| MarketSource: Campaign Connections |
| Professional Services | |||
| Written by Megan Flynn | |||
| Thursday, 01 May 2008 | |||
 Jim Novick, Rick Haviland, and Rick Quinn on how this sales and marketing firm unites people, process, and technology.
“Originally, this was a successful, well-run family business,” said Jim Novick, president. “That is a great thing, but you eventually get to a place where you’re not dynamic enough to shift with the marketplace and what got you to one level may not take you to the next.”  MarketSource began in 1975 putting together marketing packages for college students from campus stores. The firm evolved into product demonstrations for electronics companies, eventually developing custom sales and marketing programs for businesses in the automotive, technology, telecommunications, financial services, and home improvement industries.According to the company Web site, it has worked with many high-profile brands, including Apple, Comcast, and Nokia. But as the marketplace became more complex and scientific, it became more difficult for MarketSource to operate with the family-run mentality. Enter Allegis Group, America’s leading privately held staffing company. In 2004, Allegis acquired MarketSource to gain a piece of an industry that was complimentary to its staffing and human capital management expertise. MarketSource gained a strong ownership group with a successful history and solid recruiting practices, as well as access to one of the largest and strongest sales forces in the country. By becoming a piece of Allegis, Novick said MarketSource also stood to benefit from the many quality customers, strong relationships, and partnerships with companies aligned with Allegis and its subsidiaries. Today, MarketSource is based in Atlanta with branch offices in Portland, Ore., Orange County, Calif., and one Canadian office as well. The company has a presence at the Allegis headquarters in Baltimore, but most of its sales and marketing employees in North America sell from their homes or are stationed onsite with a customer. The company still provides B2B and B2C sales services to its traditional industries, but now it does so as part of a professionally run organization with more systems, processes, technology investments, and a better understanding of marketing dynamics. When Allegis took over, the new management closely examined the company’s inner workings and created a new strategy based on analytical processes involving customer and employee feedback. Part of this is accomplished through a focus on people based on professional development and leadership accountability. The environment MarketSource created is an unusual combination of a high-performance, relationship-based culture. “The company is unique in its ability to attract and retain, motivate, develop, and lead people,” said Rick Quinn, vice president of marketing and strategy. Employees are involved in setting the strategic course of the organization, and although management expects a high level of performance, success is rewarded with an annual trip to exotic destinations for the top sellers. The rest is accomplished through a customized salesforce management solution called PartnerLogix. It helps the company’s entire sales and marketing workforce communicate daily, weekly, and monthly performance to customers and company leadership. “We’re connecting to the customer and their needs, which is what drives everything we do,” said Quinn. “But we’re also linking it back to how our customers tie it to their processes so that the people doing the work understand how their work needs to change and what data they need to collect for us.” Although the relationship between Market-Source and its Allegis Group parent company is still fairly young, it already seems clear this was a match made in heaven. Allegis has been able to help MarketSource establish a long-term vision by looking at the marketplace in a much more pragmatic fashion. MarketSource brought Allegis into a new sector of the market with a high potential for growth. MarketSource now needs to make sure its employees maintain a healthy balance between the work they do for clients and their responsibilities to MarketSource. Haviland indicated it could be easy for MarketSource employees to feel as though they had become an employee of the client. The company counters this by connecting its employees with the MarketSource brand. By helping employees focus on excelling for the client while creating that oneness with MarketSource, the company instills a strong sense of connectedness and opportunity for a career path with MarketSource that goes beyond a single program or a single customer. Another key for the company is avoiding the classic “overpromise, underdeliver” marketing pitfall. With the Internet and mass media infiltrating every aspect of modern life, companies today don’t have the luxury of making promises they can’t keep in their marketing and branding campaigns. This concept of staying face-to-face and eye-to-eye with employees and customers creates a fully committed and honest partnership between company and client. “Today, you need to live your brand, not just speak your brand. Most companies don’t integrate sales and marketing efforts well, which creates a huge problem when it comes to improving the effectiveness of sales and marketing campaigns,” said Quinn. “Collaboration between sales and marketing is one of the fundamental things that has to take place.” |
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© 2008 American Executive - RedCoat Publishing. All rights reserved.
American Executive is a RedCoat Publishing publication.
American Executive is a RedCoat Publishing publication.
