NEWS

A new game plan

Former NFL players get into the marketing game
Austin Business Journal
by Jimmie Collins
Staff writer

As a former NFL quarterback and a former NFL offensive lineman, Will Furrer and Jeff Novak know how to call the shots and follow through with a play. They left the football field long ago, but they continue to strategize a game plan -- and then execute it -- through their Web-based marketing agency, IF Development Inc.

The two founded IF Development in Georgetown in April 2002 with the help of Robert Cowes and Richard Copley, two of Furrer's post-NFL co-workers. The company, which was originally conceived as a software company with a marketing database, eventually evolved into a firm with four areas of practice: real estate sales and marketing, Internet marketing, a promotional items division, and the initial customer relationship management, or CRM, software. CRM is an Internet application that allows 24-7 access to customer contact activities and marketing campaign metrics.

With 40 percent of its clients in real estate development, IF Development doesn't just market property for its clients, it helps them decide what they should build and when.

"It allows us to be working with those developers at a very strategic time to be trusted with that work," Furrer says.

IF Development' executive team doesn't always tell its clients what they want to hear, but they say it's the team's willingness to warn clients that their plans may not work that helps set them apart.

"We're not afraid to have those hard conversations early in the process. More than anything, we want to make sure there's a way to win," Novak says.

Once IF Development helps developers decide what to build, the company moves to the branding phase of the project. Knowing from the beginning how the product is going to sell, and whom it's likely to sell to, helps the company market the product properly and create an identity.

"We give our guy a chance to make more money with more products by doing our homework on the front end," Novak says. "We don't have a service that can't be duplicated, but it is actually hard to find people nowadays that are going to look you in the eye and tell you the truth."

Novak says this is one of the many traits he believes comes out of playing professional sports. While some say there may be few transferable job skills that come from playing sports, Novak says one that does is accountability.

"We are on their team, and we feel obligated because it's our team now -- our products that we're selling, our success together with our clients'," Novak says.

Several IF Development clients say Novak and his team huddle up with them quickly and comfortably.

"Working with them is like working with someone we hired internally," says David Litzau, vice president of operations at Harrington Custom Homes, an Austin-based developer. "They're becoming a part of Harrington Custom Homes, carrying the same interests as we do."

Little more than four years after launching, IF Development now boasts more than 150 clients, most of which were landed through referrals.

"We have a fantastic team behind us and that comes from every person on our team," Furrer says. "We have a very client-centered business."

But having former NFL players on the team hasn't always been an easy business experience for the company. Novak and Furrer admit that some clients come to them with low expectations, solely seeking a business meeting because of the celebrity factor.

"We get more meetings because of it but then people realize these guys aren't just big, dumb jocks," Novak says. "It opens a lot of doors for us because there are a lot of people that want to meet a guy like Tony Boselli, and then just guys that had a chance to play for a while like Will and I."

Now with former Jacksonville Jaguars teammate Boselli heading up the company's Jacksonville, FL, office, IF Development sees even more of this celebrity treatment.

Lessons learned

Do your research on the front end.
Accountability is key.
Surpass client expectations.