Profiling the successful marketing manager.

It makes little difference whether his title is director of marketing, marketing manager or sales manager--as long as he assumes almost complete responsibility for the marketing function, relieving the president or general manager of planning and supervising the foundry's marketing activities.

The marketing manager's control is far from absolute. The castings he sells must be within the range of the foundry's technical and manufacturing competence. Pricing must be a direct relationship to costs over which he has little control. His marketing expenditures at any given time will be limited by the foundry's profit and cash flow requirements. And, his objectives and the marketing plan must be compatible with the company's larger objectives.

Despite these limitations, the marketing manager has a lot of leeway and responsibility. He must develop the marketing plan and formulate strategies to achieve sales and profit objectives. Building a good marketing organization will be a vital requirement, and he will be constantly striving to produce the optimum combination of short-term profits and long-term growth and profitability.

Top management's absolute confidence is a prime requisite for the marketing manager. Without this confidence he cannot be entrusted with the degree of authority to make the many day-to-day decisions to smoothly carry out the marketing function with a minimum of direction.

Delegating Authority

The president or general manager should delegate to his marketing manager all the authority he needs to perform the total marketing function efficiently and effectively.

Too much or too little delegation is bad, but the guidelines can pretty much be established in the marketing plan. With this plan, the chief executive has the marketing manager's analysis of the facts relating to the state of the business and his recommendations on objectives and the marketing program necessary to their achievement.

The plan answers such key questions as: Where are we now? Where do we want to go? How do we propose to get there, and what are the obstacles? How much is it going to cost? How long will it take? How much profit can we make in doing it?

By his approval or modification of the plan, the chief executive exercises all the control he needs. Limits of the marketing manager's authority will be clearly staked out and he can be entrusted to execute the plan. While this procedure enables the chief executive to retain control of the marketing function's directions it in no way diminishes the marketing manager's role.

Another key requirement of the marketing manager is that he be a manager, not just a lobbyer for marketing expenditures. He should be guided by the necessity for putting the company's needs first when they conflict with his marketing objectives. Another area in which he must be a good manager is selection and supervision of people, and evaluating their performance.

An Analyst and Planner

Perhaps the most important requisite of all for a successful marketing manager is that he be a good analyst and planner. He must be able to plan not only for the upcoming year but for the years ahead. He must be able to diagnose the marketing problems of the business and to prescribe action to meet these problems.

Probably no single activity of the marketing manager is more important or influential on effectiveness of the marketing program than his analysis of the marketing plan. He must be able to spot fallacies in the plan and detect omissions and suggest alternative conclusions or action that may have been overlooked.

As far as background is concerned, the marketing manager should have an interest and some training in marketing and economics. In our industry, he most frequently comes to this post with a strong sales background. And this is good as long as he is able to transition from the sales to the marketing concept. He must be able to see the bigger picture implicit in the marketing function.

While the marketing manager does not have direct control of profits, he does have some responsibility in this area. He must formulate a plan which, on the bases of estimated casting costs and his projection of sales, will produce an acceptable profit.

If budgeted profits are jeopardized by higher costs, price reductions or concessions, or lower than anticipated sales, he must modify the marketing plan to keep pace with changing conditions.

In summary, the marketing manager should:

* accept the reality that marketing is only part of the total foundry operation and the needs of marketing must be subordinate to those of the business;

* be knowledgeable and competent in all marketing functions;

* be able to build and retain a strong marketing organization;

* propose and carry out a good marketing plan with a minimum of supervision; and

* have the authority and willingness to make day-to-day decisions. If your marketing manager has these idealized qualifications, consider your company fortunate, indeed.