Day
7 - Think Strategic - Then Tactical
I
observed something interesting early in my consulting career.
Clients
were coming to me and asking very tactical questions about
marketing. "Should I advertise in the Yellow Pages?"
was a popular one. The real answer to that question is not
a "yes" or "no"- the real answer to this
and many other tactical marketing questions is "it depends."
When
I had to give the clients a "it depends" answer,
I would follow with a question or two. These questions tended
to be more strategic or "bigger picture" in nature.
In other words, clients were asking me about the little picture
and I was responding with questions about the big picture.
Trouble
was, the client rarely had good answers to the strategic questions.
It told me they were being very reactive to the marketing
process versus trying to think it through. In my opinion,
when a client does the tactical work (like placing ads, etc)
when they have not done the strategic work, they are setting
themselves up to fail. Marketing is hard enough when you do
it right. To me, this felt like watching my clients flush
money down the toilet. It was frustrating to them. And frustrating
to me.
I
started to record the strategic questions I was asking. After
studying them over the course of several years, these questions
evolved into the tenants found the in the CUSTOMER PILLARS
system.
Entrepreneurs
dislike strategic planning. I understand. But trying to pull
off success in the marketplace without going through some
systematic, strategic steps is a risky proposition. I find
clients greatly increase their chance of success (on the tactical
items and in general) if they will spend some time considering
the strategic aspects of marketing in their business.
Working
with clients around the CUSTOMER PILLARS system guides
them through this process.
Welcome
to FAMEE. If you have any questions email us at training@famee.org.
This
course was developed by Curt Clinkinbeard, the author of CUSTOMER
PILLARS. He can be reached at
curt@strivecoaching.com.
