Failing to Speak the Language of Business

This article is courtesy of Roy Young, director of strategy and development at MarketingProfs.com

Marco was pumped. During his morning jog, he had conceived a brilliant idea for improving the Locke-Emmons web site to enable customers to buy products more easily.

He knew that the improvements he had in mind would cost money, so he anticipated getting resistance from executives who would have to approve the expenditure.

But he felt sure he'd win them over. "After all," he told himself as he strode into his office, "the new site will do wonders for our brand image."

Later that week, Marco presented his case for an enhanced Web site to the executive team. He confidently described his proposed changes.

And he provided detailed studies comparing Locke-Emmons's brand-image strength with competitors', as well as proposed costs.

But though his audience listened politely and asked a few questions, Marco detected little real excitement. Still, he finished his presentation and thanked his listeners when Ann, the CFO, promised they'd get back to him next week.

Over the coming days, Marco waited impatiently for word about his proposal. Though perplexed about the team's apparent lack of enthusiasm, he still felt certain that he had made a compelling business case.

So he was shocked when Ann finally called him into her office and explained that she couldn't approve funding for the web site changes.

"We've really got to be careful about our spending," she said, "and updating the site just isn't our top priority."

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