Ken Sethney [marketing coach]

As a coach and consultant (ad agency creative director in a past life), I have used a four-step process for extracting useful information about marketing programs and materials. Try them, they work.

(1) Gather up all of your ads, press releases and collateral. Call up your website(s). Look at them closely. Read them carefully. Make and honest list of possible improvements. 


(2) Go through step one with your company’s sales team: inside reps, outside reps, dealers. Do the materials speak to today’s customer. Are the right hotbuttons being pushed? Is there too much information? Not enough? 


(3) Try step two with several customers. A formal survey would be nice, but a few well placed phone calls works reasonably well. 


(4) Most important of all: talk to a few people who zipped through the sales pipeline and ended up choosing a competitor. Their opinions about your products, your sales process and your people are golden.

Are your looking for a marketing coach? My clients have ranged from two guys in a garage with a great idea to an operating division of the world’s largest retailer. If you need a fresh pair of eyes, let’s talk.

ken (at) sethney (dot) com

– Ken Sethney