Communication Is Money

...or listen to it in the author's own voice.

DO YOU REALLY HAVE ANY IDEA?
 
Do your employees?

Or your business partner?
 
You might be shocked and surprised, perhaps unpleasantly.
 
Earlier this year, the Fabulous Honey Parker and I announced a new project called CoupleCo. 
 
This is a project by and about couple entrepreneurs--why they do it, why they love it, and how they keep a business going without killing each other. 
 
CoupleCo is one reason we're out here on the road, crossing this great nation of ours in the Slow Burn Marketing Brand Response Unit. Besides visiting clients, we've been conducting interviews for CoupleCo. 
 
Recently, we interviewed a couple who have been running a business together for about 8 years.
 
These are not kids. They are fully formed, middle-age adults who've been around and had successful careers of their own independent of each other. 
 
 
TOGETHER, THEY HAVE BUILT A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS
 
They are exactly the kind of people we like to interview. 
 
In wrapping up an interview, we ask the subjects a series of quick questions  about each other. 
 
With this particular couple, the exchange went something like this.
 
"OK, Bill. What is Jill's best quality?"
 
He says, "She has leaned to do this and such much better with more patience and insight, and she has become more thoughtful about the process."
 
She says, "You have no idea what you're talking about."
 
She then rebutted his entire answer. 
 
Clearly, she was right. 
 
He had an entire set of assumptions about something she was doing in the business, and he was dead wrong. 
 
 
LET THIS BE A LESSON ABOUT ASSUMPTIONS
 
They are no substitute for actual communication.  
 
And actual communication is something that is frequently lacking inside of a small business--and can bite a brand in the butt, Bob. 
 
Often, the lack of communication is basic. 
 
A simple and common example: The receptionist says to the business owner, "I don't know what's going on, but the phone is suddenly ringing off the hook."
 
Business owner: "Oh! I forgot to tell you! We're running a new ad in the paper!"
 
Well, then.
 
And don't think this is uncommon. I can't count the number of times something like this happened when I worked in radio. 
 
You spend a couple of weeks working with a client who's spending a few thousand to put together a radio promotion. 
 
The radio commercial finally hits the air. 
 
And you find out the business owner never bothered to communicate the promotion to the staff.
 
 
DON'T THINK THIS IS NECESSARILY SMALL IN SCOPE, EITHER
 
We've seen the person in charge not bother to communicate a new brand to the staff.
 
You know what happens then? 
 
Revolt. 
 
People who've been working under the old brand for years and loving it (even if the brand fits like a bad suit) become uncooperative and pissy. 
 
They refuse to join the business in its brand evolution. 
 
And eventually, the brand withers. 
 
Conversely, we've seen a good explanation of a new brand to the team do astonishing things. 
 
A workforce that was already doing a good and competent job suddenly becomes energized and ready to do things that are even bigger and better. 
 
 
THE TROOPS BECOME GALVANIZED!
 
A good brand makes them rally around their leader and prepare to go forth and crush the competition!
 
But that works only if there's actual communication. 
 
There is no substitute for having a message and being clear. 
 
Communicating the brand and the advertising--the strategy and the tactics--is an essential step. 
 
Imagine that commerce is a battlefield.
 
The brand's army is assembled there, ready to fight. 
 
And the general standing before them suddenly looks at his cell phone, and wanders off to take a call from his wife. 
 
And never comes back. 
 
 
WHAT ARE THE TROOPS TO DO? 
 
That's a lot of guys all dressed up, armed to the teeth, and scratching their asses. 
 
That's an expensive proposition--and one that's destined to fail.
 
Without a mission and orders, those troops are going wherever they feel like--and that doesn't mean they're going to accomplish anything of value. 
 
They need communication. 
 
We've seen something as simple as a re-branding with clarity and purpose give the business owner a tool with which to marshal the troops, inspire them, and give them purpose in a business that was once muddled and without obvious direction. 
 
But if clarity of communication is lacking? 
 
 
THAT ENTIRE REBRANDING EFFORT WOULD BE POINTLESS 
 
It would be a waste of time and money. 
 
And who has enough of either?
 
At its most basic, communication keeps everyone on the same page with a clear of idea of mission and goals. 
 
The receptionist doesn't wonder why the phone is suddenly ringing. 
 
The salespeople don't look like idiots when a customer says he wants the offer from the radio.
 
And your wife doesn't look at you during a recorded interview and say, "You have no idea what you're talking about."

Talk to each other. It's more profitable. 
As always,
Blaine Parker
Your Lean, Mean Creative Director in
Park City

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