Joseph C Slagle dba Plateau Marketing

Apr 2003 - Present

I started Plateau Marketing with the goal of implementing GoldMine and parlaying into services I performed at Havill.  I parlayed into a whole new set of services.  I became the go-to partner for leads needing something more, usually larger clients (25 to 300 seats) looking to integrate, report, and/or feed CRM data with data from other line of business apps.  I quickly found myself architecting or programming integrated solutions and apps, taking advantage of the GoldMine API and SQL back-end, even implementing & integrating telephony solutions with CRM, training &/or hiring staff, overturning IT departments, and providing remote ongoing dba services.

Havill & Company, Inc.

Senior Consultant / Adjunct Senior Consultant

Feb 1993 - Apr 2003
Feb 2013 - May 2023

My consulting career started in the B2B market research trenches, involved in all aspects of a multi-client service station demand forecast for the who's who of the petroleum equipment industry.  Found & developed statistically relevant sample lists/sizes, developed research scripts, conducted telephone interviews, tabulated data & projected to the population, and wrote/edited the final report, and presented results to clients.  Six months later I was managing follow-up research projects.  In 1995, we were the first consulting company to quantify opportunity in the commercial fueling & fleet card market.   By 1997, I managed an abstract of the D&B business database in MSSQL for use in targeted direct marketing efforts for the Shell Fleet Card portfolio - a service provided for 20 years.   In 2000, I architected a multi-tenant web-based CRM for our petroleum vertical.  It still runs today. In 2013, I returned on an adjunct basis to manage marketing database builds for two fleet card clients and also co-managed a service station nozzle inventory research project for one of the Big Three (2017).  In 2020 & 2021, I returned full-time on an intentional two-year consulting sabbatical to overhaul a Havill online initiative.  First extended into 2022, then asked to contract through May 2023, the terms of our engagement were left unfulfilled.  While I am extremely proud of the work I did at Havill, I no longer deliver my services through them, endorse them, or recommend them as a partner.

Education - Bowling Green State University

Aug 1985 - Dec 1988

Math was always my passion and I entered BGSU as a Management Information Systems major.  I took the Intro to Speech class first semester and realized I didn't know how to communicate well and wanted to learn everything I could about communication.  So many clients have said, "your'e technical, but you know how to talk!"  Degree:  Bachelor of Arts in Communication.  Major: Interpersonal & Public Communication.  Focus: Hospitality Management.  Minor:  Industrial/Organizational Psychology.   Active in University Activities Organization - served as Spotlight Entertainment Director scheduling local music acts, running sound boards, and providing dj services.  Inaugural organization rep to Dry Dock, an on-campus alcohol-free club ( see article on page 5), and organizational rep to Undersgraduate Student Government.

Other Experiences that made me who I am

1982 - 1992

At 14, I manned the store on Tue evenings & weekends and taught BASIC classes @ Video Computer World.  At 17, I spent 2 1/2 seasons @ Yogi Bears Jellystone Park in Angola, IN.  At 18, I started working in the BGSU dining halls and became their second student manager a couple years later, running dining halls in absence of FT management.  After 6 months @ O'Charleys in Lexington, KY, a summer managing a bar in BG, I landed for 2 years @ Tee Jaye's Country Place in Columbus, OH (get the barnyard buster!).  In 1991, I returned to Toledo to manage the concessions and clubhouse bar @ the now-defunct Raceway Park, where I was supposed to get involved in PR and trained as a backup track announcer.  Instead, I ended up being the opening Food & Beverage Director for the first Class 2 Thoroughbred and Quarterhorse track in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.  I had a whole two weeks to develop a menu, buy equipment, prep a menu and secure suppliers before opening day.  Went through a semi of kegs.  The other guy was overwhelmed and quit.  After 2 years of working 6 1/2 days a week, I was tired, returned to Toledo, and landed at Havill.