How is it that good salesmanship can defeat a brand?  It happens because good salesmanship, at its roots, is somewhat contradictory to good branding.  Problems occur when master salesmen set brand strategy.  The master salesman isn’t wrong…but his job is to sell a product, not build a brand.  Selling a product and building a brand are two distinctly different tasks.  Selling is short-term.  Branding is long-term.  Branding should outline what the salesman sells and how it’s sold.  Selling (as a strategy) leads to short-term rewards, but long-term identity crisis and price wars.  Branding (as a strategy) means slower growth, but creates longevity and higher price points.

This series deals with 5 areas in which good selling contradicts good branding.  The topic of this post is FOCUS.

I’ve been following closely the story concerning Chrysler and General Motors, who this week announced they will terminate close to a third of their franchise contracts.  In a prepared statement today, GM vice president of sales service and marketing, Mark LaNeve, said, “GM’s viability plan calls for fewer, stronger brands as well as fewer, stronger dealers. We have taken a very difficult step by identifying those dealerships we’d like to keep in the GM dealer network and those with whom we will have to wind down our business relationships.”

Fewer, stronger brands.  Fewer, stronger dealers.

This seems to support the notion (which we in the brand-building business have known for a long time) that good things happen when you narrow the focus.  This is contrary to the train of thought- often promoted passionately in the sales room- that in order to build a book of business, one should dum down products to appeal to as many people as possible.  Salesmen might insist that it’s good strategy to extend the success of one brand by investing in another…”let’s use our brand equity, and expand our product line and appeal to more people” they might say.

History, as an impartial judge, tells a different story about what happens when this manner of good salesmanship is used to define brand strategy.  Diet Coke takes market share from Classic Coke.  Diet Pepsi takes market share from Pepsi.  Bud Light takes market share from Budweiser.  Miller Lite from Miller.  Pontiac from Buick.  Saturn from Ford.  And so on.  In these cases, good salesmanship made for bad brand strategy.

While the problems plaguing General Motors are far more complex than what I’m insinuating here, it is interesting that part of the chosen solution to these problems is to strengthen the core brands by eliminating distracting siblings.

In the long run, it will indeed strengthen the GM brand.

Good things always happen when you narrow the focus.