Our Monthly Touchpoint to Our Clients and
Friends
"
Minds are like parachutes - they only function when open."
Thomas Dewar
EQUS News:
New Executive Announcement
Dave Urban joins us as Director of Corporate
Development. Dave will focus on implementing
growth strategies for EQUS including fundraising
activities for our new ventures.
Dave comes to us with a wealth of experience
including ex-Vice President of Norand Corporation,
Director of New Product Development at EF Hutton and
ex-Chairman and President of Computeach. Dave holds
an MBA from Harvard School of Business
Administration.
Please join me in welcoming Dave to our team. |
From Al:
What’s New for 2009
EQUS Group has several new exciting items on our plate for
2009. Yes, I know you are thinking that the current economy
is in the dumps and so on, but consider this:
·
The current economic climate and its uncertainties mean that
companies need to be clearer and more certain of their
marketing initiatives and expenditures. This bodes well for
EQUS’ offerings. We are in the risk reversal
business, offering our clients a way to ensure maximum
return on their strategies, tactics and campaigns through
our rigorous testing processes.
Our biggest growth spurt came after the tech sector downturn
of 2000/2001. As our clients got focused on the most
important market activities, they embraced the value our
services provide in uncovering and eliminating obstacles to
the sale.
So, EQUS is posed for a great 2009, not despite, but because
of, the current economy. Our strategic plan calls for growth
this year and our top five vectors and initiatives are:
1.
EQUS Business Communities:
We launched an initiative late last year to formalize and
expand our extensive data base of business-to-business
decision makers. We fulfill a unique niche here with our
database of CIOs and other decision makers of Fortune
500, mid-market and small business decision maker
panels. We are investing in making these communities more
robust and engaged. The value to our clients is that this
solves a major respondent quality control problem in the
market research industry. Our panels are unique in the
industry and we do not sell access to them to other research
firms and use them solely for our clients’ projects. We are
also expanding our database of specialty audiences-developers,
enterprise architects and embedded product designers.
2.
Client-base Expansion:
We continue to grow our business through the acquisition of
new clients. We expect to continue to do so in 2009. We
attribute our successes in this area to innovative offerings
and a well-developed go-to-market engine with great tools
including our salesforce.com-based client development
portal and our creative use of PR Newswire and other
client cultivation tools.
3.
Sales Velocity Programs:
EQUS expanded its service offerings to include new programs
which enable clients to
leverage their on-line and offline resources for optimal
cultivation and retention of customers. These programs are
gaining traction and are expected to continue to do as our
clients brace for a tough selling climate. We have created a
client briefing titled “Selling IT Solutions in the
Current Economy-A Primer for Technology Vendors” based
on primary research we conducted with top CIOs. Some of you
have requested this in-house briefing and have reported
benefiting from our findings. To request a briefing to
internal marketing and sales audiences, please contact
Meadow Nichols (meadown@equsgroup.com).
4.
e361®:
Late last year, we were
granted registered trademark status by the US Patent and
Trademark office. e361® is a wholly owned subsidiary
of EQUS Group Inc. focused on building voice-of-customer
dashboards for our clients using our various online data
collection tools. Under this umbrella, we plan to
incorporate new programs aimed at maximizing results from
our clients’ web assets.
5.
New ventures:
We have been busy gearing up for the launch of two new
ventures related to our core business for most of this past
year. We have rigorously tested these through focus groups
and surveys (some of you participated-thank you for your
insights!). We have created business plans complete with
financial projections and have embarked on a fund-raising
stage. Expect announcements and details on these as the year
unfolds.
In short, I am expecting an exciting and
accomplishment-focused year for EQUS and great career growth
opportunities for our dedicated and extraordinary staff. I
wish you the same and the best of everything in 2009 |