Greg, Brian and I went to Subway for lunch today.
This is something that I really enjoy doing and don’t feel I do enough.
We get along really well and the thoughts that come out of these lunches I think are extremely helpful for us and the organization as a whole.
The topics we discussed today were:
- The future home of SageRock.
- The future of trade shows at SageRock
- Spending more time and money on our videos.
- Having a written marketing plan.
- Joining a country club.
First, our lease is coming up in February of 2010. It’s definitely not too early to start thinking about what we want to do in that regard. There are a lot pros and cons for moving or not moving.
On one hand, we think the our current home is extremely cool. It’s edgy and hip. But it is cut up in strange ways. Also, working in a real warehouse comes with a decent amount of dirt and bugs. Joe has always wanted a real parking lot.
We haven’t seen any place that is quite as cool. We also are getting a good price per square foot.
So basically we have a cool, hip, cheap place now. Another place might be more professional, better laid out but also more expensive and not as cool. It’s a hard decision.
Second, SageRock currently is not scheduled to exhibit at any trade shows for the remainder of 2009 and beyond. That’s new for us. We usually do about 4 a year. This isn’t because we can’t afford trade shows. If anything, our marketing budget is higher than it was in 2008. We just haven’t been able to show any measurable performance at a trade show in quite some time. So, we are a little hesitant to explore this more right now.
Third, our videos clearly do show performance. We can track direct sales to videos we have done. Other than a $90 audio mixer, some cables and some video tapes, we haven’t spent any money on our videos.
My “high end” video camera is just my family camera. While it’s pretty nice, we could probably do better.
I suspect I could probably get an opening and close for my videos that would make them nicer. I also could probably create a studio that would be more professional.
Fourth, believe it or not, we don’t have an internal written marketing plan for 2009. We need to have some clear focus with specific goals. Most years we do have a plan. I think this year has been a little more vague because we weren’t really sure what we were doing. Everything is up in the air.
Fifth, Brian is an avid golfer. He is interested in seeing if he can make some good connections with business leaders in the local market at a country club. I suspect that a year’s membership would cost about the price of one trade show. So, I’m open to experimenting with it.
Those were the topics we got through. These were all topics that I could not have thought through as thoroughly on my own.
These guys are really inspired, smart and dedicated to helping SageRock become great. We are really fortunate to have them.
Thanks guys!
Photo by: warp speed subway on Flickr – Photo Sharing!
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