Steven Lauterback's Blog – July 2014 Archive (2)

There was a time when smaller companies did very well just by concentrating on making a better product or delivering a better service. There were fewer competitors and markets were limited, small companies could stake the futures on one or two loyal customers and barriers to entry were much higher. Customers even tolerated poor delivery or price increases now and then.

Now, there aren’t enough buyers and just plain good isn’t good enough. Great customer service, responsive lead-times…

You know this stuff cold. So many business owners pride themselves on buying sharp and running a tight ship. They know every nickel they save goes directly to the bottom line. But, operational efficiently is only half of the equation required to sustain a profitable enterprise today.

In most cases, when you proportion the top line business development components towards injecting some operational discipline, you will quickly learn that your company is not doing everything it can to…