1. Do programs comply with the strategic principle?
Which is: Marketing must invent complete products and drive them to commanding positions in defensible market segments. Most companies fail because they never clearly identify the markets they are pursuing. Only when a segment is identified can marketing departments talk specifics. Sometimes it takes years to get companies to define the markets they are really pursuing. A company that runs a good marketing program without good market segment definition and without strategy to attain a commanding position is lucky, not skillful.
2. Does marketing understand why customers will buy the product?
I recently talked with a marketing group that was demoralized and in complete disarray. The company had a fine product but had lost momentum in the market place. I asked a simple question of the marketing people in the room: "Why would a customer select your product over competitors", you could hear a pin drop. No answer is the worst response of all. Ask the question, if you don't get good, simple, logical answers from all the individuals involved in promoting and selling product, you have a problem.
3. Does a crusade mentality exist?
If the product is an important one, the company had better be on a crusade. If the product embodies new concepts for new markets, a tremendous amount of work is needed to educate the customer base and develop the market. Marketing is hard work. Enthusiasm, confidence, and commitment are infectious and are important ingredients in any product's success.
4. Is the customer satisfaction guaranteed?
A company's product is customer satisfaction. Many technology products are purchased by customers who have great expectations, only to have those expectations dashed. Unhappy customers are seldom repeat buyers. They also tell other people about their problems. Marketing departments should be able to explain why customers will get satisfactory utility from the product. They should understand the types of service customer require and be prepared to deliver them.
5. Does the product match the sales and distribution channels?
It frequently does not. The product may be good in every respect, but there may be no good way to get it to the customer. The investment in building the necessary delivery system will often exceed the cost of developing the device. On top of that, it may take years to put it in place and build an adequate sales and distribution network. That is precisely what the manufactures of many of the IBM-compatible personal computer discovered when they went to sell their products. Surprisingly enough this problem tends to be ignored rather than confronted. The time it takes to build the channel frequently exceeds the time to develop the device. Either the channels should already be there or the company should have realistic plans to build them.
Continue to part 2 of 3 >
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