25 Years and Counting: Part 1

April 18, 2025
Phil Krone

In January, Productive Strategies celebrated its 25th anniversary. This month we’d like to celebrate our clients-the people and the companies that have made it all possible. We’ll do that here by introducing you to the varied industries and professionals they serve-and the impactful, often innovative things they do. Next month, we’ll help you understand how we work with clients-and how they work with us-to enable us to do our best work.

So, what kinds of clients  are we celebrating? Well, as we looked back in preparation for this anniversary, even we were surprised by extent and variety of the industries and professional services clients that we’ve helped improve their top lines, and we can’t list them all here. But, as we hope you’ll see, our processes cut across all business-to-business sectors:

A sampling

Manufacturing and technology, healthcare and US industrial/commercial real estate
Software development entrepreneurs, pharmacy benefits management
Construction of all types including interior, commercial/industrial, railroad
Law (32 firms) and law-related (post-trial administration and litigation consulting)
Interior design and architecture
Food companies, suppliers to major auto companies, not-for-profits
Education-university, high school, elementary
A manufacturer of jumbo industrial pumps
A small wood working company with an exclusive contract for a national restaurant chain
Banking (local and national), investment firms, utilities
A pioneer in environmentally responsible public health mosquito control
Nurse case management, workers compensation technology
Long-term care-rehabilitation, pharmacy, housing, laundry management
Insurance (at agency and corporate levels), logistics
Specialized transportation and travel services
Accounting, engineering (including nuclear)
Construction of all kinds
Even a Division 1 college football team.


Interesting Facts, Insights, and Contributions from Our Clients

An international law firm asked us to provide consultative sales training only to women attorneys in eight US offices as part of its women’s initiative program
One client uses as many as 18 semi-trailer trucks to transport staging, lights, equipment, and other myriad items for world-renowned entertainers on tour
Another entertainment-industry client ensures that travel documents are in order for all members of international touring shows covering multiple countries
An industrial/commercial real estate firm is the fastest-growing in the US. Our local office client developed a highly efficient proprietary process that significantly cuts time to market on new construction or renovation. Team members work in parallel instead of series.
A large law firm measured the results of our consultative sales training course FOCIS® and found that lawyers who participated did much betterin gaining new business and collecting full fees
Fortune  500 manufacturer produces and maintains large pumps with a productive life of 25 years or more. We call regularly to keep our client up to date on its customers’ needs.
A proprietary process enables a manufacturer to produce fasteners for the popular-and primarily aluminum-Ford F-150 truck. Fastening to aluminum and to plastic is notoriously difficult.
A software developer created an innovative platform that determines and values,  specific to individual companies , the  intangibles  required for transformative growth-including gaps in leadership and culture. We’ve helped to develop an effective sales process and approach to bring the product to market.
A pharmacy benefits management firm whose business developers we trained was rated  Fortune’s  fastest growing company in 2011. Over six years, the sales process we developed helped them grow from $1 billion dollars in annual sales to $20 billion.


A misconception
 we sometimes run into with prospects is a concern that we’re not necessarily experts in their industry or professional service area. Not unreasonably, they tend to think we can’t help them increase sales, improve their access to markets and prospects, or boost their credibility and visibility in the marketplace. But, as we hope this list of clients clarifies, we can. We have a process for extracting the information weneed from our clients to understand their business and their market-and to help them. Our revenue-growing experience and expertise cut across all business-to-business environments.

To learn more about how we might, or might not, be able to help you, please get in touch with us at 847-446-0008 or  pkrone@productivestrategies.com.

Next Month: “Working Effectively with Prospects, Clients, and Customers.”

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