News Story #17842

By Cathy L. Gallagher

Many have heard the expression, “Help enough people get what they want and a successful business will follow,” but few have applied it as successfully as Mike Bieker. Eight years ago, he made it the founding credo for MarketLab, a catalog company offering unique and hard-to-find products for laboratories. Left: MarketLab founder and President Mike Bieker.

Today, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based MarketLab has experienced phenomenal sales and its catalog is a well-worn resource in many clinical laboratories. By year end, revenues are estimated to reach $6 million, a direct result of product partnership strategies.

Listening to customers
“MarketLab finds many of its unique and hard-to-find products by listening to customers,” said Bieker, who developed his first product based on a medical technologist’s request. “She wanted a device that would hold tubes to her wrist, allowing her to keep her eyes on the needle when drawing blood. No such product existed, so I made a prototype from ski boot straps, garden hose, Velcro and safety pins. I named it the Tube Jockey Wristband.” She loved the concept, and Bieker began development.

It took nine months to develop a market-ready product. Shortly thereafter, he incorporated Phlebotic Inc. in November 1993, on his 27th birthday. His vision at the time was to manufacture products for specimen collection, selling through traditional distributor channels.

Orders did not pour in
“I turned my basement into an office, developed a brochure and hired my first associate to handle the phone orders I thought would pour in. During the week, I planned to call on Ohio hospitals. In a week of sales calls, everyone said they loved the Tube Jockey Wristband, but no one ordered, and I only had one more sales call,” recalled Bieker.

On that sales call, Bieker made his first sale. “The customer ordered one pack of Tube Jockey Wristbands, for $80,” Bieker said. “I returned home from that sales trip to discover some of the products I had sent to hospitals for evaluation had come back with notes saying they didn’t like it, want it or need it, which hurt. I began to worry.” Bieker had a wife and children to feed. He had max’d-out his credit cards, mortgaged his house and taken a loan to cover his initial business expenses and he was running out of time.

Because Clinical Lab Products (CLP) is known for keeping laboratories informed about new products, Bieker sent the magazine a press release. The editor told Bieker his Tube Jockey Wristband would be featured on the cover of the June 1994 issue, but he never imagined the exposure would generate 2,700 leads and $80,000 in revenues in the remaining six months of 1994. “I owe a lot to CLP. The credibility and exposure they gave us is what really launched the company,” he said.

New business vision, new company
In 1996, Bieker changed his company’s name from Phlebotic to MarketLab and turned it into a catalog company offering unique and hard-to-find products for clinical and research laboratories. He opted to sell via mail and the Internet, rather than use traditional distributor channels.

“I changed my vision because I learned how difficult it is to develop new products. It hurt when someone said they didn’t like or want my product design. I needed a business model I could grow more quickly that involved less risk,” said Bieker. Today MarketLab offers 1,200 unique and hard-to-find laboratory products, and its 23 team members are housed in a new 20,000-square feet facility with 12,000 square feet of warehouse space.

MarketLab’s colorful presence is always a refreshing break from the norm at the lab trade shows. The booth stands out with its colorful giveaways and fun themes that blend the practical with the slightly wacky. In 1999 the booth theme featured the MarketLab team outfitted in safari gear. Last year the FAO MarketLab toy store booth featured lab toys, and employees sporting propeller-topped beanie caps.

Partnering with people
MarketLab partners with people in four ways: It develops new products when ready-made sources do not exist. The Tube Jockey Wristband and the Crossmatch Rack are two examples.

MarketLab’s Blood Bank Crossmatch Rack, proposed by medical technologist David Simmons, allows laboratories to dilute specimens right to left, left to right, or from the top down. (Below) MarketLab’s booth at CLMA 1999.

David Simmons MT (ASCP), at Willis Knighton Health Systems in Bossier City, La., came to MarketLab looking for a Blood Bank Crossmatch Rack that would allow specimens to be diluted from right to left, left to right, or from the top down.

“I had already called several large lab distributors, but none had what I needed or offered to help me find or develop it.” Simmons said. “When I called MarketLab, the response was refreshing. I was immediately put through to Mike Bieker. We worked together over several months to come up with a design that was right for my Blood Bank and, within a few months, I had the product I wanted.”

    The company listens to what customers say and searches for ready-made sources. One of its hottest new products is the Microscope Arm Rests, which Bieker found on a “bet you can’t find this” dare from a pathologist who wanted to keep his forearms comfortable while working at a microscope eight hours a day. After extensive searching, Bieker found a source and became a product reseller. The Microscope Arm rest, which attaches to a table or counter, works with all microscope brands and sizes.

MarketLab’s Mobile Draw Station was developed in conjunction with phlebotomist Konstantin Verri

The company helps laboratory professionals, who have developed new product prototypes, with manufacturing or marketing issues. In spring 1996, Konstantin Verni, working as a phlebotomist (part of his surgical assistant program requirements) and two colleagues — Felix Kilimakher, phlebotomist, and Alex Sheinton, a student majoring in engineering — had an idea for a Mobile Draw Station. They wanted one that could travel anywhere and turn even the most awkward location into a safe place to draw blood by keeping supplies within view and reach. They developed a prototype but lacked the means to patent, manufacture and market it.

“I called several of the large laboratory product distributors, who weren’t interested,” Verni said. “Then I saw a MarketLab flyer and called. Customer service transferred me to Mike, who agreed to meet with us. MarketLab agreed to design, manufacture, and market the product and pay us quarterly royalties. We have not yet earned enough royalties to retire someplace wonderful, but just to see your idea materialize into a saleable product is an honor we owe to MarketLab.”

MarketLab’s Chameleon Cooler, which changes from white to blue when frozen, was the brainchild of phlebotomist Julie Wlodarski (left) of Indiana.

MarketLab helps lab professionals market what they have developed, patented and manufactured. Julie Wlodarski, a phlebotomist at the 300-bed Broadway Methodist Hospital in Merriville, Ind., came up with the idea for her Chameleon Cooler ten years before she found the means to patent and manufacture it. In 1998, she had a prototype. In 1999, she contacted MarketLab for help. “This product wouldn’t have gone anywhere if I had contacted a larger company,” Wlodarski said. “Mike saw my product’s benefits and agreed to feature it in his catalog. He also answered all my questions related to setting up my business and recommended that I find other marketing channels in addition to MarketLab. MarketLab orders quantities as needed, and I ship them from my basement office and warehouse.” The clear white, hard plastic Chameleon Cooler, which turns blue when frozen, keeps tube temperatures between 32-34 ÞF for up to six hours. As the cooler thaws, its color changes from blue to white. A gasket in the lid suspends six blood-drawing tubes, so they don’t touch the cooler’s sides, preventing label smudging.

Great gadgets
When asked to describe MarketLab’s keys to success, Bieker said, “First, everyone — including me — loves gadgets, and MarketLab has great gadgets. Second, our catalog allows us, a small company, to reach every lab in America. Third, the people on MarketLab’s team have a work ethic and upbeat attitude that are hard-to-find today. They have helped make MarketLab a successful, fun, dynamic, growing business.”

Because Bieker believes it is important to share MarketLab’s success with those who help make it happen, he offers his team bonus programs and profit sharing.

Product ideas welcome
To discuss a product need, product idea, or product prototype with Mike Bieker, call MarketLab at 1-800-237-3604 or, send him a detailed message via the Contact Us section of MarketLab’s web site: www.marketlabinc.com.

“When MarketLab focuses on what customers want versus what we think we should sell them, everyone wins,” Bieker said.

Cathy L. Gallagher is a freelance writer in Grand Rapids, Michigan.