Marketing becoming the job of all employees

Premium content from The Business Journal - by Kathy Bergstrom, Special to The Business Journal Date

Susan Wehrley . . . “It’s easy to be sloppy when the money’s coming in the door more easily.”

Faced with fewer prospects and increased competition, southeastern Wisconsin companies say they’ve become better marketers during the recession.

Strategies include getting more employees involved in marketing efforts, networking and finding ways to enhance customer relationships through better service and increased contact.

The recession has “been a wake-up call for a lot of management to get back to basics,” said Andrew Haag, chief operating officer of Moore Oil Co. Inc. in Milwaukee.

Moore Oil supplies petroleum and chemical products to automotive and industrial customers such as dealerships, fleets, quick lube shops and other clients. The company looked at its sales process and customer service to make sure all were top notch, Haag said.

Last spring Moore shifted some administrative duties away from its vice president and director of sales to allow him more time in the field with customers and sales representatives. Part of that strategy is to increase the number of products current customers buy, including high-margin products that will help customers with their own returns, Haag said.

The recession affected Moore’s industrial sales and sales to trucking fleets, but sales on the automotive side have remained steady, because people are keeping their cars longer and servicing them more frequently, he said.

Moore also laid off some underperforming salespeople and put more in the field. A new position was recently created to take on some of the order-taking duties salespeople performed with repeat customers.

The company has seen results from its efforts. In the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, the company had a net gain of 78 new accounts.

At Engberg Anderson Inc., more employees than ever are involved in marketing for the Milwaukee architecture firm.

Marketing duties previously fell to the partners and marketing staff, but the firm has now created several focus areas for marketing based on the type of projects it does, such as health care, libraries, airports, historic preservation and others.

Employees who want to be involved are invited to participate in at least one group and some are involved in multiple groups, said Charles Engberg, a partner at the firm.

Each month, members of the group get assignments to complete. An example might be to find a hospital of a certain size in a geographic area and identify the contact people even if no projects are planned. Once that information is gathered someone is assigned to make contact.

At Briohn Building Corp. in Brookfield, employees are encouraged to participate in the community and get involved in industry groups and functions, said Nelson Williams, vice president of marketing.

“There are fewer projects in the pipeline, so we all actively have to work together to bring them to fruition,” he said

More employees are now bringing in leads, Williams said.

“It’s easy to be sloppy when the money’s coming in the door more easily, but if it’s not you have to stop and say, how are we doing things here?” said Susan Wehrley, president and owner of Susan K. Wehrley & Associates Inc., a Brookfield consulting company,

Wehrley helps companies develop strategic plans, and that process includes finding out how each department adds value to the sales and marketing goal.

Examples could include asking a front desk person to stay with callers rather than just forwarding potential prospects to other phones and risking that the prospect is lost.

Customer service employees might be asked to up-sell or cross-sell during their contact with customers. The billing department might be asked to increase customer satisfaction by accommodating customer requests for billing arrangements.

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