Who Needs Experts?

Apologies in advance; this is a rant warning, category four. During the course of business development, or sales, as I like to call it, I regularly encounter a particular type of non-client for whom marketing is a source of mirth and for them, quite clearly a non-profession. There is such a one in our office block; I'm quite happy to go into detail, as there is no chance he would bother to look at this piece, and even less that he would ever deign to seek the assistance of a marketing professional.

This particular individual, dear reader, is a planner – oops, sorry; Planner needs a capital letter, as it’s a serious profession, unlike a marketer. I've seen copies of Planning Magazine (presumably not a journal that drops onto a doormat by accident) dotted around, so he’s a serious Professional. This guy plans very well, from all accounts, and as I said to him, if I bought a plot of land on which to build, I’d be an idiot if I tried to do the planning myself, wouldn't I? He agreed that yes, I would indeed be an idiot. When I mentioned that my company helps other companies with their marketing in order to generate business, he sneered, turned on his heel and returned to his Planning.

The point is, he’s been bleating for months about how quiet his business is. We, on the other hand, ‘non-professionals’ in his eyes, are most certainly not quiet, not least of all because our clients are busy, and one of the reasons for that is because we have helped them to be busy. It’s all so straightforward when you put it like that, but it never ceases to baffle me why some people just can’t see it. Planning, in this case, sounds like a bit of a misnomer to me.

Any way, sorry, thanks for listening; I had to get that off my chest. Feel much better now…