Steven Lauterback's Blog (28)

For every business with an infrastructure for building and managing customer growth, there are 10 that build their marketing system in a disjointed, random manner.

Manufacturers generally focus on investing in lean operations, distributors in inventory control, and doctors and attorneys in practice management. So many marketing systems have been created in response to…

Most businesses we know in the small to midsize category are poor planners. Judging from their actions the typical planning strategy comes down to: how do we beat last year. Matters related to business development should be the primary strategic topic now that the summer is behind us.

Late last year a survey reflecting small business sentiment was released confirming what most business leaders think is their biggest challenge. An overwhelming majority, 42% said their biggest concern…

When fax machines first came along a customer suggested our firm have one installed. The president’s first reaction was, “what for, so we can get orders in faster?” Yeah! As a matter of fact, when the customer says I want you to have my order in the fastest most direct way, you probably should do it.

Established businesses typically are the last to adopt new technologies, instead waiting until the advances become more accepted and their ability to lower transactional or promotional…

This is the time of year for assessments and new beginnings. It is back to school, the days get cooler and shorter, and businesses start to get more intent on their objectives. Mediocre companies don’t stand a chance anymore. Almost every category you can think of has, or has the potential for, a clever operator to mine overlooked opportunities in the offering, the channel or promotion methods.

A legacy issue for leaders of “bigger small companies” has been a weak or…

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…

In the analog days before marketing went into a digital frenzy, some of the toughest sales challenges was selling office copiers or long distance service (remember having to pay to call outside your area?). Back then, sales people made in-person cold calls and depended on the powers of persuasion to get past the gatekeeper.

Well, many of the guidelines that channeled sales people; they are now also called business developers or producers, still have merit. As a matter of fact,…