CTR/NY — finding a positioning feature
Solidly in a business-to-business end of things, this independent supplier of systems and equipment to measure employee time and guard access and security, came to MEIER in need of a make-over. Well, maybe it was a little stronger than a make-over. Maybe it was cosmetic surgery.
Jaymie Ridless inherited a business, Cincinnati Time Recorders, owned by her father and grandfather that distributed – could you guess – time clocks. After Wharton Business School at The University of Pennsylvania, Jaymie was savvy enough to know that time was running out on the business of mechanical time clocks and up for a challenge, she took over this very male oriented business, moved it into up-graded equipment, software and systems and became one of the first female owned companies in her field.
Still, it was an uphill battle. The firm didn't look or behave as though it belonged in the twenty-first century. We began with consultation. We saw that the companies who were leading the field were big. Very much bigger than those on the next rung down. Big and male and inflexible – even in the ways they managed new business approaches. And yet new business possibilities were all around the industry. In the ever-changing world of flex-schedules, part-time employees and Blackberry connected staff far flung to corners of the world, how does a company manage to get hold of staff hours, scheduling and benefits? How would a business ever know if the packages pushed and sold by one of these behemoths were really tailored to meet their company's needs? And smart thinking told us that they couldn't possibly be.
We suggested that CTR/NYshouldn't attempt to become another mammoth. There was room in the market place for what the competition could never be: flexible, articulate, ethical, informed consultants – poised to sort through all that's offered in the wide world and choose the best for clients. Detail oriented and attuned to the issues and fine points of working with human beings – rather than 'staff'.
From the graphics and website to the corporate brochure and trade show booth, we made sure that CTR/NY looked as smart as the biggest companies but more stylish, more detailed, more approachable. Right down to the red and brown M&Ms they offer at their trade show booth!
And if the big big men with their big big companies can't be fast enough on their feet to compete with CTR/NY, don't say we didn't warn them.