Is that the forest? Nope, just a tree.

I know the question you are asking yourself right now. It goes something like this: “Is Pete Monfre some kind of super genius?” While my mother might answer in the affirmative, I’m going to give you the real answer. But before I do, consider this.

Owning a business is like trying to find your way through one of those crazy garden mazes that rich people use to confuse their neighbors and keep their gardeners busy. But these mazes don’t just consist of some really tall bushes. These evil gardens are full of scorpions, snakes, biting flies and really mean birds. To transverse the maze, the intrepid business owner must plot his course, remember where he’s already been and keep his bearings while fighting off these biting, stinging and dive-bombing critters. It’s all too easy to get caught up in avoiding the stings and end up walking in circles. OK, that’s a really weak metaphor.

What I’m attempting to say is that it is so easy to get so involved in the daily details of your business that it is almost impossible to see the obvious. For example, many of my clients are searching for a better way to present their unique abilities or products. These truly smart people work very hard on the problem. They lose sleep over it. They obsess. But nothing seems to jump out at them.

Enter yours truly – I have a special ability to get to the heart of things and generally, after some careful study, I simply see The Answer. Is it because I’m some kind of marketing and sales savant? Nope. I just have a unique vantage point. I’m not caught up in the minutiae that clouds vision and blocks inspiration. I can quickly see what’s missing, what’s needed and the path to The Answer. Granted, I’ve been doing this for almost two decades and that experience helps, but I really think it’s just the nature of being a truly objective outsider. I think like your customer. It’s really that simple.

So, is this genius? Nope. Writing software is genius. Designing electronic circuits and building a better motorcycle is genius. I’m just a guy with a solid process, no preconceptions and an eye for what makes you special.

Now if I can just get out of this crazy maze.

The power of process. This is a no-brainer.

I often say that there is no business problem that can't be solved by creating, improving or tweaking a process. (I sometimes say it in my sleep, which scares my wife.) Let me give you an example.

The other day, my wife and I took our son to the doctor. We went to a local clinic and all turned out well. (sinus infection). The next day - a Sunday - I realized I better get in there too since I had a trip coming up and was getting the same symptoms as my son. So I called the same phone number from the day before and was happy to get an appointment.

The clinic is about 15 minutes from my house so, tissues in hand I left to see the doctor. When I arrived at the clinic it was closed. I called the same number with which I made the appointment and got a recording. When I called the after hours number posted on the door, I explained my dilemma and was told my appointment was at their "other" location.

I asked, "And how was I supposed to know that?" The girl on the phone said "I always answer the phone Medical Clinic Far West". "OK, but I didn't call you this morning - I talked to a scheduler who never mentioned that another location even existed" I replied. Phone girl didn't even respond to this (I was being polite...) she simply transferred me to someone else who moved my appointment an hour forward. I still had to ask where I was supposed to go.

As I'm leaving clinic number one, another patient drives up, tries the locked door and starts to look panics. Upon talking to her, she had experienced the exact same problem and was a tad pissed off about it.

Are you still with me? When I mentioned this to the receptionist at clinic number two, she said "That happens all the time. It's ridiculous." Uh.....yeah. And I bet it's killing your patient satisfaction levels too.

How simple would it be to tweak their scheduling process to always confirm the location of the appointment? Would it take about five seconds to implement this change? I know they already have a formal process for doing this sort of thing - the problem is they simply don't care.

In this long winded story, a simple process is actually damaging their business and it would cost nothing to fix it. Pure genius.

Branding is a painful experience for livestock. But is it important for your business?

Allow me to be perfectly clear about this. The answer is yes and no. In the sense that the way you represent yourself as a company, what you stand for and how you want to be perceived by the marketplace, yes - you should develop and manage your "brand". But a strong brand alone won't help you sell more. For most companies who don't advertise on television and employ scores of sales people, spending lavishly on "branding" probably won't provide a measurable return on this investment. As long as your corporate image is professional, consistent and presents you as credible - you have it covered. Branding used to be the holy grail for product companies back when there were three major networks. A company could saturate these three channels with their brand and sit back and watch the money pour in. These days, there are many media channels and pure branding isn't as effective. Further complicating things is the fact that customers have become very brand savvy. A slick presentation just isn't enough for today's skeptical buyers.

Instead, many companies are investing in creating a better, deeper understanding of their customer. By creating a dialog with customers (which is easier today than ever before) we can better understand how they buy, what they want and how they want it. We can get insight into what fuels their buying behavior, what they hate about the buying process and what their deepest fears and desires look like. Not only does this level of understanding build sales, it can create today's holy grail - customer loyalty.

Now before you start firing off mean and nasty e-mails to me allow me to be clear - your brand and positioning is still important - and if you have an unlimited budget feel free to spend lavishly on your brand (and call me - I can help). However, if you are like most businesses, you need to determine which marketing and sales initiatives will fit within your budget and still reach your goals. It's all a question of where to put the emphasis and, in my experience; most companies need to invest their limited dollars in hard-hitting, customer centric marketing messaging, tactics, and sales processes and promotion. And that will bring home the bacon.

Pete Monfre's Big Five Secrets of Marketing Success.

OK, this is where I give away the farm. Marketing your products and services is not something that only large companies with legions of staff can do. The fact is, if you get just a few basic things right, the principles of marketing can work for you.

1. Have a process. Marketing is really just a process. It goes something like this:
a. Identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis). Be honest here. This is not a place to fool yourself.
b. Focus on the questions that have no answers- (a gap analysis) - I.e., not sure what your customer's buying criteria is? That’s a gap. Don't know what the typical growth rate in your industry for your type of company? Gap. Not sure what your competitors are doing to steal your customers? Big gap. Figure out what you don't know and prioritize.
c. Close the gaps. Ask customers, do research, spy on competitors, search the 'net. If this isn't your thing or you don't think you can be objective, bring in someone who can - but get the honest to goodness, no holds barred answers.
d. Strategize. Most business people think strategy is the result of some brilliant flash of inspiration. The reality is not quite as dramatic. If you've followed the process, what you should do, how you should do it, what you should say and to whom will emerge from the data you collected. The answers will be obvious to everyone.
e. Just do it. I always think of that Rozeram commercial with the beaver, Abe Lincoln and the deep sea diver. The main character is a guy who can't sleep and the beaver says "So not doing anything about HASN'T worked?" You would be surprised how many of my clients have great strategies but simply cannot execute. Granted, execution is hard but it's the whole point.

2. Don't make assumptions. Sure you know your business. Sure your clients love you. Of course no competitors even come close to your earth shattering superiority. If you have not engaged in empirical study and analysis of your customers, competitors and industry you are operating on assumptions. With luck, most of your assumptions should be correct. It's the incorrect ones that transform a great business idea into a dangerous gamble. And if you want to gamble, go to Las Vegas where you know you will lose. When it comes to business, however, I prefer to minimize risk.

3. Don't confuse marketing with advertising. Advertising is the result of marketing. It is one way to get the message out. Marketing, on the other hand, is the process you can use to arrive at the correct message. The message that jumps up, slaps your prospect in the face and compels him/her to contact you and buy. (Hint: the right message is never a list of features.)

4. Don't confuse features with benefits. OK, I'll give you a break on this one. This ain't easy. Of course if business was easy, we'd all be sipping overpriced wine on our private jets while laughing all the way to the bank. Playing "feature poker" is a losing game. Competitors will always meet and surpass your features and customers don't care about features as much as you do. Figure out what specific problems your product or service solves or prevents. Now you're on the trolley.

5. Learn how to sell. Can your sales people sit down and write out their sales process? Does it resemble a logical, systematic methodology that moves suspects to qualified prospect to buying decision? Does your process put you firmly in control of the sale? If not, all the marketing in the world won't help you. (Unless you invent a cure for cancer.)

So there it is. Now you don't need me.