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He has over 15 years of market research experience. Most of it related to new product/service development.

He specializes in uncovering the marketplace drivers for success. This is typically accomplished through in-depth marketplace analysis combined with customer research and operational data. This delivers a multi-dimensional view.

He has a preference for working with products that have numerous intangible qualities associated with them rather than commodities. (Insurance, Socially conscious investment, Organizational memberships, Alternative energy, Medical devices, etc.).

He also has experience with Research Planning, Marketplace Data Collection & Market Assessment, Statistical Data Analysis & Data Mining, Product Performance & Customer Satisfaction Measurement, Start-up organizations.

Expert has broad experience gained from over 20 years with nationally recognized companies such as Key Bank and Unum Group Insurance. One of his areas of strength is new product & service development.

He is especially knowledgeable about products that have significant intangible qualities associated with them such as service components or social goods.

Expert has been involved with the introduction of dozens of new products, services or business functions as well as three new companies. For example, he was a primary contributor in making the Passkey ATM system into the premier ATM network in Maine during it’s first three years of existence. He was an essential member of a team that launched a voluntary long-term disability insurance product for Unum Insurance that led its market niche for years after its introduction.

Additionally, he has significant knowledge in the use of technology to improve and sustain valued customer relationships. He has years of experience in measuring and improving the performance of service call centers of all sizes and was also instrumental in the creation of several technology support services.

He developed a low-cost automated process to support new employee benefit products during the test marketing stage of development. This process cut the time to market by by 65% and the personnel required by 50% over the traditional process in place at that time.

He developed a new automated method to transfer customer information from this test marketing system to the mainstream administration system that reduced the time and costs by almost 80%.

He worked with a medical testing device manufacturer to do market concept testing with surgery staff & managers. The research led to a product price solidly based upon market defined benefits. The market introduction price ended up being 2.5 times higher than the company's initial estimate. The market research also defined 12 potential product improvements for the next version of the product.

He worked with a producer of an all-natural frozen treat to develop the business & marketing plans to take the concept through test marketing and into the first phase of market distribution. He still advises the company on marketing matters two years later.



He spent 17 years at current Unum Group companies as a technology consultant supporting the sales, marketing and product development functions. Later serving as a Director of Product & Market Research.

Numerous marketplace and competitor studies leading to new product introductions.

Internal claim & service satisifaction studies which generated measurable improvements to the process. This led to the creation of an industry-wide consortium study on disability claim handling and satisfaction level benchmarking.

His use of process automation substantially reduced the cost of market research, performance measurement programs and product test marketing for the company by 40-50%.

Expert was the primary customer advocate for Unum. He was responsible for all performance measurement programs within the corporation and was tasked with developing a "voice of the customer" report delivered once each quarter.

He developed programs to bring the officers of the company closer to the customer. One was called "tap into the customer" where officers could (by appointment) listen in on calls at service call centers. The program was very successful and was credited with dozens of new service process improvements.

He represented the company on several industry research panels to improve customer satisfaction and industry practices.

- Business & Marketing Plan for a BioFuel Producer. -
An agricultural firm that wanted to also produce biofuel asked TallPyne and one of its partners to provide a detailed business & marketing plan so that they could secure financing for the project. The information provided was of a caliber that the company is still using TallPyne & its partner for follow up consulting when they need it many months after the delivery of the plan.
They even asked us to help represent them at the 2007 National Biodiesel Conference in San Antonio TX. We have become valued advisors and partners to this company. This is TallPyne's goal — that's our greatest compliment!- Introduction of an All-Natural Frozen Treat. -
TallPyne authored the market research which served as the foundation for creating the business & marketing plans used to finance and implement this business. Several people have commented that our information was the key in pioneering this new market niche. TallPyne has remained on their board of advisors through the 2-year journey from idea to market testing and
finally being in over 400 supermarkets in the northeastern US. We continue to act as a trusted advisor as they grow and refine their business plans.- Medical Testing Device. -
TallPyne worked closely with the client as they moved this product from the
prototype to market introduction stage. TallPyne conducted in-depth interviews of potential purchasers of this product who worked in an operating room setting. The information collected was verified with “live” research at an operating room nursing trade show attended by 12,000 people over five days. The goal was to assess the value of each of the product benefits and develop an optimum bundle of benefits with appropriate add-on options. One result of the project was that the potential users set a market value for this product between 2 and 2½ times higher than the client’s intended sales price. TallPyne also discovered a new market segment that had not been considered previously and numerous improvement suggestions for the next product version. One of the product investors said TallPyne's market research report was one of the best that they had read in the last several years.- Retest the Feasibility of an Employee Benefit Product.-
A large provider of employee insurance benefits asked a consultant who is allied with TallPyne to look at a new product that was not gaining market
acceptance as well as expected to see if they could identify problems and potential solutions. That consultant turned to TallPyne for market research assistance. TallPyne was able to analyze the information collected
from the marketplace and co-author the report for the insurer. The insurance company took several corrective actions and later presented a summary of the findings and subsequent actions at an employee benefit convention.- Introduction of a “BioFuel” for Heating Use.-
TallPyne used a combination of focus groups and secondary research to define the primary marketing points important to potential buyers. The project also defined a price difference curve for this product versus its primary competing product. TallPyne helped to prove that the “green” heating fuel could support a price between 10-15% greater than its competition. The secondary research helped to locate potential funding sources for the client’s expansion plans. TallPyne's marketing report correctly spelled out the circumstances under which the biofuel would begin to gain market acceptance.