The Corp - marketing against the odds and winning

My oldest who graduated high school in May has been at two days of orientation at Texas A&M University.  He was spending the time signing up for classes, learning the campus, reviewing programs, dorms and the like.  To my great surprise, he decided and did, join the Corp of Cadets.  Wow.  I am proud and excited for him.

As a former student (not of the Corp), I know something about the Corp.  The Corp is great for opportunities, a stable study environment with upperclassmen for assistance.  Yes, there will be early mornings, drills and group activities.  Yes, he will have to, in some ways, sublimate his personality part of the time to be a part of the team.  But the Corp is world-renowned in the leaders they built and he will always have some great memories and true buddies.

As recently as two days, he was anti-Corp. His father was Corp, had been pushing him all along to join, and my son didn't want to join.  As recently as two days ago, he was still finding out about costs and dorm living, stating he didn't want to be in the Corp; he didn't want to be involved.  Yesterday, he went from outfit to outfit to choose between his the two he liked best.  My son is a part of Squadron 12 Talon.  He was walking the dog and breaking in his combat boots this morning.

All I can say is that the Corp, along with the active students promoting the Corp at orientation, did an excellent job of marketing to turn my son in to an active part of their organization.  I wasn't there so I don't have a first hand knowledge of what went on, but if they can convert my son to a believer, then it must have been solid with fact and people to back it up.

That's really the key to marketing.  Have a great product to market with facts to back it up, know your audience and be enthusiastic, and get them involved (mentally, physically) in the product.  The Corp is one of the best in the nation... check.  Let's have our enthusiastic, intelligent, charismatic Corp members tell possible recruits all about it... check.  And let's give him part of his uniform (they also sized and gave him his dress shoes) so he's got something to think about, do and look forward to.  The product (The Corp) is so beneficial that the positives, which he just learned about yesterday, outweighed the negatives (early mornings and drills being cons to a teenager).

I am proud of my son for the ability to look at something in a new way, even against his set beliefs, and making an informed decision that will carry with him for the rest of his life.

Keeping an eye on the goal in 2011

No one wants to lose.  No one wants to get less than they believe they deserve.  Truth is, most of the time, you get back that which you put into your goals.   Not what you put into the project itself; but the amount of energy and time you put directly into activities that forward your goal.

I can do paperwork forever, organize my desk to an nth degree, and meet everyone in Smithville and Bastrop County, but none of that directly forwards my goals.  Those are tertiary activities only.  In business, the goal is the sale; the moment when an agreement is reached, followed by the exchange of services/products for currency, the most common transaction today.

Now, if you don’t have your paperwork complete and enough organization for the job to get done, then you won’t reach your goal either.  But there is a time when those activities can become a hindrance to the actual goal.   In some cases, a way to avoid work by doing “make-work”, which will be a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure.  In others, a misappropriation of time.

For instance, you wouldn’t want to be doing your paperwork when you have customers who need you out on the floor, or for business-to-business, when your customers are open and available to talk to you.  If so, you are losing out on your goal of the moment of transaction.

If it’s a “make-work” issue, then it could be for several reasons.  A person who had extreme organizational capabilities may be more comfortable in that role, and they would need to find a way to step back from that aspect of their job.  A person who doesn’t know what to do beyond what’s in front of them, may also have a problem.  They would need more training to learn how to move ahead, or if they don’t have that capability, they would need to be in another position.

The most difficult situation is from the person who has a psychological reason for not moving beyond their paperwork; the one who has the ability and seems to know what to do.  Fear and anxiety are two of the biggest causes.  Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of people, fear of whatever.  The fear itself doesn’t matter.  What matters is that the person overcomes whatever is blocking them from reaching for the goal.

There are many calming techniques used throughout the ages.  Meditation, prayer, talking to another person -- anything that allows a person to mentally “step back” and start again in a new mental position. Regardless of the method used, ultimately, the goal is what matters.

Start the New Year focusing on your goal.  Quit “getting ready” to start.  Just start.  2011 is waiting for you.