Water, Water everywhere...

Recession, recession, recession...that is all we seem to hear these days. If you are in a Sales, especially business to business sales, it can be especially disheartening.
"We just laid off 30 people, we can't even consider that right now."
"We're making cuts to products and services, he isn't seeing any new accounts."

Almost every industry is feeling the pinch. "Gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 0.5% in the third quarter, and the Fed predicts the economy will continue to contract in the first six months of 2009, and possibly beyond." (http://moneymorning.com/2008/11/28/retail-outlook-2009/). While no one person can control the global economic crisis you can control your reaction to it and how you position your company and allow your customer service agents to represent you to the public. As layoffs increase and wallets get tighter as professionals it will be increasingly harder to make, then retain the sale and as consumers we deserve to spend our limited hard earned resources on the best products and services possible.

As a hyper-competitive child my mother once told me "There will always be someone smarter, stronger, faster, and more talented than you. The secret to winning is you have to want it more." I wanted it so bad I could taste it - no matter what "it" was. I liked to win. This piece of advice stuck with me; it has kept me sharp and hungry. This is so true in business. In almost any industry, no matter the service or product, you probably have a least a few competitors whose raw product or service concept is just as good if not better than yours. So how can you be successful? You have to want it more.

Yes, that was a contrived answer that oversimplifies a true answer that is a multifaceted approach that addresses positioning, reputation, marketing, branding, and customer service.
Everyone in retail agrees the one exception to these rules is Wal Mart. Sam Walton was a business genius and absolutely embraced good business ideals and grew an empire from them. Good products at reasonable prices. The brand was American Made. Walton built in mid-sized towns without much competition. It was fairly self-serve, American do it yourself, but part of the brand and reputation. Then the Walton kids took over and Wal Mart has become the company consuming, small town destroying, largest Chinese importer mega retail monster we see today. Too late! They had already put most of their competitors out of business and are now so big it is hard for anyone to even put a chink in the Wal Mart market segment. Ask anyone if they like shopping at Wal Mart and most will reply they hate it but...it's convenient, there isn't anywhere else, they can't afford to go elsewhere, etc... few will tell you Wal Mart has good customer service or even quality products anymore.

This blog will discuss the current state of American Customer Service, Sales, and Marketing practices. How can we, as professionals, improve our performance to increase our market share and how can we, as American consumers, demand better.