What's missing in a company when it isn't growing? A strategic marketing consultant's view.

 

When a company isn't growing, when its sales and revenues and profit have flat lined, or decreased, it is always because of one problem, ethics. 

Unless you have ethics, you may have a company but what you don't have is a brand, or a business, that is sustainable, likeable or growable. 

This is a problem - it is also where a good 'marketing consultant based in Sydney, close to Sydney's CBD, comes in! A good marketing consultant is strategic - will identify your business problem (your business problem is your marketing problem) and work shoulder to shoulder with you to solve it!

When a business lacks ethics or forgets to include them in its espoused values, it suffers many issues that are avoidable:  

1. High staff attrition

2. High client attrition

3. Unusual levels of absenteeism 

4. Low profitability 

5. High inefficiency 

6. Growth, energy and momentum that is clearly absent 

7. A culture of antagonism (aggressive or submissive not assertive - CLEAR about business  objectives, values and results and thus able to deliver them) 

8. A culture based on GROUP THINK not TEAM THINK(order takers not VALUE CREATORS)

9. A culture led by FEAR not COURAGE (negative energy)

10. Results with no SOUL, no future to them

Ignoring your business's internal or external marketing issues won't fix them 

What is a marketing issue? A marketing issue is a 'stumbling block' to your business and is

plans for unrivalled growth or to take over the world. 

For example, you may wish to be the leading provider of software solutions in your industry whose target market may be people in advertising agencies, design agencies, digital marketing agencies,. social media marketing agencies, PR agencies, or you may be targeting professional marketeers, marketing managers or marketing directors in the gaming, tech, telecommunications or gaming and entertainment industries. 

However - as the CEO and leader  of your organisation - you may be amazing at software design  and engineering- however - how are your people as good as you? 

if not- well, then, that is a stumbling block - a marketing issue that a good marketing consultant will point out, along with a solution which may be : 

1. A skills audit in your company - easy, it looks at gaps and then the consultant develops a plan to fix them with training programs, new hires, promotions, new tools, softwares, hardware and technologies (eg AI)

2. Perception and reality exercises - these are fun - where, if I am a software engineer or graphic designer  or copywriter or pastry chef - I rate myself on my skills on a scale of 1 to 10; then a team who don't know me but who have seen my work, rate me on the same scale. 

Frequently, what wee find - high performers rank themselves lower than strangers or experts in the field do. Whereas low performers rank themselves higher than  what a team of experts do.

What this exercise does is expose prejudices and cognitive biases in our thinking, we cannot improve our abilities before we fix the prejudices and biases in them. 

So it's a fantastic way to put new energy and new momentum into a brand, business or team. 

3. Cultural ranking studies - frequently, a firm loses very talented staff because they are culturally different so work in ways that may be considered 'odd' or unusual. 

However, these people who are the odd bunch, march to the beat of a slightly different drum...are usually an industry's top performers.

When we rank cultures, we rank ACCEPTANCE and we rank TOLERANCE - not for inefficiency (that is incorrigible and employees or team members who are inefficient need to  bed FIRED - but, with enthusiasm - because it is what they have lost - for whatever reason.

Again cultural ranking studies - they are as easy as handing out menu's with French, Italian, Cambodian, British and American and Australian and Indian dishes. Each staff member must choose a dish - then list 3 options in terms of preference if dish one is not available 

What this exercise does is pre-identify for all of us - A COGNITIVE BLIND SPOT. If I choose a French sorbet, it is likely I will treat a French person better than I treat a person of English, Italian or Cambodian origin. 

There is no right or wrong answer - the purpose of this exercise is to make teams aware that we all have cognitive biases which are racial prejudices. We manage them by becoming aware of them. 

For strategic marketing support and fun exercises like this - please contact me, Patrick BERNARD D'souza, Strategic Marketing Consultant, Redfern Sydney AUSTRALIA

I LOVE doing this stuff, I've done for big and small companies in Singapore, Sydney, Wellington New Zealand, Malaysia and since I am back home here in Sydney and I'd love to do it for you. Because stuff like this, really hits my hot buttons. Cheers and have a fantastic day - Patrick :) 0450 545 725 patrick_dsouzasydney@outlook.com 

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-dsouza-8b5169366/