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Paul Sparrow
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Recent Posts
What Is Marketing, Really? Why Founders and CEOs Must Lead the Most Misunderstood Function in the Business
This blog is part of Chief Outsiders’ Marketing Leadership for CEOs series, an ongoing examination of the critical dimensions of Marketing (the capital “M” is intentional, as you’ll see) that every CEO needs to understand.
Elevating the VIP: Recognizing Your Best Customer is a Make-or-Break Proposition
Thu, Jan 13, 2022 — I have a secret to share that may be surprising. Though automotive folklore insinuates that Henry Ford would only allow his world-beating Model T to be painted in black, you could, in fact, purchase your new horseless carriage in a variety of colors, including blue, red, gray, and green. So as early as 1908 – the year the first Model T was shipped – a customer could distinguish their tastes and flaunt their individuality on America’s roads in a hue that was different from the pack.
Your Strategic Marketing Plan: Five Gotchas to Avoid
Mon, Jun 28, 2021 — Written by: Paul Sparrow, Area Managing Partner & CMO, and Don Lee, Partner & CEO, both of Chief Outsiders The city of Las Vegas is an interesting study in best intentions -- resplendent with people hoping that the flip of a card or the roll of the dice will produce luck-driven riches. About 150 percent of the time, our protagonists leave with empty pockets and dashed hopes. If luck is so evasive in Sin City, what makes anyone think it’s the foundation for any serious effort? Unfortunately, we see it all the time – a well-meaning entrepreneur or CEO employing instinct and a mega-watt smile, hoping to achieve Bezos-like success.
Marketing in an Inflationary Environment
Fri, Jun 25, 2021 — In case you hadn’t noticed by the amount of extra cash you’ve had to spend at the gas pump, in stores, or with your vendors, inflation is back – with a vengeance. According to U.S. Labor Department stats just published, inflation pushed up to 5 percent for the 12 months ended May 31 – a 13-year high. For many marketers who have spent the past 18 months riding a stomach-turning economic roller coaster, this news may seem hard to understand – or to put into context.
Seven Benefits a Fractional Executive Can Deliver Today
Fri, Jun 4, 2021 — Written by: Paul Sparrow, Area Managing Partner & CMO, Chief Outsiders with Shannon Muniz, Fractional Chief Sales Officer, Sales Xceleration, Orlando, FL. The sprint is on! The American economy – stuck in the blocks for much of 2020 while waiting out the pandemic – has heard the starting gun and is accelerating around the track at a feverish pace. With vaccines, optimism, sales, and profits on the rise, the time to sit on the sidelines is over. I recently talked about the surging economy with Shannon Muniz, with the goal of understanding whether the time was ripe to double down, invest in your business, and grow your base (spoiler alert – it is!).
The Entrepreneur’s Growth Playbook: Part Three
Thu, May 27, 2021 — Marketing Strategy: Bringing Your EOS® to Life Written by: Paul Sparrow, Area Managing Partner & CMO, Chief Outsiders with Samuel Kniseley Ballesteros of The Advantage Solution and a Professional EOS® Implementer For anyone who’s ever held a circular saw or tin snips, you know the importance of measurement. With the exception of artist Pablo Picasso and perhaps architect Frank Gehry, precise measurements are absolutely critical in gaining the right result. If you have a manufacturing business, you know what we’re talking about – think about what your supply chain would look like if you didn’t bother to measure things like delivery time, for example. Your customers would rebel, your reputation would suffer – and you may not have a business for very long.
The Entrepreneur’s Growth Playbook
Thu, Apr 22, 2021 — Blog 1: Are You a Pioneer or a Settler? Six Steps to a Better Business Model Written by: Paul Sparrow, Area Managing Partner & CMO, Chief Outsiders with Samuel Kniseley Ballesteros of The Advantage Solution and a Professional EOS Implementer Take a trip with us, if you will, back to Northern California in 1849. Word has spread across the land – there’s gold in them there hills, and we need to go find it. On just this pronouncement, and with not much more than hope and a promise, pioneers set forth to go find the gold – and with it, riches beyond their wildest imagination. You know the rest of the story – some of these folks went boom, most went bust, and the California Gold Rush became a literal flash in the pan.
Innovation, Part 2: Finding the Discipline Needed to Reinvent and Reinvest
Thu, Jan 28, 2021 — What does it take to be a change agent in a world that doesn’t stop changing? My last blog on change and innovation referenced Billy Joel, and you may recall his song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” essentially a history lesson of the 1940s through 1980s in three minutes. If we asked The Piano Man to write a tune forecasting the 2020s, it would likely last an hour – and still not cover everything.
Innovation, With a Purpose: Use 2020 as a Springboard for Change
Fri, Jan 22, 2021 — Alas, it was many moons ago that one of my favorite musical artists, Billy Joel, sang those insightful words: “Don’t go changing to try and please me.” No matter how eloquent or visionary he might be, the “Bard of Brooklyn” couldn’t have foreseen that a pandemic would all but mandate change as a means of business survival. Now we must all go changing, to try and please EVERYONE. Fueled by the ongoing digital revolution, lockdowns, economic turmoil, and a global financial shakeout, we can generally agree that the tried and true has given way to the untried, and new.
Your Sales and Marketing Pros Are At Odds – Here’s How to Get Them Aligned
Thu, Dec 3, 2020 — Since the era of cavemen, the roles of Sales and Marketing professionals have been fairly well defined. The earliest marketers would create awareness for that remarkable new invention, the wheel; and the salespeople would roll it down the streets, sharing the features and benefits to interested customers, then collect five dodo-birds in compensation. In the million years since, Sales and Marketing departments still have a similarly symbiotic existence -- but a lot seems to have changed in the digital era. Today, the gap between Sales and Marketing represents a gray area at most companies — from the smallest distributors, to the largest multinational enterprises.