Would You Rather Have Great Marketing and Sales or A Great Product?
If you were forced to choose between having a mediocre marketing and sales effort to make money with a great product or service – or – a great marketing and sales effort to make money with a mediocre product or service…which would you choose?
By mediocre, I mean when something is just okay. Not great, not remarkable, just okay. Basic needs are satisfied – mediocre.
I think the choice is obvious. A mediocre product or service can be sold with a great marketing and sales effort. I don't believe the opposite is true.
You can have the greatest product or service in the world, but if no one knows about it or you can't completely translate its wonderful features and functionalities into meaningful customer benefits, how could you expect to be successful in selling it?
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.
So what do you think? If you could only have one – great marketing and sales or a great product – which would you choose?
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By John McDougall, March 9, 2006 @ 7:28 am
You hit it on the head, Jim. Regardless of whether you have the very best widget or just an average one, you probably won’t get anyone’s attention without a serious sales & marketing PROGRAM.
Unfortunately many upstart companies don’t realize the depth and breadth of a good sales & marketing initiative.
Investing the time and resources to identify the channel, then positioning the product to move through that channel efficiently, and then to continually act on it, is crucial to the success of any product, good or mediocre (bad).
By Jonathan Kranz, March 12, 2006 @ 6:15 am
The artist and engineer-wannabe in me says “better product.” But when it comes to dollars and cents, the inner businessman knows better.
Truth is, the economic landscape is littered with “better products” that were out-maneuvered by superior sales and marketing engines.
Heck, just turn on the radio. Is this really the best popular music available? Or is it the best promoted?