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A lot is written today on team building, shared vision and other such warm, fuzzy management goals. Yet the executive who excels at encouraging disagreement will make better decisions than the one who focuses on building consensus. Management expert Peter Drucker gives three main reasons for "organizing" disagreement among staff members.

First, it safeguards the executive from becoming a prisoner of the organization. "The only way to break out of the prison of special pleading and preconceived notions," says Drucker, "is to make sure of argued, documented, thought-through disagreements."

It provides alternatives to a decision. "If one has thought through alternatives during the decision-making process, one has something to fall back on."

It stimulates the imagination. Imagination must be challenged or it remains latent and unused. Disagreement is the most effective stimulus we know. "Unless we turn the tap, imagination will not flow. The tap is argued, disciplined disagreement." (Note- disciplined, not rude.)

These ideas are especially pertinent to marketing management. Be sure to organize disagreement among your staff at your next marketing meeting. Considering all the options is the safest way to arrive at a course of action that will succeed.

Quotes are from The Effective Executive by Peter F. Drucker. Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. 1967.

"You can catch more flies with honey than you can swat with a sharp stick."

In this analogy, the flies are your customers--very hard to catch-- and the product or service you offer is the honey. The question is: Are your offerings wonderfully irresistible? How can you make them so?

Quality is important, but in the current marketplace it is more important to know precisely what matters most to your customer. A "total quality" product may not be affordable; your customers may be happy with a lot less. Of course, customer service is a key, but that is no different than what your competitors are offering. What makes products and services truly irresistible is a unique differentiation-- something that the customer can't get anywhere else. For example, there is a self-serve gas station where the manager will pump your gas for you at the self-serve price. Now that's honey.

The sharp stick of Top Marketing Concept #1 is direct mail or email facilitated by database marketing. People will invest a lot in this form of advertising because they believe that sending a message by mail or email into homes or businesses insures that it will be noticed and read. Not so. You see, even with a pointed stick you can still miss your target. You need a swatter, a broader instrument. Some experts call that "integrated direct marketing" and they define such an effort as comprising print advertising in appropriate trade or niche publications, an 800 number, some telemarketing or personal selling efforts, perhaps some billboards or www banners, plus direct mail.

We recommend complementing your direct mail/email with other media. This builds your image and reinforces your message, and it is the interplay among various media that increases your direct mail/email response to way over the 2% which is the industry average for mailings that are not supported by any other media or efforts.

But first, start with the honey. Because you can point and swat all you want, but without honey, you may never catch the busy things.

To achieve share of mind in the midst of media clutter and busy lifestyles, every ad or promotional piece must grab attention and be remembered. How? Claiming even a tiny territory in the average person's mind is the military equivalent of establishing a U.S. outpost in enemy territory.

Luckily, there are certain tricks of the marketing trade related to the human love of word play. From the simple rhyme or alliteration to the more complex forms such as acronyms and onomatopes--words that suggest the sound associated with their meaning such as buzz or gag-- nearly all people enjoy alphabetic acrobatics.

The made-up word is one trick that can provoke attention and memorability. An example of a coined company name is Kodak. Kodak’s founder, George Eastman, set the following criteria for his trademark before inventing it: 1. a short word that meant nothing, 2. that could not be easily misspelled, and 3. that had strong aural impact. Today, Kodak is still a premier name in its field.*

Of course, made-up names need not be meaningless. New words range in familiarity from their suggestive natures to actual use of known words. Kleenex is associated with the word clean which suggests what to do with the product. Minutemaid combines two familiar words and suggests the length of time needed to prepare the product.

Any made up-word can be memorable if set to music, as proven by supercalifragilisticexpeali- docious. But not every company utilizes radio or TV to take advantage of the benefits offered through musical jingles. Be advised, though, that these benefits are so invaluable that you should consider a jingle for your firm videoor webpage.

Not every situation lends itself to word invention, but before formally introducing your new venture or promotion, ask yourself or your marketing consultant: Could this product or event gain notoriety by naming it with a new word? Would an imaginative name help to differentiate it and sell it?

*From The Name's The Thing by Henri Carmasson, AMACOM. 1988.

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