KleenSlate Concepts was built by responding to the needs of potential products. Each of our award winning dry erase products was created because we listen to what people want and need when it comes to communicating with white boards.  Here is a brief story of the KleenSlate product development that demonstrates how we believe in making our products better.

Our first invention was an attachable eraser for the dry erase marker. Julia Rhodes, who was a teacher for 20 years, invented this product after years of using her fingers to erase mistakes on the whiteboard when the block eraser was not readily available.  When she saw that her son’s basketball coach had black fingers from doing the same thing, she invented, produced, and marketed an eraser that could be easily attached to any dry erase marker.

Once the eraser was on the market, Julia heard from customers, many of whom where teachers, that they disliked smelly dry erase markers and they complained about points that pushed in when kids enthusiastically wrote on the whiteboard. Julia responded by developing a low-odor, durable, kid friendly marker in which the tips do not push in.

Julia designed a mobile dry erase board shaped like a ping-pong paddle to use when marketing the KleenSlate erasers and markers, and customers immediately asked if she was selling the board to go with the markers. Julia realized that the handheld paddle she had devised would be a great classroom tool, and the KleenSlate Response Paddle was born.

Soon teachers were asking for paddles in different colors so that they could differentiate teaching. At the same time, Julia realized the value of an all-in-one product in which the marker/eraser attached to the paddle. So the second version of the paddle had a snap in holder for the pen and came in four primary colors.

As CEO of KleenSlate, Julia quickly discovered that the more she listened to customers, the better the product got. That’s why the company motto became “We believe in better!”

Read the next installment: KleenSlate Products: We Respond to Customers-Part 2 to learn how things kept getting better. And please, leave comments with what you want and need in dry erase communication tools, so we can keep getting better.