These are, without a doubt, turbulent times. And there’s the sense that things got bad overnight. The media spews doom-and-gloom updates, with little attention to the details that caused the economy to flip-flop quicker than it takes to say Alan Greenspan.

A sudden rash of layoffs, excess inventories and stock-market downturns hint that the current shaky state of the economy is more than an aberration.

Every economic “about face” inevitably revives the debate regarding whether or not the janitorial and sanitary supply industry is, in fact, “recession proof.”

There is, as the story goes, an inherent need for what we sell. (For an exception to this homespun economic theory, visit the gas station restroom a few blocks from my house.)

For every 10 people who would howl at the naivete behind the thought that any free-market enterprise is recession proof, you still can find one or two players whose business strategy — or lack of one — seems to fuel the perception. The thing is, the way you run your business in good times determines how — if at all — you make it through the bad times. And, believe it or not, as sales-critical as this industry is, there are probably too many operations where “sales strategy” is an oxymoron.

The message? Stake your claim to a sales strategy that defies cycles, trends and end-user fickleness.

And I want to know, is it possible to overemphasize the sales mission?




POSTED ON: 3/1/2001