COMPANY
The Company is a five million dollar Houston-based manufacturer of toroidal transformers for specialized electrical equipment applications. Their markets are medical, telecommunications, audio-video, computer and lighting industries (300 customers). The higher price ($85 average) and manufacturing complexity of toroidal transformers dictated that the Company work with their OEM customers in the custom design and manufacture of these components. The Company was profitable but wanted to grow to $10.0 million in revenue in three years.
PROBLEM ENCOUNTERED
The problem was that attaining this $10.0 million revenue objective rested with the President and a senior sales manager, both lacking the experience and time to “run the business” and to grow it. The marketing problem was that the Company could not effectively identify, sell and service new applications.
SILVER FOX ADVISOR INVOLVEMENT
The Silver Fox Advisor convinced the President to shift responsibility and accountability for profitable sales growth to the sales manager. The sales manager then hired and trained more Company sales engineers and independent field representatives. In addition, the Silver Fox Advisor recommended an outside (research, marketing, planning and advertising) firm to define, quantify and communicate with new target markets.
CONCLUSIONS
The result has been that with new prospect industries, product applications, and a successful sales organization, the Company has reached its $10.0 million revenue goal. An economic side benefit has been a simplified product mix with far better manufacturing productivity.