Video Update: SOBRsafe CEO Dave Gandini Discusses Evolved Sales Focus and 2024 Strategy
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DENVER, CO / ACCESSWIRE / April 16, 2024 / SOBR Safe, Inc. (NASDAQ:SOBR) ("SOBRsafe"), providers of next-generation transdermal alcohol detection solutions, today provided a comprehensive video update from Chairman & CEO Dave Gandini, discussing SOBRsafe's evolved sales focus, its 2024 progress report and the Company's go-forward strategy. You can view the video here: https://rb.gy/md0xz9, and a transcript is below.
Video Transcript
Thank you as well to the viewers who are taking the time to watch this presentation. I'm extremely pleased to be talking to our investors, potential investors, customers and anybody interested in the connected goals of transforming the lives of individuals struggling with alcohol issues.
As many of you might have seen, SOBRsafe recently filed its Fiscal 2023 10-K report with the SEC. We encourage anybody with an interest in our story and progress to review that information on either the investor section of our website, or at SEC.gov.
While the 10-K is obviously a great resource for investors, we wanted to communicate some additional color about our 2023 progress in expanding our line of SOBRsafe alcohol detection products and services, our sales outreach, our challenges, and our focus for 2024.
After our 2022 uplisting from the OTC to NASDAQ, SOBRsafe spent a good part of 2023 taking a broad approach to potential sales markets for our technology, as our technology would appear to have near-universal applicability.
The initial markets we targeted were the obvious choices: commercial fleets, school bus drivers, manufacturing, warehouses, construction - just to name a few. We were very well-received, and management saw the value of our technology BUT…we were not converting expressed interest to sales.
Now clearly, we understand where we sit. SOBRsafe is an emerging growth company in a rather difficult small company environment. For the last few years, us little guys, the NOT Apple or Nvidia or Tesla, have had a tough time in this stock market. We also understand that both retail and institutional investors are looking for the same thing - companies that grow sales and have those growing sales lead to the generation of cash flow and net income. We want to be that type of company. There is an old saying that "you don't fight the tape". Well, for SOBRsafe to concentrate on customer segments with huge potential size - but with multi-year sales cycles - is a non-starter from both the market's, and our management's, standpoint. To affirm, we're not abandoning these markets, but they will not be our primary focus for right now.
So, if they're not our sales focus, then what is?
Well, what we discovered with all our outreach in 2023 was that there are business and services that already use different alcohol testing technologies, and, in these sectors, that use of testing is mandated.
It's not a want, it's a need.
These sectors already use alcohol detection products as a matter of standard procedure, but are hungry for evolved monitoring and screening solutions. So, what are these markets? Behavioral health (alcohol recovery and mental health) and what we term the "justice" segment.
In behavioral health, every patient is routinely screened at point-of-care to establish the absence of alcohol. And to ensure the effectiveness of treatment, outpatient monitoring can continue for years. Traditional detection methods using breath, blood or urine tests have a host of drawbacks, including being invasive, inefficient and unhygienic - and often degrading. Plus, breathalyzer-type devices have a limited life and are often inaccurate and subject to breaking down, and their output is typically analog and requires a staff member to write results down and hopefully log it accurately in to a patient's records. Can you imagine any medical center or hospital today using analog test output and not having automatic data logging for patients' records and insurance billing? That would never happen. But it still happens for alcohol treatment. Also, as far as market size, there are over 46,000 behavioral facilities across the country and our technology could have immediate application in each.
The justice segment relates to basically all things outside of police DUI screening. For example, this segment would include resident testing at halfway houses, or for proof of pre-trial sobriety. There are also employment and insurance mandates where an employee with a previous infraction is only allowed to continue working if they demonstrate sobriety every day.
Beginning in the Fall of 2023, our management team focused our sales effort on these two segments. We also rolled out a second product, the SOBRsure wristband. The band is a continuous testing device for individuals that complements high-volume screening solution - the SOBRcheck. Both products fit the behavioral health and justice segments to a tee. SOBRsure is an individual-specific device. Rather than take periodic "time-outs" for a breath test, a cumbersome and quite frankly degrading experience, individuals can just wear the SOBRsure on their wrist, just like a Fitbit. The SOBRsure provides continuous monitoring via any paired cell phone. It can be a part of a mandated outpatient program or documented proof that a separated or divorced spouse is maintaining sobriety.
For those of you who have been watching our press releases in Q1 of 2024, I can now add even more color that we've secured 16 new accounts in the past three months…vs. just 3 for all of 2023. We believe that this success represents just the beginning of our broad adoption in behavioral health and justice. We believe that success breeds success, and that these new relationships will help spark additional and larger deals. To fuel this growth, we have a strong team of 4 direct sales professionals, and 8 behavioral health field affiliates across key markets.
Also, besides this direct sales effort we are working on additional avenues to leverage our technology and reach - international expansion, and licensing & integration. At the end of January, we announced that we had signed a channel partnership in Australia and New Zealand to target their behavioral health and justice needs. This announcement has driven inbound interest from other countries, with conversations underway.
We also continue to talk with industry players about potentially using our patent-pending SOBRsafe technology and unique data in their third-party devices and software. While nothing is imminent, a licensing or integration deal would be a means of generating non-dilutive capital and could be a source of ongoing royalty revenue.
Now, I'd like to take a moment to address our continued listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market. We believe that we have a precise and achievable plan to regain compliance. We are currently executing on the Plan's phases according to a prescribed timeline. We look forward to sharing more detail as permitted.
Wrapping up this video, I'd like to thank our fantastic team at SOBRsafe for all their dedication, perseverance, and teamwork to get us this far. To you, our investors, potential investors, and customers, please keep an eye on our newsfeed. We think you'll be able to see our progress in real-time, as we help deliver more accurate, flexible and humane alcohol detection technology to the market and in turn, help people experience more productive and safer lives.
About SOBRsafe™
Alcohol misuse is the fourth leading cause of preventable death in America, and the seventh worldwide. Yet prevention and monitoring solutions have not kept pace with this epidemic. Legacy technologies are invasive and inefficient, unhygienic and unconnected. There has to be a better way.=
Enter SOBRsafe™. Our advanced transdermal (touch-based) technology detects and instantaneously reports the presence of alcohol as emitted through a user's skin - no breath, blood or urine sample is required. With a powerful backend data platform, SOBRsafe provides next generation, passive detection technology for the behavioral health, judicial and consumer markets, and for licensing and integration.
The SOBRsafe technology is commercially available for point-of-care screening (SOBRcheck) and continuous monitoring (SOBRsure). At SOBRsafe, we are creating a culture of prevention and support. To learn more, visit www.sobrsafe.com.
Contact SOBRsafe:
investor.relations@sobrsafe.com
Safe Harbor Statement
Our prospects here at SOBRsafe are subject to uncertainties and risks. This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934. The Company intends that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbor provided by the foregoing Sections. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the expectations or forecasts of future events, can be affected by inaccurate assumptions, and are subject to various business risks and known and unknown uncertainties, a number of which are beyond the control of management. Therefore, actual results could differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this presentation. The Company cannot predict or determine after the fact what factors would cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements or other statements. The reader should consider statements that include the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "estimates", "plans", "projects", "should", or other expressions that are predictions of or indicate future events or trends, to be uncertain and forward-looking. We caution readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. Additional information respecting factors that could materially affect the Company and its operations are contained in the Company's filings with the SEC which can be found on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.
SOURCE: SOBR Safe, Inc.
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