Feature Article:New Year's Resolutions - 2006

New Year is traditionally a time of year for reflection, even if your company works to a slightly different annual rhythm. For most of us the idea of New Year's resolutions has become a cliché and these days the time required to prepare them is a luxury we can barely afford.

This year we thought it might be interesting to put forward some Cambashi generated ideas for New Year's resolutions in the sales and marketing department and ask you to contribute your own ideas as well - before the serious work of delivering the 2006 numbers becomes all-consuming. First though, a little literary digression . . .

For those of you who have read Orwell, the idea of doublethink will be familiar - essentially the human capacity to believe in two mutually contradictory ideas, at the same time. As marketing people we do this all the time. For example, we know the market is highly complex but we use very simple models to describe it. Similarly, we know the market is constantly changing but we go from one year to the next without really challenging the assumptions we worked with last year. Generally speaking we cling to our simple market models for too long - failing to recognise the accumulation of small changes that signal something new is already happening. Once each year we should step back and challenge established wisdom - if only to see where the new ideas take us.

Here are our ideas for New Year's resolutions - please let us have your comments and ideas on email to Bob Brown.

1. Talk to some of your customers or, if your job puts you in front of customers all the time, find new contacts to whom you can talk. Ask them how their world changed in 2005 and how that will change their business and personal priorities in 2006.

2. Complete an analysis of performance against plan in your area. Identify any significant departures from plan. Discard the generally accepted explanations (which by the way are usually based on some internal factor) as too convenient. Then critically review the underlying external assumptions about the nature of the market. Now try to produce alternative explanations based on observed changes in the market place.

3. Arrange to meet with some customers who first purchased from your company in 2005. Try to identify all the benefits that they derived from adopting your solution - not just those that you expected them to realise. Ask them to quantify these "intangible benefits" in either hard cash or equivalent terms like productivity gains, improved quality or motivation. This is harder than it sounds! Finally, ask them if they would allow you to develop a case study based on their experiences.

If you still can't find the time, then remember that we can help with projects in all three areas!

Happy New Year!

Bob Brown

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