Heid
My Lunch With Heid
By John Gifford
Publisher & Editor
As I talk with Heid over lunch at the Skyline Club, he spoke of his future plans for ProVim (pronounced with long i), his web-solutions company. He is looking at the next tier of customers that need state-of-the-art website design and other web-based services.
As in any of his endeavors, the first thing Heid (one name is sufficient) pursues is knowledge. He is here today to do an interview with me, but he is also here to find out about the Skyline Club and its members, and how they might be a good fit for some of his upper-tier web solutions.
During our discussion, Heid mentions that he started ProVim in 2005 as a means to control his own destiny and reduce job uncertainty. Prior to ProVim, Heid worked as a fabricator of race cars through computer-aided design. When he was identifying the best option for his own business, he was looking for a growth area that would make best use of his skill set: computer design and web savviness. Web-based solutions met those criteria, in addition to making the pool of potential clients larger, because he was not tied only to local companies as customers. Also, he would provide ongoing solutions to his customers and build relationships, so that there would be continuity to the revenue stream from a given customer.
Heid cites networking (specifically Rainmakers) and its ability to provide him crucial knowledge about how to run his business effectively as crucial to making his start-up a success. Knowing what is important to know was the place to start. Three areas were crucial: strategic partners, branding, and sharing information with your so-called competitors. Heid learned the value of teaming with strategic partners whose customers overlap with those your company can best serve. In Heid’s case, Lorraine Ball and her Roundpeg company, has been an ideal fit. At the present time, when customers of Lorraine’s grow into more complex website needs, she refers them to Heid. He, in turn, refers the early start-ups to her.
Branding, what you stand for, is something Heid points to as important in establising credibility and reliability with current and potential customers. In what may seem a counter-productive activity (it isn’t), Heid has formed a support group of other web-solution companies. None of these companies provides exactly the same set of products and services as ProVim, and the knowledge shared among them increases their likelihood of success. For instance, Heid may meet with one of these companies and go over with them their sales technique, in order to optimize his success when he pitches a branding solution for a potential new customer.
Heid emphasizes that the extra effort in networking paid off for him. It was after the networking meeting ended, and a few die-hards went to get something to eat after the meeting that the biggest pay-offs occurred. Plus, a dogged determination to meet one-on-one with potential strategic partners was pivotal. Persistence, attention to detail (his web-design system contains over 200 steps), relationship-building, and doing what he says he will are Heid’s salient traits, as well as his “brand.”
During the recession, ProVim is going counter-current and is in a growth mode. Heid sees this difficult period as an opportunity for his company to hire quality personnel who have been let go at other companies. In addition, ProVim has purchased a web development and hosting company from Lafayette, IN and also retained several IT brokers to help find and acquire similar growth opportunities.
The discussion comes back to the Skyline Club (Heid believes he’ll probably join in 2 or 3 months when he can dedicate time to fully participating in its opportunities and activities). As with any of the things he undertakes, Heid has a plan, and when he engages on a task or project he is passionate and puts his all into it.
As a final tribute to Heid, I’ll give the top 10 things that I have learned from Heid during my extended interview. For more detail on these topics, do a one-on-one with Heid.
1. Write down your vision
2. Connect a person with their next big connection or referral (they will be forever grateful)
3. Credibility is key – do what you say
4. Hire the very best talent
5. Jettison the things that weight you down
6. Utilize competitors’ advice
7. Thank those who believed in you
8. Develop your intellectual property
9. Cash flow is crucial
10. Network to knowledge
Heid – CEO
317-847-0302
heid@ProVim.net
