NEWS AND NOTES

I'm always fascinated by the annual Inc. 5,000 rankings and featured businesses. This year is no exception. Here are some of the companies (besides, you know, mine) that jumped out at me.

Advertising and Marketing

• Red Ventures – Their differentiator, they say in their video, is that they focus more on analytics than other marketing companies. While it's not new, if they do it well, it's very valuable. Why, though, is it only the business to consumer companies that get this? More service firms should focus on the analysis and outcomes of their marketing.
  
  
• Absorbent, Ink – They're a chatchke company. This company looks no different than the lot of them. (And the lot of them is large.) What makes them special? I don't know except for one point – they're grown 625% over the past three years. Good marketing? Aggressive sales? Strong management? I'm curious to know.
  
  
• Glispa Media, AdBrite, Pepperjam, CPX Interactive, iContact, Rockett Interactive, Salient Mobility, iCrossing, CouponCabin, eZanga, One Technologies, Hydra, Wpromote, MediaWhiz, ProjectLine, Emma, Rimm-Kaufman Group, Sensis, Adlucent, ClickSpeed, Apogee Search, Trancos, Pop Labs, ProfitFuel, and (again) Red Ventures – They all have something to do with online. It's still the new frontier.

Business Services

• Revel Consulting – "Pure Consulting" so they say on their website. What's old is new. There's always room for a good player in a service field.
  
  
• MasterPlans – They write business plans with a "team model" – not a "new market creating" innovation, but more of an innovation of process in a well-worn area. I'm betting a pretty strong sales and marketing effort gets them the revenue. Imagine if they launched and then just waited for referrals? Think they'd be in the Inc. 5000?
  
  
• Infra-Strategy – Seems like software and technology type help for law firms. Law firms have seemed to me to be the last professional services firms to view themselves as competitive businesses, not clubs for the well-educated. (Well, maybe the architects are even a bit more old school.) No clubs anymore. It's manage like a good business or suffer the consequences.

Computers and Electronics

• Nantero – Designs and sells nanotechnology-based semiconductor devices. I don't get it (though I'm sure it's all real small), but it sounds cool.
  
  
• Metrofuser – Remanufactures and resells used printer parts. ZZZzzzZZZZzzz, but there's business to be had everywhere I guess.

Consumer Products

• Skullcandy – Designs headphones. Coolest name on the list so far.
  
  
• FURminator – Can you believe $25 million dollars in revenue for pet-shed-reducing products like brushes and shampoos? And right after I said cool name to Skullcandy, I get FURminated.
  
  
• Bad Boy Enterprises – Says Inc., "Makes an electric all terrain vehicle called Bad Boy Buggie. Designed for hunters, it looks like a golf cart crossed with a monster truck." Every self-respecting man needs to have a Bad Boy Buggie.

Energy

• Oil Chem Technologies – Helps get oil from aging and depleted oil wells. If this is what's growing fast, here's hoping the Chevy Volt takes off. Click here for the most fun in this blog post. Salutations, Brother Biz.
  
  
• Solar Liberty – The savior for Oil Chem Technologies. Let's hope.
  
  
• Blue Sun Biodiesel – Produces biodiesel fuel from soybeans from its own farm. Who knew edamame was so versatile!
  

Financial Services: I almost skipped this section. It all seemed so same-old same-old. But then I just got disappointed in myself for not recognizing elegance in the mundane. Just because a business is not doing something "new" doesn't mean it's not worth mentioning.

Perhaps Integrity Asset Management, First Western Financial, and Engenuity Financial are working overtime to do a good job for clients. Just because their claims to fame seem simple – wealth management – doesn't mean they don't deserve kudos for building their companies faster than the rest of the folks that are busy complaining how hard it is to grow in this "crowded field."

Well, looks like I only made it through the Fs category-wise and this post is already, as an old colleague of mine would say, heavy with goodness. Tune in soon for a continued look at the fascinating list of fast growing companies.

In 2004, John Doerr, Erica Stritch, and I went on a mission to find the best publications focused on marketing and selling for professional services. We found great writers and experts, we found great articles, and we found some quality niche publications that trade associations put out for their areas of specialty.

We found a few decent overall publications for marketing-in-general and sales-in-general (and a lot of junk...another story). As long as we looked, we didn't find a publication that did marketing and selling professional services justice.

In the best tradition of "put your money where your mouth is" we decided to build it. Thus was born RainToday.com. As RainToday's popularity grew it took on a life of its own. We offered more events, more content, and more research. Now, we're offering more once again: RainToday.com membership. For those of you that subscribe to Rainmaker Report, rest assured that the complimentary weekly newsletter is still complimentary. There's just a lot more available now (and a lot more coming). We created membership as the easy package for you to take advantage of it all.

The press release on the RainToday.com evolution is below. I encourage you to have a look at the site. Please email me at mschultz @ whillsgroup.com if you have any feedback. I'd look forward to hearing from you.

RainToday.com Introduces Premium Subscription Membership

Framingham, MA – August 06, 2008 – RainToday.com, the premier online source for insight, advice, and tools for growing a service business, announced the launch of their new premium membership services.

RainToday.com Annual Membership brings professional services leaders, marketers and business developers the latest tools, events, articles, case studies, interviews, and research around marketing and sales for professional services. With access to the largest database of content on professional services marketing and sales, RainToday membership focuses on helping professional service providers generate more revenue and grow their firms.

“The launch of this new site marks a major evolution at RainToday,” said Erica Stritch, General Manager of RainToday.com. “RainToday.com has emerged as the leading provider of marketing and sales resources for professional services. Through our new annual membership, RainToday members will have access to the latest research, case studies, interviews, webinars, guides, tools, and other premium content to help them generate more revenue and grow their firms. And this is just the foundation - the future of RainToday holds blogs, discussion forums, live events, podcasts, and more.”

RainToday.com Membership benefits include:

• Webinars and teleseminars: Members have access to RainToday.com’s library of webinar and teleseminars with well-known experts in the field including Seth Godin, Ford Harding, Mike Schultz, Jill Konrath and more.
  
  
• How-to guides and tools: RainToday members receive specific how-to advice and templates from tools such as The Professional Services Guide to Online PR, How to Write and Market a White Paper, How to Set Appointments through Cold Calling, and more.
  
  
• Insights: More than 190 professional services marketing and sales experts write for RainToday including Michael W. McLaughlin, Bruce W. Marcus, John Doerr, Charles Green, and Patrick McKenna.
  
  
• Premium Content: Members gain access to interviews with services marketing and sales practitioners and templates and tools to help budget, plan, and implement lead generation, marketing, and sales activities.
  
  
• Research: In addition to free tools and events, members save 20% on all RainToday Research such as What’s Working in Lead Generation, Fees and Pricing Benchmark Report, and How Clients Buy.

“While there are a number of subscription-based websites out there focused on marketing and sales in general, RainToday is the only site designed specifically to address the unique challenges that professional services firms face," said Mike Schultz, Founder and Publisher of RainToday.com. “RainToday is the hub for the best thinking in services marketing and selling. RainToday.com membership will give leaders, marketers and sellers of professional services research, tools, ideas, insights and fresh perspectives that will be immediately useful for them.”

To learn more about RainToday.com Annual Membership and to start a risk-free 7 day trial, visit the RainToday website at http://www.raintoday.com/membership.cfm.