Having made my share of B2B marketing mistakes, I’m exploring some of the banana skins you should avoid in your own B2B marketing role.

B2B marketing banana skin no 4 to avoid is this: don’t get too bound up strategising when you also need to be executing.

It’s only natural that if you’re new to a role you want to take a step back, take stock and figure out where to go from here. This is a sensible approach, but it must be done in tandem with the ongoing running of your business.

In one of my first management roles I was hired to effect a change in strategy. I introduced a strategic review of the business, sucking in the sales force as well as the marketing team, to make sure we had done our homework, were properly aligned and were putting down the right roots to grow our new strategy.

A month later, what did we have to show for our efforts? Well, a month of no sales because the business has turned in on itself and was not actively marketing and selling. We had become preoccupied on strategy and had forgotten to keep executing.

If you don’t keep the ‘old’ stuff going at the same time as you figure out the new stuff, you won’t be able to effect the right transition. Today’s sales provide the ammunition with which to change your approach and execute tomorrow’s plan. If you delay too long, you might not have a business left when you look up from behind the parapet.

Nothing happens if someone doesn’t sell something, so keep selling even while you change direction.