CEO’s Overrated as
Marketers?
NoSpin Debunker
#38: February 18, 2002
If you haven’t already done so, please take the 5-second NoSpin Poll: How to best organize your Marketing department?
Two weeks ago, I posed the
NoSpin Poll question:
How good is your CEO at Marketing and
Selling your company’s products and/or services?
The results: about 2/3 of
respondents said that their CEO rated “awesome” or “very good” and the balance
rated CEO’s as “mediocre” or “pathetic.”
There are a lot of
different types of CEO’s, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. One in a
thousand are the Colin Powell pure leader types, others are operational pros,
some are financial wunderkinds or the M & A “deal” guys and girls, and some
are really good marketing and sales types—and truly help to sell the products
and services that their company produces. A small percentage of CEO’s are lucky
enough to have more than one of these strengths, and more than few have none.
Were some NoSpin respondents
fooling themselves?
But let’s talk Marketing
and Sales, which I think, is THE most important characteristic of a successful
CEO, especially those who head small and medium-sized companies. Here’s my read
on the results from my NoSpin poll: that a reasonable portion of the 2/3 of
respondents who are pretty impressed with their CEO’s marketing and sales talent
are fooling themselves. I’m not sure what the right percentage is, but those
results seem very high. A lot of business people and CEO’s themselves confuse
what they think is Marketing and Sales acumen with other things
like:
·
Being glib and
articulate in front of small and large audiences.
·
“Negotiating” yet
another flakey “strategic partnership.”
·
Traveling all the time
and going to lots of meetings out of town (that is, staying “busy” at things
that don’t bring in business).
·
Banging sales people
over the head with the latest sales report.
·
Showing up at a trade
show but then not bothering to work the booth or the
floor.
·
Schmoozing for the sake
of schmoozing that really doesn’t result in any new relationships that bring in
business.
CEO’s who truly drive
sales
On the other hand, the
really good CEO’s (of small and medium sized companies) who I
know:
·
Invest a big portion of
their time with prospects and customers.
·
Really know their
products and services--and can give a pitch as least as well as the company’s
top sales person.
·
Set an example by
helping to close new business and develop new business with existing
customers.
·
Spend a lot more time
analyzing sales information and coming up with new strategies and tactics to
sell more—versus beating up Sales people with the latest monthly Sales
report.
·
Continually challenge
why the company isn’t trying new ways to market and sell its products and
services—and are willing to listen to new ideas and
approaches.
·
Answer their own phones
and emails.
·
Only spend time in
meetings that are essential.
·
Regularly seek new,
tangible business relationships.
A lot of CEO’s have the gift of gab, can give a nice talk, and are very charming--but haven’t a clue about marketing and selling—and it usually shows in their company results. A few are lucky enough to find a surrogate and delegate the whole process to that lieutenant (and then typically sit around and do little of value for their company). But the CEO’s who I like to work with know the market and their customers—and are engaged in marketing and sales every day they are on the job. They lead companies that have a lot better chance of success than firms whose CEO’s are fooling themselves, their investors, and their employees that they really help sell more products and services--but certainly aren’t fooling folks in the marketplace.
Let me hear from you you’d maybe vote differently—or not--if given another chance.
Tom Ranseen NoSpin Marketing 615.383.7157
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