Is your industrial marketing effort so 2010?

Studies have shown that the first step to organizational change is for everyone to feel a sense of urgency that compels a desire to change. But now that we've all completed this first step, we might ask the leaders of government and industry whether they are skipping the next step that would lead to positive change. That step would seem to include an evaluation of why an organization does the things it does, were it guided by a more clear understanding of the organization's overall reason for being.

Such insight would be useful to our government, were its leaders to find out why it sent stimulus checks totaling $22.3 million to more than 17,000 prison inmates and almost 72,000 dead people.

As to why any organization, whether our government or an industrial manufacturer, would continue to overlook such counterproductive behavior, you can bet it has to do with "how we do things here" and the time-honored practice of employee self-preservation in lieu of genuine public/customer commitment.

This is the same problem for many industrial manufacturing companies whose leaders are challenged to understand why marketing and "marcom" continue to be a cost center, and why sales and marketing continue to act like they are divorced but still living together.

And yet, the root cause of these industrial marketing misbehaviors should be understood by now. They're called the 4 Ps: product, price, place, and promotion. The 4P's have formed the framework for industrial marketing for decades, and here's why this practice has to stop: In order to grow, many American industrial manufacturers must realign themselves based on a deeper knowledge of company potential and customer need. This will not happen when "how we do things here" is based not on company cause or customer problems, but entirely on paying homage to the first P (product).

When the very culture of an organization is built around the company line card, it doesn't matter how "customer centric" the mission statement is hanging on the lobby wall.

jb
www.centrifuge-now.com

Deaths, taxes and other leadership challenges...

This week brought yet another forced awakening to our divisive politicians by way of the murders in Tucson. The tragedy was personified by the death of a nine year-old girl whose ironic ambition was to become a political leader, emphasis on leader, and whose donated organs have already saved the life of a child on the East Coast. Which prompts us to wonder: How many of our lifelong politicians are the equal of such selfless achievement?

Meanwhile, here in Illinois, a state that is parentally absent when it comes to caring for its industrial manufacturing base, our congress has passed the largest tax levy in the history of the state. Illinois now ranks around 35 in terms of its business-friendly environment, falling below states such as South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Arizona and Tennessee.

But then, Illinois is at least $13 billion in debt; so if you were a politician awakening to the desperate mess you and your kind have created, you might also conclude that the only strategy left is to raise taxes and run for cover. Of course, this passes the buck to everyone else, adding to the financial burden of the industrial manufacturing companies in this state, whose leaders do not have such an option as raising taxes. You might raise your prices of course, but then higher prices, unsupported by higher value and demand, are not a viable option in the real world. That leaves you the options of value creation and smarter marketing, but these are the subjects of another blog.

This week, we were asked to think differently of such heretofore certainties as death and taxes, of childishly irresponsible politicians, and about the heart-breaking loss of a young girl who at age nine already demonstrated a greater maturity to lead.

Such deaths and taxes are not the certainties grownups can afford to accept.

jb
www.centrifuge-now.com

Let's get IT in the game...

Information Week surveyed 552 business technology professionals in November to learn how "IT" evaluated their contributions to the organization and the business. The group gave itself the following appraisal...

On a scale of one to five, with one being poor and five being excellent, IT professionals said they were rather good (3.7 score) at providing high quality internal systems and services and they were ok (3.4 score) at reducing the cost or maintaining the low cost of IT operations; but they were less than midling (2.7 score) when it came to creating new revenue streams for the company through external IT services.

At a time when the overwhelming organizational mission should be to act like a company and GROW the business, IT professionals went on to report that less than 10% of them are excellent at driving innovation or revenue. In other words, top management's end-of-year directive to IT continued to be bottom line internal cost cutting, not top line revenue growth. This seems a curious situation, given the fact that according to Global Spec, 74% of manufacturers are reporting that customer acquisition or lead generation is their primary goal.

If you believe that marketing is an organizational activity, the collective purpose of which is to create customers, then you can see the disconnect here. Marketing is not a bolted-on discipline. Neither is business technology.

jb
www.centrifuge-now.com