1to1 - Spring 2009 - (Page 47) EXPERT INSIGHT: CUSTOMER ADVOCATE In Focus: Transferable Skills How often does 20 years of sales and marketing experience at a large company come in handy at a smaller, growing private-equity-owned company? Every day, according to Baer. “All of the business competencies are transferable, whether you’re going from a large, Fortune 500 company to a small to midsize company, or vice versa,” Baer notes. Each company has developed its own sales and marketing best practices, according to Baer. The trick is to apply some of Fuji’s best practices to areas where they will provide the most value to Water-Jel. For example, Fuji’s embrace of standardized processes can help selective, but not all, areas of Water-Jel. “I plan to apply greater standardization to our new-product development processes,” Baer says. “Also, some of our information-packed financial-reporting processes can benefit by making [the reports] more intuitive to read and digest.” There are also certain practices within his new company that Baer knows to leave as is. “Water-Jel has a very tight manufacturing-marketing-sales relationship,” he adds. “At Fuji, these areas were more separated. The integrated nature of our relationships at Water-Jel lets us greatly accelerate the speed it takes to move from an idea to selling a new product.” I need from senior management and the board to drive our expansion. When I came in they very clearly laid out the goals and objectives of the position…and they had put aside the financial resources I needed to get started. Our CEO Mike Lorelli also laid out a program for me to get up to speed called Water-Jel 101. I met all of the board members to get their opinions and to find out what revenue sources had been tried before, what hadn’t been tried, as well as what was successful and what wasn’t. 1to1: What did you do with those notes? Baer: I read and reread them, and then I used them to conduct my own SWOT analysis. I did one page each on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The purpose of the exercise was to consolidate my own thinking on what I learned. It showed me, for example, that we could rightfully position ourselves as a thought leader [in burn care]. Where do people look for thought leaders today? They use the Web to educate themselves. But our site, which works well for an industrial business, was on my weakness scorecard. So, one of the very first things we’re going to do is a Web initiative that includes a search-engine optimization and revamping our site to make it more consumer friendly and educational. The site’s content will be provided by a blend of inside and outside experts. If consumers have questions about burns or first aid, they are going to come to our site to learn what they can do. 1to1: How else did you get up to speed in your first 45 days? Baer: Two weeks before I joined the company I attended a few meetings to orient myself with the products and some of the product management team. After starting work I met with people in every functional area. I asked a list of questions to help me understand what they needed and how the marketing group and retail sales group could help them be successful in their jobs. We also discussed how they could help us be successful in our function. I probably held 20 meetings internally. I also met with a dozen of our manufacturer’s representatives and many of our distributors on the industrial side. And I met with seven or eight of our brokers on the retail side. We’ve since increased the number of our retail brokers to 25. I also met with some promotional agencies that had pitched Water-Jel different ideas over the past year. [From each of these people] I learned their thoughts about the company, how they see us positioned in the marketplace, and what they view as needs for our future products. This process took about 30 days and involved a lot of face-to-face interaction and 30 pages of notebook paper. 1to1: Any other plans for the future? Baer: We plan to create a direct to consumer (DTC) channel in the future. The products we sell them will not compete directly with those we sell through our retail channel. However, we might launch a new product through our DTC channel, and then move the product to retail if it proves successful. ONLINE EXTRA: Learn more about Herb Baer’s go-to-market strategy for Water-Jel in the podcast “Sales and Marketing Collaboration Help Water-Jel Penetrate New Markets.” Visit: www.1to1.com/links/waterjel.html To suggest a Customer Advocate, contact Eric Krell at ekrell@sbcglobal.net Spring 2009 47 http://www.1to1.com/links/waterjel.html
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