Thanks for the downgrade! A banner after vSA's own heart.

Damn the torpedoes. As president of a firm that follows the markets as well as economic and political news with a level of interest bordering on the obsessive, I recognize the downside of short-term thinking.

For example. Today: “The markets are sinking again! Egad! What does this mean for business conditions? Should I edit vSA’s 2012 budget planning?”

Uh, not so fast. In fact, with threatened double dips (sorry, these are recessions, not ice cream servings) coming as frequently as thunderstorms in summer, vSA has undertaken an ever more aggressive approach to business development and growth. Perhaps some of what is working for vSA can be of benefit to other managers and entrepreneurs – so here’s the executive summary.

vSA premises:

•In even the shakiest economy, some companies continue to forge ahead. These must be our clients. This means two things: vSA must be sufficiently effective that its clients see increased success based on our partnership. And vSA must select clients with the attitude and aptitude for success.

•Businesses must spend money to make money. Period. However, businesses need not waste money. vSA runs a tight ship but does not hesitate to invest in tools for growth. We look for the same mentality in our clients.

•There are an array of “sweet spots” with which any company worth running can make a major difference for its clients. Play to those. Here are just a couple of vSA examples as you consider your own sweet spots.  vSA can be a tremendous boon marketing for B2B companies who sell to specifiers, building management, engineers, contractors, designers, and/or architects. vSA knows Gen Y – especially when it comes to its preferences and aversions in banking and finance.

•A positive let’s-win-today-and-every-day attitude toward business, sales and marketing is the only approach that makes sense. Economic shock waves are not going away anytime soon.

If your company exhibited at ten trade shows ten years ago, perhaps you exhibit at five or six now. If you occupied half a city block with your new products and displays at the dawn of the new millennium, you may be getting by with less space. Or maybe your company has continued full steam ahead – with the caveat that results will be monitored very closely. Trade shows today can provide great opportunities. But they are expensive and so each one in which your company participates is no doubt expected to Produce with a capital P, whether the ROI is measured in actual sales generated at or after the show, new prospects gained, new alliances initiated, or great visibility garnered.

For future shows, you may benefit by going well beyond exhibiting and running a couple of ads.

Here are eight ways to make more of your trade show efforts:

1. Plan ahead to talk to a key audience. Up to a year or more before an important show, secure a speaking engagement for one of your key people. Talk about industry trends or innovations. Position your company and your speaker as thought leaders.

2. Get press before the show. Start several months ahead to assure that your company’s name and news are in the publications attendees will read before and at the show.

3. Generate more press while you are at the show. Make boothside appointments with editors and writers from key trade publications and blogs. Be prepared to give them a story worth telling.

4. Introducing a new product or service? Go a step further with the media: hold a press conference.

5. Get off the trade show floor to do some serious business. How often do you have this many distributors, customers and key prospects in one place? Organize an event: whether it’s a roundtable meeting for select advisors and customers to get input or plan next ventures, a breakfast or dinner to generate excitement about the year ahead or a cocktail hour to connect, a trade show is an excellent opportunity to enhance relationships.

6. Use social media intelligently. Twitter, Facebook and your corporate blog are good venues with which to let your constituencies know why they should interact with you at this show. Read Skyline’s good post on this topic for specific tips.

7. Go beyond selling. Show your customers, prospects, distributors, and other audiences that you are a partner and a resource for them. Introduce new training programs, partnering opportunities, Web applications, and more at the show. Showcase new interactive tools on giant screens at your exhibit – seeing is still believing.

8. Don’t file your hard work away. Don’t put your new leads, contacts and intelligence aside in the post-show scramble. It’s all too common to see gains lost when staff gets back to the office and gets busy. Make and adhere to a plan to close sales, engage with prospects, follow up with the press, and act on intelligence gathered.

We’d enjoy hearing what has and hasn’t worked for your company at trade shows – here or on van Schouwen Associates Facebook page.

It’s a hot summer day. So sometimes what’s obvious eludes us. After all, the sidewalks are steaming.

Here’s an example from my own role as rainmaker: vSA offers strategic marketing. GREAT, I think to myself. PR with a new emphasis on interactive, really sharp Web outreach, innovative sales tools, advertising… and lots more. Cool.

BUT.

What does a prospect care about marketing, really (perhaps not much). It’s my job to light the fire by determining SPECIFICALLY how vSA can improve the prospect’s situation and life.

As in… vSA bolsters sales, builds market share, helps create thought leaders. vSA makes companies more visible than their competition so they LOOK BETTER than their competition, SELL MORE than their competition, and WIN in a dog-eat-dog economy.

Furthermore, we help make our individual clients ever more successful as executives or business owners. vSA can help them make more money as well as enable them to go home on time more often – feeling good – so they can ride their bikes or float in the pool.

After all, it IS hot out there.

As I compose this post on a lovely summer afternoon, financial headlines include phrases such as “market swoon” and “U.S. Economy Is a Complete Disaster”.  That’s arguable, but nonetheless, it’s no time for business professionals to close their eyes, not even for a moment. Here’s why:

We’re doing it all. Productivity continues to be high, because there are fewer people doing more jobs, working longer hours, coming up with better ideas. If we don’t remain at the alert (or if we don’t hire back some of those people we’ve ushered to the sidelines) production will fall and our ability to respond to opportunities quickly will drop.

Prospects and customers say “maybe” and “no” more easily than they say “yes”. We must stay on our toes to give them reasons to move forward with us. They’ll save money. They’ll save time (which is money). They’ll be more productive (which is money). Or they’ll feel happier (which is more important than money sometimes, eh?). Get to yes. Argue with the going wisdom of the day, with the “we have no budget” or “we’re not planning to do that until 2011″ or “we have a supplier already.” Invite your prospect to look at a situation through new eyes and improve results.

We’re operating in a new environment. Picture yourself trying to perform everyday tasks in a weightless environment. Your cereal floats away. You can’t move from here to there the way you used to. Doing business today is similar. People don’t often pick up their phones unless they expect your call. They may make decisions by doing research online rather than talking to people like you. They do without, or they do things themselves. (How many major corporations have taken to creating their own sales materials, for example, or simply have no current materials? Oh, there’s nothing more impressive than the sales rep drawing the new automation system on a frayed paper napkin at Burger King to show to a key prospect, I’ll tell you!) Take the time to dream up new ways to help your prospect, and to speak to his or her real concerns, which are very likely different than they were two years ago.

Since you’re wide awake anyway, walk away from the lagging crowd. Think for yourself or find a fresh new adviser or partner with whom to share ideas. Figure out how to develop, value, sell, and build market share for your product or service. Learn about the new tools and techniques, motivations and buy signals that work in a strange new world, even as the pundits wring their hands and your competition slumps in its seats.

By the way, coffee helps.

Some people love the process of sales. For the rest of us, it’s a challenge. That challenge is heightened during difficult economic times.

Following are some of the lessons our sales team has learned through experience, trial-and-error and the wisdom of others:

First, make sure you’re selling something worth buying. Give yourself a break! Some people can sell ice cubes to citizens of the frozen far north, but the rest of us will do a lot better marketing something that has value to the prospect… even if the prospect doesn’t know it yet.

In a tough economy, be ready to highlight the immediate benefits, cost savings opportunities, time saved, and other at-the-ready positives your product or service offers. Why? When money is tight, people tend to think short-term. Even corporations think short-term. In some cases, they feel they can’t afford to do otherwise.

Stop talking. That’s right. Learn about your prospect. What is s/he working on, concerned about and planning? Know this, and your sales message can address relevant needs.

Once again, stop talking. Once you’ve made your pitch, be quiet. Let your prospect ponder your offering, even let your prospect feel it’s his/her turn to speak up. A little awkward silence at decision-making time can be a good thing.

Don’t sell on price, but don’t be insensitive to cost issues. In the end, cost will nearly always be a consideration. Just don’t make it your selling point. Unless, of course, you have nothing else.

Be willing to follow up. We’ve all been subjected to fire-hose sales pressure. It’s unpleasant. If what you’re selling is of value, you can afford to be consultative. If you can’t close the sale that day, ask when you can check in again. Sure, you may lose momentum… assuming you ever had it. Learn to know the difference between a prospect expressing genuine interest and one who is merely being polite to put you off.

Even if your prospects are thinking short-term, you shouldn’t be. Someone who’s interested in your product but not in a position to buy may be ready later. Too many salespeople drop the ball and lose longer term prospects.

Be likable. Despite online shopping, phone voice mail trees and other impersonal ways of doing business, personality still matters. When people are working with others, they gravitate toward those they like. Overbearing, single-minded and pushy aren’t characteristics that come to mind when we say “likable.” Consultative, warm, engaging, and having good listening skills are. Why does it matter? Because you want your prospects to take your next call or respond to your next email. You want their referrals. You want their business.

Don't try to manage complexity in a vacuum.

I know. You have no time. Your marketing budget is spoken for, or maybe you don’t have much of a marketing budget this year. You already have a marketing firm. You don’t want to suffer through a high-pressure sales session. It’s easy to come up with reasons NOT to meet with that marketing consultant who requests your time.

But there are at least three reasons why you SHOULD meet with a good marketing consultant.

1) Marketing has changed drastically even in the last two years. If you’ve been trodding more or less the same path for the last couple of years, there’s a better-than-even chance you’re not up to date on something you ought to know: how to use social media press releases to improve your Web site rankings, how to narrow-cast your updates to immediately support sales efforts, how to cut expenses by leveraging new interactive advertising techniques, how to direct mail to smaller audiences for better results… and lots more.

2) A good consultant will clue you in to very specific programs that are working for other companies. Maybe you’ll learn something new about affordable search engine optimization (SEO), advertising on Facebook, targeting top prospects by holding private events during trade shows, customer loyalty-building programs, opt-in email campaigns, company blogs, or who-knows-what. You’ll get the inside scoop quickly and painlessly.

3) Networking with people who have services you may someday desire – even if you don’t want them today – is forward-thinking. To be an executive or business owner with vision, you need inspiration. Personal relationships provide a source of inspiration you’ll get nowhere else.

Remember, you can set the ground rules for this meeting. For example, prior to agreeing to meet, specify: You have 30 minutes. You’re not in the market to buy services today. You’d like this to be a discussion rather than a sales session. You name it.

Have a great meeting.

Synergy and momentum matter.

Just as there is arithmetic to recovering in the investment market, there is a logic and arithmetic involved in business recovery. Specifically, it’s often easier to lose ground than it is to win it back.

In the investment market, if you lose 40% of your $10,000 investment, you have $6,000 left. When that remaining investment adds 40%, you have… $8,400. What a bother.

Similarly, a recession can create business losses that are challenging to recoup… and they aren’t all strictly in the numbers.

For example, a large business customer may pull its business “temporarily” during a recession. Getting that customer buying again can be an uphill battle. Getting the customer back to or above its previous level of purchasing can be even tougher. During the customer’s hiatus, it has probably been courted by your competition, with great deals, low prices and – gulp – perhaps a fresher approach.

Many businesses reduced their marketing and hence shrunk their visibility during the last difficult quarters. Now they need to regain what they’ve lost in terms of being “top of mind” – ramping up marketing will require serious, insightful and ongoing effort now if it’s been shelved or minimal in the last year or two.

Were your engineers busily designing the next great thing during the slowdown? Great – you can come out shining. However, if the malaise meant that R&D was stalled and that even the best minds in your company were dulled by lack of sales and incentive, it’s time to refresh your approach and your offerings, because your competition will or has done so already.

Has the sales team been keeping in touch with all its customers and prospects, or has it, as in the infamous sales saga of Glengarry Glen Ross been waiting for the “good leads” and better times? There is no time NOT to be selling.

Today… while the past certainly affects your firm, days gone by matter now primarily as a lesson. Starting today, you have the need and you’ve absorbed the arithmetic. You know that a concentrated, energetic and smart effort distinguishes the companies that will soon regain their momentum and reach new heights from those that will not. This is true even if your revenues are down, your staff is reduced and you’ve borrowed money. It will take more work and more applied intelligence to gain ground than it took to lose it, just as it does in the investment market.

How is your company addressing the recovery? Please comment or email us privately with your thoughts.

You're prepared for all contingencies... right?

A saying from a friend: “The best boat pump in the world is a sailor with a bucket… in a very leaky boat.”

So true. In the last recession, spanning the years 2000-2001, our company started out with several sales professionals. We ended the recession with just one… that ONE was me. I believe I represented the sailor with a bucket. Who more than the owner of my small company, after all, knew how much bailing how many sales were required? This time around, the entire van Schouwen Associates staff is truly engaged and actively involved in seeking and leveraging all opportunities. In other words, we have more sailors with buckets now. This is better.

Of course, I keep making the mistake of looking at the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is one global representation of the water level in our collective economic boat. The DJIA is currently under 7,000, pretty dismal, eh? I hope by the time I hit the “publish” button for this blog entry, it has gone back up. (Really, aren’t we running out of patience for this?)

You know best what bailing your own boat means to you. Perhaps, literally, it means your job isn’t what it used to be and you need to… sorry… BAIL and get a new one. (Okay, I won’t play with the word “bail” anymore, really. Don’t go. I’ll say “necessity” instead.)

For our company, necessity means we continually strengthen our prospecting and outreach efforts – something I think we’re good at anyway – because we need to keep the phone ringing. To accomplish this, we’re working our butts off. Not to put too fine a point on it.

So much about business has changed. So few extended business lunches. So much cost cutting. So little hiring. Even the U.S. car companies now see doom for the corporate jet and maybe even those big bonuses for losing their shirts. But enough about them.

It goes without saying that our company has not yet qualified for a bailout, so we must slog on with making a profit.

We used to make phone calls to key people at companies we thought we could help – and then we talked with people on the phone. Strangers! It took courage. It used to work.

This calling thing appears to be pretty much over.

Let me ask you: how often do you take probable-solicitation calls from strangers when you’re at work? If the answer isn’t NEVER or ALMOST NEVER, you’ll probably want to add a caller ID feature to your phone.

So cold and nearly cold sales phone calls are teetering toward obsolescence. FINE, who wants them anyway? Ah, but what replaces the classic cold call for companies in which selling is sometimes a one-by-one process? Bringing people to your door to ask to work with you or buy your stuff? Emailing? Psychic messaging? (Okay, scrap that last one…)

Think of professionals who never advertise but who are always busy. They’ve built a reputation for excellence – and it wasn’t an accident. It likely took ongoing outreach, networking, PR, climbing the Google ranks, nurturing of word-of-mouth, viral marketing, and more.

It can be really hard to change the way you sell things. But take some time to think about this New Age of outreach.You know the saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. How ARE those sales phone calls going for you anyway??

Start building a business reputation that opens doors so much better than the ol’ “My name is Milton Kong and I’m calling to ask you….”