Can you answer this question? Your customers can.

At a casual business gathering this week, I overheard the CEO of a Fortune 1000 company being asked what his company did. He appeared to intentionally bite a cracker just at that moment, to buy time and think about his response. “Well, it’s complicated,” he finally replied.

This smart, educated Chief Executive Officer was elbow deep in company operations yet hadn’t an (uncomplicated) response to that 'simple' question - not because he was oblivious, of course, but because he had spent the last several years buried in finance, production runs, board meetings and other demands. Demands that took him farther and farther away from his customer, farther and farther from a good response. So when he was asked “What does your company do?”, he could only respond to the question by explaining details about the company’s software.

The ability to describe your product is a start, but it’s an answer to an altogether different question, that is, “How do you do it?”.

Perhaps counter-intuitively, the question “What do you do?”, whether asked about you or your company, isn’t actually about what you do, it’s about the value you offer. “What does your company do?” is a question that summarizes several others, such as, “Who do you sell to?” “Why do customers buy from you?” and “What’s next?"

“What do you do? …to provide value to your customers?” It's not a question that only the CEO needs to know. Everyone in the company from the receptionist to the CEO should be able to articulate the company's value, because it should be the motivating factor for going to work every day. If you’ve spent the last several years being pulled farther and farther away from your customers, it is possible that you yourself may find this question harder and harder to answer.

But your customers know. It might be time to ask them.

The 5 Most Important Marketing Spends for a Start-up

As I work with a number of start-up companies, I am often approached by these hungry entrepreneurs (and their investors) to help execute a demand generation campaign,largely in the 'lean marketing' or 'growth hacking' mode. However, there are a number of prerequisites I demand of prospective clients at early-stage start-ups. These prerequisites are fully marketing activities, but also have cross-functional utility because it helps young companies get a sense for themselves before promoting themselves to the outside.

1. Market and competitive research

Useful to finance, sales, and product development, gaining a full understanding of the industries and individuals (personas) that are in the target market is critical. Young companies should know their customers as well if not better than they know their own product or solution. The same goes for the competition – there is always competition, even where the product, niche, or industry is brand new.

2. Positioning strategy

The world of marketing is ruled by Venn Diagrams. Understand the similarities, differences, Unique Selling Proposition, potential black holes and growth opportunities in your market. Know the desired customer behavior and how slow or rapid adoption would reshape the market and your own assumptions.

3. Go to market planning

Plan the routes to market and go to market strategy for each channel; direct sales, online, partner, etcetera. I am always surprised at the number of companies (even large ones) seeking to promote their solution before they even fully understand how they will sell and fulfill orders. Really.

4. Branding and identity

In spite of the myriad number of self-proclaimed designers and fiverr designs out on the market, leveraging the knowledge and experience of a professional designer is critical to bring the above three investments to the public. A designer that understands your market, what you are trying to achieve, the emotional bond you want to create in a customer, how colors, typefaces, and imagery interact. Great marketing is easily undermined by an identity that doesn’t reflect the marketing message.

5. Inbound/content marketing strategy

Finally, the first stage, 'growth hacking' promotional, demand generation actions begin with the foundations of the content management strategy that drives initial value and interest among your target publics. As content management takes some time to spin up, this should be initiated as early as possible, and ideally prior to product release, in order to drive demand upon release.

Once these five prerequisites are established, then, and only then, should any shorter-term aggressive promotional lead generation activity be undertaken. Excepting perhaps the days of being featured on Oprah’s Favorite Things, there are no shortcuts to effective marketing and sustainable lead generation for a start-up, or for any established company.

Networking is a waste of time…

Yes, networking is a waste of time…

…if you can’t answer the question, “So, what do you do?”

This is a common networking question that everyone should be able to answer. Interestingly, however, few actually answer it. Like a good politician or crisis management firm, most people answer the question they wish they had been asked, the easier one to answer. Instead of answering the question “So, what do you do?”, they’ll tend to answer a different question. “So, what do you do?” becomes “What is your title?” or “What can you do?”. Answer those two questions instead and you are just wasting your time by networking.

Instead, “So, what do you do?” is best accepted as a marketing question, as if someone rang up your office and said, ‘let me speak to a salesperson’. Treat the question this way and you’ll immediately focus on the value you provide – not a laundry list of capabilities or a corporate title earned that may or may not suggest anything about what value you or your company can offer others.

And if you aren’t certain of the value you offer others, how do you expect anyone else be expected to figure it out? 

Avoiding a 'Nightmare': Small business lessons from Gordon Ramsey

I’ve noticed, from watching too many episodes of Kitchen Nightmares (a DVR is a curse), that all small business can learn something from Gordon Ramsey's formulaic approach to restaurant turnarounds.  The show is eminently predictable  but entertaining nonetheless. It's formula, and it's lessons, are applicable to many small businesses. First, the typical revelations for featured restaurateurs on Kitchen Nightmares, followed by the truism for all small businesses:

·         KN: Your issues are grounded in the fact that you have no prior restaurant experience.

o   A track record and case studies are important tools in selling. Know what it is you are offering your customers

·         KN: You think Gordon will love your food and you just don’t know why business is poor.

o   You can’t be so close to your business you miss the bigger picture.

·         KN:  You will be surprised and angry when Gordon doesn’t like your food.

o   Your business is your baby, but you have to be realistic about how good and how unique what you are providing actually is and be prepared to change. A lack of complaints is not a series of endorsements. Regularly poll customers to identify areas of improvement.

·          KN:  Gordon will not like that you use a microwave and use canned and frozen ingredients.

o   Your offering must be unique to you. What is your vision, mission, your unique value proposition? You cannot simply do the same thing faster or cheaper

·          KN:  You will yell at Gordon and ask him who he thinks he is.

o   Invite criticism. Criticism and failure are difficult but necessary to success. Do not create an atmosphere where employees fear complaining or offering suggestions.

·          KN:      Gordon will find icky things in your kitchen.

o   Stay organized and responsive to your customers.

·          KN:     Gordon may close your restaurant for a good scrubbing if it is extra icky.

o   Remain ethical and fair in all your business dealings.

·         KN; Gordon finally makes you realize some things about yourself.

o   Take time to think, strategize, and redirect.

·         KN: You will agree to start acting an owner.

o   Know your goals, your priorities, and create plan to move forward.

·         KN: Gordon will simplify your menu and feature fresh, simple ingredients from local merchants.

o   Keep it simple, stupid. Always worked, always will.

·         KN: Gordon will update your drab, 80s décor.

o   Thought leadership is critical to your brand. Stay on top of changes in your industry. Better yet, create them.

·         KN: Your service will initially be poor on re-launch night.

o   Change is painful. Change takes time.

·         KN: Suddenly your staff will get it together.

o   Hire good people and trust them to get the job done.

·         KN: Gordon will meet with you and your staff afterward and tell you how far you’ve come.

o   Reward and recognize small wins along the way.

·         KN:  You will hug Gordon.

o   Sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

...and there will be cursing. Lots and lots of cursing.