Winners invest in growth - in bad times as well as good

Don't take your foot off investment pedal. It is tempting to reduce your R&D budget, even a little to make things easier. Don't fall into this trap. When you look at companies that consistently grow, you'll find that they invest wisely in their R&D programs during uncertain economic times. When times are good they invest even more. New products are lifeblood of most organizations. Defining a need and filling it with your technology is best way to get through turbulent times and set-the-stage for renewed growth in better times.

Move products to market faster. Develop a few "quickie" projects that enhance or add to present products. Find ways to get these products in hands of your sales reps sooner than normal. Remember that a sales person needs a reason to visit a customer. It's even more important to give them that reason when times are slow. More often than not, while he is introducing new or enhanced items, he will sell legacy products or get a line on a new project. I've seen this time and time again.

Winners stay connected with customers - enhance their buying experience

It's always about customer. Tragically, during rough economic times, companies become in-ward looking and lose focus on customer. Companies begin to find ways to cut costs and usually this means reduced service to customer. The toll-free number goes. The financial people convince you that reducing warranty will help reduce corporate liability. You ask about all sales literature being used and decide a 10% cutback won't hurt you. And so on. Reject these and any other idea that is a backward step in customer service level.

Again, get creative. Many customer service ideas cost little and mean much to customer. Talk to you customer more during turbulent times. Find out what their business is doing?

Determine how you can better service them. . Find ways to make their buying experience even better. When was last time CEO or President of company sent a letter to your customers thanking them for their business? IT technology makes this too easy not to make it a routine and something that can be inserted quickly. Do you routinely survey your customers on your service, product, quality level, etc.? If not, begin it today. IT can help and e-mail makes it easier and cheaper than ever. One caution on surveys. Make sure you act on feedback. Assign a team of sales people to each customer. It's easier than it sounds. The team should consist of an inside sales support person, a technical person and a salesperson that leads team. Make it known to your customer that they have a special team working for them. Proactively and timely communicate bad news to your customer. If you can't meet delivery you quoted, let them know. Honesty is still best policy.

Use technology and Internet. It's accepted, pervasive, and efficient to use. There are ways to inform without being intrusive to your customer and potential customers. And good news it that it's inexpensive too. Create a weekly or bi-weekly eNewsletter. Send out information on products or programs. Revisit legacy products. There must be plenty to brag about.

All these points seem easy, perhaps trivial, but add them up and they are a powerful reason your customer will stick with you during tough economical times. It might even garner you new business.

Winners target a new customer or industry

During my time as CEO of Action Instruments, a leading provider of industrial instrumentation, we had on-going programs that attempted to seek out new business. Results were mixed. One year we hired a new regional manager with exceptional selling skills, but little direct experience in petro-chemical, and automation areas . These were traditional markets for Action Instruments. At first we tried to expose him to our markets and train him in our way of doing business. He had other ideas, and to this day I'm glad he did.

This RM looked around to find out who was spending money and why. He found out that semi-conductor industry was a good choice to investigate. He then decided that our technology (not our present products) would be competitive. Within a few months he introduced us to semi-conductor market. He methodically made a targeted list of potential customers and visited each one personally. Within 6 months he had us on bidders list and within next 6 months we became successful bidder. We went from zero revenue in semi-conductor to over $2m/year of new business. We enjoy this business today more than 5 years later. Aside from gaining entrance into a new market, we implemented his sale methods with other sales people within company. Clearly, this helped accelerate growth of company - in good times and in bad.

You can do this too. Invest today and motivate your people to investigate and get new business.

Summary Do you have faith in your company? Do you trust your people, programs, and long-term vision? If so, then stopping, delaying or eliminating programs during tough times is exactly wrong strategy. I'm not talking about being foolish with budgets and programs. Depending on economics and revenue realities, you must pay attention to your budget. However, keep your eye on longer-term. A balancing act to be sure, but one that can pay dividends if done right.

Someone I respect once mentioned to me that you can't tell a winner when his winning. You tell a winner by what he does when times are tough.

Times are definitely tough...Are you doing things that make you a winner?

Frank Williams is a marketer. With many post graduate courses in management, leadership, marketing and technology to his credit, Williams is a widely respected speaker, author and technologist. He has significant knowledge in marketing strategies and is the founder and CEO of Global Marketing, Inc. - a leader in business, marketing and sales consulting