The Problem
Alkon Corporation manufactures control systems and software solutions for concrete plants. In 1998, the company owner and founder asked me to come in and help him grow the company after three successive years of no growth and losing market share to their biggest competitor. At that time, the company had 80 employees and generated $12 million in annual sales. I was hired to come in and get a better understanding of what they were currently doing, research the industry and competitors, and present tactical steps that would allow them to turn the company back into a high-growth company.
My Approach
I was asked to come in and work with Alkon’s executive team to understand how the organization operates and its current non-documented sales and marketing processes and efforts. The initial engagement was one month of discovery, and then present my findings to the executive.
I started by interviewing the executive team, sales and leadership, and marketing personnel to assess what kept the company from growing. I interviewed customers, researched the industry, and conducted physical sales calls with the sales team. All of this work was at the company’s US headquarters and onsite.
I presented my findings to the entire executive team. I demonstrated how Alkon was not differentiating itself in the prospect’s minds, even though it had superiority with some of its product lines and was, in fact, a market leader with those products, per my research. I gave an example of a different value proposition, suggested more aggressive marketing messaging and campaigns, and let them know there was a significant opportunity to become the undisputed market leader in the industry.
The CEO thanked me for my comments and asked if I could create a detailed strategic marketing plan detailing what changes they needed to make this happen. The CEO hired me to create a detailed plan and budget.
I dug deep into the industry, competitors, marketing programs, and current resource constraints. I created a Marketing Action Program, which had three scenarios on how Alkon could differentiate itself with better messaging, and suggested additional software that could be used to differentiate itself from the leading competitor in the industry. I concluded by having a comprehensive “Go To Market” plan which included adjustments to the messaging, distribution, pricing, and marketing efforts.
The detailed plan was presented to the executive team, and everyone, including the CEO, CFO, and executive team, was excited to have such as comprehensive plan. The CEO said that he would get back to me with any questions. Within six months of delivering the plan, I was informed that the CEO wanted to sell the company. An Alkon Board Member called me and asked me if the plan was still accurate and if I would consider coming back for an engagement to execute the plan.
The Result
I agreed to come back and execute the plan. We hired additional sales talent, developed the software, and went to market with a different message of being the market leader in control systems. We grew sales to $25M within three years and expanded the company’s reach to 26 countries. Alkon grew to the point where we merged with the leading competitor Command Data as a “merger of equals.” The investors of Alkon had a 15X return on their investment within three years. The company still exists today and is called Command-Alkon, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The company’s sales are 100+ million, and they are the undisputed market leader in the concrete ready-mix industry for software and controls.
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