The “Rebirth” of Phoenix Kiosk - how one company adjusted to an evolving market

The “Rebirth” of Phoenix Kiosk - how one company adjusted to an evolving market
Tags: North America, Return on Investment
October 26, 2010

In the competitive kiosk industry, things change faster than you can blog about them. Companies must stay ahead of the curve, as well as present an effective message in an evolving marketplace.

In this blog, I’ll talk about how a company might reinvent itself in order to put itself in a more favorable position to succeed. In some cases, this involves taking a hard look at every aspect of your business and making a major overhaul. I can speak to experience on this point, as Phoenix Kiosk (PK) has done exactly that in 2010.

Perhaps known simply as “the kiosk company with the blue bird,” Phoenix Kiosk became a fully owned subsidiary of Secure Medical in early 2010. This was a perfect opportunity to consider how to maintain a customer-centric philosophy while preparing for substantial sales growth. Without both of these goals, the company would stagnate, and perhaps even fail.

Staff Changes
We brought director of sales Martin Acosta on board to direct an expanding sales team.

Focus on Consulting
The nature of the kiosk business requires companies play a more consultative role, and this is a substantial component of our mantra. Based on what some of our clients have told us, many large companies continue to take a cookie-cutter approach and pigeonhole their clients. We start with the idea that each project is inherently different, and take a listen-first, talk-second approach to understand the client’s needs.

Enhancing a Well-Established Supply Chain
Everything above sounds pretty simple, but there’s also the time factor. If a company can’t be efficient and time sensitive to the client’s needs, there is no business to be had. We spent several months expanding our strategic partners and capabilities, and compiled market research to ensure that our products and protocols were exceeding industry standards.

Rebranding – Website and More
Not only did the look and feel of the new PK website change, the company’s slogan also changed. … Innovative Technologies | From Vision to Reality. This new tagline resonates our focused approach on working closely with customers from their initial concept to successful project completion. The newer, softer, more airy design scheme is also a key component of our brand marketing efforts.

Additional Strategies
We instituted a monthly sales promotion and have begun spreading the word through a redesigned monthly enewsletter called the Kio Chronicle (Kio is the PK mascot. Yes, even the blue bird’s name was changed to a more politically correct one in the overhaul.)

Also, in order to better meet the demands of clients who need kiosks on short notice, we now stock many popular Sliivr model units in-house.

Conclusion
Looking at the competition is a vital component to the ongoing success of any company. However, we experienced even greater success by performing an internal self-appraisal that led to sweeping changes for the better.