In this rapid‑fire interview, Professor Pete Alexander talks with Christopher Nesbitt, president of Nesbitt Marketing, about industrial marketing and business leadership. Nesbitt explains that industrial marketing is highly competitive and often relies on outdated practices that need modernization. He stresses that marketing should be viewed as an investment rather than a cost center, noting its impact on customer perception, service, and overall brand impression. Nesbitt advises leaders to treat both good and bad times as learning opportunities, using downtime to reflect, improve, and reframe strategy. He recommends fellow executive Joe Stepke as a podcast guest. When asked about his first job, Nesbitt shares his early experience working as a computer technician for his father, gaining hands‑on IT skills. The episode concludes with his contact information – @nesbittmarketing on social platforms and www.nesbittmarketing.com.
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This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where executives share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
Hello everyone, I'm Christopher Nesbitt. I'm the president over at Nesbitt Marketing, and we focus on industrial marketing most of the time. COVID-19's got us a little bit flexible right now,, but overall we do really high-level, high-ticket strategy marketing and then backfill from there.
Christopher, it's great to have you on the show. Question number 2: What's the best thing about working in your industry?
Best thing that I enjoy about industrial marketing is that it's really competitive. A lot of people don't know that a lot of marketing does take place in the manufacturing sector. The problem typically is that they are using outdated practices and they need to modernize to get them growing again. So we help them figure those plans out.
Oh, very interesting. Question number 3: I have a book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
One of the big ones is the importance of marketing. So there are companies out there that look at marketing as a cost center rather than an investment. And there are a lot of opportunities that they're missing if they're not doing marketing and if they're not doing— taking it seriously. And marketing touches a lot of different parts of the company that some people are not aware of. You know, it's, it's everything from how does your customer perceive the, the company as a whole from the outside. It touches things like customer service and how you sound on the phone. So basically any impression that you're making on a customer Marketing touches that at some level.
I couldn't agree with you more. It's all about the message that you put out there and the exposure.
Absolutely.
Great. So question number 4: other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for your customers, what advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?
I would say that You gotta, you gotta love the good times as much as you love the bad times. Because, and what I mean by that is that, uh, you know, we, we have an opportunity to learn from every mistake that we make or the downtimes that a company has. Um, we can also use downtime, you know, for sales and, and, uh, and really just bad times for the company. We can use that to reframe our situation and say, what are we learning right now? What are we improving on? Where do we want to go? So those, those downtimes, when you think of an up and down, are just as valuable, if not more valuable, than the highs that we get to experience as business owners.
So if I understand you correctly, it's utilize this time wisely to improve upon yourself and the company?
Absolutely, 100%.
Yeah, it's a great idea. Question number 5: What other executives like yourself would you like to acknowledge as a leader and invite to be on my podcast?
I'm a big fan of Joe Stepke. He would be an amazing guest for you.
Oh, I love that. Actually, Joe was on my podcast just yesterday, so we like minds. I'll let him know that you recommended him. He'll love that. And question number 6, please tell me about your first job.
So my first job, well, the first job technically I worked for myself, so we'll skip that one. But the second job that I worked for someone else was for my dad actually, and I was basically a full-fledged computer technician. I was, you know, hacking the school system to find holes so that we could patch them up. He was a computer IT guy. And then I was also, you know, running scans for viruses, installing new hard drives, stripping down computers, and it was dirty work, but I learned so much about computers, and it was probably one of the best gifts that my father could have given to me.
Mm, that sounds so great. You got a chance to, uh, to build the relationship with your father as well?
Absolutely, yeah, definitely something we have in common.
Oh, that's great to hear. Christopher, thank you so much for being on the show. How can people find you?
Uh, it's pretty much @nesbittmarketing on every social media platform, or you can visit the website at www.nesbittmarketing.com. So it's pretty straightforward.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. For more insights and ideas, please go to LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, or iTunes and search for the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
