Marketing and the Glass Slipper – A Princely Price

Thinking about marketing and stuff on the Southcoast, MA – MATCH MAKER.  MATCH MAKER.  MAKE ME A MATCH.  FIND ME A FIND.  CATCH ME A CATCH – So sang Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof.  In the spirit of the musical’s main character -  Tevye – I offer that, “a woman will spend a lot of time looking for the perfect man and what does she demand of him when she finds him?  That he change!” 

Businesses look for good marketing support and then dictate what they want done.  I’ve been doing this (marketing) for a long time.  Yet, I continue to be amazed by what appear to be intelligent and very successful business people.  They sense or see on their balance sheets that business isn’t doing as well as it should or that it’s not heading in the direction they envisioned.  In their desire to resolve their real or imagined problem, they go through the classic phases of recovering from addiction.  I say imagined problem not because it’s not real but more than likely; what they think is the problem isn’t the problem.  As the addicted do; first, they finally admit they have a problem - admission.  The remaining four of the five phases to recovery are compliance, defiance and acceptance.  Then there is surrender. 

Surrender, however, is the most difficult stage for these addicted business owners. The scenario that has played itself out in front of me time and time again is this: It is five minutes to Midnight and someone has to fit into the glass slipper.  The glass slipper symbolizes salvation.  “Some day my prince will come…”   Yep, the title song of Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  What is the addiction?  Finding someone who will fit their glass slipper concept of the marketing problem they think (same as imagined) they have.  They are obsessed by their quest.  They are addicted to the hope of finding the perfect match they’ve envisioned.  Match maker.  Match maker…

I hope I’m not coming across a bitter.  I am more frustrated than anything else.  How do I know that what they think their problem is – ain’t?  The conversations go like this.  I wait for them to tell me what they think needs fixing.  Then I relate to them what I’ve experienced as follows.

I sat in my car across the street from your business and observed that:

• You and your staff have the best parking spaces
• You have quite a few customers trying to do business earlier than your posted hours of operation.
• Your building & parking lot is a mess
• Your landscaping shows a lack of care and pride (I was once asked what this had to do with anything)
• There’s more… 

I called your business several times and each time I was:

• Treated either rudely or indifferently
• Placed on hold for no less than 5-minutes each time
• Passed around and around
• Never given the satisfaction of a correct answer or viable solution
• There’s more…

I visited your website and I was:

• Confused upon arrival
• Irritated by the old or outdated information
• Annoyed by broken links
• Disappointed by the lack of any useable  information
• There’s more…

I walked into your business and I was:

• Ignored from the time I walked in
• Appalled by the untidiness of the displays
• Never greeted or acknowledged
• Not asked if I needed any assistance
• There’s more…

Your marketing is either internally controllable or affected by uncontrollable outside market forces.  The internally controllable factors in your business would include your personnel, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) as in a uniform way things are done from sales training, customer relations and housekeeping to merchandising, product selection and promotion.

The external forces of politics, the business environment, as well as, social and technological changes may be uncontrollable but they are not insurmountable.  Politicians may raise taxes but, there are ways of lessening the impact.  Tell the customer you’ll pay the sales tax.  The business environment goes in cycles of boom and bust.  What goes up must come down.  Ranting and reacting is unproductive.  Social behaviors such as trends and fads may be unpredictable but they shouldn’t be ignored.  Technological advances are only worthwhile looking into if they truly help lower costs and boost productivity.  Although uncontrollable in nature, they can be adopted or adapted as required. 

Zig Ziglar the famous sales coach and motivator said, “Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.”  Most businesses suffer from lack of sales because they fail to respect the needs of their clientele and because they fail to ask for the sale.  When someone like me comes along to state the obvious, it seems too simple and therefore lacks value.  So, most business owners will feel the problem they believe is hurting business can only be cured by expensive and complicated marketing consultation and/or support. 

That kind of thinking will only make a simple problem more complicated .  Of course, as soon as it’s discovered that the remedial marketing isn’t helping it’s the marketing consultant’s fault.  A Chinese proverb reminds us that,  “To open a shop is easy, to keep it open is an art.”  Detroit automotive industry legend, Lee Iacocca believed that businesses were all about people, product and profits.  Your people (employees and customers) are your business.  If their not, find some who are.  Your product is why you exist.  Identify your product and it will define you.  

Profit is what happens when all is said and done – correctly.  Put profit first and you may lose good employees and customers to your competition.  The glass slipper may not be the solution to the problem you think you have.  It may be best if you heed the advice of Snow White’s hosts the Dwarfs who were serious when they sang, “Come on get smart, tune up and start to whistle while you work.”  It may just be helpful in getting you to look at things a little differently.