Avoid These Pitfalls And Become A Great Decision-Maker

Avoid These Pitfalls And Become A Great Decision-Maker

I have observed three main barriers to great decision-making in the world of business – and specifically in Marketing. Conquer these by following a Marketing By Objectives approach, and you will rise to the top of your profession.

Field Propensity (Ethnocentricity).  Ethnocentricity is a term that describes the basic human tendency to perceive one’s own group as “superior.” In a Marketing context, it characterizes a localized point of view.  Staff working in the field feel they can make “fast” decisions as they know “what is best.” The problem associated with this approach is lack of accuracy in aligning with a company’s overall goals (including region, division and corporation). The field people will consider their decisions to be highly accurate – because they meet their own goals. Most often these ignore include over-arching goals such as multicultural marketing, employee benefits and product distribution, unless they happen to align with the local goals. The point is that there usually is no defined process in place to help an entire organization realize all its goals – thus, “ethnocentricity” reigns.

Field Perception (Lack of Relevancy). What I term Field Perception reflects much of what I have discovered in work with sub-headquarters organizations. Whether or not a marketing decision is slow or fast, people in the field will consider it highly inaccurate. They perceiveheadquarters as being “out of touch.” Thus the decision will lack any relevancy to the field, which will generate little or no support for the program.

Fear of Process. Whether the accuracy of a decision-making process is low or high, one thing is certain – the Field believes it will incur unacceptable delay.  Thus, an often-heard rationale is, “We’ll miss many opportunities because of this slowness.  It is better to quickly react to the offer and get the good deal than to be accurate across all organization boundaries.”

All three of these undesirable outcomes are the product of lack of organization and communication.  

If we were to look at the same organization that lacks process control in marketing, we would often find a highly defined process for capital equipment approvals.  The decision to buy a $100,000 piece of factory equipment is not a whimsical affair to be made by one person who thinks they need more technology or better machinery. These decisions are carefully thought through and calculated against the return on the investment.

A rational Management By Objectives approach that takes into account strategic positioning and fact-based decision making can turn a program into a dynamic contributor to the marketing mix.