One number in the report that was a surprise to me was that 64 percent of respondents said they have no dedicated marketing budget, instead relying on referrals from customers and business associates such as contractors and designers. While referrals may be bringing in some nice business for you, I would find it hard to believe that it is generating so much business that you are having to turn people down. Does your shop have the capacity to add to its work load? If your answer is yes and you don’t have a dedicated marketing budget and sales team, perhaps it is time to reevaluate that aspect of your business. For some tips on doing so, go back and read John Phillip’s article Planning Makes Your Marketing Efforts More Effective.

 

One pleasant surprise in the report is that 56 percent of respondents reported that their 2011 sales volume was higher than 2010. That is great news! Even better, 79 percent reported that they expect 2012 to be higher than 2011!

 

These are just a few of the highlights from the survey, but if you are interested in finding out more you can get a free copy of it by signing up for a trial subscription of the CMA e-newsletter. You can do so here.

 

NueMedia sent out a survey at the end of December to gauge how well we are serving our audience so we can better reach your needs in the New Year. If you didn’t get a chance to take the survey and are interested you can do so by clicking on the link below.