Somewhere along the way from earning a master's degree in computer science, to developing software, to project management, to product management, to product marketing, Lane Mangum fell into decorative concrete—figuratively speaking, of course.

Using her organizational and management skills, Mangum runs the business side of The Concrete Countertop Institute (CCI), wearing the hats of both customer service director and general business manager. In addition to masterminding all of the marketing for CCI's training classes and their highly successful annual Concrete Countertop Industry Conference and Concrete Connections website, she also organizes the conference, handles finances, and deals with human resource issues.

On a daily basis, Mangum talks to a lot of people in the decorative concrete industry. Luckily, that's exactly what she enjoys the most.

"I like talking to people," she explains. "I talk to a lot of people from all over the country during the day. We have people from Iceland, England and South Africa on our forum, and they find out that they all share similar experiences."

"We're building a community of concrete countertop professionals. Some discussions can be very technical, and some are business discussions. I'm the moderator, so I read everything and make sure discussions are staying on track."

The Concrete Connections website, located at www.ConcreteCountertops.net, provides information for contractors, the trade and homeowners, which helps educate and inform about concrete countertops, promoting their use and helping to grow the concrete countertop industry. The website also offers a membership program that is a networking group and informational resource for concrete countertop professionals.

Concrete Connections launched just over a year ago, and Mangum says, "I can't express how thrilled I am with the quality of the community. There are about 200 or so members, and they've expressed that it's an invaluable resource, they feel like they're part of a community."

She adds that those connections are also what she looks forward at the Concrete Countertop Industry Conference in October.

"I'm really looking forward to meeting these people at the Conference, people I feel like I already know," she notes.

While some may balk at the idea of tackling the enormity of running a conference, Mangum says she felt the need outweighed any time investment necessary.

"The reason we started this conference is because of all the products coming out for concrete countertops," she explains. "I planned exhibits and seminars, but what I couldn't plan was all the networking that happened—meeting other people in the same boat, they're meeting people from all over the world. This year we even have someone from Australia registered to attend."

That feeling of community is very important to Mangum.

"We're all in this together. We have this virtual community, and then they meet face to face at the conference. These two things make sense to us," she notes.

The Concrete Countertop Industry Conference (CCIC) is an annual conference that provides contractors with the latest information about concrete countertops by bringing together industry experts and manufacturers representing all of the resources available for successful concrete countertop making. The first annual conference was held November 6 and 7, 2006, in Raleigh, N.C., with 250 people from around the world in attendance. The second annual conference is October 25 through 27, 2007, in Charlotte, N.C. (for more information, visit www.CCIC2007.com).

Mangum says attendees shouldn't expect the conference to be exactly like it was last year.

"To keep the conference fresh, we ran a poll on the forum and came up with topics, called for presentations, and got feedback about last year," she says. "This time, we're offering both 'getting started' and 'advanced' seminars, because that's what they're asking for."

This year's keynote speaker is Fu-Tung Cheng, and Buddy Rhodes will also be speaking. In addition to plenty of networking, there will also be 10 hours of demos, plenty of cutting-edge products, and Mangum's "Make More Money with Smart Marketing" (Getting Started) seminar. Mangum say she expects at least 300 attendees at this year's Conference.

In addition to everything else, Mangum also teaches sales and marketing at CCI. "My big thing is relationship marketing—that's key in any business, but how to do it for a concrete countertop business is my spin," she adds.

She developed CCI's self-study courses, Sales & Marketing 101 and Project Management 101, with the goal of helping contractors succeed in the business of concrete countertops.

The Sales and Marketing 101 self-study class includes a 132-page book that details the entire marketing and sales process, from first contact to after the countertop is done. It tells you exactly what you need to do to sell concrete countertops, down to actual scripts for phone calls and meetings. The course also includes a CD containing electronic files for every single piece of marketing collateral you need, from a brochure to an estimate, from a contract to a client satisfaction survey, and much more, along with detailed instructions on how to use them and when.

"There's a big problem in this industry. I think there's room in the industry to be a small craftsman artist, but people don't understand what it takes to be successful in business--people treat it as a hobby. You need to have business skills," says Mangum. "It's not sustainable. It's going to be hard for the industry to succeed if contractors can't run their businesses."

"From DIY to mass production—there's room for a range, but you need to understand where you are on the spectrum and do a good job on that spectrum. There's room for a lot of approaches. We don't say there's one right way to do this," she continues.

"The industry's at a tipping point right now. There's a proliferation of products and techniques. At CCI, we try to provide a good educational foundation and provide communities."

"Success in business stems from delivering the product, satisfying clients and being aware of technical issues," Mangum concludes. "The bottom line is that whatever you're doing, be a business person to some degree. We all have different approaches. The goal for everyone is for concrete countertops to become a popular and legitimate countertop choice."

Concrete Countertop Institute
(888) 386-7711 phone
http://www.concretecountertopinstitute.com/