On Marketing in a Down Economy (Dallas, TX)
Conventional wisdom dictates that marketing and a good sales effort are the last things to cut during a downturn in the economy. Conventional application suggests a lot of businesses didn’t get that memo.
Economic downturns are accompanied and fueled by fear. Fear puts on the brakes. Marketing is viewed as expendable and is often the first victim of the budget axe, probably due in large part to its own history. Until less than 5 years ago accountability in the marketing effort was not the accepted norm and if you can’t quantify anything you’re doing and defend your position, you’re the first to go.
But that’s changed dramatically since then. Marketers are now accountable for every dollar they spend and although that has increased the per capita spend on blood presure medicine in the marketing community it has also brought a foundation on which to stand and plead a case for the sacred marketing dollars. Doesn’t mean you’ll win the argument, though.
In a downturn the mindset of American business reverts to one of survival mode; let’s make sure we keep what we have. But it’s impossible to sustain an account base with zero new growth if only because of natural attrition. Even in good times 10% of your customer base will flee for any number of reasons so there’s your best argument for keeping the marketing effort going and the feet on the street, especially now! You need a sufficient number of new accounts just to maintain status quo.
Need another reason? How ’bout this….yesterday there were 10 hunters in the woods and today there are only two. Do you stand a better chance competing against 9 others or with 1? I want to be in that game! Let your competition remove their players from the field; it only improves your chances.
What the other 8 have done is hasten the demise of their business. No marketing message so their business is hidden. No sales force on the streets actively bringing in new accounts to replace those attrition claims, so their revenue declines. You know what the next step is, right? Yep, cut back some more somewhere; probably in marketing or let the last sales rep go. Look out below!
Fire the maid or let the janitor go. Trim the fat salaries and look for budgetary extravagances to cut but don’t shut off the pipeline that built your business in the first place. It’s the very same tool that will get you through the tougher times.
Phillip Crum is the Chief Idea Officer of MarketingMeasure and is committed to the idea of helping small business owners do a better job of finding their next customer or client. He and his two sons also own a Sir Speedy Printing franchise and employ those additional capabilities in the overall marketing services menu of offerings. Phillip can be reached at 214-213-7445, or pcrum@MarketingMeasure.com
Copyright © 2006-2008 Phillip Crum | Comment |
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What Prospect Traits to Use to Select New Accounts? (Dallas)
Just answered a question on LinkedIn about what characteristics a sales rep should look for in selecting potential new accounts. Aside from the usual profile traits: gender, location, age, income, industry codes and such this is what I offered up:
1. Are they “nice” people? ( I send the mean ones to my competitors.)
2. Is there sufficient profit potential?
3. Are there reciprocal opportunities?
I’ve spent more than 20 years in sales dealing with all sorts of folk and I decided quite some time ago to give the unhappier, fussy ones the opportunity to find a better business partner.
A barely profitable account requires as much or more time and resources as a fat account does. Doesn’t it make sense to size ‘em up first then chase the money?
Since smart entrepreneurs realize the importance of “who you know” or networking, they develop accounts to whom they can refer business if at all possible. The recipients of those referrals tend to be grateful and send more business making the account all the more profitable.
Tags: networking, prospects, salesPhillip Crum is the Chief Idea Officer of MarketingMeasure and is committed to the idea of helping small business owners do a better job of finding their next customer or client. He and his two sons also own a Sir Speedy Printing franchise and employ those additional capabilities in the overall marketing services menu of offerings. Phillip can be reached at 214-213-7445, or pcrum@MarketingMeasure.com
Copyright © 2006-2008 Phillip Crum | Comment |
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PMS Explained-Finally! (Dallas, TX)
Oh, please. In my world PMS stands for Pantone Matching System, the industry standard for color matching. Each color in the Pantone spectrum is assigned a permanent number so each time your refer to PMS 186 you’ll get the same shade of red.
Look at the swatch book closely and you’ll see that each number is represented twice. There will be a PMS 186 C and a 186 U. The C stands for “Coated” and the U means “Uncoated”. Notice that each of those two samples are printed on different stock? The colors ending in a “C” are printed on coated stock and the intent is to show you what 186 looks like on coated paper. 186 U is printed on uncoated paper so you may see what that looks like. They’re substantially different but they’re both 186 right out of the same ink can.
So if you’re project is being printed on uncoated stock and you request 186C you’ll be greatly disappointed. And people will laugh at you and your mother will be embarrased.
Tags: color, paperPhillip Crum is the Chief Idea Officer of MarketingMeasure and is committed to the idea of helping small business owners do a better job of finding their next customer or client. He and his two sons also own a Sir Speedy Printing franchise and employ those additional capabilities in the overall marketing services menu of offerings. Phillip can be reached at 214-213-7445, or pcrum@MarketingMeasure.com
Copyright © 2006-2008 Phillip Crum | Comment |
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