<< Return to News

Just The One’s You Want To Keep

Keeping customers through effective biological solutions.

I remember as a child, a sign at the dentist’s office that said “You don’t have to floss all your teeth, just the one’s you want to keep”. It reminds me of the biological business. In today’s economy, every once in awhile we will temporarily lose a client. Alas, the allure of a “Bacillus” product that is 10 or even 15% cheaper. We wish them well and hope someday they will be back. Quite often they are, once they lose a few customers. They tell me their sad stories of how saving 10% on a raw material caused them to lose some of their best customers. In the long run, the 10% savings cost them 100 fold. We smile and welcome them back with open arms and remind them how important sustainable and residual business is to their bottom line.

You see in this business you get what you pay for. There are commodity products and performance products. Based on our DNA testing of competitive products, the lower priced commodity products frequently have fewer strains and a less effective range of substrate digestion, enzyme production and lower activity at various ranges of pH and temperature. In many cases, the more economical product actually has a lower count, by as much as 60%. This is like buying a chemical ingredient without looking at the percent actives. At the end of the day, this all translates to poor performance. Further, we often see no rhyme or reason to why the strains were put together, don’t they know which strains get along and which don’t (stay tuned for “Can’t we all just get along”). You really have to ask yourself, is this an application where the product has to work? If so, what technical support needs to come along with the product? Waste treat-ability studies, application review and custom strain matching are all a part of the biosolutions business and should come with purchase of every product.

So when customers ask me which of their customers they should have switch to our products, I always tell them, “Just the one’s you want to keep”.

– Michael R King, Ph.D

Search Insights
Recently Posted Insights

Mitigate the Toughest Odors and Stains with SporActiv® CLEAR

When we formulate new industrial, institutional, and consumer (IIC) cleaning ingredients at MDG, your success is always top of mind. Our SporActiv® line includes scientifically proven products that can help you solve your customers’ challenges and reach your unique...

Biotifx® BLOCK: A Smarter Solution for Collection System Treatment

Collection systems are essential parts of the wastewater treatment process, and any operational interruptions can have a negative impact on their efficiency. Typical chemical and/or reactive treatments can also put a financial strain on system operators. Discover the...

BoostBac™ Probiotic: Access Our Exclusive White Paper!

At MDG, innovation is at the forefront of what we do. That’s why we’re thrilled to introduce our new probiotic ingredient—BoostBac™! BoostBac™ is a synergistically formulated dual-strain Bacillus probiotic clinically proven to reduce persistent systemic inflammation...

Trusted Process: MDG’s Gold Standard

MDG’s customer-centric approach to quality manufacturing and support ensures consistent, repeatable results for our customers. This is done through our trusted process; our gold standard at MDG. Can you be confident in our manufacturing process yielding consistent...

Defining Odors and Discovering Solutions with SporActiv®

In the industrial and institutional cleaning markets, odors are a major challenge, and you want to create effective solutions for your customers dealing with odor issues. This process can be daunting, however, as there are so many types of these unpleasant smells and...

Small but Mighty: How Bacillus Works in Cleaning Applications

Bacillus bacteria are common in microbial cleaning ingredients, including ours at MDG. They are widely used because of their ability to combat typical pain points in the Industrial and Institutional (I&I) cleaning market. But what about these tiny organisms makes...

Maximize Anaerobic Digester Performance with Bioaugmentation

Anaerobic digesters are vital components of many wastewater treatment plants, and problems that affect their operation can be detrimental to the facility’s efficiency. Certain issues may even cause a complete shutdown of digester systems, and it can sometimes take...

Related News