The ?Better People? Fallacy
It's easy enough to convince your own staff that better people will prevail, even against the odds. It's what they want to hear. And surely in a marketing war quality is a factor as well as quantity.
It is, but superiority of force is such an overwhelming advantage that it overcomes most quality differences.
We have no doubt that the poorest team in the National Football League could consistently beat the best team in the NFL if it could field 12 men against the opposition's 11.
In business, where the teams are much larger, your ability to amass a quality difference is much more difficult.
The clear-thinking marketing manager won't confuse the pep talk at a sales rally with the reality of the marketing area. A good general never makes military strategy based on having better personnel. Nor should a marketing general. ("Our army," said Wellington "is composed of the scum of the earth, the mere scum of the earth.")
Obviously you'd be in deep trouble inside your company if you used Wellington's words to describe your own army. Tell your people how terrific they are, but don't plan on winning the battle with superior personnel.
Count on winning the battle with a superior strategy.
Yet many companies cling deeply to the better people strategy. They're convinced they can recruit and hire substantially better training programs can help them keep their "people" edge.
Any student of statistics would laugh at this belief. Sure, it's possible to put together a small cadre of superior people. But the larger the company, the more likely the average employee will be average.
And when it comes to the mega companies, the possibility of assembling an intellectually superior team becomes statistically almost zero.
At last count, IBM had 369,545 employees, a number which is growing rapidly. On a one-to-one basic, there may be more white shirts at IBM but not more gray matter.
IBM is winning the computer war the Eisenhower way. Where the competition has 2, IBM has 4. Where the competition has 4, IBM has 8.
Arvind Kumar is an Electrical Engineer from a premier Institute, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India. He has 3 years experince in marketing business consulting services and marketing services. He is founder and CEO of http://www.nuttymarketer.com. You may reach him at arvind@nuttymarketer.com.
Latest News
![]() RTE.ie | ECONOMIC REPORT Global manufacturing gauges collapse in November MarketWatch - ... of price pressures hit an all-time low, according to a survey of corporate purchasing managers released Monday by the Institute for Supply Management. ... Manufacturing index drops to 26-year low Manufacturing index at 26-year low Manufacturing hits 26-year low |
Single Source Introduces New Advanced Quote Management (AQM)(TM ... MarketWatch - All functions seamlessly integrate to the inherent back-office financials, inventory, purchasing and management reporting functionality of SM-Plus-meeting ... KANA Recognized by Leading Industry Publications for Innovation ... |
![]() HispanicBusiness.com | Construction Spending Reflects Economic Slowdown New York Times, United States - The Institute for Supply Management’s monthly index of manufacturing activity fell to 36.2, from October’s 38.9. The reading is worse than Wall Street ... October construction spending drops 1.2 percent Construction spending fell again in October US Oct construction spending fell 1.2 percent |
![]() WCBD | Price Tags on Partridges and Pear Trees: A Different CPI New York Times, United States - By Catherine Rampell For the last 24 years, PNC Wealth Management (or its predecessor, Provident Bank) has released this whimsical index, a measure of the ... Video: 12 Days of Christmas' Items Would Cost $86,609 '12 Days of Christmas' items would cost $86609 Twelve Days of Christmas would cost $21000 |
AGC and LCM Declare Dividends MarketWatch - a diversified closed-end management investment company, has declared its December monthly dividend of $0.0664 per share, reflecting a reduction of $0.0286 ... AGC and LCM Declare Dividends Madison Strategic Sector Premium Fund (MSP) Declares Quarterly ... PPR - $.0340 November Dividend |
Reuters | AIG sells wealth management unit to Abu Dhabi group International Herald Tribune, France - NEW YORK: American International Group, the troubled insurance giant, said Monday that it had agreed to sell its wealth management provider AIG Private Bank ... AIG Sheds A Private Bank UPDATE 1-AIG to sell AIG Private Bank to UAE's Aabar AIG to Sell Private Bank to Aabar |
Updated Information Regarding Auction Preferred Securities Market ... MarketWatch - BOSTON, Dec 01, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- MFS Investment Management(R) (MFS) today announced the availability of information on the results of the weekly ... |
Lincoln Financial Group Announces New Senior Management Committee ... International Business Times, NY - She will also serve as amember of the firm's Senior Management Committee. Bettinger-Buckingham joins Lincoln Financial with more than 20 years ofexperience ... |
Gideon Technologies CEO To Give Unified Compliance Management ... MarketWatch - Unified Compliance Management simplifies this complex problem. "The combination of a holistic centralized view of the network, unified and continuous ... |
Research and Markets: Training Management Maturity Model: A ... MarketWatch - How effective is your current training management system? What do you need to do to improve it? Find out with this best practice model and set of assessment ... Research and Markets: Fundamentals of Quality Control and ... |
Resources
-
AdWords | Google AdWords | 21 Ways to Maximize ROI by Andrew Goodman
Get the original Google AdWords handbook by Andrew Goodman. This 155-page e-book is packed with advanced tips to help you maximize your AdWords campaigns. Download and get free December 2005 update.
-
Reservation software for Hotels, Motels, Bed and breakfast
Reservation software for Hotels, Motels, Bed and breakfast
-
Restaurant Checklists: restaurant menu design, cafe training, business plans, restaurant marketing a
Full package of restaurant information including restaurant menu design, training, restaurant business plans, restaurant marketing and Management forms and templates
-
Castlemelody.com: Web design and creative design of graphics
Web design with content Management system for dynamic and flexible websites.
-
...MySoftwareTemplates.com high-quality Microsoft Word templates for Software
Development, Proposal
Write successful Proposals, White Papers, Case Studies with slick templates, checklist and forms.
-
Living Within Your Means - The Easy Way!
"
-
PARENTING TOOLS to design the family of your dreams! What does your dream family look like?
Powerful tools for parenting, anger Management, and creative blocks!
-
Productivity. Improve business productivity through work measurement and method study.
Set of resources to improve worker, workplace and office productivity. Learn to measure productivity, calculate a productivity index and construct a total factor productivity index. Resources include team productivity and employee productivity.
-
Construction Information Services - Construction Management
Construction Information Services include Construction Management ebooks - Construction Software - Articles - Firm directories - Forecasting and Trends of the building industry
-
Landlord Property Management Rental Guide
Looking to manage your own rental property? Use our beginners guide for landlords and rental property investors!


