What Happened 6 Years Ago This Month?

Yesterday’s announcement from the National Bureau of Economic Research that the economy is in a recession wasn’t a surprise. Nor was the fact that the economy has been slowing since last December. While it may be surprising that December was declared the beginning of the recession, we thought that the 73 months of expansion was interesting. Essentially 6 years ago this month marked the beginning of the recent expansion.

Sometimes things are serendipitous….

Earlier today I was reviewing old Channel Marketing Group e-newsletters and ran across one from January 2003. At that time we also had guest columnists. Bill Marshall, SVP Sales and Marketing for Leviton wrote an article for us in that issue. Knowing Bill, he probably wrote the article in December, 2007. His words then bear repeating:

Let’s Put New Plays in our Playbook

“It would seem that the economy, our experience of the past two years, and the declining bottom line seen from both the distributor’s and manufacturer’s perspectives should motivate us all to concentrate more energy on our strategic sales and marketing plans. For those who are regulars at the planning table, the question is usually what went well the past year, what should we be doing more of and what should be eliminated. Unfortunately, many times we simply recast what we did rather than thinking of what would best suit our longer term plans. For those that
haven’t grabbed a seat at the planning table – we should all work out a plan for THIS coming year. And we need to ask ourselves “why aren’t we planning? Why the delay? Looking around, listening, reading, nearly everything points in 2003 to at best – slow growth, a continued decline in employment and flat capital spending in the first six months of 2003. Basically mimicking much of what we have experienced in 2002.

Circumstances like these make for an ideal environment to focus on MARKETING and SALES PLANNING. The two go hand in hand. It is easy to hit goals when the economy is humming along – challenging times call for some new plays in our business playbooks.

These economic indicators cry for a game plan to help us hold what we have and grow in those few encouraging areas where growth is possible. In those bright spots are we prepared to differentiate ourselves from others that service and sell the health care, education, the single family home construction and existing home renovation markets? Do we know what is necessary to differentiate ourselves from these markets current suppliers? What process for prospecting new accounts do we have? How do we measure our sales folks effectiveness?

The type of programs needed to grow, effect some turnaround or simply stop a slide are really not that hard to put together if we focus our combined resources. It’s not a lack of ability…it’s more the inability to make the time.

Manufacturers continue to have a desire to invest their varied resources in growth opportunities but these times have made us more keenly focused on investing in business plans that offer roadmaps to growth, with measurement of those plans. It has become the reasonable, de-facto yardstick to measure these investments (co-op, promotional, other incentives) a.k.a. “funding”, on an ROI basis of incremental sales and margin contribution.

Building Integrated Marketing & Sales plans is one of the most important things we should be doing in any times…but certainly now. As important as this is, it is profitable for both parties, can be downright fun and helps us both bring our relationships and abilities to higher, more professional levels.

It will define our real business partnerships, so let’s do it more and better than before.”

We’re not saying Bill is a seer, but if we heed his words during this planning season and develop integrated marketing and sales plans that focus on growing the business (consider the opportunities that energy efficiency represents), he can have the same touch.