Invest in Sales & Marketing Now

This is my first post in a while. I took some time off at the beginning of the year and came back as Corona hit the world and changed our lives and working lives forever. My wife is a front-line healthcare worker at a busy Toronto hospital (in the Covid Intensive Care Unit) and my main concern has been for the health of my wife and my three children. While she fights the virus, I have spent the time working with companies to help them navigate this difficult time from a sales and marketing perspective. 

I have built and grown three businesses in my career. Everyone will tell you that this is a bad time to start a business or try and grow one. Those people are not necessarily wrong. The economy is the worst it’s been since the financial crisis, jobless numbers are through the roof and we are not sure what a post Covid world looks like. With that being said, I have built my business through some of the toughest economies on record and know that this can be a great time to grow. 

I started my sales recruiting company, SalesForce Search in the fall of 2007...possibly one of the worst times to start a company let alone a recruiting company. Despite this, we grew through the recession and found ourselves as one of the fastest growing companies in Canada from 2008-2011. The main reason was we focused on what the economy was going to look like when we came out of the recession. We planted the seeds in marketing and sales so that we were well positioned to take advantage when the economy improved. 

This is the same mistake I am seeing small and medium sized businesses making now. Cutting back on sales and marketing instead of focusing on developing a plan for what will come next. I understand that this can be difficult and it makes people feel more secure to make cuts and conserve cash. Sometimes it’s a good time to get rid of under-performers. But I can tell you, it’s the companies that make these investments now that will benefit the most when the economy does turn. The companies I am working with right now are making these investments and are already seeing the results. 

Many small and medium sized businesses could take advantage of the skills of people who have been there and done that before who are currently looking for work. Look within your network to see who might help set you up for sales success for when inevitably we come out of this downturn. I constantly work with people in my network or look for help from people with particular expertise in times like this. Many really good people are out of work and can add immediate value to your sales and marketing efforts. 

The companies that make the investments in sales and marketing will be ahead of their competitors and maybe the ones who ultimately survive.