Eric Lofquist and Magnus International Group Inc., go about business in a rather nontraditional manner. The 50-employee manufacturer of organic components for eco-friendly products does business through a very collaborative process where customers often agree to buy products before they are even made.
Magnus, which has annual revenue just shy of $100 million, is primarily a company that takes materials that are traditionally made out of petroleum and designs a replacement product based on renewable, sustainable materials.
“What it was in the beginning was we had an idea and you’d have to take it to the customers,” says Lofquist, co-founder, president and CEO. “Now it’s to a point where the companies we do this for think about it and they call us and ask, ‘Can you make this or make that, or have you ever thought about this?’ So now the information is traveling both directions.”
Smart Business spoke to Lofquist about how he has grown Magnus International through trust, collaboration, and planning.
Collaborate. It takes a little bit longer to grow when you’re developing new products and you’re looking to get those products approved and into production. One way we have found to reduce the time to get those out to market is to already have them presold. If we can make this for you, if it’s going to be around this price point, if it’s going to have these characteristics, are you a buyer?
What you end up doing there is you end up having a partnership. You’re an extension of theirs because you’re getting an agreement ahead of time and you’re telling them all your secrets, so you need to have someone you can trust and they need to be able to trust you too. They’re saying, ‘If you make that, yeah I’ll buy it.’ It’s really collaboration between two companies without there being a formal joint venture. It can be a little tricky at first, but once you get established and you do it a couple of times, then you build that reputation and that ability to move pretty quickly through the supply chain.
Have a plan. We have a good platform in place right now and 2012 is going to be all about new products and new brands all setting the stage for the next big growth spurt for us. Our current brands are going great, so it’s how do we leverage that and how do we do more of what we’re doing and how do we do more of that with the people in Northeast Ohio?
Anyone out there that’s been successful has to start with understanding what their customers want long-term. The deeper you get into their long-term plan, then the deeper you can get into your long-term plan. If your long-term plan doesn’t match up with what your customer’s long-term plans are, then you’re not going to meet your final objectives. We spend a lot of time understanding what the long-term objectives are and they change, so you need to be on top of them. At least on a quarterly basis you have to check if you’re still on the same path. It’s a constant check and balance on what they’re doing and what you’re doing and making sure that there’s no gaps and you’re working on what they’re working on.
We have a plan and we share that with them and they have a plan and they share that with us. That goes back to trust because the information that we are passing back and forth is very confidential information and it takes years to build that report up. Once you have it and you show that it can be trusted and sustain the deeper you can get into what they’re plans are and how you fit into them.
Trust your employees. We do things differently than the way most people do them when it comes to our business. We have to have people that are willing to look at the business not in the traditional way that new brands are developed and taken to market. Your employees have to believe and have that same trust. The door swings both ways on the trust because we’re asking for information and we’re provided information and it has to flow evenly both ways.
Over the years the key employees have really understood that and have looked at things differently than a traditional development market and it takes time. You can tell them all you want, but they have to see it and they have to feel it and they have to be part of it in order to buy-in and understand it. Then they can move it forward because you can’t do it all on your own. You have to have people that believe and have the same focus on the strategy.
HOW TO REACH: Magnus International Group Inc., (216) 592-8355 or www.magnusig.com
