Sales First!: Growing Our Company the Old-Fashioned Way, the ColorMatrix Story

by John Haugh, Michael Shaughnessy

How do you grow a business to $100 million in revenue without venture capital? SALES FIRST! These two entrepreneurs financed growth the old-fashioned by selling products.In the 1980s, Midwestern chemical salesmen John Haugh and Michael Shaughnessy found a new way to add color to plastics. Their product was an incremental innovation for the massive global plastics industry. It had great potential, but they lacked the connections and experience needed to raise venture capital. How would they afford to grow their business?Driving their beat-up cars around the Ohio River Valley, they devised a simple “SALES FIRST!” With every decision about customers, capital, or human resources, they asked one Will it generate sales quickly? That's how they grew their company to over $100 million in revenues, then recapitalized it, and eventually benefited from its sale for over $400 million. In the process, John and Mike managed their relationship so well that they never had a significant disagreement between them—and they created hundreds of jobs in Rust Belt Cleveland.

Genres: Business

195 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2020

Reviews

[Wyatt Lovera · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is helpful from a "what it takes" to make it perspective but really turns into a story of reading about their success more than anything and not many applicable lessons overall.

[Luana Spinetti · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Haugh and Mike Shaughnessy are two entrepreneurs from the Midwest who started a venture in liquid colorants with little resources but a great understanding of customers' needs and an aggressive marketing, allowing them to raise money from customers, not venture capitalists. Hence the "sales first" approach.

The book is the story of how ColorMatrix came to be and how John and Mike lead it to success, but it can also be read as an "how to" book on the "sales first" approach they used to build their company.

It shows how the duo persuaded companies to use liquid colorant rather than solid color by "showing them the financial benefits" (customers "needed" liquid colorant, "they just didn't know it"). The key was not just selling liquid colorant, but also safety, efficiency and branding, and to always listen to customers' needs. This approach stayed even when ColorMatrix branched out to EU and Asia, and as they began licensing products in their industry.

The duo also showed a big heart to employees, helping them in times of need and teaching them work skills that paid off later.

A nice thing about this book is that it also tells the story of a friendship, that of John and Mike. They loved each other as brothers and that led to a collaboration and partnership that was one of the strong points of ColorMatrix.

This was a very enjoyable read overall, and I liked that the authors added a chemical formula at the beginning of every chapter, under the title. Being this the story of a colorant company, hence a chemical company, it was a nice touch.

[Ed Malaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sales First! Growing our Company the Old Fashioned Way is a fascinating book. It’s loaded with great ideas for a new business, but it also tells a great story about how the ColorMatrix company became successful, which is worth the read in itself. Who knew there was so much going on behind the scenes in the plastic industry? I was sufficiently entertained to keep reading and finished the book in just two sittings. I’ll never look at plastic color the same! It’s very detailed and must have taken some time to up together, but the resulting book paints a very clear picture of how this company became successful after beginning in a garage before it was cool to do so. I think it can translate to any industry because it was more about the choices made than the industry and nothing in this book relies on luck or starting with a large sum of cash. You can be successful if you put customers and sales first.

I highly recommend it to anyone running their own business, whether just starting or not. It’s also perfect for those interested in the history of American business.

[Hannah Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was actually a much better book than I had anticipated it being. It was fast-paced, filled with helpful information, inspiration, and even moments of levity. It was also an incredibly accessible read--making it a must-read book for anyone either already in business or considering building a business.

The best part of this book was the lessons learned. In hindsight, we all know now how awful plastic is for our environment, the authors learned this too along with the rest of us. But this little excerpt from the Postscript chapter says it all: "The lesson for our readers is that global needs will change during your careers--be prepared to lead change within your industry." Which is exactly what these men did. They took the evolving information and figure out how to go with it and help how they could. What a beautiful story of triumph and care.

[Mark Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Starting a business is very difficult. John Haugh and Michael Shaughnessy teach budding executives the art of creation, selling, hard work, and how to flip a stat-up company into a nearly $500 million empire. The two executives started as nothing more than salesmen trying to peddle their invention to other top companies. Beginning business owners will be inspired by the two men and their hard fought battle. The book also has educational elements and will serve as an introductory class to sales and marketing your new business.

[Martin L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorough and helpful: I really enjoyed reading this book from both point of views. It made me feel like I was part of the process myself. I was also glad to see that the style was easily understandable, and although you do need a bit of background knowledge about how big businesses work (the book assumes you are familiar with certain terms such as equity), I found that the information was interesting enough to read on. And I'm glad I did. Not everything will apply to everyone, but there was quite a lot of encouragement and openness within the pages that I found refreshing.

[vee maciag · Rating 2 out of 5]

4/5 writing by ghost writer Becca Braun, 5/5 story, 2/5 for my personal style of reading.

But, it addresses the really unique story of John Haugh and Mike Shaughnessy approaching SALES FIRST as their main in to the color and polymer industry. It was highkey a quick read and I enjoyed it more than I thought!

+ I do get to meet each of the three parties this week, and I think this book perfectly summed up their business and human natures.

[Kaitlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Midwesterner, I was curious about two entrepreneurs who built a business in a Rust Belt town with dilapidated buildings and a rough economic landscape.

It was also cool to hear how they built a business on a boring concept: adding color into plastics.

I think entrepreneurs and anyone interested in business would be intrigued by this memoir.