Business Challenge
When Michael McCloskey became CEO of FrontRange Solutions
in mid-2003, he discovered the company's flagship products – GoldMine® and
HEAT® – had more licensed users than any other
software in their respective categories – Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) and Service Management.
But few in the software industry seemed to know this
fact, including many of the company's employees. McCloskey
turned to Tech Image to help him rectify the problem.
Background
FrontRange Solutions develops software that is used
by 1.2 million business people at more than 130,000
companies
worldwide. FrontRange product families include: GoldMine
for relationship management, contact management and
sales-force automation; and, HEAT® for service
management, including Help Desk, Knowledge Management,
Asset Management and
Service Level Management.
McCloskey, a veteran executive
who helped guide three previous companies – Kana
Communications, Genesys Telecom and Network Appliance – to
initial public offerings, knows leadership is critical
leverage in business success.
Among McCloskey’s strategies was relocating the
company headquarters from Colorado Springs, Colorado,
to Silicon
Valley, where the technology world looks for leadership
in software engineering, investment capital and partnerships.
As he shifted the focal point of the company to Northern
California, McCloskey restructured FrontRange’s
product development, sales force and channel programs.
The new
mantra for all was “Leaders Should Lead.”
He
also recognized the need for a persistent Public Relations
program that would increase exposure for
FrontRange and
its products in the proper markets.
Solution
Tech Image implemented Leadership Campaigns for FrontRange’s
products and its CEO. Stratified lists of target
publications were created for the CRM, Service Management
and Executive
Leadership categories. One special target was CRN (Computer Reseller News) magazine because one of McCloskey’s
goals was revitalizing FrontRange’s channel
sales program.
So Tech Image created deliberately
FrontRange-centric
pitches. In addition to establishing a regular pattern
of exposure
through weekly press releases, Tech Image used recent
strategic moves by McCloskey as news leverage.
Tech Image also arranged a media tour to Boston and
New York City, where target publications are concentrated.
The senior executives were coached to emphasize the
company’s
leadership initiatives instead of specific product
features or customer stories.
For additional message
support, Tech Image writers
interviewed key executives, while researching recent
FrontRange documents
and presentations. This background allowed Tech Image
to develop timely responses to questions from editors
and
simply run them past the busy executives for rapid
approval. The combination of these tactics enabled
Tech Image to
elevate and expand the leadership profile of FrontRange
very quickly.
Results
Tech Image commenced its Leadership campaign in June
2004. By the end of the year, FrontRange and its
GoldMine software
had captured 2004 CRM Market Leader Awards from
CRM Magazine. Customer Inter@ction Solutions and
Intelligent
Enterprise also recognized the company’s work with significant
awards. In addition, CRM featured McCloskey in its annual
article identifying “dynamic leaders.” and
also recognized him as “One to Watch” within
the industry’s “Influential Leader” category.
Darwin, ITBusinessEdge and RealMarket also sought McCloskey’s
views as an industry leader.
“ WOW, this is awesome! Thanks so much.”
— CEO Michael McCloskey, (after reviewing the first 60 days
of media coverage from the Leadership campaign). The
Leadership Campaign continues as a core element of FrontRange’s PR program,
with targets progressively escalating to include national news organizations
and
business magazines. | 
