Magnus Marketing Blog

Today was a tough day. Filled with anxiety, I went into the CEO's office of a long-term client and officially informed him of my desire to separate from the company. I believe he was very happy by my decision.

My prospect pipeline having grown and new clients taking up more time, I need to optimize my billable hours with people that allow my fledging company to grow. This particular company, noted for its inability to close any deals, was becoming one that did not contribute to the growth of Magnus Marketing Group - financially, challengewise, or growthwise.

A contentious discussion ensued last week upon which a reiteration of the fact that I was to be paid largely on commission, yet only received one commission check, asked for a higher base, only to get a meager "raise", and that my performance hinged on whether I got "sign ups/contracts" not on the quality of account. The CEO said some things that were interesting:
1. You are an expense. I am paying you a few hundred dollars to procure contracts (that are over $20K) and the contracts have yielded no revenue. (What did the bird say as it flew over their headquarters? Cheap, cheap, cheap).
2. If a marketing campaign doesn't work, you change it.
3. I am not happy with your performance, you are not achieving the goals set.
4. You are not happy with what you are doing. (Who would be, with zero results?)
5. If I asked you to quickly develop business for one of my teams can you do it? (No, absolutely not).

I thought about it over the weekend and realized. What this client is talking about is VOLUME, CHEAP, and EASY WORK. The contracts that these folks couldn't close, the meetings that yielded nothing, were all with name or Fortune 1000 companies! A few contracts were with unknown firms, but most were name companies for positions that were very hard. The company could not handle it, they could really only handle particular (rather easy) business. It took many months, averaging 3 to 6 months to get a contract usually. The company has no marketing: the website hasn't changed in 2 years, no advertising, no presence at conferences, nothing!

What will yield EASY WORK in VOLUME at a CHEAP cost? Telemarketing. Reminds me of another client who stated in no uncertain terms he wanted "Laptops, laptops, laptops" and plenty of them. What will yield lots of laptops? telemarketing.

Here ROTE SCRIPT GUY - make lots of calls, ask 10 qualifying questions, get the contract. The more contracts we get in, the more we can pick and choose which ones we will take. The more laptops I can get the more money I make. NO STRATEGY, NO THINKING, NO RELATIONSHIP. Get the "Sign-ups", get the "laptops", get whatever you can get as much as you can get as fast as you can get it. (Quality be damned). Oh, my - no one cares about positioning (except my consultant client who is brilliant).

So, I ended the relationship. Magnus Marketing Group is evolving into a lead qualification firm, a strategic business development firm where QUALITY triumphs over QUANTITY. You want quantity? Call Carisa at Superior Telemarketing, Kaizen Direct, or Paragon. Lots of low paid telemarketers available to bang the phone for business. I recommended my client get in touch with those folks. They do the "retail" stuff and they do it well.

If you want real business - business generated at the "C" or "VP" level, business that can be millions of dollars, strategic business, or real - qualified accounts - then you call ME. And, I do good with marketing also and research! My goal is to position as a selective company working with intellectually or skill growth challenging business that delivers quality information and business for entrepreneurial firms. I don't do "retail" except at Kohls!