How Are Things?

Just talked with a friend who sells industrial goods in the Florida, Georgia area. He said his quote files are fat but no purchase orders being cut. There are many large jobs that have been just hanging there for some time now.

In the past after a period of recession there has always been the "re-entry" to normalcy. In that re-entry time some of the quotes that had been on hold had to be re-bid before they could be bought. That makes those of us who watch quotes, as indicators of things to come, get excited.

The experts are divided on what to expect for the remainder of 2010. Some say a slow start, while others say slower than that. What they do agree on is that we will not rebound to the folly that came before. That is a good thing but it sure is a hard thing. As business people (owners, managers, territory salespeople) we have to work hard...but we always have. We have to work smart to compete with the world because they all seem to be making calls in our territory.

The best advice I can give is to know who your customer is and what they need and want. Don't guess......ask them...and then respond. If I can help let me know.

How to Use Search for Your Business - Part II

The best chance of a regional business to win customers comes from the population within driving distance of their business. That can be a city, an area or a state. But it is geographical. The marketing and advertising tools are entirely different for national markets. Yet I find so many of you spending money trying to capture business outside the area where you add value. That is not a bad strategy if you have done the necessary work to be number one in your home market.



Consider this; Google has one customer....you. When you search, the product they deliver is the search result and they do everything in their power to give you what you ask for. They attempt to discern your "intent"....what you are really looking for. About a year and a half ago Google started really developing tools to localize search. Here are some statistics that are pretty fresh;

When people (companies) qualify or search for a vendor 97% use search. 80% use Google. 50% regionalize their search. That means that almost half of all searches done have geography as part of the string. So a search for "casters" becomes "casters Detroit".



Think about that for a minute. Most of you have brick and mortar businesses. This is good news. Google assumes that an interaction between their searcher and your company is of more value than if you were located elsewhere. It starts to take back some of the ground lost to the Internet phenomena.



When Google started....Yahoo and MSN (now Bing) followed with "Local" search results...see below.....

This is what you see for this string. It is high on the screen and commands attention. It is not perceived by the customer to be a paid listing and in fact it is not.

If you have not registered your company with the major search engines you have not done the easiest, cheapest thing you can do to promote your business. We can help you get listed and manage this interaction with the customers in your market for a very modest amount. Hopefully, that would be so successful for you you will ask........ "what else you got?"

How to Use Search for Your Business - Part I

In the earlier post I ranted against the "yellow pages". That comes from many years of paying thru the nose, as a business owner, for listing in their book. They would then go across town and drop the hint of my plans to my competitor. That would cause the market for material handling listing to really grow. They did...because they could. I don't forgive easily and I never forget.

Now there is a version of the same advertising using the vertical market search directories. I won't call them by name but look at your checkbooks and I'll bet you can call out a couple. Here is what happens....they offer you a program to list your company in their directory. Programs range from a few hundred a month (on annual contract) to tens of thousands per year. You get a listing or a page or many pages in their book. The book is searchable so the many thousands of visitors to their site can find you easily and according to their logic the phone should just start ringing.

It is quite impressive. They show up in lots of searches. You reason; they must dominate and so you pay. What happens next should sound familiar.....you ramp up your program and your competitor does his as well. Wonder how that happens.

The larger problem is this; the phone never really starts ringing. Oh, they will furnish you with reports that show thousands of impressions. An impression is when a page is displayed on a computer screen somewhere in the world that has your company's name on it (somewhere). Their report will also show that x number of people looked at your profile (read about your company). The important thing there is all that happened on their servers ...not on your website. It does not indicate anything other than curiosity although that couriosity might be cultivated to interest.....but that would happen better on your website.

The next injustice is that ...with you paying the bill....they buy more adwords and get more hits. The traffic on their website (including the people reading about your company) generates hits (clicks) on their site (not yours) and the price of your program grows because of their success.

There is help coming ....actually it's already here but not widely known. A little company named Google is changing the rules "one more time" and it can be exciting for the local businessman trying to create and market value in his or her market area.

Come back tomorrow and I will tell you about it.

Distribution & the Internet

There is a discussion on the MHEDA Journal Blog and below is a comment I left .....if you are in the distribution chain this is an important discussion. There are 43 comments as of this writing.....I believe it has hit a nerve. Read the full article and comments........

I think this gets to the heart of the largest problem we have faced as an industry since our response to the imported products. If you think back on how much the material handling landscape changed as the imports were introduced and got better (quality). So much so that they are now part of the fabric of our daily business and personal lives.

Many companies were dramatically changed by imports and I think an equal or greater number will be changed in the “channel challenge” that will play out over the next few years. I think there can be good days ahead for dealers who make good decisions. There has to be a reason for them to be there, and it is up to them to develop their worth…..they will not become irrelevant unless they allow it.

Things are going to change…the secret is to manage the change and come out on top.

Same to You AT & T

Back in October on http://www.industrialbridges.com/ I wrote a rant. Today when I came home a 4" thick Yellow Pages is in a orange plastic bag on my porch. I am speechless ...so I will just reprint that October article here..........


I Don’t Want Your Phonebook Verizon
October 2nd, 2009 by Ron Gilleland

Well I took the summer off and have been thinking about what I should post for my first topic back. I wanted it to be something profound so as you read it you would think….it was worth the wait. Well hold that thought for my next post.

I came home to a mailbox full of junk mail. I’m talking about 5″ of advertising that went directly thru my house into the garage and into the recycling bin without being open. I was sitting at the table calculating the cost of producing all that and sending it to my address and what a waste it was…with people starving in Africa when I heard a thud on my front porch.

A plastic bag containing a plastic wrapping containing a 568 page full book size phone book has been dropped on my walk. I speak to the young man as he walks away…no response. I speak louder…still no response and then I see the earphones hanging from his neck and realize I can’t match his volume. I pick up the 3 to 4 lb bundle and go back inside and start to calculate cost. At this time I am only mildly irritated, but as I read the advertising on the plastic bag it hits a nerve….and I start to connect the dots.

There are small business owners that are being “held up” by the advertising salesmen for the phone company. “Be in our book or “miss the boat”. Your competitor is here and he is increasing his spend over last year…so you better double yours.” I know the drill because for years these guys brutalized me in my business.

But back to my calculations……..after extracting much needed capitol from small business they then produce this bloated dinosaur and spend money on distribution…we are talking warehousing, transportation, more warehousing, more transportation…ending with the less than minimum wage youth walking across my lawn. The cost is enormous and then it is delivered to someone who doesn’t want it …will not use it. It is obscene.

The thing that tipped me over the edge as I walked (rolled) it thru the house to the recycle bin was what was written on the bag. “To order any directory visit our website directorystore.com”. They know how to do this the right way but they are going to hold on to old way until the marketplace punishes them. If there are people who rely on paper directories, and I am sure there are customers for this (although their numbers are diminishing rapidly) why not send a postcard with the message that is on the bag. Write here or go to for your free phone book.

I know why………because next year when they go in to pressure the small business owner about his program they want to quote how many books they published last year and tell them about the price increase for this year.

I can get any phone number I want with a couple of clicks. I can spend my advertising money in ways that target a customer base that is interested in what I have and what I am doing. Verizon…and all you others….the clock is ticking on you.

Just as I pitch this mess into the recycle bin I notice something else written on the bag……”To avoid danger of suffocation, please keep this bag away from babies and children.”……WELL HELL!

Pay for Play

This is an excerpt from an article in current Manufacturing & Technology e-Journal. It is dead on and against many current trends. Individual performance must be rewarded (in keeping with actual results) or you take the heart from your people. I suggest that not only the sales force should be compensated according to their results but your customer service team as well. It is so do-able. Write me and I will explain.

Enjoy reading Not everybody gets a Trophy:

Ken Blanchard once wrote: “There is nothing so unequal as the equal treatment of unequal’s.” It holds true in your Sales organization as well. Yes, you are a team, and yes, you need to be acting in the organization’s best interest. But the second you start to water down somebody’s earning potential is the second you lose their best effort. Let’s face it, with a few noble exceptions; most of us are out to take care of ourselves and our families first and foremost – we want to believe our future is brighter than our past. Fourth Quarter 2009 statistics show that 1 out of 4 people have updated resumes or are networking to find the next best thing. Most will continue to work hard because unemployment numbers remain above 10 percent. But you will never realize their full potential. Push them to perform - and reward them for it.

You need to be in the business of rewarding results, not effort.

Read the rest of the article

The Secret to Winning Back Customers

This artilcle was written by
Chris Lytle, Monster Contributing Writer

I thought it worth reprinting here;

There's a difference between lost customers and dead customers. Most sales managers and salespeople don't make that distinction, but Jill Griffin does in her book Customer Winback: How to Recapture Lost Customers -- and Keep Them Loyal.

In the rush to get new business, we ignore lost business. Marketing Metrics, a Paramus, New Jersey-based consulting firm, estimates that the closing ratio for new prospects is 5 percent to 20 percent. The potential for winning back lost customers is 20 percent to 40 percent. Here are five ideas for creating your own customer win-back program:

1. Sales Management Must Drive the Win-Back Program

It's unacceptable to give the lost causes and hopeless cases to the new salesperson. Sales managers have to identify the lost list and get out of the office and visit them with their sales reps. During those meetings, sales management's job is to listen, take notes and summarize the lost customers' comments to demonstrate they are understood.

2. Establish the Measurement System for Tracking Losses and Win Backs

Sales management needs a system for identifying lost and recovered business. If you're not measuring lost customers month to month, you're not managing churn. Identifying which customers who did business with you last month are not doing business with you now is vital for beginning your win-back program. Request a free copy of a Churn Calculation Worksheet.

3. Create a Strategy for Revisiting the Lost

Your win-back strategy might include a meeting with top management, a letter from the CEO and a new needs analysis meeting. This all flows from the first face-to-face meeting where you discover the problem and refine your approach.

4. Celebrate Your Win Backs

Make sure the salesperson who wins a customer back gets recognition for that sale. What gets rewarded gets done.

5. Document Your Successes

Winning back customers is a process, and it should be a repeatable one. It may take seven steps instead of the previous four, but once you've won back several customers, you'll begin to see patterns. The last thing you should do is document the steps that work and make them part of your training program going forward.

As you can probably tell, prevention is easier than the cure. Manage customer expectations at the beginning of the relationship, not the end. Ask, "What result are you looking for in the next quarter (or appropriate time period) that will make you continue to do business with us?" Knowing the expectations at the beginning makes your life as a salesperson much easier and increases your chances of renewing a client.

It's not easy to win back lost customers. There may be some confrontation, and you will undoubtedly hear things you don't want to hear. However, it's hard to correct a problem you're not willing to discuss. According to George Walther in his book Upside Down Marketing, the easiest sources of new business are customers who got frustrated, aggravated or annoyed and can be seduced away by the competition.

So why are you sitting there reading this? Go talk to a lost customer.