Regardless of the best efforts in the other four areas of concentration, someone must ask for the business, even if you have a relationship and even if you have earned the customer’s business historically.

Decisions, especially in complex cases, need a spark to break them from their natural state of stasis. To initiate action to energize a deal and the resulting positive outcome for the customer (solution to pain, more sales, saving money, competitive advantage, information), whatever the “edge”, get in the habit of asking.

For retail clients, it may be a programmed series of periodic theme based sales, timed to match market events and provide clear incentives for the ultimate retail customer to act.

In industrial and distribution accounts, it is often a bundle of value timed to end on calendar quarters. These incentives have become cultural in some cases and the institutional nature of the offering is really part of a majority of sales. It needs to happen to complete the buyer’s image of the proper characterization of the relationship and transactions. Behavior has been burned into the market DNA.

Regardless of the nature of the industry, the point is to map the plan out in advance, and to drive the market. We also encourage our clients to examine forward looking “what if” questions, and the appropriate action. These are best done in advance of the actual event. This permits better quality thought and response scenarios, as contrasted to shooting from the hip in mid year.

The alternative is to initiate promotions and incentives on a reactionary basis. If a client is reacting to competitors programs, mathematically they are eliminated in some number of cases in “me too” actions. This makes the task of growing market share and revenue significantly more difficult.

Advance planning for events and promotions is significantly more cost effective. Often clients can include more prospects, considering the time involved in getting the word out in planned actions. Promotions with ample thought behind them can employ creative energy and clever market leadership as the foundation, rather than a hasty reaction to unanticipated competitive programs. Cost can be controlled and the perception of a commanding and controlled organization supports a customer serving perception.

We need only to direct our client’s to listen to automobile dealer advertising in the last week of a month (especially at the end of a quarter) to drive this point home.