'Farmer' Marketing: How One New Jersey Lab Cultivates New Clients

"When business is slow, hunters start looking for new clients; farmers, on the other hand, have already planted seeds and have 'rows and rows' of potential clients they can contact. The key to having the amount of business you want is to be a farmer, not a hunter," says Marc Daichman, partner of 20-employee Asteto Dent Labs, Maplewood, New Jersey.

High-energy and sales-savvy, Daichman has long been known for his out-of-the-box marketing strategies. For instance, in the early '90s, Daichman was one of the first laboratory owners to offer destination education, such as sponsoring seminars for dentists aboard cruises around Manhattan. Today, Asteto Dent hosts an ongoing education series, offering an average of 15 courses per year and typically gaining anywhere from 10 to 20 clients annually, making it the most formidable tool in the lab's marketing arsenal.

Working with a 2-3% of total sales marketing budget, Daichman's goal is to continuously...