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all know that one challenge of being in business
is effectively and powerfully allocating two primary
resources – time and money. Marketing can become
a black hole sucking these resources out of your
business while offering minimal gain. Or, it can
contribute mightily to your business success.
There’s
a leadership challenge hidden within marketing decisions.
Example. I coach business leaders, professional people
and corporate executives in self presentation, effective
use of time, relationship marketing, and the creation
of an irresistible vision for their company and products.
I am often surprised by how they relate to their
time and money resources.
A health professional I
coach was spending his entire marketing budget on
yellow page advertising. When we began to explore
other options he was able to increase his exposure,
strengthen his message and reduce his marketing budget
all the while expanding the number of referrals that
came to his office.
What does leadership have to do
with it? One thing effective leadership does is ask
the right questions – of yourself, and of those
who work with you.
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D.
Grant |
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It means that your get your ego
out of the way. It means that you take an inventory
of your own attitudes toward your business, success,
your employees, and toward your basic value proposition.
Leadership moves you away from past or future and
focuses on the present. It asks: “what can I do today
to more effectively serve my clientele? Who is the
most receptive target population for my services, who
is least? How do my marketing dollars serve my value
proposition? If I were a consumer (‘walk a mile
in my shoes leadership’) would my business presentation
of services and products interest me?
Leadership examines
its own paradigm and asks for input from trusted associates.
I once asked an audience of business professionals,
who were attending a workshop on successful networking
strategies, these questions: ‘how many of you
believe in your (services) product? (all raised their
hands) ‘how many of you believe that your service
to customers is as good as it gets?’ (again universal
hand raising) ‘how many of you believe that your
company is well run, responsive and good for your employees?’ (all
but one raised their hands).
Then I asked ‘how
many of you have all the business you can handle?’ A
fourth of the audience raised their hands. Why is that?
If you have a well run company or business, offer a
legitimate product or service that the world needs,
and if your service to customers is of the ‘raving
fans’ variety, and you are accountable and responsive
to your employees – why isn’t the world
beating a path to your door?
The answer may be that
your leadership hasn’t been effectively applied
to your marketing challenges. Take a second or third
look at the dollars you spend or aren’t spending.
Have a consultant look in on what you’re doing.
Brainstorm with your family, your employees, colleagues
and work to expose your blind spots.
Effective marketing
really is manifesting your dream of offering the best
that can be offered in your field. One other quick
example; a very bright and ambitious gentleman who
is committed to building a successful financial consulting
business recently called me for some coaching. I asked
that he send me his introductory materials before our
first visit. He did. He sent me a letter that he sends
to prospective clients and in it were three spelling
errors and several grammatical mistakes. It was also
poorly conceived.
Although this businessman has plenty
of integrity, high skill levels in his field of service
and is relationally effective, he hadn’t really
focused on marketing as if it were the very life blood
of his business.
Look at the ‘why am I doing
this?’ question and follow it with ‘is
every aspect of my business the best that it can be?’
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