ABSTRACT
Imagine for a minute that you are an executive-a business owner whose profits or losses will come in part because of the decisions you make every day. It shouldn’t be a big stretch; those of us who are independent professionals are, for all intents and purposes, business owners. However, for this example, let’s imagine that you are running a larger organization, say 200 employees and $100 million in revenue. Your company, Wilson’s Widgets, is coming out with a new product and you want to figure out how to get the word out to your customers about this great new tool. Wilson’s Widgets competes with Spacely Sprockets and you want to make sure that not only your own customers know about your great advance in widget development, but you would love to attract some of Spacely’s customers, too. Your sales and marketing team knows that you have made a big investment and retooled 50% of your factory to produce your great new invention, so when your vice president of marketing approaches you and suggests hiring a consultant to help develop the marketing plan, you say, “Of course.”
