Strategic Discipline Blog

Marketing is often considered to be a creative position. If you want your marketing to sparkle and get results you need to hire someone who has great creativity right? At Gazelles we’ve discovered that’s not necessarily true. Marketing is knowing who your cus tomers are, where they are, what their needs and perceptions are, how to communicate with them, and how to attract them.

“I don’t need core values, I’m just a small business, why do I need to spend time working on core values?”

Answer for me today what is your #1 priority? Do you know it? Did you have to think about it, or did you just finish working on it? 

Last blog I mentioned one of my clients who is in the business of selling copiers. He’s struggled for a long time with his sales process and has been continually refining it to get it down to a system he can depend on. He’s done several things in this area including developing a recruiting and hiring process to spot better performers, and purchasing a sales software program so he can closely monitor his staff and provide them with reminders to ensure follow up is being conducted. Performance has always been the bottom line and if you know anything about business to business sales it can be a wild roller coaster unless your people are following a regimented routine to each day work on getting new customers. 

    


After much delay, the following is a letter from my co-worker Troy Simon's wife recounting the days leading up to and events surrounding the loss of their home during the June flooding in Cedar Rapids:

A couple of my clients are having issues with their employees right now. One of them a copy sales company has had issues with performance with his sales people and has been continually working to find the right balance of stress and nurturing to get production. More on that in the next blog.

The dictionary defines oscillate as: 1.to swing or move to and fro, as a pendulum does. 2. To vary or vacillate between differing beliefs, opinions, conditions, etc.: He oscillates regularly between elation and despair.

Having just returned from two weeks of vacation and having read the book Stress for Success by Jim Loehr [he co-authored The Power of Full Engagement with Tony Schwartz, a book I highly recommend], I can tell you I learned first hand the value of having too much relaxation as opposed to too much stress.

Again I want to thank you for reading this blog, and to the many clients and friends who offered their support to community of Cedar Rapids. My neighbor took some pictures from a plane during the height of the flooding while her husband was taking flying lessons. If you’d like to view these you can see them here.