Is it surprising that so many marketing and sales initiatives fail?
By John R. Graham

The company president refused to approve funds for publishing a much-needed marketing newsletter for customers and prospects. Initially, he had been enthusiastic and supportive to the point that the first edition was written, designed and approved. But when it came to publishing and mailing the newsletter, he wouldn’t approve the expenditure. Yet, four months later, he wanted to get it published and mailed as soon as possible. Why the change of heart?

More often than not, budget problems are an excuse rather than the reason for scuttling proposed marketing and sales initiatives.

Management’s reluctance to fund these programs may stem more from doubts about the benefits derived than the costs themselves. For the most part, the failures result from failing to deal with certain basic sales and marketing challenges. Here are eight that companies should address if they want positive results:

1. Failing to capture the customers’ attention. As strange as it may seem, the big task is not simply getting a company’s message out to customers. In fact, that doesn’t count for much. Besides, that’s easy and you can see the evidence for it everyday and everywhere. Look at your mail, read newspaper and e-mail ads. Most of what passes for getting the message out totally misses the mark.

We’re flooded with messages — and most of them go right by us. Why? Because they focus attention on the advertiser. What purports to be a message is no message at all.

The law firms that pay enormous fees to advertise in the Yellow Pages generally do it right. The headline says it all: “Injured?” That single word captures the customer’s attention. The focus is squarely on the person who has been injured and is looking for compensation. While the name of the law firm is not unimportant, it’s strictly secondary to capturing the customer’s attention.

If marketing doesn’t accomplish this objective, it’s wasting money. Most company newsletters, web sites and marketing brochures suffer from the same flaw. They tell the company story but fail to capture the customer’s attention.

2. Not understanding what business we’re in. A survey of hundreds of dry cleaning customers gave respondents the opportunity to express their comments. While some customers expressed concerns about a stain problem, a missing button or some other issue related to the cleaning process, by far the majority of comments related to customer service at the company’s stores.

The survey revealed an interesting pattern: customers who were satisfied with the people behind the counter tended to be satisfied with the quality of work — and vice versa. Those who did not care for the way they were taken care of seemed to be less satisfied with the quality of the clothing care.

Is the dry-cleaner in the business of cleaning clothes? Of course not. The basic business is satisfying customers. The task is figuring out how that is best accomplished. Among others, Dell, Amazon and HP have figured it out.

3. Not recognizing who runs the company. “Who runs your business?” It’s a trick question, so watch out. The answers generally cover the narrow range of shareholders to chief executive officers. While that’s the most politically correct answer currently, it can’t come close to the un-politically correct and unspoken answer. In more companies than dare admit it, it’s the sales department that runs the business.

“If you want to stay out of trouble, don’t let the sales manager hear you say that.” How many times have you heard those words?

Employees in other departments can’t figure out why management accedes so easily to requests from the sales department. They wonder why their mistakes are overlooked. And they don’t understand why they are handled with kid gloves.

If sales isn’t in charge, then it may be suppliers who control what is sold and to whom. They run the business.

Once in awhile, a more thoughtful person offers a different answer to who is in charge: “Our customers.” Perhaps the housing and automotive industries come closest to letting the customer run the business. And that’s no accident. Both industries invest heavily in understanding the customers’ dreams, aspirations and basic needs — and delivering on them. Is that why the front ends of the Dodge Ram trucks become more intimidating year after year?

4. Wasting time looking for answers. The growing number of business how-to-do-it books and newsletters suggest that employees at all levels are something like the little lock in Alice in Wonderland that runs around looking for the key to “unlock me.” Check the popular management books on amazon.com. Surprise! Those that give the reader what they want to hear make it to the top of the list.

While we’re successful at responding to readers’ wants — quick, easy answers to complex and difficult problems — we’re not ready to spend time asking the right questions. We are quick to do something, but slow to know something.

The president of a manufacturing company blamed declining sales on industry changes and a declining customer base. When it was suggested that current, past and prospective customers be surveyed to determine their level of satisfaction, knowledge of company services, as well as a host of other issues, the president saw this as a useless activity, suggesting “we know all that.” The irony, of course, is that they didn’t know “all that.” In fact, they didn’t know any of it. All they had were self-serving comments, personal impressions and anecdotal information. And they are not alone.

5. Having a hard time staying on track. Perhaps the most pervasive marketing problem of all is a lack of consistency. Everyone starts out with a bang. It’s going to be the greatest ad campaign, product promotion, newsletter or web site. Time, effort and money go into the projects. And where are they six months or a year later? More often than not, they’re either all but forgotten or already a memory.

If you look back through the files of just about any company, there’s visual evidence of strong starts and whimper-like endings.

The success of marketing is not so much award-winning ads, brochures and web sites as it is in keeping them going.

6. Ignoring the need to be responsive. An advertising agency began working with a producer of radio spots on a new project. Early in the production of the commercials, a level of irritation developed as the agency began receiving audition “reads” from voiceover candidates. As the e-mails arrived, confusion reigned. No one could remember the individual voices. And just about the time a tentative selection was being made, additional voices arrived.

If this were an isolated instance, it could be overlooked. But it’s not. Rather than dealing with bits and bytes, we are expected to manage an assortment of bits and pieces, particularly when e-mail is involved.

On the other hand, failing to respond when a response is required or needed is the other side of the coin. Managing the follow up process is nearly unmanageable. Even after repeated requests, there’s no response. Then out of the blue comes the long awaited call, “Can we have it tomorrow?”

7. Staying lost in the crowd. Describing the auto industry, Wall Street Journal columnist Neal E. Boudette, writes, “Companies with strong brand images are raking in profit — despite slumping demand in Europe and a price war in the U.S.” He then states that these companies are “speeding ahead, because customers are willing to pay more for their brands.” As he notes, “companies with weaker images… are forced to slug it out in profit-sapping incentive wars.”

That’s laying down the gauntlet. Buyers are willing to pay more if they perceive the brand offers additional value. In this particular column, the writer describes BMW’s total commitment to brand protection.

If a product or service lacks strong branding, the customer opts for the lowest price. Why has Tide been the biggest seller among Wal-Mart’s detergent products? Because of the brand.

Protecting the brand is the essence of business.

8. Failing to find new ways to help customers solve problems. A seasoned printer and copier salesperson for Dictronics, Inc. of Needham, Mass., Don Brouillette looked at the personal HP printer and HP inkjet color printer next to it in an executive’s office and offered one brief comment, “The money is in the consumables.”

Brouillette was doing his job, finding ways to solve a customer’s problem. In this case, it was one that the customer had not identified. He pointed out that while the cost of the equipment was low, the cost of the consumables was high and that over quite a short period, a single printer that does color and black ink would result in significant cost savings.

The marketing challenge is to identify ways for solving problems and then helping the customer identify possible solutions. It’s in the discovery process where good marketing shines.

Overcoming these eight challenges will go a long way to producing positive results from a company’s marketing and sales activities.

About the author: John R. Graham is president of Graham Communications, a marketing services and sales consulting firm. Graham is the author of The New Magnet Marketing and Break the Rules Selling. Graham writes for a variety of publications and speaks on business, marketing and sales topics for company and association meetings. Contact him at 617-328-0069 or . The company’s Web site is grahamcomm.com.