The Guerilla, Pig and Corpse

I can only imagine that the road to Hell, paved as lovingly as it is with good intentions, is a long and winding one. The more I teach and the more I consult clients; the more I understand. Why is it that the eight-hundred pound guerilla in the room is generally ignored or worse yet, rarely acknowledged? The guerilla represents a business problem and all of the fear, urgency and doubt that are associated with it. I believe this behavior is what psychologists call going away from behavior.

Business actions, whether good or bad, are neither jaded nor guided by education or a lack of it. Actions require motivation. Motivation is encouraged by value. Goethe said that “when values are clear, laws are unnecessary. When values are unclear, laws are unenforceable.” But, when it comes to operating a business, what values are clear and which are not? Customers want to involve themselves with businesses they can trust. Above all, customers value honesty and integrity. If a business’ values have nothing to do with what their customers’ value, then there is no hope of a transaction ever occurring. And, no, value is not always about price! It does, in some cases however, represent the customer’s ability to choose from a wide selection allowing them the ability to compare value options. Value is based on its perceived worth. So then, perception establishes value, which is a market reality. If one man’s trash is another’s treasure, then – value is really a perception.

When the perception is altered so is the value. Value, by dictionary definition is “an amount expressed in money or another medium of exchange that is thought to be a fair exchange for something.” It possesses qualities or attributes that “define” its “worth, importance, or usefulness of something to somebody.” The shoppers in your store or those visiting your website, as well as, every inquiry you receive; represents a potential sale. It demonstrates that consumers are open to exchanging the value represented by your products or services with their money or time.

Therefore, regardless of a your intentions as a business owner or manager, if something does not, cannot or will never possess or represent any value to consumers as individuals or collectively, then they will not be willing to involve themselves in anyway to acquire it. If your business proposition is perceived as having no value, ether intrinsic (basic and essential as to what it is) or inherent (part of the very nature of something) no matter how well you dress up the pig; it is what it is.

Value or the lack of it illustrates why some businesses fail and, why others appear to do well. Business owners and managers sometimes fail to value the most basic guidelines. There are basics that are adhered to in nearly every discipline and profession. These basics are also returned to often because they have endured the test of time. Yet, the world is changing as it always has and businesses need to be more consumer centric than ever before. Everything a business does or doesn’t do will reflect their growth and success or the lack of it.

The Walt Disney Company is still guided by its founder’s original vision. Walt Disney was determined to know what his customers valued and why, and how much they were willing to invest of their time and money to get it. His business plan; Dream, Believe, Dare and Do is still followed with obvious and sometimes envious results. Businesses fail everyday regardless of the condition the economy is in. Some businesses never make it to their first anniversary. Some, it seems, take longer to die. Regardless how long it takes for a business to fail; the geneses of its demise can be traced to some basic principle being overlooked or ignored. No matter how much makeup you put on a corpse; it is what it is – lifeless.

The more I employ the basics of Business Engineering in my consultation and teaching, the more I realize how much time is wasted by businesses who really do want to be successful. Are you ignoring or failing to recognize the guerilla in the room. Does you guerilla represent value issues? Or, could it be bad service, lousy housekeeping or a lackluster image. Have you confronted the guerilla or are you using cosmetic solutions or dress up the problem to disguise it? Find the guerilla. Wipe off the makeup. Strip it down. Recognize it as an impediment to your success.

Little Things…

Blow me a kiss from across the room.
Say I look nice when I’m not.
Touch my hair when you pass my chair.
Little things mean a lot.

So sang Kitty Kallen in 1954. How right she was. It is the little things. The little things are easy to overlook. The little things seem so insignificant; until that is, they come back to haunt you. Then you punish yourself humming the mantra of coulda-shoulda-woulda.

I just saw an ad in the local paper for a new breakfast restaurant. Ok, I saw it. Ok, I read it. Ok, so now I want to check them out. They’re located, as it states in their expensive (to them it is) little ad, at 12345 Main Avenue. Now I’ve lived in this area most of my life and I know (not real name) Main Avenue and it’s one of the longest streets in the city. Eleven miles long to be exact. And I can’t tell you where 12345 is.

That’s what got me started on this blog. It’s the little things! It would have been so much easier to say we’re on Main Avenue in the shadow of St. What’s His Face church (a real landmark with a real name, by the way). While I’m on a roll, the ad also states the names of the two proud owners, which is real nice but unless they know half of the city and vice versa, it means very little to me. Now if the last name was a connected one – say Kennedy or something as recognizable – well, I could understand what they were trying to do.

Now, in this day and age of the internet, you’d think they would have at least a rudimentary website. Today, having a website costs pennies a day and is almost idiot proof to set up (I think I’ve proven that) and allow potential customers to check you out before they check you out. A website is today’s version of the old Yellow Pages. If you can’t squeeze all of the customer contact information in your ad; you can at least refer them to your website, which also offers you a bonus. It tells you how well your ad pulled in customers or didn’t.

Not changing the subject; there’s a new place that opened on the main drag on my way to the university where I teach. Every time I’ve gone by, since the day it opened, I’ve wondered whether this mom and pop retail shop will survive just because - I can’t read their sign! Regardless of what it says, it’s written in hot pink on a white background. Maybe the fact that it’s now the fourth business in five years to reside there that’s making me assume there may be others to follow.

Back to the concept/theme of this blog – it’s the little things. I’ve been really looking at finding a niche for myself and my profession and, after some head scratching provoked by a strong feeling of déjà vu; I remembered something I was quoted about in a newspaper article on small businesses and advertising a long time ago. I said something along the lines of to wanting to create a source of advertising services for small businesses based on the McDonald’s model.

So close and yet so far from the solution was I in my youth and inexperience. And now, in my middle years, by golly, I think I’ve got it - Business Engineering! Business Engineering offers small business owners exactly what they need – expert guidance and good advice for a reasonable price. The crux of the matter is that too many businesses should NOT advertise before they’re ready to. Remember, first impressions are indeed lasting impressions. Once the public is exposed to you, they will INSTANTLY evaluate, categorize and then QUICKLY slot you away in their minds based only on their experience of your communication. If that communication is fuzzy or off-base, or, if the layout is cluttered and the visuals inconsistent with the text; the result will be the same. Whether what they’ve learned (or, struggled to learn) about you came from a poorly written ad or a badly done sign you won’t get a second look, never mind a second thought..

When Can Advertising Do Harm?

Employing Common Sense & Building a Better Business...

I reinvented my business, myself and the services I offer to small and growing businesses. Why? Because I discovered that marketing means many things to many business people. Some feel it’s a necessary evil while others view it with religious rapture. Many business owners place used car salesmen, politicians and marketing professionals in the same group. They don’t understand or appreciate what marketing does for a business’s image, market position or its bottom line.

The results of my rethinking my profession and my craft lead me to merge marketing with the practice of engineering. Engineers enjoy a solid reputation and respect for the knowledge they have and the services they provide. That’s when I decided to become a Marketing Engineer. Marketing Engineering employs traditional marketing that helps businesses to:

• Claim a solid “position” in consumer’s minds and in the marketplace
• Develop deep seated “brand” identity
• Create a single “value proposition”
• Be easily “differentiated” in the marketplace
• Tell a “story” consumers can relate to

As a hybrid (of sorts), Marketing Engineering employs a new, simple and easy to understand service – Business Engineering. It begins with a Business Engineering Inspection, which is similar in many ways to a home inspection. I look for rotting employee moral, bad sales foundations and productivity termites, for example, and pretty much anything that I feel is undermining your business’s performance and profits.

I firmly believe that whatever it is you don’t know is wrong with your business could be what’s really hurting it. In order to help you see what I see in black and white. The inspection process uses straight forward observation and engagement to get a feel for what’s going with your business both from the outside, or consumer’s view, of your business and the inside.

The process generates a Business Engineering Inspection Report giving you a clear snapshot of your business situation. The report also offers suggestions on how to fix the simple stuff yourself or, when it may be more prudent to hire a business professional. The professionals suggested in the report could be accountants, insurance agents or landscapers. Of course, when specific marketing needs are indicated, I will offer my services which include:

• Writing for print, published and electronic (radio/TV) media
• Website development and enhancement
• Graphic design and layout for printed and published media
• Creative direction
• Media and advertising contractor liaison and coordination

Up to this point...
Tthe lack of advertising may be a blessing. How is that possible? Simple enough. If a business cannot define or articulate its “position” in consumer’s minds and in the marketplace, whether that position be one of size (the largest supplier...), longevity (the county's oldest continuously operating...) or uniqueness (the only place in town serving the deluxe...) or whatever it is that defines and secures that position for your business, it lacks status.

It will also not be easily identified without an easily recognizable brand, mark or logo. Creating a deep seated “brand” identity is also an important element in any advertising you do. The brand, mark or logo represents your "good" name. Your name is not only your identity, it's also what it represents. That is, what it is identified with. The essence of that identity is represented in your mark or logo. You are just as much judged by it as you are by your signature.

Creating a single, easy to embrace and remember “value proposition” is one thing. Having it possess a long lasting, fondly remembered and action inspiring result is even better! The “value proposition” AKA slogan, should be unique, which also happens to position you in the marketplace. It should spark a "desire to acquire" and it should propose a solution to the consumer's immediate wants and needs.

Differentiation could be and is confused with positioning. The difference is (no pun intended - I think) that positioning is about stature while differentiation is about standing out from the crowd. To be easily “differentiated” in the marketplace sometimes only requires the simplest devices or functions. A location can be turned into a landmark. An oddity can be used to maximize curiosity and gain attention.

Finally a business must have a “story” to tell that consumers can relate to. The story itself can be used to position the business or reinforce and work in concert with the brand. And it can certainly be used to deliver the value proposition. Many times the story IS itself the differentiating element the business requires.

Advertising without these elements..
Can and does do more harm than good. Without these elements the message is unclear, confusing and at worst ineffective. It will also magnify fundamental problems within an organization. Many times when I'm called in to speak with a potential client I'm told that they need advertising to increase consumer recognition and hopefully, as a result of the advertising, increase their sales.

I've struggled for years on how to honestly tell a prospective client that, although they believe they need advertising, they really don't; at least not at that point. When I tripped over my Business Engineering concept, it was more than an evolution of my own reinvention as a Marketing Engineer. Business Engineering, especially the Business Engineering Inspection exercise does offer clients proof of hidden or undiscovered issues such as rotting or just plain awful employee moral, bad sales foundations and functions such as strategies, forecasting and even merchandising. So many business owners and managers are so caught up in being busy. However, when confronted they can't say for sure whether that busyness is being translated into business. Of course, some organizations are infested with productivity termites that just eat away at performance and profits.

Before you even consider any advertising, it all has to come down to minding you P's. Is your Place of business working for you or against you? Is your Product or product line earning or should it be turned out? Is your Price structure and practices performing for you? Are you using service as a Promotion tool? The fifth P is all about your People. Your front line and your management and your customers ARE connected.

Fear, Urgency & Doubt?

Part One - Enter Business Engineering!

Fear, urgency and doubt; there’s a lot of it going on out there today. Some of the little mom and pop shops are hanging on while giants like Circuit City, KB Toys and scores of others shutter their doors or downsize for survival.

Marketing practitioners have traditionally used fear, urgency and doubt to motivate buyers because the average person is less than secure that they are absolutely sure that don’t have halitosis (a marketing invention for bad breath), or whether they will be the “first kid on their block to own one” or, must convince themselves that whiter teeth will make them more attractive.

Most would agree that marketing helps to grease the wheels of businesses. And, as case study after case study can attest to, marketing, when well-crafted, can be measurably successful. However, to many, marketing remains somewhat of an enigma positioned somewhere between voodoo and hard science. I tell my students and my clients that marketing is simply a function employed by businesses to control change.

After thirty or so years practicing the art and science of marketing, I’ve come to the conclusion that good marketing has been and will always be a part of an organization’s (SOP) Standard Operating Procedure. It is not, and it should never be, however, set apart from any vital business function; whether sales, or accounting or, well, even housekeeping. Based on my experiences, observations and acquired knowledge on the subject and practice; I have developed a simple to understand and employ system, for the lack of better description - Business Engineering.

Business Engineering is a system that is best applied to existing small businesses. Business Engineering studies an organization from the outside in – literally. I usually begin my business engineering at the curb; in front of the business. It’s amazing what goes on and what doesn’t from that perspective! If familiarity really does breed contempt, then the first objective of my study is to get the owner(s), manager(s) and both the back of the house and the front line employees to see their environment, their behavior and their organizational purpose a bit more clearly from the consumer’s perspective.

It still continues to amaze me how good marketing and advertising is erroneously condemned as ineffective when in fact, it attracts and directs customer inquiries by web, email and telephone, as well as, store visits. Yet, sales, it’s pointed out, have not been affected. Perhaps it’s because the prospective customer was turned off by the location, the lack of pride in the upkeep of the property or the less than enthusiastic greeting they received. Could it be that Goethe the philosopher, or Mies van der Rohe the architect, if you prefer, was correct in believing that ”God is in the details”?

From curbside to first impressions; my next step is to contact the organization by email, by phone or in person. How I am greeted and treated readily exposes the organization’s underbelly. In many cases, the lack of focus on the customer and their needs or, in marketing-speak, consumer centricity, reveals why the business is wobbly. And, if first impressions are lasting impressions, then as my father used to say, if you didn’t have the time to do it right, how can you justify finding the time to do it over?

Hopefully I’ve given you an inkling as to what Business Engineering is all about and how it can help to shore up, reinforce and reposition your business. As you’ve read, Business Engineering engages in a careful study of your business to assess its strengths and weaknesses. The result is a practical and viable business solution. When applied, it will set your business towards claiming or reclaiming your market position in consumer’s hearts and minds. It will assist in developing your brand and identity and creates an effective value proposition.

Business Engineering will also give you what you need to differentiate your brand and business in the marketplace and, to create and tell a story that current and prospective consumers can relate to and embrace as their own. Most importantly to business owners and managers; it offers an easily discernible measurement of your redirected marketing efforts, the obvious results and the further adjustments necessary to continue to move forward.

So, as I end this installment, I come back to the beginning. Fear, urgency and doubt are in no way effective emotions to guide and operate a business. Hiding your head in the sand accomplishes nothing. Panicking only increases the opportunity to screw up even more. And, not being sure, as the infamous Joseph Wannamaker once mused of not knowing which half of his Wannamaker’s Department Store advertising dollars were being wasted; means admitting that you really don’t know what you’re doing.

Next time, in Part Two, we’ll “meet” and assess the typical front line issues stemming from the fifth marketing P - People; you, your employees and your customers. Hopefully I can convince you how simply other enterprises have turned excellent products and services into colossal failures while others continue topush mediocre products and services towards phenomenal success.