Summary:
BLC client Weyforth-Haas Marketing was recently featured in a "Growth
Strategies" piece (7/21-27) by Chris Grenz, staff writer at the Kansas City
Business Journal.
Finding new angles: Weyforth-Haas takes cue
from clients as it moves toward change
Kansas City Business Journal
by
Chris Grenz, Staff Writer
Frank Weyforth has a
framed letter from Caterpillar Inc. hanging on his office wall.
The letter, written by the general manager of the truck engine department, is a
thank you. Caterpillar attributes its ability to go from the No. 3 provider of
heavy-duty on-highway truck engines to No. 1 in large part to the marketing work
and advice from Weyforth's company.
More than the numerous industry awards Overland Park-based Weyforth-Haas
Marketing has won through the years, it's recognition like the letter that makes
Frank Weyforth most proud.
"Our fundamental job is to make our clients successful," firm Chairman Weyforth
said. "We sort of wrap around our clients and fill in all the cracks of the
things they can't do. Because we've been able to help our clients grow
successfully, they've brought us along with them, and we've grown, too."
Since he founded the firm 25 years ago, with a single client and a three-person
staff that gathered around the pool table in his Overland Park basement, it has
grown to an 80-employee firm with aims on doubling its current $50 million in
annual billings in the next three to five years.
The company focuses primarily on business-to-business marketing and
communications.
The recent growth spurt comes as Weyforth is transitioning toward retirement.
His daughter, President and COO Kelley Haas, is poised to take over. In recent
years, an executive committee has worked to develop a succession plan.
Haas, who earned a degree in business administration and advertising, has worked
in nearly every job within the company during her 24 years on staff. And she has
adopted her father's philosophies as well.
"Getting results for our clients is really what we're all about," she said. "We
want to help them achieve their goals and get where they want to go."
The results for Caterpillar were striking, said Bob Wallin, who retired in April
after four decades of marketing Cat's on-highway engines. Caterpillar sought
Frank Weyforth's help about 15 years ago, Wallin said.
"We basically needed some guidance as to how to best market to our customers,"
Wallin said. "We weren't even sure exactly who they were."
Weyforth's company first conducted research to identify and categorize the
company's customers. Then he developed different marketing programs to reach
clients in each category.
"He's one of the most astute marketing folks that I've ever run into," Wallin
said. "His suggestions and his results helped us to be No. 1 in the business
that we're in."
Haas said she's learned immensely from working with her father through the
years. Now, she's prepared to put those lessons to work. Haas is actively in an
acquisition mode, looking for smaller agencies that would bring new skill sets
-- and clients.
"We're really looking for companies that could add to what we currently offer,"
she said.
The future of the company could be strikingly different compared with its early
days. As the world of media evolves, marketing and advertising agencies must
constantly be in flux, too, Weyforth said.
"Mass media is dead," he said flatly. "It's pretty obvious we're moving to
personal choice. People are going to select what they want, so if you're going
to communicate with them, you're going to have to be where your customers are."
One way Weyforth-Haas has repositioned itself is through its proprietary
marketing software program, called "Conduit." The program enables sales
professionals and local dealers to customize marketing materials, ranging from
mailers to newspaper ads to e-mails. The materials contain basic templates
featuring a parent company's branding but allow local sales professionals to
quickly customize the elements. The software also has a powerful database tool
that enables users to easily build and manage mailing lists.
The software also enables users to track the performance of various promotions
and includes a tool to manage leads as they come in from potential customers and
distribute those nibbles throughout a sales force.
"It's an extremely powerful tool," Haas said. "At the corporate level, they're
able to control their branding, but it also gives control to the local level
with options for customizing. It's an easy, quick way to put together very
customized materials."
Weyforth-Haas customers are able to buy subscriptions to use the software.
Clients as diverse as Embarq Corp., Freightliner LLC and John Deere have signed
up for the service.
Roger Mohr, director of John Deere's corporate business division, began working
with Weyforth-Haas in 1999 to better market the company's construction and
forestry offerings. Weyforth-Haas has helped John Deere on a range of projects,
including an initiative to identify and target new customers, the development of
after-sales support processes and the creation of "some very unique direct-mail
concepts," Mohr said. Weyforth-Haas' efforts helped the company achieve a
sixfold sales increase.
"Frank and his team have just a terrific insight in terms of the needs of the
customer base and how to resolve those needs," Mohr said. "His awareness of not
only our industry, but also other related industries, allowed us to do things
that we wouldn't have even tried to do, let alone accomplish, without his
vision."
Since the company's 25th anniversary in May, Weyforth has stepped back to three
days a week. But Haas said she wouldn't dream of letting him get too far away
from the business.
"We definitely don't want him to go away," she said. "He has such a great
marketing mind."
And, most important, Weyforth never loses sight of the ultimate goal -- helping
the client.
"Some (advertising) people make commercials just to win awards or do things that
are clever," he said. "I'm more concerned with how we can do things that ring
the cash register. We celebrate when the client tells us it worked and
translated to sales."
Weyforth-Haas Marketing
Description: Primarily focuses on business-to-business marketing and
communications
Top executives: Chairman Frank Weyforth, President and COO Kelley Haas
Revenue: $50 million
Founded: 1981
Employees: About 80
Address: 10561 Barkley St., Suite 200, Overland Park, KS 66212
Telephone: 913-648-8333
Internet: www.weyforth-haas.com
[email protected] | 816-421-5900
http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2006/07/24/smallb1.html
