GROWING GAINS
Symbio was set up in 1990 to exploit the effect of beneficial microbes to plant growth [see “How your garden grows” inset]. Commercial applications quickly became apparent, most immediately in commercial horticulture, where Symbio found that they could reduce the amount of heat, light, chemicals and even time required to bring a crop to market - giving greenhouse growers the potential to get an extra cropping cycle into a growing season. “We have one commercial hedging grower,” comments Managing Director Martin Ward, “that is getting its plants to market three months earlier.”
The commercial benefits to their customers were clear, but the route to market was surprisingly difficult. The problem was twofold: educating buyers about the potential benefits of a completely new approach; and finding a distribution route that would allow them to supply that market.
Distribution headaches
Originally, Symbio planned to use existing distributor networks to tackle the sales process, but they found that this approach was, quite literally, counterproductive. Symbio’s advantage to customers – halving fertiliser and fungicide use – was a disadvantage to distributors whose business depended on the traditional products Symbio was making obsolete.
“I think it’s common where you’re introducing new technology which is competing against old technology, that existing distributors have vested interests,” says Martin. “Buying a kilo of our products effectively means that customers don’t need to buy two kilos of someone else’s, so the distributors had a vested interest in our failure. Initially, we had calls from distributors wanting to sell our products, and then just sitting on them, to protect their other sales lines, or not developing sales because the sales force could not or would not commit to the new technology.”
With traditional distribution channels denied them, the company had to find other ways of reaching their markets. For Symbio, that meant developing their own sales team, which now has eight people out on the road, selling direct to local authorities and growers. Having a sales team to maintain has had an unexpected benefit however, as it has forced Symbio to develop a larger product range. Martin explains, “We’ve had to make it commercially viable to keep eight sales people on the road, and that has meant developing a product range so that each sales call can, at least potentially, pay for itself.”
Educating the market
Surrey Enterprise Hub Portfolio Director Andrew Cross first became involved with Symbio through the Hub Network as a mentor. With a background in Marketing and Business Development, Andrew had the skill set to help Symbio develop its approach to communicating a complex message to a conservative industry. And, having worked in the agrochemical industry, he was familiar with the industry they operated in. Working with Symbio, Andrew and the Surrey Enterprise Hub developed a marketing strategy and gradually developed and refined the sales message. “Symbio have spent a long time developing their product and sales channels,” comments Andrew, “and the time now seems to be right for them – there is a real sense of momentum about the market they are operating in, and Symbio is well positioned to take advantage of that.”
The process of educating buyers to create demand was a long one, and still continues today, “It was, and still is, a case of writing editorial, presenting at seminars, constant arranging of meetings and face-to-face explanations, then technical, one-to-one presentations on-site,” explains Martin. ”The whole business is very much customer driven. We subcontract the research and production – there are lots of microbiologists out there capable of doing the science. But there are very few companies that can actually apply the technology, take the concepts to market and make a sale. That’s our unique point of difference.”
While creating this demand the company had to find funding to stay solvent. Rather than swap equity for cash, they decided to focus on developing a single lucrative market that could bankroll their development. “Most of our competitors were growing lazy on grant funding, without implementing strong commercial and sales discipline, so when the money ran out most went bust: plus we had no way of knowing how long it would take to break down barriers and break even in our large profitable markets so we didn’t want to rely on venture capital with the demand for a quick return or grants which can suddenly dry up. We decided a customer base generating cash was a safer bet.”
“There is a real sense of momentum about the market Symbio are operating in, and the company is well positioned to take advantage of that.” Andrew Cross, Surrey Enterprise Hub Portfolio director
Cash crop
To generate the cash they needed in their early days, Symbio focused its efforts on one industry – sports turf – for three reasons: “It’s a high user of pesticides and fertilisers, which meant we could add a lot of value,” explains Martin, “It’s to all intents and purposes a single crop, which makes the science easier, and it’s cash rich, which was important to us, as we needed cash to fund our development.”
A concentration on one easily accessible, lucrative market effectively bankrolled the development of new product lines, allowing Symbio to expand without external investment. In 1996 the company started research on different types of bacteria and fungi and the way they changed plant species’ growth patterns in the soil. Side by side with technical developments, the process of creating demand went on, “It’s an endless process,” concludes Martin, “but with our own sales force now in place we’re able to communicate directly and effectively with our customers, and we let our results do the rest.”
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