There is a lot of good news right now about the economy and positive changes seem to be occurring all around us—new jobs, more industry moving back into the U.S., stock market going crazy. Then there’s good news followed by fearful “what if it all fails?” news and “what goes up must come down” news. I know business owners who have in the first quarter been achieving highest-evers and those who shrug and say, “well, good for them…I’m still trying to figure out how to make payroll.” There seems to be a pretty wide divergence between those who are enjoying positive economic success and those who are frustrated with not being a part of it.
It doesn’t matter which group you think you are in. I want you to do two things:
- Forget about the mainstream news—good or bad. Don’t watch it. Don’t read it. It will only serve to confuse or discourage you or give you some kind of unreal expectation. And to be honest, none of us can know if what we’re told is even the truth in this day and age.
- Focus your attention on doing two things: selling great products and services and then delivering them. That should be your mantra right now no matter HOW you are doing.
Print it out big and put it on your wall: SELL AND DELIVER GREAT PRODUCTS AND SERVICES.
Okay, now that you’re in the right frame of mind, I want to let you in on a secret: there actually are incredible opportunities for expansion right now in almost every industry. People ARE still spending money, in fact that’s a statistic that’s on the rise. Yes, people are still spending money–they’re just spending differently. Today business people often ask themselves “do I REALLY need this?” where in the past they might have casually thrown it on the credit card. And what does that mean for you?
Now is the time where you have to really get REALLY SHARP in your marketing and sales. For example, if your competitors are cutting back on marketing and sales expenses, there’s a good chance that they have reduced outreach into your target markets. But regardless of what they are doing, YOU need to have more and effective outreach and you need to have killer sales people.
But even the bold entrepreneurs who try to take new ground with increased marketing and sales efforts can make a mistake: they simply increase the volume of the things that aren’t working well anyways.
I can think of five companies right now that correctly spotted the current opportunity for expansion but made the mistake of pouring more money into marketing campaigns that are dying a slow death as far as ROI goes. Costs are skyrocketing and responses are plummeting.
Throwing more money at marketing and sales campaigns that are barely working is NOT THE SOLUTION.
If you have marketing campaigns that are killing it, by all means invest as much money as you can in them. Now is the time. But if you don’t have any campaigns that are really pulling, it’s time to get better. (And if you don’t have any campaigns that are pulling well, it’s safe to assume that your marketing skills need work.) And if your leads aren’t closing like they used to, guess what? It’s time to get better at sales.
Now is the time to read books. Buy training courses. Do everything you can to increase your marketing and sales knowledge and skills. If you want your company to be a super star and a noticeable part of the “good news,” you’re going to have to become a bigger and badder marketer and salesperson.
Till next time.
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