Over 25 Years of Success in the Direct Response Industry

The Professional Education Institute® (PEI) is a division of AMS Direct, founded in 1983, and built by two principals: Mark Holecek and Don Strumillo. With respective backgrounds in accounting and law, they launched the company with a primary product authored by Carleton H. Sheets, titled How to Buy Your First Home or Investment Property With No Down Payment. The course—adapted from the popular seminar series—teaches individuals how to invest in real estate using creative financing techniques. It was, and continues to be, widely praised for its practical and specific how-to content.

The course was initially marketed to a national audience through 60-second television and radio spots, print ads, and direct mail.

In 1984, with the deregulation of television commercial time, the infomercial format was born, allowing for an unprecedented information flow to consumers. The Carleton H. Sheets® real estate course was a perfect product for this new format.

AMS Direct produced the first Carleton H. Sheets informercial featuring the No Down Payment® real estate course in 1984. The program continues to run successfully on national television to this day, winning it the title of "longest continuous running infomercial in history."

AMS Direct Education

From these beginnings, our primary focus on adult education developed.

In 1985, PEI was formed as the vehicle to carry our educational products and learning systems to consumers.

The mission of PEI is to help people achieve their personal, financial, and self-improvement goals. This is achieved by giving consumers direct access to quality educational tools, designed to enrich their lives and enhance their well-being.

Through proven principles of direct marketing in a variety of mediums, PEI delivers self-help and wealth-building products and services to targeted individuals.

An industry leader, AMS Direct built its foundation by providing dynamic educational products with high standards of quality and customer service.

AMS Direct Partnerships

It soon became apparent that the expertise developed by AMS Direct to market educational programs directly to consumers could be used to direct market other specialty products to consumers.

Today, the AMS Direct Partnerships division fills that role.

The purpose of the AMS Direct Partnerships division is to make the direct marketing expertise and resources of AMS Direct available to select partners.

The AMS Direct Partnerships division has the knowledge, experience, and resources to develop and manage direct marketing campaigns at a national level. We also have the underlying infrastructure and resources to process and manage the high-volume customer activity resulting from the success of such campaigns.

AMS Facilities

AMS Direct has extensive in-house capabilities. AMS Direct operates from two primary locations:

Corporate Headquarters, Burr Ridge, Illinois
Coaching and Operations, Salt Lake City, Utah

Continuing growth of our Corporate Headquarters prompted our move in August 2000 to our newly constructed and wholly owned 66,000 sq. ft. office. This facility houses key corporate departments including:

AMS Direct Media. Our highly respected media division is responsible for researching and negotiating airing times on network and cable television.
Marketing. Responsible for developing comprehensive plans relevant to the company's five marketing channels.
Production. Charged with keeping our infomercials current and motivating.
Information Technologies. Responsible for developing and maintaining the company's state-of-the-art software systems and infrastructure.
Product Development. Responsible for new and existing product research, development, and innovations

Coaching and Operations' continuing growth also prompted our move in September 2003 to our newly constructed 60,000 sq. ft. operations center. This facility houses key functional departments including:

Personal Coaching: Responsible for providing one-on-one personal Coaching services to thousands of students each year.
In-bound telemarketing. Responsible for handling all Customer Service inquiries.
Out-bound telemarketing. Responsible for marketing our products and services to our customer database.

Summary

AMS Direct and PEI continue their growth by pursuing beneficial partnerships with respected partners and actively seeking innovative products and services to bring to American consumers.