Know-How Exchange : Career/Training

The title is the least of your problems. Find a way to fix what's broken and don't worry about the title.

BTW, you will almost certainly need outside professional help to deal with this. See if you can convince management to hire a consultant on a one-time basis to "catch up," after which you can keep things on an even keel going forward.

It's really the only hope of success ... and it will demonstrate that you're deserving of a new title since you are dealing with a big-picture strategic issue for the company.

I agree - titles are minor thing. You see there are many business problems, and those should be addressed.

If you can free up some time, maybe step back and try to write up a marketing plan. Start with where you are now.

To make a marketing plan, here are some headings I would put into a Word document and then start filling in blanks with what you know, and then start trying to determine the areas you don't know:



Context (Background of business, Who are the customers)
·
1.


Corporate Objectives (Short term and long term objectives – measurable)
· Short-Term:
o
· Long-Term – growth options/exit strategy
o


Market Analysis (Brief description of market, major influencers, competitors, etc.)
· (insert brief description of market here)
· Why I believe there is a market for my service
o
· Competitors – direct and indirect competitors.
o
· Target Customer:
o
· Benefits of my service:
o


Marketing Plan (4-Ps, channels)
· Product
· Price
· Place
· Promotion

Critical Success Factors (SWOT)
· Strengths:
o
· Weaknesses:
o
· Opportunities:
o
· Threats:
o

We must have worked for the same employers!

Echoing what everyone else has said, forego the title; it truly is the absolute least of your worries. Having been a "one-woman show" many times in the past, you can go down the proactive role as Peter suggested and create the marketing plan, as that's what will show the CEO or whomever you report to that you mean business. It will also qualify and quantify what "generate new leads" means, and quantity of leads expected will depend on your budget. The plan will at least be your roadmap and will really put in perspective just how much work there is to be done. The next time I meet with your Salespeople, find out what the Sales efforts to generate new leads are. It is extremely important to get Sales and Marketing on the same page; since it sounds like there are more of them than you, I'd be leveraging them to help you. Leverage Salesforce as well; while it's a monster, there are many tools that can help automate tracking and reporting. Couple it with Bridgemail and you'll have at least an automated email delivery system to implement and track low-cost campaigns. Leverage the Exec you report to; they must have some idea of what they are and where they want to go.

More than likely, it sounds like you will need to have a multi-year plan to develop everything you need; start with basics and build out year over year. Start with your branding and positioning, and build from there. You could hire a consultant, but it doesn't look like you're going to make much hay there. You will still need a "staff", internal or external. Honestly, five years of experience isn't enough to possibly know everything you need to get this done efficiently, and developing sales strategies is just plain ridiculous if you have no branding, positioning, tracking, campaigns, etc.

With plan in hand, either the Exec team supports the plan, in which case you are going to need to outsource (since you need SO many different areas of expertise I'd be hiring an agency as an extension of yourself; THAT is your team, and your job is to coordinate those efforts). It sounds like you're breaking ground here, so take the opportunity ball, and run with it. Go as fast and as hard as you can, and if you can't make headway, find yourself a better opportunity that you can actually attain success. Best of luck to you!