Well it’s been a while since I have babbled about the economy. I found it was getting a bit stale. I would assume that if I as the author found it stale… you the reader had probably reached and surpassed that point much much sooner!

But recent events have triggered me to believe that the mood and the economy are turning in this country. What I don’t know is whether it’s temporary or permanent. Doesn’t matter. It’s here and now.

So the real point of my musing today isn’t about the duration of the alleged recovery. It’s about what to do about it.

Before we get there, lets start with some highly scientific information as to why I feel it has recovered. Hopefully all of you have access to this high priced technology. Perhaps you may have needed some training on it. Or perhaps you outsourced the implementation to a consultant. Regardless I am pretty sure all of you have access to it.

The technology? It’s called the telephone.

But it’s a different telephone than ten years ago. Not just because the rotary dial has been replaced by buttons. Not just because the screen lights up to tell me when Revenue Canada is calling. (Yes I know that’s not their name anymore). No, it’s not because the useless little tape in the bottom, that housed my messages, has been replaced by a chip.

No, the “telephone” is more of a metaphor today. What I mean is this. The phone is ringing. Marketers are calling me and my competitors and our property clients, and proprieties with good news… they have budgets. Just this morning I had breakfast with another tenant in our building. They run awesome trade and consumer shows. They just signed their LARGEST sponsor in the 20-year history of the company! Stuff is happening.

But today it’s not just the phone. It’s email. It’s networking events. I am hearing about new activities in the market everywhere. Here is the penultimate for me! I had a pitch on Monday that started with a former client POKING me on Facebook last week. Hey we are both over 40, so it was a good clean poke, but nonetheless I would have never imagined someone would have found me (we haven’t worked together in five years) on FB!

So now that you have agreed with my science, what should you do?

Carpe diem my friends!

Grab as much as you can; however you can, now. Not tomorrow, now.

Don’t tell me you lack resources. There is plenty of Grade A talent on the street. Bring a herd in for a short-term contract. Tell them, the top three producers get full-time jobs. Align yourself with organizations that have resources if you don’t. Pay your staff a bonus if they secure five new sponsors in the next sixty days.

Why the rush? I think many of us learned we had it far too easy. I did. For five years the collective business of sponsorship, event marketing, experiential marketing and sports marketing has grown and grown and grown. Not because we did anything special in my opinion. It just seemed to be a demand for what we do. Lucky us.

Many properties have benefited form robust economies. Sponsors clamoured for profile positions. Sales execs clamoured for high-end hosting. Consumers clamored for new types of entertainment.

Today the tickets and sponsorship are back. Albeit corporations and consumers are budget conscious. But hosting – ouchy pouchy – that’s a black hole.

So the second thing you should do, besides act now and get the resources to do it, is to restructure. Restructure what you sell, how you sell it. Restructure what you buy, and how you buy it. If executives are afraid to be seen behind home plate these days, then get them to donate those seats to kids from a local charity. What a great scene… thousands of kids in VIP seats, so close to their heroes they can get autographs between innings!

Or if you cant afford that, repackage the perks and sell them to your consumers. Allow them to access once in a lifetime opportunities, they may not get if they aren’t a purchasing manager for a big client.

The third action to take advantage of these opportunities? Invest in analytics. I probably spent one-quarter of my July and August in meetings related to measurement, scorecards, and evaluations. Its fantastic, but why did it take a body blow economic wallop to get people thinking about this. Crazy. So if you don’t have IMI International on speed dial (yes that’s a shameless plug for the best in the business), then email me and I will send you their coordinates.

Last action? Summer is here. The weather is nice. The market is nicer. Get out of hibernation! Get out and meet new prospects, sponsors, partners, employers. That foxhole we dug ourselves is the worst place to be in this business. I’m spending this week schmoozing at the Rogers Cup. Next week the Canada Games in PEI, NASCAR in Montreal, and the week after at an Atlantic Lobster event in Vancouver (maybe I have my coasts mixed up?), and the CN Women’s Open in Calgary.

Meet me there! That’s where your customers, clients, and future employees are!

Isn’t it nice to be able to skip the CPR session for a day or two and breath a little easier?