Case Studies
Client:Services Firm, Software Quality
Challenge: Improve intellectual capital management
Results: This services firm had an incredible track record of success in their industry. However, they were regularly losing business to inferior competitors because they had not documented their methodology for marketing and sales purposes. Trek helped them create a wall-sized flow chart explaining their full software development process. The company recently won a two million dollar contract after spending two hours with a prospect in front of this chart. The prospect concluded, “You know more about this than we ever will, you are the partner for us.”
Client: IT Services Firm
Challenge: Jumpstart growth
Results: The sales of this firm had reached a plateau and they needed a jumpstart. Trek helped them identify and create messages for the firm’s highest value market opportunities. We meet with them every ten days to monitor success and learn from market feedback. This balance between good strategy and execution has helped them grow their sales dramatically.
Client: Consulting Firm, Medical Device Industry
Challenge: Create a sales function
Results: Trek helped the managing partner of this firm institutionalize a sales process to fuel future growth. Previously, all business generation had come from just the lead consulting partner. Trek helped design the sales process as well as facilitate the hiring and on-streaming of a new sales person.
Client: Service firm, Marketing
Challenge: Get increased bank line and move to a more responsive institution
Results: Trek helped the CEO of this company prepare a proposal to a new bank that explained the company’s recent evolution and its future outlook. The new bank tripled the amount of the credit line the company had at its former bank.
Client: Consulting firm
Challenge: Create an organization plan to support growth
Results: Trek helped this client think about how to build and staff their organization by running parallel analyses: the first, using a traditional org chart approach, helped them think about managerial and organizational responsibilities and the second, using a network approach which helped them think about how work would actually get done. This dual approach helped improve communication within the organization about expectations as well build the right teams.
Client: Software Company, Finance and Accounting Industry
Challenge: Identify new markets
Results: Trek helped this company identify fruitful new markets for their product. This process helped them to focus on the most promising segments, and allowed them to target their marketing message and efforts accordingly. Trek also helped them get into key new prospects in this market.
Client: Engineering and Consulting Firm, Medical Device Industry
Challenge: Significant customer concentration from a project that was wrapping up
Results: Trek helped this company re-create itself by building on their significant intellectual capital. The company now has a new image, better marketing, and improved sales. They have grown their client list and have brought in many new, high-quality clients to fully replace the lost revenue from the completed mega-project.
Client: Advertising Firm
Challenge: Grow the company
Results: Trek helped this company by gathering objective feedback from the market that helped them better understand their strengths. This knowledge helped them leverage their skills by creating new service offerings. We followed this up with the development of a more consistent and successful new business generation process. This work has led to increased profits with existing clients as well as new client acquisition.
Client: Consulting Firm, FDA/Medical Device Industry
Challenge: Create an exit plan for the founders
Results: Trek helped the founders of this business understand how to create value in their business to position it for eventual sale. The work we did together helped the firm double its sales in the following year and let to the sale of the firm a few years later.
Client: Web Design and Development Company, Internet/Software Industry
Challenge: Close down or wait it out
Results: Trek helped the investors in this company make a tough decision on whether to ride out the tech downturn or close down their company. We helped them identify the seeds of a viable new business model that was better suited to the new realities of their market. This company continues to grow profitably today.
Client: Software and Services Firm
Challenge: Launch a new business
Results: Trek helped a services firm explore a new business idea that they had been pursuing unsuccessfully for over a year. Our market research helped the company to stop the drain of resources from this concept and re-channel its energies on more productive opportunities. We continue to work with the company on successfully implementing their new strategy.
Client: Radio Programming Company, Spanish Language Market
Challenge: Evaluate a new market offer
Results: Trek helped the founder of this company evaluate a new market opportunity that had been presented to him. We helped him decide that this was not a good opportunity. Our work also identified the necessary criteria for new opportunities that have been used to successfully open subsequent markets for the group.
Client: Software Firm, Java/J2EE
Challenge: Raise capital
Results: Trek helped position this company and raise new equity capital. We also helped them with the patent process of their key technologies and multiple meetings with international software firms interested in their technologies.
Client: Analyst Firm, High Technology Industry
Challenge: Convert reluctant financing/investor sources
Results: Trek was able to help this company put a successful end to a long and fruitless attempt to raise money. The lessons learned during this process also helped the company position itself for a successful sale several years later.
Client: Staffing and Consulting Firm, IT Industry
Challenge: Be ready for acquisition
Results: Trek led the company through the development of their first formal business plan. This process helped senior management and the board understand the strengths and weaknesses of the company and how to improve the future value of the company. They ultimately decided to stay independent and now regularly appear on lists featuring local growth companies.
Client: Retail Store and Service Business, Marine and Boating Industry
Challenge: Expand geographically
Results: Trek helped this firm explore its strategic alternatives for the geographic expansion of their business. We also helped them execute the search for the new properties they now use.
Client: Consulting Firm, Retirement Industry
Challenge: Grow the company
Results: Trek helped the founder and his board to understand the company’s strengths and their market opportunity. The board session we facilitated left everyone with a breakthrough understanding of the business and its potential.
Client: Service and Consulting Firm, Network and Computer Services Industries
Challenge: Analyze new opportunity
Results: Trek helped this company analyze the opportunity and ultimately push back when their platform vendor pressured them to adopt the ASP (application service provider) model for software hosting. This decision helped the firm avoid the spectacular crash of this concept in the tech downturn.
