So how do you get a herd of bovine off of the freeway so traffic can move again? What is the solution? Some people tried to beep their car horn at the cattle in the middle of the road, like that would make them all get back on the truck carrier. Some people called the local radio station so their traffic reporter could let all the travelers on the interstate know about the cattle. They communicated the situation in a very professional manner, but that did not solve the problem. One guy got out of his car and started waving his hat in the air. Again, the cattle did not react to his hat waving. Finally a local farmer came on the scene. He slowly approached the livestock with a rope. He put the rope around the head of one of the cows and led it to the side of the road and tied it to a fencepost. The rest of the cattle followed. He then brought out a pair of long-handled wire cutters and opened up the fence along the side of the road. He worked with a couple of other guys and they soon had the fence opened up and pulled back. He then led the cow with the rope around its neck to the other side of the fence. The other cattle followed. Then he simply pulled the fence back to its original location. And just like that, the traffic problem was solved.

How does this story relate to your marketing experience? For one, in the midst of chaos, people can come up with some odd solutions. For instance, if you find that your market takes an unexpected turn, some people will suggest you communicate more, toot your horn at a greater decibel, etc. In other words, they will suggest you do the things you are doing now, just a little bit larger and somewhat louder. Make a new brochure. Create a new web site. Send out a press release. All of which will probably not fix the problem. The solution to big surprising problems typically comes from a source outside of you or your company. You need an expert who can help see the problem for what it is and give you a solution. In the case of the cattle on the interstate, there was nothing anyone could do while sitting inside their car. It took a farmer, someone who knew a little something about large livestock - that understood that cattle are herding animals - to get out of his vehicle and approach them with a very simple tool - a rope. Sometimes the solution is not complicated, it is just different than what you have done before.

One of the jobs of marketing is to remove obstacles so sales can take place. There is an old tool that was developed long ago by Albert Humphrey from the Stanford Research Institute known as the SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. If you have been through a marketing class, you have probably studied this simple analysis tool. Humphrey taught that Strengths and Weaknesses are internal functions. The products you sell may be of high quality - a strength - but your delivery time is slow - a weakness. These are internal functions that, by changing the ways you do business, you can change.

Opportunities and Threats are a different story altogether. They are external to your business. They are things such as economic conditions, a premiere customer who is expanding or contracting their business, good or bad news that is reported about your industry, etc. Opportunities and Threats call for you to react with your marketing efforts in a way that either enhances your business or shields you from harm. This is where the big surprises enter the picture. And because they are outside of your control, they can be unpredictable. Big opportunities often call for you to react to the needs of your customer and to give them a clear view of your strengths. Threats call for you to navigate around problems without exposing your weaknesses. And both can switch positions. How so? If you are not careful, opportunity can take all of your efforts and it becomes a threat to the rest of your business. Likewise, the threat can expose a problem you are well suited to fix and therefore it sometimes turns into opportunity. For instance, suppose the manufacturer of the animal carrier that was involved in the accident that released the cattle took note of the problem. Suppose the local newspaper reported that his product did not withstand the sideswiping crash. That manufacturer may have a threat on his hands. But if he chooses to, he could build bumper guards on the side of his carriers that would absorb this kind of collision without ripping open the carrier walls. Suppose he came up with a whole new line of safety carriers that were endorsed by insurance companies, who gave discounts for livestock transportation companies who used the safety carrier. The threat becomes opportunity.