Is It Really the Economy"s Fault Your Business Is Hurting?
I lost my keys this morning.
It's the economies fault.
To be an effective marketing consultant I believe that you have to understand a client's whole business-operations, sales strategy, management, and all the other facets of the business PLUS marketing.
An incredible marketing plan only works if all the other cylinders are firing.
Many times it is not a marketing problem, but rather another facet of the business that is affecting the profitability of the business.
I have met with hundreds of clients and prospective clients over the last three years and in almost every conversation I hear the words- "Because of the economy".
Sure we all took one on the chin, but is it truly responsible for every possible failure of a company for the rest of eternity or has it just become an easy thing to point to when something goes wrong.
If that is the case, then why are there businesses that are doing incredible? In a distressed economy it is imperative that your company is creative and nimble to the customer's needs, transparent in communications (about both your strengths and weaknesses) and that you have scope and processes down.
I worked with a company that had metrics for their sales people- meet three new clients face to face a week and the marketing team was responsible for garnering warm leads through various channels.
The marketing team did such a great job that the company changed their business model from the sales team meeting face to face to doing a majority of the sales over the phone, citing time saved and they could reach tons of more people.
They stated in this economy they couldn't justify expense reports from lunches, lodging, and fuel for their team.
Although they were talking to almost ten times the amount of people sales started plummeting and I was brought in to find out why.
I told them they got away from what made them successful- it was the face to face client meeting, building a relationship, and being able to overcome any objections or concerns in person.
In an article by Time Magazine ( http://www.
time.
com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1597505,00.
html#ixzz1JaMCoBNK) William Ury stated that No is so often hard to say because it highlights the "tension between exercising your power and tending to your relationship"--in other words between getting what you want in the short term and keeping everyone happy for interactions down the road.
The company pushed back a little, however trusted my judgment enough to allow two out of the 8 sales staff to go back to the original model and these two soon outperformed the other 6 and was proof enough for the company to get back to the way they had always done.
I encouraged them to use those new leads from marketing to generate the face to face meetings and they soon hired additional sales staff and are more profitable than ever.
One of the mantras I believe in is asking yourself and your team often- is what we are doing right now able to generate revenue or save time and if not is it necessary? Instead of blaming the economy for everything, perhaps we should be grateful for it.
As the nation levels back out this economy should have forced us to trim the fat from over-analysis, meetings without agendas, bureaucratic processes, over communications, and perhaps even unnecessary staff.
Now if the economy would only let me know where it put my keys.
It's the economies fault.
To be an effective marketing consultant I believe that you have to understand a client's whole business-operations, sales strategy, management, and all the other facets of the business PLUS marketing.
An incredible marketing plan only works if all the other cylinders are firing.
Many times it is not a marketing problem, but rather another facet of the business that is affecting the profitability of the business.
I have met with hundreds of clients and prospective clients over the last three years and in almost every conversation I hear the words- "Because of the economy".
Sure we all took one on the chin, but is it truly responsible for every possible failure of a company for the rest of eternity or has it just become an easy thing to point to when something goes wrong.
If that is the case, then why are there businesses that are doing incredible? In a distressed economy it is imperative that your company is creative and nimble to the customer's needs, transparent in communications (about both your strengths and weaknesses) and that you have scope and processes down.
I worked with a company that had metrics for their sales people- meet three new clients face to face a week and the marketing team was responsible for garnering warm leads through various channels.
The marketing team did such a great job that the company changed their business model from the sales team meeting face to face to doing a majority of the sales over the phone, citing time saved and they could reach tons of more people.
They stated in this economy they couldn't justify expense reports from lunches, lodging, and fuel for their team.
Although they were talking to almost ten times the amount of people sales started plummeting and I was brought in to find out why.
I told them they got away from what made them successful- it was the face to face client meeting, building a relationship, and being able to overcome any objections or concerns in person.
In an article by Time Magazine ( http://www.
time.
com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1597505,00.
html#ixzz1JaMCoBNK) William Ury stated that No is so often hard to say because it highlights the "tension between exercising your power and tending to your relationship"--in other words between getting what you want in the short term and keeping everyone happy for interactions down the road.
The company pushed back a little, however trusted my judgment enough to allow two out of the 8 sales staff to go back to the original model and these two soon outperformed the other 6 and was proof enough for the company to get back to the way they had always done.
I encouraged them to use those new leads from marketing to generate the face to face meetings and they soon hired additional sales staff and are more profitable than ever.
One of the mantras I believe in is asking yourself and your team often- is what we are doing right now able to generate revenue or save time and if not is it necessary? Instead of blaming the economy for everything, perhaps we should be grateful for it.
As the nation levels back out this economy should have forced us to trim the fat from over-analysis, meetings without agendas, bureaucratic processes, over communications, and perhaps even unnecessary staff.
Now if the economy would only let me know where it put my keys.