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Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)

Small Company Reaps Big Rewards with Marketing & Sales Training

With the help of: Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MassMEP)

About

TrueBounce knows that performance matters-the performance of players and the performance of equipment. So the company developed a patented technology to create a perforated basketball backboard that is durable and unique. Their backboard with holes releases some of the ball's energy upon impact, resulting in a better bounce and often leading to increased rebounding and scoring. The board features many properties that enable it to withstand wear and tear from weather, graffiti and heavy use in an outdoor setting, and make it the ideal backboard for indoor use due to its sleek appearance and option to customize colors.

The Challenge

TrueBounce President Wayne Newton was running like crazy -- on the floor, off the floor, in front of the books, out of the books, in shipping, in receiving. The company had five full-time and two part-time employees but Newton was still trying to cover too many parts of the business, leaving a strategic plan unimplemented and marketing efforts with no follow up due to a lack of time. The stress became greater and so TrueBounce hired a sales director, Tom Magauran. TrueBounce needed to be more organized and regimented. To resolve these issues the company focused on putting Magauran through the Southeast Marketing & Sales Consortium Training from MassMEP, part of the MEP National Network™.

MassMEP has been great. I have Isabel in Front Line Supervisor Training right now and I can see the difference already. She’s more comfortable in making decisions without me and that is huge. There’s been many things we’ve been able to do as a result of our work with MassMEP.
— Wayne Newton, President

MEP's Role

The training from MassMEP helped TrueBounce to have its best year in 2019. Newton met MassMEP through a colleague from a CEO group who had recently changed positions to join MEP. TrueBounce discovered there were many simplistic things that they weren't doing, primarily organizational tasks and follow ups. The training helped Newton get into his calendar more and follow it. It also helped TrueBounce get to the low hanging fruit. TrueBounce learned more about social media, how to do it inexpensively and get more exposure. TrueBounce is a unique business in that the people they need to market to are the players using the product rather than the people buying the product. The training gave TrueBounce a clearer direction, showing them how to separate the sales and the branding, which TrueBounce previously blended.

TrueBounce experienced a huge impact from learning to search in the PTAC system using key words such as basketball, basketball courts, and gymnasium. The company finds out when a job is going out to bid and contacts the architects to get TrueBounce's product spec’d out before it goes out to bid. Marketing and sales training has been very beneficial – the whole package.

Created August 4, 2022