There’s a local car dealership offering to buy cars from those who are in need of cash.  Unless they plan on downgrading on monthly payments or sorts, its a terrible idea.

While there may be many who are out of jobs this season, how do they plan on finding a new job and getting there everyday if they sale their car?

Same principle in business – don’t fire your sales team.

Currently, there are many companies cutting their sales time – non-salary, commissions-only sales associates.  Why?  They don’t get paid unless they make the company money.  Fire and consolidate the management first.  If a company let’s go of the sales teams, who needs management?  There’s nothing to manage.

To many this may seem like common-sense, but what kills me is there are companies who don’t get this basic principle.

For example. there are web development companies here in Atlanta, Georgia that have boards of directors.  First, why does a web development company need a board of directors boggles me.  But, these companies are letting go of their designers and developers – the workers responsible for product fulfillment.  They’re keeping their boards, though.  Stupid.

Don’t sell your car; don’t fire your sales teams.  These are the channels that increase you and your company’s income potential.

In my previous post, I shined a little light on the repercussions Facebook platform apps can have on the productivity and performance on an individual.  But, how does Facebook apps create sluggish, under-performing companies?

Again noted, Facebook can be an incredible contributor to a company’s bottom line.  It’s a fantastic resource for generating leads and promoting brands, goods and services.  Companies need to define acceptable usage policies for social media so that the incorporation of social media is effective within the overarching marketing strategy.

Website Magazine’s November issue lists 50 leading web sites for marketing and business development professionals. As one could imagine, the list paints a different picture than that which would have been constructed only a few years ago.

As Website Magazine points out, the use of social sites has increased among top enterprises.  Among the listed social sites are Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, Ning and Yelp.

Blogging sites have also become increasingly popular with enterprise trend setters.  Of course, the two most well-known, free blogging platforms, WordPress and Blogger, were ranked high in the list – #’s 9 and 11, respectively.  And, blogs could not receive nearly as much customer attraction if it wasn’t for the aggregators that push their content to subscribers and increase the blogs’ visibility.  A few aggregators, namely, Digg and Technorati, were included in Website Magazine’s list.

Finally, any company seeking to solidify their online presence, must now syndicate video content.  YouTube is now the second-largest search engine, following only its parent, Google, and provides easy and rapid traffic generation through professional and grass-roots video creation and delivery.  It’s no wonder that YouTube was #4 on the list.  Other video platforms like Blinkx, MetaCafe and Ustream.tv were included in the top 50, as well.

In conclusion, I must agree with Website’s disclaimer, “Keep in mind that the sites on this Top 50 are not an acknowledgement of their effectiveness but rather their popularity.” Website Magazine asserts that the effectiveness of the given sites still highly depends on the manner in which they are used.  Again, I completely agree.

Just because your company may have incorporated Social Media into it’s marketing strategy – it may have even gone as far as creating a Social Media team – doesn’t mean your management has adapted to Social Media trends or adopted its philosophies in the marketplace.

I once was a sales associate for Eddie Bauer.  Each of the associates, like most sales-oriented positions, had manager-set goals.  I would constantly sell 200-300% of my goal.  The general manager asked me one day, "How do you do it? How do you sell that much in revenue?"  I replied, "It's simple.  I'm not here to sell clothes."

So the economy isn't turning out like you'd hope right now and its, perhaps, hard to get going in the mornings.

While many are suffering, its imperative that you continue to do the right things even in the bad times - you must continue to do what will guarantee the success of your company in the long run. If you do, you and your company will not only survive, but come out stronger on the other side. If business isn't "booming" right now, its okay.  You now have more time to develop new marketing and sales disciplines.

Typically, we define the sales equation as Great Products (or Services) + Great Marketing = Great Sales.

Then, we spend our time, money and other resources focusing on both products and marketing.  Larger companies develop entire departments that specifically manage products or marketing.

"Can you cut me a deal?"

"May I have a discount?"

Ever had a client (or potential client) ask you a question such as these?

And, in response, "Sure, but may I cut the quality and value of my service?"  To which I'm sure they'd reply, "No."

If a client won't accept a diminished value of service, why should you accept a cheaper payment?

Accept full payment; deliver quality service. Neither you nor your client should be satisfied with anything less. You're worth it and so is your client.