Blue Strategies Group formed to help companies assess opportunities in energy and new markets

Three local entrepreneurs have joined forces to form the Blue Strategies Group, a consulting firm that intends to help companies with assessing opportunities in energy management, innovation and market diversification.

Bob Johnston, a consultant with the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center-West, Kathleen Hoyle, who helped launch InnovationWorks, and Bill Adams, an energy consultant with FlowServe, launched Blue Strategies Group in Holland and Kalamazoo to help businesses innovate and diversify.

Helping companies move into the energy market is one of the group’s specialties.

“There are tremendous opportunities in energy,” Johnston says. “We think the first thing for companies to look at is how they’re managing their energy.”

They also help clients learn where their company might fit in the energy market.

“We taught one client who makes materials handling devices how to find out what companies are in the energy industry and which ones might need materials handling devices,” Johnston says. “It may not be an energy product, per se, but we know that energy is a growing field and that it’s going to keep growing.”

The group, the driving force behind last month’s Energy Summit 09, conducts a variety of workshops on innovation and market diversification. They also teach the subjects at Grand Rapids Community College.

“One thing we do is help companies understand what their customers are buying,” Johnston says. “A drill bit manufacturer is selling a hole, not a drill bit. The customer doesn’t need the drill bit, they need a hole.

“When you’re talking about diversification, you’re talking about changing your company,” he adds. “You have to take it a bite at a time, you have to understand customer needs, how to organize your company to meet the needs, and then you have to get customers.”

Source: Bob Johnston, Blue Strategies Group

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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.