The Wrong Question

I recently had a conversation about some marketing initiatives. As we were outlining our objectives, I was asked the question, “How much are you comfortable spending on this initiative?” While this is a very common question – it is the wrong one. This is the kind of question that leads to poor execution. It is also one of the reasons people who are not sales and marketing people look at marketing with disdain.

The right question is actually a series of four or five questions. As you plan your 2007 marketing program, I encourage you to ask them.

• Question 1: What do we want to accomplish? Or, what is the result we want?
• Question 2: What will it take and/or what we must do to accomplish our intention?
• Question 3: What resources (time, money, and energy) will be required to complete the actions you determined by answering question 2?
• Question 4: Are we comfortable and/or capable of expending these resources (time, money and energy)?

• Sub-question: Are we comfortable accepting a result below our initial desires?
• If the answer is yes, then repeat questions 1 – 4.
• If the answer is no, you must consider whether the effort should be taken.

While this approach requires both marketers and executives to think more, it is the only process that can work over the long term.

As I’ve discussed previously, one of the underlying requirements is to allocate your limited resources (time, money, and energy) effectively against those activities that have the best chance of advancing the organization toward its critical objectives.

I’ve seen too many organizations work extraordinarily hard without achieving their desired fast-growth results. One of the major causes is that they under-invest in too many initiatives. Under-investing is the result of focusing on a desired budget instead of focusing on the desired result. Don’t make that mistake.