We’ve spent over 30 years helping tech companies create marketing and sales strategies that reach new customers. Although the word “sales” typically conjures images of overzealous, comb-over-sporting used car salesmen, sales are a necessary part of your business’s profitability and growth. Sales funds innovation, which in turn fuels more sales.
As we do each year, Launch Team has paired up with Novatek to take a close look at the current trends, changes and technologies that are impacting the medical device industry. From product launches to new sales models, we're examining the 2018 outlook and sharing our insights.
FABTECH in Chicago represents some of the fastest growing segments in U.S. manufacturing today, including laser marking and automation. Attendees are the ultimate users of many of the technologies we work in: laser diodes, optical assemblies, laser steering systems, coating technology, and capital equipment. Yet many of these companies know little about the end application and the users’ needs.
It's the fourth quarter, and everyone is under pressure to close the year strong. For most companies, that means a mandate to cut spending and close more deals. However, one of those instructions often undermines the other. Marketing budgets are often the first to experience cuts, and these cuts can feel self-defeating. Marketing creates sales, and a healthy marketing and sales pipeline is key to sustainable growth.
Making this argument may not change your Q4 reality, though. Instead, we offer some practical suggestions of marketing and sales activities to stop, and some to start, to meet your budget and sales targets.
Earlier this month I attended the Light and Sound Interactive (LSI) conference and expo, co-sponsored by Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and the University of Rochester. The conference highlighted light and sound-based technologies and their applications in emerging fields such as virtual and augmented reality, gaming, cinema, and music.
Industry events such as trade shows and conferences are a great place to build sales opportunities and learn from fellow professionals. If you're a bold personality, it's easy to excel in these situations. However, if you’re a more introverted person, major events can feel daunting—speaking from personal experience.
The role of the product manager is increasingly important in industries like medical devices, where time to market is accelerating, and optics and photonics, where emerging markets are driving demand for product innovation.
Successful entrepreneur Brian Pitre became fascinated with the UAV market in 2012. With a business partner and enough capital to cover a discovery phase of six months, Pitre traveled the country flying drones, meeting other early adopters of this new technology, and looking for the right opportunity to invest in this new high-tech market. Six months turned into 18 as Pitre saw the tremendous growth potential of the UAV market.
At a recent panel discussion, I was asked to share experiences in sales and marketing with an audience of Entrepreneurs’ Organization accelerator founders, along with fellow panelists Don Davis of Empire Automation Systems and Ron Valentine of ITX.
Last spring, Michele Nichols and Aimee Schenck attended AUVSI XPONENTIAL, the prominent unmanned vehicle conference and exhibit, where some of our clients were presenting technical papers. Our team was also there for market intelligence, looking for market fit and viability for many of our component manufacturing clients. Even if you aren't ready to exhibit at a show, you can learn so much about the upcoming industry trends by simply walking the floor. Here are a few of our takeaways from last year's show:
In our last post, we discussed the growing interest in commercial applications for compact unmanned aircraft, or drones. Imaging, in particular, presents a real opportunity for optics and photonics component manufacturers. This emerging UAV market provides important lessons on the criticality of understanding and anticipating the needs of your target customers. Here are three things to remember:
With this year's show coming up, we looked back at the success of AUVSI Xponential 2017, the conference for unmanned technologies, drones, and robotics. The show featured more than 650 exhibitors and more than 200 courses covering the future of unmanned systems in energy, defense, automotive, wireless communications, and other industries.
Exhibitors and attendees, from optoelectronic component manufacturers to lasers and system integrators, had many common questions:
