Interim Marketing Executive Question: How Do We Deal With Low Consumer Confidence?

What advice would you give to companies that are struggling due to low consumer confidence and the economic environment?

Paul Travis, Interim Sales Executive

In a recent speech, I quoted Steven Covey’s profound line, “The environment you fashion out of your thoughts, your beliefs, your ideals, your philosophy is the only climate you will ever live in.” What if C.N.N. (Constantly Negative News) reported that the overall economic climate was going to perk up in 2016 or 2026? Would you be willing to “stay down” for decades because someone else says so?

The “leading” questions I ask company leaders who are struggling are the same I ask those who are succeeding:

• Are you communicating more value than you ever have?

• Have you revisited your go-to-market strategy? (Either keep it or reinvent if not sound).

• Are you measuring where you make investments? (Cut back on those that don’t generate a return).

• Have you addressed your customer pain by segment? (There may be ways you can identify solutions at lower price points, or even higher price points providing much higher value).

My old friend Mitch Tarr shared this story that he heard from his sales manager at IBM: There was a man who sold hot dogs from a stand by the side of the road. His son came back from college and said, ‘Dad, don’t you know the economy is in a recession and wall street is worse.’ The man said to himself, ‘My son must know what he’s talking about, he’s been to college’. So he took down his sign and stopped yelling, ‘hot dogs for sale!’ and sure enough, his sales dropped off.

This is the time to market and sell whatever you have developed before. Monetize those assets you have already developed so you can survive to see the brighter day. Get confident in your ability to rise above those who aren’t willing to ask the hard questions, and your staff will feel and follow that confidence.

Paul Travis is an interim marketing executive at OneAccord. Mr. Travis is based out of Seattle with 25 years of experience in high technology, marketing, and consulting. He can be reached at Paul.Travis(at)oneaccordpartners.com and at 206-910-2222.

Rich Hennessey, Interim Marketing Executive

This may be simplistic but the good companies offer confidence. Confidence not only to customers but to their employees, business partners and supply-chain. Anyone who they come in contact with, its a central part their culture.

Webster’s definition of confidence is: (1) a feeling or consciousness of one’s powers or a reliance on one’s circumstances or (2) a faith or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way.

So confidence is a feeling, or better yet, faith that one’s actions will produce a predictable result every time. Much like the law of gravity or the winning tradition of the Boston Celtics.

A confident company starts with a good leader. One who is engaged in the selling process, speaking regularly with customers. He or she is not afraid to make tough decisions, “Absolute Truth,” but more importantly, makes sure he or she understands the full impact to those involved, “Absolute Compassion.” In addition, the leader must be genuine or the “real deal.” Having integrity both in public or private.

A confident company is very much aware of its customers fears or concerns and finds the means to address them head-on with optimism. They quickly modify a brand message or sales strategy to alleviate any concerns and maintain perceived or real market leadership. The process also includes having marketing and sales functions meet regularly to communicate to quickly address new opportunities or issues.

A confident company takes advantage of the unstable environment to communicate to their customers: trust, dependability, and reliance in all their communications. They also achieve delivery deadlines, project milestones, quality and craftmanship in their products or projects. Customer service is not a catch phrase but is central to the organization’s business strategy. Customer service is proved by their actions.

Finally, a confident company offers hope to their customers when all they see is despair. Those who are positioned with this resolve will succeed in this economy and build a solid foundation for future growth.

Rich Hennessey is an interim sales and marketing executive at OneAccord with over 25 years of experience. Mr. Hennessey has successfully developed and implemented business development plans for both the Fortune 500 and business start-ups in the high technology industry. He can be reached at Rich.Hennessey(at)OneAccordPartners.com or 772.473.1439.