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Consulting solutions and services

PRODUCT CRUSADES START HERE
Many companies use the term product manager or product champion for the roles filled by individuals that are leading product marketing efforts. In the book Marketing High Technology, Bill Davidow took a different view:
"... I like the word crusader and all that word implies. The Crusaders were not nice people. They did some horrible things. They believed in their cause. There were willing to lay their lives on the line. In business, when you run up against a crusader, you'd better be willing to fight just as hard as he or she does. Unfortunately for the product managers and champions, there are lots of crusaders out there. Great marketing requires total commitment. You have to believe. You have to create. You have to sacrifice. You have to do battle. You have to win. Great marketing - I call it Total Marketing - is a crusade."

Those statements summarize my approach to solving your product marketing challenges. Insights gained from successful marketing crusades, a perpetual study of marketing tools and techniques, and a bias for action, are the core principles that drive successful results for clients.

The most productive consulting engagements occur when the client’s needs are closely matched to the consultant’s capabilities. The needs of each company vary significantly, but typically fall into three categories:
  • SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE: companies may have the overall objectives set but have a need in filling a core area such as product design, positioning, or life cycle management
  • HORSEPOWER: companies may already have the knowledge, but have a need in generating the necessary momentum to achieve the execution of those ideas
  • TIME: companies that compete in areas where product cycles are ever-shrinking have a need to leverage key resources in accelerating their time to market
I take selecting clients as seriously as clients take selecting consultants. Each engagement begins with one or two brief introductory sessions to assess the need and fit of the services. This process has proven successful as each initial consulting engagement has resulted in at least one additional consulting engagement from every client.

CLIENTS / EXPERIENCE
     Hewlett-Packard
     Compaq Computer Corporation
     ReplayTV
     RCA
     GE
     ProScan
     Shell Oil Company
     Dow Chemical
     The Emily Program
     Sagewind Mission Arts
     MG Consulting
     Media Sourcery, Inc.


BACKGROUND
SWC was established on January 1, 1999, dedicated to helping both emerging and established companies succeed at the daunting task of product management.

Prior to forming SWC, Stuart B. Ward spent two years with Compaq Computer Corporation as a product marketing manager for its mainstream line of personal computers and four years with Thomson Consumer Electronics as a product planning manager and product marketing manager.

Stuart received his MBA from the University of Texas and his engineering degree from the University of Oklahoma. Stuart's professional work experience began with four years as a project engineer for Shell Oil Company

Consulting services:
Product design and development
Segmentation and positioning
Life cycle management
   
The guiding principal for approaching each consulting engagement stems from a quote in Peter Drucker's book, "The Effective Executive",
    The critical question is not,
   "How can I achieve?", but
   "What can I contribute".








Consulting services
Product design & development
Segmentation and positioning
Life cycle management



























Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.

- Peter Drucker

         
 
    Success stories
Beta test / pilot program
Design and implementation a large-scale beta test for a new consumer electronics product

Feature addition
Research and testing to determine interest in new feature and price point sensitivity

Business model
Create a detailed business model for guiding the launch plans of a new mobile service

View more SUCCESS STORIES