Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

Real World Example: Years ago, I did some work with Ascend re improving their position versus Cisco. The VP was touting their better technology at a lower price. This when Cisco’s service was perceived as better by Ascend’s existing and target IT Directors/CTO customers. How do I know? I designed a phone survey and called about 300 of them.

I asked the VP, “But what if Cisco lowers their price?” He responded, ‘We’ll just come out with another product in six months!” Where is Ascend today? (The VP was laid off well before the Lucent acquisition in 1999. Lucent in turn is now part of Alcatel and has had its own share of problems. But, those problems and the difficulties of mergers are posts for another day.)

Above Ascend link from Wikipedia, filed under the categories defunct computer companies of the United States and defunct networking companies. Both of these are worth a graveyard stroll for some perspective and a quick self-check for hubris. Stratacom, Wang, Banyan, DEC and many more. Brings to mind the last bit of Shelley’s poem.

“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Tags: product development, business planning, business development, marketing, marketing troubleshooting, entrepreneur sanity check