September 17, 2014
I have always hated the expression “Turn lemons into lemonade” as the implication is that lemons are bad and lemonade is good. I certainly would not pour lemonade over my line-caught King Salmon, nor would I eat lemonade meringue pie.
That is why I was so passionate about showing a medical practice management software company in the Midwest why their core value proposition (their lemon) should not be treated as lemonade, but as a lemon!
Over the past five years, this company had been experiencing flat to declining sales. It was felt that all of the newly minted medical professionals, who were their customers, wanted to buy flashy software to manage their practices from hot Silicon Valley firms rather than my client, their perceived dowdy Midwest competition.
So, my client trotted out all of the bells, whistles, and software flash they could muster. But like a tall lanky kid who wants to be a football linebacker, they learned that trying to be something you are not is a bad recipe for success.
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After tremendous research into their customers, I realized that doctors become doctors primarily because they love medicine and patients and making people’s lives better. They are passionate about their practice, NOT about managing their practice. In fact, their core complaint about practice management software was that it didn’t work well and that their staff was not able to run the office efficiently.
We decided to use the my client’s Midwest roots as an advantage and not an obstacle. We changed the software so that it was more intuitive. And, as importantly, we marketed the Midwest values of trust and integrity and reliability that ONLY a company from the Midwest could truly represent.
As a result, in the first two months of the new strategy, sales actually doubled. They actually had converted tart lemons into lemon tarts!
About the author:
Mark Jaffe is a consumer products, technology and digital media executive with an active consulting business, Strategic Growth Consulting, that enables manufacturing and service companies to achieve breakthrough revenue growth with sustainable profits from a foundation of sound strategic analysis and innovation.
Mark has successfully served as a catalyst for growth as a leader in the consumer products, manufacturing, technology, and entertainment industries for over twenty years. Now, he has translated that expertise into a successful practice enabling CEOs to strategically grow their companies by realizing and leveraging their company’s true, core value propositions into new and multiple revenue streams. In addition, he has helped his clients restructure their organizations to achieve maximum strategic effectiveness in generating revenue growth, momentum and results.
Recent clients include a health and beauty aids company who has grown over 500% in 2013 and has become the #4 product in the national Sephora retail chain. Strategies developed as result of Mark’s involvement with a regional furniture manufacturer increased that company’s sales from $55 million to over $100 million from 2008 to 2011 - during the heart of the recession.
Before consulting, his track record of corporate leadership spanned the consumer products/entertainment industries including many of the major studios, as well as successful new ventures in technology and financial services.
While head of Walt Disney Records, Mark capitalized upon his knowledge of the pop and family entertainment marketplace as well as the retail environment for children’s products to grow the company’s revenue line from $30 million to $120 million over a five-year period. He was also intimately involved in the rollout and expansion of The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid franchises during this time.
He also held an Executive Vice President position at Warner Bros and was Senior Vice President of Product Development at Capitol/EMI. Prior to Disney, Mark introduced high quality music programming for children to America with recording artists such as Raffi and grew the A&M Records children’s entertainment business from start-up to $14 million within five years.
He co-founded and grew Ecadia, a company that successfully developed and sold enterprise software focused upon buying decision systems technology for internet-based B2C and B2B commerce. Subsequently, he spearheaded the growth of Audit Integrity, a financial services software company that assesses the accuracy of corporate financial disclosures for accounting firms, governmental regulatory agencies, D&O insurance companies, and the investment community.
Mark received his Bachelors of Arts Degree in Communications from UCLA and his Masters of Business Administration in Marketing/Finance from the University of Southern California. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara.
He and his family enjoy travel and have been to six continents. Only Antarctica remains outstanding. In particular, Mark enjoys adventure travel and has trekked to, and stayed, in remote tribal villages in both Asia and Central America. He has trekked to the base camp of Mount Everest in Tibet, as well as the “Headhunter’s Trail” in the Sarawak region of Borneo with his then 15 year old son. He is an active scuba diver and runner, having completed the New York and Los Angeles marathons as well as numerous 10K races with his father and his son.
www.markjaffe.com