Recommit to a Successful 2010
It’s almost autumn – resolution time
By Jim Walton
CEO, Brand Acceleration, Inc.
Indianapolis and Charlotte
The other day, I was meeting with a gentleman who told me of his concern that his sales team was disheartened and feeling beat up. After a couple of tough years, some sales people are becoming dazed and confused about what to do next. Having been through several recessions, I’ve seen the symptoms before. There are no easy answers. There are, however, a few things you can do to improve your sales and your mental attitude.
It’s resolution time
Each year, many of us begin the New Year by establishing a set of resolutions (goals) to clarify our mission and to motivate ourselves. At Brand Acceleration, we go through this process and find it to be valuable. It helps us to understand what we want to accomplish and provides us fresh and exciting motivation to get even better.
Each fall, most companies begin the process of developing plans and budgets for the upcoming year. It’s also a great time to set personal goals. While developing your plans, be sure to remain focused on your desired sales and marketing numbers, establishing a monthly set of activities that will help you get there. Don’t wait for January 1. Do it now!
Crank up your sales efforts
Something that often happens during challenging economic times is that sales people lose hope and their efforts taper off. Their sales calls diminish, they set and attend fewer meetings, work fewer hours, and their overall attitude turns negative. As a result, sales numbers decline and jobs are at risk.
I remember a time when the economy was in a very significant recession and I was working for a company that published several statewide newspapers. At a companywide meeting, several sales people were going on and on about how tough things had gotten. We heard the usual litany of reasons; “My territory stinks,” “Our prices are too high,” “The competition is kicking our butt.” You name it, we heard it.
Then, after listening to the concerns of every person, our President and Publisher asked a very tough question, “What are you doing to turn things around?” Silence! Like deer caught in headlights, they each sat there and said nothing. They hadn’t considered their own responsibility to the company’s success.
Here’s what he suggested:
Change your hours: Come to work a bit earlier and stay a bit later each day. By adding thirty minutes to an hour to the beginning and end of each day, you can boost your selling time by as much as 25%. Naturally, if you make effective use of your hours, your sales will go up accordingly.
Make more calls: If you’re currently making twenty calls a day, set (and keep) a goal to increase that number to twenty five. Again, a significant increase.
Attend more meetings: “How many face-to-face meetings are you doing?” he asked. It’s not enough! Commit to yourself to pump up the number and enjoy the benefits.
Educate and motivate yourself: Whether you take classes, listen to educational and motivational audio programs; work to improve your skills and effectiveness.
Avoid naysayers: If you’re busy making calls and attending meetings, you won’t have time to hang out with co-workers whose negative attitudes only poison your own. Stay focused and positive.
The company’s commitment
He knew he couldn’t simply demand that sales people step up their efforts. He made a promise to support them along the way. Here’s how he did it:
More marketing communications: He committed that day to boost the company’s marketing communications support. He increased industry advertising, trade show participation, and association support, a move which clients, prospects and industry insiders noticed and appreciated.
More meeting budgets: Any sales reps wishing to attend more meetings in their territories were supported with added budget. The increased participation was noticed and rewarded.
More memberships: Anyone wanting to join a trade association or group that would place them in front of clients or prospects was immediately given the green light to do so. Attend and get involved.
More travel budget: If a sales person wanted to travel more, whether to his or her territory or to a conference attended by clients and/or prospects, the answer was almost always “Yes – do it!”
With 2011 just a few months away, I think my former boss’s suggestions are more appropriate than ever. Any manager, marketer or sales person wondering how to get things going should review his suggestions and set some goals for the rest of the year. For company owners and managers; don’t get so caught up in cutting expenses that you cut the very support that your team so desperately needs.
As with a new year’s resolution, now is the time to recommit, refocus and recharge.
Good selling!
Brand Acceleration is a full-service advertising, brand management and public relations firm operating from Indianapolis, Indiana and Charlotte, North Carolina. The agency’s focus is on economic development, architecture/engineering/construction, real estate and motorsports.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Are You Going Out of Business?
Or, are you going out for business?
By Jim Walton
CEO, Brand Acceleration, Inc.
Indianapolis and Charlotte
Just like you, I attend a lot of meetings and as you can imagine, I hear countless opinions about the state of the economy. The question, “How’s business?” draws widely varying responses. Some say business is showing signs of life, some say they’re busier than ever and a few tell me how awful things are.
What puzzles me is the “why” behind their comments. I usually ask what they’re doing that results in their success or lack thereof. Why does one company or community survive and thrive while others languish? The answers probably wouldn’t surprise you.
Action breeds momentum
Have you ever noticed that the companies that are already busy are the ones that seem to attract even more business? What’s with that? Maybe one of the reasons is that they are enjoying positive results because they are very actively marketing? Maybe they’re winning more business because they’re going after more business? They also reap the benefits of a talented and aggressive sales team which fights hard for every piece of business. They’re relentless winners!
You’ve probably heard the old saying, “If you want something done, give it to a busy person.” It’s true! I’m always amazed at how much work some people take on. It seems it’s inevitably the busiest person who steps up and says “yes” when something needs to get done.
This is especially true with marketing and sales people. They’re always working, always hustling, and always on. They’re the first to arrive and the last to leave. They work hard, play hard and almost always win. I’m in awe of how the folks on the Brand Acceleration team step up and make incredible things happen when the pressure’s on.
Stagnation breeds stagnation
Unfortunately, some communities and companies struggle. My heart goes out to them and the people who depend on them. Maybe they just don’t have the skills or assets required to thrive and survive in today’s world, but some struggle because they either lack the ability or the commitment to go get the business. One man recently told me how bad things are and then said that whenever business improves he’d like to start advertising. Huh?
One of my former employers, a man who was tough as nails marketer and manager, would tell sales people to either “get with the program or get out!” His expectations of himself and every employee were very high. He had no patience for slackers. As a result, the company was an enormous success and the envy of the industry.
Attitude breeds attitude
One of the best meeting experiences is when you’re face to face with an eternal optimist. They attract other people like honey attracts flies and their smile and positive attitude gives hope to everyone around them. Their customers are prospects are much more likely to take their call or accept their meeting request and would prefer doing business with them for the very same reason. They like them!
Unfortunately, there are also pessimists out there. They’re always down, always gloomy and always expecting the worst. For whatever reason, they just can’t find happiness. Their choices are limited and they can easily get caught in a downward spiral. Most of them just need help and encouragement. They need a hand up. Like each of us, they need a good dose of optimism. If you know someone who is in a tough situation, either employed or unemployed, give them a call and explore how you might help.
Remember Rudy
If you’re a regular Rants reader, you know I love movies that have a positive message of encouragement. One of my favorites is Rudy, the true story of Rudy Ruettiger, a young man who grew up in a steel mill town where most people ended up working, but he wanted to play football at Notre Dame instead. There were only a couple of problems. His grades were a little low, his athletic skills were poor, and he was only half the size of the other players. But he had the drive and the spirit of five people and had set his sights upon joining the team. When he finally made it into the school and onto the team, he was never given the chance to suit up and play until the final game of his senior year. You’ll have to see the movie to find out what happened, but I will share with you the words of Coach Dan Devine as the team was just about to pass through the tunnel that leads onto the football field.
“No excuses. Now go do the work.”
Brand Acceleration is a full-service advertising, brand management and public relations firm operating from Indianapolis, Indiana and Charlotte, North Carolina. The agency’s focus is on economic development, architecture/engineering/construction, real estate and motorsports.
Or, are you going out for business?
By Jim Walton
CEO, Brand Acceleration, Inc.
Indianapolis and Charlotte
Just like you, I attend a lot of meetings and as you can imagine, I hear countless opinions about the state of the economy. The question, “How’s business?” draws widely varying responses. Some say business is showing signs of life, some say they’re busier than ever and a few tell me how awful things are.
What puzzles me is the “why” behind their comments. I usually ask what they’re doing that results in their success or lack thereof. Why does one company or community survive and thrive while others languish? The answers probably wouldn’t surprise you.
Action breeds momentum
Have you ever noticed that the companies that are already busy are the ones that seem to attract even more business? What’s with that? Maybe one of the reasons is that they are enjoying positive results because they are very actively marketing? Maybe they’re winning more business because they’re going after more business? They also reap the benefits of a talented and aggressive sales team which fights hard for every piece of business. They’re relentless winners!
You’ve probably heard the old saying, “If you want something done, give it to a busy person.” It’s true! I’m always amazed at how much work some people take on. It seems it’s inevitably the busiest person who steps up and says “yes” when something needs to get done.
This is especially true with marketing and sales people. They’re always working, always hustling, and always on. They’re the first to arrive and the last to leave. They work hard, play hard and almost always win. I’m in awe of how the folks on the Brand Acceleration team step up and make incredible things happen when the pressure’s on.
Stagnation breeds stagnation
Unfortunately, some communities and companies struggle. My heart goes out to them and the people who depend on them. Maybe they just don’t have the skills or assets required to thrive and survive in today’s world, but some struggle because they either lack the ability or the commitment to go get the business. One man recently told me how bad things are and then said that whenever business improves he’d like to start advertising. Huh?
One of my former employers, a man who was tough as nails marketer and manager, would tell sales people to either “get with the program or get out!” His expectations of himself and every employee were very high. He had no patience for slackers. As a result, the company was an enormous success and the envy of the industry.
Attitude breeds attitude
One of the best meeting experiences is when you’re face to face with an eternal optimist. They attract other people like honey attracts flies and their smile and positive attitude gives hope to everyone around them. Their customers are prospects are much more likely to take their call or accept their meeting request and would prefer doing business with them for the very same reason. They like them!
Unfortunately, there are also pessimists out there. They’re always down, always gloomy and always expecting the worst. For whatever reason, they just can’t find happiness. Their choices are limited and they can easily get caught in a downward spiral. Most of them just need help and encouragement. They need a hand up. Like each of us, they need a good dose of optimism. If you know someone who is in a tough situation, either employed or unemployed, give them a call and explore how you might help.
Remember Rudy
If you’re a regular Rants reader, you know I love movies that have a positive message of encouragement. One of my favorites is Rudy, the true story of Rudy Ruettiger, a young man who grew up in a steel mill town where most people ended up working, but he wanted to play football at Notre Dame instead. There were only a couple of problems. His grades were a little low, his athletic skills were poor, and he was only half the size of the other players. But he had the drive and the spirit of five people and had set his sights upon joining the team. When he finally made it into the school and onto the team, he was never given the chance to suit up and play until the final game of his senior year. You’ll have to see the movie to find out what happened, but I will share with you the words of Coach Dan Devine as the team was just about to pass through the tunnel that leads onto the football field.
“No excuses. Now go do the work.”
Brand Acceleration is a full-service advertising, brand management and public relations firm operating from Indianapolis, Indiana and Charlotte, North Carolina. The agency’s focus is on economic development, architecture/engineering/construction, real estate and motorsports.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Tend Your Brand Garden
Powerful brands require planning, care and nurturing
By Jim Walton
CEO, Brand Acceleration, Inc.
Indianapolis and Charlotte
Several years ago, my wife and I lived in a rural home where we had a few animals and a massive vegetable garden. We grew everything from tomatoes, corn and peas to squash, carrots, beans, and just about anything else we could freeze or can for the coming year. It was a lot of work but the benefits were huge. The quality and flavor were much better than what we could buy at the grocery store.
The lessons learned from our gardening experience were great as well. A successful veggie garden requires much more than simply sticking a seed in the ground and wishful thinking. As with many life lessons, our gardening experiences are easily transferrable to what we now do every day – marketing communications and public relations.
Walton family lessons in successful gardening and marketing communications
Research
Once you develop a list of the veggies you wish to grow, you need to do a little research and planning to understand the best growing environment for each plant. Which veggies do you like? Will they grow in your location? What is their growing season? What are their specific needs?
Likewise with marketing communications, it’s very important to fully identify your target audiences, their needs and expectations, and how best to reach them in a memorable way. Notice I didn’t mention what you want to say to them. I’ll get to that next.
Preparation
A successful vegetable garden requires careful preparation. Some plants require very deep soil tillage while others will do quite well in a shallow seed bed. Plus, soil fertility needs vary from one plant to another. Preparing the soil is crucial to a successful crop year.
Similarly, successful marketing messages are prepared in order to assure that it appeals to the audience. What you want to say must be in balance with what the audience wants to hear.
Planting
Veggie gardens are designed in to take advantage of sun, shade, water and fertility. For most plants to thrive and produce, their placement in relation to one another must be well thought out. You can’t just plant anywhere. There is an art and science to gardening. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can mess up the entire garden.
At Brand Acceleration, our brand strategists and media experts, like master gardeners, very diligently consider the best places to plant our client’s message in order to successfully grow their brand in the minds of the target audience. Similarly, our public relations team works closely with writers, editors and news directors to plant a message within their stories.
Care and Nutrition
When we were tending our garden, we knew that regular feeding and watering resulted in healthier plants and more abundant yields. Too little nutrition and water resulted in poor yield and too much could harm or kill the plant.
Healthy brands require careful attention, too. If you do little or no outbound marketing communications, your brand could produce very poor results or even die. And, random efforts such as ads placed only in “special editions,” are often a waste of money. Like the tortoise and hare story, savvy marketers enjoy great success with a well thought out plan intended to grow brand awareness over time.
Harvesting
We sometimes found that we had an abundance of vegetables to pick. Even in the summer heat, we had to get out to the garden and work our back sides off in order to harvest, can and freeze everything before it rotted.
It’s also important for sales teams to capitalize on the benefits of the hard work put in by the marketing folks and the advertising and public relations agency. I’m always amazed when someone says, “we didn’t get any calls from that ad.” My response is always the same, “how many calls did you make?” You can’t place an ad and then just sit and wait for the phone to ring. It doesn’t that way. Our goal is to grow brand awareness so that when your sales people call a prospect, they find an open, aware and interested audience. That, my friend, is the harvest.
Enjoy the Bounty
Each fall and winter, we would get great enjoyment from the literal fruits of our efforts. We fully understood that the fruit and veggies that lined our pantry and filled our freezer were the direct result of our research, planning, and hard work. None of it came from procrastination, overcautious inaction or wishful thinking.
Marketing communications is exactly the same. You can research, plan, execute and enjoy, or you can wait, ponder, wish and hope. Only one approach will generate positive results.
Starting Over
At the end of the growing season, we would enjoy a piece of cherry pie (yes, we had a cherry tree) and discuss what worked well and what should be changed. We would then till the garden, fertilize and make plans for the following year.
An effective marketing communications plan needs to be reviewed, adjusted and carefully planned for the coming year. As we move toward autumn, it’s time to get the sales, marketing and executive team together to make plans and set goals for 2011. If we can ever be of service in this process, I hope you’ll give me a call. We’d love to be part of your gardening team.
Brand Acceleration is a full-service advertising, brand management and public relations firm operating from Indianapolis, Indiana and Charlotte, North Carolina. The agency’s focus is on economic development, architecture/engineering/construction, real estate and motorsports.
Powerful brands require planning, care and nurturing
By Jim Walton
CEO, Brand Acceleration, Inc.
Indianapolis and Charlotte
Several years ago, my wife and I lived in a rural home where we had a few animals and a massive vegetable garden. We grew everything from tomatoes, corn and peas to squash, carrots, beans, and just about anything else we could freeze or can for the coming year. It was a lot of work but the benefits were huge. The quality and flavor were much better than what we could buy at the grocery store.
The lessons learned from our gardening experience were great as well. A successful veggie garden requires much more than simply sticking a seed in the ground and wishful thinking. As with many life lessons, our gardening experiences are easily transferrable to what we now do every day – marketing communications and public relations.
Walton family lessons in successful gardening and marketing communications
Research
Once you develop a list of the veggies you wish to grow, you need to do a little research and planning to understand the best growing environment for each plant. Which veggies do you like? Will they grow in your location? What is their growing season? What are their specific needs?
Likewise with marketing communications, it’s very important to fully identify your target audiences, their needs and expectations, and how best to reach them in a memorable way. Notice I didn’t mention what you want to say to them. I’ll get to that next.
Preparation
A successful vegetable garden requires careful preparation. Some plants require very deep soil tillage while others will do quite well in a shallow seed bed. Plus, soil fertility needs vary from one plant to another. Preparing the soil is crucial to a successful crop year.
Similarly, successful marketing messages are prepared in order to assure that it appeals to the audience. What you want to say must be in balance with what the audience wants to hear.
Planting
Veggie gardens are designed in to take advantage of sun, shade, water and fertility. For most plants to thrive and produce, their placement in relation to one another must be well thought out. You can’t just plant anywhere. There is an art and science to gardening. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can mess up the entire garden.
At Brand Acceleration, our brand strategists and media experts, like master gardeners, very diligently consider the best places to plant our client’s message in order to successfully grow their brand in the minds of the target audience. Similarly, our public relations team works closely with writers, editors and news directors to plant a message within their stories.
Care and Nutrition
When we were tending our garden, we knew that regular feeding and watering resulted in healthier plants and more abundant yields. Too little nutrition and water resulted in poor yield and too much could harm or kill the plant.
Healthy brands require careful attention, too. If you do little or no outbound marketing communications, your brand could produce very poor results or even die. And, random efforts such as ads placed only in “special editions,” are often a waste of money. Like the tortoise and hare story, savvy marketers enjoy great success with a well thought out plan intended to grow brand awareness over time.
Harvesting
We sometimes found that we had an abundance of vegetables to pick. Even in the summer heat, we had to get out to the garden and work our back sides off in order to harvest, can and freeze everything before it rotted.
It’s also important for sales teams to capitalize on the benefits of the hard work put in by the marketing folks and the advertising and public relations agency. I’m always amazed when someone says, “we didn’t get any calls from that ad.” My response is always the same, “how many calls did you make?” You can’t place an ad and then just sit and wait for the phone to ring. It doesn’t that way. Our goal is to grow brand awareness so that when your sales people call a prospect, they find an open, aware and interested audience. That, my friend, is the harvest.
Enjoy the Bounty
Each fall and winter, we would get great enjoyment from the literal fruits of our efforts. We fully understood that the fruit and veggies that lined our pantry and filled our freezer were the direct result of our research, planning, and hard work. None of it came from procrastination, overcautious inaction or wishful thinking.
Marketing communications is exactly the same. You can research, plan, execute and enjoy, or you can wait, ponder, wish and hope. Only one approach will generate positive results.
Starting Over
At the end of the growing season, we would enjoy a piece of cherry pie (yes, we had a cherry tree) and discuss what worked well and what should be changed. We would then till the garden, fertilize and make plans for the following year.
An effective marketing communications plan needs to be reviewed, adjusted and carefully planned for the coming year. As we move toward autumn, it’s time to get the sales, marketing and executive team together to make plans and set goals for 2011. If we can ever be of service in this process, I hope you’ll give me a call. We’d love to be part of your gardening team.
Brand Acceleration is a full-service advertising, brand management and public relations firm operating from Indianapolis, Indiana and Charlotte, North Carolina. The agency’s focus is on economic development, architecture/engineering/construction, real estate and motorsports.
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