What does a $3 million road salt mistake have to do with growing your business? More than you might think. In this episode of the Business Growth Spotlight, Heidi Schalk sits down with Eric Schnurer, president and founder of Public Works LLC, a consulting firm that helps state, local, national and international governments operate better and spend smarter.

Can a small consulting firm win against the biggest names in the industry? Eric Schnurer, founder of Public Works LLC and former chief of staff to the Governor of Pennsylvania, has been doing it for thirty years. On this episode of the Business Growth Spotlight, he joins host Heidi Schalk to share how his firm helps governments improve efficiency, cut waste and save taxpayers millions.

Eric explains why the biggest savings often come from listening to frontline employees, including a West Virginia road salt fix that saved $3 million a year. He shares how his firm competes on quality instead of price, the simple sales system he borrowed from political fundraising, and why he never ends a call without setting a follow up date. He also makes a bold prediction: AI will level the playing field for small businesses, and human judgment and creativity will matter more than ever.

Bio:

What does a $3 million road salt mistake have to do with growing your business? More than you might think. In this episode of the Business Growth Spotlight, Heidi Schalk sits down with Eric Schnurer, president and founder of Public Works LLC, a consulting firm that helps state, local, national and international governments operate better and spend smarter.

Eric never set out to be an entrepreneur. After serving as chief of staff to the Governor of Pennsylvania, he saw something most people missed in 1995: the internet was about to make geography irrelevant, even for government. Thirty years later, his firm has reviewed entire state governments in eight states, completed nearly sixty agency, city and school district reviews, and is currently leading an efficiency assessment of the City of Austin.

Eric shares why the best cost savings often come from the people doing the work rather than the people in the corner office, including the West Virginia highway team that saved taxpayers $3 million a year simply by calibrating their salt spreaders. He explains why a third of a leader’s time belongs to the team, and why leadership is more about listening than talking.

He also opens up about the hard strategic choice his firm made to stop competing on price and start competing on quality against the biggest consulting names in the world. You’ll hear the surprisingly simple business development system he borrowed from political fundraising, a contact list he has kept open on his computer for thirty years, and the one rule he never breaks on a sales call: never hang up without setting a date to talk again.

Finally, Eric makes a bold case about AI. He believes it will hollow out the big consulting model within a few years, putting enormous power on everyone’s desktop and giving small firms a real edge. What stays valuable? Human judgment, creativity and hard earned experience that no algorithm can reproduce.

To connect with our guest, click on the links below:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericschnurer/

Substack: https://ericschnurer.substack.com/

Website: www.public-works.org

https://erischnurer.com

“Democracy Disrupted” in The Hedgehog Review: https://hedgehogreview.com/issues/the-use-and-abuse-of-history/articles/democracy-disrupted

“The Incredible Shrinking World Order” in Aspenia, Issue 1 of 2026, “The New Scramble”

Connect with me:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidischalkcoaching/

Website: https://hlhgrowthsolutions.com

🎁Spotlight to Scale Blueprint: https://spotlighttoscale.com/blueprint

🎁AI Visibility Assessment: https://visibilitygrowthindex.com/assessment