Q. What process did
you follow to reposition your
company?
The first step was to enhance
the features of the service in a
highly differentiated and strategic
way. We began to offer features
to our service that our competitors did not have, and as a result,
we were able to increase the
price of the product significantly.
Part two was to recognize that,
longer term, we would need to
diversify [our] product portfolio.
We looked more broadly at the
whole stem cell arena and began
to consider other sources of stem
cells and strategies for commercializing new services that would
broaden our portfolio beyond
umbilical cord blood stem cells.
That turned out to be a pivotal
decision for the company. It was
a comprehensive recipe of incorporating the present situation
with the vision of the future.
The next step is to understand
the voice and the needs of the
customer. That’s tantamount to
providing the solution space of
where you can go. You are
designing something that you know, based on the customers’
needs, will fulfill their requirements.
Q. How do you determine
your customers’ needs?
Invest the time to listen to your
customers. We spend an extraordinary amount of resource taking the pulse of the customer. On
an annual basis, we conduct comprehensive customer satisfaction
surveys to understand what
we’ve done well, what we can
improve upon and how it stacks
up to what our competitors offer.
The first step is to get a critical
understanding of how you’re
viewed by the market you’re serving. Then you have to innovate to
the future needs of the customer.
By understanding the customers’
needs and overlaying that with
where the industry is going, you
can unlock some of the hidden
messages of where the industry
is moving in the future.
Recognizing your core competence is the linchpin to your
future. It provides the elements
of differentiation. By combining
the understanding of our core
competencies with innovation,
we’ve created what is, in effect,
an industry of one.
Q. How do you stay true to
your vision?
First, remove the notion of failure from your mindset. Every
single time I’ve had what seemed
to be, at the moment, a setback
or a crisis or a struggle, it actually turned out to be a stepping-stone to much greater things.
And second, take thoughtful
risk based on data, history and
intuition of the future. Patterns
are repeated over time. Look at
trends and at what has happened in the past. That’s a good
indicator as to how things might
emerge with a different twist of
the present.
HOW TO REACH: Cryo-Cell International Inc., (800) 786-7235 or www.cryo-cell.com
