved an average of 18 percent success, with some campaigns achieving as high as 30 to 60 percent responses.