The McCabe Group, Inc.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

My company is the leading provider of permanent fasteners in North America. My position is Product Manager. I am responsible for all aspects of selling/ marketing rivet nuts, a major product category

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The McCabe Group, Inc.?

We wanted to update our marketing materials and present a new/ fresh look to our customers. With trhis being completed we are now looking for them to update our website and overall company presence

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I had worked with the McCabe group at a previous company and ws well aware of their quality of work.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

After initial consultation with the principals at the company, we developed a plan and a budget for the project. The project was to take a product catalog that was dated and incomplete and develop a new, fresh design that completely represented the company's offering.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with a project leader, senior and junior designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

It is probably too early to tell as the catalog has only recently been put into print and loaded onto our website. We have received nothing but positive comments from our sales personnel who have viewed it.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

tThe project moved along very quickly. Their team was very responsive to emails and phone calls with updates, additions and corrections being address with a day or two at the most.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

For a marketing company, they had a very good understanding of the industrial marketplace and were able to add expertise and advice that worked very well for us.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No suggestions. Evertything was great

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of global marketing for a national engineering company. We manufacture fasteners and hardware for the automotive, electronic, and other peripheral industries. The company started in 1942, and I’ve been with them for about 42 years. I handle all of our marketing needs—print and digital media, tradeshows, promotions, development, public relations, and anything else that arises.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The McCabe Group, Inc.?

We’re the leading brand in our industry, and we want to stay there. About 30 years ago, we started looking for a vendor to support our outreach efforts and promote our brand through various channels. We were looking for a partner that could research, plan, and execute our ideas, as well as handle any other marketing challenges.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The McCabe Group, Inc. truly does everything. They research various media channels to determine the most effective options in targeting specific industries. They create annual plans and block schedules to structure our efforts. They even handle all of our negotiations with external partners and organizations.

Since we’ve been around for so many years, they’ve helped us navigate the transition from print to digital marketing and find a balance between the two. Their team has created ads, brochures, and other print collateral for both our general customer base and specific markets. They’ve helped us create video content for our website and our YouTube channel. We’ve also worked with them on digital sales tools. Basically, they handle all of our marketing needs. I can’t imagine that there’s anything their team hasn’t helped us with. Whenever we ask them to do something outside of their skill set, they source the work to a specialist.

The McCabe Group, Inc. even helps us with our large-scale meetings. For examples, we held a global summit in 2018. Their team helped us plan the entire event—everything from negotiating hotel accommodations for our guests to setting up and decorating the venue. No matter the situation, their team will always find a way to help. That’s the beauty of working with a smaller agency. We have direct contact with their ownership, and we can count on them to get things done.

What is the team composition?

Paul (Founder, The McCabe Group, Inc.) has always been my main point of contact.

How did you come to work with The McCabe Group, Inc.?

We first partnered with Mckinney Advertising back in the 1980s. Paul worked on our account, and he was a highly valuable resource. At some point, he left McKinney and started his own company. We didn’t follow him immediately, but we kept an eye on The McCabe Group, Inc. as they grew. They were doing very well, so we eventually decided to start working with Paul again.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first started working with them around 1988, and it’s an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They’ve been a valuable asset for our business. Thanks to their valuable input and organizational skills, the global summit was a huge success. More recently, they helped us improve our online presence by getting our products featured on a specific web property. The team created animations to display our products and their capabilities. We published those visuals on our own site as well, which drove more people to our website and increased our sales substantially.

Most of their ad campaigns are highly successful. For example, they created print and digital versions of a brochure for our automotive products, and it notably increased business. They also helped us with an initiative to improve our customer service, creating instructional videos to show users how products work and help them troubleshoot any issues.

How did The McCabe Group, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been excellent. No matter what I need or when I need it, someone from their team is always available. They consistently deliver high-quality work on time and within our budget, and they’ll alert us ahead of time if there are any delays. Their responsiveness is one of their key strengths.

At this point, Paul is more of a friend than a vendor. The personal relationship adds a layer of trust to our partnership. They’ve never let me down, which is why I’ve continued to work with them for the past 30 years.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s clear that they care about their clients, always taking that extra step. They heavily focus on the smallest details of each project. For example, they were adamant about finding the right centerpieces for the tables at our summit. That level of service has remained constant throughout our partnership, strengthening the continuity of our relationship.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can’t think of. They’re already expanding their business to cover more IT services to keep up with the evolving market.

Any advice for potential customers?

Clients should expect to work closely with them throughout the engagement. Their team is highly collaborative, working in an iterative manner until everyone is happy with the product. As long as clients provide clear explanations of their needs and give explicit direction at every phase, The McCabe Group, Inc. will deliver exactly what is asked of them and more. They know how to work efficiently with companies of all sizes, both local and global.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of Curotec. We solve business challenges and enhance opportunities for our clients through strategic implementation of new technologies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The McCabe Group?

We engaged The McCabe Group for marketing and advertising services for a number of projects related to business process challenges.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The McCabe Group provides ongoing support for various projects, including website and app development, branding, digital advertising, e-commerce initiatives, and SEO. One project they worked on recently involved developing a quote management tool for a mid-market company that allows staff to submit quote requests through the correct internal channels.

What is the team composition?

I have one main point of contact.

How did you come to work with The McCabe Group?

When we acquired a company a few years ago, we kept the partnership they'd already established with The McCabe Group.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested around $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since January 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The McCabe Group has helped us significantly improve internal efficiencies for a number of clients. We've received a lot of great responses from our customers, so we're very happy with the work they've done for us thus far.

How did The McCabe Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Their level of communication and proactiveness is great. It's easy to reach them at any time by phone, email, or in-person meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have over 30 years of experience in industrial marketing, so they were a particularly good fit for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

While their focus is on traditional marketing, they're starting to expand more into digital marketing as well which will continue to be an area for growth and improvement for them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Gardner Business Media. We have nine trade publications focused on manufacturing industries. I’m the regional VP for their magazine called Plastics Technology, and I oversee sales for the northeast region.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The McCabe Group, Inc.?

We partner with them when we have clients who need advertising campaigns.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide a broad range of service to our clients, from creating ads to improving SEO to developing materials for trade shows. They also assist with mail and digital marketing campaigns, as well as managing social media content.

What is the team composition?

We work directly with their founder, Paul.

How did you come to work with The McCabe Group, Inc.?

They assist clients of ours with their advertising, so we’d already been doing a lot of business with them and knew them well.

How much have you invested with them?

The total for two of our primary clients is over $1.5 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with The McCabe Group since 1978.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?Their ads often rank in the top three for readership and web activity. On all of their web-based metrics, their campaigns bring in above-average results that are far beyond what comes in through other advertisers.

How did The McCabe Group, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

Working with them is a very smooth process. They always take a comprehensive approach and finish projects ahead of schedule. They also deliver a level of expertise and customer service that’s hard to match.

Depending on the client and the type of project, we’ll touch base in a variety of ways to manage things. Due to travel demands, I typically prefer to discuss projects over the phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team is highly creative and delivers excellent customer service.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not as far as we’re concerned.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Paul is old-school in the way he takes time to get to know his clients, which makes a world of difference in yielding positive results. Whenever people ask me for ad agency recommendations, they’re at the top of my list.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a full-service specialty medical distributor. We provide exclusive supplies for a high-end equipment manufacturer, including surgical tables and lighting, equipment booms, and technology solutions. We also represent 50–75 other manufacturers non-exclusively. In addition to supplying equipment, we also provide logistical services, installation, planning, and consultation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The McCabe Group?

We’re a small business where everyone performs multiple roles within the company. While we’ve always had a lot of ideas about how to better deliver our message and market ourselves, we haven’t had the resources to define and implement a strategy. We reached the point where we needed additional help to handle that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The work varies. Business in our industry is fairly complex, and the first part of bringing Paul (The McCabe Group’s CEO) onboard involved him learning who we were and how we operated. He held individual and group meetings to learn about our business, goals, and kinds of marketing tools we’d need.

One of our first projects involved testing a marketing strategy for a couple of hospital- and contractor-specific initiatives and products. Not all of our potential customers work within the healthcare industry, so Paul helped us come up with ways to reach those different audiences.

Next, they’ve been helping us relaunch our website by rebranding it to tell our story more effectively. Our goal is to make our clients and potential consumers more aware of who we are and what services we offer. That project’s expected to launch in late 2018.

Aside from that, they’ve also built a content management system for us. We’d initially wanted a CRM system so we could better develop our marketing strategy but as we got deeper into the process, we realized that we could eliminate several manual components of our business process, as well as some effort duplication and data redundancy. The McCabe Group’s team developed information flowcharts for us and defined all of our business processes so we’d be able to achieve our goals using the new CMS.

What is the team composition?

Paul has been our point person for most of the different initiatives we’ve had.

How did you come to work with The McCabe Group?

I believe we first spoke to them in spring 2017, but we chose another firm at that time. They didn’t give us the attention we needed and their services weren’t great, so we decided to speak to The McCabe Group again several months later.

How much have you invested with them?

We have a monthly fee, and some of our work has had separate agreements. In total, we’ve spent between $20,000–$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2017 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’re still about 6–12 months away from being able to track anything that’s a direct result of their work. Their deliverables haven’t been in our hands for long enough to directly attribute results to them.

How did The McCabe Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Paul seems to be well-organized and he’s highly responsive—we’ll get emails early in the morning and over the weekend. He’s on top of his responsibilities and he prioritizes accordingly, delivering we need in the timeframe we need it. We usually communicate daily by phone and email, but we also meet in person twice a month.

What did you find most impressive about them?

He’s been in this space for over 30 years and he’s built up an extensive network of resources, so he has the experience and connections to make any idea possible. He also offers great suggestions and guides us through anything we’re unsure about. At the same time, if we assign him a task or initiative, he’ll carry it out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Maybe the way they appeal to potential clients. When we first met with them, it felt like they almost didn’t want us to hire them in case they couldn’t deliver what we needed. I don’t want to imply that they’re not interested in growing the business, but they’re focused on finding clients who are a good fit for their skills.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Ensure that you have clear timelines for yourself before you engage their services. Paul’s team moves at your pace, so if you haven’t outlined specific timelines for your own staff, things might drag on. Keeping ourselves on track was the most important part of getting a smooth relationship going.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Insaco is a machining company that specializes in diamond grinding of super-hard ceramic materials. I worked there for 15 years until I retired four years ago. I’m still actively doing marketing consulting work for them.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The McCabe Group, Inc.?

We've been working with The McCabe Group, Inc. close to 30 years so I can’t speak to the original challenge. As a small company with only a couple of people in sales, we need outside expertise.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The McCabe Group works with us on an ongoing basis basically as our marketing department. They provide a monthly review of our marketing. They also guide our advertising via print ads, as well as promotional e-blasts. They negotiate with advertising channels on our behalf and review the results. Then together we decide which ones are worth keeping, expanding, or removing.

They also helped us create a company video, and brought in a photographer to update our brochure. They’re also involved with our participation at trade shows. Most recently, they connected us to an outside company to upgrade our website.

What is the team composition?

We work with Paul (president/creative director, The McCabe Group).

How did you come to work with The McCabe Group, Inc.?

I don't know. It was before my time.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together just shy of 30 years ago, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’ve seen improvements in terms of response to particular types of advertising. Their work is very professional. Paul has wide-ranging expertise from his many years of experience in the marketing field. He's very aggressive with outside entities, in a pro-business way. He makes things happen.

How did The McCabe Group, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

Paul pushes us more than we push him. If we establish a deadline, he's the one that makes it happen. He's very responsive to our communications by email and phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We trust The McCabe Group as the source for all things marketing. Paul does many different things for us and does them well. He will not let things slide. He makes sure that we focus on what's needed and is quite trustworthy.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we've been fairly static in this regard for a number of years.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Nothing comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Northwest Translations, Inc. We offer technical translation services in over 100 different languages for clients in industries like pharmaceutical, engineering, legal, and mining. We’ve been in business for about 25 years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The McCabe Group, Inc.?

We needed assistance with digital marketing and design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The McCabe Group, Inc. has provided a variety of digital marketing, business consulting, and web design services on many projects. They’ve helped with content writing and formatting, online advertising, and interface design for our WordPress website. They’ve also put together several technical manuals for our company.

On a few occasions, they’ve provided business audits for our clients. They make the experience enjoyable, bringing in food for the office and facilitating the entire process. For one of our larger projects, the McCabe Group, Inc. migrated our old computer system onto a new platform to increase our capabilities and improve our functionality. It was a very complex initiative.

Every project starts with a goal-setting session. I provide a brief overview of what I need, and Paul (President & CEO, The McCabe Group, Inc.) formulates a plan. We go over the scope together and make changes or adjustments as necessary. Then, Paul and his team execute according to the agreed upon schedule.

What is the team composition?

Paul is my main point of contact. He heads a larger team in the background.

How did you come to work with The McCabe Group, Inc.?

I met Paul while I was playing tennis about 14 years ago. At some point, my company needed assistance with content writing, and he offered to help. We’ve been working together since.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we’ve spent between $200,000–$1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2009, and it’s an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

I don’t really focus on statistics, but I’m always happy with the work of The McCabe Group, Inc. Paul has excellent leadership skills. He knows how to push his team to make sure they get the job done. Also, they’re very fair in terms of billing. Some projects are costlier than others, but all of their work is well worth the investment.

For example, the migration project was our most expensive to date. It involved cutting-edge technology and required a lot of skill. Later, we found out that only one in seven translation companies were able to successfully move to the new platform, so that really speaks to The McCabe Group, Inc’s expertise. We’re still using the system, and the ROI has been great. Overall, we appreciate the consistency of their high-quality work.

How did The McCabe Group, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

Paul has a great attitude, and he’s very fun to work with. I haven’t had any problems with their management style. Their team is very communicative and responsive, keeping me updated on their progress. We speak over the phone and through email, and we schedule in-person meetings as necessary.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The McCabe Group, Inc. makes informed decisions, and they don’t make mistakes. With their help, we’ve saved both time and money.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They specialize in a few niche services, but I think they have the potential to expand into new markets.

Any advice for potential customers?

Clients should dedicate a lot of time and money to the goal-setting sessions with Paul. Helping him form a thorough understanding of the vision will increase ROI.