D.F. King & Co. leverages call center technology - largest U.S. independent financial communications/security holder solicitation firm - contacting shareholders during proxy contests - Local Area Networks

Communications News, Nov, 1992

The largest independent financial communications/security holder solicitation firm in the United States staked its future on sophisticated outbound call center technology.

D.F. King & Co. Inc., uses Electronic Information Systems (EIS) systems to contact its shareholders during proxy contests and to inform them of their voting options in connection with other proposals and offers.

With the same foresight that helped mold it into the leader in its field, King has successfully branched into the telemarketing service bureau and market research businesses during the last year. King now also offers telemarketing through its King TeleServices unit and market research through its KTS Research unit.

The decision to supplement the financial relations business with full-service, automated telemarketing and marketing research bureaus has had a positive impact on the company's earnings stream.

Financial communications

Using a 48-seat call processing system from EIS, of Stamford, Conn., King is able to contact Fortune 500 shareholders to determine their likely voting behavior during contest for control or their views toward coporate governance issues.

The technology allows this to be done in a fraction of the time than it would normally take using manual dial telephone systems. Therefore, the system permits King to communicate with thousands more shareholders each day than ever before. The technology also has significantly increased King's ability to analyze critical shareholder data.

The company can complete a proxy solicitation in one-third of the time it took without call processing.

The ability to determine its shareholders voting preferences within a matter of hours is crucial to corporate America and can directly affect whether a battle is won or lost.

Proxy battles are a time and energy consuming activity for management, and often draw resources away from the corporation's everday business. With King's ability to quickly asertain shareholder sentiment, corporations can implement communications strategies more expeditiously, an advantage that translates into providing management more time to handle normal duties.