Magnus Marketing Blog

So, lets talk about corporate culture, fit, and competitive advantage. In an autocratic, "this is the way it is", type company such as the one my friend was previously affiliated with, the focus is on what the management thinks, wants, and desires. It is a management centric and product centric company, not customer centric company. Many mature organizations as well as start-ups become ossified or frozen in a mindset because "this is the way it is" and lose the market focus and customer focus that is required for long term growth and success. Founders with deep experience may "dictate" the growth strategy based on their assumptions, which may not be validated against actual market demands or needs. Not to mention that rigid processes and task definition stifle employee productivity and inhibit growth.

For example: As a highly intelligent, creative,very opinionated and observant, customer-focused professional (modern knowledge worker), I cannot succeed in a position where: a) my skills and capabilities are not utilized to the fullest extent, b) where I have no empowerment, c) where I cannot grow. For example, the prospecting I do leads me to learn a great deal about prospect behavior which in turns leads to both strategy development and tactical development. After a few months of talking with prospects, I can easily turn around a very strong tactical marketing plan nearly guaranteed to target and "pull in" customers. I understand the buyers, know where they are, know what motivates them, etc and can develop tools, tactics, strategies to play into that - creating a force multiplier to identify the right buyers and attract them. And, by "staying in touch" directly, can detect shifts in the market quickly. I fit very well into a collaborative, structured environment with defined roles and direct, open, honest communication. A flexible and flat organization that focuses on the customer. I work very well when told, "we would like to grow revenues X%, acquire X customers, get meetings, etc" and am empowered to do what it takes to achieve that goal. Anything other than that, I am guaranteed to fail - either from demotivation or from "strangulation" - the inability to execute in the manner required.

Organizations with such tightly defined processes create an assembly line mentality, even with customer acquisition. Customers are viewed as conversions or numbers, people to be sold to, not treated as valued partners. This transactional mentality quickly diminishes the value of the solution, creating a commodity. Without bidirectional communication, the organization loses touch with the customer and market. It is quantity over quality. The tendency is to provide tools, not ask - "what do you need to succeed".

Smaller organizations looking to gain advantage over established competitors or in more established markets, can make huge strides with a customer and employee centric focus. Even in larger ones, more people tend to shop in our Kohl's store rather than other stores because of the friendly and nice atmosphere and service our associates provide - they drive out of their way to come there because of it. Even in speaking with CIO's more recently, they told me outright - they would rather talk to me rather than a pushy, aggressive hard sell salesguy. So, if you want real differentiation - be nice, care about the customer, offer something of value and the money will naturally come.

A friend of mine was consulting with a small startup firm that had been bought out by some VC types. Working directly with the founders, she derived and explored various avenues for their homegrown product to fit, made tons of prospecting calls with zero marketing support (no money for lists, good collateral, good website, etc), set up initial meetings...all during the height of the recession when IT spending was cut significantly. One of the meetings led to the identification of a senior sales rep, a true down in the trenches heavily networked salesguy who - when laid off from his company (because he brought in not enough sales) started to work with the startup also.

Five minutes after said salesguy joins the firm, he does what any good salesperson does - breaks into his rolodex and sets up meetings. Not extraordinary or unusual by any means - in fact, quite expected. Well, the company gets one major opportunity and goes nuts. Suddenly the salesguy is put in charge of all sales and is managing my friend. The first thing that happens is she is removed from any executive level support and is shut down from any further input to the company, the second thing is that she is labelled a telemarketer and told to quickly bang the phone and get appointments. No proposals, no demos, no meetings without the micromanging oversight of the salesguy (who hasn't closed a deal yet). Her strategic and analytical manner and philosophy is quickly rejected. Said salesguy chats up the executives and is handed golden keys to whatever he needs - new website, collateral, anything.

The founders themselves, synergistic with my friend, are depowered and shoved into subordinate positions with little input into the company they built. The company, rapidly gaining a reputation for being friendly, flexible, and nice is becoming an ossified form of itself driven by words like "and that is how it will be" and "process over innovation" and "dollars over customers".

My friend, a senior level marketing and sales person who has closed deals, built inside sales and telemarketing teams, and brought innovation in business development process was told - you do what we say or else bye-bye. The job they were going to offer her was that of a telemarketer, pounding the phone. No longer were her skills, experience, and expertise a fit, no longer was she valued - of course, she would have been valued if she had a Rolodex and brought contacts.

Watching as her beloved founders and their product are taken over by people with no soul was too painful. She said the words "the engagement will have to end" and disgustingly walked away...knowing another firm with great potential will likely never achieve it because they don't care anymore about anything 'cept the green.

Moral of the story: Entrepreneurs - if you want real success, stay away from the venture capitalists, never give up more than 51% of your company, and retain control. Make sure the you hire people like my friend, people who can execute and do the job - find the holes and fill them. Competitive advantage can come from culture and customer focus too, ya know.