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[M218]Managing In Tough Times

by Mac H Mcintosh, Mac

Keep programs which have the most affect on lead generation and short-term sales, cutting those projects which don't perform as well or that are untested. Company image is critical, but now is not the time to try to reach a huge audience with an unspecific message. Focus on your targeted best prospects, better describing the benefits of your product or service. By asking your sales staff which methods have been most effective in generating sales and studying their responses, you'll be able to make smarter budgeting allocations.

Direct Mail

Instead of broad mail-outs to purchased lists, increase the use of fax, email, and direct mail-outs to distribute targeted offerings to your known prospects. If your company doesn't already have its own email list, you may consider putting advertisements in other targeted email newsletters as a quick way to reach your market and generate immediate response.

Public Relations

Writing articles for industry publications is a great way to benefit from inexpensive public relations opportunities. These articles could contain customer testimonials, success stories, and an article byline which highlights your expertise. The newsletter is another great method of staying at the forefront of your prospects' minds. By asking subscribers to fill out a short survey with qualifying questions, you can enter the circulation information into the database and follow up with the appropriate prospects. Additionally, both the articles and the newsletter are easily repurposed for the website Another excellent tactic is promoting your company's management as speakers at key conferences. By offering to send white papers of copies of the presentations to attendees in exchange for their business cards, these events could be helpful in generating leads.

Industry Publications & Trade Shows

An occasional presence in a large number of industry publications will likely be less effective than a greater presence in fewer publications. Take a careful look through the BPA statements, studying them to uncover the true percentage of readers who are part of your target market. In bad economic times, advertising sales often take a hit. This may be a good opportunity for your to negotiate reduced rates with publishers.

Trade shows are usually expensive, and eliminating some of the less valuable ones can help eliminate costs. For those shows where your exhibition has proved valuable in the past, think about getting a smaller booth. You can increase attendance by sending mail-outs in advance, and you may be able to find resellers and distributors willing to assist with staffing it.

Company Web Site

Increase the amount of links to your site by working with other organizations. By uploading case studies and article content to your site, you will have more pages to register with search engines. Proper keyword choices will help your site rank highly in searches made by your intended audience.

Teleconference

By hosting web events and teleconferences instead of costly workshops and seminars, you will reduce the need for staff to travel. In fact, many electronic events have good attendance rates for the same reason - attendees will not be required to leave the office in order to participate. This said, remember that in order to have a real impact, these electronic events will need to be promoted well and executed properly.

Printed Materials

You can reduce company printing and shipping costs by partnering with a quality literature fulfillment company. Although research shows that over a quarter of requesters would like to share materials with their bosses and customers, most of them would be content to print out web pages or download PDF documents from your website. You can reduce print material costs by avoiding expensive ink choices; also ask your printer about available discounts for over-stock paper selections.

Partnering

Partner with companies whose offerings compliment your own. Both parties may do better than they could alone by sharing resources. A good example would be a tandem mail-out, in which the costs are cut by sharing them, while the potential reach is increased for both. Yet another method is creating a referral program which rewards current customers for referring new prospects on to you.

By simply taking the time to sit back and think about things every so often, you may discover new ideas for eliminating the under-performing aspects of your marketing program. The best way to stand out as a valued contributor in tough times is to focus and show a superior return on investment.

But having said that, when is the last time you read an article, or a book, on how to be a contributor to any enterprise? Go in any bookstore and see the books on leadership - rows of them. No titles on being a contributor. And yet effective contribution results in most of the successes in any enterprise - just ask the leaders.

So what does it take to be a top contributor? We asked some of the most successful people we know. Here are their answers: ten Behaviors, Attitudes and Personal Skills of top contributors. We offer these ten answers as a self inventory. As you read through what top contribtors do, ask yourself where you see yourself.

1 - They do the work that's recognized as the most important work by their organization. They identify what is most important by creating mutually shared goals. The secret to effective contribution is doing the work that is most important - and ensuring that is where the focus is. None of the other nine items is even worth mentioning if the important work doesn't get done on time while meeting budget, performance, quality and other criteria. It's not a matter of accepting what needs to be done - that goes without saying. Do the important work and get the opportunity to be seen as a top contributor. This sounds so basic - but it's amazing how often it doesn't occur.

2 - They practice personal leadership through self discipline. Being on time; meeting commitments; knowing when and how to say no; focusing on work and letting the unimportant go; maintaining emotional control; are all behaviors of top contributors.

3 - They accept the culture for what it is and adapt to it - or get out. There is no bigger waste of time than trying to change what exists to meet personal expectations. Better to leave or accept the culture - as long as it doesn't require acting immorally, unethically, illegally or unsafely.

4 - It's not about you. Top contributors know personalizing decisions and thinking of them in terms of self is a great way to lose motivation and commitment. Let's face it, a lot of decisions will differ from what might be seen as optimal, but accepting decisions for what they are, not making them personal, and moving on to the next issue is top contributor behavior.

5 - Thet take pride in contribution. Top contributors are convinced of the importance of their work - if they weren't how could they possibly see the value of their accomplishments? It's like the story of the three bricklayers: when asked what they were doing, the first said he was laying brick; the second said he was helping build a school; and the third said he was participating in offering a better education to children through his best efforts. Which bricklayer best describes how you value your work?

6 - Be convinced that you have a gift to give - then give it. Top contributors don't ration their efforts. They focus, they operate at top speed, and they get more done than they realized they could. And the next time they're asked to climb that same mountain, it's not nearly as high as the first time. And they can look for more - whatever more means to them.

7 - They realize interdependence beats independence in accomplishing anything. Group effort can seem like a pain at the beginning, but a top contributor knows the pain comes before the gain. Focused effort by a group is so much more powerful than individual effort in almost all situations. Acquiring the Personal Skills to work effectively in collaborations is key to top contribution.

8 - They have high ideals, but maintain realistic expectations. Peter Senge - in The Fifth Discipline defines a cynic in this way : "Scratch a cynic and you will find an idealist, someone who made the mistake of letting their ideals become their expectations." Ideals are important - without them staying on course is impossible. But creating a failure scenario by making an ideal a goal is a sure recipe for frustration and a reduced sense of self worth.

9- Top contributors are fixers, not blamers. They know establishing accountability for things that go wrong is necessary for the future. But they are much more focused on solutions than on placing blame. They know solutions behavior promotes communication and learning while blame behavior promotes defensiveness and error avoidance.

10 - They use a combination of personal and organizational goals to frame their work and their lives. The closer the alignment between the different goal sets, the better. Top contributors know relying on organizational goals to establish self worth and value is very limiting. Organizational goals can change unexpectedly and often - particularly in tough times. Personal goals, on the other hand, provide a "True North" perspective on what is really important.

Take the time, right now, to carefully look at your own contributions - and what can be done to increase your personal impact in your personal and organizational life. Then decide which of the Behaviors, Attitudes and Personal Skills of top contributors will help you achieve the success you want. Then act to make them happen - and watch 2009, even in the midst of tough times, be the best of times.

Article Source : Marketing And Sales Techniques

About Author

Both Mac H Mcintosh & Andrew Cox are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Mac H Mcintosh has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing, Business Promotion and Business Loans. . Mac H Mcintosh's top article generates over 40500 views. to your Favourites.

Andrew Cox has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, Travel and Leisure and Politics. Andy Cox helps individuals, teams and organizations identify and develop their Multipliers of Success - the unique set of Behaviors, Motivators and Personal Skills each client needs for success. Contact Andy at acox@consultgroup.comVisit his website for. Andrew Cox's top article generates over 9900 views. to your Favourites.