Almost everybody’s grandparents have told you, “good things come to those who wait.” This slogan of having good patience will also help you drive your business strategy to the place you want to get: achievement. Too many times a good strategy is paired up with some cool new tactics that get executed, only to be met with very uncool and unwelcomed results. Marketplace changes, lack of employee connectedness to your plan, customer challenges or changes in resources can all contribute to a flopped strategy execution. But what about time? Did you wait long enough for your strategy to play out? Is having ‘patience’ something that should be baked into the strategy plan? In most cases, yes. Patience is required for any well-thought out marketing plan.
The other day, my wife and I started the second season of a murder mystery show on Netflix. Like any good series, it leaves us hanging after every episode, begging us to watch the next one. After this particular episode she turned to me and said, “Let’s binge-watch the rest of the season this weekend!” It sounded like a good plan. Then I could find out who did it! But after thinking about it, I realized that I would be missing out on one of the positive attributes of the show: it gives me something to ponder, question, react and draw my own conclusions while I wait to watch the next episode. (Honestly, I usually fail at this, but my wife figures it out who the murderer is!)
Reacting too fast to the launch of your marketing plan should not be like binge-watching a series on television. You and your employees need to take in the information that is coming to you, process it, decide if it fits into your narrative and if it does, apply it to your purposeful plan.
If all the levers of a marketing plan have been laid out (research has been done to determine the unmet need of your customer, the competitive landscape is understood, all channels of engagement have been explored, strong goals, strategy and targeted tactics have been well thought out and communicated effectively to employees), then having faith in your plan will require the appropriate amount of time to see the fruits of your earlier work.
So rather than racing through the early reactions and scraping your plan, ask yourself, “Do I trust my planning? Do I have faith that my employees understand our direction and goals? Have I optimized the resources I have?” If the answer to those questions is yes, then sit back and enjoy the show! The end is not what your marketing plan created. The end is what your marketing plan brought you to.
About Tom
When he’s not solving murder mysteries or spending time with his beautiful family, Tom enjoys interacting with GEM clients to help them solve their own solutions. His sharp eye for detail helps deliver the client’s needs. After over 15 years at a Fortune 500 healthcare company where he honed his analytical, organizational and strategic skills, he now relishes the chance to work with such a wide-ranging and exciting client base. His diverse and multifaceted experience proves that Tom can handle anything that comes his way.
