Waiting on “The Dough”

A great post the other day on Tom Peter’s weblog… the post in its entirety….

Years ago I did some work with the Ford division of the Ford Motor Company. I
distinctly remember division boss Ross Roberts saying [booming] to me, "Whoever
said marketing programs were not powerful is nuts. We have brilliantly trained a
generation of consumers not to come into the dealership unless we offer $3,000
off." Likewise, I heard on "Marketplace" this morning that one reason seasonal
spending is lower than expected is that consumers won’t shop until stores offer
deep discounts—which they increasingly do, long before
12.26.

Something about reaping what ye sow, eh?

This is what happens when you approach incentives, promotions, rewards, etc. from a purely tactical angle.  You convince people to wait for the dough – wait for the promotion, wait for the sales to tank so they offer a bigger bonus at the end of the year.  People are smart – they figure this out.

Don’t solve today’s problem without thinking about tomorrow’s impact.

I’ve posted before on the issue of "unintended consequences" (here, here, here ) – and I’m sure I’ll post  on it again. 

Sometimes it is just too easy to do the quick and dirty thing.  Take a step back.  Ask the question … "what will the longer term consequences be?"