An organization that began as a non-profit had been marketing and selling assistive technologies for children and adults with disabilities to schools and other institutions for about five years. It had been successful during that period, but as the organization made the transition to an independent, for-profit enterprise, it realized it would need outside expertise to truly accelerate its growth trajectory.
The company reached out to Chuck McFall to help accomplish that goal. Chuck knew that to reach that objective the company needed to restructure its marketing and product management group and develop a more consistent and ongoing planning process based on Chuck’s proprietary product management and marketing disciplines and tools.
Chuck started by conducting training for all the company’s key management staff on the use of his marketing processes and tools. This training focused on the benefits of becoming a more market-responsive organization, installing strong product planning disciplines, and developing a strategic business plan for the entire company and for each of its product lines.
Next, Chuck helped them utilize cross-functional teams to develop and support the planning and implementation for each product offering. In addition, the top management group also worked together to develop an over-arching business growth plan using Chuck’s approach and process. This included a new stage-gate product development process, tailored to the client’s unique business needs and culture. The company then tested and refined all of it to ensure it was working effectively. Finally, Chuck helped the company establish an ongoing annual review process for the company’s strategic plan as well as each product management plan. He also began a periodic product “ideation” session for stimulating new product ideas.
Employing what it learned from Chuck, along with its new strategic growth plan and product management process, the company was able to identify a significant number of new market and product opportunities complimentary to its existing ones, such as hi-tech products, complete teaching programs and other assistive technology products. It was also able to identify and phase out outdated products.
The company continued to increase its market share through more effective competitive differentiation and stronger value propositions for their offerings, with sales and revenue growing by an average of 10-15% a year after it started working with Chuck.
Today, the company is a market leader in the Assistive Technology field and a strong voice for children and adults with disabilities, with sales and revenues 10 times greater than when it created its strategic plan and product management process.
