Gray Matter at White Space

These days, so many companies are scurrying around looking for answers. But, when you’re in the thick of everything, it’s difficult to see things clearly. Lost revenue, a waning customer base, and no definitive date to return to “business as normal” has companies clamoring for some semblance of direction; of hope.

The reality is, past performance is no longer an indication of future success. People we are working with are taking a step back and looking more holistically at their businesses to ask:

• Where is marketing worth it?
• Where is it just a waste of today's precious resources?

It's a damned good reflection, if you ask me.

The pain of heartbreak. The guilt of the break-up. Here’s the story.

My First Love

I tried a new brand of household products about two years ago. They advertised on Facebook. The advertising was silly. It made the point. The product was environmentally friendly, and it came in the mail by subscription.

I tried it. I liked it. End of story. Let’s call them Brand #1.

A few weeks ago, I spoke to 50 members of the Collaberex networking organization about goal setting for 2020, in light of this new world we’re living in. 

The premise of the presentation was looking ahead to what business will look like on the eve of New Year’s Day, 2021, and what people can realistically expect to “celebrate.” As much as we’d all love for things to go back to normal, those days--as we knew them--will likely never be quite the same.

So, we adapt. We lead.

I’m deep in the world of optimizing ecomm businesses for companies with an emotional, aesthetic focus. Their success is connected to both visual appeal and real-time experience, but fulfilled digitally.

Think about that: a customer connection driven by beauty, fulfilled digitally. Whoosh! What was once imagination, is now oh, so real.

When the coronavirus crisis erupted, our podcast team at “How Do We Fix It?” had to react in a hurry. Co-host, Jim Meigs, producer Miranda Shafer, and I tossed our carefully orchestrated spring program plans into the trash.

We’re a weekly news show committed to talking about fresh and surprising ideas that could make the world a better place. We had to stay relevant. Now we’re winging it week-by-week, booking guests one or two days in advance. Scrappy and immediate is the order of the day. Quick turnaround time is essential.

The same is true for countless other content creators.

Even with the understanding that this pandemic crisis is temporary, and that we will get through this, uncertainty looms. There’s so much unknown, it’s dizzying.

And yet, while some of the world seemed to be unraveling in the recent weeks, other plates shifted under our feet.

Suddenly, risk serves as a catalyst.

While we all work through learning how to sell during the new world environment, it’s still vital to keep your eye on developing quality leads for your sales executives. Change and pressure have a way of forcing companies to lower expectations on deliverables. 

Remember, even though you may refine lead definitions over time, sales will still reject leads if they aren’t “sales ready.” No matter the situation we’re in now, it’s important to keep demanding quality from your lead generation teams.

Why Volume Isn’t the Answer

We all know that the definition of a “qualified lead” varies from business to business and even changes as your business evolves. I think back to a situation I was in with a large software company, where I managed their lead management organization. 

This phrase was made popular by Marie Kondo and her book series, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Many of you may have gone through your closets and drawers, identifying the items that do, in fact, bring you joy—and decluttering those spaces in the process. It’s so widespread, it’s even been coined, “The Marie Kondo Method.”

Another approach is similar, yet different.

If you happen to be married to a financial risk analyst, who moonlights as a historian, you have to turn an eye toward history in order to gain any perspective on what’s happening today.

Here are a few of those tidbits, culled from a Forbes article from last year. 

Yes, last year.

How many boring corporate emails and newsletters have your received in recent days, telling you how much brand X or company Y cares about their customers and employees during this pandemic we’re all coping with?

Can’t they do better than this?