Sometimes your product is good, you just need to figure out a new way to deliver it. That's what Mike Hagan, recently named Entrepreneur of the year by Forbes Magazine, did when he joined Nutrisystem in 2002. The company at that point was 30 years old and languishing with revenues of $28M and profits of $2.5M. Four years later, revenues are $413M and profit stands at $55M. This year, the company will add 800,000 new customers and stock analysts just raised their buy target price to $77 - the stock was at 60 cents when Hagan took over. Nutrisystem has just been named as the top Best Small Companies of America by Forbes.

Mike explains that he realized that target customers were busy and not willing to come to a fixed location once a week to get counseling and pick up food products. So he moved the counseling tools onto the Internet and began shipping food products directly to the customer. That shift began a complete revival of the company.

Nutrisystem is the 800 lb gorilla in the weight loss industry dwarfing the likes of Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers. And they have lots more room to grow owning only 1% of the projected market. Watch the Dan Marino ads increase the male clientelle and what woman can resist the ad where a husband of a wife who has just lost weight using Nutrisystem says, "I got my wife back." Watch an interview of Mike Hagan

So next time you plan on transforming your company, don't just look at the product, look at how you deliver it to your target customer base. And a new CEO wouldn't hurt either!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive