Posted: December 23, 2009

By Vincent Schilling

Correspondent

Twenty-five years ago, Henry Martin started Rocket Direct Communications Inc. in Virginia Beach.

Eighteen years earlier, in 1967, Martin began his 42-year career in direct mail as a service technician for the Philipsburg division of Bell and Howell, a manufacturer of postal and mailing equipment.

In 1984, Martin began an independent business-mail operation in the garage from his own home with four pieces of equipment - a letter folder, an envelope inserter, an envelope labeler and one mail meter.

Martin remembers the early days.

"In the beginning, I had very few customers," he said. "I knew they weren't going to just stop by my garage for goodness sake. Instead of just sitting idly and waiting for customers to appear, I did what I thought I should do. I literally knocked on doors to get customers."

Once customers gave him a chance, Martin says he didn't stop there.

"One of the most important things to me was the importance I placed on customer service," he said. "I continued to work diligently to do a great job, and after a while, my customers began to come to me, but only after a lot of hard work and attention to the details."

Martin's work ethic paid off and after a short time the company generated enough business to open a 550-square-foot commercial warehouse off South Lynnhaven Road in Virginia Beach. He later opened an adjoining warehouse, expanding his space to 750 square feet. With the later addition of yet another adjoining warehouse, 750 square feet became 1,500 square feet of space.

Martin's company had grown to eight staff members and an array of business-mail processing equipment. In 1996, the less effective and time-consuming ways of manual mail presorting gave way to new and more efficient methods. Embracing technology, Martin knew it was time to take a jump ahead into the future.

In 1997, Rocket Direct moved its operations to 532 Central Drive in Virginia Beach. In the company's new location, warehouse and office space again increased to include a larger main working area with multiple local satellite warehouse buildings.

Martin now has more than 50 employees covering multiple shifts. Mail-processing equipment ranges from postal presorting and bar-coding postal equipment, ink-jets, tabbing and folding machines, mail-inserters, folders and digital printers.

Rocket Direct was the 2007 Hampton Roads Small Business of the Year and was included in the 2008 Fantastic 50 for the fastest-growing companies in Virginia.

According to Martin, "It feels really great to have so many happy customers and I am thrilled to keep a good thing going."