4 traits of successful marketers

Hello, this is Drew Neisser. I'm excited to talk to you today about the four traits of successful marketers.

Take a moment as we get started to remember your first car. What was the model? What was the year that you got a hold of it? How old were you, and what was your most significant memory about that car? While you're mining your memory bank, I'll tell you about mine. It was a 1968 Ford Falcon, but not just any run of the mill Falcon. It had been owned by my grandmother Gertrude, who was five foot tall maybe with heels. But despite her diminutive stature, my grandfather Bill decided that she should have a more powerful car. Don't ask me why, and had a V8 engine installed instead of the standard V6. Pretty much the same engine that Steve McQueen made famous in the movie Bullet, when he races around San Francisco in a 1968 Ford Mustang. Lucky for me, not too long after my 16th birthday, I came into possession of Gert's car, which she could no longer drive. I promptly named the car Fern, and borrowing from the Steppenwolf song, "headed out on the highway looking for adventure," and I found just that. Coming back from a tennis tournament in La Jolla California on the San Diego freeway, it was time to see how fast Fern could go. Pressing the accelerator was getting up to 90, then I got to 100, and I wasn't breaking a sweat. The car was doing great. At 110 miles an hour, I noticed that the speedometer only went to 125. So, I decided that 115 should be my top speed, easing the pedal down a bit to get to 114 miles an hour without warning. Suddenly, the hood blows open. So, let's recap. I'm 16 years old. I'm moving 167 feet per second, and I can no longer see forward. It is at this point that I like to ask my audience if this has ever happened to them. Only once did someone respond to the affirmative. Excited about having a shared experience, I asked the young lady, "Were you going 114 miles an hour?" Her response was, "Heck no. I'm not an idiot." Well, I tell you this story for a couple reasons. First, I believe as marketers, we are all moving at 114 miles an hour with limited visibility into the future, and nonetheless, great marketers consistently find a way around the obstacles to see their way to success while others remain blind to the opportunities. The other reason I tell you this story is that, it sets up my second story.