About Condux, Inc.

(Before it was dissolved)

History

(from The Condux International & Business Magazine - 1995)

In 1988 a marketing research firm composed of former DuPont specialists joined CONDUX to add expanded marketing research capability to its portfolio of services.  The arrangement  strengthened CONDUX by providing the opportunity to combine marketing research disciplines with the company's extensive technical and industrial marketing experience.  Both proprietary and multi-client studies were undertaken.  CONDUX offered leading marketing research professionals from Chem Systems, DuPont and ICI Americas.

In 1989 CONDUX began recruiting outstanding experts from other major chemical and industrial corporations.  It offered leading professionals formerly with ARCO Chemical, BAT Industries, Chem Systems, DuPont, Engelhard Minerals, Hercules, Himont, ICI Americas, Mine Safety Appliance, Proctor & Gamble, Scott Paper, Thiokol, Union Carbide, W.L. Gore, and Zenith Electronics.

In 1990 CONDUX established a consulting affiliate in Geneva, Switzerland, which consisted of a group of more than 30 high ranking European professionals.  Like CONDUX, it represented a group of specialists formerly with DuPont as well as other major companies.  This added a number of multilingual specialists to our resource base to serve clients both domestic and European.

In 1991 CONDUX expanded its safety related services to meet the needs of clients embarking on safety improvement programs in response to more stringent OSHA guidelines.  The group consisted of leading safety management professionals from DuPont as well as experts from other companies.

In 1992 a working relationship was established with a leading company specializing in the preparation of technical manuals, computer documentation, regulatory documents, and marketing literature.  Also in 1992 CONDUX added the capabilities of a group specializing in conducting training programs.  These new competences allowed us to expand our expertise to provide a more complete package of services.

In 1994 CONDUX expanded its capabilities to serve the man-made fiber manufacturing and textile industries with the addition of a broad range of professional and executive technical, manufacturing, marketing, financial and business specialists.

Miscellaneous Notes

(F. L. Arbogast - 2011)

Consulting Placement Operations

(F. L. Arbogast - 2001)

We get business in several ways. Our primary method of advertisement is the CONDUX web site. This is a much more practical and cost effective system than issuing a new “magazine“ every few years to a few past customers on our mailing list. We have spent a lot of time arranging the web site and adding the necessary background code to enable the search engines to find us. So this gets us in front of the world and we get quite a number of inquires by email, FAX and telephone calls from new people that have seen our web site from all over the world. Of course we get calls from previous customers too.

So typically I’ll get an inquiry, let’s say by telephone. I’ll try to find out what the person needs and what the nature of his problem is. Sometimes this is simple and other times it takes a longer conversation to really establish the size of the job. I’ll try to write down the caller’s name, telephone number, FAX number, email address and mailing address. All of these things are important because the method of communication varies depending on just what you are trying to send. If the inquiry is via FAX or email, I’ll try to get the needed information by reply.

After the first contact with a potential client, I’ll think about the technology and try to understand its nature. If it’s a chemical problem and I’m not familiar with the technology, I may run through the chemistry, the processing steps, identify players in the market place, pricing, search technical references, search internet sites for information, etc. to familiarize myself with the problem and the terminology before I speak with anyone.

If I can’t adequately prepare myself with that exercise, I may talk with one of the other CONDUX officers to get the needed background.

From the “Associate Database” (names, addresses, phone numbers, billing info, etc.) I usually scan over the summary report because it lists each associate alphabetically with a few key words describing his or her expertise plus phone numbers and email access and billing rate. As Pete Peffer (Condux President) said, this listing includes not only our contracted associates, but other outside experts that we have either used in the past or consider candidates for consultancies.

If I still can’t find an expert that looks like a candidate to solve the prospective ctient’s problem, I’ll turn to the “Expert Database” . It contains the CONDUX one-page “brochure” for each associate and I’ll search with key words using the Helix (A Macintosh database application) query. Each brochure is “scoured” for the key words that I selected.  . I used boolean logic in the search if needed.

In addition, there are other resources to look for an expert. I have compiled a listing of experts in “Engineering Technology“ (an Excel listing) that is totally independent and separate from the CONDUX database systems. (not appropriate to add all to our databases)  It’s simply a listing of people that I knew during my DuPont career that I have located as possible candidates for consulting jobs should I not be able to find the right expert from the CONDUX associates in our database.

But let’s say that in my “Expert Database search , I find 5 or 6 interesting associates by reading their brochures right on screen, and 3 of them look like they might help the client, so I’ll print the three on CONDUX letter head, probably planning to FAX them to the prospective client.

We have paper files on all of our associates that contain their sign-on contract, security agreement, sometimes their resume and other personal data that we received early on. Usually, there is a copy of the associates CONDUX brochure there also. I usually check this to confirm whether he of she is an “exclusive“ or “non-exclusive“ associate and what the agreed CONDUX commission percentage is.

Next, I might prepare a one-page cover letter (sometimes on letterhead, and sometimes on a FAX cover sheet) to the prospective client, introducing him or her to CONDUX and perhaps explaining how we work, and sometimes stating the billing rate. I usually would attach the three brochures to the letter and FAX the the four pages to the client. If the contact is made only through email, I usually send an email reply and ask for FAX and mailing address information. So you can see that the “Expert Database” is used not only to search for an expert, but also used as an important communication tool with the prospective client.

Up to now, we usually transmit the brochure by FAX. We could use email to transmit the brochure as an attached WORD document to an email message, but there are some difficulties. First, the file is not readily available in Helix. However, we can copy and paste the fields into a WORD document and have it look almost exactly like the output of Helix. But the bigger problem is that we never know what version of WORD the prospective client has and sometimes they can’t read the attached document. Also there are MAC - PC issues regarding whether the attachment can be read. So there is a “mine field” out there regarding reading attachments. FAXing, I think, is much more reliable. Of course mailing hard copy takes time and overnight is expensive, but these methods are needed at times.

Typically, I will initiate my own local paper file for this inquiry. All of my inquiries and consultancies are kept chronologically in my office. I should record some of the client information in our “Customer Database” , but I have to say that I have been negligent on that score. Obviously, I need to get into that habit.

I may, or may not confer with the associates that I have proposed to the client. It depends on how well I know the associates. Sometimes it’s important to establish expert availability, so I call in that case to verify it’s okay to propose the person to the client. If the expert happens not to be associated with CONDUX, we will need him to sign one of our standard “Secrecy Agreements” before working on the job.

After the client has had time to digest the information, I will call him, or sometimes he will call me and want to discuss things more seriously. If the client is interested in one or more of the associates, I may ask him to call one and discuss his needs. I emphasize that the client should try to determine if he wants to hire the expert, then try to agree on the scope of the consultancy and the timing. I emphasize to the client that all financial details and arrangements must be handled through a CONDUX officer, in this case, me.

We usually do not negotiate billing rate or price but sometimes we can reduce the rate for long consulting jobs. However for a few days up to a couple of weeks, we try to stay at the billing rate that the associate requires.

So the call is made and let’s suppose we get the job. The next thing to do is to confirm the basis of the consultancy with some sort of proposal. This can be handled in several ways. I have even been involved in jobs where everything is handled verbally including the price, the scope and the timing. Most of the time something is written down. Many times, I will write a formal proposal. This can be accepted by the client either in written form or a verbal okay is sometimes sufficient.

Sometimes a written contract is required by the client, or even by us if there is some uncertainty whether they will pay the agreed price or other issues that are uncertain. CONDUX has a standard “Consultant Services Agreement” that we can send the client. More often than not, the client will want to use his own contract and he sends it to us to be signed. This can get into a lot of legal detail, time consuming “back and forth”, and can be a real pain in the neck!! I much prefer a more informal approach. We find, at CONDUX, that we usually deal with the larger, more reputable companies with ethical people. So using a more informal approach can work at times.

If we get the job, the associate goes to work and the bulk of the officer’s work may be completed. However, if the job consists of a team of consultants the officer may need to be involved to “direct traffic” as the scope of the job is completed. In particular, if I or another officer are involved in writing a final report, this can be very time consuming.

Well, let’s say that the associate completes the job and the customer is satisfied. It’s invoice time! This is usually very simple. I will send an assistant the usual one-page, hand written information and she issues the invoice from the “Accounting Database” . The client pays and we pay associates their fees on the first and fifteenth of each month. Hopefully, we have satisfied the client’s needs, delivered the scope of work and have a happy associate!