Change-Up

As you know from reading these posts, I love sports and see them as a metaphor for life and for business. Lessons learned on the field have helped define the boundaries of many successful businesses just like yours across the country.  In researching companies – from sole proprietorships to large corporations like 3M, I’ve learned this axiom: Thoughtfully planned and well executed changes can be powerful. Changes at the last minute yield negative results.

My daughter plays softball for a high school team ranked top 10 in the state, which is exciting for a program like theirs.  Yesterday, they played the first place team in their division, the #2 team in the state.  It was a magnificent pitcher’s duel. The intensity increased with each inning, along with the excitement as both teams made great defensive plays to keep the other team from scoring.

The coach had an excellent game plan for pitching to their potent line-up and specifically to their star player. Our pitcher executed the plan perfectly, recording 12 strikeouts over all – including striking out their best hitter twice.  However, in the bottom of the 6th inning, she came to the plate a third time. There were two outs with a runner on first. Our pitcher was ahead in the count 0-2. The coach made a last minute decision to stray from the game plan and called for a change-up.  She was waiting for that pitch and deposited it over the left center field fence for a two run home run.  The game was ultimately decided by a change that was made at the last minute. 

You have a marketing game plan that is executed to perfection throughout your external campaign.  You go to great lengths and expense to paint a portrait for all potential customers so they will envision what it is like to do business with you.  The stage and the expectation level is now set. Your campaign encourages them to contact you.  They pick up the phone and call.

That’s when they are treated to a last-minute change. 

The personal touch you promise gets lost in an auto-attendant induced labyrinth where they can’t reach a real person.  The ambiance you clearly created through your external campaign is clouded by cheap on hold music that sounds nothing like the portrait you painted.  The attention to detail you profess is erased because your external marketing campaign is not matched by the actual experience of those who call you.

That is not a change-up that you want to call.

At Woodstock Media Group we specialize in matching your internal advertising campaign with your external marketing efforts. We create an audio portrait of your business with on-hold advertising, so there are no last-minute changes to your game plan. Callers placed on hold are treated to the same ambiance you created with the attention to detail and personal touch they expect from a business like yours.  Not every on-hold company can do that - which is why you should put US on hold.

And next time, stick with the game plan.

Tom McTee, Super-Genius