What will we sell if not enough is produced?
As we watch Egypt begin to recover from violent protests, the long-term effects for international corporations and sales of their products will become more evident. Sales Professionals across the globe know that if supplies of popular goods are interrupted anywhere in the world, the ripples will be felt down-line in every trading nation.
The country of Egypt brings to mind diversity of population, the Nile, the Pyramids, the tombs, big cities, small villages, and sand. The entire country presents a living history, to be sure. However, it took a detailed January 31st Bloomberg.com article to make me understand the affect on large metropolitan industries I didn’t even know were there. An edited list includes:
- Statoil ASA, Norway’s biggest oil producer halted drilling offshore
- GlaxoSmithKline, which has about 900 employees in the country, closed offices and plants because disruptions with the infrastructure and travel networks made it impossible to get to work.
- Metro AG, the world’s third-largest retailer evacuated employees and family members from Egypt.
- Coca-Cola closed Egyptian locations “until security improves”.
- PepsiCo Inc. quickly began helping employees relocate to their home counties.
- Hewlett-Packard Co. is advising its employees in Egypt to work from home.
- Delta Air Lines Inc. canceled its daily New York- Cairo flights.
- Ingersoll-Rand is temporarily closing a plant and sales operations in Cairo.
- Volkswagen canceled all deliveries to the country.
- Nissan Motor Co. closed its Egyptian operations until Feb. 3rd.
- Daimler AG stopped production of Mercedes-Benz vehicles at its Egyptian joint venture for two days.
- Lafarge SA, the world’s largest cement maker, also suspended output in Egypt.
- HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe’s biggest bank, closed its 100 branches in Egypt.
- Piraeus Bank SA, Greece’s fourth-biggest bank, closed some of its 48 branches in Egypt due to looting, smashed windows and stolen computers.
- UBS AG, Switzerland’s largest bank, will temporarily close its office in Egypt tomorrow.
- Barclays Plc, the third-largest U.K. bank, closed 65 branches following advice from the Central Bank of Egypt.
- At least four major tour operators have halted trips to Egypt.
- Egypt’s stock market, like banks in the country, stayed closed amid the protests.
- BP is making plans to evacuate family dependents from Egypt.
- Nokia, the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones, has closed offices in Egypt.
Actually, the list continues. These are just the firms I thought sales pros would recognize. Egypt’s protests affected regional gas, oil, cars, trucks, drugs, bank operations, tourism, food, drink, cement, computers, retail, and air travel. Add to that the human loss of life of over 150 people.
My questions to professional sales people are these:
- What will we sell if not enough is produced?
- When will long-term effects on international supply lines be tabulated?
- How will this affect our sales network?
- How will delivery times be affected?
- How will the world be affected if this type of activity becomes more wide spread, particularly in our home region?
- What can you as a sales professional do to prepare for alternate supply and delivery strategies so that you can still transact business?
I don’t have the answers yet either, but let’s keep the conversation going and get to the solution so these breaks don’t happen again. Also let’s wish our friends in Egypt the speediest of both personal and economic recoveries!
By K.B. Elliott
K. B. Elliott is a freelance writer for Salesheads.com. Working both sides of sales desks in the Detroit area for over 30 years gives him a unique perspective on the process. His networking interests as an entrepreneur connect him with many new venture start-ups in Southeast Michigan. To read more of his blogs, please go to Salesheadsblog.com, and be sure to check out the postings for jobs in nearly any industry at Nexxt
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