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What triggers companies to hire outside marketing help?
Question:
Hi George: That’s a great name, isn’t it? 
I think that pain being a prime motivator is true. In fact, I would say that almost all purchase decisions – even simple and mundane things – are made more by emotion than logic, with logic used to justify after the fact. I’m not so sure that I agree with your point about companies not wanting to admit that they "need help". If that were really true, there wouldn’t be any questions in this newsgroup. There would be no-one attending marketing seminars or reading marketing and management books. And hiring a marketing pro doesn’t have to be about admitting a major failure, it’s about hiring a specialist to do a job. Hiring a pro should also be about ambition. "I want my $1 million/year company to become a $10 million/year company. Then a $50 million/year company." There’s really no failure to admit there, just a desire to grow and improve. That’s the same motivation that convinces companies to hire employees. The original partners could only do so much…if they wanted to get bigger, they’d need some help. So they hire help. When they computerized the offices, they hired a network technician to come do the work. They hired a payroll company to do payroll, an accounting firm to handle the accounting, a janitorial service to clean the place up, a mailhouse to print and send out their mailings…the list goes on and on for most companies that have reached say $1-2 million/year in revenues. Yet, many companies that size still market by the seat of their pants, having no real marketing plan, making decisions based on who walked into the office selling advertising today, letting their print ads be created by the salespeople and art departments of the publication, the directory publisher create their yellow pages ads, the radio station write the scripts for and produce their commercials, the printer lay out their busines cards, letterheads, menus, etc., send out their own press releases, write their own sales letters. It seems to me that marketing is thought of differently than other business services. There’s something that stops businesses from turning to pros in this particular field more than others. I think that your "comfort zone" idea may have some merit here. Companies may not know what is available to them, how the relationship works, what they can expect or demand…this may be a significant factor. I often use the technique of describing in specific detail what will happen if a prospect responds to a direct mail letter or print ad in order to make them comfortable enough to respond (as well as setting the business up for a positive impression when they do exactly as they "promised" in the letter). Trouble is that as marketing consultants, we often can’t really describe the nature of the solution until we know the exact problems and the resources available to deal with them. This makes it harder to address the comfort zone issues ahead of time. Are we dealing with a problem of familiarity here? Most people have a pretty clear idea of hiring an accountant or lawyer, for example. When they hire a janitorial service, they know what to expect. Is it that business people aren’t aware that there are professionals out there that solve these types of problems? Are they assuming that "advertising agencies" (which are big scary expensive things not interested in smaller businesses) are the only form of marketing help available because that’s what they’re familiar with? If that’s true, then education would be the answer. If we let businesses know that consulting help is available and how it works, will that make the difference? Speak up, all you business owners/executives in this newsgroup! What’s stopping you from hiring professional marketing help? — George Demmer – President Reality Marketing Associates Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada Phone: (604)944-8603 Fax: (604)944-4708 "Everything your business does is marketing. We help you do it better."
Response:
> George Demmer – President > Reality Marketing Associates > Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada > Phone: (604)944-8603 Fax: (604)944-4708
George, I believe the primary motivator that triggers companies to hire outsiders is sourced to emotional "PAIN". I believe Logic and Emotion are the two driving factors to most purchase decisions – whether Consumer or Business to Business, whether individual or group decision making. Decisions about hiring outside help, however, is driven MORE by emotion than logic. Regardless of size, most companies will typically avoid the stigma of appearing to "need help". This is not logical, it’s emotional. Many managers also have a problem with "admitting" there’s any problem with marketing results – especially to anyone "outside". Again – this behavior is driven more by emotion, than logic. This is where "rationalizing" comes from. Rationalizing is using Reason to explain emotional behavior or decisions. It’s also where Denial comes from. In many cases, emotions cause companies to delay seeking outside assistance almost until it’s too late. Then, when the level of pain of the potential loss of business – or the pain of competitive threats to market share – gets high enough, then the business’s emotional pain exceeds the emotional sources of it’s "blind pride" pain. Very often, only in the face of desperate circumstances do business managers tend to call in outside assistance. I see this so often, it’s tragic. I call it "The Aftermath" because it’s often "beyond the point of no return" where the damage of inaction and indecision is almost irreversible. In other words – whoever is hired to fix problems is faced with far greater problems than would have existed had the Client company not been "in denial" for so long, that the problem existed, and that the need for outside help was as high as it was, sooner. I don’t see how anyone can correct the situation easily since all the logic in the world often does no good when the source of many business problems is emotional. People are people and because they are, correcting problems requires they be "unconditioned" away from what they’ve been conditioned TO DO for so many YEARS!!! In many cases, much of our conditioning goes back to childhood and our school systems. Changing deeply conditioned habits can happen, but not easily, nor quickly. One of the primary ways turn conditioning around is to increase a Clients "comfort zone" in the direction of using outside assistance. However, outside advisors, consultants, coaches, etc, must avoid the zone of "unpaid consulting" where they are required go too far to increase the Client’s comfort zone – to the level of providing so much "unpaid consulting" that this threatens the consultant’s ability to stay in business. It’s a tricky balance. People "keep things to themselves", "put up a front"… do whatever it takes to keep their self esteem in tact. Remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? Remember what’s at the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy? The Need for Self Actualization. That’s the need to maintain self-esteem. Self esteem is higher than the need for Safety, for Food, for Sex… all the other needs – even Greed. The need for self esteem is usually so strong that without it you have suicide. Anyone who is in the business of helping businesses needs to have a solid respect for, and understanding of, these "people dynamics". Logical solutions have their place, but will always take a back seat to emotional solutions. And emotional solutions cannot happen without UNDERSTANDING the sources of emotional problems. Call this "Psycho – babble"? OK, go right ahead… but do so at your peril. George, I applaud your interest in putting up subjects like this for discussion… makes MBMM "dialogues" more interesting. Anyone agree, disagree with my thoughts??? Don’t let your emotions get in the way… SPEAK UP! — George Wehmann Direct Marketing Resources Group, Inc., Raleigh, NC, Voice: 919-231-2728 Insanity comes from expecting things to change, while continuing to do the same thing over and over. Without an AWARENESS of alternative options and choices, Change cannot happen.