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Walk A Mile in Their Shoes

by Lee

I was reminded of an extremely simple yet valuable exercise that I often go through with clients to help provide some perspective. Let's say that I am working with a Marketing team on their support materials for the firm's value-added programs. First, I'll have the group critique a similar offering from a competitor. I will encourage them to think like an advisor, not like a Marketing executive. With limited guidance, I find that most teams will identify several flaws in the competitor's offering. Often, there will be firm-specific terminology that wouldn't be clear to an advisor. Many pieces will be lacking clear action steps.

After the team enjoys trashing their competitor's offering for a while, I will then ask the team to switch over and review their materials. Invariably, they will identify problems that they hadn't noticed before. This simple yet eye-opening exercise works well when reviewing any marketing initiative (Web sites, fact sheets, ads, etc.) as long as you keep an open mind and keep the customer's perspective in mind. I encourage you to try it with your team and to let me know what you find.