I was called into this business that I knew it pretty well. We had been working together on some online stuff for a while and they wanted me to be their marketing consultant.
They asked me to come in because sales were slowing and they just weren't sure what was going on - but with slowing sales, businesses start looking for a problem so they can then find a solution.
Surely it had to be their marketing program.
Good for me - I'm a marketing guy. I like finding solutions and I like making money.
When I get there I ask a few questions, but the first I ask is, "besides the marketing program, what other reason would you think business has slowed?"
It took a while, but these people narrowed it down and figured out - it was their employees. The staff!
It had to be the staff.
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I spent about a week going in as a customer, observing, looking around and talking to people. Gathering opinions.
The staff, other customers, other managers.
First things first - if it's the staff it's usually the morale of the staff, and the morale of the staff comes from the top down.
Management good, the staff is good. Management bad - forget about it.
So forget the staff I told them, that's not the problem (clearly they weren't going to place the blame for slowing sales on themselves, right?)
Here's what I told them.
"You need to clean the place.
Top, down, side to side - scrub the windows, the mirrors, the tables, the seats, the entry, the speakers, the fans, the parking lot - I mean, do it all.
As soon as you do that, give me a call and I'll tell you what you need to do next."
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That's some pretty good advice and the first step to fixing any business.
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Have you ever been away from someone for a while, maybe even a town, and then you go see them or visit and you can't believe the changes? They seem so stark?
The people say, "I haven't changed a bit" or "The place is still the same"
That's people who are in business that go to the same business all day every day, day after day.
They don't know what's wrong. They can't figure out what's happening. Why sales are slowing. Why productivity is lacking.
All they know is they are there every day. So they go looking for an answer.
But they look from the wrong angle. They just don't know how to look otherwise.
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When I start consulting with a business I usually hear a litany of things they want to do.
"We want to do this, this, this, this, and this."
"Well, you need to start with that."
"No, no, no. That's okay, it's fine. What we need to do is ..."
"Hire someone else who will tell you it's not that it's this, but I'm telling you you can't do this until you take care of that."
Welcome to marketing. It's not always all about the marketing - at first.
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Marketing takes time. It takes effort. I often say that when I'm hired, the people don't know it but they are the one's that go to work for me.
There's a reason for that.
They came to me because they needed their business to be better. They can't see the forest for the trees on how to make that happen.
I ask a billion questions. I talk a lot. I ask a billion more. I observe. I take my time. And I ask more questions.
You can't market your way to a clean business.
You can't market your way to better books.
You can't market your way to lower costs and overhead.
You can't market your way to a superb staff.
You can't market your way to better management.
You can't market your way to better inventory control.
Marketing is not the way to fix a business.
No, the way to fix a business is to get the business in shape and ready to be marketed. All of those things and more need to be thought of when thinking about a marketing plan.
Is the business ready?
Then you can market the business.
Then you can turn the ship around.
Then you can start to see results.
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