I posed the question: Will National drive New Zealand forward prior to Christmas with similar hope and enthusiasm? Our new PM has hit the ground running. He has given his ministers a “measure up or you’re out” message. Mr Key also says his Cabinet has an action plan focussed on economic recovery.
So far, so good. Now we need some action.
Mr Key seems to realise this. He told APEC leaders last month if they did not follow through by delivering a global trade agreement by the end of the year it would “represent nothing short of a political failure”.
Similar action is required at home. A previous column said decisive and comprehensive moves are required on the economic front — not only for the government’s measures to be effective — but to convince consumers and business owners the country has turned the corner.
Businesses also need to become action-oriented. Continued indecisiveness will hamper not only individual businesses but the whole economy.
If you’re targeting the business-to-business market, which this publication serves, you’ll know that other business owners are gripped by uncertainty over what might lie ahead.
These people, your customers, are doing what people do when faced by uncertainty and volatility — nothing.
Economists call it “falling business confidence”, but it is really indecision and procrastination.
This hesitancy results in more prospect objections, longer sales cycles, and unrealistic budgets. It also shows in cutbacks in marketing and communications, key drivers of economic activity. Faced with business customers taking longer to make a decision and resulting slower sales, business-to-business operators begin to doubt their own planning. “Our market is cutting back. Perhaps we should be cutting back too,” is the reasoning.
“Should I continue my marketing and communications budget? Or should I cut it to the bone?”
“What if we continue our marketing and nothing happens? What guarantees are there we’ll get a return on this spend?”
Of course there are no guarantees. There never were — apart from one: If you don’t do any marketing or communication, then nothing will happen. That can be guaranteed.
What the present situation focuses business owners on is results. Tighter economic times mean a switch from general brand communication to marketing aimed at achieving specific objectives.
No longer is it sufficient to do some marketing — any marketing — believing in the maxim “sales follow brand awareness”.
