Outside of competent people, the biggest constraint on the long-term success of your business is the lifetime value of the commercial relationships contained in your customer base. And…even the most talented people in your market, if they all worked for you, would struggle to make your company successful over the long haul if you don’t manage this value. Learn to calculate that value, organize to create it, and give it the focus and priority it needs to help you grow and succeed. This article starts a short series of articles exploring how to drive growth when the only constraint you have left is found in the sales department.

In the last few days I formed a new idea, at least to me, that could put arrows into some sacred cows. I bought and read a book, An Ode to Speed, by Justin Roff-Marsh. Roff-Marsh is a self-described management radical. He has ideas that rub against the grain. Reading his book made me think a bit radically too.

To begin with, he is an expert on the Theory of Constraints, first brought to light in Eli Goldratt’s business novel The Goal. You may remember the idea behind the theory. It goes something like this. For the sake of clarity, we’ll pretend the novel is based in your printing company. Let’s start by going through the steps that Alex, the plant manager in the goal, went through.