Marketing isn't everything, but everything you do is marketing. That's how your customer sees it, whether she is looking at your advertisements or your invoices. Steve doesn't just focus on "the marketing department" in his consulting work, so he doesn't just write about marketing, either. Blog entry titles link to the original post on tompeters.com, where you can read comments or find other great articles by Tom Peters or other authors.

The Follies of Marketing Measurement

"If you can't measure it, you shouldn't do it," is one of the stupidest concepts in business.
Many things that can't be directly measured are worth doing.

Here's a really basic example: Should you ask your receptionist to smile when guests enter your office foyer? Of course you should! There is no way to measure the impact of a smile, but you are 100% certain that it is a good idea.

There are many decisions we make every day without being able to measure their direct impact. Should you clean your office before a client visits? Should you use the same logo on your website that you use on your printed brochures?

The answers to these questions seem obvious. But there are many other ideas that are terminated prenatally for one simple reason: The executive with control of the purse strings can't, from his vantage point, see a direct return on investment from this idea.
Important point: Just because this guy can't see a return on investment doesn't mean one doesn't exist.

Our world is very complex, and we create business results through combinations of actions. The receptionist's smile, the clean office, and the standardized logo on all marketing materials combine with hundreds, or thousands, of other customer touchpoints to create a cumulative story. This overall story is what motivates a customer to act, not any one point of contact.

So how do we make decisions in this complex world? We think. We strategize. We learn so much about our businesses and our customers that we are able to make good decisions. We create Brand Harmony.

You can't measure the effect of the receptionist's smile, but here's what you can do:

1. Determine what the optimal business results are that you are trying to create, and measure if they are created.
2. Determine the optimal customer behavior that you are trying to encourage, and measure if customers are doing what you want them to do.
3. Determine what you want your customers to believe about you, and then measure if they believe it.
4. Determine what the optimal customer experience should be, and then measure if you are creating it.
5. Determine what you want your employees to do, and then measure if they are
   doing it.
6. Determine what you want your employees to believe about your company, and then measure if they believe it.
7. Determine the action steps that are on strategy, and then measure if they are happening.

Determining these things will give you a framework for making decisions and measuring if your actions are heading in the right direction. Good strategy and good understanding of your business will give you confidence that your decisions are the right decisions

Don't let your boss get away with being myopic, focusing only on metrics that are right in front of his face. Transcend the mundane measures, and create real ROI.

Steve Yastrow posted this on 09/25/09.

Mindless Business

Recently, Tom told us about an upcoming book, Mindless Eating, by Brian Wansink. The book is now out, and it's very interesting. Key themes—The amount we eat is usually not determined by how full we are, but by how much food is put in front of us. And, we usually underestimate how much we've eaten. (I highly recommend the book. The stale popcorn story at the beginning is worth the price of admission.)

Can't help but relate this to business—How often do people, out of inertia, keep working on the thing that's in front of them, without questioning whether it's worth continuing? And, would they then underestimate the amount of time that's been sucked up by a stale project?
Steve Yastrow posted this on 10/30/06

Blocking & Tackling

People are always looking for a silver bullet to help their businesses. Silver bullets can be great, but so often companies don't succeed due to poor execution of basic things. They try to throw the bomb but forget to block and tackle.

So I loved seeing a fact in a New York Times Magazine story on Mike Oher, a star lineman at University of Mississippi who had a rough childhood. The second highest paying position in the NFL, after quarterback? Left tackle.
Steve Yastrow posted this on 10/12/06.

Information overload?

As many of you know, Edward Tufte is a leading expert on visual presentation of information. I attended his one-day course last week. A couple of highlights:

"There is no such thing as information overload, just bad design."

"Clutter is not an attribute of information, it is an illness of design."

"To simplify, add detail."

"Pitching out corrupts within."

Thoughts on those comments, or any other thoughts on Tufte?
Steve Yastrow posted this on 10/10/06

PSF: Outsourcing Close To Home

"Outsourcing" is usually associated with moving tasks previously done by US workers to other countries.
This morning, in a workshop with a room full of CEOs, the discussion turned to outsourcing. But, instead of talking about moving jobs offshore, most of the CEOs said that in the last few years they had outsourced many tasks to companies nearby. Maintenance of truck fleets, accounting, IT, HR—the real outsourcing happening in America is using your neighbors' expertise to help you thrive.

This is exactly what Tom was talking about 5 years ago in his Professional Service Firm50 book—whatever task your department does for your company, there is an outside company ready to prove that they can do it better, for a fee.
Steve Yastrow posted this on 11/10/04.

The Window & The Mirror

Whenever I ask a new or prospective client to describe the issues that confront his or her business, they inevitably describe forces from the outside world that stand in the way of success. These forces could include competitive threats, fickle customers, economic conditions, intransigent unions, the weather—you name it.

Later, once we have gotten deep into our work together, an interesting thing happens ...

Tom's been encouraging us to think about implementation. Please have a look at a new article I've written that helps us address the biggest obstacle to implementation: Ourselves.
Steve Yastrow posted this on 09/29/04.