Ray's Bio
Ray Jutkins is an outRAYgeous speaker ... someone you should know. But that's getting ahead of the story a bit. To know today's Ray Jutkins, it's helpful to examine his past. In his words ....
My dad tossed me out at about age 12 and said to me, "Son, I've never sold anything. Yet, I've bought a lot of stuff ... and you ought to sell."
Not necessarily sales training. It did get me on the street. Door to door. Doing the things kids do to make a buck. Selling magazine subscriptions. Cookware.
And allowed the opportunity to meet people. Summertime it was mowing lawns. Fall it was raking leaves. Springtime washing windows.
Soon there was a enough for my first car: 2 tone blue 1947 Chevy AeroCoup. Fastback. Which leads to a '52 Ford. And a VW -- the "Bug". MG-TD. TR-3.
Cars gave way to school ... and family. University of Alabama -- Tuscaloosa (one year during my 4 at the U of A our football team had a 0-10 record ... this was before "The Bear" arrived!). Sigma Chi House. And a job. Yes, with school, a wife and one on the way, a job was in order.
Short order waiter at 24 hour diner. A short stint at a radio station -- in the back room typing something or other. Another short stint at a pipe foundry -- without a doubt the worst job ever. Soon at a small motel. One of those on a major highway in a University town that caters to the business traveler. During football season, the alumni. In the summer the through-traveler to Florida or New Orleans ... the tourist. Great way to work your way through school.
Learning direct marketing by doing it
With a major in Philosophy, minors in History and Religion, jobs were not actually being tossed my way. Great things to study -- to know ... not topics that generate employment. No job ... no money ... unacceptable.
Soooo, I did the only thing I knew to do. Stayed in the travel business ... and sold. Packed the baby bed (2 kids by now), the washing machine and the record player and moved to Southern California. Something popular in those days ... moving to California. Went to work at the Biltmore Hotel at night and Matson Steamship Lines by day. Stayed in the travel industry -- and really began to sell.
Sold steamship space over the telephone. The company ran ads in the travel sections of newspapers. With a coupon. People would clip the coupon and mail it in. Asking for trips to Hawaii, Tahiti, Australia ... other places in the Pacific and South Pacific.
I'd fulfill the request -- send the literature. And then chase these fine folks over the telephone. And sell them a trip to somewhere.
Rarely met my customers ... only when I got invited to their Bon Voyage party (something I tried to do -- those parties were FUN!).
Got introduced to advertising in print. Fulfillment through the mail. Sales via telephone. Follow-up with mail and phone. And ... it worked!
Dived into the exciting California political arena. Same thing ... lots of print and mail and phone marketing. And learned to love the disciplines of marketing and sales working "Two-Gether" (yes, spelled this way on purpose -- marketing and sales work best as a team -- "Two-Gether"!). Next came 3 years on the street ringing business door bells. "Selling girls". When you worked for a temporary office service before women's lib was an idea ... you could say those things. And I did -- in those days!
Made his own big breaks ...
By accident I went to work for a grand, young creative genius named Bob Jani. Bob knew how to stage BIG events. Things that brought crowds in the thousands. The tens of thousands. Things like the 200th Anniversary of the United States of America in Washington, D.C. in 1976. Things like the re-opening of Radio City Music Hall in New York. Things like the Electric Parade at Disneyland. And the Opening of Disney World in Florida.
For 3‑ great years I worked with this genius. As a "gopher". Doing what needed to be done with the elephants. And Youth Band. Or Mrs. America contestants. Or at the "company picnic". At the Rose Parade. At the Super Bowl half-time show.
And -- I learned more about direct mail. We used a lot of it. To find business, to keep business. To help our clients find and keep business. Direct Mail worked ... and I loved it.
Then there was Bob Hemmings and Eric Smith. Who took me under their wing. They put me on the street to sell -- and gave me every opportunity to learn the Direct Marketing industry.
Direct Marketing was really just beginning. Sure, the concept had been around for a century. The first association of folks in the industry began in 1917. Mail-order flourished during the '20s. Telemarketing was big after the Korea war. Direct mail had always been a part of business ... at least since NCR and John Paterson did so many great things with it in the late 1890s.
Yet, Direct Marketing as we know it today, a somewhat understood and accepted business (at the time a step-child to advertising and public relations, yet standing) did not truly begin until the early 1970s. And Bob and Eric allowed me to be a part of it.The age of WOW!
Wow ... what an experience! What a ride.
Zip codes. Area codes. Computers. Databases. And all the technology. WOW! In 1982 I split. Went out on my own. Initially with some partners. The team was good. We had some great clients. And built a top team. It was more than good -- it was outstanding.
And I hated it! Not the clients or people -- they were and have always been the wonderful part. The good part. I hated the business part of business. Getting the insurance paid. Keeping government somewhat happy (never want government to be totally happy -- if they are, you paid too much!)
So, another change. I split. Again. Went totally on my own. To do my own stich. And, boy did that work! WOW again.
Fun, fun, fun. Began teaching direct marketing in-house ... for my clients. Speaking and sharing with seminars and workshops "How to Really Do It Right". I became a Professional Speaker (what that means, is you get paid for talking!) More WOW.
I've spoken as much as 120 times a year - and just a couple of dozen times. Have done it in 45 countries on 6 continents. And there was a time I spent more time on the road working with clients around the States, Canada, Mexico and the rest of the world, than in the office. Still, more WOW.
With all of this Creative and Consulting started, too. When you speak you are an expert (An expert is someone who flew in for the meeting ... automatically making you an expert!). Well, I flew in for most meetings. So, I was an expert.
Which meant a Consulting assignment. Again -- to help people do it right. Again --WOW. This lead to writing. Really, the writing began because of Nancy ( Nancy is my bride and partner -- without Nancy you'd not be in this part of the Web ... this was her idea, too!)
Nancy said one day: "Ray, you keep spouting all this stuff ... why don't you write it down". So, I did.
The books
The result is such things as Magic Marketing Minutes. My strategy / planning book -- Power Direct Marketing. Over 300 articles in business, marketing and sales magazines and newsletters around the globe. And more.
Another definition of an expert is he wrote a book. I wrote a book. I am an expert. By definition. WOW!
"Roll" isn't what I do --
it's where I
lived for a dozen years
Somewhere through all of this great work fun I've found a lady who will put up with me. Who also likes travel (we've been to 164 countries -- visited all 7 continents, and go someplace "interesting" at least a couple of times each year).
Nancy also likes to camp. Which is nice -- as I do, too. She likes to cook -- which is great, as I like to eat. And she likes to garden ... which is even greater ... as I hate to garden (this way she gets to do it).
And Nancy understands my passion for riding my Harley-Davidson (a real! bike). So, we do that a fair amount, too. 30-40,000 miles a year worth -- or more. Yes, another WOW. For Nancy ... and Harley. 
Somewhere through all of this was a move to Roll, Arizona, U.S.A. A place with fewer people than will fit in your yard.
Roll is in the country. A great place for the pair of cats who joined us to live and play. RipCord and BailOut (they came from a paratrooper family) enjoy the birds and bugs, bunny rabbits and bats, toads and lizards ... and other "moving" things.
Our closest neighbor was the crop duster airport, about 100 meters over my left shoulder. The last 3 miles to the house was a dirt and gravel road. A dozen yards outside our door is 80 acres of a grass crop. Mexico is just beyond. The other direction is desert -- flat, sandy desert all the way to the mountains.
Well, after a dozen years in the Arizona desert, life changed. Again. Our family and friends beckoned us back to "civilization" (although we did have several discussions about what that really means), and now we're in the small town of Morro Bay, California. Close enough for walks on the beach - and closer to those most important people in life - family and friends.
Of course today, with business it doesn't matter where you live. With satellite dishes and a DSL line, excellent communications -- both phone and fax -- darn good USPS mail and overnight delivery service, an airport 18 miles and 30 minutes away, what else could you ask? The Central Coast of California works for life and for business.
Ray Jutkins died on January 6, 2005
