The Surprising Truth About Business Grants for Manufacturers

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Industrial manufacturers underinvest in sales and marketing and could use business grants to change that. Right or wrong?

Measured against what benchmark? Tech with massive margins (and negative earnings?) B2C businesses?

How about what's necessary to get the job done?

The reality is that many manufacturers overpay commission for reps who miss quota and "receive" rather than "win" orders. And they invest significant sums in trade shows as their primary mode of marketing.

Yes, you need a sales force. And yes, trade shows are an important tactic that fosters face-to-face and impromptu contact in a world that's too digital and anonymous.

However, today's buying habits, journeys and teams, and changing information consumption habits are quickly outrunning companies' sales talent and marketing savvy.

But the CFO of a manufacturing company can't simply snap their fingers to produce more cash to bump marketing spend from 1% to 3% of revenue, invest in sales training, fund a program to improve customer experience, or other "nice to haves." There are only so many margin dollars. (EXCEPT sales training can help grow margins!)

Or....maybe they can.

Micki Vandeloo is a trained engineer who has worked in industrial manufacturing for years. She stumbled into helping her employers apply for various grants and eventually turned her expertise into a business - @LakeviewConsulting .

Micki helps manufacturers find, apply, win, and complete grants - because she's a huge manufacturing advocate. She recently joined me on the Industrial Growth Institute Podcast to share her insights.

Here's the takeaway.

There's gobs of money out there for manufacturers. And MONEY IS FUNGIBLE! So find appropriate grants for new investment or for projects you're already funding to free those funds up for initiatives you've had to defer.

And maybe even hand off the work to Micki's team so you don't drop the task in the lap of someone without the expertise and too many other tasks already.

#Grants #BusinessGrants #GrantFunding #ManufacturingGrants