If the following words don't hit home, then this article isn't for you:

“We've never seen a tougher business climate than what we're up against now. Never. I keep thinking that I see a little flicker of light in the darkness. Then, it's almost like, in just my rushing toward it, I stir up the air and snuff it out. But, we're going to get through this.”

The person who told me this is a friend and former client. He's a stalwart marketer and one sharp guy. And he is not the type to use a bad economy as an excuse. He gets up and works hard every day.

Despite his successful, quantifiable efforts, though, his executive team still thinks of marketing as a cost rather than an investment with compelling returns. So, the executives are addressing the cost of marketing in the predictable, knee-jerk ways.

(Even things as relatively inexpensive as investing in the most sophisticated campaign metrics and ensuring that the company's marketing database, i.e., the very foundation for its success—currently in limbo because of a mired CRM roll-out—is updated and maintained, are getting hacked at. That's the way it works. Senior executives hack at what they don't understand.)

Sound familiar? For many, these are stark days.

So I'm tempted to pen a “back-to-basics,” Gospel-quoting, demon-exorcising, old-fashioned, tent revival meeting-style article. But, I think that's been written only about a hundred times over the past year.

At the Heart of the Matter

Instead, I'm going to try something gentler: encouragement.

I like the word “encouragement.” Right in the center of it, is the Old French word for heart: “cuer.” The etymology whispers to you: “Stir the heart, friend...and from that comes the courage to continue.”

As we go through our lives, we remember those who offered encouragement—even if it was just for a moment, even if when the encouragement came they were total strangers.

If you are fortunate and attentive—you see, the thing about getting older is you get a chance to see the patterns and recurring themes if you attend to them—you can find the self-renewing springs of encouragement. In short, you can find just enough of what you—and your company—need...now.

Revisiting Strengths

When I'm facing a tough situation—for example, a deadline that seems nearly impossible or a business problem that seems to have no right answer—there is a habit of mind that I fall back on. I call this habit “revisiting strengths.”

Sometimes, you stare at a stack of work, knowing, in your mind at least, that you have to get on with it. But you find, upon attempting it, that your work is full of fits and starts. And there is half-heartedness in your efforts. It's at these times that I identify the elements of that task at hand that seem the easiest, most fun or inspirational. I start with those.

In other words, I revisit my strengths. I find the things that I know I'm good at and I build from there. This little “mental trick” works almost without fail. It may seem like the equivalent of starting a meal with the dessert. But, if the meal doesn't appear particularly palatable, at least at first, maybe dessert isn't a bad place to start.

Similarly, I believe that companies must—and not only in times of crisis—revisit their strengths.

One way of doing this is to spend time visiting your customers. Everything you want to know about the relevance of your company's brand and the value of its products and services is out there, among your customers. The good that you have done will be plainest among them.

Over the years, the most encouraging conversations that I've ever had in my professional life have been with customers.

Now, I grant you, various management theorists would criticize this concept of “revisiting strengths.” They would suggest that, perhaps, your company's existing strengths aren't enough to address a changing business environment. And that's why you're in the pickle that you're in.

But, I'll tell you this. When you visit your customers (revisiting your company's strengths through conversations with them)—and listen closely—you will hear more than just what you and your company have been. You will hear intimations of what your company might yet become. It is in their work, their challenges, their fears and their opportunities that you will find all the inspiration and encouragement you need.

Reversing the Polarity

Back in the early 1960's, sometimes we Maher kids would attempt to turn on the rabbit-eared TV in the family room and, well, get nothing. It was like there was no electricity.

So my Dad, who was the very opposite of anyone good with repairs, would offer what sounded like magic words: “Reverse the polarity.” This meant that one of us kids (usually me because I was the youngest) would have to slip behind the TV to the electrical outlet, pull the plug, turn it 180 degrees so the prong that was on top was now on the bottom, and plug it back in again.

Worked like a charm.

So, when you're facing some tough odds, and there just doesn't seem to be any juice in the wires, how do you reverse the polarity?

I'll give you an example. I was recently meeting with a homebuilder client who needed to create a better relationship with a key channel: realtors.

Now, the typical homebuilder rolls out cookie-cutter, me-too realtor programs that target every warm body with a realty license. These programs reflect about as much forethought and intelligence as the conversation between a drunken conventioneer and a compensated escort.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Maher is president of Fosforus, an Austin-based, business-to-business marketing, media, and interactive design firm. Reach him at CMaher1997@aol.com