Is it possible to find routes to revenue in this slow economy?
Most definitely!
Surprisingly, a recession is often the best time to increase the value of your business. Look at MTV, Trader Joe's, and iPod. All three brands were born in a recession: Trader Joe's in the recession of 1958, MTV in the recession of 1981, and iPod in the mild recession of 2001. Therein rests the point that everyone seems to be forgetting in the midst of the current economic slowdown. If handled correctly, this downturn could give your company an opportunity to innovate and get a substantial leg up on the competition.
How so? Well, in many organizations, going to market is the single largest expense of any kind, with the possible exception of physically making the product. This is a proportion that has increased significantly over the last fifteen years as production costs have fallen while markets have segmented and media and distribution channels have multiplied. An average company uses about 20-25 percent of its revenue to sell its products and services. For a $100 million company, that’s roughly $20 –25 million per year in go-to-market activities. That’s a lot of money and a lot of cost savings too.
The general trend to manage this cost is to reduce the head-count and/or market budget. Companies that are going into a recession saying, “We have to tighten our proverbial belts; let's cut spending 22.3456789 percent across the board” are demoralizing their staff. Even worse, that is what most firms are doing.
Cutting across the board is the coward's way of dealing with a downturn. It assures that no one is going to yell—how could anyone possibly object to sharing the pain equally?—and it gives the timid a built-in excuse to fail.
You are never going to gain a competitive edge doing the same thing as everyone else.
So suppose you use the recession not as an excuse for hiding under your desk but rather as a catalyst for finding new, innovative ways to sell? Instead of cutting everything by 22.3456789 percent, why not see the downturn as a chance to whack 90 percent (or the whole darn thing) off operations that aren't working well?
In this fun and easy-to-read book, you will find a systemized, field-tested (I just used this approach for a successful turnaround), easy-to-implement framework to efficiently sell your products or services that will reduce your go-to-markets costs by 10 – 20 percent. For a $100 million company with 25 percent in SG&A (sales and general administrative) expenses, that is $2.5 million to $5 million in savings that will directly impact the bottom line. If a company is operating at 10 percent net profit, that is equivalent to $25 – $50 million in new sales. That’s a lot of money!
This book shows you how to save 10 – 15 percent in your go-to-market expense.
Yes, you read it right. The book is not only about squeezing efficiencies out of the existing selling and marketing processes. It is also about putting in place a system to find new routes to revenues.
Show me the money, you may demand
It is easy to overlook where opportunities for new businesses lie when you are distracted by the news of a failing economy. More than ever, however, it is the job of the marketing and sales departments to pinpoint opportunities that are dormant, overlooked, or yet to be cultivated. They include:
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Existing Customers
Acquiring new customers is ten times more expensive than selling to an existing customer base that knows you and your brand, trusts you and your brand, and has needs that you can fulfill. So where can you cross-sell and up-sell while reducing customer churn? -
Dormant Accounts
There is always a way to reignite the passion, restart the relationship, and reengage dormant accounts. The slowing economy could be of help. Can you reactivate your dormant accounts by offering them new incentives and rewards?
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Adjacent Markets
Selling new products or services to the existing customer base is one of the best, low-risk strategies to increase revenue cost-effectively. Are there any simple products that your customers are willing to buy that you can offer immediately? -
Competitive Inroads
The slowing economy is forcing many businesses to reduce head counts and overheads. These cutbacks, restructuring, management changes, and channel defections in competitive organizations often offer opportunities for new accounts. Can you ambush your competitors and snatch their business?
These are just a few ways to increase your revenue. In the book, we will see how to capitalize on these opportunities by putting together an innovative selling framework that uses multiple channels to reach target markets in a cost-effective way. In particular, the framework will show how to:
- launch new products aimed at specific market segments
- step up demand generation and customer acquisition programs
- establish new partnerships and revenue-sharing agreements
- expand your geographic presence by recruiting new partners
- revamp digital sales channels
- restructure or expand your channel distribution
How does this book go about delivering on this promise?
The book starts with an under-the-hood look at the world-class sales organizations, who are leading the pack by using integrated multichannel selling strategies (IMSS). Looking at their best practices will drive the general solution and the business case for increasing your sales and profitability. I have created a return on investment (ROI) calculator that will show how this approach can affect your business.
Next, you will find a complete blueprint for customizing an IMSS solution for your own business. This is a weekly action plan that explains in detail the philosophy, theory, and execution steps for successful integrated multichannel selling strategies. In each execution step, you will also find the tools and templates to successfully complete the tasks.
The third section is where the meat is. Here, you will find an in-depth discussion on building a highly leveraged sales force that is at least 30 percent more productive. You will learn how to establish high-performance indirect (partner) sales channels that can help you penetrate deep into diverse markets, hence increasing your market share at half the selling cost. And you will discover the straightforward steps to implementing exciting direct (digital) channels that don’t conflict with other channels, yet give you access to broader markets at a fraction of the costs.
The book ends with some of the best—sorry, next—practices that leading organizations are adopting to accelerate their revenue growth and increase customer loyalty. What are you waiting for? Let’s dig in. Read this book from cover to cover. Share it, and discuss it with your colleagues—even better, give them their own copy of the book. Talk to your team, or your boss, or your client. Implement the program and make positive changes in their businesses and lives. As Morpheus told Neo in "The Matrix," I can only show you the way. You have to walk yourself.
Happy hunting for new routes to revenue!
I started writing this book early this year but got involved in a turnaround and a new start-up. I’m happy to report that the turnaround was successful. The company is cashflow positive. The start-up is steadily growing. This, however, left me with no time to finish this book. So, I’m publishing all contents that I wrote and the research material that I collected, so other can benefit from them. I’ll come back to finish this book, as and when I'll find time.