Strategy is a Sacrifice

Are you sacrificing? You should!

The first time I heard the words in the title was just after pitching a large client with a new marketing strategy. Immediately I knew that we lost the bid — it was checkmate in one sentence. One amazing sentence.

The man on the second row

Imagine the situation, a medium-sized meeting room filled with executives. People sitting in two rows as they don’t have a place around the main table. The brand has large image troubles and we are pitching a large campaign with lots of positive vibes.

We went for a safe bet on those positive vibes, aiming for a consensus between the execs. I didn’t like the concept, but I wanted to win, so I compromised. It definitely worked in the beginning — people around the table started giving positive remarks one after another. Until a soft-spoken advisor with graying hair that was sitting in the back opened his mouth and uttered just one sentence: From what I know, strategy is a sacrifice, and I don’t feel you made any right here.

That was all he said, sharply stabbing our pitch in its heart. I hoped no one had heard him, but the body language of the top execs showed that they did hear. The round of positive reactions continued — after all, we had people who liked us in the room — but the game was over.

The ease of adding things

In many strategic discussions I participate in these days there is this “positive vibes” dynamic I have learned to despise. You will hear people say something like: “This is great, I like it, and I suggest we also say/do this ….” The reaction is usually positive and the addition easily embraced.

You can blame a corporate culture in which people care more about relationships than truth, or maybe general human willingness to avoid confrontation and to find common ground. The bottom line is that people don’t think that adding things to strategy is such a bad thing. But I believe that this fear of negativity is the core problem behind most strategic mistakes.

Imagine this kind of attitude behind the major strategic decisions of all times: “This Normandy invasion is a great idea; I suggest we take some of these forces and invade something else at the same time,” or “this Moon landing sounds great, why don’t we try to land on Mars and Jupiter in parallel!?”

Your customers or partners don't really want more and more

This is perspective might true, I hear you say at this point, but our customers want and even expect more from us - the more, the merrier.

Well… no! They might say they want more, but what they actually mean is that they don't get enough value from your offering. Long lists of benefits won't help here. Our brain cannot handle a wide range of benefits — it cannot connect disconnected dots. A range of features, bulleted to perfection, creates a clutter our brain simply ignores.

Recent research shows that it all comes down to the hardwiring of our brain. It can only store information when that information is connected to meaning. Only when information is consolidated into a story, that is relevant for your customer, can it be remembered and acted upon.

Connect the dots into one narrative. Some dots are bound to stay outside.

Sacrifice is needed in ALL parts of a business strategy

Years have passed since I heard the man in the second row. Graying hair and sitting on the second row is now my thing. But when I sit there I don’t talk about sacrifices — people are not big fans of this word. Instead, I talk about finding the essence, about reducing each part of a strategy to its core, about saying no to things.

Here are some nos you need to say in various parts of your business strategy:

- Vision — it cannot contain a bulleted list of unconnected goals but rather it has to be consolidated into one coherent story that can penetrate people’s minds and motivate them. Sacrifice the bullets that don't fit in naturally. [I am writing an article about this now. Stay tuned]

- Product strategy — product features should only consist of those that support the main value proposition for strategic audiences. If you don’t say no to less important features, you will never achieve product/market fit. [I wrote about this here]

- PR strategy — no journalist is interested in reading and reposting a list of benefits or achievements. If they cannot be easily converted into a story, there is no PR.

- Social media strategy — the temptation to post things similar to the popular content of your competitors is always strong. But a large online following and organic results are only achievable through a very distinct story, distinct voice and even distinct media. Sacrifice conventions.

- Distribution strategy — there's always a fear of missing out and many companies tend to work with anyone who is ready to host their product. Sacrificing quantity for quality and investing deeply in such cooperations, is always the best bet.

- And the list goes on and on…

In the old times, people used to sacrifice things that were dear to them - to gods, in favor of a more prosperous afterlife. According to their beliefs, it was a good deal. But in modern times, the word sacrifice has a bad rap and it's a shame - good directions should die off in favor of the best ones. Sacrifice is still a great deal.

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If you need help with finding the essence of your strategy and with constructing a persuasive business story, you are welcome to contact us at [email protected], or simply to ping me here.