Business Owners Continue to Struggle

Many small and midsize businesses are not performing to their full potential. Most of these are victims of external forces that may force an end to operations, but there are some very unique players in legacy industries that could provide real value to current and future stakeholders.

Over the last several months I have interviewed over 100 business support professionals including attorneys and financial services people like bankers, accountants and other providers to learn more about these underperforming companies. My research suggests there are two primary reasons for the lagging performance in closely held organizations.

If you are waiting for your old world to return – don’t!
First the external factors - technology or industry consolidation has, or is changing the way customers interface with providers. Few will be able to survive these almost preordained circumstances. Unfortunately, the other reason for continued marginal performance is an internal leadership deficit stemming from management skills, drive or desire.

We estimate top line revenue deficits in the order of 20% annually for these under-managed companies which can ultimately lead to failure. The advisors we spoke with see the real risk of losing a substantial portion of their client base based solely on leadership challenges. Through inattention or inability these businesses become isolated, one-by-one their competitors take their customers and they end up closing or filing for bankruptcy protection.

Rebuilding a company by driving its value proposition improves customer development and every essential business process. Saving clients and saving jobs through the re-engineering of business development and operational processes is a specialized activity with few real experts available to smaller companies. Lauterback Marketing is one of these specialists with a 15 year track record of affecting real change in a closely held business.

In addition to our traditional consultative services for revitalizing client companies, we are now able to work with business owners that may have the desire to sell but had few perspective buyers due to their circumstances.

If you know a professional advisor or business owner that meets this profile consider forwarding a link to this article.