The Funnelholic

At Sherpa last week, I met one of my readers. She said in essence: “I love your blog, but lately you have been bumming me out.”  She’s probably right. I am trying to make the blog reflect what I feel and am thinking at a given time.  Looking over my posts, you can see I’ve gone from irreverent, cocky, and sometimes funny to gloomy, dark, and fear-inducing in a fairly short span of time.  For me, the most important thing is that, as sales and marketers, we deal with REALITY and be as proactive in our adjustments as we can. If I write about sunshine and roses, how is that going to help us get through this?

Speaking of getting through this, when times get tough you have two choices; Lay down or fight.  I have seen a couple marketing departments “lay down” recently and I am really disappointed.  Yes, the world is going to hell, but guess what, your job is to survive and advance.  I look forward to watching which organizations make the adjustments necessary to come out on top in the next couple years.  I especially like those organizations that view negative times as opportunity.  Organizations see blood on the street, and go for the jugular.

Here is a fighter: Netsuite.  Let’s be honest, we know of Netsuite because of Larry Ellison’s early association and because they went  public.  We have NOT seen them putting themsleves out there and aggressively marketing.  Guess what, now they are coming hard, and it’s exciting.  I got the email below from them and while you may see a promotional email, I saw a company sending the proverbial first shot over the bow.  And guess what, they are taking on a Goliath — Salesforce.com.

This is what we need, we don’t need technology companies riding their installed bases, instead we need companies engaging in true hand-to-hand combat.  This is the American way.  A CRM war is just what the doctor ordered, and I hope more and more categories start to play.  (P.S. my boy Chris Bucholtz from InsideCRM has got to be excited about this).  I see more and more of Netsuite out there, and I like it.

So, you wanted something positive?  I am absolutely positive that the real winners of this crisis are the ones who dig their heel in and battle.

The year 2009 is going to be painful for a lot of businesses, but it should also be really interesting to see what marketing departments do to adjust. Next year will be the year you earn the big bucks.

Here are the givens:

1. Sales cycles will increase
2. Your buyers’ budgets will be cut drastically
3. A lot of your current contacts will be fired or will move
4. You won’t have the money you did this year to get what you want to get done
5. You want have the same amount of people you did this year in your organization either.

So what do you do? The flight to quality has begun and a couple “old school” marketing techniques may be finally put to rest in 2009.  Here they are:

1. Direct mail: Admit it, do you really still do direct mail?  The direct mail business is a relic of the past, and 2009 may be its end.  My buddy does marketing for an online dating site and it works for him, but I can’t find any b2b buyers who can quantify or justify their direct mail spend. It’s finally time to make choices. That choice should be to move online.
2. Trade shows: Speaking of moving online, say good-bye to the trade show. People are not going to attend shows unless they are local. The cost of travel is unjustifiable when you can educate people online.  Old-school trade shows at the Mandalay = dead.  Online events such as virtual trade shows, webinars/webcasts, and moderator-led chat sessions will prevail.  Come on, it makes sense.  There’s little you can’t do on the Web. And that’s where your prospects are. Now I’ve stood by tradeshows over the past couple years because frankly they are great places to meet customers and partners, but not because they are quantifiable lead-generation vehicles.  I’m sorry to lose the networking opportunity, but organizations will adjust with webconferencing and potentially telepresence. I just sat through a presentation at MarketingSherpa’s B-to-B Demand Generation Summit event and exhibitors are saying they are starting to see a 20 percent cancellation rate, up from single digits.
3. Print ad spends: Need I say more?  The size of tech rags has gradually shrunk and nuclear ’09 may finish them off.
4. Radio and TV ads: Leave those to the B2C guys.

The theme is the same, I believe that we will see a move online.  Yes, the online movement began years ago, but direct mail and trade shows refused to die.  Now, thanks to today’s unique economic environment, say goodbye to your old friends as they enter the history books.

There is no way to sugarcoat this, world economic markets are screwed. It’s one thing to have fun with The Funnelholic, but I can’t ignore what is happening right now. All of us in the B2B marketing and sales media need to band together and provide tips to one another on how to keep be successful and even keep your job in these hard times. I have already begun — see 3 Changes Marketers Must Make to Survive in This Post-Apocalyptic World.

We will figure out what to do, but we can’t live in fantasyland. We won’t be able to make the necessary adjustments if we don’t swallow the reality. And by the way, we should assume the worst and create a plan that we can execute confidently. My buddy Steve puts it simply: “Mad Max” time.

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The economy is the pits, and things are looking to get worse.  I can’t get up on my pedestal and convince everyone why, but I can say that when every investment bank on the street falls on its face, we have a problem. And these aren’t small players, by the way. These are institutions.

We can’t play dumb, we have to be proactive. What’s incredible is the forthcoming list is not much different than my previous posts. They’re just more vital, and if you haven’t considered these already, get with the program now.

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