A client mentioned this week that at a recent US trade show, sales were off by millions of dollars. Attendees were fewer and they were skittish. This client had done well over the years with Trade Shows as his major marketing effort. What had been working for several years wrto sales is not working as well. This is not news to us, see below.

Some of the recent research Rocket Builders has been compiling indicates that
companies that did reasonably/adequately well after the dotcom meltdown are finding that their
marketing is now hurting them in the present economy. What worked for
years (I.e. sales calls, cold calls, outbound lead gen vs. lead nurturing) is not working as well or not at all. Targets are looking for innovative and advanced solutions and are not as accepting as previously. Plus technology moves on. The opportunities are out there looking for solutions that match their perception of their business needs.

We see the more successful companies now allocating 30-40% of revenue to new marketing in traditional sectors. These are guys who got away with 20% on marketing, 20% on selling for years. Just adding sales costs
does not improve their situations.

New and old clients are coming to us with this declining revenue and increased competition
story. I expect with the US $ woes (fiscal and inflation) it will only get worse for 24
months more, driving up oil and gold. (Some currency houses in Europe will not change US dollars now, sending people to the bank. How the mighty have fallen) . Let me know what you are finding out.

Remarkable Leadership. Unleashing your leadership potential one skill at a time. 2007. ISBN 9780787996192. This is a handbook for improving your leadership skills. Each chapter starts with a self assessment on skill level and then it carefully lays out what you can do to improve. He gives tips, tactics and techniques to implement and measure how you are doing in each area. It is a valuable book, but I had a tough time completing it. What was missing for me was a method to engage me personally/emotionally in the book. I was taken by his comment on Q/As after a presentation. He suggests that the Q/A is never the thing you end on. You invite Q/As throughout and just before the end. But, after the Q/A you must wrap up and summarize the talk yourself in order to best present and control the key messages and call to action. If questions do continue, answer and then do a condensed close again. Borrow this one from the library.