Bally Design now engages bigger clients faster, with less effort using icebreaker strategy
The Problem
Bally Design has a 40-year track record with scores of award winning commercial product design solutions in its portfolio. However the three partners who run the company were also responsible for sales. Simply put, Bally didn't have enough new, high quality client conversations occurring to make their project portfolio selective and consistent resulting in a lack of recurring revenue streams and never enough “strategic fit” clients.
"We knew we had something special to offer, but we didn’t speak our business well – it was exhausting trying to say what we did in a way that didn't sound like every other product design firm."
– Tom Kubilius, Principal
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The Opportunity
Industrial design firms all smell, look and sound the same – Bally was in a commodity trap. But ClearBrands pinpointed three common “jobs” that large company VPs who are responsible for managing and growing product lines struggle with:
1. Envisioning new game-changing product opportunities
2. Expanding existing product lines
3. Re-invigorating tired product lines
As simple as it sounds, these 3 "jobs" fit neatly with Bally's key strengths and offered a tidy, unique way to communicate the firm's 3 valuable service offerings.
The Single Nail™ Solution
Recognizing that VPs of product innovation are burdened to “fail fast and cheap” and that they place high value on successful, risk reduced execution, ClearBrands helped Bally shift its commoditized position of "design" to the Single Nail focus of "Agile Innovation of Purposeful and Profitable Products". This was Bally’s unique ability sweet spot and a key priority and desired outcome of corporate product innovation VPs.
Dream Customer Matchmaking
We helped Bally build and qualify a list of 150 dream companies – strategic, soul mate clients who have the promise of being highly desirable and profitable long-term clients. We used Innovation Icebreaker as a way to "break the ice" with their 150 dream companies, shipping a compelling priority package to VPs of New Product Innovation with a unique call to action that spurs action.
FASTER ENGAGEMENTS
To remove Bally from the product design RFP rat race, we developed and trademarked a unique engagement called Innovation Icebreaker™. A short-term engagement, Innovation Icebreaker gives VPs of new product innovation a way to test drive Bally Design on a single project challenge, reducing their risk and enabling Bally to demonstrate their powerful capabilities.
Results
2.5x SALES Increase trend over previous year
260% new customer contracts increase
More Conversations, More of the Time
ClearBrands put a repeatable, efficient system in place for touching 150 top brands for the first time and inviting them into a compelling conversation. Bally is now equipped with a proven process for activating a consistent flow of dream client conversations and high quality sales appointments. For companies who aren't ready today, the Bally client nurture program ensures a frequent, meaningful communication is kept with their prospect database -- ensuring Bally is building their Single Nail authority as a leading resource that excels at innovating purposeful and profitable products in a low-risk, agile fashion.
The Bally partners can now rest easy and focus on their client projects knowing they have a repeatable system working for them -- cultivating and harvesting new, qualified sales appointments with their 150 dream companies.
Contact us to learn how your business could rapid pilot test its own Dream Customer Matchmaking solution.
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