Hiring your Chief Marketing
Officer
NoSpin Debunker
#44: May 27, 2002
Hope that you are having an
enjoyable Memorial Day weekend and getting a chance to rest, revive, and
rejuvenate!
Please take 5 seconds and
complete the new NoSpin Poll for this week: What is the main thing that drives most
entrepreneurs who you know?
I’m sure that we’ll return
to the Ying & Yang of Sales & Marketing series at a point, but this week
we’re moving on to a new topic: Hiring your Chief Marketing Officer. Now that
I’ve convinced most of you (and if not, I’ll keep working on it!) that it is
important to have a top level Marketing person working in your company—what is
the profile of such a person?
Over the past year I’ve
been keeping notes on the topic of things to look for in a Chief Marketing
Officer (CMO)—and conversely, types of people to avoid-- realizing that there is
never the “perfect” candidate. The following is not exactly a job description,
but it is a potential profile for your CMO. If you’re serious about growing your business through both the
hard times and good times that you’ll likely experience, hiring (or replacing) a
CMO as part of your top management team is something your business should
consider.
Recommended
CMO Qualifications:
q
Is fundamentally, a
skilled business professional, ideally with a varied business background with at
least 10 years of business experience (and yes, there’s always an
exception).
q
Is a top-notch strategist
who also knows how to get things done--and isn’t reticent getting his/her hands
dirty doing any nitty-gritty job that needs getting done.
q
Takes a highly disciplined
Marketing approach—and is willing to take calculated risks, measure results, and
adjust the course as necessary
q
Knows Marketing via
first-hand experience (and a degree(s) in Marketing or other business
discipline(s) is certainly good).
q
Understands that Marketing
is principally about selling and creating revenues and
profits.
q
Invests Marketing dollars
like that he/she is spending his/her own money.
q
Has a track record of
success (but perhaps not at every stop) measured primarily in how prior
companies have done, financially—versus awards won, FTE’s managed, etc.
q
Willing to have a portion
of his/her compensation based on revenues/profits.
q
Communicates as well with
the CEO and top management as with graphics designers, techies, and of course,
Sales.
q
Has a strong personality
that can go toe-to-toe with Sales, Finance, and other top managers when
necessary.
q
Is able to give a pitch in
addition to developing one—isn’t necessarily a sales type, but can
sell.
q
Tends to err on the
Products, Packaging and Pricing vs. strictly PR and Promotions end of the
Marketing spectrum (when allocating his or her own time).
q
Writes exceptionally well;
is highly skilled at this form of communication; and does a lot of
it.
q
Understands e-commerce and
how it can fit into your business.
q
Is a skilled PC user and
well versed in a range of PC-based Marketing tools.
q
Is not interested in
building an empire—can work with well with minimal (or even zero)
staff.
q
Has excellent Marketing
connections to develop projects and relies a wide variety of outside firms to
create and implement them.
q
Refuses to allow spinning
of the customer base, market or fellow employees.
q
Works only via the highest
of ethical standards.
CMO Types to
Avoid:
q
VP’s of Sales who want to
expand their title.
q
Sales guys or girls who
can’t cut it Sales-wise or are tired of traveling.
q
Other cronies who want a
big impressive title and have few of the credentials
above.
q
Kids right out of school
who have little business experience.
q
Others with less than 10
years of business experience (of course, there are always
exceptions).
q
Empire builders that are
always looking for more of their own departmental FTE’s.
q
Marketers who rely
strictly on a single Marketing/Ad/PR firm to handle virtually 100% of the
creation and implementation of marketing initiatives
q
PR types in general (and
yes, there are exceptions)
q
Spin boys and
girls
But you say you cannot find
anyone that fits the profile above and/or don’t believe that you can afford such
a person right this minute?
Perhaps there are options
to consider—tune in to the next Debunker.
Please let me know what YOU think about this debunker!
If you would prefer to be removed from this email list, let me know.
Tom Ranseen NoSpin Marketing 615.383.7157