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Economy Review
What is the year 2007 going to look like? And how will it impact your business, your forecast and your ability to sell cartridge heaters? These are great questions and the salesperson who does not take the time to ponder them could be missing out on some opportunities or market changes that impact sales in a big way.
Let's take a quick look at the Big Picture. Crude oil prices have dropped and stabilized to the low $60's per barrel and this has had an impact on alternative fuel and heating markets. The hot, new market of pellet stoves, for example, has cooled significantly and stove manufacturers have found themselves dogged with heavy inventories.
S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrials have continued to hold at very high levels and the economy is still very healthy. A bit of a pullback can certainly be expected and this would be consistent with the weakening housing market acting as an economic decelerator. 2006 gross domestic product growth of mid 3% range can be expected to be around 2% in 2007.
So how does this impact your sales? Industrial markets should remain pretty consistent. Consumable products like heaters will continue to fail and need replacement. Even with a softening of inflation fears, industrial consumers will continue to look sharply at prices and costs. Smart purchasers will react favorably to your sales pitch about cost of heating reduction as opposed to pure price decisions.
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Our prime markets of die casting, metal processing and forging, plastic processing and mold supply, extrusion and packaging, laminating and bonding will all hold steady and we can expect 2007 to continue the trends of 2006 with only moderate slowing of growth.
Friday Funnies
Random Thoughts for 2007:
- I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.
- Police were called to a daycare where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.
- Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now.
- The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference.
- The butcher backed up into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
- To write with a broken pencil is pointless.
- When fish are in schools they sometimes take debate.
- The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
- A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.
- We'll never run out of math teachers because they always multiply.
- When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U C L A.
- The math professor went crazy with the blackboard. He did a number on it.
- If you take your laptop computer for a run, it could jog your memory.
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