Marketing 911
Marketing 911, is the podcast where we tackle the toughest marketing challenges at the executive level.
Whether you're navigating complex strategies, trying to reach your target audience, or facing shifting market dynamics, we're here to provide you with actionable solutions.
From digital transformation to customer retention, if it's a marketing crisis, we're here to help you solve it—before it turns into a full-blown emergency.
Marketing 911
Part 2 Mastering the Midpoint: Navigating Days 31-60 in Your New Marketing Role
Transform your marketing career by mastering the essential strategies to succeed in a new role. With "Marketing 911," co-hosts Brian Bakstran and Richard Bliss promise to arm you with the tools to navigate the critical days 31 to 60 of your marketing journey. Discover how an external expert's fresh perspective can be the game-changer you need to propose impactful changes that align seamlessly with your company's goals. We'll unpack the vital steps of presenting findings, seeking guidance, and executing a strategic plan that sets the stage for long-term success.
Delve into the evolving role of marketing executives as revenue generators and the importance of aligning marketing strategies with sales goals. Our discussion tackles the significance of building trust within your team, fostering collaboration, and leveraging continuous learning to adapt to shifts in market dynamics. Hear a personal story that showcases resilience in the face of criticism from new leadership, offering lessons on adaptability and perseverance. Plus, anticipate actionable insights for the crucial first 30 days and a sneak peek into strategies post-60 days. Join us on this journey and connect with us on LinkedIn for further discussion and networking opportunities.
Hello and welcome to Marketing 911. This is co-host Brian Backstrom, along with Richard Bliss. Excellent, and this is episode two in our series discussing you've just landed a new job in marketing. What is your 30, 60, 90 day plan to ensure you get off to a terrific start? And in episode one, richard, as you remember, we talked about the importance of listening and building trust and not making any big decisions and gathering a lot of information from different stakeholders, and so in this episode, we want to talk about the next step, day 31 to 60, calling it the plan and training put in place. So I know you've got a lot of experience in this area. Tell us about what you found in your particular role.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in this case, in my current position with my company, we do training and we do sales training, we do marketing training, we do executive coaching and briefing training.
Speaker 2:And this is where I get pulled in time and time again, somebody has left their role as a head of sales, have the roles ahead of marketing, or a new executive has stepped into a new leadership role. And they come to me right here and say, okay, I've been here about 30 days, 45 days, richard, I want you to come in and have an impact on help to get our salespeople to do this. Brian, literally I had this call yesterday where they said, okay, this is our goal, here's what our marketing people have been doing, here's what their challenge is, here's what we'd like to see them be doing, both sales and marketing. How can you help us do that? Because my advocate had seen me do that at previous companies. They were there pitching me and I was there to make that pitch to. Here's how you do that. So I see this part consistently being an important. Part of this is where you start to have that immediate impact, because you only get that first chance right to actually make a difference with your audience.
Speaker 1:Why do you think executives who have been through this before have started new roles? They were, you know they knew enough to listen. You know they knew enough to listen. Why do you think it's at this point that they call? You know you've got a lot of expertise and you deal with so many executives that I can see that. But I'm just curious why at this point are they calling you?
Speaker 2:It has to do with something what I refer to as marketing by accent. You know, you bring somebody in from the UK and everybody's like, oh, they're so smart because they got that British accent. When I traveled the world right Australia, the UK, germany they'd hear that American accent and they're like Silicon Valley, california, oh, he must know what he's talking about. And at this point that the executive doesn't have to rely upon their own expertise. They can bring in a perceived expert, and this allows a bit of objectivity because, okay, I come in, I am going to look at this situation. I have nothing in the game other than I want you to be successful. I'm going to provide insights, provide guidance, provide execution, a plan, and then I'm going to kind of walk away.
Speaker 2:This means that the executive is able to use me as an outside expertise, and then it takes away the personal level that they're criticizing the organization because they need to make changes. No, they're not. I am, or they're trying to suggest change, but it's not coming through them, it's coming through me. And so it makes it much easier when there's an intermediary, a third party like myself, who provide that. Now, I'm not a consultant, because I'm not just saying this is what you should do. I'm actually coming in and saying this is what we're going to do and here's how we're going to do it, and it gives them the ability to execute on a plan that they already have in their head. I'm not an unknown to that executive. They know they can trust it.
Speaker 1:And sometimes that's what they need. Is that trust, because you've talked about that a lot. Yeah, I suppose it's akin to you're going to run a marketing campaign and you certainly have a lot of qualified people within the company, but maybe those people have been within the company three, four, five years and you bring in an agency who's speaking to lots of different companies, like you're speaking to lots of different executives, you're seeing how things happen and, as a result, you can come in as you say, fresh perspective and say, hey, look at, and this is after 30 days where they've gathered all their insights, They've gathered in critical information. They probably have a couple ideas of what they should do and you're an excellent, excellent person to bring in and give a wider perspective. I, you know, I break down this 31 to 60 days into really kind of four different buckets, and the first one is present your findings and get guidance. So you've spent 30 days, you've gathered the information, you've documented it, you've organized it, you've got some pieces that you say, hey, maybe I need to make some changes organizationally here, or I don't think this is working as well and I think this is working great and you need to present that with your recommendations back to whoever your manager or boss is. And you're doing that and maybe the boss says, hey, you know what, bring in a few of your peers or bring in these three or four other people. They'll be important to hear what you have to say and you just present it like, hey, I'm just telling you what I've seen and heard. Based on what I've seen and heard in 30 days, I think we should probably make some changes here and I think this is working great. Well, you may think that, but your boss may say I understand why you believe that, but here's why we should make a change to that area, even though it looks to be working well. Or hey, Brian, you know, in this case, you may want to make a couple changes. Thrilled to hear that, because I think we need to as well, and I'm glad you're hearing the same thing.
Speaker 1:It's also a good time to start talking about people who you see as maybe up-and-comers right In 30 days, days when you're meeting with your team and your direct reports. Many, many times it's like interviewing. You get a pretty good idea when you're interviewing somebody in a short amount of time. Whether they're, you know whether they have the experience and the right stuff. Are they energetic? Are they passionate? You can kind of get a handle on who you believe at the end of 30 days, and that's another thing that you should bring up to the exam.
Speaker 1:Hey, look, based on talking to these three people, I think these are rising stars. Am I missing something here? So it's a great one of the probably few chances, because, think about it, you've been in the job six months. This isn't a discussion you want to be having with your boss. Hey, what do you think of these three people? And do you think I should change this and like this is your one time to really present in an open, honest way, with no ownership, and get really good feedback and get them in the boat with you, right? So, sales leader as well, for certain pieces, you got to get them in the boat with you so that when you do make changes, they're on board, they're supporting you, et cetera. So that's kind of step one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like that because that becomes such an important part of trust, because on the other side your boss is also in a position to give you a little bit of benefit of the doubt. You might be presenting something. Oftentimes when I'm brought in I'm presenting some radically new ideas, but because of that timing the benefit of the doubt, the honeymoon is kind of still there a little bit and this is your one chance to put that into place 100%.
Speaker 1:So that's kind of a big first step and you need to take that input. I would even say, take the input from that meeting, make some refinement, come back and just double check with your boss, want to make sure I heard what I heard, and here's what I'm going to do. Next step build a higher level plan. So create a strategy. I'm assuming you're a marketing executive. You've already come in through the interview process with a vision for what you believe needs to be the organization. You've come in with a high level strategy based on what you've heard, et cetera. But is the time to put pen to paper, so to speak? Put together a strategy and plan and what I always say around marketing designed to generate revenue. So keep in mind, your sales organization is not just interested in hey, you're going to generate a ton of quality leads, you know not even. Hey, how much pipeline are you going to generate? Yeah, that's important, but that pipeline, in my experience, needs to close, even at a higher rate than the cold calling that happens from a sales organization, and so it's coming down to closed revenue we talk about. Marketing is one of the shifts. I mean this shift's already taken place. Marketing needs to be a revenue generator, and so talking about putting a strategy and plan together designed to generate revenue. Again, going back to your boss, going back to the sales counterpart saying, hey, fyi, here's the high-level strategy and plan and the input suggestions, because you need particularly the sales leader. You need that person's support as you're rolling this out.
Speaker 1:Next one, and this one is really, really important I talked about trust and building trust with the people who work for you. Right, nothing is more important than a manager or an employee, and that there's a trust within those two. I always get the staff's input on the strategy and plan, and so you might say well, if you're new coming into the organization, clearly they need changes, and maybe some of the changes may need to happen at the staff level, maybe. But in order to get the staff and the extended team that reports to you on board, they need to feel like at least they had a say, at least they had the opportunity to provide input, other than you just show up with a plan and say, okay, it's been 45 days, here's the strategy and plan, go, execute. Nobody likes to be told what to do. And so, getting their input, what do you think, how you know, how do you suggest we go about doing this?
Speaker 1:Like everything, you hear the debate, you ask everybody's opinion, you take it in, but at the end of that meeting the leader needs to say, okay, I like this and this part I understand, but this is how we're going to move forward. But at least that way you've got their buy-in. And then the next piece launch a boot camp training on the new strategy. If there's a new go-to-market, if there's a new product, whatever that may be, you need to instill this constant learning mentality in the first 45 days and you do that by setting up training. And that training can be on new technology, the training can be on the strategy and plan, it can be on how we need to shift, how we go to market, whatever those things are, and it's an ongoing training curriculum, again showing your team that you care.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've got a story to share on this. I was a product marketing manager and we had a new CMO come in. There was a bit of a shakeup at the higher levels of it, and so it was a virtual call. And so everybody's on the team is on a WebEx meeting and I can see I'm sitting in the. It's a U-shaped, horseshoe shaped, and I'm in the front on one of the sides, and so the CMO is on the virtual call, it's with them and all of us on the other side.
Speaker 2:Because they were a remote, they were a different part of the country, they had us explain, basically the listening tour you were talking about. Okay, so tell me a little bit about what you're doing, richard. I was first and I said well, I'm doing this, and I laid out exactly what I was doing. Here's the problem is that I was executing as a product marketing manager internally to manage against management, because there had been problems, turf fights and that type of thing, and so my previous boss had said look, can you keep the turf fights at the minimum and basically ignore the go-to-market, can you just keep us? Well, when I explained this to the new CMO, I got about halfway through this explanation and they unloaded on me, brian, they just started no, that is not your job to fight that. Your job is to be taking product to market and I'm seriously unloaded on me Now.
Speaker 2:Well, how do you respond to that? So I'm talking now from the person who's at the other end of the CMO, coming in. I recognize that they're right and I was okay. Now, their approach was rather caustic, but I'm like okay, I'm listening and I'm taking it in and they're just railing on me. I look up at the video screen because I'm sitting in the front. I can't see all of my colleagues have pushed their chairs back away from the table so that none of them are on camera. I'm the only one on camera as I'm being unloaded on.
Speaker 1:Do you know what that's called Teamwork and support?
Speaker 2:But here's what happened. Here's what happened. I took what they said, said okay, walked out of that room and executed. I just and I had people come up to me and say how did you handle that? That was so critical. They just unloaded on you. And partly it's my upbringing with my parents, which I won't go into, but I had been exposed to that kind of emotional dumping and aggressive criticism. So you know you.
Speaker 1:you know you were. It sounds like you were able to handle that. However, what was the lasting impression for all your other people in that room going forward? Do you think no? My guess is they were very reluctant going forward to be totally open and honest with that new CMO, for fear it might happen to them.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, because they used so much time chewing me out they didn't have time to talk to anybody else on the call. There were 10 people in the room, you're exactly right. But on the flip side, as the person at the receiving end of that, when I ended up leaving that company because I was recruited away and I had that stimo come up, came up to me and said I have loved working with you, you've been so fantastic. If you ever need any kind of position in the future, the door is always open for you. So, while their behavior was, in essence, terrible, they violated everything you've been saying here. My response to handling it, though, placed me in a position to be able to have some success with that. So I love what you're saying, because I've seen how detrimental it can be to an organization if a CMO, particularly comes in with that kind of attitude. Just, I'm going to make changes, everything's wrong, I'm not going to listen to you, and so you're making an excellent point here. Yeah, and by the way.
Speaker 1:I like you. This is a lot of experience. If you went back to the first time I became a VP, you know I was not smart enough with the emotional intelligence to go into an organization, which I did, and follow this plan. I'm sure I know I made mistakes in the first 30 days by questioning and passing judgment, etc.
Speaker 2:Uh so you're. You're making a great point, though if you can step back, take the time, think through, you're going to be so much better off in the long run.
Speaker 1:Right with what you're doing 100, because you know, years later you're still bringing up a cmo that was new on the job and reamed you out. And so, yes, this is certainly learned behavior from making mistakes, like we all have. And then I'd say the final piece, and then we can probably close on this. Part two is review the marketing plan and agree on shared targets, metrics and KPIs with sales. Critical, absolutely, get that up front. You've been on the job, you know, 45 days or so. You've built a strategy and plan they're on board with.
Speaker 1:It's time to kind of put down on paper what are we going to be accountable for within the organization. And obviously, set regular meetings with sales and staff and reviewing KPRs and operational reviews, et cetera, et cetera. And so the four things, just to repeat present findings and get guidance from your boss build a plan designed to generate revenue, regardless of what marketing function you're in. Engage, educate and take input on the plan from your direct reports, from your organization. Put in place a training curriculum to get them on board with whatever changes need to come. Critical interlock with sales, regardless of what marketing function there is. And so the summary actionable at the end of this 60 days, you have an actionable plan, you've got terrific sales and alignment and your team, through training and participation, is now ready to educate excuse me, execute. So that's a 31 to 60 days.
Speaker 2:I love that because this is something very clearly that you can do and oftentimes overlook because you're in such a hurry in those first 30 days to get make changes, and this is a perfect way to approach that and I've seen it done, obviously on the terrible side, but also executed on the beneficial side, and you and I have worked together so many times in the past on this. This has been great, brian. I'm really looking forward to part three on this, as we talk about after 60 days.
Speaker 1:Excellent. Well, thanks everybody for joining. If you want to connect with Richard or I, we're on LinkedIn and we would love to hear from you. So this is Marketing 911. Have a good day.
