This post was inspired by Bob Bly, a favorite marketing guru, who just happens to be an engineer — and who shares his common sense advice through a regular newsletter.

Here was his post:

Subscriber MF writes:

“Right now I am having a very slow month — slowest in the history of
my firm.

“Bob, how do you or others manage the psychology of ups and downs
in business?”

This answer to this question has two parts.

First, instead of “managing” your worry and concern, why not just
get rid of those anxiety-causing slow times altogether?

And yes, there is in fact something you can do to either totally
avoid slow times … or failing that, certainly minimize their
frequency and duration, so it becomes a non-issue.

It’s my “double pipeline” lead generation strategy.

In a nutshell, you figure out how much lead-generating
self-promotion you need to generate enough inquiries to keep you
busy.

And then you do twice that amount of marketing!

By doing so, you will have two times as many potential new
clients and projects as you need.

So if Prospect W doesn’t come through, you don’t agonize over it
— because Prospects X, Y, and Z are waiting in the wings, ready
to pull the trigger on your services.

Second, have multiple streams of income.

That way, if your primary business gets soft for a time, then
instead of worrying about it … or sitting around with nothing to
do …

…you focus one of your other profit centers until the lull in
your main business is over.

That way, you are still productive — and you still have money
coming in.

Now, admittedly, these two strategies don’t actually address the
“psychology” MF asked me about.

But consider: You can use the first tactic to prevent or reduce
to near-zero slow times.

And with the second, you don’t really care if your main profit
center is in a slump, because you can stay active and profitable
with your other money makers.

In other words — problem solved.

Alfred E. Neuman famously asked: “What — me worry?”

And now, you don’t have to.

Sincerely,

Bob Bly

And here is my reply to Bob. We occasionally share comments, just as we share an interest in engineering, marketing, and running our own businesses.

Hi Bob,

Like MF, our business slowed to a trickle 25 years ago. This after five years in business by which time we thought we had it figured out. It was a bit scary.

But rather than panic or give up, we reassessed the business. So my late business partner and I adopted a “portfolio” approach for our engineering consulting firm.

Starting in 1987, we had focused on two markets — defense (where we had a lot of experience) and personal computers (exploding at the time.). But in early 1992 both markets came to a screeching halt. Not only that, our two largest clients cut back too.

Upon examination, we realized we had been doing a fair amount of medical electronics. So we initiated a three prong marketing approach:

• Approached a leading medical magazine and and offered to write tutorial articles
• Got involved in a medical electronics professional group
• Made some good contacts at the FDA.

Six months later business was back on track.  A publisher approached us about a book based on the articles; we were invited to participate in some trade shows;  and referrals started coming in from the FDA and others. The result — credibility and visibility in a new market.

We later replicated this approach in several other areas. As engineers, it was not that difficult — we already knew 95% of what we needed to know — the remaining 5% was unique to the industries but was easy to learn with a little bit of effort. Thus, the “portfolio.” Over the years, when one area was down, another was up.

At the same time, we decided to add training to our services, in addition to design and troubleshooting. Although it took considerable effort to get this off the ground, we eventually trained 12,000+ students over 25 years, yielding over $12 million in revenues (not all profit as we had promotional and fulfillment expenses, but still very worthwhile.) That added another pipeline to our revenues.

We also developed a software package with useful engineering tools unique to our niche. Although not as successful financially as the classes, it did bring in occasional beer money. The latter a nod to our German heritages (Kimmel und Gerke…)

Feel free to share my story as a bit of encouragement. Too often people see downturns as setbacks and even give up. In our case, it got us our of our comfort zones, and on to bigger and better things.

Not too bad for a couple of goofy electrical engineers just trying to make a living on our own terms 🙂

Want more info about Bob? Check out his Success Story here, or visit his web site at www.bly.com.  BTW, he has around 60,000 followers, and his newsletter is FREE.  He does sell books and more, but all useful and very low key. He even offers a guarantee if you are not satisfied.

I’ve never met Bob in person, but hope to do so at some time in the future. Until then, I will continue to enjoy his marketing insights and will share them from time to time. 

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