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Making marketing, sales and management work
How to get your company where you want it
by John Graham
An economic environment may be emerging in which there are no overall really
good times or totally bad times. At a given moment, some sectors will be
stronger than others, but nothing really “sizzling” for most
everyone at any time. There’s always something lurking out there that
can turn a good day into a nightmare.
So where does this leave us for getting where we want to be? What are we
to do? What should we watch out for? What steps should we take if the economy
turns out to be unfriendly?
Here are a handful of thoughts and suggestions:
1. Stand with your customers. Don’t fall for the
“glass is half full” nonsense. It may be half empty.
What’s the point? Don’t be softheaded. And certainly don’t
listen to the politicians. Most important, don’t be caught short.
Prudence is always the best guide.
This isn’t about optimism and pessimism. It’s about reality.
For example, Xerox’s strategy with one customer segment is reality
driven. Instead of just trying to sell the latest and greatest equipment
(and it is, by the way), Xerox is working with customers, even
suggesting that they buy out equipment at the end of a lease to save money
and to wait before making new equipment purchases until there is greater
business certainty.
2. Don’t keep trying to “milk” present customers
for more business. Whenever times get tight, we’re told to
sell more to our current customers. Although this may sound like a great
idea, it’s nonsense. It’s the present customers who are cutting
back!
In the recession of the late eighties and early nineties, many companies
tried to load up their customers, a disastrous strategy for those who found
themselves drowning in debt. Along with many companies, Xerox made this
mistake. Not so now. Its goal is to work with the customer so that when
the time comes for new purchases, Xerox will be there to make the sale.
3. Only do business with those who take time to understand what
you’re up against. The issue isn’t “understanding
your business.” While that’s helpful, it’s not a core
issue. It’s figuring out where you are, grasping what isn’t
going well, and figuring out ways to fix it.
A marketing services firm was called in by a long established, well-known
manufacturer with sales problems. An initial analysis noted that the company
had serious marketing deficiencies, including an inability to distinguish
between features and benefits and a seemingly incorrigible tendency to talk
about itself instead of focusing on the customer.
Fancy brochures, a glitzy web site, email campaigns and stepped-up advertising
weren’t going to solve these fundamental problems. But would the prospect
want to hear all this? Would the prospect like to hear that all that’s
needed is a quick, inexpensive fix? Of course. That’s sells. But it
doesn’t solve fundamental problems.
Just because you or I happen to sell to a number of companies in the same
industry provides no assurance that we can solve the next prospect’s
problems. It’s by understanding what a particular business is faced
with that makes a difference.
4. Don’t be timid. The pain of the last three years
won’t be forgotten as quickly as we may think. With so many others
holding back, you are given an excellent opening. Drive through. “In
Lean Times, Big Companies Make a Grab for Market Share,” stated the
Wall Street Journal’s lead page one headline. The subhead
put it to bed: “Opportunity Knocks.” Come out and do it.
Is it accidental that Schick brought its new Quattro shaving system to market
when it did? Of course not. Schick is David attacking Gillette, the great
Goliath of shaving with 80 percent of the market. Does Schick harbor illusions
about beating Gillette? No way. But a preemptory strike that gives the company
and an uptick in market share is an achievable goal.
5. Give them a reason to want you. “Did you get our
proposal?” “Could I stop by for 20 minutes and tell you about
our company?” “I’m going to be in your area next week,
can I…..” When you hear such phrases, there’s just one
question to ask: “So what?”
Forget about ads that shout the name of your company and how long it’s
been in business. Draw upon your company’s years of experience and
your own expertise that will help your customers. If you share it with them,
then you’ll be welcomed because you bring something that’s useful.
6. Don’t fall for the simple, the easy. Email “blasts”
are quick, easy and cheap. But do they accomplish your objectives? Do they
enhance branding? There may be a reason why the cost is low. Don’t
reject what takes time, effort and planning just because it takes time,
effort and planning.
Either-or thinking gets us in trouble. The Pew Internet and American Life
Project study found that “wired baby boomers” split between
hard copy newspapers and online news sources. But with a low tolerance to
wade through up to 50% of email spam, there’s a place for print advertising
and electronic advertising.
Or, take the bash staged by Harley-Davidson in honor of its 100th anniversary.
It drew more than 300,000 visitors to Milwaukee. And at the highpoint of
the event, the company introduced its 2004 line of bikes. It was the biggest
birthday party of all time. Hundreds of thousands of tee shirts can now
be seen all around the globe.
It was a public relations event, but it took years of preparation and millions
of dollars. The Harley-Davidson people didn’t choose a PR strategy
because it was less costly than something else. It was selected because
it could be the most effective approach for building the brand.
7. Dig out the gold. Read business and trade journals and
not just those of your own industry. Get your hands on as many as possible.
Read the table of contents. That’s where you’ll find the real
gold. Editors are good at identifying hot topics and problems their readers
are having. If you can come up with solutions that make sense, you have
a leg up in attracting customers from particular business sectors.
8. Don’t get seduced by your own ideas––or the
ideas of those around you. Most companies are poor marketers because
they are preoccupied with the image of themselves they see in the mirror:
“We’re the best…..Our service is great….We have
terrific people.” On and on it goes.
Our firm reviewed a file folder full of marketing materials from a substantial
company. Each piece––whether a newsletter, mailer or brochure––had
the same theme: the company. There was nothing about what customers
might want. There was no reference to customer expectations. In fact, there
was nothing about customers.
Companies, like people, can become so self-absorbed they fall into the trap
of seducing themselves. Here’s the point: If it isn’t all
about the customer, it’s worthless.
9. Guard the brand. Difficult times and pressure from above
or somewhere may mean taking chances. Mutual funds have long been the bastion
of trust for the small investor. Yet, some investors are evidently more
equal than others. “Fund managers have succumbed to temptation and
allowed investors in the target funds…in exchange for additional money
in their own pockets,” the complaint from the Attorney General of
New York State indicated.
Not only have some of the nation’s outstanding mutual funds been scarred
by their greed, but faith in the system is further threatened.
At all cost, guard the brand. Why did the head of the New York Stock Exchange
allow his personal gain to supercede his responsibility to his company?
In the final analysis, it’s all about the brand.
10. Don’t live vicariously. Jack Welch was a great
business leader with a great support staff caring for his image night and
day. He also rose during the ‘80s and ‘90s when most CEOs looked
good. He was staged, perhaps better than any president other than Ronald
Reagan.
All the consultants have all the right answers, until something goes wrong
and then they bring out a new book. Forget about 23 behaviors of the most
successful salespeople. Business isn’t about imitating; it’s
about being real…being yourself.
11. Tend to the details. Our daughter was conducting a
campus tour at Boston University of prospective students and their parents,
when the Chancellor, Dr. John Silber, joined the group. “Why did he
take his time to do that?” she asked. There may be a number of reasons
but it suggested to me that the head of the nation’s fifth largest
private university understands the value of taking care of the details.
Everything is important in getting to the goal.
If we skip taking care of the little things, we’ll be faced with dealing
with the big problems.
12. Watch out for the deflectors. They’re in every
organization. It’s easy to spot them. They constantly introduce reasons
for not taking action. There’s always a piece missing or a need for
extra time. And when they push those scenarios about as far as they can
go, they introduce a new idea that turns attention away from the tasks at
hand.
As the time came for a company to implement a series of marketing programs,
the sales manager came up with an approach that sidetracked what had been
in place for months. The end result was clear: nothing happened.
The test of any organization is in what it accomplishes, not what it talks
about.
There they are––a dozen tactics to avoid derailing a company
from fulfilling its mission. Even the best of companies tends be thwarted
by inertia. Beleaguered Motorola missed the key selling season by being
late in getting its photo cellular phone to market. Already behind its competitors,
it just couldn’t make it happen.
Each of these 12 tactics addresses head-on a facet of falling behind. Overcoming
them is the effective way to get ahead.
© 2004 Graham Communications
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John R. Graham is president of Graham Communications,
a marketing services and sales consulting firm. Mr. Graham is the
author of four books on marketing and sales, including Break the Rules
Selling: Success Strategies that Beat the Competition (Superior Books).
Mr. Graham writes for a variety of marketing and sales columns for
business and trade publications and he presents his Magnet Power presentations
at company and association meetings. He can be contacted at 40 Oval
Rd., Quincy, MA 02170; by telephone at 617-328-0069; by fax at 617-471-1504;
or by email at j_graham@grahamcomm.com. The web site is grahamcomm.com. |
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