In 3 words or less, what’s the main reason for your marketing and sales success?
For me, it’s attention to detail. Here’s why…
I was bragging about one of my longest client/business relationships (8+ years). The company had grown from a small local presence to the US division of a global corporation.
That sounds better than it was, but we successfully grew the company organically and through acquisition. We weren’t the:
- First – lots of companies sold similar services
- Cheapest – there were always lower-cost options
- Most innovative – we’re talking commodity services
- Best – great team, but small and with minimal budget
Why did we succeed? Attention to detail. I think that’s one of the most overlooked business success factors.
When I look back at product development, marketing, and sales across multiple brands, our success was most closely linked to our attention to detail. We spent more energy planning, executing, managing, and measuring than our competitors. This approach often tested our patience, but our clients noticed.
Here are some examples of how attention to detail can improve your business results:
- Competitors – know your competitors better than they know you
- Branding – be consistent across all channels and audiences
- Message – translate what you want to say into what buyers want to hear
- Communications – focus on education, maintain cadence over time
- Sales – ask more questions to better understand needs, then incorporate that into the proposal
- Onboarding – quickly start the process, even if resources aren’t yet available
- Support – respond immediately to clients, even if you’re just confirming receipt
- Partnerships – “activate” the relationship, meaning consistent lead volume. Own joint marketing
- Measurement – establish KPIs and metrics in advance so you know what is/isn’t working
These examples required more effort (sometimes substantially more), but it paid off in improved audience perception and results.
The devil is in the details. Sorry, I had to say it.
