Unlike flowers returning in the springtime, conferences and conventions have been few and far between over the past 3-4 years.

The 9/11 event literally stopped a large number of conferences all at once. I, personally, attended a convention in Orlando, FL two weeks after 9/11. The expo halls were empty except for sales & junior management personnel “manning” the booth. Even more interesting, you could have rolled a bowling ball down the middle aisle of the expo and not hit a single attendee. The only people there were exhibitors. Remember those days?

Y2012 looks like a real winner for business that can break the RECESSION MINDSET! What do I mean by Recession Mindset? I refer to a pessimistic through process that suggests that the future is likely to be “more of the same” or “worse”. The result? A passive marketing/sales effort that relies on little, if any, change and a even more conservative willingness to invest in growth.

Is it time to build a Marketing Machine? Let’s examine the benefits. And Assemble The Best of Both Worlds There’s marketing and there’s sales, and each has its pros and cons. To ensure your marketing and sales people work in concert with one another as teammates, like they should, you need a Marketing Machine. A Marketing Machine combines the strengths of marketing and sales to create a powerful business development system – a combination of technology aprocess! Strategic Planning & Implementat-ion Associates builds Marketing Machines using a combination of software and eMarketing system.

Keeping existing customers happy and finding new ones has always been difficult. Today the marketplace is seeing more aggressive competitors, often “ridiculous” pricing and deteriorating service levels as competitors reduce overhead by cutting staff. What do savvy business people do to replace customers who drop out and/or move to another competitor? Do they roll-over and pretend it’s not happening? Or, to put it another way, they’re asking themselves, “Do I wait for the economy to return to ‘normal’ or begin to be as aggressive as some of our competitors?”

“I don’t care how many degrees you have on the wall, if you don’t know how to sell, you’re probably going to starve.”—George Forman

A lot of business owners think they are selling, when really all they are doing is marketing. Do you know the difference between the two? It will cost you a lot of time, energy, and money if you don’t.