by Bob Zaruta, President/CEO, NWIRC
NWIRC strives to be the first line of response to assist small and mid-sized manufacturers address their most pressing business issues, improve their competitiveness, and achieve their growth goals. When we see common needs and trends across our region, we look to be a thought-leader and take action that will help and result in measurable impact to our manufacturing clients, our region, and the people living and working in the communities we serve in northwestern Pennsylvania.
Considering the past few quarters, most would agree that the U.S. economy ‘vitals’ are good, healthy and going in the right direction. Manufacturing orders, output and employment are increasing. Today, a growing number of manufacturers in our region are experiencing topline revenue growth. In some cases, the growth is significant. While just a year or two ago, many of these same manufacturers had excess capacity and were searching for new business, today the key operational challenge for these companies is keeping up with customer demand and expectations. Today, the critical business issue for these manufacturers is profitable topline growth.
Let’s face it, not all customers are a good fit and not all will continue to be a good fit. Business relationships, terms and conditions change over time. Accounts that became customers when times were slower, or were initially won on low price, may be hindering a company’s ability to serve its best customers or win new ideal customers. But how does a company implement a strategy to transform its customer portfolio? What actions can gain and sustain more ‘ideal customers’? You know, the type of customers that have unmet needs that match perfectly to your capabilities, that highly value what you do and who are willing and able to pay a premium.
In response to these needs, trends, and questions, NWIRC is launching a 3-part series on profitable topline growth. This ‘triple crown series’, as we’ve coined it, begins later this month with a breakfast briefing on assessing a company’s current customer portfolio from three perspectives – ideal customers, sales margins and profitability, and value propositions. The series continues with a lunch briefing in November on how to grow your customer base with more ideal customers. Finally, the series concludes with a dinner briefing in November on advancing more opportunities in the sales pipeline with a higher probability of success.
We know how busy everyone is these days to keep up with customer demands, so we have designed this triple crown series to be delivered through a rapid-fire 90- minute exchange with subject matter experts over unique breakfast, lunch, and dinner venues. If you have time to grab a bite to eat, you can plan to join us. Through these educational briefings, you will leave with new perspectives, knowledge, tools, approaches, and best practices that can transform your customer portfolio for healthier top and bottom lines.
Click below to see details about the Profitable Topline Growth Series and register for the sessions.
Register for all three sessions (Oct 23, Nov 6, and Nov 20)
Session #1: Oct 23 from 8:30am-10:00am
Session #2: Nov 6 from 12noon-1:30pm
Session #3: Nov 20: 4:30pm-6:00pm