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.