MARKETING EXPOSED

I lost a tennis match a couple of weeks ago 6-0, 6-1.  Ok, “lost” is an understatement given that score. But even in that humiliation there was a small victory in there worth celebrating (which was NOT: “thank God nobody but my opponent witnessed this”).

The point is, in these scary economic times it’s SO important to learn to celebrate even the smallest victories. Which I prefer to think of as “tiny wins”.  It’s a different sounding phrase; not so overused.

First, back to tennis… What in the hell “tiny win” could be culled for celebration from a 6-0, 6-1 shellacking?  And why am I even telling you this?

Being my first singles match in “officially sanctioned league play” as a part of a team, I was probably a little nervous.  And it showed.  Early and often.  After about 65 minutes the score was 6-0, 5-0 and he was serving at 40-love, both of us ready for this debacle to end.  It was “triple match point”, in a match that, frankly at that moment, really had no point.  But on that 40-love rally I made a couple of stretched out hustling scrambles to chase down shots I probably shouldn’t have gotten too, and somehow won the point.  

Then the same strange thing happened again on the next point, as I finished it out of breath, winning another point just to keep the match going.  So on the heels of those two straight hard-fought points, I ended up pulling enough together to eventually win that game and prevent the horrid embarrassment of what is known in tennis as “the double bagel” – losing 6-0, 6-0. 

Now if this were some sort of vapid hollywood production my two scrambled, hard-to-believe points that turned into winning one game would have led to an unbelievable comeback to win the match.  And the championship.  And the girl. 

Alas, this is real life.  I won a single game in two sets.  And yet afterwards, gracious in victory, my opponent practically gushed about me scrambling to win a couple of really tough points against triple and double match point.  Even HE was celebrating my tiny win.

A lot of businesses are now going through perhaps the toughest times ever faced.  How often do you find yourself aghast and filled with primal frustrations these days?  Those big sales… Those big home-runs you’ve been accostomed to relying on… they just aren’t there.  Or they’re very hard to come by.

Does that then extend outward into being short and unrealistic with regard to how you’re treating your staff?  Or the people close to you in general?  And there’s the chance that you’re remaining so focused on the missing accostomed big victories that you end up sacrificing core value and earned strength – while wasting resources and time – just trying to gather whatever piece you can find of the old big victories.  Along the way the stress level in your operation continues to rise, in direct proportion to the decline of your operation morale.

What about the tiny wins? 

In times as tight as these the wins for you may be smaller, and/or fewer.  But, as they say, “a win is a win”.   And a funny thing just might happen when you celebrate even a tiny win: your people, who are also stressed to the max from growing insecurity and a probable declining standard of living, find a renewed sense of positivity in being recognized for bringing in even a tiny win.

What does this have to do with marketing?  Oh, I don’t know… perhaps: EVERYTHING!  A staff of people who maintain a sense of feeling appreciated and valued – even in the face of such scary times – subconsciously send exceptionally strong messages to your customers.  Hell, so do you when you remain tiny-win positive.

My victorious opponent didn’t remember his 6-0, 6-1 win as much as he did my “not-going-down-easy” spirit, even facing an impossible situation.  He remembered my tiny win. When you focus on tiny wins to the extent that you remain energized, upbeat and positive, what will your customers remember about you (and pass along to others) in the face of what can often seem like impossible times?

- Steve

Photo credit “Tennis Ball” – Dizzy-Lizzy

Photo credit “flower” – Martin_Heigan