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Writer's pictureJohn Brandt

The problem with having too many cooks in the kitchen

Let me give you a hypothetical situation—and you tell me which one you prefer:


Restaurant #1 hires a world-class chef. He has a limited menu because he knows his strengths and weaknesses as a chef. He also dedicated blood, sweat, and tears into creating the menu so that each dish complements the next. He doesn't make any exceptions or substitutions to any dish on his menu because he knows that this will create the best experience for the customer. 


Restaurant #2 hires a not-as-good chef. While he knows his strengths and weaknesses, he doesn’t create the menu. And so, several dishes on the menu aren’t his specialty (and a few may even be a weakness). He’s also more acquising to the customer. He was “raised” in chain restaurant kitchens, so he’s always happy to substitute or replace something on a dish. 


Which one do you think has better food?


And which one do you think offers a better overall dining experience (which means you can charge hundreds of dollars more for the meal)?


Restaurant #1 is the obvious answer. 


And yet… 


When you strip away the restaurant example, most businesses act like Restaurant #2 when it comes to their marketing. 


Here’s what I mean:


Business owners get their own way far too often when it comes to marketing. This is like hiring a damn good chef but not letting him create his own menu that’s filled with his strengths and where his weaknesses aren’t options. 


(I’m gonna relate this to email marketing specifically for reasons that should be obvious. But this also applies to other methods of marketing.) 


Sometimes this means hiring an email copywriter and a digital marketing agency (who also does email). 


Sometimes this means hiring an email copywriter but not letting them have final say in their copy and instead giving this job to the business owner (who, this side of Ben Settle, is almost always too close to their business to see the holes, the strengths, and the weaknesses). Also, as a business owner, even one who has written most of the copy for decades, doesn’t mean that a business owner is a copywriter. 


They’re a business owner, and their value to their company lies outside of the more “in-the-trenches” work of creating and implementing an email strategy. 


And sometimes this means hiring an email copywriter but letting the customer “choose” the strategy. 


The result? 


Businesses become Restaurant #2 even if they’re striving to be Restaurant #1


And this leads to a watered down message, fewer sales, and less impact than it otherwise would have. 


How about another example? 


Imagine your sink starts dripping and water keeps seeping through, threatening your floorboards, ceilings, and anything else that can get damaged from water. And so, you call a plumber. But instead of letting the expert do their work, you keep interjecting, asking for revisions, and offer them unsolicited advice. 


Let’s imagine they’re a new plumber who decides to listen to you because they wrongly heard that the customer is always right. (Which, I hope isn’t happening in the plumbing industry…) 


Do you think the sink would be fixed with your input?


Probably not. 


And yet, this is the problem many business owners fall into with their marketing. 


It’s the classic too many cooks in the kitchen problem. And, just like too many cooks can ruin a good dish, so it is with any marketing strategy. 


It’s best to leave your ego at the door—and let the expert do what you hired them for. 


Anyway, need an email expert in your corner? 


Hit reply, and let’s set up a quick call. 


John

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