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The Red/Blue Drill Testing RoadTek's Customer Focus

Take some marketing documents, representative of different kinds of work (for example, a planning document, a positioning document, a brochure or your web site). Using two different-colour highlighters, go through these documents and highlight in one colour words that refer to you, your products or your company; then repeat the process, highlighting in the other colour words that refer to your customer. A customer focused marketing organisation would produce the results where the page is filled with customer-focused words, and is almost empty of product focused words. Is RoadTek Product or Customer focussed?

The So What Drill Determing the Real Value of RoadTek Products

Here's an exercise to gain a real understanding of what value you bring to your customer. You’ll need a partner. One of you answers the question: "what does your product (or company) do?" You say "So what?" Your partner has to answer that question by explaining why his previous answer has importance to the marketplace. When he does, you say "So what?" And your partner has to answer again. This goes on until you reach some absolutely fundamental value for which there is no answer to "So what?" And providing that value - whatever it turns out to be - is what your product or company really does.

The What They Do Drill Finding the Right Path to Product Evolution

Figuring out the direction to take your product is difficult. It requires time, and process, and research. But you can't commission research until you have some set of hypotheses you need to validate. Here's a way to develop them. Pose the question: "what do our customers do when they buy our product." Start from the moment they determine a need to the moment they discard your product for whatever reason. To the best of your ability, chart every step, every movement they take. Not just as it directly touches you, but as it touches on that total experience of which you are part. Now, for each discrete step you've been able to chart, ask yourself: is there some way this can be made easier or better for them?

The Marketing Synapse Drill Finding the hidden Marketing Opportunities

Our marketing dynamic comprises many individual moments when we have a receptive marketplace to which you can present a message. We call these "marketing synapses" Synapses occur constantly, and many of them are hidden. Here's a way to uncover them. Examine our buying cycle. From the moment the customer determines a need to the moment they discard the fully consumed product or service. Track each movement within that cycle, every moment of communication about our company or product. Ask yourself who the actor is, what action they are taking, what the best outcome for that action might be, and if that outcome has any marketing value to you.

Create a table with the following column heads: ACTOR ACTION IDEAL OUTCOME MARKETING VALUE Now, take each individual moment in the buying cycle and break it down into the elements it comprises. If you determine that the optimal outcome from the moment has marketing value to you, then you can allocate budget to reach that outcome, the more value, the more budget. Here's a sample that illustrates how you might track the simple moment in time when your technical specifications are reviewed by an engineer to make sure they're compatible with existing infrastructure.

Acme builds industrial canning equipment, which is integrated into an overall automated canning assembly line. It is one piece of equipment in a series of equipment (labellers, packers, sealers and so forth). Early on in the Buying Cycle, a very simple step occurs. The technical specifications for Acme's canner are handed to the prospect to ensure that it meets required standards, and can be integrated into the assembly system. From the point of view of the Sales Cycle, this is a no-brainer, two-event process: the handoff of the specs, and then the call saying the equipment is up to specification and an advance to the next meeting. But from the point of view of the Buying Cycle, this is a more complex set of dynamics, some of which may have marketing value. Here's the breakdown.

BUYING CYCLE DYNAMIC - ENGINEERING REVIEW OF SPECIFICATIONS ACTOR ACTION IDEAL OUTCOME MARKETING VALUE Prospect contact Request delivery Acme receives and None of specs acknowledges request Acme Sales Rep specs Specs are received without error None to engineer Engineer Initial review for Engineer notices that the specs Positioning completeness are well organized and complete Engineer Detailed review Meets requirements None Engineer Hand off to Highly enthusiastic response Branding prospect contact about quality of the delivery Prospect Contact Deliver OK to Acme Advance to next meeting None

Acme has determined that two of these have marketing value: 1.Well organised and complete specifications create a positive impression on the reviewer, developing a position as a "buttoned down" company. 2. An enthusiastic response from the reviewer creates positive brand in the prospect. Now, these two are both focused on the same actor: the reviewing engineer. The marketing strategy is to position the company in the mind of that reviewer, such that when he submits his review, he accompanies it with some kind of "extra" enthusiasm for Acme. That enthusiasm is the marketing message you're going after; coming from a highly credible source, it will add positive branding in the mind of the prospect contact. A manageable marketing challenge to which we can deploy reasonable tactics.