Why the Marketing Coach...

In a meeting last week I was asked why I had developed the marketing coaching curriculum. I hadn't thought about the episode in a while, but I find it illustrative of a common business problem and worth sharing here.

Working out of a shared office space afforded the opportunity to meet and share ideas with a number of small business owners. One afternoon, a woman who owned a consulting company housed down the hall came into my office and asked me to look over a marketing plan. She had commissioned a downtown ad and design agency to create a plan to help grow her company.

The binder housing the plan was very nice. Tabbed and complete - with all the sections you find when reading about a marketing plan in a marketing text book. Advertising, PR, Direct Mail, etc.

The plan also included strategies that are more rarely utilized, but nonetheless were appropriate ideas for the type of company and service provided - expert marketing (become a known expert in the field including speaking engagements and tv apprearances), getting published, and more. And the creative was fantastic, clever wording and classy design.

After I read the plan, I met with the business owner. I told her (literally) that if I was given this binder and told that it was what I needed to do to grow my business, that I would go home and quit. Why? Simply because there was no way that her organization could implement the plan. Were there solid ideas and creative? Absolutely. Did it take into consideration the company's size, resources and sales processes? Absolutely not. It had no framework for the business owner to integrate the plan elements into the existing organization, its processes and culture. An organization (like all businesses) that has limits of time, money, people and energy to expend on marketing.

The key to effective marketing plan development is understanding the current situation, how sales are made, what the organization culture is, what the current brand and selling proposition are. I began coaching business owners because I have found it to be the way to make the planning and implementation happen in a way that works for that particular organization.

Otherwise, the plan binder gets stuck on a shelf and the business goes on as usual...maybe using one or two ideas from the plan. That's why I use the Simple Marketing Plan and why I developed the Marketing Coach Curriculum...because a plan isn't worth salt if it doesn't get implemented and implementation is about processes and people, not planning binders.

SLE

Marketing and Sales: The Default Setting

In a number of recent conversations about the marketing coach program, the material on the sales and marketing process seemed of particular interest. It came up in a conversation with Glenn Flickinger of The Alternative Board (www.tab-pghsouth.com). He related how the coaching his organization does reveals many small to midsize companies (even very successful ones) don't have a good grasp of their sales process.

That was not news to me. I find that many organizations simply use the "Default Setting" when it comes to their sales and marketing process. Sales happen...somehow. A business owner might tell me, "All our sales come from referrals." or "We do some advertising, some direct mail and have a couple sales people...but I'm not sure what is really making the sales."

Answering the process question is a key first step to successfully growing sales. If an owner or manager doesn't understand how their sales pipeline works, it is then impossible to efficiently build out the marketing and sales plan that will exploit what is working and bring in more sales.

That's why mapping the marketing and sales process is a key component of the marketing coach program. Sometimes it is simple and straightforward...sometimes it takes some work to uncover. Yet only through laying the groundwork by understanding what is happening now can we uncover where the sales pipeline is working, where it is slow, and where it is clogged!

How to exploit what is working and what to do about those clogs are subjects for a future post...don't worry, no plumbers involved.

SLE

Consistency

It's tax time so here's a marketing story involving an accountant. Yes, accountants can be great marketers, too.

I met with my accountant regarding my taxes and he told me about a prospect, now client, who he met eight years ago during a round of prospecting. Nothing came of that prospect call the day (or the year) it was made, but eight years later, the prospect called and hired him as his business accountant.

Similar things have happened to me, but not eight years later! It reminds me of the Woody Allen quote, "Eighty percent of success is showing up." My accountant "showed up" and was memorable enough that the prospect kept his information and contacted him when he needed to find a new accountant. That's not the full story of course, over the eight years, my friend did stop in and visit the prospect...but not on another sales call, but as a customer of the business.

So our conclusion might be that my accountant is a marketing genius (and who am I to dispute it!), but rather than focus on him, let's focus on all the other accountants...

How many accountants are within a 5 or 10 mile radius of this business? How many opportunities did those other accountants have over eight years to win the mind of this business owner? How many accountants are also customers of this business?

Perhaps the business owner received hundreds or thousands or solicitations. My bet is that he did not. If not, why not?

First, most organizations (accountant or otherwise) don't do a very good job of consistently delivering their marketing message. They are either short-sighted, focused only on those with immediate needs, or they are inconsistent, doing marketing when they have the time. When they do have the time, the message is often different each time.

The result is that prospects miss the message, are confused by varying messages or don't receive the message enough times to remember it. Then organizations may decide, "marketing doesn't work for my type of business", or, they start chasing the latest fads in marketing or advertising because they have some bit of hope that the new method will work. Or they just complain that their messages are never in front of prospects at the right time.

The point is simple: consistency gets results. By delivering a compelling message consistently, you can gain the mindshare needed to become memorable. It is almost impossible to time your one mailing, email, ad or sales call to "be there" just when the prospect is ready to buy.

Rather, success comes from being like my accountant: consistently delivering the message and becoming memorable to the prospect. Then you can "be there" when the prospect starts the buying process...or maybe even help the prospect feel the need to buy. We'll discuss that in another post sometime.

SLE