Growing Sales in a Down Economy

By

Tom Barrett

BRAVE NEW WORLDS:

Tom Barrett is an accomplished corporate growth and change agent with over thirty years of landscape industry experience. Tomʼs leadership experience, holding executive level positions, drives corporate revenue growth through change and innovation for business start-ups, corporate expansions, and divisional turnarounds. Tom Barrett has been delivering energetic, dynamic presentations and training for over twenty years. These presentations empower people to become masters of change rather than victims of circumstance by developing tools for transformative thinking. Currently, Tom Barrett delivers over thirty presentations and trainings each year to organizations and associations around the country.

If you’re not confused . . .

…you’re not paying attention.

- Tom Peters

I want to keep this light and informal. So hereʼs the last slide. I put it first because I wanted to make sure we covered it and after thinking about things I realized thereʼs a lot to talk about. We may not get to this slide.

IT’S the ECONOMY

Bank Closures reach a record in July

As of August 21, 2009 eighty-one banks have closed this year. Almost half of them are in July. This is 280% more than closed in the previous seven years combined.

Excessive

Manufacturing

Capacity

... of the 5.1 Lost Jobs

Almost 80% Lost by Men

actual unemployment is over 14 million.

Nationalized Banking

One large US Investment bank has disappeared - Lehman while the remaining four have been acquired or become conventional banks.

Nationalized Manufacturing

The New York Times Reports that beyond the $700 billion TARP bailout, the goverment has committed to spend about $12.2 trillion to prop up the economy.

#1 in Research & Development over the last twenty-five years

GMAnd you in this room have weathered competition but the fact remains the rock stars of irrigation today most likely will not be the rock stars of irrigation tomorrow.“Forbes100” from 1917 to 1987: 39 members of the Class of ʼ17 were alive in ʼ87; 18 in ʼ87 F100; 18 F100 “survivors” significantly underperformed the market; just 2 (2%), GE & Kodak, outperformed the market from 1917 to 1987.Source: Dick Foster & Sarah Kaplan, Creative Destruction: Why Companies That Are Built to Last Underperform the Market

Ford, GM and Chrysler do not just make cars expensively … they make bad cars expensively.” —Investec analyst, International Herald, 0805.06

Of Koreaʼs Top 100 companies in 1955, only 7 were still on the list in 2004. The 1997 crisis “destroyed half of Koreaʼs 30 largest conglomerates.”Source: “KET Issue Report,” Kim Jong Nyun (14.05.2005

ExcellenceInnovationOr DieFlat as a Pancake (Or Worse)Wal*Mart … Dell … Intel … Home Depot … Microsoft … GE

Can anyone tell me which company has been # 1 in Research and Development over the last twenty-five years? --- GM

Itʼs more than money

Emotional Economics

Theory

China

The country with the most number of English speakers

The World is Changing

To begin with, itʼs worth noting that all the insanity around us notwithstanding there will be a moment when this age will start to make sense: That brave new world will look very different than it does now...Joshua Cooper Ramo, author of The Age of the Unthinkable

It’s all about People

It’s all about Innovation

Opportunity

Outstanding Customer Service

80% of Success is Showing Up

Positive Mental Attitude

Integrity

We are all buying insurance

Assurance

Value

Value = Relative Service + Relative Price

The value-proposition of increasing its market share and growing revenue by:providing superior customer serviceproduct differentiationoperational efficiency

Value

My Average Sales Person Made 300 to 400 Sales Calls a Year

My Top Sales People Made over 2,000 Sales Calls a Year

ZAG

Be Different

Be REALLY Different

ED TURI

Whatever It Takes

Sometimes you have to do whatever it takes During the height of the recession in 2009 I was driving home from work on a Friday afternoon and was surprised to see a man standing at a busy intersection with a sign that read I need a job, with his phone number below.  In the midst of the worst recession in years it wasnʼt surprising that someone was standing at a corner with a sign looking for work.. What was uncommon was how he looked.  He appeared to be in his fifties and was dressed in a suit, tie and all. It was July and it was hot and his face was beat red. It was apparent that he had been standing there all day.  On Monday morning driving to work he was there once again. This time I decided to stop and talk with him. I assumed he must have been desperate for a job. He had probably been out of work for 6 months to a year and was on the verge of losing his house, his family, and perhaps was losing his mind.  Why else would he be here.  I had connections and thought perhaps I could help him out. What I learned from talking to him surprised me. He was out of work, but he had only been out of work for 2 weeks!  He told me that he couldnʼt sit home and stare at a computer all day long looking for a job and he could think of no better way to get himself out there than this. “Times were tough, he said, youʼve got to do whatever it takes.”  He went on to say that he was an accountant and lost his job because his company had downsized.  He wanted to stay in accounting but was willing to do whatever it took to keep working.  He also said that in the two days he was out there he received over 100 phone calls!  He handed me his resume and I promised him I would see if I could help him out. It was obvious to me though that he didnʼt need much help and in reality he had done more for me than I had done for him.  I saw him at the corner one more day and that was it. I donʼt know for sure but I bet he wasnʼt out of work for too long. I couldnʼt stop thinking about the situation. Was I putting forth that type of effort  in my business? Of course not.  Training and Consulting budgets had been slashed by virtually every company and my business was hurting bad.  I was putting forth more effort to find clients but by no means had I done something as bold as this guy.   I knew I could do more. I knew I wasnʼt doing whatever it takes. It wasnʼt long after that experience that I saw a sign at our church for a menʼs group that was starting up. The name of the group? “Whatever it takes.”   You bet I signed up for that group.

Shane’s Landscape

Frisbees

Mail BoxMagnets

Landscape Concept

Landscape Concepts

A Plan

Targeted Accounts

Sales Calls

Follow-up

AND . . .

The World is Different

To begin with, itʼs worth noting that all the insanity around us notwithstanding there will be a moment when this age will start to make sense: That brave new world will look very different than it does now...Joshua Cooper Ramo, author of The Age of the Unthinkable

Panera Bread is focusing on the 90% of People who are employed

- Charles Darwin

It is not the strongest of the species

that survives, nor the most

intelligent, but the one most

responsive to change.

Summary

People

Innovation

Outrageous Customer Service

Invest in Sales & Marketing

ZAG

Just Do It

Growing Sales in a Down Economy

With

Tom Barrett

BRAVE NEW WORLDS:

Tom Barrett is an accomplished corporate growth and change agent with over thirty years of landscape industry experience. Tomʼs leadership experience, holding executive level positions, drives corporate revenue growth through change and innovation for business start-ups, corporate expansions, and divisional turnarounds. Tom Barrett has been delivering energetic, dynamic presentations and training for over twenty years. These presentations empower people to become masters of change rather than victims of circumstance by developing tools for transformative thinking. Currently, Tom Barrett delivers over thirty presentations and trainings each year to organizations and associations around the country.