When Tero Consulting sought a marketing firm that could give them comprehensive service — from strategy through planning and execution, Tero President Mark Sherling reached out to one of his firm’s strategic partners. Their leadership recommended the company’s marketing firm, Michael Mackenzie Communications (MMC). That endorsement led to an interview with MMC Founder and Principal Consultant Jennifer Koon. The rest, as they say, is history.
“We had been working with a company in town and it went rather poorly. They were very young and more into graphic design than anything else,” recalls Sherling. “We were trying to find someone to do the work. I asked my contact [at Net Results Group], and he said he was very happy. I was impressed with the work MMC had done for them.”
A Website… and Much More
One of the first projects Sherling and his team asked MMC to tackle was their website. “The old site was not well written or structured, so I asked Louden [the Tero Director of Sales and Marketing] to work with MMC and get it done,” Sherling says.
“A lot of companies cannot come in and fix something that isn’t well done, especially with a specialized product and service offering like we have,” Sherling relates. “MMC did a really good job of enhancing sub-par work, and their team was able to work with our not-so-easy-to-use tool to make the website edits. A few weeks later it was finished. It was a great piece of professional work.”
That project later evolved into helping Tero develop, write and launch a new website, an effort for which Sherling challenged the MMC team to “finish fast.”
“The MMC staff are good studies. When they started, they didn’t know much about predictive and preventive maintenance, which is what we do, but they were very good at uptake.”
Developing and Documenting the Process
Another area in which Sherling appreciates MMC is strategic planning, documentation and orchestration. “We didn’t have a very well-documented marketing plan before we started working with MMC,” he says.
“We decided to make a huge investment and worked with them to develop a plan, processes and marketing tools. They helped us create a nimble marketing machine that will keep us moving forward and they are running it without direction.”
–Mark Sherling, Tero President/CEO
Bottom-Line Benefits
When asked what benefits these efforts have conveyed, Sherling doesn’t hesitate. “MMC has freed up time for the sales team, who were spending 20-40% of their time on marketing. Now, we don’t have to worry about it. I told our Executive Director, ‘This year, I want you to sell, not market,’ and he’s running with it. That is huge!”
Another benefit, Sherling says, is competitive edge. “IBM is one of our competitors. Without MMC doing marketing for us, we couldn’t keep up.”
When asked if he would recommend MMC to a partner or colleague, Sherling offers enthusiastic confirmation. “I would refer MMC and let the company know that it is an awesome marketing firm. MMC always delivers.”
Measured Choices; Great Outcomes
“One of the things I have learned is to surround myself with people who are way better at what they do than I am,” says Sherling. “The reality is people don’t know what they don’t know, so I look for experts when I work with others.”
“MMC is really plugged into today’s marketing, and they do a good job of looking at the overall marketplace,” he concludes.
“Their team knows more about marketing than I could ever hope to know, and I don’t think twice about picking up the phone and asking them if we need anything.”
I also like that their staff is not afraid to say, ‘No, you don’t want to do that. You hired us to tell you that.’”
In closing, Sherling offers some parting compliments. “I am very critical – I never give a 10. But I will give MMC an 8, and I wouldn’t give them that score if they weren’t that good.”
About Tero Consulting, Ltd.
Tero Consulting, Ltd. has been successfully developing and implementing the most advanced CMMS solutions for our clients since 1979. Today, its premier offering is Azzier, a powerful web-based CMMS available as a fully hosted Software as a Service (SaaS) solution. Over the decades, the tools and technology have evolved significantly, but the firm’s core focus of excellent service, uncompromising support and complete client satisfaction have remained. Meeting clients’ short and long-term goals has always been our top priority, which has helped us maintain outstanding longevity with our clients. For more information, visit https://azzier.com/
