Is It The Economy? – Try Another Excuse!

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Were your sales stagnant last year? How was the first quarter of 2008?

What’s the problem? Is it the economy?

With all the news about the mortgage meltdown, sinking real estate values, rising unemployment and warnings of a recession, it’s easy to feel anxious and pessimistic. But don’t assume that your slow sales can be blamed on a faltering economy.

It’s true that banks are tight about lending and your customers are cautious about spending, but that doesn’t mean you can’t continue to grow your business.

There are profits to be made in any almost all economy, even in areas you’d think would be the hardest hit.

During the last week of March I took a vacation with my son in British Columbia to check out Revelstoke, a new Canadian ski resort. At a time when real estate values are sinking, the economy is slumping and the ski industry is stagnating, someone had the audacity to open a new ski resort.

And even crazier, the proposed resort isn’t anywhere near a population center. It’s at least a five-hour drive from the airports in Vancouver or Calgary. For many U.S. and Canadian residents, it’s more or less inaccessible. It took us over 18 hours to get there from Connecticut.

As you drive up the recently graded dirt road to the mountain, you see no condos, no golf course, and no model ski homes. Other than some amazing ski terrain and two new lifts, the place is more mud and vision than reality. (We went cat skiing but here’s a video of heli skiing)

So what happened when they put their first real estate offering on the market?

It sold out in 2 hours!
How? With some great marketing!

What’s the secret to creating a huge demand and successful sales campaigns?

I’d hired a driver to get us home from our return flight in the middle of the night. On the way, our driver told us that his business was down by over 50% from last year. The following day, I talked to another limo service that was growing steadily at 10% each month.

The big question is,

Is the economy to blame, or is it your marketing?

Conventional wisdom has it that your sales will fall off in a down economy, but that will be true only if you let it happen.

One of my clients came to me for coaching after laying off all his employees as a result of sinking sales last year. We retooled his marketing plan and wrote a new marketing message. One month later, he told he he’d never brought in so much new business in such a short period of time in the eight years since he’d opened for business.

Ready to see your sales take off even in a down economy? Use this simple strategy >>

If you’re using the economy as an excuse for not growing your business this year, think again. Sure, it’s easier to grow a business when money is plentiful. But when spending shrinks, the truly successful separate themselves from their peers and keep their businesses growing.

These people are leaders who see even the most challenging situation as a problem to solve. They look for answers and then take action. If you’re a leader, you can make your business more successful in almost any type of economy by getting the knowledge you need to grow your business.

Others look for someone or something else to blame for their problems or misfortune. ‘Blamers’ let themselves get stuck. Blaming others and looking for excuses is a way to avoid fixing something that’s broken.

Are you a Leader or a Blamer?

If you’re leader who wants to put your business on the fast track to success – take action and find out what works >>

Introducing More Business podcasts.
To listen to the podcast online, use this link >>

– Charlie
Marketing Strategies That Get… Results