Reggie Jackson's Plan
Sixty Feet, Six Inches
I was reading an excerpt from the new book “Sixty Feet, Six Inches” by Baseball Hall of Fame players Bob Gibson (St. Louis Cardinals pitcher) and Reggie Jackson (…umm, Reggie Jackson). Both players were known for controlling their area of the game. Both Gibson and Reggie believed they controlled the plate. When Reggie was up he knew he could beat the pitcher. When Gibson was pitching he knew he could beat the hitter. The book talks about those two opposing perspectives. Amazon.com video: Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson on Facing Great Pitchers.
Having A Plan
Both Reggie and Gibson talk about having a plan. Reggie’s strength was as an outside hitter. Gibson’s strength was as an outside pitcher. Reggie would go to bat knowing what his strength was. He knew he wanted an outside pitch and if he got one, he’d hit it hard. So Reggie waited on that pitch. If Gibson threw him inside strikes and struck him out, Reggie was fine with that. That was not Reggie’s pitch to hit. That was not Reggie’s plan. Reggie stuck to his plan and usually had pretty good results when he did. What is your plan, your marketing plan. Are you willing to stick with it even if you get some inside pitches?
It’s a full count. What are you going to do?
If you have a solid plan that you are 100% convinced will work, don’t start swinging at junk. I know it can be easy to get discouraged and second guess your strategy. That doesn’t mean you start swinging at inside pitches. In an average baseball game a hitter will get up to bat 3-4 times. That’s 3-4 chances to have your plan work. If you have 2 strikes on you don’t throw away the plan. Wait for your pitch. Too often when people don’t get their pitch right away they throw in the towel. They scrap their plan. You don’t need to scrap your plan, you can adjust your plan. Even Reggie adjusted his plan along the way, but he always stuck with it. One game he’d wait on a breaking ball, another a fastball. He never quit going up to the plate though.
Adjusting the plan
AT&T had a plan of providing communication and they’ve stuck with it since 1877. AT&T back then was an acronym for The American Telephone and Telegraph Company. When was the last time you received a telegram? Stop. (If you didn’t get that, go watch some old movies from the 40′s) Obviously things have changed since 1877, but AT&T has stuck to it’s plan of providing communication to people. It didn’t decide to ignore the fall of the telegraph and continue to provide it anyway; just as it didn’t decide to ignore wireless technology. AT&T continues to market itself as a communications company, adjusting it’s offering along the way.
If you’re a web design company and you’re market is small automotive manufacturing companies, that’s fine, but you may want to keep your options open for new markets. If you’re a new web design company, auto manufacturing is probably not the market you want to go after right now. Manufacturing is fine, but you may want to find those manufacturers that are diverse and don’t just rely on the auto segment. Look for the ones that have broken into mining or aerospace or military. Look for the manufacturers that have adjusted their plans.
If I’m a bread baker and people stop buying my bread because of all the carbs, and the in thing to lose weight is to cut carbs, what do I do? I continue to make bread but adjust. This is what Panera Bread did in a nutshell (to view the complete history of Panera Bread go to history of Panera). Panera still will sell you loaves of bread, muffins, bagels, etc. I however find most people these days at Panera eating sandwiches, soups, and drinking coffee. Panera Bread adjusted.
I’ve given these few examples to help illustrate that if you believe in your business and marketing plan forge ahead. You may need to go a little west or east at times, but continue heading North. Reggie was in the batter’s box to hit home runs. That was his plan. He adjusted here and there along the way, but he still ended up in the Hall of Fame.
