“We hired a professional organization that always delivered on time what we asked of them. And, that’s exactly what I need as a CEO, so I can focus on growing the organization.” Dominick Colabella, CEO, Rectangle Health

Rectangle Health (formerly Retriever Medical & Dental), a healthcare payments technology company, successfully developed its products and customer base for 25 years. After taking on a private equity investment, the company sought to accelerate the growth of its Enterprise Division. Drawing on the healthcare marketing experience of Chief Outsiders CMO, Andrea Overman, leadership developed a comprehensive strategy and roadmap, a compelling brand identity, Rectangle Health, and a detailed marketing plan to execute. Having an A+ experience, CEO, Dominick Colabella, is grateful for Overman’s direction and confident in the results.

Background

Healthcare Payments Technology

Rectangle Health has provided award-winning service to healthcare professionals for more than 25 years. What began as a credit card processing program for medical and dental offices now also meets the healthcare payment technology needs of well over 50,000 customers at virtually any type of healthcare facility.

Dominick Colabella, CEO has been with the company since its inception. “What makes Rectangle Health unique is we are a payments technology company devoted exclusively to the healthcare industry,” he relates.

“It’s a technology that drives a patient experience, and that experience is making payments,” added Michael Peluso, Chief Technology Officer. “The growth has really been in the growth of the technology, for example, to serve hospitals and integrate with EMR systems.”

Private Equity Looking for New Growth

Rectangle Health’s Chief Outsiders engagement began in 2017 after an investment from TA Associates, a private equity firm focused on profitable businesses with strong management teams. Seeing the company’s Enterprise Division business as a key to future growth and crucial component of their investment thesis, TA Associates recommended Chief Outsiders.

To match Rectangle Health with the ideal Chief Outsiders’ resource, Slade Kobran, Managing Partner, Northeast, assessed the company’s needs and opportunities and connected leadership with Chief Outsiders CMO, Andrea Overman, a seasoned marketing executive with more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry.

“The idea was to give our Enterprise Division a brand, its own image,” related Peluso. “We had a historical entity going back 25 years, but this was to add a brand to that entity, so it could continue to grow year over year.”

At the time, the neither Rectangle Health nor the new Enterprise Division had any formal marketing organization, not even a junior marketing coordinator. Peluso welcomed the outside assistance. “I’m a tech guy,” he remarked. “I know how to build things, not how to grow companies.”

Growth Strategy

Over the next year, Overman worked with the Rectangle Health team to define and address the strategic priorities that would generate the business outcomes the company and its private equity partners sought.  In addition, she identified and developed the tools a new sales staff needed for a fast start.

Initial Objectives:

• Grow the Enterprise division to $XXM by 2020
• Prioritize opportunities and markets for 2017-2020
• Determine key sources of revenue by sub-segment, geography and company size
• Identify target personas
• Decide how to allocate the marketing budget

“They have a strong team,” related Overman. “It’s a high-action environment, moving at light speed. We helped them take a step back to see the big picture and the roadmap to success.”

Research and Analyses

Overman’s approach included completing an assessment of the company’s go-to-market approach.  A detailed review of the market and competitive environment combined with a SWOT analysis led to the final strategy and ultimately a compelling brand identity and new name for the entire company.

“We sat down for two days working on the Enterprise Division name, Rectangle Health,” related Overman. “The founder suggested a tag line, ‘The shape of all payments’, which worked very well.”

“Andrea performed the research then developed a comprehensive strategy that included the recommendation to establish a new brand identify and messaging to represent the broader organization,” stated Peluso, “She then helped to execute the strategy and facilitate the transition to new leadership.”

Fleshing Out Purpose & Positioning

The team led by Overman identified where the new brand, Rectangle Health, differs from the competition and then built a roadmap to achieve the objectives. “Ultimately it was about expanding and building awareness,” she stated.

Overman detailed the strategy necessary to establish the new brand identity in a September 2017 presentation:

1. Launch the Enterprise Division with the Rectangle Health name and raise awareness in the U.S.
2. Highlight customer satisfaction ratings in marketing messages
3. Complete voice of the customer research to create personas and messaging platforms
4. Prioritize and target specific segments, sub-segments and companies in high-density geographies
5. Develop a database of prioritized targets for each segment
6. Adjust the current pricing model to gain marketing benefit
7. Consider rebranding the overall company to Rectangle Health.

“I was excited to have a detailed go-to-market plan that specified targeted companies and titles,” related Peluso.

Integrated Marketing Strategy

Rectangle Health’s new integrated marketing strategy spelled out direct and digital marketing efforts, tradeshows, conferences and events, CRM, marketing automation and organizational structure recommendations.

Drawing on her wide network of marketing talent, Overman brought in a full-service agency to develop the website and a digital marketing agency to help execute the plan.

“We also increased awareness through an interview with the editor of the Nilson Report, the leading publication covering payment systems word-wide,” explained Overman. “That resulted in a feature article detailing Rectangle’s ranking as 52^nd in Visa/Mastercard dollar volume among U.S. acquirers and the largest focused exclusively on healthcare.”

The marketing roadmap also specified dashboard metrics for web traffic, email, leads and prospects. Leaving no loose ends, the plan concluded with next steps, budget recommendations and risks.

Growth Results

An A+ Experience

Throughout the engagement, Rectangle Health had a working group totally dedicated to growing the company. Colabella was very pleased with the process and the results generated by Overman and the management team.

“I know that it was an A+ experience,” he stated. “Any time I got involved for anything with marketing and Andrea, everything went extremely smoothly. I was very happy with her work.”

Martin Veilleux, the CFO, appreciated the thorough research and detailed strategy. “We didn’t expect to see this much analysis and planning,” he exclaimed. “Chief Outsiders totally exceeded my expectations.”

Roadmap to Growth

With early growth numbers starting to come in, Rectangle Health is well on its way to meeting its stated revenue objective of $XXM by 2020. Overman and Peluso exude optimism.

“We set them up for growth and the ability to differentiate their unique services to the target market,” related Overman. “The engagement has given Mike direction and confidence in his plan. And, with the organization and processes we established, he also has more time to work on new technology offerings, partnerships and executing the overall growth plan.”

“I’m very excited about having a detailed marketing plan,” added Peluso. “It’s my roadmap to execute to achieve the objectives.”

Huge Weight Off

Since concluding the engagement a few months ago, Retriever Medical & Dental has combined its website with the new site for Rectangle Health. “The work we did for the Enterprise Division blossomed into a rebrand of the entire company,” explained Overman.

“We’re thrilled to have worked with Rectangle on these important strategic growth initiatives,” added Kobran.  “We love it when we help our private equity partners and their portfolio companies achieve results that create real value for their investors.”

“Not having a marketing background, I would never have been able to achieve the same results in-house without that experience first,” concluded Colabella. “The work that Chief Outsiders did has taken a huge weight off my shoulders.”