Reference no: EM133345763

Problem

After enjoying 2 full years of national success and scoring big corporate clients and partners ships with Clients Such as Nasdaq, Netflix Studios, and the Whitney Museum. Speedy Sticks' operations nationwide have begun to slow down along with the severity of the global COVID-19 pandemic. As mentioned before, Speedy Sticks operates on both the Individual client level (visiting clients at their own home/office/hotel to conduct the service) and on a corporate large-scale level. For these corporate clients, Speedy Sticks would sign a contract - usually, the contract would include multiple service days that Speedy Sticks healthcare workers would show up at designated locations and provide these services. Currently, Speedy Sticks still has contracts with most of its major corporate clients nationwide, however, the demand and frequency for Speedy Sticks' services have decreased. We spoke with Speedy Sticks' President & Co-Founder Daniel Buitrago to learn more about how these contracts have changed over the last six months and how has that changed the way Speedy Sticks presents itself to these clients. Mr. Buitrago had the following to say: "You know when we first approached Nasdaq in August of 2020 COVID-19 was at its height and people were still very panicked about being outside of their homes, or let-alone be in an office space with others. When [Speedy Sticks] approached them to offer daily COVID-19 testing services it did not require a lot of convincing. [Speedy Sticks] then signed a year contract with Nasdaq for $ 2 million to offer COVID-19 to all NASDAQ employees from Monday to Friday between 6 am and 6 pm. It was a huge win for [Speedy Sticks]. A company that was just starting to establish a name for itself was now entering a major contract with a corporation like Nasdaq. That contract changed the trajectory of Speedy Sticks' future." The contract between NASDAQ and Speedy Sticks then went on to change after five months. In early January 2021, NASDAQ requested that Speedy Sticks provide more nurses and phlebotomists to cater to more NASDAQ employees returning to work full-time in the office. "We were ecstatic, I mean we were being offered even more money to provide these testing services and the demand for our services was not decreasing by any means." In August of 2022 after 2 years of offering the same Contract to Speedy Sticks, NASDAQ decided that it no longer needs to text all its employees every day they are working in the office and thus now only hires Speedy Sticks to offer COVID-19 testing for special events and large gatherings. This scale-down of services is explained by the decreased demand for testing, the low frequency of people contracting COVID-19, as well as relaxed COVID-19 restrictions nationwide.

Another major corporate client of Speedy Sticks is Netflix Studios. Speedy Sticks began working with Netflix Studios in late 2020 and have since established a trusting relationship with them working on several projects all around the continental United States. Through its relationship with Netflix Studios, Speedy Sticks has attracted other Similar Clients such as A&E Studios and Bravo TV - all have which hired Speedy Sticks for their productions. Unlike its contract with NASDAQ, these contracts have not been slowing down, and demand testing during filming and productions have stayed the same - if not increased since the start of the pandemic. "These major streaming platforms and studios have gained so much popularity during the pandemic and have made so much money that they now produce so many shows and each one of those shows requires COVID-19 testing for each member involved in filming and production. That's where [Speedy Sticks] comes in." says Speedy Sticks' President & Co-Founder Daniel Buitrago. Speedy Sticks now hires healthcare workers specifically for these filming and production contracts. Their only job is to show up at the filming sight every day and make sure everyone is tested and cleared to work around others safely.

The last aspect of clients that Speedy Sticks provides services for, as mentioned in the previous section is individual. According to Speedy Sticks' President & Co-Founder Daniel Buitrago, Individual Clients were all he had in mind when we started Speedy Sticks. "What We had envisioned for Speedy Sticks is a concierge COVID-19 testing and Phlebotomy company that would provide seamless and convenient healthcare services from the comfort of people's dwelling - whether it be a hotel their staying at, an office space they're working from or their own home." Speedy Sticks has found success in providing healthcare services (primarily COVID-19 testing) for individual clients and has established a trustworthy reputation for itself. "We take pride in our excellent services and our friendly and professional healthcare staff. We have seen many clients multiple times because they feel comfortable with our testing and healthcare services and choose us over the competition time and time again" says President & Co-Founder Daniel Buitrago. Bookings for COVID-19 testing from individual clients have predictably decreased as travel regulations and COVID-19 restrictions have been relaxed nationwide.

The current problem that Speedy Sticks is facing is longevity in a post-pandemic world. How do they keep achieving the success they have achieved over the past few years in a world that no longer has COVID-19 as its main concern? As mentioned in the previous section, Speedy Sticks offers a variety of healthcare services that are non-COVID-19 related. Speedy Sticks offers almost all general Phlebotomy tests - such as a Basic & Comprehensive Metabolic panel, Thyroid panel, Vitamin panel, enzyme markers, and a DHEA Sulfate Serum Test. Phlebotomy tests are Speedy Sticks' second most popular service among all of the healthcare services. "Almost 50% of our individual client booked services for Q2, 3, & 4 of 2022 have been Phlebotomy services which have been delightful news for us, especially with bookings COVID-19 slowing down. COVID-19 services used to account for almost all of our bookings for 2020 & all of 2021. These numbers Give me hope that Speedy Sticks has a space in the market after COVID-19 testing becomes obsolete." Says Speedy Sticks President and Co-founder Daniel Buitrago.

Speedy Sticks needs to re-position itself as not only a COVID-19 testing company that provides other services, but as a concierge healthcare company that provides a variety of healthcare services from the comfort of people's hotels, offices, homes, or any space that they are occupying and need healthcare services from. The difference that Speedy Sticks faces with offering these services is how people perceive these services. In the case of COVID-19 -Especially during the pandemic testing was viewed as a necessary service and thus, Speedy Sticks never needed to do much marketing or convincing to get clients -whether it be individual clients or Corporate clients- to choose them for their services because everyone was required to get tested when they traveled, went to work, went to school, and event, etc.

Speedy Sticks needs a comprehensive marketing and repositioning plan that showcases the variety of services that they offer which range from COVID-19 testing, Phlebotomy, and Drug testing to luxury services such as massage therapy, IV-Hydration therapy, Massage Therapy, and Botox injections. In this consulting project, we will conduct a literature review of the healthcare market and potential competitors that Speedy Sticks will likely compete with. We will provide an analysis of the problem that speedy Sticks faces - which is maintaining success and longevity in a post-COVID-19 world as well as establishing itself as a concierge healthcare company that provides an array of services nationwide. We will formulate, implement and evaluate a strategy that will help position Speedy Sticks to become a successful concierge healthcare service provider for a variety of services and help Speedy Sticks distinguish itself by branding and positioning it as the future of healthcare.

Question 1. What does the literature say about the problem/situation?