Are You Paying Too Much For Your Whistle?

DJ Smith / Aug 25th / Comments

In 1779, the great Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to Madame Brillon. In this letter, Mr. Franklin recounts a mistake he made as a child. It seems that when Ben was seven years old he had his heart set on a whistle in a local toyshop. His friends had filled his pockets with “coppers” and he went right away to the shop and laid down all his money for the whistle. He took his whistle home and delighted himself with it while causing quite a frustration for the rest of his family. His siblings and cousins learned of the bargain that he had made for the whistle and proceeded to educate the young Ben of the reality that he had actually paid four times for the whistle was worth. Ben was the laughingstock of the house, so much so, that Ben was driven to tears. He never forgot the grief that pricey whistle cost him. As he grew older, however, Ben saw adults who were often paying too much for their whistle.

In marketing, I have the opportunity to see a lot of organizations paying too much for their whistle. Sadly, they work so hard, pushing sales goals, raising unprecedented bars on their marketing efforts, and cracking the whip of overtime on their staff in pursuit of the next big thing. They don’t realize the real cost of their whistle.

I’ve seen sales staff of organizations getting caught up in the glitz and glamour of schmoozing a client for their business. They treat their account with such high attention that they fail to take into account their own personal affairs. They sometimes do rather unscrupulous things to win accounts. To that end I think they’re paying too much for their whistle.

I’ve seen firms overwork good people without a single thought of offering even a small bit of gratitude. They view those who serve them as disposable commodities; nothing more than brute oxen hired to carry the weight of the firm’s world on their shoulders. Yet these employers ponder why the revolving door to their offices is constantly spinning with talent coming and going. They don’t see that they are paying too much for the whistle.

I’ve experienced organizations that have hired our marketing expertise only to question our wisdom in the suggestions we make to achieve their goals. They change course several times, unable to zero in on a clearly defined objective for a campaign. Aimlessly they walk like an unaided blind man in a china shop unable to see the strategy for the planning committee. They find themselves handcuffed to their own perceptions, interpretations, and assumptions that have no real basis or research behind them. They truly are paying too much for their whistle.

Near the close of his letter, Benjamin Franklin wrote, “In short, I conceive that a great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by the false estimates they have made of the value of things, and by their giving too much for their whistles.” Ben learned a valuable lesson that many intellectually superior adults to this day haven’t learned. So, will you learn the lesson or will you continue to pay too much for your whistle?

Until next time, keep your pulse strong…