Page 4 - NBIZ Magazine February 2023

What
DOORS

Are You Opening?

By Leanne Hoagland-Smith

uring times of economic uncertainty,
doors to increase sales are closed
and this discourages salespeople
especially small business owners
from doing more. Given that 2023
indicates that higher inflation
Drates will still be present, and the
cost of living will continue to rise along with factors
including supply chain disruptions, salespeople may
be discouraged from opening these business doors.
The question as always is how to open doors to new
or previous business.
Beginning with marketing because it is the first
phase of the sales process. The purpose of marketing
is to attract attention, hopefully, positive attention.
Unfortunately, this one door is often unopened during
“economic downtimes”. The reasoning used by small
business owners is they don’t have the money to spend
on marketing. Then, during busy times, these same
small businesses do not have the time to market.
To help open this door and keep the door open does
require a marketing plan with specific WAY SMART
(Written; Aligned to Purpose, Values, Vision, Mission;
Yours; Specific; Measurable; Actionable; Realistically Set
High and Time Drive) goals based upon analysis of the
past marketing results. Again, analyzing past and cur-
rent marketing results is often not undertaken because
small business owners and sales professionals believe
they don’t have time. These folks are too busy dialing
for dollars or attending networking events.

4 NBIZ ■ February 2023