Throughout my career, I worked for all sorts of different businesses, and I learned many things. Each day, I confronted new challenges and issues which needed attention. Throughout this experience, the most valuable skill I acquired would have to be "good judgment". Good judgment is the foundation of any successful small business, especially in the domain of marketing. Without good judgment, you can quickly find yourself losing at the game of marketing. Nobody likes to lose! In today's competitive economy, there are many choices you make every day. For each of these choices, there are expected outcomes. The best choice yields the best outcome. The best outcome means winning.
Let me give an example. You run a small start-up online business, specializing in selling health supplements on the web and through retail distribution. For the first 12 months, your business was great -- sales grew at a minimum of 20% per quarter. Lately, however, growth is slowing; you growth rate is just 5% or less for the past two quarters. You are wondering what to do to re-accelerate sales growth. You received the following recommendations:
1. A salesperson from an ad agency recommends that you increase your online ad spending, using such services as Google Ads, Newspaper Ads, and Magazine Ads. He promises that the advertising will increase demand, and deliver 20% higher revenue.
2. Your distributor recommends that run a promotion with a special 20% discount pricing, to get retail shops to buy more. He believes that sales will then grow at a rate of 15% per month.
3. Your operations manager suggests that you hire more salespeople, to call on prospects and customers who have subscribed to your newsletter. He is convinced that 2 additional salespeople will result in 30% revenue growth.
Which of the above do you choose? Based on revenue results, the recommendation from your marketing manager is best, right? Then should you go with it? How do you evaluate each of the recommendations?
Finding the right answers to these questions is not merely helpful. Finding the right answers to these questions is not important. Finding the right answers to these questions is MANDATORY. For most small businesses, it is the difference between success and failure.
At large corporations, managers (including top executives) are encouraged to take risks, and even to make mistakes. Large firms have deep pockets as a result of strong brand names; dominate market positions; and loyal customers. What they don't have is growth. If they take a chance on one of the above strategies, and fail, it won't have a major impact on anyone. They can simply try another strategy and continue until they succeed. It's called "trial and error", and I've seen hundreds of examples in my career. It's a luxury big firms enjoy, but small business afford only in small doses.
For the small business owner, there are solutions to help determine the right choices for your business. It comes down to asking the right questions, accessing the right information, and good judgment.
A final note: the difference between GOOD judgment and GREAT judgment is determined by one method. Everyone who possesses GREAT judgment knows this proven method. That is the subject for another article.
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Jeff Curley is managing director of Giant Marketer (http://www.giantmarketer.com), a newly-launched online community which delivers uncommon marketing insights to growing businesses. Jeff has over 20 years of experience in marketing strategy, marketing operations, and business development.
