EVERCLEAR INSIGHTS

Its amusing how many tech companies believe all they need is a new website to fix their sales and marketing challenges. Like a new coat of paint or a fresh mow of the lawn will suddenly attract a new set of prospects to fill their pipeline. Since websites are the most visible marketing channel, budgets are often allocated accordingly. But what if that shiny new website still says the same old things?

Too many companies fail to fix the underlying issues buried deep below the surface. These are the fundamental, foundational issues upon which the rest of their sales and marketing efforts succeed or fail. They rarely address questions about positioning, differentiation and value propositions that haven’t been re-evaluated since their website was first launched.

In addition to helping enterprise tech companies prep for their annual sales kickoffs, I also spent the first week of the year helping my second-grade son build a trophy-winning Pinewood Derby car for Cub Scouts.

Now in theory, every child has an equal chance of winning, since every racecar begins from the same basic ingredients: a single block of wood, four metal axles and four plastic wheels.

But what it takes to be a winner isn’t found in the box.

Now that budgeting season is upon us, it’s time to begin thinking about how marketing will contribute to next year’s operating plan, to assess what worked this year and figure out what you’ll need to do differently next year.

Depending on company size, the budgeting process typically begins in the fall, often in October and November, in order to present to the Board of Directors for approval by the end of the year. While a small startup might wait until December, larger tech companies might begin the process as early as September to allow time for revisions to the plan if the Board has different priorities.

While some budgets are handed down by your CFO with little input from marketing, the best way to build support for your marketing plan is to compile a comprehensive set of numbers that look at the budget from all sides.

After 12 years of doing business as CreatiVerge, we announced last week that we were changing our name to Everclear. The announcement has been met with overwhelmingly positive feedback from colleagues and customers alike, which has been both exciting and rewarding, given how long we’ve been planning to make this change.

When I was a kid, I used to work on puzzles. Hundreds, thousands of pieces, dumped out on a table in front of me. I sorted through them for hours, trying to find two pieces to form that single, perfect fit. Most kids were taught to start with the edges, finding the flat pieces first, building the frame, a skinny, jagged little border to work inside. It was easier that way.

But I always started from the middle. I wanted to see the picture first, so I sorted them all by colors, one piece at a time, working diligently, tirelessly -- sometimes for hours, sometimes for days -- but always from the inside out. My teachers nicknamed me the "puzzle shark." I was only four at the time.