Released on: February 13, 2008, 4:55 am

Press Release Author: Thomas R. Cutler

Industry: Software

Press Release Summary: Lean Industrial Marketing is Key According to Manufacturing
Journalist TR Cutler

Press Release Body: According to manufacturing journalist Thomas R. Cutler, in the
current issue of Quality Digest, "Industrial-marketing programs must encompass the
full range of activities needed to grow a business profitably, and often these
programs neglect to cover the retention and expansion of a business with existing
profitable customers."

In a global competitive environment, a lean industrial-marketing process must help
to identify target markets, target customers, and target channels of sales and
distribution. The program must focus on profitable growth and financial performance
that matches the best-in-class global competitors. The assessment of an
industrial-marketing program must include the determination and justification of new
global markets with products that offer a superior performance advantage, including
an attack strategy for countering foreign competition.

Whether internally evaluated by a lean initiative team, or externally examined by a
consultant, the lean (quasi-kaizen event) in an industrial-marketing program must
assist manufacturers in identifying the cost to produce each product line as well as
a comparison to the sale of each line item. "Industrial marketing programs help
clients to track individual customer sales and profitability. The combination of
these two elements must be tracked and used for profitability analysis to determine
and develop specific target markets for expansion," says Larry Caretsky, CEO of
Commence CRM.

Sales channel costs determine lean industrial marketing efforts
Sales channel costs are determined to identify the real costs of sales. The
information developed from an industrial-marketing program is used to pinpoint areas
of waste in the marketing dollars, to make improvements in the sales channel
selection, and to track performance from each channel. Nonproducing resources are
then replaced by more effective channel-selection partners. As with all lean
efforts, elimination of waste is the key component of an effective lean
industrial-marketing program.

The importance of continuously updating competitor and market information is key to
building an effective marketing program that sustains itself. This is the continuous
process improvement aspect of a lean industrial-marketing campaign. "Knowing what
the market is doing and where it is going, as well as what the competitors are
doing, is critical in developing an effective growth strategy that targets areas
where the company strength can be leveraged into more sales. Knowing the company's
target market is moving to lower-cost products and that new competition is coming
from foreign products allows a company to assess its strengths and weaknesses and
make appropriate adjustments to its marketing strategy," Caretsky insists.

Keeping current customers satisfied: the greatest competitive advantage
Strong industrial-marketing programs help a business to keep a focus on those
markets they are willing and capable of best serving profitably. Successfully
growing new customers is often included in the bonus or awards in a lean metric
program, while existing customer satisfaction and retention is either completely
ignored or minimized as axiomatic. While news reports of outsourcing customer
service have been plentiful in the past several years, most lean industrial
marketing efforts rarely include a comprehensive strategy for overcoming the cost of
losing a single customer.



Commence Corporation (www.commence.com) is a leading provider of Customer
Relationship Management solutions. The company's products are designed to provide
growing businesses with flexible solutions that leverage the Web to offer an
integrated platform for managing sales execution and customer service. Commence
supports several thousand customers through a worldwide distribution network, with
outlets in North and South America, Europe and Asia.


Commence Corporation
www.commence.com
Larry Caretsky
Marketing@commence.com
1-877-Commence


Web Site: http://www.commence.com

Contact Details: Commence Corporation
200 Tornillo Way
Suite 200
Tinton Falls, NJ 07712
732-380-9100