The MSS™ methodology follows 7 crucial steps that allow for a comprehensive study of the subject company. The relationship between the MSS™’s ability to affect positive change and the depth and thoroughness of the company’s audit is positively correlated in that, the greater the research and understanding of the auditor conducting the MSS™ is of the subject firm, the better able one such agent shall be at improving the subject firm’s sales & marketing operations. [Shock Stat: 60% of small business owners are not able to track ROI from their social media activities]. The MSS™ method’s first step is Mapping, and it is during this first stage that the MSS™ method allows us to identify which value-adding corporate habits our client has to cultivate and which ones he ought to discontinue.

The ‘Mapping’ process requires investigatory questioning as well as active listening. This exchange will reveal crucial information about how the business conducts itself and expose the processes it has put in place to carry out its sales & marketing efforts. It is here that the perception bridge caused by cognitive dissonance comes to light, therefore clarification questions including, but not limited to, the ones presented below should be answered in order to proceed and achieve the desired result. [Shock Stat: HubSpot marketing has found that 43% companies operating digitally that is has surveyed find proving the ROI of their marketing efforts hard to explain]. It is imperative that these questions lead to an honest discussion, and binary, yes-and-no type responses to them are strongly discouraged.

Firstly, the ‘Mapping’ stage should look at the birth of the business, specifically at what the founder’s vision was that gave birth to the original business idea, as well as at the business’s mission and how closely has it followed it. Furthermore, the ‘Mapping’ stage examines the business’s current reputation and the process it has gone through to garner it, as well as the business’s current marketing & sales efforts. More specifically, the efforts that the ‘Mapping’ stage should examine include the business’s digital assets, its goals, its analytics, and its tactics. [Shock Stat: HubSpot marketing has found that ¼ of the companies operating digitally that is has surveyed find managing their website and identifying the right technologies for their needs challenging].

Closer examination of these efforts is encouraged, and a review of the business’s sales & marketing tools and strategies is desirable. Furthermore, the ‘Mapping’ stage also examines the business’s allocation of funds to sales & marketing projects and its ability to map and triangulate how said funds contribute to conversion and value-addition.

Mapping MMS Stage 1