Cantel Inc.
On September 22, 1987, Cantel Inc. of Toronto was awarded a Government of Canada Award for Business Excellence in Marketing. The awards were established in 1984 by the Government of Canada "to honour companies that have seen opportunities, seized them and marched to the front of their fields of endeavour."
Keen market sleuthing, followed by the creation of a national chain of one-stop sales outlets and a customer service department which "dotes" on subscribers, helped Toronto-based Cantel command the majority share of the Canadian cellular telephone service market and win a 1987 Canada Award for Business Excellence in the Marketing category.
The company, selected by the federal Department of Communications in 1983 to offer national cellular telephone service in competition with the landline telephone companies, used innovative research to uncover a sizeable market potential potential which industry experts and competitors hadn't even recognized!
Suspecting that industry estimates of potential users focused too heavily on affluent executives, Cantel employed research which uncovered legions of ready and willing small business people, service professionals and the like.
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| Robert de Cotret (left), Minister of Regional Industrial Expansion, and Minister Responsible for Science and Technology, presents Cantel president George Fierheller with a Canada Award for Business Excellence, Halifax, September 1987 The Government of Canada awarded Cantel the trophy 'for the successful introduction of cellular telephone service to Canada." |
Accordingly, Cantel set its subscriber projections substantially higher than those of the industry. The company quickly boosted its marketing expenditures and the planned capacity of its cellular telephone system.
To tap potential demand, Cantel had to create an aggressive marketing strategy which encompassed distribution, product development, pricing, positioning, promotions and customer service—all in less than 18 months. That was all the time the company had to meet the July 1, 1985 start date required by the Department of Communications.
To appeal to the widest number of cellular prospects, Cantel decided it would have to offer consumers a "one-stop" solution to their needs. This was achieved through a unique distribution concept involving the creation of affiliated sales and service outlets called Cantel Service Centres which offer a variety of cellular phones, subscriptions to the Cantel network, installation and warranty service.
"We also differentiated ourselves by providing dedicated cellular phone operators who, unlike landline operators, are encouraged to dote on callers, not rush them," says David Parkes, Cantel's senior vicepresident, sales and marketing.
Because the company was virtually unknown, Cantel had to roll out a major advertising campaign just to establish its credentials. This turned out to be a major advantage because the public quickly came to associate a name with the new cellular technology: Cantel.
By every measure, Cantel's marketing has been a success. The company has exceeded even its own ambitious subscriber forecasts and achieved majority market share competing against the country's largest organizations, the landline telephone companies. Indeed, Cantel's far-sighted marketing efforts must be credited with helping to create the booming Canadian cellular market—and the judges of the 1987 Canada Awards for Business Excellence agreed. They awarded the company a medal in marketing and cited it "for the successful introduction of cellular telephone service to Canada."
The Cantel story exemplifies the power of visionary marketing coupled with the unknown but revolutionary product. Together, they can establish not only a company, but an industry.
