Rainmaking Secrets

Predicting the future and arguably the hardest play in business. Marketing is full of failed ‘new products’ that never took off in spite of the clever and careful planning of their promotions.

Dr. Simon Ramo and Dr. Donald Sugar, both successful high-tech business men offer a 4 measures system for improving the future of your business.

In their book, Strategic Business Forecasting (McGraw Hill 2009), the authors recommend you assign your ratings to rank a promising opportunity.

A. Probability - What is the likelihood a given event will occur?

B. Timing - When might that event occur? Today? Tomorrow? Next year? In the distant future?

C. Impact - To what extent will the event alter your organization?

D. Action Potential - How practical is it for you to act now in order to shape the future?

Assign numbers (1 to 10) to the four ratings (A, B, C, and D) and then add the scores.

The authors provide lots of vivid examples of the Four Measures system in practice.

In today’s roller coaster business world you need all the help you can to retire your predictions.

In the words of Yogi Berrq,

“the future ain’t what it used to be.”

Popularity: 5% [?]

The Mills Group and our Drilling for Diamonds program uses the acronym POSEM to highlight the 5 key steps in creating a marketing plan.

Present Position: Where are we now?
Objectives: Where do we want to be?
Strategy: How do we get there?
Execution: What specific plays do we implement?
Measurement: How do we know we have succeeded?

Popularity: 4% [?]

I can’t help quoting and raving about Kevin Clancy and Peter Krieg’s “Your Gut Is Still Not Smarter Than Your Head.”

Perhaps it’s because the authors agree with so many of my prejudices. They remind us the marketing plan is an essential document for all businesses of all sizes– from large corporates to start-ups.

“The marketing plan is to company success as a road map is to car travel.

It can act as a tracking mechanism, to determine the budget, and as a scale against which the company can measure marketing effectiveness.

And it is an internal communications tool that everyone understands where the business is going and how it plans to get there.”

Popularity: 4% [?]