BioVigilant Systems, Inc. was founded in 2002 to develop and sell devices to government and government contractors that detect the presence of weaponized bio-agents such as anthrax. After manufacturing the product, the government-related market was slow to develop, which caused the Board to look for additional uses for the Company’s IP.
Determine if there is a market other than government for the Company’s IP. Detector –If there is a market, define and execute a “go to market” strategy.
Utilized the On Target Method™, a deliberate, defined process for determining the existence of a potential market, defining market requirements, developing the strategic plan, positioning the client’s company and products for success, and, if desired, executing the plan.
Following The On Target Method, the first step was to deconstruct the company’s IP, thereby removing biases that can limit creative thinking. From there, the Company’s IP was “re-assembled” into several alternative provisional value propositions, which were tested by talking with at least three thought leaders in each provisional target industry.
Market attributes were examined, including:
i) market size;
ii) prospects’ perceived significance of the problem (pain);
iii) the urgency with which prospects want their pain removed;
iv) the ability of prospects to pay for the solution;
v) the relative dispersion along the product adoption curve
(greater dispersion means it is easier to introduce new
products); and,
vi) the extent to which customers would view the BioVigilant
solution as a proprietary advantage against their competitors
(the less so, the better for BioVigilant).
The candidate target industries were then ranked in terms of attractiveness to BioVigilant and its IP.
More intensive investigation was done in the most attractive industries, which included generating a full understanding of the culture, attitudes, business issues, technology and processes, pains and biases of each target industry. Finally, the best target industry was chosen (in this case, pharmaceutical and bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing), market requirements were developed, an overall strategy was developed (including positioning, marketing, sales and FDA submission), that strategy was reduced to an operational plan, and the plan was executed.
The term “Instantaneous Microbial Detection” (“IMD”) was invented, hardware and software product specifications were defined and the development of proprietary software (“PharmaMaster”) was managed. The company’s Web site was re-designed to be consistent with the new company and product positioning. Collateral material was created, and, with the help of the CTO, the white paper was written and distributed.
With the company’s CTO (who has great talent in this area), initial sales calls were made, and afterwards, the sales cycle was defined and follow through calls were made. During the entire process, great care was given to providing value to BioVigilant’s customers.
Under direction of the CEO and while working with a team that included the significant participation of the CTO, managed all marketing and sales aspects of the Company’s strategy and execution of its introduction into the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry.
Got white paper published in 8 + publications (4 languages), at no charge.
Properly positioned IMD so that prospects would understand its value.
Many “thought leaders” were identified and transformed from disinterested third parties into solid allies, willing to refer BioVigilant, speak and publish on BioVigilant’s behalf.
Created and executed successful plan for IMD Consortium, which had 14 of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers in the world, and 9 of the world’s largest 35. Consortium members tested IMD and helped to co-define the overall FDA submission process.
Made sales in to 13 pharmaceutical manufacturers (some of the largest in the world), with the foundation created for follow-on sales to these same customers.
Initiated contact with 30+ additional pharmaceutical manufacturers, all of which are now prospects for IMD, in varying stages of readiness to buy, and extremely well positioned.
At the beginning of the assignment, BioVigilant was not known in any significant way within the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. By the end of the assignment, BioVigilant’s brand and reputation were enhanced to the point that the company and IMD were known by most major pharmaceutical manufacturers, and sought after by many well- known potential partners and distributors.
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Re-position Existing IP, Formulate and Execute New Marketing and Sales Strategy
Position Company and Product, Develop Value Propositions, Implement and Execute New Sales Process