Comlite Systems/Direct Marketing Services
Exclusive Marketing and Sales Arm for the entire company
Comlite Systems develops an intra-office light communication system that assists dentists and doctors in running a more efficient, stress-free and professional office environment through a series of customized network units that communicate with each other through the existing facilities AC system.
- Developed and implemented all aspects of the company’s sales and marketing initiatives
- Designed the marketing material by use of the sales force
- Trained all the sales people; direct sales force, catalog companies, and independent reps
Main contribution:
Comlite Systems-the product design itself can lead to the most effective marketing and sales.
In 1989, a gentleman engineer developed a new product. It was a dental and medical intra-office light communication system whereby the dentists and doctors used colored and numbered buttons to communicate non-verbally with their staff. The benefit was it made for a less stressful office environment by avoiding yelling and getting up and walking around to work together to provide service to their patients.
This was not new to the industry. For years there had been hard-wired systems that needed to be installed and run through the walls and buildings. However, this required installation people, disruption and demolition of the existing structure and because of the construction design and materials of many older facilities and buildings it was simply prohibitive to hard-wire install these communication systems.
The gentleman came to Jim and said, “I have this great product. I have no idea how to market and sell it. Please just make the phones ring before I have to close the doors and my business”.
As the marketing manager of this company, a multi-tier strategy was put in place whereby there was the establishment and training of the following sales people:
- Dental and medical consultants were trained on how to represent the system.
- Dental and medical catalogue companies took on the product into their inventory.
- A direct sales force was trained and put in place to both sell and lease the systems
- An independent manufacturer’s sales force was put in place and trained on how to represent the system.
Within months the demand far out-paced the supply and which created other internal growth and development challenges for the company . . . a problem most companies would love to have.
Direct Marketing Services
While serving as the in-house marketing manager for the manufacturer of the Comlite Communication System, it became evident after two years of selling the product that there was something unique about this product and system that lent itself to a better way of doing things.
Because the product was wireless and did not need any installation other than plugging the units into the existing AC outlets of the facility and transferring information through the electrical lines, it made sales and distribution easy.
Jim’s solution and answer? Run a free “Product Press Release” in the dental and medical publications like Dental Economics and Dentistry Today and allow the dentists and doctors to circle and send back inquiries of interest for more information. The requests came in by the thousands.
DMS would send out the system UPS, take a credit card number, direct them through the system over the phone. If they liked it, DMS would bill them and the doctors and dentists would keep it, if not, send it back no charge.
Within seven months of the company inception, this method of marketing and sales designed by Jim accounted for 87% of the manufacturer’s total sales. DMS became the top selling and ultimately exclusive distributor of the Comlite System. Subsequently the product went international, starting in Canada and Europe.
