The eye is a remarkable organ. The sense of sight is nothing short of miraculous. When your eyes are working correctly, light receptor cells are constantly sending messages to your brain to help it decipher the world around you. Your eyes are firing off these light messages to your brain by the thousands just as you read this sentence. Not only that, but in a fraction of a second, these sight receptors can send a message that an object is approaching your face. It can trace the movement of the object and send this information to your brain. In return, your brain will decipher this information and send a message to your muscles to react to this object. That would involve quickly wincing and squinting, if not, closing your eyes along with raising your hands to block the object. In that very small amount of time, hardly measurable, a coordinated effort is put into action to save you from harm. It starts with the correct vision.

We often talk about vision when we are talking about forecasting business. Do you know what the sight receptors of good business vision are? Marketing. Good marketing finds out what your customers want, keeps track of trending attitudes in the marketplace that would cause a shift in the buying habits of consumers, takes account of customer satisfaction after the sale, and watches how your competition is promoting their brands.

I was watching a baseball game the other day. The pitcher was throwing a fastball at 100 mph towards a batter. Home plate is a mere 60’6” away from the pitcher’s mound. The ball is coming so fast, you can blink and it will be past you! The batter is depending upon his sense of sight to determine whether that baseball will cross the plate between his knees and his armpits. If it does, he is making the decision to swing his bat at the precise time and place the ball crosses the plate. The really good hitters will pick up the spin of the ball to determine whether they are facing a breaking ball that will move as it crosses the plate or stay on the course of its trajectory. Hitting a baseball takes very good sight and the ability to make a quick decision.

I have coached baseball to young men for many years. One thing is for certain, if you don’t have good vision, hitting a baseball becomes a guessing game. I remember one young man who was having trouble with his hitting. He was in a slump. His technique was fine, but his vision was not. I suggested he have his eyes examined. He reluctantly agreed to go to his optometrist. Guess what? With a new prescription to correct his vision, he started hitting the ball again.

How’s your marketing vision? If your marketing is giving you a skewed view of your customers’ needs, your competition's effectiveness to draw your customers away from you, and the quality of your products and services, you will have a very hard time making sales. Skewed views of marketing lead to guessing at what works. Do you know what guessing leads to? Strikeouts! I would suggest you take a good look at your marketing efforts and measure them against your sales. How many leads are turning into prospects? How many prospects are converting to sales? How many first time customers are coming back for another purchase? How many multi-purchase customers would actually recommend you to someone else? These are all tests for how well you are seeing your marketplace.

If marketing provides the sight receptors for your organization, make sure you are seeing your marketplace clearly. Vision is a remarkable sense. When it is helping you see what is really there, your business can react appropriately to your customer base.