Smart Lemming Diary: First Month as Director of Marketing
September 1, 2005
August was a fun month. I can’t remember a time when I enjoyed working this much. I’ve loved hitting the ground running, knowing that I could quickly provide sales tools for our direct sales team as well as our new partners. I have confidence that being in charge of Marcom will go fine. I know I made the right choice in recruiting Jonathan as my Marketing Manager. I’ve felt a little pressure over the past few days, but nothing that’s making me too nervous. I enjoy my colleagues and can’t wait to start working with Jonathan again.
Overall, I’m working with people I’ve enjoyed work with in the past. I think I’ve managed my career well so far; it will be interesting to see how this phase of my career unfolds. As Tom likes to say, “All I have to do is add water, and bam! Instant Sales and Marketing Team, all who have worked well together in the past.”
Would I Do Anything Differently?
Yes, I should have followed Anna’s advice for my first 30 days. Anna is my partner’s former VP, who’s a super smart and very accessible Harvard MBA. When she starts in a new position, Anna always takes time to get to know everyone by taking the person to lunch or taking them out for coffee. I regret not carving out time to follow her example during my first month. We only have 16 people in company, but still don’t know everyone’s names. I could have done better in my transition into the company.
September 2, 2005
My CEO’s Management Style Slowly Emerges
Here’s my morning routine so far. I usually arrive to my office just before 10:00 am, except for Friday mornings when I like to get there around 9:00 am to prep for my Management Team meeting. I setup up my laptop, fire it up, go make coffee, return to my office to look at email, and then go back to the kitchen to pick up my coffee, and then finally settle down in my office and get started. One of the favorite parts of my morning is when Tom walks into to my office for the first time of the day. He’s like a little boy, who’s been waiting around for me to show up, and then finally gets the courage to say “Hi” with a big grin on his face. As he talks with me, Tom looks like he’s just happy to be there. It’s endearing, fitting his personality. He’s so enthusiastic in an “I’m so happy you’re here; I can’t wait for us to play and see how we can market my company” kind of way.
Top Marketing Priorities
The last few days of August, Tom was asking me what our priorities should be in addition to my 100-Day Plan for September. With two new employees starting, Jamie and Jonathan, he wants to get them trained ASAP so they can get productive right away. After our initial discussions, he was able to get four new marketing initiatives out of me, but I could tell he was going to create his own list. “I’m inspired by your organization. I’m going to buy notebooks and get organized just like you,” he says as he departs back to his office. Finally, Tom’s management style emerges. He’s a collaborator. He doesn’t want to tell you what to do; he wants to add value to your ideas by showing you his Microsoft Project plan. I use Excel to organize my stuff and he uses Project, somewhere we’ll meet each other halfway on which software to use.
Our Mutual Priorities List
Here are the items that we discussed, some are new, and some have been identified, but are now a higher priority:
- Direct Sales Lead Generation
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - Add to 100-Day Plan for September
- Revamp Website - Add to 100-Day Plan
- Conference & Speaking Opportunities - Move up as a September priority in 100-Day Plan
- Channel Sales & Lead Generation
September Priorities
Here are new priorities that I haven’t listed, but will now add as top priorities for September as part of my 100-Day Plan:
- Major professional association visibility
- Press & Journal Strategy
- eNewsletter
- Direct Mail - Paper-Based
- Utilize former Branding Strategy
- Sales Planning – Staff
100-Day Plan Status Report
I started on August 1. I had my 100-Day Plan together by August 12. The deliverables have grown to 106 items on this list. So far, I’ve completed 64% of my plan, completing 68 deliverables. I only have 38 deliverables left to go, which is why I felt that adding Tom’s September priorities was fine. We’ve set a date for the Value-added Reseller (VAR) WebEx sales training. I’ve completed 93% of the deliverables for that training with only three items left to create. This week alone, not including today, I’ve generated 35 sales tools. All the Solution Development Prompters (SDPs) are done so now I can move on to other things like lead generation.
He has Some Quirks
I’m enjoying Tom’s style. He has some idiosyncrasies like the funny expression he makes when he doesn’t know what to say or how to respond. He gets “the deer caught in the headlights” look. He’s pessimistic because he plans for the worst, while hoping for the best. He secretly hopes the best will happen, but doesn’t want to say it aloud. He also wants to get his perspective across, but has to do it in a collaborative way, so no one’s offended. He likes to assure his Management Team of his candid approach by telling us, “We all leave our stripes at the door, please tell me what you need to tell me as if I’m not the CEO.”
He’s Nearly as Organized as Me
My new CEO’s effective with MS Project because he likes to outline his thoughts in it. I used to use PowerPoint’s outlining, but now I’ve moved onto Excel so I can auto filter. Because Tom’s realistic, he doesn’t want to weigh down my 100-Day Plan, but plans are meant to be executed and to achieve results, so adding new priorities are a must. I organize and measure my results. That’s my thing. So between the two of us, we’ll get somewhere as we organize, plan, execute, and obsess over the results, and then measure the results together, collaborating as we go.
The Smart Lemming Diary is a series that chronicles a journey of laid-off worker, who becomes a Vice President of Sales Operations & Marketing for a small entrepreneurial healthcare technology company. For previous entries in this series, click here.
Are these old posts from like 4 years ago or something? o_O
-Jack @ Professional Association Software
Hi Jack, these are my notes from my journal from four years ago when I went from laid off worker to director to VP.