Blogs

Boy, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged! That’s probably because my team and I have been busy closing out 2008 and planning for 2009 and beyond. Speaking of 2008, you may have noticed that StrongMail signed a record number of customers this past year. I am so proud of our team. Without a doubt, they are passionate and committed to making StrongMail a very special company.

Beginning last November, I hit the road to meet with as many customers and prospects as I could. I wanted to see and hear, first hand, what they were thinking about the economy, how that would affect their business and what they planned on doing to bridge the gap. Every company had specific goals and requirements, so I found it interesting to get a cross-section of perspectives.

I was (and still am) particularly interested in how senior executives are managing differently during these times. Obviously, changes need to be made, expenses need to be reduced and strategies may need to shift to better reflect today’s realities. Between my conversations with prospects and customers, coupled with my current reading log, I found the following ideas to be most thought provoking:

Bad times could mean new opportunities.
Companies that are the most agile and make bold moves will have the upper hand. We’ve all heard about Carnegie Steel and Hewlett Packard, both being launched during very troubling economic times. Cutting costs is important, but being in a position to invest on the cheap presents a great opportunity to start something from nothing or to double down on your current solution/offering. I’ve spoken to a number of my colleagues (fellow venture-backed CEO’s), prospects and customers about this and there is general consensus on this thought. What new opportunities can you envision in today’s “new reality?”

Play to your strengths.
This is a good time to reinforce your sales channel, harden your product line and simplify your offerings (and messaging too!). Here at StrongMail, we talk about this every day, so we can be laser- focused on our strengths. This is a purposeful (and useful) dialog that helps us in the decision-making process. For example, as we developed our Operating Plan for 2009, we continually reminded ourselves of what we wanted to accomplish in our solution to meet the ever-growing demands of our prospects and customers. We’ve received good feedback from current customers about ways to further evolve our platform. Our strength has always been the underlying infrastructure of our solution—therein lies the gem: Harden the platform, ensure scalability, make it easier to use and make the solution as flawless as software can be.

We’re focused on investing in our sales channel, our solution and our people. I believe that if we remain focused, take action, stick to our strengths and continue to add value to our customers, we will come out of these uncertain times stronger, better positioned and with a lot more customers.