Imaginary Competition

The September issue of Inc. Magazine has a great interview with John Kotter on strategy.  He mentioned an exercise corporate leaders sometimes go through that I think is brilliant.

Pull together a group of employees and create an imaginary company.  Then tell the team, “you are the management of that company and your job is to kill our company.”  So the team puts together a plan that leverages every single weak point in your firm.  That is the morning exercise.  In the afternoon, the team reconvenes and talks about how they are going to counter attack.  What a great way to look at your compay through a different set of eyes.  You also end up with a list of improvements to make to your company.  After all, your competition is out there already planning on how to win your market share.  You might as well beat them to the punch.

Profit Partners

I was recently a guest on Profit Partners, a local television show dedicated to helping small business grow into larger ones. It was a great experience.

The Profit Partner Presents Kelly Harman from Innovative Video Productions on Vimeo.

Five “Gut Checks” for the marketing plan

This is the time of year when marketeers everywhere are putting the final touches on next year’s marketing plan.  A good plan doesn’t have to be complicated.  In fact, the simpler the better.  Every business I know is tightening the budget and looking for measurable ROI on every activity.  So it makes sense to do a few things very well instead of a shallow attempt at 25 different marketing activities.  Also, remember that a marketing plan is a guide, not a mandate.  Things that appear to be a good idea now may not perform well when actually executed.  Flexibility is key and data is everything.  If you can’t measure what you do then you probably need to question whether it should be in the marketing mix to begin with.

With that said, here are some things we hope you’ve taken into consideration when finishing up your marketing plan for 2009:

1. Collaborate with the sales team.  Have you met with the VP of Sales and discussed the objectives for 2009?  Have you attended the sales meetings on a regular basis?  Do you know how the pipeline works and do you have a written agreement with the VP of Sales that describes exactly what qualifies as a lead from the marketing department? This way, you can avoid the conversation in July when you say you generated 2,000 leads and they say you generated 20. Read more