The Winners Approach to Marketing: How Ordinary Companies
Win the Marketing Game
by Windsor Pennicott
Published on this site: November 2nd, 2005 - See
more articles from this month
Take two random companies “A” and “B”.
They are both facing stiff competition and times are lean
and the marketing and sales budgets are fixed in stone; how
would they go about increasing sales revenue?
The marketing manager from company “A” might try
to convince the finance department to increase its budget
or try to invoke a jolt of energy into the sales force via
pep talks or threats to increase sales for the upcoming quarter.
This approach, though it might work in the short-term, is
generally very stressful and less predictable in the long-term.
When quotas aren't met everyone usually begins to trade blame
which leads to more frustrations.
Is their another way?
Enter the world where easy innovations are part of the job.
They are simple because just about everyone can innovate with
a few applications of their imagination.
This is the process company “B” uses to thrive.
So where would you go to find examples you could use as models?
There are several sources. You could hop over to amazon.com
or your favorite book store for any number of books on marketing
and business innovation.
For those who would like to get started immediately I have
written a free booklet that provides examples of how these
simple innovations are carried out. The booklet is titled
“5 Cost-free Examples of Marketing and Sales Innovations
That Can Increase Revenues By More Than 20%” and is available
at http://www.UsefulBizTips.com
Also, I recommend the book “Turn Your Imagination Into
Money” by the late Ray Giles. It’s among the best
books on marketing and sales innovation. It’s available
at http://www.ImaginationBook.com
for $29.95.
The resources above will show that the solution to company
“A’s” approach is a commitment to innovation
that creates a hassle-free environment while improving sales.
One might ask, why doesn't company “A” implement
this approach? There are several reasons, such as ignorance
of alternatives and ignorance of the ease with which a simple
innovation program can be implemented.
A marketing manager might state, I know it’s important
to innovate but how do I get my employees to innovate and
how much will it cost in time and real dollars? Other obstacles
include employees who are reluctant to committing themselves
to an innovation program. However, if the right incentives
are in place few would object.
Imagine if the sales manager had to lay off a few workers
in a short while and were to say to them, if you can find
a unique way to improve sales, then the additional revenues
would help to justify to the higher-ups to keep everyone.
In fact, this example was used in Giles book to show how quickly
sales rose by 20% when one sales manager tried this approach.
And best of all it didn't cost much - no money, only a little
time. This is the kind of virtually-cost-free innovation that
caused company “B” to excel.
Company “B” excels because it’s committed
to an innovations program and people will take innovation
seriously if they realize that as innovation increases so
does sales and so does their commissions and bonuses.
So company “B” has a successful feedback mechanism
where everyone wins. The company wins with additional revenues,
the marketing manager wins with a bigger bonus, less headache
and less pep talk and the sales force wins with greater commissions.
Over time, company “B” will have well tested and
highly optimized marketing and sales processes that yield
great results. Aren't these the processes that every company
wants? They can be implemented and best of all they are cost-free.
Windsor Pennicott created the free ebooklet "5
Cost-Free Examples of Marketing and Sales Innovations That
Can Increase Revenues By More Than 20%". Get your copy
at http://www.UsefulBizTips.com
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