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Business Rule #47:
Know When to Stand Back
April 3, 2006
by Caroline Pfouts
This week, the task was to produce a new jingle for Arby’s new Chicken Naturals. One of the missions for this challenge was to create a ditty that would help consumers remember that Arby’s doesn’t just sell roast beef, but that it now also offers great chicken.
Team Gold Rush was laboring under a couple of disadvantages. For one, they were short-staffed. With Lee Bienstock observing Yom Kippur, they lost his valuable contributions on this task. For another, they were still reeling from the boardroom last week. So their project manager this time out, Bryce Gahagan, wanted to address the infighting amongst his team. Certainly, resentments and hostility between co-workers can be destructive. Merely asking team members to air their grievances at a single meeting doesn’t always work. Bryce’s approach of clearing the air though was surprisingly effective.
Meanwhile, the Synergy team had problems of its own. It seemed their task leader, Sean Yazbeck, wanted to do everything on his own. Several people on his team were frustrated that he didn’t delegate anything for them to do to help move things forward. They felt they weren’t being allowed to contribute. Everyone wants to feel that what they bring to the table is valuable.
Of course, everyone has different innate abilities. Some talents are so special that, to do them well, you just have to be lucky enough to have been born with them. Take music. Some people have perfect pitch, while others can’t even sing “Happy Birthday” in key. When music is played well, nothing can touch us as deeply as music. When it’s done poorly though, nothing is as painfully embarrassing. You just have to watch a few American Idol auditions to get that.
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When the task is to create a memorable jingle, the challenge involves creating both catchy lyrics and a rhythmic tune. Although some of the candidates for The Apprentice may be better wordsmiths than others, writing the words for a commercial jingle is reasonably within the abilities of all the participants. Even Lenny Val. While it may be possible that he could have lived for several years in the U.S. without ever having heard the word “jingle” used, no way could he have avoided the relentless barrage of radio and TV commercials we all hear. Lenny certainly knew what a song was—and his English was dead on whenever it came to insulting his teammates. This wasn’t about language limitations. Lenny’s reluctance to participate on this task had more to do with his discomfort with music or possibly even his disdain for it.
Undoubtedly, Lenny’s trouble owed to his not having much musical ability—but he didn’t have to. You don’t have to be good at every aspect of a project to create a successful campaign. You don’t have to be a graphic artist to create a brilliant print ad, and you don’t have to be mechanically adept to keep your car running smoothly—but you do have to know when to hire a pro.
When I was producing “Jump Start Your Sales,” a series of entertaining audio lessons on how to do sales work, I knew I had to hire professional voice talent. There are too many audio books on the market where the author just drones on in a monotone, boring listeners into a coma. My concept was to have funny dialogue that illustrates the kind of closes and other verbal techniques that make for a successful sales pitch. So I needed more than a single professional announcer; I needed a cast of six or seven comedic voice actors on each ten minute lesson. So guess what? I hired them.
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You do have to know when to hire a pro.
