The Last Link

Closing the Gap That is Sabotaging Your Business

By: Gregg Crawford

Narrated by: Adam Grupper

Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Business expert Gregg Crawford explains how any business can strengthen its numbers by making the connection between corporate strategy and the customer interface, between planning and sales.

Most organizations have the same weakness. There is a gap between their careful plans and what happens at the point where the sales force meets the customer. In his 25 years of combating profit-killers for Fortune 500 companies, Crawford has seen this again and again. Companies have almost everything they need to succeed. All that's missing is one final connection: the last link.

Countless companies spend millions of dollars to develop and disseminate strategies they believe will lead to corporate growth, strong profits, and secure margins. Often, these strategies become expensive bookends. Crawford exposes the money pit that impotent strategies create; offers sharp, researched analysis and practical company-wide fixes; and describes a watertight implementation process to move the numbers in the right direction - by linking strategy with sales.

©2007 Gregg Crawford (P)2007 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"In The Last Link, Gregg Crawford presents the answer to the single biggest challenge all CEOs face in rapidly changing environments: how to execute strategy in the daily interactions between frontline people and their customers." (Morley Winograd, University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business)

Good, but not breathtaking

This is a good book. The system presented by the authors is valid and an organization would greatly benefit of such a system. Then, if it was so good, why not give it 5 stars? Because it is good, but not breathtaking. The last star is for outstanding presentation, breathtaking listening, or at least for novelty of the oppinions. There is no such thing in the book. Is like an excelent University textbook, not as a bestseller.

Great viewpoint, but too much jargon

The premise that too many strategies break down because of weak execution is strong. From personal experience as a marketing consultant I have learned over the years that success is made or broken at the point of sale. So a book on the last link really got me interested.
Although the book does provide some interesting structures and advice on making strategy work in practice, there is too much jargon in it to really hold my attention.

Phrases like 'only a consistent, compelling and integrated sales strategy aligned with long-term strategic and quantified business objectives can lead to true and sustained success' (I made this one up). The words 'strategic' and 'integrated' seem to be used at least three times in each sentence. In paper form, it would have helped to read the story faster by skipping over the jargon phrases. In audio, it annoys quickly.

So two stars for the idea, no more because of the jargon.

The Last Link

This book has a lot of great ideas which come out well in a book. However, I found it too hard to focus on in audio format.