McGreals, Novaerus – Lean for Micro

The McGreals Group encompasses several pharmacies in the Leinster region and a Primary Care Centre in Blessington, Co. Wicklow. In addition to prescription services, the pharmacies offer optical, hearing and nutrition services and have an e-commerce offering.

Novaerus approached McGreal’s in early 2020 to distribute their patented air disinfection systems and are now official suppliers of 3 products into the Retail, Business, Consumer and Healthcare sectors. CEO Killian McGreal subsequently created a company to look after Novaerus clients, and there is now also a separate website www.novaerus.ie

Made in Ireland, these ground-breaking products use a non-selective, rapid killing, patented plasma technology, which offers a unique, safe and scientifically proven solution to killing airborne viruses 24/7, independently tested in over 30 laboratories and shown to reduce viruses by 99.99%.

The McGreals Group is a third-generation family business; the Novaerus unit was quickly established in 2020 to sell the NV200, NV800 and Defend 1050 portable air disinfection devices. They are simple to use, low maintenance and highly effective for rapid or continuous infection control, odour mitigation, and particle reduction.

As official suppliers, McGreals have sold to industries and clients in health food, pubs and restaurants, entertainment/TV/Film, events, professional services (offices), retail and shopping centres, veterinary, cosmetic surgery, dermatology, opticians, solicitors, undertakers, and other pharmacies.

• Covid-19 has had a significant impact on society, and McGreals spotted a need and opportunity to help businesses get back to work and people to feel safe.
• The focus was on developing the Novaerus Air Protection products side of the business.
• As such, this was a Lean Start, and we decided to work on a Lean Business Model Canvas to optimize the Value Proposition (VP) for selected Customer Segments and hone the messaging and routes to market.
• We also planned to develop an Operational Dashboard and identify goals, targets and metrics to measure performance.

With the rights to sell into the Retail, Business, Consumer and Healthcare sectors, and with interest from businesses as diverse as pubs, offices and clinics, the new McGreals Novaerus unit needed to identify the best sectors and customer segments to target with the appropriate value proposition and model.

They needed to assemble a team, put some structure on the business, optimize ordering/payment/delivery and put an Operational Plan in place for 2020-21.

The tools we used included:

• SWOT Analysis,
• development of a Business Battlecard (ref Paul O’Dea’s book of the same name) and
• We Developed a dynamic Business Model Canvas, i.e. strategic management and lean startup template for developing new or documenting existing business models in a visual chart.

The Battlecard focused the team on discussing, deciding and documenting their:

1. Shared Vision
2. Sweet Spot Customers
3. Measurable Value
4. Channels and Routes to Market
5. Competitive Advantage, USP and Positioning

The Business Model Canvas, which is updated frequently, serves as a living document to refine and hone both the Revenue Model, via focusing on the VP, segments, channels, pricing and nature of the customer relationship, and on the Cost Structure, taking into account key partners, resources and activities.

1. By the end of 2020, the team had expanded to include a CEO, Marketing & Communications Director and Business Development, Sales and Admin staff.
2. The targeted customer segments were Education, Professional/Other Services, Healthcare, Retail, and Hospitality.
3. The most effective marketing strategies included PR and radio/print advertising with a parallel digital/social media strategy and a new website, complete with videos, testimonials, and an online store.
4. Messaging that started with promoting Novaerus as “the Covid Back To Work device, killing airborne viruses & keeping staff and customers safe” was simplified to “You Can’t Disinfect The Air. We Can.”
5. The team streamlined the processes for customers to select the optimum product, place orders, pay in advance and receive the delivery in conjunction with several partners.
6. They put in a Zoho CRM system to gather and manage customer data.
7. Work is ongoing to develop a Novaerus Protected badge or logo and gather data for measurable value such as the number of business/staff/consumers protected by the technology.
8. We developed an Operation Plan with Activities / Goals /Responsibility / Date, with further work required on metrics and a dashboard.
9. The ramp-up in Sales has been extraordinary, with monthly averaged device sales increasing by over 200%.

The team are working on the Plan, and they have a structure to support growth and strategies to drive scale.

“Covid has impacted the world, but when we found the opportunity to do something positive about it, we did. Securing the rights to sell Novaerus technology was huge and working with partners, such as Redefine, gave us oxygen. The tools helped us with structure, turned the complex simple, and accelerated our strategic planning. It’s been fantastic, and we’re very excited by our journey to date.”

Nicola Perrin