A Manufacturer's Guide to Winning More Work Without More Marketing Spend

If business has felt harder over the last few years, you're not alone. Rising costs, shifting markets, acquisitions, supply chain headaches and more competition than ever have plenty of business owners wondering where the next bit of work is actually going to come from. Manufacturing feels this especially hard, where demand can swing with the seasons and the wider economy in ways that are hard to plan around.

René Power joined us for this episode, first in our manufacturing mini-series. He's spent 30 years advising manufacturing and professional businesses on marketing, running his own consultancy since 2015. His one thing for generating more opportunities is refreshingly simple, and a bit uncomfortable.

Stop looking forward for a second, and look back instead

Too many businesses spend their energy chasing what's next. New leads, new prospects, another marketing push, the next networking event. René's advice goes the other way. Go back through your historical sales. Old quotes. Conversations that fizzled out. Customers you haven't spoken to in a while, or businesses you quoted for and never won. Then just start a conversation.

Those relationships are already warm. They know who you are and have shown some level of interest before. René's had a strong year off the back of doing exactly this, reviving relationships that go back to before COVID.

Where to start: pull together a list of everyone you've quoted or worked with in the last two years who isn't currently a client. Pick five and reach out this week.

Selling feels easier when you stop calling it selling

René isn't a natural salesperson and finds direct outreach uncomfortable. His fix is reframing it as starting a conversation rather than making a pitch. Before sending anything, he checks the person's profile and engages with a post or two, so the message doesn't land as a cold ambush. Then he keeps it light: a simple comment on something they've done, followed by a soft, low-pressure opener about what he's up to and whether there's an opportunity worth exploring.

Where to start: before your next outreach message, spend five minutes on the person's profile. Comment on a post, then send a message that reads like you know who they are.

A no is fine. Silence is the problem

René's clear that rejection doesn't bother him. What he can't stand is being left as a permanent maybe, quoted, promised, then never told either way, so he tries not to do the same to others. If it's a no, say so. Leaving someone on a perpetual follow-up list helps nobody.

Where to start: look at your own pipeline. If there's someone you've been meaning to give a straight answer to, whether that's a client, supplier or prospect, do it this week.

Manufacturers and service businesses have opposite problems

This is the observation that sparked most of the discussion after we finished recording. René's seen manufacturers pour their effort into sales and treat marketing as an afterthought. Service businesses tend to do the reverse: plenty of content and social media, with the sales conversations left to happen almost by accident. As service business owners ourselves, we had to agree! It's far easier to convince yourself that one more post or one more website tweak is the answer than to pick up the phone.

Where to start: be honest about which side of that split your business sits on. If you're all sales and no marketing, or all marketing and no direct outreach, that's the gap to close first.

People, culture and process win the work that brochures and data sheets can't

The mistake René sees most often is manufacturers leaning on outdated, generic assets that describe what a machine does and say nothing about who's operating it or why they do things a certain way. Technical capability matters, but in most B2B relationships, trust matters just as much. Customers aren't only buying a product. They're buying confidence that the people behind it will do right by them.

Where to start: look at your current marketing materials. If they only describe what you make, add something about how you work and why, the bit a customer can't get from a competitor's brochure.

Never let a good conversation just trail off

Borrowed from Sandler sales training and one René lives by: always leave with a next commitment. A prospect says they'll come back to you. A proposal gets sent. A meeting ends on a high. Then everyone moves on to the next thing, and nothing happens because nothing was ever agreed. A follow-up call, a review meeting, a specific date to reconnect keeps things moving in a way "I'll be in touch" never does.

Where to start: at the end of your next sales conversation, don't leave without agreeing a specific next step and date. Even a small one.

Our biggest takeaway

Simplicity and conversations win over complexity and faceless marketing.

The people sitting in your CRM who went quiet. The contact who asked for a quote six months ago and never heard back. The person you met at an event and meant to follow up with. Sometimes the opportunity isn't out there waiting to be found. It's already sitting in your history, waiting for you to pick up the phone.

Listen to the Full Episode

In this first manufacturing edition of What One Thing, René Power shares practical advice for manufacturers and service businesses alike, including:

• How to uncover opportunities from previous sales activity.
• Why starting conversations beats chasing marketing perfection.
• The biggest mistake manufacturers make when trying to win work.
• How modern manufacturing businesses are changing their approach to growth.
• Why securing the next commitment can transform your sales process.

Brought to you by Corbar Accounting and Affirm IT Services Ltd.