The Sticking Point Solution

by Jay Abraham

An 8020CEO Point of View

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Overview

Written by a person who seems to be very well versed with marketing strategies and nitty gritty, this book comes out as a good handy keep for marketing and sales professionals who should brush up their basic fundamentals every now and then. Though there is nothing which we have not heard before, it still serves as a good reminder of good practices that should be followed by businesses to grow and avoid stagnation in the marketplace. 

In this first sticking point, the author discusses various reasons for an organization dropping behind their competitors. According to him, its not just the difference in product, but the real difference lies in how organizations market, position and sell their products.  In general, we all know that there is not much difference between comparative products and our choices are made due to many more things besides the product itself. And these “ many more things” is what Abraham wants organizations to exploit to capture the market. Actually he proposes a two stage growth process for organizations which are stuck due to competitors and these are Optimization and Innovation in this order. As per him, doing optimization at each stage of the product cycle, will allow organizations to work at the most efficient level thereby providing funding for innovation. 

These are: Writing attention grabbing headlines, setting yourself apart (that is focusing on how you and your products are  different, offering proof of your credibility, reversing the customers’ risks by offering refunds in the event of dissatisfaction, include a call to action – that is telling them how and where to locate your product easily and how to place order etc., offering bonuses, incentives, discounts to make your offer attractive and finally to summarize your offer by telling them about your product – what it does, what are the benefits, how to get it, where to get it and so on.

Yes, this is a problem, many organizations and most production people are aware of. There is nothing worse than having to plan for volumes which are erratic and irregular. It's like getting caught between the devil and the deep sea. If you plan for small volumes and a big consignment comes up, it becomes difficult to complete on time. And if you plan for higher volumes and lower business comes in, then you are stuck with excess manpower, and raw material and underutilized machinery. Whole books have been written to manage optimization of load, line, inventory etc. And Jay Abraham gives a three step process to manage irregular volumes of work --- Strategize, Analyze and Systemize. In the first step Strategizing – he talks about knowing the client properly, what he wants, what kind of products he is looking for etc. In the second step, he advises that this information which has been collected should be analyzed properly to know the weaknesses and strengths of your product and organization and work to improve upon them. And finally, he advises taking action based on that analysis and bring out the changes in response to market demands.

He says that businesses should identify the essential or critical tasks that a business needs to do based on three factors of relevance, competence and passion. Any task falling outside the scope of these factors should be outsourced, delegated or simply cut off. His example of delivery trucks explains the concept clearly. He further provides ten key ways to strategize your business such as – being different and unique, creating more value for your customers, identifying hidden assets and using multiple profit sources instead of relying on one only.

KK5: Cost Eating Up Profits

Here, he focuses on cutting costs – no nothing of the sort that is done during recession times – He is simply talking about cutting unnecessary costs or expenditure which is not providing any return on investment. Basically, businesses are run for profits which are based on the returns we get. So, he is quietly telling organizations to use common sense and run/do only those activities and tasks that are actually contributing. In better financial terms, we can say that all non-performing assets should be removed. These could be in the form of unnecessary steps in a process, a non-essential task in production which is not adding value, or people who are not performing. The idea is to reduce this non performing expenditure so that there is substantial return on investment.

KK6: Doing What is  not Working 

Similar to the lines of the first point – he stresses the need to have a Unique Selling Point which will immediately distinguish you from competitors. He wants businesses to innovate in product, tasks or processes just so that there is something different from other products.

Again the basic underlying theme is the same – that  businesses need to be different from that of competitors to be successful, but he uses a different angle. He proposes a set of 3 Ps to avoid being marginalized in the market. These are to be Preeminent, be Preemptive and to being Propriety

He encourages businesses to add more value to the customer requirements and products and thus gain eminence in the marketplace. Similarly, he advises more contact with customers to know their likes, dislikes, requirements etc., and use that knowledge to make and deliver products that are actually in demand.

He offers nine steps of marketing strategies such as gaining the market respect, identification and establishing a leading celebrity persona with the product, developing some catchy lines and phrases which can be remembered easily and get associated with the product or the organization etc.

The author Jay Abraham, discusses the fact that no one is capable of doing a business all alone and hence advocates entering into strategic business alliances and partnerships. He gives five reasons of creating such mutually beneficial strategic alliances: focusing on strengths, less risk, enter new markets easily, add value, increase sales and profitability.

Conclusion

Jay Abraham is a marketing genius and he uses all his expertise in this book. There is no doubt regarding the truth and usability of his ideas in this book. He has used beautiful examples wherever required to explain his ideas. But somewhere down the line, there seem to be many repetitions. I guess that could be partially due to the fact that many of the points overlap one another – but yes, the number of sticking points could have been reduced by combining some points. Thus unless you have already read other marketing gurus such as Phillip Kotler, this book is quite useful. There is nothing new in this book – simply a repetition of what all good marketing managers know but not necessarily do.
 
But All in all, a good book for sales and marketing professionals with some very practical and handy tips and suggestions. In fact these tips and suggestions are the highlights of this book.

This is a book which reminds and keeps on reminding how marketing should be done. The most valuable part of the book are the easy tips and suggestions which are workable in any organization.