If I had a nickel…
By Ron Weissman
Having interviewed many VPs of Marketing (oops! I should say “CMOs,” to appease the God of Title Inflation) for my portfolio companies, I’m convinced this is often the toughest executive job to fill. Not because there aren’t many interesting candidates, and not because the qualifications are exotic–but because there are so many bozos out there.

Why is it so hard to separate the best from the bozos?

  • Engineering driven companies don’t know what to ask to distinguish good from god-awful marketing.
  • Silicon Valley rewards slickness and often confuses being hip with being smart. But the most articulate PowerPoint jockey is rarely the best marketeer.
  • If you aren’t already measuring marketing effectiveness, you may not realize you’ve hired a bozo until nine to twelve months of damage is done
  • Few marketing people “do it all.” Outbound leadership may impress, but may be irrelevant if you really need to build a lead machine.
  • Long resumes can be hard to decipher. Sometimes, the longer the resume, the bigger the bozo. Does a candidate’s CV read like a travel itinerary because she has been at six no-name companies in seven years? Or lots of impressive, brand name companies? It’s not where she worked, but what she did. If a CV doesn’t list accomplishments that impress you, your Bozo Detector should be flashing red.
  • Bozos can talk a good game (they are marketeers, after all!) without discussing measurable—or memorable—achievements. This, too, should trigger your Bozometer.

When interviewing candidates, I keep four things in mind:

  1. Moving the needle. Don’t be too impressed with a long list of top tier companies —and even less, by candidates who are proudest of the college they attended. About college, who cares? What I look for are candidates who have moved the needle. Have her efforts turned a new or underperforming company or product into a brand or market share leader? How? Does she know what winning looks like? If not, why hire her? And if she has moved the needle, was it at a company relevant to your firm?
  2. Front office or back office? Have the candidate place herself on a spectrum, from front office (outbound leadership, positioning, strategy) to the mid-office (strong vertical marketing, channel marketing or products marketing), to the back office (strong lead generation, Marcom and field sales support). Forcing candidates to define their interests (“What are you best at?”), before you have discussed the job in detail (or revealed your hiring priorities), is a great way to understand who is a great fit—or not. If the candidate truly has ‘done it all’, seek examples across the spectrum. But remember: it is rare to find a senior marketing guy/gal who is both a leader and a lead generator.
  3. Theory or practice? The best marketeers are grounded in real markets, customers and products. Ask the candidate for a 90 day plan. If she doesn’t suggest lots of customer meetings, ask why. And avoid marketing theorists who dwell on the concept of Integrated Marketing or similar B-School BS.
  4. Accountability Counts. According to the Second Law of Marketing, “half of marketing $$ are wasted—we just don’t know which half.” How does the candidate measure marketing effectiveness? Strong marketeers speak unprompted about measurable achievements. Bozos make a million excuses for why their work cannot be measured, because marketing is “too long term” or “too hard to measure.”

Takeaways

  • Have the candidate identify her top skills. Marketing isn’t a single skill, it is a large set of skills, including positioning and branding, product marketing, vertical marketing, channel marketing, marcom, lead generation and field sales support. Figure out which of these you need, then evaluate candidates against your actual requirements.
  • Have the candidate position her experience. Relevant experience isn’t merely having sat in a chair at a brand name company. The right experience is having had a starring role in building a market leader. Dive deep here.
  • Have the candidate position her current company. Show me! The best interviews are detailed discussions of what candidates did for real yesterday, not what they might do for you tomorrow. Have the candidate explain her current company to you. If she cannot do it well and crisply, why are you confident that she can position your company effectively?
  • Great marketeers thrive on accountability.