Optimizing Product Development and Sales: Key Strategies and Insights

This pulls excerpts from our podcast, Inspiring Innovation: Leaders in Manufacturing featuring  Ellen Kerschke. To watch our podcast episode, please visit Inspiring Innovation: Episode 18 or subscribe to our channel on your favorite podcast platform.

In a recent podcast episode, industry experts Sean Frost and Ellen Kerschke share essential strategies and insights of the alignment of product development and sales and how this adds value to our Polo team.

Building Strong Customer Relationships

Strong customer relationships are built on consistent and transparent communication. Keeping customers informed throughout the production process, especially when challenges arise, helps maintain trust and collaboration. Addressing issues openly and working together to find solutions ensures a smoother process and greater customer satisfaction.

Our relationships begin by ensuring that we know our customers and that we understand their needs so that we can meet and exceed their expectations. At the beginning of a brand-new project, we learn about the missions, values, and goals of our customers. We work from the initial project meeting all the way through production.  The relationship doesn’t end there, it’s a continuous relationship. We continue to keep in contact to make sure things are running smoothly and that the customers are getting everything they need. This continues into post-production and transitions to downstream product lines.

Our customers know they can reach out to us about anything. If there’s a design change or a potential quality concern. We are their liaisons. We help them through anything that should come up in the future. We work to minimize pain points for them at all costs so that they can do their job and focus on what they need to do.

Putting Your Trust In Polo Custom Products

At Polo Custom Products, thoroughly understanding requirements early on is crucial for a successful product launch. We invest time in examining every detail—from product specifications to packaging needs—to help our clients avoid costly adjustments and ensure accurate pricing. By addressing potential issues early in the design process, we enable businesses to better meet expectations and minimize unexpected costs. This systematic approach not only sets Polo apart from our competitors but also significantly enhances our clients satisfaction.

Leveraging Development Experience in Sales

A deep understanding of a product from a development process enhances the sales process. What some don’t realize is these go hand in hand. Having hands-on experience through all phases of development from concept to production provides sales professionals the ability to address customer questions and identify customer needs with detailed knowledge, fostering stronger relationships and providing effective solutions.

Everyone on our sales team undergoes hands-on training on the manufacturing floor to become deeply familiar with the product-building process. At Polo, we aim to be industry experts, and immersing our team in every aspect of our processes is a key part of that commitment.

Adapting to Industry Trends

Staying ahead of industry trends is crucial for continued success. For example, there is a growing emphasis on clean room and sterilization requirements in the medical industry. Adapting to these trends, such as incorporating clean room facilities, reflects a commitment to meeting evolving industry standards and enhancing customer experience.

Staying ahead of Quality trends is also an emphasis, Polo’s existing quality management system was developed using ISO 9001:2015, ISO 13485:2016 and FDA QSR 21 CFR Part 820 as the framework. The first ISO standard for implementing a quality system is fairly generic and can be applied to multiple industries, such as service industries, manufacturing industries, health care industries etc. The second one, ISO 13485:2016, is unique to medical devices. The third part of our quality system is kind of built around FDA’s quality system regulation, part 820, which is also specific to medical devices. Being a custom manufacturer, there’s multiple industries that we serve, so there are also bits and pieces of other regulations that we incorporate into our QMS, such as aerospace and automotive regulations. We hold ourselves to an unmatched standard.

Making a True Difference:

We get the opportunity to sit across the table of people that are inventing the products that go into our hospitals, that go to our first responders, or that might save the life of someone we know. To be a part of these experiences is humbling, it’s very fulfilling, and rewarding to be a small part of something big. These products save lives, they improve the quality of life, they make lives more enjoyable. It makes you feel like what you are doing every day makes a difference.