InTimeTools®, founded in 1999, is the web application division of Kitson Marketing, Inc., founded in 1987.

In 2008, we combined the two divisions so that the clients we work with benefit not only from our expertise in web application technology, but also from the very roots of our careers — in sales and marketing.

We now call our company Kitson Marketing InTimeTools, so we continue with our acronym of KMI, as we have used since we began.

How InTimeTools® became a part of what we do at KMI

InTimeTools was born out of knowing — from being on the "front lines of marketing" (particularly being at trade shows and producing product catalogs and being in the midst of sales teams) — that technology could streamline old processes to increase sales, build productivity and make communications more targeted and effective.

As a marketing firm founded in 1987, we spent our first decade of business producing marketing materials to advertise to the end user. However, the greatest portion of our time was spent working WITHIN the INSIDE SALES CHANNEL, where the marketing is between manufacturer and distributor; distributor and dealer; dealer and outside sales rep; sales rep and sales support and sales management. Get the picture? There were so many disconnects within this "inside sales channel" we knew more sales were to be made if we could improve old systems.

The tipping point for the decision to become experts in web application technology, and make it an integral part of the marketing and sales consulting we provide, happened with one catalog project that proved to us that there IS a better way.

The year was 1999. This particular client was based out of San Francisco, a large sales and distribution company for their parent manufacturing company headquartered in Japan. We are located in Wisconsin. The distance was no problem. But communication with headquarters in Tokoyo was.

This client needed a catalog for their sales team and for trade shows. When it came time to gather product photos and copy for the catalog...well, our huge problem surfaced. Product photos and copy had been created and approved for each product. But they were not online and accessible. And there was a language barrier. Our client was befuddled as to how to possibly access these resources.

It became clear that it was more efficient to ship 450 products from their warehouse in Chicago IL to Madison WI to have these products reshot and copy re-written.

The catalog was printed and the client was happy. But we were amazed that the branded materials were available and not accessible. Remember, this is 1999. Our costs would have been much lower if we had been able to go to a private extranet online and download the materials we need from a central repository of the information that existed in Japan. If every distributor were using these materials worldwide, what a great effort in building consistency into the product presentation. The result would be strong product branding and consumer awareness. And more sales.

So that was our tipping point...a catalog that needlessly cost too much to produce. Our client agreed.

"Just think," we thought, "If we developed a central repository using the Internet for catalog materials, dealers around the world would be using the same photo and the same copy."

Our heads whirl with the cost savings of not having to reshoot photos, rewrite copy...immediate access to resources online...and the powerful branding possible when dealers everywhere present products with one voice.

And so, beginning in 1999 Kitson Marketing, Inc. developed our own technology branch and registered our trademark as InTimeTools®. We were gungho to improve old processes that simply didn't work that well. This online repository seemed a great place to begin...and that was ONLY the beginning. 

Now, in 2009, we've come full circle. Sales and marketing coaching is what we do. In the over 10 years we have been developing and implementing web application technology, we understand the "human element" of making technology work with sales and marketing strategies. We are different then other firms in that we know how to bridge sales and marketing with technology tools. And in the process, we're having fun!