Frayed Carpet

Speaking with a client recently, something they said caught my attention about needing to take a step back when you are too close to a project. “You don’t always notice the frayed carpet in your own home,” they said. It got my brain turning…

Speaking with a client recently, something they said caught my attention about needing to take a step back when you are too close to a project. “You don’t always notice the frayed carpet in your own home,” they said. It got my brain turning…

Recently, my wife and I have been going through the process of preparing our house to go up for sale. For the longest time, I have successfully delayed putting our house on the market and moving. To me, there is no greater pain in life than selling a home and relocating all of your stuff.

During the process of preparing the house for market, we did multiple walk-throughs with one of our realtors who specialize in staging houses for showings. The first couple of walk-throughs were eye opening. I knew there were things in the house that needed to be dealt with – touch up painting to a few walls, having the carpets cleaned, etc. – but the things she pointed out and the to-do list that followed was dizzying.

The biggest take-away from our experience was that, especially when it comes to your own home, often the idiosyncrasies and flaws we know are there simply become mental wallpaper. You fail to repeatedly notice the dings in the walls or the spots on the carpet. You know they are there, you just choose to ignore and live with them. Frayed carpet just becomes “carpet.”

Time to Deal

Working through a marketing strategic plan is a lot like not noticing the flaws of your home. Many times, our strategic plans follow the same course of action as years past. Campaigns and promotional periods are consistent, using consistent tactics and producing (hopefully) consistent results.

But what if…instead of planning next year like you always have, you did something different? You worked to identify some flaws in the process? You actually notice the frayed carpet?

Track. Measure. Report. Refine.

In the wake of successful plans and campaigns, it can be hard to step back and find the areas that need to be refined for the next go-around.

Our goal at MarketMatch is, and always has been, to take the step back first and view everything through that not-so-rose-colored lens of refinement.

As we step into strategic planning season, I encourage you to do the same. Bring a different lens to the game. Notice the frayed carpet. Maybe even paint a few walls!

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