Do you have a Business Plan? Congratulations, but you are in a small minority. And if you have a plan, is it integral to your business, and instrumental to its growth? If answer to this question is yes, then you need to read no further. However, most business owners who actually go to trouble to write a business plan have left it languishing on their bottom shelf, gathering dust! This is dirty little secret of business consultants.

Most business consultants are only interested in selling their time or their ‘Business Plan in a Box’ but know that for a business plan to be useful, it has to be part of a Business Management System. But this is a much harder proposition for consultant to sell, particularly to small business owners who are just looking for a quick fix. So most consultants just sell a quick fix solution- a business plan that they know will, within months, end up on bottom shelf. Once owners have prepared their “fill in blanks” plan, they expect it to transform their business overnight just by its mere existence. And because this does not happen, they never look at it again.

First, I want to go on record as believing defense does, in fact, play a significant role in business. The protection of both tangible and intangible assets through legal maneuvers, insurance, safety measures, etc, is a necessary form of “defense” every person running a business must plan for and execute.

Now that you have a feel of what I consider to be “defense” within an organization, how would you define Sales and Marketing arm of your company? Most people, without hesitation, say, “Offense.” The aggregate gist of explanation is something like this- “After all, I advertise in three different publications and send five Account Executives throughout territory daily, so I am confident we get our share of pie.” On surface, activity I just described does sound like offense. But, is it? It was offense when my Grandfather was selling. It was considered offense when my Father was selling. To be honest, as recently as when I began selling, above scenario was considered offense.

The key difference is that today’s markets are faster, more competitive, and ever-changing. Sales and marketing efforts can inadvertently and quickly turn into “defense” due to a myriad of factors such as JIT inventory practices, global competition, and geopolitical undercurrents. But, above all, change is predominant element which makes a sales or marketing team play defense, rather than offense.

A Real Life Example of “Defensive Selling” Affecting an Entire Industry

This story is industry-specific, but we all have a similar story. Have you ever heard term, “Paperless society?” Beginning in late 1990’s, commercial printing paper mills began closing, consolidating, and doing everything possible to stay afloat.

A group of people who for years prior had played offense, putting huge numbers on board, earning great money, and having a certain degree of leverage with clients due to a healthy, firm market were now playing defense. Not only was business itself in decline, but margins eroded, morale suffered, and rut seemed to get deeper by day. Sales conferences which were once motivational, fun, and full of success stories began to feel like a funeral for a much beloved industry. Under heavy fire, cries to management all carried a universal theme- “Our customers are suffering.”