Some of us are in a good mood

Some of you may be pleasantly surprised to learn that this week's blog is written by someone in a good, and dare I say, optimistic mood. Oh sure, I love to wax lyrical about everything that's wrong in my view of the world - it would be easy to make some sarcastic comment about some banker drawing a £650K pension whilst he single handedly brought down the British economy. That's not fair is it? I mean he didn't do it on his own. It's not like he's sat in some secret lair in a volcano stroking a white cat and working on his evil laugh while hoards of unappreciated henchmen drive aimlessly up and down corridors in forklift trucks and push buttons on giant computers. OR IS HE????? (No, he isn't - we've seen him on the telly).

You see this week we exhibited at International Confex at Earls Court, and the general feeling amongst a lot of the exhibitors was that it was a lot quieter than last year. They were right - it was. There were times when you could see from one end of the hall to the other without craning your neck to see passed a tall person. I'm actually quite short, so that worked for me on many levels.

So here we are, all paying the same amount of money and time to attend a show with less delegates than we were hoping for, and yet whilst all the others were moaning, I found myself thinking one thing - I'm thirsty - OK - it was two things. I found myself thinking that this was GREAT! Trade shows typically invite a lot of people who are simply there to take a day out of the office and pick up a lot of free stuff, yet in an economic downturn, these same people cannot afford to do that. If they're happy with their suppliers, then time spent shopping around is seen as time wasted.

So we're off to a good start. A higher percentage of people coming on to my stand are genuine potential customers, rather than students looking for a free pen and a box of jelly beans. The jelly beans went down really well by the way, but we did get a lot of the jalapeno flavoured ones. I quite liked them myself, but the rest of the gang weren't so sure.

We've got our good customers. Now what? Well for many of them, their opener was very similar; "We've had to cut our marketing budget". What's my reaction to this - you guessed it - GREAT! You see they said that they had to cut their marketing budget, not their marketing effort. They still needed merchandise, they just wanted to spend less. As a salesman, you'd think that news would be like a slap round my bald head, but it really isn't. Think about it, when you find yourself having to economise at home, what's the first thing you do? You PLAN. You start thinking about ways to make that penny go even further than it did before, and once you start really thinking about it, you amaze yourself at just how much you really can save.

What's going to happen if you put that money saving effort into your marketing plans? Well the more likely result is that you're going to look for ways to get a greater return on your investment. If you previously looked at a 15% return, you now want to make that 30%. Is it really such a puzzle to spend less and yet make more? Well it is if you've never worked with us before. Our clients are slashing budgets left and right and yet we're all still smiling. It's a cliche to work smart rather than hard, and yet so many people ignore that same advice when it comes to their marketing.

The ones that are marketing "smart" are moving away from being mere buyers into being fully fledged marketeers, and they need to partner with experts now more than ever before. I'm excited about what all of this means. People who meet me know that I have all of the enthusiasm of a speed addict who has just downed a dozen red bulls and watched a Jackie Chan movie before I go into a meeting. I've always been like that - I'm genuinely excited about your marketing plans. I just don't get those Marketing Managers who don't feel the same way. They've been tasked with improving their company's profits in the worst economy we have seen in decades. If they can succeed in that, they'll be worshipped as gods. Small children will come to visit their statues in the town square and leave boiled sweets in a bowl by their feet. Songs will be sung of their bravery and wisdom. Alright, someone might give them an iPod, but you see what I mean.

Less money = more creativity. Less money = more opportunity. Less money = more focus.

So with less money meaning so much, don't you feel just a little sorry for that evil banker?