Tip #9 of 25 - Mediocrity is the Kiss of Death

As I was paging through my email, I found an audio clip message that claimed to be "the most important audio program I'd ever listen to." I almost deleted it on the spot just on principle, but decided to give it a listen.

The question posed at the beginning of the clip/advertisement was, why is it that some consultants have all the clients they can handle, while others limp along? The short answer was great marketing.

The speaker said good marketing covers up many sins and that even mediocre consultants could have thriving practices--if they were great marketers. The speaker supported this perspective by pointing to the launch of Microsoft's early products, which included software with bugs and gaps in features. After all, the logic went, if Microsoft used marketing to recover from early product flaws, why can't you too?

Putting that dubious logic aside, the speaker probably didn't really mean to encourage you to settle for mediocrity. The point was that you don't need to be good at what you do to make money.

I'd contend that bad news--and mediocre performance is bad news--spreads like wildfire. And a great marketing program will accelerate the demise of a mediocre business, not lead to a thriving one.

Granted, great marketing will open client doors for lots of people, including lousy consultants. But once clients see what those consultants can't do, they won't go back for more--they'll find someone better. In consulting, mediocrity is the kiss of death.

Comments

[Business Growth]

Perhaps there are many kisses of death for consultants... as there are for all businesses.

Being 'mediocre' in any area of our business could harm us.

There's so many hats we have to wear to get things 'right' - not just for our clients, but for our own business.

I say aim for excellence in each area.

Casey

[Bolaji Oyejide]

I think that this post taken at face value has its merits. However, too many of us get caught up in admiring our own analysis, or get caught up in looking at a puzzle only from our perspective.

What is the measure of mediocrity for a particular product/service/company? Well, it depends on what aspect you are examining. If we use the Microsoft example, Microsoft often does not ship the most superior product on the market, and yet it is often able to dominate the market. Does this mean that marketing is making up for the mediocrity of their product? Well, maybe their product is mediocre in certain technical areas, but excels in other areas. For example, maybe a number of the technical features don't work like they should, but the product is generally easy to use, or easy to install.

Don't get me wrong - I am not at all a Microsoft fan. However, my point is that we should not ignore that a problem can be viewed from several different perspectives, and we need to be looking at it from the perspectives that matter most to the customer, not the perspectives that matter most to the analysts on the sidelines.

Thanks for sharing your comments.

- Bolaji Oyejide - Chief Marketing Officer, The HBCU Network

[Jim Logan]

I love this topic!

If mediocre means inferior, I agree. A bad product fails every time. A great marketing and sales effort at best delays the crash; most likely making the impact greater.

If mediocre is used to mean average...not great, not remarkable, just okay...basic needs are satisfied...then I think a mediocre product or service can be sold successfully with a great marketing and sales effort.

I'm not sure the opposite is true.

Haven’t we all seen great products or services with little to no sales? We stand there scratching our head wondering why something this great isn’t being used by everyone and purchased everywhere. Conversely, we see and use many products and services that fail to wow us; they work, they just aren’t great. They're average at best. Mediocre.