OPINION: Can you build a brand in a declining market?

AOC regional sales director Paul Butler argues big tech brands are facing a decline because sales teams are focusing most of their efforts on smaller, more adaptable brands…

So many times I visit customers at vendor desks or sales floors and look around – not just at the people I am visiting, but also my fellow vendors and competitors, to see who is doing it right.

I have been working in the IT business for close to 30 years, but what never ceases to amaze me is the difference in approach taken by those companies working to develop and strengthen their brand and those who just plug in a number and hope for the best.

The display market has shown decline, even stagnation, for several years, and innovation has been reduced to a bare minimum. In such an environment, the anti-cyclic behaviour of investing in the innovation of a still huge market can make a difference.

It helps to build the brand and change the perception of stakeholders and users alike – but to further grow our business, we have to of course take share from others.

This is not a very easy task, but what is paramount is the importance of forging and maintaining strong relationships with distributors, and more importantly, with those resellers and retailers who are going to sell our product.

It is an absolute necessity to not only understand the nature of the business of our customers, but how we can help when times are hard and when business is good. 

Creating the right framework for brand development through building relationships is an important step to sustainable growth, which is often missed in search of ‘hitting the numbers’.

I see many major players hacking in some figures, coming up with a price and crossing their fingers. So many big brands are in decline, not because their products are in any way inferior, but because the biggest efforts
of the sales teams are for smaller, more adaptable brands.

Every single member of our team knows that strong customer relationships are the key factor in our success.

A simple introduction is the very first step to successful relationship building.

In today’s market you need to work for this business – you’ve got to get out and make it happen, and not rely on the brand you work for to take care of everything and hand it to you on a plate.