“Our marketing is fine, but…” We know better, right? The truth is, we are human and sometimes greed, pride, laziness, fear, or ineptitude gets in the way of the goal and where we should be. We believe that we can get there ourselves, take the shortcut, demand more from sales or marketing, blame someone else, or even raise our voice in protest — and somehow we will get what we want. Look at how we sometimes rationalize:

• Our sales are bad — so let’s quickly send out a blast now, even if we don’t have a plan or strategy.
• Our business model sucks — quick, let’s shower facebook with upbeat platitudes about our service.
• Our marketing is ineffective — let’s try something new, anything, let’s just do it now.
• Our sales team isn’t producing — let’s put some fear into them and raise the quota.

We rationalize our actions because something needs to be done. All of this is the equivalent of putting lipstick on a pig. No shortcuts, intimidation, or a magic pie in the sky will get the “right” results we want in our business or life. Real change is hard work and requires talent, strategy, and a dogged determination to execute a well-thought out plan. I’d love to hear your thoughts.