Steven Lauterback's Blog (28)

Working exclusively with closely-held companies provides a perspective that can benefit other business leaders in similar circumstances. If your company is underperforming, look inside and outside for clues to addressing these challenges.

Most external issues concern the obsolescence of the offering, changes in the way customers buy the offering, or the strong economic forces of a consolidating industry. A good example of consolidation, combined with changing buy patterns, might be…

Beyond obsolescence, Internet effect or industry consolidation, the solutions to the underperformance problems that face a closely-held company are process driven on all fronts. Beginning with the setting of realistic, attainable goals; every business does better when it has perfected a sustainable process for the critical functions that drive that business. This requires being fully absorbed in the often quoted: people, process and product success triangle.

Think of your business…

Success today requires delivering on the promise of your brand. To do that each business function must support the other. Your people and your operational protocols must meet the expectations that your sales and promotional activities are generating.

Resisting change is normal

There are a ton of reasons why businesses underperform. In a smaller…

Competitive advantages such as proprietary products, unique skills, superior processes or intellectual property are not enough to assure a sustainable future. If not in a consolidating or obsolete industry, most companies fail due to leadership deficits. Correcting these deficiencies in a small company where everyone has multiple commitments is like changing a tire on a moving vehicle.

Although more substantial, corporate culture is easier to fix since most of the players…

A bigger role for the business development function coupled with process and employee improvements drives turnaround fortunes in small companies.



On the inside underperforming companies are primarily challenged by cultural matters, process issues or an insufficient offering which, after prolonged inattention, reveal themselves as money problems.

In certain instances, leadership is unable or uninterested in addressing the problem. As the financial warning signs start going…

For many business leaders getting back to work after the summer means turning that refreshed, back-to-business outlook into a genuine new beginning.

“New” starts after Labor Day. Like the other New Year’s Day, this is the time for resolutions and advance planning to assure aspirations become reality.



Unfortunately (for them) many more businesses…

If you run a business in a legacy industry you may be in one of these three places. 1) The industry has recently transitioned due to technology changing the way people acquire your products and services. 2) A bank-like competitor with plenty of resources is acquiring competitors and consolidating the industry. 3) If you are not experiencing a technology affect and the industry has yet to host a consolidation that shift is still in the offing so, you still have time to get in on the…

One of the best parts of running your own business is that you only have you making judgements about the mistakes you inevitably make. Running a business can be extreme amounts of both exhilaration and exhaustion. But when the old ways obscure the objective, that’s when businesses get into trouble.

Small business owners have always had an exceptional ability to manage a long list of responsibilities simultaneously. But as the business matures excitement and creativity may…

If you are like most business leaders you were either dragged into creating a marketing infrastructure; or are proactive and embraced the systems needed to assure a robust, sustainable process for finding customers. Most businesses today can say they have a business development process but whether the platform is meeting management’s objectives can be elusive.

I hired [marketing] assistance, but

In a recent conversation with the owner of a local, residential…

Have you outgrown your operating methods with lower revenue proving the point? Has management in one or several areas of the company been compromised by lack of attention? Is “the way we have always done it” no longer the best way to do it? Or, is the leader going through the motions and relying on old perspectives that plague so many companies?



The laws of promotion command that whatever you say must be the truth. Really living by the brand promise requires walking the…

From the receptionist to the business owner the power of passion can be the difference between yes and no, success and failure, or wealth and subsistence.



They say, “90% of success is showing up.” But, it may not necessarily be as true in a world where highly capable competition abounds. Being enthusiastically engaged comes through, right from the start and is projected on the values of an associated group.

Passion is contagious. Everyone wants to be with a…

Marketing is all the activities a business will undertake to assure a steady flow of prospects. Your business faces a host of challenges that may not have been evident a few short years ago. There are several circumstances that suggest the need for a fresh perspective in formulating or reengineering a firm’s customer finding and customer keeping process.

Considering these general parameters will get you headed in the right direction.

Are you:

• A start-up…

Over the last five years marketing has moved to become one of the most important topics for the leaders of small and midsize companies. Understanding and embracing the importance of marketing to business success is critical in this hyper-competitive era.

The marketing consultant label is almost as confusing as the term marketing itself. There are consultants or, better referred to as marketing tacticians for everything from website designers and search engine optimizers to sales…

If you touch the selling process in your business, an understanding of some likely steps taken by buyers and their proxies should provide helpful insights.

There are up to three player categories to the equation, the need generator, the selection decision maker and the financial decision maker. (Sometimes the needs guy and the financial decision maker are the same.) Once an order is received the selection decision maker may look first for any current relationships for this or related…

Are you familiar with a company that is falling behind its competitors? Everyone can sympathize with the older baby boomer who can’t retire, or spouse who is struggling to manage their partner’s business. Companies like these may suffer from a leadership skills deficit and the challenge of having to reengineer the business one more time.

But, there are a host of reasons for poor business performance and it’s not just because the principal lost his or her ambition. Through inattention…

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…

Your competitors are smarter and so are your customers (not smarter than you, just smarter). Your competitors are thinking about the absolute best ways to influence prospects’ behavior in their favor. At about the same time your future customers are trying to find the best value/deal/price on the exact goods and services that fit their specific requirements.

This is the rule of the jungle. The most important change from the analog past is the broad and immediate availability…

In a few days families across America will be sitting down together to celebrate one of our country’s most honored traditions, Thanksgiving dinner.

When family and friends come together for this annual celebration conversations invariably cover a wide range of subjects from football to politics. Some families get by without discord on one passionate matter or another, but many—especially those who run a family business together—don’t.

No Thanksgiving Dinner Board…

Prospects and customers have preconceived notions about the people and techniques employed in many well known industries. By understanding these stereotypes a business can exploit perceptions to differentiate their methods and change the expectations of their constituents.

Consider the residential builders that seem aloof about returning phone calls or keeping appointments. Or, the lawyers that are characterized by aggressive behaviors or the car salesman strapped with a…

We define legacy businesses as staid organizations in traditional industries. Plumbing and heating contractors to manufactures of all kinds can all fall into this category. Most legacy companies are being run the same way they were when they first started. Their processes are highly repeatable, and operating methods redundant such that controlling them is easy.

Legacy companies build for tomorrow by relying on yesterday’s success.

Well established, traditional companies…