"Back to Basics" is the "New Normal"

A recent business article, headlined "What will business as usual look like?", focused on how companies could best endure the current economic crisis, and emerge stronger than their competitors.

"People are going to be in a rebuilding mode," said Alan Treffer, founder and chief executive of business software company Pegasystems Inc. in Cambridge, MA. Treffer predicted a swing back to business basics. "Both people and companies are going to spend the next couple of years looking at, and reinforcing, their core." The article went on to quote an essay by the consulting firm McKinsey & Co., as defining this return to basics as the "new normal."

And, examples of this approach abound in recent news reports; consider the following headlines ...

"Bruised AmEx Returns to Roots"
"Starbucks Plans to Expand Marketing, to Shore Up the Company's Position as a Coffee Authority"
"Citizens Bank Renewing Its Traditional Emphasis on Deposits, Customer Service"
"Dunkin Donuts Comes Full Circle ... It's Time to Make the Donuts Again"

How could these, and other, leading brands lose their focus on the basic business elements and strengths that made them so successful in the first place? The answer to this question is actually pretty easy ... the opportunity, and the pressure, for growth causes companies, and people, to charge aggressively ahead, leaving their core strengths behind. I know this to be true from a personal experience this past week, but more on that in a minute.

The other question is why do these companies, and McKinsey, believe that "back to basics" is a strategy that will work in these extraordinarily challenging times?

I found the answer to this question in Marketing News, the excellent business resource from the American Marketing Association. In an article written by Staff Writer, Elisabeth A. Sullivan, entitled "Right the Ship", she leads with the headline "Consumers - and B-to-B Clients - are too worried to buy".

That's it ... that's all of the wisdom that we need, for why it is critical for people and companies to come back to a focus on the very basic attributes, talents, or ingredients that made them successful in the first place. Decision-makers are much more skittish than ever, because their jobs are on the line for every decision they make.

So, how did I mess this up? By over-sharing, and not sticking to the basics. In a meeting this past week in which I was presenting my credentials, I was candidly informed that I had taken up the entire time allocated for the meeting to describe my background, in way more detail than necessary, leaving no time for the other person to discover how I would handle important "process" situations. Clearly, I almost missed the opportunity to connect on the basics ... I recovered in the final minute, but it could have cost me the chance to receive this key individual's endorsement. I know better, and I now have a renewed appreciation for focusing on the basics.

Think about how this applies to you, in terms of your personal branding. Are you paying attention to the cues that define what the other person needs from you? Have you taken time to prepare a concise, succinct description of your background? And most importantly, do you ask the person you're meeting with what they are looking to gain from this meeting? If I had done this, no problem.

Stick to the basics first, and then provide more details if requested. It works.

Full disclosure ... Elisabeth A. Sullivan is my daughter, and I am proud of the wisdom that she provides to me and to her audience at Marketing News.