Take It Back. Industry Leadership.

We regained our market-leading position inspired by Jimmy?Buffett.

MBF-North America lost their biggest?contract

It was time for me to take a risk with my career and life. Leaving the company, I’d been with since college was bittersweet.

For several months I networked and searched for my next job.

My leadership coach connected me with the leader of a company that had an opening in their healthcare business.

I accepted the offer to lead MBF-North America’s healthcare business knowing there was employee turnover and rumors that MBF might exit the healthcare market after losing their biggest contract, Premier Health.

The Healthcare team was decimated

I met with our President, George, and provided an update on what I learned in my first two weeks.

With little outbound communication from the healthcare business unit, the people were left to make up their own stories about what would happen.

And they were not pretty stories. People were afraid they would lose their jobs so many of them preempted us and resigned.

I continued my update, “I met with the President of Premier Health because I know him from his days at a local hospital.”?

“I asked him for time to put a more aggressive proposal together since MBF, Inc. and Premier Health have partnered for so long. And because I am new to the company.”

He refused.?

I told George, “I will rely on the four remaining healthcare employees to help me develop a strategy to turn this business around.”?

Harvard Business Review gave us a path?forward

A Marketing team member came into my office and said, “I read this last night, and I think it applies to us.”

It was a Harvard Business Review article analyzing the book, “Built to Last.”

I asked him to get copies to each of our team members and to schedule a meeting for us to review their insights after they read the article, ASAP.

We held the meeting, and the major outcomes were four goals:

1) We would create a Purpose for the business that would make the Healthcare business an attractive partner in the market, as well as internally.

2) Follow the power of “And” not “Or”. Leverage the Commercial resources.

3) Do whatever possible to slow business loss and find a way to get Premier Health back under contract.?

4) Sign a contract with VHA Medical. Convince them to go to a dual-source contract when their current contract?expires.

I assigned specific people to each goal and we agreed on timelines for each.

From this meeting, we defined our Strategy as:

“Take back the #1 market share position by delivering unique solutions and differentiated standardization tools to the marketplace. This will result in sales growth and customer acquisition growth by increasing customer touches by 25% and signing at least 2 new contracts in the next 24 months.”

Not having the luxury of abundant resources, we had to leverage the existing resources while we built a broader team of healthcare experts.?

This was using the principle of the power of “And” not “Or” from the book, “Built to Last.”

Healthcare experts to “lead the way to leadership”

Several months passed and through this period we hired two new sales directors.?

These four field leaders would need to drive growth through our small field sales team and through the commercial sales reps who supplemented our direct resources.

I had heard a new Jimmy Buffett song on the way to work and I decided to share it with my team via voicemail and they all said, “That will make a great theme song.”

“Take it Back.”

Unbeknownst to us, conversations were happening in the background that would change our luck and give us opportunities.

A press release hit the?wire

“SRC-Dayton to acquire U-R-Co in $250mm?deal.”

Two of our top competitors would be merging into one company.?

Our Sales Director in the West was well-networked with senior leaders at Premier Health in California.

He called me and said, “Mike, Premier Health is required to have dual source contracts. With SRC buying U-R-Co, the contract will be sole-source.”

“I think we need to intervene and make sure the contract is honored with a second awardee. If you agree, I will call my contacts.”

I could not say yes fast enough.

The door was opened.

“Take it Back.”

A high-touch strategy was?critical

We used a multi-channel marketing approach to get and stay close to the Premier Health hospitals.?

This meant direct mail campaigns, telephone sales, and personal visits by all levels of the organization to reinforce our capabilities and convince Premier Health to sign a new contract with us.

It took several months, yet the contract was signed, and execution began.?

Momentum shift is defined?as:?

Strength or force gained by a series of?events.

Our momentum had shifted in a positive direction.

VHA Medical request for?proposal

Our credibility grew in the market once we signed the contract with Premier Health.

It took six months to negotiate a dual-source contract with VHA Medical.?

No one, other than SRC-Dayton, had ever had a contract with them.

Big wins were to follow to enable our turn-around.

“Take it Back.”

We did not waste any time launching the contract details to the commercial and healthcare sales leaders and their teams.?

Our healthcare team focused on large accounts first.

Because, when you sign the big accounts, the smaller ones follow.

And they did.

The C-Suite leadership of our company had embraced the momentum that the healthcare team was building, and they spread it across the rest of the company. They played our theme song inside the building and used the theme for other strategic initiatives.

There was a feeling of excitement and energy within the walls of our headquarters, unlike there had been in?years.

Leadership funded a video campaign, internally and to the customer base that included the C-Suite leaders each stating their commitment to the MBF healthcare business, its customers, and the industry.?

The song “Take it Back” was the background music playing in the video.

As the video ended, the C-Suite leaders all performed in a conga line, cheering, high-fiving, and waving to the audience.

Over the next 3 years, we took back the industry leadership position, while humming Jimmy’s song.?

“Take it Back.”

What principles did we follow to turn our company around?

1. Shift Momentum.
2. Teamwork delivers wins.
3. Strong Market Leadership.
4. Listen to your team and customers.
5. Have Fun.