Make the discussion about data, and look for small wins to move to a more data-driven (errr… test-driven) culture.

1. Force validation of the value prop by doing buyer personas through win/loss analysis and surveys. Win/loss can be done relatively quickly, and if you have that data, that makes you the expert.
2. Look hard at previous sales patterns. There is usually a lot of data there that isn’t being seen- close rates, stall points, performance across different segments. I’ve found some crazy stuff just looking at history that allowed rapid change without much extra effort.
3. Get good-enough analytics tools in place for measuring message response on both the website and from email.
4. Get a commitment to a more fluid web presence to allow better testing of content.
5. Make sure you can do split runs of emails to test messages.

On the generic message aspect, print out web pages and highlight the common language. Most people get it when they see that.

Finally, picking your enemies and comparison points helps. Look for growth prospects of similar companies- we are often more honest when looking at other companies. Then do some market footprint layout to emphasis positioning and blue ocean opportunities that allow leapfrogs in mindshare and greater attention from press. “We need to do marketing that enables P.R.” often gets attention since that is powerful indirect lead generation and 3rd party validation of value. There is a lot of great visual imagery here- marketing messaging as “mindshare missiles” comes to mind. Hey- there is a good blog post title: “Building the Mindshare Missile”.

So in summary- tie to real buyers, find incremental improvements in analytics to test concepts, and emphasize the importance of P.R.

All sound, good advice. Have you ever run into a situation where you want to do this and are met with, “We don’t have time for this analysis paralysis. We know what the value prop is. Just send out an email so we can start generating leads.”? And if so, how did you counter the argument?

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