As the CEO of LabtronX it is important for me to have and communicate a vision, a clear and compelling picture of the future. I need to communicate this to everyone in the company and get us all rowing the same way. But the purpose of this paper is a bit different. I am trying to create a period of focus. We can see the horizon out in front of us but we need to take a second to look down at our feet and navigate this new a tough terrain.
We have built or are currently involved in building the infrastructure that will support a successful and growing business. We are investing in that growth now. But the question arises… What should we focus on to create the growth we need? Running the numbers and talking with many members of the team I have developed the following points of focus:
I would like to focus on something that will get us growth in three main areas:
- Add new locations – in our current markets, near Cincinnati, and a push in Indiana. Remember, each new customer can add 1, 2, or 4 visits depending on frequency.
- Increase the frequency of A/A visits – 70% of A/A customers have us come annually. That Is roughly 550 customers. If we could get one sixth of these to go semi-annual, we would add 92 visits in a year. If we could get 55 customers to go quarterly, we would add 165 visits in a year.
- Increase what we do at each location – Adding 4 flowmeters at a location increases our profit as if we added a whole new customer to our schedule.
I believe that focusing on these numbers is not going to get us the results we desire. We can measure these numbers and report the results… to do so regularly would be wise. However, I believe that what we need to concentrate on is building our fan base. If we do a great job at this our work will become easier and more enjoyable and the company will be more profitable. Think about the most engaged customers we currently visit. What would it be like if every customer you went to was like that? If they understood the value that we bring to their equipment and facility, If they appreciated the impact we have on the industry. What if they weren’t just looking for stickers to keep the state off their backs, but instead had us do more things for them and really acknowledged us for the work we did? What if they wanted us to succeed and saw that we were trying to help them succeed too. Don’t you think those customers would be advocates for LabtronX… promoting us in their own facilities and to new potential customers? And these fans don’t even have to be A/A customers, they could be state employees, engineering firms, and vendors.
We have 5 modes of operation that can help to build this fan base:
- Techs – have frequent and long periods of time to help change attitudes and influence opinions. Obviously we have to do a great job but we can also:
- Communicate to control customers expectations – if you don’t proactively set the customer’s expectations, how can you ever hope to exceed them?
- Track and discuss ‘As Found’ readings
- Help determine frequency and sources of drift
- Promote socialization – especially through personal contact and the newsletter
- Create Awareness – not sales… just making sure that they know what we do or what we could do for them.
- Solution Sales – When a pain is discovered, use Sandler Training to provide the right solutions with the best customer results
- Trade Shows – Shannon and I have been setting up many events that we can goto to speak or just have a booth at… we will hit many areas but we want to have a focus on Indiana if possible.
- Establish ourselves as experts – through conversations and lectures
- Promote socialization
- Create Awareness
- Measure our results by giving surveys that allow to see if we are building our fan base in the areas we are going to.
- Customer Care – Chris has got a new and tough job. It’s a lot of work calling all these customers and making sure that each one has a touch of personal attention and that we have controlled their expectations through timely communications
- Communicate to control customers expectations
- Promote Socialization
- Provide Solution Sales
- And ask questions to measure results
- Newsletter and Events – Becca has been gathering articles and information to share with the customers and Todd has been developing a way to post those articles on the website and provide an email/newsletter that will provide good looking and interesting ways for them to link to those articles on the website.
- Increase the size of our mailing list
- Track that mailing list – see who is being added or dropping off
- Grow the website – through the addition of so many articles on a regular basis, our website will have content that people may google or actively search for on our site as a resource for learning or entertainment
- Measure results – how many people open the newsletter, click on the articles, explore our website? We can include periodic surveys that can help measure our fan base or give us insight into questions we might have.
- Promote Socialization – passively through the newsletter we can communicate with the fans or potential fans, highlighting employees, customers, and people in our industry. We can also invite these people to come have fun with us… put toys together at cottage cove, goto a Preds game, a canoe trip, or just a picnic.
- Cincinnati – We have Erick in a new area. He will be getting to places more efficiently and helping to cut Nashville’s average drive time as well. He will have time when he is not doing A/A and we need to fill that time with building our fan base. Right now we are going to do these few things beyond what he will do as a technician.
- Create Awareness in the customers we already have, that we are closer and can do more for them
- Provide solution sales in ways we couldn’t have before because of the longer drive times and expense
- Contact potential customers in the area and start building those relationships
I know that this was a lot of information but I can’t stress how important it is to focus on the goal of winning fans for LabtronX. I believe that over the next 12 months if we do this we could potentially grow our company by 15-30%. That means we could take our yearly income of 2.1 million to 2.5-3 million. This would easily cover the new software upgrades and 3 new technician hires we would need to handle the higher capacity. I hope you are as excited as I am about what we are building. It’s not just bigger, it will help all of us have a better way of life at work and at home.
As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Stop by my office or use any of the following.
Text or cell call: 615-351-5248
Email: cptlink@labtronx.com
