Did You Lose a Million Dollar Sale Today?

I had a great conversation this week with Wally Wood, President and CEO of the "National Space and Technology Association" (www.NSTAWorld.org). Wally is an incredible man of learning and I really enjoyed our lunch. In part of our discussion, he mentioned that "Chief Executive Officers are master sales people, they have the power to sell ideas and get credibility." I agree. The problem most business owners have is being that "master salesman" or equipping their team with that "hunter spirit." So, we miss opportunities everyday.

I remember once signing a $100,000 dollar sale for a client. The sale was great and badly needed for the business. The owner had made a $45K bidding mistake on another project and was in a dire situation. As great as that sale was that day (which actually showed up as a fluke), the sale begain long before. That day was the accumulation of many sales prior, investments made in the selling tools, the infrasctructure to meet client demand, website features, testimonials, pricing research, and ultimately the salesmanship to pick up the cues and close the deal. Our team in essence was prepared for that day and that day made all of the difference for the continuation of the business.

Similarly, I helped start a successful radio show in our market and the show has been on the air now for several years, helping many entrepreneurs and partnering with a top web company and business paper. Interestingly, in the development process I called on many media companies with few return calls on this opportunity. Several months into the show, one of my contacts came up to me to ask why I didn't call his company. I was sad to report that I did call his company first and had to remind him that he delegated me to his assistant who began to drop the ball. I don't know what the value of that opportunity would have been to his business, but the branding value and the client relation wouldn't have hurt.

Finally, I think many business people invest in their marketing and sales and because of their size, their attitude or lack of a real marketing and development focus miss opportunities everyday. So here are the keys to studying your opportunities:

* Return your calls or if you are too busy have someone on your team call and get them back in touch with you (if the call was for you)
* Reply to your relevant e-mails (people you know) & even some of the people you don't know
* Schedule a meeting rather than say "We need to meetup sometime" or "We need to do lunch one day"
* Really study the opportunity (sad to say many proposals on people's desk that never get reviewed)
* Don't be afraid to brainstorm and dialogue
* Always be doing things! (Borrowed from the mission statement of Southwest Airlines)
* Make mistakes, it's okay (people will make judgments, so what?)
* Be a helper, a mentor, a friend - doors will open for your business
* Punish mediocre success and reward amazing failure (borrowed from Tom Peters)
* Always be Marketing and Selling

Do you have a reputation for follow-up? I know many CEO's who are superb at follow-up and I celebrate those kind of people. In tough times, we don't have the luxury to "blow off" any opportunity. Time is precious, but opportunities are too. Making opportunities happen helps even more people to have better lives, be like a spring of living water. Get caught up in THE VORTEX!

Andy Valadez is President of Marketing Dynamics, a strategic marketing enterprise helping its clients to leverage their unique business opportunities. His company has served many media personalities, leaders in technology, construction and real estate, racing, film, music, publishers, not-for-profits, and emerging companies. You can find out more about Marketing Dynamics by visting: www.TeamMarketingDynamics.com (his personal blog). Mr. Valadez is a graduate of Texas A&M University (Marketing) and Tulane University (Applied Business) and served honorably in United States Marine Corps (Desert Shield/Desert Storm). He is happily married to his wife and girlfriend of 27 years, Tina, and has two beautiflul girls, Kayla (8) and Kenna (5).

Contact:
Marketing Dynamics
Phone: 281.463.4560
E-mail: info@TeamMarketingDynamics.com
Micro-blog: www.Twitter.com/MarineAg (to see what Andy is up to daily)

Marketing Dynamics, because the market never stays the same. Experts in marketing excellence.

Marketng With Zero Budget or Without a Shoe String

The power of the right set of marketing initiatives can leverage one's business (especially in a down economy). I have often cited the example to clients and friends of the success written about by Sergio Zyman, the former Marketing Director for Coca-Cola (arguably the #1 brand in the world). As a young marketer for a prominent advertising company, he discovered an opportunity for Nescafe coffee in Japan. Sales were slumping in the summer in that region and he needed to find out why. Well, his study of the situation unveiled that the Japanese rarely drank "hot" things in the summer, so he introduced "ice coffee." Basically, for the cost of ice, he transformed the psychographics and demand for the brand. He changed the advertising message and the rest is history.

Mr. Zyman also impacted the advertising world by demanding performance and sharing revenue for success. As a strategic marketer, I am a big fan of joint venturing, revenue sharing, and investing marketing intellectual capital with my clients and friends for their benefit. As a result, I have managed to accumulate a nice portfolio of opportunities in tech, radio and TV, film, music, with authors, real estate, and more.

So, I have actually developed a model that enables my company to help our clients in a delayed payment, accelerated revenue participation, and on-going support built into the model. In essence, we start with nothing (or very little - depending on the deal) and we build something together, employing many of the marketing principles that help successful brands.

Although, you can utilize guerrilla marketing strategies and tactics, word-of-mouth, and sales efforts for a season, one really does need to establish a budget and plan for marketing to have a long-term success path of progression . You can review an article on this subject of establishing a budget, see: www.typepad.com/valadez (search budget). Get caught up in THE VORTEX!

Andy Valadez is President of Marketing Dynamics, a strategic marketing enterprise helping its clients to leverage their unique business opportunities. His company has served many media personalities, leaders in technology, construction and real estate, racing, film, music, publishers, not-for-profits, and emerging companies. You can find out more about Marketing Dynamics by visting: www.TeamMarketingDynamics.com (his personal blog). Mr. Valadez is a graduate of Texas A&M University (Marketing) and Tulane University (Applied Business) and served honorably in United States Marine Corps (Desert Shield/Desert Storm). He is happily married to his wife and girlfriend of 27 years, Tina, and has two beautiflul girls, Kayla (8) and Kenna (5).

Contact:
Marketing Dynamics
Phone: 281.463.4560
E-mail: info@TeamMarketingDynamics.com
Micro-blog: www.Twitter.com/MarineAg (to see what Andy is up to daily)

Marketing Dynamics, because the market never stays the same. Experts in marketing excellence.

"I Can See Clearly Now" - Johnny Nash

Right to Left: Screenwriter Dan Roberts, Grammy Music Producer Randy Miller, Music Legend Johnny Nash, and Andy Valadez, President of Marketing Dynamics (me)

Had an opportunity to meet Johnny Nash today. Hoping to develop several projects for his interests. Check out his performance on "The Midnight Special". Get caught up in THE VORTEX!



To contact Marketing Dynamics visit: www.TeamMarketingDynamics.com or call 281.463.4560.

Client/Friend: Creative Switching Design

Thomas Larvin, CEO and Andy Valadez at a Celebration Dinner

Thomas Larvin has a very interesting business in Voice Over IP (VOIP) and Voice Recording technology serving many business sectors to include emergency call centers, law enforcement, financial, customer service, and other businesses where recording and tracking calls is very critical to one's business or customer service.

In fact, Mr. Larvin is considered an industry expert and has been called upon as an expert witness in many prominent cases involving the use of his technology. For Marketers, his work offers incredible and timely Market Research feedback, enabling them to conduct research on the fly via "word spotting" and "emotion detecting." Learn more about Creative Switching Design at www.CSDUSA.com

To contact Marketing Dynamics visit: www.TeamMarketingDynamics.com or call 281.463.4560.