“Shaun, with the soft economy, it is likely that both sales and marketing will have their budgets cut. What is the best strategy for maximizing their resources during this period?” Glen
Glen, good timing on the question. In tough economic times, organizations typically reduce spending and control hiring, as they closely watch revenue and sales bookings. Now is a good time for both sales and marketing is to take a look at your business as a whole. Is your company, department, and / or product line meeting revenue targets? Is there a major shift in your market (ie the current housing market downturn)? How are your competitors doing (reducing their prices, going out of business, layoffs, etc.)? Does the current marketing present an opportunity (launch a new product or service, buy a competitor, new market for current offering, etc.)? Where is your department year to date (YTD) on budget (above or below)? How many open positions are you currently hiring (new hires and replacements)? What is your company culture (entrepreneurial, conservative, sales focused, marketing focused, product focused, etc.)? Is your product line: strategic, tactical, cash cow, new offering, other?
Once you have objective answers and supporting statistics for above, I recommend you pro-actively update the business plan for your department. Statistics are very important and should include: YTD revenues, bookings, expenses; updated sales forecasts; industry data, including predictions; and other information based on your market. At a high-level, determine if you have an opportunity to grow, need to stay the course, or reduce budget and forecasts. Obviously, your strategy will vary greatly depending on your determination and your company culture. I strongly recommend matching your strategy with company culture (i.e. if you have an entrepreneurial culture, management should be receptive to growth with a new product or market, and if you are conservative, management should be receptive to staying the course or reduction). Then I recommend presenting your plan to your direct manager to get his/her feedback, recommendations, and next steps. For those of you with the stay the course strategy, you may think of not presenting to your boss and have the plan ready if your manager approaches for reduction in budget and/or staff but I recommend presenting now, because in my experience the decision to reduce may be in the works without your input and once the decision is made, you will have to comply and in the best case scenario you will have an uphill battle to stay the course.
More specifically to your question of maximizing resources, I strongly believe the answer will be specific to your strategy above and your market. As a sales or marketing manager, I believe you need to be tactically delivering on your current plan, while constantly and strategically evaluating your markets for opportunities and your investments in both human and financial resources. I wish I had a blanket statement of hire more sales people or invest in google key words in a tough economy, but I believe the question is complicated and needs the appropriate detailed evaluation to answer correctly for your specific situation.
Good Resource Allocating and let us know how it goes! Reader Feedback, please click the comments below to give Glenn additional information on 'Maximizing Resources’ and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun P
Glen, good timing on the question. In tough economic times, organizations typically reduce spending and control hiring, as they closely watch revenue and sales bookings. Now is a good time for both sales and marketing is to take a look at your business as a whole. Is your company, department, and / or product line meeting revenue targets? Is there a major shift in your market (ie the current housing market downturn)? How are your competitors doing (reducing their prices, going out of business, layoffs, etc.)? Does the current marketing present an opportunity (launch a new product or service, buy a competitor, new market for current offering, etc.)? Where is your department year to date (YTD) on budget (above or below)? How many open positions are you currently hiring (new hires and replacements)? What is your company culture (entrepreneurial, conservative, sales focused, marketing focused, product focused, etc.)? Is your product line: strategic, tactical, cash cow, new offering, other?
Once you have objective answers and supporting statistics for above, I recommend you pro-actively update the business plan for your department. Statistics are very important and should include: YTD revenues, bookings, expenses; updated sales forecasts; industry data, including predictions; and other information based on your market. At a high-level, determine if you have an opportunity to grow, need to stay the course, or reduce budget and forecasts. Obviously, your strategy will vary greatly depending on your determination and your company culture. I strongly recommend matching your strategy with company culture (i.e. if you have an entrepreneurial culture, management should be receptive to growth with a new product or market, and if you are conservative, management should be receptive to staying the course or reduction). Then I recommend presenting your plan to your direct manager to get his/her feedback, recommendations, and next steps. For those of you with the stay the course strategy, you may think of not presenting to your boss and have the plan ready if your manager approaches for reduction in budget and/or staff but I recommend presenting now, because in my experience the decision to reduce may be in the works without your input and once the decision is made, you will have to comply and in the best case scenario you will have an uphill battle to stay the course.
More specifically to your question of maximizing resources, I strongly believe the answer will be specific to your strategy above and your market. As a sales or marketing manager, I believe you need to be tactically delivering on your current plan, while constantly and strategically evaluating your markets for opportunities and your investments in both human and financial resources. I wish I had a blanket statement of hire more sales people or invest in google key words in a tough economy, but I believe the question is complicated and needs the appropriate detailed evaluation to answer correctly for your specific situation.
Good Resource Allocating and let us know how it goes! Reader Feedback, please click the comments below to give Glenn additional information on 'Maximizing Resources’ and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun P
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