In the first post of this blog, I lamented the devaluation of in-house graphic design and marketing in the C-Suite of many companies. That seems to have come closer to home than I’d prefer as I’ve discovered Damocles’ sword hanging above the collective heads of my own internal group in our latest corporate restructuring. We find ourselves pitching for our own jobs, ironically, on the heels of arguably one of the most successful and organized marketing years in the history of the company and that despite major budget cutbacks: we increased our volume of qualified leads 390%; we positioned the company strongly as an industry thought leader through authored articles, TV, radio and “webisodes”; we increased pipeline opportunity dollar volume 316% from $12 million to $50 million; and we built a lead nurturing process and marketing relationship management system tailored to the needs of our business development team.

Given how long it takes to grow a steady lead pipeline in this industry (the sales cycle typically ranges from 10 months to 2 years), it’s perplexing how top management could be willing to walk away from the momentum that has been created — particularly at a time when the competition is making gains, symbolic and real, in nearly every corner of the marketplace. But there it is.

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