One of the benefits of having four decades of marketing experience is that you can share what you have learned. Coaching involves being vulnerable and explaining what you know from your screw-ups as well as successes.
A truly great coach, like my friend Bob Stapleton, understands how powerful it is to be humble and empathetic as well as bone-dry honest. Bob is a trained professional with so much to offer a range of executives and managers. If you need career coaching, Bob is extraordinary. Check out his new website to learn more.
ACTION
In the last four years, I have had the privilege to coach marketing professionals who needed guidance and mentorship. From CMO to marketing interns – many have sought advice, guidance, and a little basic training. I’m always honored when these requests come to me.
These one-hour calls are part therapy, strategy, and tactics. I enjoy the work and am grateful when these opportunities flow my way. I always start with a core theme to take action.
Be a Verb
Act with intention and don’t wait around for someone to draw you a picture. Learn to be proactive for those you serve, and don’t wait for the work to show up at your desk. Coaching sessions can provide some of the sparks needed to get you moving.
Simply put – when you act like a marketing professional, you need to be in motion. Take charge. Be proactive. Stop waiting for someone to tell you what to do.
Here are five pieces of coaching advice I share with marketing professionals to get them in motion.
- Ask the “internal clients” you serve, how you can help them. Do it often. Please don’t wait for them to show up at your desk with a project. Reach out to them frequently, so they know you care and, you avoid the last-minute request. Remind them often that you are their partner and can help them succeed.
- Become a chaos alignment expert. If everything is crazy – be the one who shares an overview of what’s happening in a concise document. Don’t ask permission to summarize, act. Let all the stakeholders know what’s going on via a short, written summary. Help fix the chaos. Be a communicator. Fight the urge to remain passive through action.
- Offer solutions and recommendations to your boss – don’t bring her your problems. Ask for advice but always come prepared to share a solution. Demonstrate bias toward action, not passivity. I learn from working for my former boss, Lars von Kantzow, CEO at Nomacorc, that he didn’t want me to bring my problems to him. He wanted me to bring solutions to challenges that we could discuss and then take action. This approach has become a cornerstone part of my coaching sessions.
Proactive Management
- Summarize meetings with action items. It sounds simple, but don’t wait around for others to create the record of what was said and who should do what as a next step. I’m always the first person to volunteer to summarize what happened. It gives me a chance to shape the record and emphasize what I believe are vital next steps and who owns them.
- Bring new ideas from other industries to help you rethink a challenge. I recently posed the question on twitter to my wine industry friends – how would ketchup market itself like wine? The responses were hilarious, and it reminded many friends of how insular wine marketing can be. See beyond your industry’s four walls and become a counterintuitive thinker. Read. Study other business models. Be the person bringing oxygen to the heart of your business.
Don’t be a Noun
As a marketing coach, I urge clients to think of themselves as a verb, you bring the action. Nouns sit still.
If you are a professional marketer, be a verb. Take action.
Does your career need a tuneup?
I can help. You can set up a time chat with me about your professional career and marketing challenges using my calendar.
Our initial conversation is free. You talk, I listen. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com or call me. 919 720 0995. Visit my website at www.themarketingsage.com Let’s explore working together today.
Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash
