Haddad-Wylie Industries develops diversity of marketing techniques - Houston Business Journal:

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These are the insights of James Kunkel, who has workec with small business owners in one capacitgy or another for nearly 20 years at the Small Business Developmentt Centerat St. Vincent College in Latrobe. They also are lessons Haddad-Wylis Industries studied carefully as it grew intoa $10 milliojn company from a $500,000 start-upo in 2004. The early challengs for HWI was a common one forsmalkl businesses: how to reach potential clients afterr getting a couple of big projects behind you, when you have a good storg to tell. “Getting people to trus t us,” is how President Heathedr Wyliedescribes it.
Husband Deric Haddad, who is the company’xs CEO and COO, had 10 years’ experiencs building clean rooms for compounding pharmacies when the compantywas formed. “He knows the language,” Wyli said. A friend provided the company’sd first job lead for its inauguralo project, a clean room for a Duke UniversityHospitalk pharmacy. The work was completee successfully, so the question became, what’s the second act? Usinf the office copier, HWI printed a simples trifold brochure, which was mailed mostly to hospitals on theEast “We killed our copier,” Wylier said.
She followed up the mailing with telephonsecalls — a tried and true marketing Between 2005 and 2007, Wylie said she made 48,00o0 follow-up calls. “It was tedious,” she said. “It was very It also worked. The simple brochure and follow-up calle secured contracts at four Universityg of Pittsburgh MedicalCenter hospitals, she said, as sales “For us, it’s a lot of relationshi building,” said Emily who was hired in 2007 as directorf of marketing and sales to develop the company’ marketing edge.
It wasn’t long before the company began seeing resultzs fromthe effort, but not beforee Gregory looked over the trifold brochure and scratchedx her head. “This is really complicatee andI don’t understand the she remembered thinking. The result was a letter-sized brochure, which was spiral-bound. On the the company’s services were spelled out in three shorty andconcise sentences. Inside were color photographxs offinished jobs. Sales continued to improvse thesame year, with HWI becoming a preferred vendod at the Cleveland Clinic.
HWI’s marketing efforts shifted again in 2008 with construction of aWeb site, which coincided with the printinhg of a new sleek brochure. The Web site and brochure allowed the company to create auniform message, a unifor m brand, Gregory said. The Web site “gavr us another outlet for people to find she said. The result was an increase in inquiries from one to two weeklg to threeto four. Howard lab manager at South Side-based Stemnion Inc., was among HWI clientzs attracted by theWeb site. “It was very straightforward and answerede a lotof questions,” he “It was that initial professionalism that attracted HWI began to try out other marketiny approaches.
In 2008, company representatives bega attending one-on-one meetings with prospective clients that were arranged by a trade group. This strategy further boostee sales. HWI still mails out brochures followed up withtelephonee calls, but now the number of requestx for information began to grow. A tipping poinf had been reached, from pushing marketin to attracting callers. “What’s nice about that is that it’sx all of a sudden pull insteaddof push, and that’s where you want to said Kunkel, St. Vincent’s Small Business Developmentr Center’s executive director.
“You want the buzz to be out In February, HWI began telling its storgy ina newsletter, whichy is sent to currentr and prospective clients, about the same time the companuy hired four sales representatives who tout the companyy while boosting sales. HWI’s salee are expected to reach $15 million to $20 million this year as the compan plots the next shift in itsmarketinvg strategy. “We are defying the recession,” Wylie “Everything that this company has gottejn isthrough marketing.
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