What the hell is marketing?

This is relevant question today because everyone seems to point to marketing as THEE key to success. And yet, definitions and expectations diverge wildly about what marketing is and what it is not. Mostly it seems to be misunderstood, misused or both. At Re:Sourceful, we say > Marketing builds and/or solidifies relationships with customers, so they buy from you and keep buying – even when they have other options.

We view it as the beginning of the sales process. Great marketing can sell in some cases, but the days of interruptive marketing or 'advertising' having the ability to grasp someone's attention and get them to act/buy are mostly long gone. Sure it may still work for some markets and some demographics, but even those options are slipping away rapidly. For every way we have to talk with our customer, they have a method to block or shield themselves.

Most of our partners are in the telecommunications industry, and changing/threatening regulations and rising costs are major issues for companies and the customers they serve.

So, where does that leave marketing? Possibly in a very good place if we are willing to change our approach, and change it dramatically.

Healthy relationships at any level are two-sided. They are about listening, caring and acting to the benefit of other person. Business relationships are exactly the same. For years most companies didn't treat them this way because they couldn't or didn't want to make the effort. Today, tools exist to better accommodate one-to-one communication and relationship building interaction, if you are willing.

In my view, these are some steps toward change that may help:

1) You need a truly great collection of talented people. Experts that have the ability to build and enhance relationships through sharing their knowledge for the benefit of customers. If you don't have them, you need the guts to go get them. You may have to move some people to other seats or off the bus all together.

2) Your entire staff needs the desire to communicate your collective expertise and then demonstrate that your people are the authority on the subjects in which you talk/write/share. If you have the desire, you will find the methods you need.

3) And most importantly, you need to transform your company into a sales organization. I'm not talking about some sleazy Glen Gary Glen Ross type, but rather, an organization that has enough discipline and caring to monitor, track and nurture individual relationships - of both longtime customers and prospects. So you can listen and respond quickly, if needed, in the format desired by the customer.

These ideas are not new, nor are they tremendously difficult. However, in order to do them you have to stop doing some things, and you might need to significantly retrain or change some of your workforce.

Marketing is not a department. It is a mindset which needs to reside in all areas of a company, if you want to be successful.

What are you reading?

Seriously. What are you reading? If you want to grow professionally, you need to read books. Yes, blogs can be great and articles can be good, but nothing helps the mind consider new things like books.

I was not huge fan of reading for fun or growth after college until a friend of my wife introduced me to  Nelson DeMille. Then, I re-learned to love reading - like I did when I was a child.

Then, after I started my company, I started to read a lot of business related books - until it became a habit. The audio books were my addiction for a time - starting with tapes, then CDs and finally on my iPod. Hard cover books are still great, but my new favorite way to read is on my iPad.

DeMille and John Grisham are two fiction writers I go to for vacation reads, but there are many others too. As for business writers, I like Malcolm Gladwell, Seth Godin, and Patrick Lencioni.

Read The Tipping Point, Outliers or David & Goliath by Gladwell. Or, read Permission Marketing by Godin…or any of his other stuff. Start with 5 Temptations of a CEO by Lencioni - and you don't have to be a CEO to learn a ton from it.

My current favorite book is by Jay Baer, and it's called YoUtility. If you are in marketing, own a business or want to sell anything from today on - it is MUST read.

So, I'll ask again. What are you reading right now?

New jobs, old jobs and telling the difference

Seriously, how do you view your role in your company? What are your boring, routine tasks AND what are your larger responsibilities?

Certainly we all need the ability to 'turn off' work and not carry around the problems, challenges and blessings we experience in the workweek. And yet, we are in a 'always on' world. Staff, who doesn't at some level appreciate and respond well to this fact, may find their seat at the table moved or removed. Organizations today need people who create solutions where only problems existed before, or to create value where expense was the common viewpoint.

Because it is so thought-provoking, I'm not just providing a link to blog post - but I'm also including it right here. Enjoy the content then consider your role and those of people around you.

Who goes first? Initiating a project, a blog, a wikipedia article, a family journey--these are things that don't come naturally to many people. The challenge is in initiating something even when you're not putatively in charge. Not enough people believe they are capable of productive initiative.

At the same time, almost all people believe they are capable of editing, giving feedback or merely criticizing.

So finding people to fix your typos is easy.

I don't think the shortage of artists has much to do with the innate ability to create or initiate. I think it has to do with believing that it's possible and acceptable for you to do it. We've only had these particular doors open wide for a decade or so, and most people have been brainwashed into believing that their job is to copyedit the world, not to design it.

That used to be your job. It's not, not anymore. You go first.

~ Seth Godin

The Helpful Gene is critical to a strong organization

Being helpful is a trait that is taught early to children in the US. Some take to it easily and

others not as much. There certainly are studies about how personality type and birth order affect helpfulness, and like most research you can find some to make whatever case you care to make.

But, I'll say this: when you look for staff members, or vendors of any type, helpfulness should be a key hiring trait. It's a primary key to long-term success.

Helpfulness is a personality trait. To those that have it, it's ingrained. Those that are truly helpful LOVE to help people, sometimes even those that don't want to be helped. Which can cause problems for the 'helper' that has yet to rein in their gift.

I'm a helper. I've been that way for as long as I can remember. Over my life it has caused both joy and pain, as I learned where and when helpfulness was - well, helpful.

On the surface, and maybe even down a few layers, this post might seem self-serving. And I suppose it is to some extent. Since I am helpful, I view it as a valuable and necessary skill. But this post goes much deeper than being self-serving because it is about WHY helpful people are good for organizations.

In order to use your helpfulness you have to: see issues from other's point of view, understand the big picture, develop solutions that really solve problems, and you might have to become good at presenting on topics/issues that no one wants to discuss or talk about. You have to care and, more than that, you have to care about the people affected, and to understand the issues from the business side and the customer's side.

So, consider what questions you can ask to uncover if your next vendor or employee is a helpful soul. Their long-term value to your organization will be directly correlated to their helpfulness.

Marketing is a medley relay

You've heard the saying "Success is a marathon, not a sprint." I agree, but I'll add that marketing, or I should say 'great marketing' is a medley relay. In order to do great things, your organization needs to collectively own marketing. Everyone from Accounting to HR to Operations to Sales to C level are in the marketing. That is not because marketers are control freaks (a topic for a different post), but it is because marketing is an organizational trait rather than a department.

Because this is true, in order to be great with your marketing you need to practice hand offs and run your leg and cheer your teammates and carry warm ups and guard the baton and hold the blocks and train to win.

Everyone runs a leg. It might be short like the 100 meters or long like the 1600 meters, but each leg is critical to your success. Marketing is exactly like this.

Are you using your whole squad in your marketing? What can you do today to get everyone in training for your medley relay?

Consistency may make you remarkable!

If you are relentlessly consistent people will notice and reward you. Shoot, you'll be a hero! Think of all the times and situations when you value consistency.

• Policy application at a company with whom you do business
• The umpire's strike zone
• Driving your car - or how others drive theirs
• Policy application at your company

I know there are many more or subsets of those above, but you understand the point.

We tend to notice when someone is inconsistent because it upsets the balance. We calibrate our expectations based on experience. When that experience changes, we get confused. If it changes in a negative way, we get frustrated. The converse it also true.

Notice I said 'someone' is inconsistent. I didn't say a company is inconsistent because it is individuals that make consistency decisions. A company that recognizes inconsistency in their staff will train accordingly and reap the benefits.

This week look for ways you or your company can become more consistent. Then, take steps to make it happen. Both your bottom line and your customers will love you for it.

Process = Success

If you implement anything more than a few steps long you have a process. Done well a process is your friend. It helps marketers or executives to insure you cover important bases and don't miss things. A good process is not static and improves over time. An example from my daily work is our review process for newsletters - both electronic and printed. The process has saved us many times from making errors both BIG and small. We use similar processes for campaign themes and various other projects, as well. It works like this.

1. We prepare and send a "First Look" which is mock up of the piece. It might have full stories and graphics in some places and ideas for stories in other places. It prompts the discussion.
2. We prepare the newsletter based on feedback and send what is a 98% complete document to make sure the content we've developed follows the feedback/discussion provided in the First Look session. We state this is not polished, but should be close and we talk about any holes that still need filling (the 2%). We ask for a keen eye review.
3. Following comments/suggestions/corrections, internally we do what we call the FTC (fine tooth comb). This is a detailed review where you re-read every word and you need to be in full editor mode. After writing and laying something out - often you can't see the forest for the trees, so you need extra keen eyes at this point.
4. After FTC, we send the final out for approval. If someone finds something, we fix it. Most often, it is approved and we order.

This process works because it has been developed over time and everyone knows what to expect. We use it consistently and participants know what is needed at each step. It makes it easier for all involved AND we get the best results because of it.

What processes do you use to make your tasks easier to accomplish? An advice to make our process better? I love to learn.

How to make people care.

Many have written about this topic and the issue is not solved evidenced by an example I witnessed while traveling recently. Here's the short version: Flight was oversold in an airport full of people who had been delayed by weather, so there is a standby list. Gate agent continually begs people to give up their seat, so they can get down to the number. I'm not sure if anyone bit or not. Regardless, boarding goes on as normal.

An adult son of one of the standby passengers is on the plane. He calls Mom and says they are about to close the door and there are 5 seats available. Mom goes to gate agent saying, "Hey, please get me on that plane. My son on the plane says there are 5 open seats." Agent was about to close the door says, let me check. Turns out there were 6 seats available, so most of the stand by passengers got to go - thanks to the son.

I understand that in this situation there are MANY moving parts. Stress is huge for all involved. The airline wants to be 'on time.' However, I was struck by how little the airline staff seemed to care. They had 6 open seats on a plane leaving an airport PACKED with people and they didn't appear to be acting to fill them. Wow!

Again, I realize it is crazy for airline staff in situations like this, but what a perfect time to really care about the people standing there waiting to go - wherever they planned to go.

This situation caused a discussion among our traveling party about how to make people care. Of course, there are no quick fixes and even caring people can have a bad hour or two.

So what can you do to instill caring as part of your company culture? Here are some things to consider.

     1. If you have the chance, hire to this skill. Make it one of the skills you MUST have. Department doesn't matter.

     2. Make sure you model caring to your staff. Help people. Show compassion. Let them know this is who you are as a company.

     3. Make your expectations clear and give them permission to fix a problem. You might need limits, but keep them general.

     4. Reward employees who consider customer experience - before or during a problem.

Regardless of your industry, caring employees matter. Your company will thrive because of them while others wilt.

What are your favorite ways to make employees care?

Clarity in the sales process IS the sale!

Clarity IS the sale, and clarity may take many forms. Too many sales people, or maybe more importantly, management, do not appreciate this. Make it easy to understand = customer buys.

Make it confusing = customer ignores you or moves on to buy from someone else.

Selling really is this simple. But, we make it more complicated all the time. I understand that some products or services are complex. Honestly, that doesn't really matter.

If the seller is transparent (demonstrates trustworthiness) the buyer will pick up the cue. It is easy to be clear when you are trustworthy.

Is it somewhat scary for the seller to be vulnerable? Absolutely!

Is it necessary in order to be overwhelmingly successful in any type of sales. Yep.

Often, the scary part for sales people is they don't want to be transparent enough to allow clarity to happen, so they skirt issues, they mitigate their speech, or use industry jargon for cover. The adage goes - if you can't convince them, confuse them.

Customers, not wanting to be 'taken,' are on guard all the time. They'd love to be open, but experience has taught them not to say too much for fear of losing leverage.

If you've ever had the pleasure of a transparent sales person, you know the comfort that feeling provides. Start building an organization of transparent sales people today. Your customers and your bottom line will thank you for it.

You get more bees with questions!

Sales. Team building. Marketing. Or, just getting along with others. This skill will assist you in many areas. Today there are numerous ways to interact with people. Facebook. Phone calls. Email. Skype. And yes, even face-to-face. This method will work with all of them.

It has nearly miraculous warming effects on people. The better you get at this the more positively people will think of you or your company. They’ll remember you. You likely will make more sales and build more brand equity. You'll probably be happier too.

What is this wonder skill? Questions.

Ask questions in a kind and polite manner and doors will swing wide open for you.

It takes sincerity. Failure may be painful because false sincerity is worse than rudeness. Consistency is needed to prove your sincerity at times.

If you show an interest in the people, remember names and use them to address those in which you speak, you’ll stand out and be remembered. Remember the sincerity rule here because you don’t want to be ‘that guy’ that over does this.

People care about their own interests and wants. That is not a fault; it’s just a fact. They might need what you have, but given the choice they’d rather get it from someone who is interested in them.

Done right. You’ll get more bees with questions. I promise.