Virginia in the spring is one of the most beautiful
places on God’s earth.
Riding through the countryside listening
to the rhythmic squeak of saddle leather worn smooth and
shiny from years
of use; feeling a fresh warm breeze against your face and
smelling the winter wheat, honeysuckle and new clover busting
out from a winters sleep; puffy white clouds playing across
the light blue sky; it all makes an old battle-weary reprobate
like me wax poetic. And, you can smell the freshening and
see the dark clouds of a coming spring storm, replete with
Thor’s own spears of charged energy, as the lightening
bounces off the shield of Mother Virginia.
You know, it
wasn’t too many years ago that Richmonders
greeted the sound of thunder-boomers with cries of, “here
comes Grant, trying to take Richmond again”.(‘Course
y’all know he never did.) I guess the point of all
this is that there are times when you have to stop and
take a look at the world around you and smile at just how
nice it can be from time to time. Marketing and advertising
is sorta like that, especially at the retail level.
Because
everything has to be done so quickly and so often, taking
a little cease-fire can do wonders for the soul
- and for the business. No, not a vacation but a time to
assess what you are doing, why you are doing it, and who
you are doing it to. It is a time to analyze, scrutinize,
question and recapitulate.
You see, most retailers, marketers,
advertisers and anyone else connected with moving any kind
of product or service
are in a huge rut - a rut so big it would make the trenches
of Richmond’s outer defenses look like a single furrow
in a fallow field. Everybody scurries around and does what
has to be done and never really gives a second thought
to why in the hell they’re doing it. That’s
why God gave us spring. So we could play hookey, go sit
on a rock in the middle of the James and figure out what
we’re doing that’s right, and what we’re
doing that’s wrong, and what we need to do to do
it all better and, most important, what to do to WIN!
While
you’re sitting on that rock, look for a leaf
floating on the current and follow its path. Pretty soon
that leaf, carried along by a current that it has no control
over, will be sluffed off to an eddy and then a backwater
where it will sit idle until it sinks under the water.
Where it stays until it’s covered by sand and other
leaves. Other leaves will be carried a little further but,
in time, they too will sink under the water like the Monitor
stove through at the waterline.
A lot of businesses, and people, are like leaves floating
on the current. They are carried along by forces they can’t
control until they sink out of sight. But it doesn’t
have to be that way. You have the ability to take control
over the way you go with the flow ... all it takes is planning,
an understanding of the current you’re riding, and
what it takes to break out. In other words, clear thinking.
Clarity of thought does not come during the middle of
a battle, what you THINK is clarity is really instinct,
intuition and training. Clarity of thought comes when you
are calm, relaxed and not under any pressure to perform.
Sorta like a preacher on a Monday morning.
And it’s
not just a review of your financials that need to be considered,
but every facet of the business: marketing, advertising, customers, vendors,
product lines, location(s), services, policies, and personnel. While you’re
sitting on that rock let your mind wander as you listen to the sound of the
water rushing by, close your eyes, lean back and let the sun soak into those
winter-logged bones. Shuck off your shoes and let your toes tap dance on the
water. Now start thinking about your business, one point at a time.
That, my
friend, is when you’ll get clarity of thought.
