Out of change and chaos comes opportunity

Walter Tobin, ERA CEO

by Walter E. Tobin, ERA CEO

Whew! So much to unpack as I sit down to pen this article. Our industry is facing so many challenges — some may say chaos — on so many fronts. Others may look at the glass being half full and adopt the motto: “Out of change and chaos comes opportunity.”

As I write this, we are in the early stages of tariff implementation by the U.S. – no politics here – but all of us are hopeful that this move may help drive more companies to move factories back to the U.S. Certainly, it will take many months for our industry to see a lot of movement here. Can the past thoughts of lower cost of manufacturing, lower wages, emphasis on low prices and PPV to maximize stock prices and shareholder value be reconciled by Wall Street? Can companies who chose to move manufacturing back to the U.S. and experience higher manufacturing costs and lower margins avoid having Wall Street punish their stock price? Only time will tell.

As we finish CYQ2, we are now at the doorstep of 2H2025. Haven’t we heard that the turnaround will happen in “second half?” What will be different on July 1, 2025 that differs from Q2?

All of us are weary and tired from relying on hoping that things will “turn around in six months.” So, what now? Do we all just sit around and hope that things get better? Who has the magic wand to wave and poof, the market is back? No one.

Do we just sit back and try to wait this out? To mark time, tread water, try and keep our companies together and employees motivated to “hang in there.” How long will we be able to financially subsidize both our company and our employees while we sit back and wait for things to improve? Many companies are losing employees to other industries as folks decide that they cannot wait this out any longer.

As we sit through the third year of waiting, many companies have decided to try and save their way to prosperity: cutting travel, entertainment, training, advertising, hiring new employees, investing in new tools, etc. They just want to hang in there just long enough to survive and be positioned for when the market finally turns around.

Yet… when the market signals that it is turning around, will it be too late for your company to react? Will you miss the initial 90 days of the turnaround because you saved your way to complacency?

Someone told me years ago that there are three kinds of people in this world: 1) Those that make it happen, 2) Those that watch it happen and 3) Those that wonder what happened.

I think all of us perceive that our companies are considered in the first category. But are we really? Do our actions and initiatives, today and now, reflect this “make it happen” mantra? Or are we just watching and then wondering what happened? And then we may wonder how we could have missed the turnaround after it happens.

I am not naïve about the real challenges that all of us are facing, trust me. The pressure on top line revenue growth, expense control and bottom-line profit are real. But what can any of us really do now to get into and stay into category #1 above?

Some thoughts and suggestions:

• New hires. Now is the time to restock the pond – to find, interview and train new employees who can hit the street running and beat your competition to the punch when the market turns. It takes at least 90 days to find, interview, hire and train new employees. The time to do this is before the market turns, not after. The competition on capturing new employees will be much more severe after the market begins to pick up.

• New training initiatives. When was the last time your sales teams received sales training? Have they ever had professional sales training? Oh, they may tell you they do not need it. “I have been doing this a long time”… “I do not not need any training.” Sound familiar? What if they have been doing it wrong for years? There are many great training programs out there. I will include here a shameless plug for the ERA STEP training program to be held October 7-9 in a live/virtual format.

• New productivity tools. Did you attend the ERA Conference? There were several new and exciting productivity tools that were presented. If you attended, the slide decks of all of the breakout sessions are available on the ERA Conference mobile app.

• Website and digital marketing refresh. What is your mar-comm plan? How do you look to the outside world? Get an agnostic look at your digital footprint…you may be horrified! If you are, now is the time to invest in your digital image. It is who you are to the outside world. Do not look like a fossil.

• Funnel review and scrubbing — a.k.a “Fish where the fish are” and turn open quotes into orders. Your manufacturers ask you to review the backlog—review it on your own and try and convert open quotes into orders. Many of us never ask for the order. Get professionally aggressive with your customers. They will respect you for asking.

• Deeper dive into existing customers. Do you really know all of the key people? Have you looked at your customer’s website? Recent press releases? New contracts? There is a treasure trove of great information out there that knowing it gives you a huge advantage over your competition.

• New customer and market developments. Who competes against your customer? What do they buy? Who are your customers’ customers? Do you know who your customer’s VP of Sales is? VP of Marketing? What are they working on?

• AI tools. Seriously, why are we still trying to convince so many of us to get into AI? I ask folks if they are using AI: they tell me, “Of course.” I ask them how they are using it…if they pause, it means that that they are not using AI! Give your AI strategy to someone who owns it—a fractional AI single point of contact who can teach all of your employees the latest tools. What are you waiting for? AI has been out for four years. Do you use it? If not, you will miss the boat near and long term. Here is another shameless plug for ERA SearchLink.ai—take a look at the tutorials at era.org/era-searchlink-ai-resources. Sam Richter walks you through how to use AI. Get on board now or get left in the dust.

So, take a deep breath. Decide what your plan is and what category you are in now and what category you want to be in. Make the tough decisions now. Your competition and manufacturers will take notice, trust me.

Do not miss the opportunity now while the market is sleeping. Once the giant wakes up, you will miss the upside and have to play catch-up while your competitors take market share, lines and customers away from you.

Get your game face on and elbows up as you skate into the corners. Skate where the puck is going … not where it is today!