When it's Super Bowl time, we all hold our breath and hope for a good game - not one of those lopsided laughers where, by halftime, everyone knows who's going home the winner. That happens all too often - one team seems completely prepared and makes all the right moves, while the opposition just falls apart and never gets their mojo back.

You know which team you'd rather be like when it comes to your business - the one that knows how to get the results they want and doesn't invest in a lot of strategies that go nowhere. And that's why measuring your ROI (Return on Investment) is crucial to your marketing and advertising efforts.

Imagine a quarterback closing his eyes before making a pass, then making the throw and hoping the ball comes close to a receiver. What do you think his chances are of successfully completing that pass?

That ball will probably end up in the giant tub of Gatorade on the sidelines.

When many businesspeople do direct mail or internet/media advertising, they're a lot like that quarterback that can't see where he's throwing or who he's throwing to. They're picking concepts, copy and placement that fits what they think will complete their marketing pass - but, in reality, the majority of the time, they have no idea where that "ball" is really landing.

Now more than ever, in this time of economic difficulty, when you spend marketing dollars, you want to make sure they're being spent in the right way, not thrown away. Especially with the proliferation of advertising outlets on the internet, you have to make sure you're targeting the right ads to the right audience.

And doing that right only gets you to ROI "halftime." After you've successfully generated leads, the all-important second half is now on the shoulders of your customer service representatives. And what people don't realize is that's when the ball can REALLY get dropped.

Let's say your quarterback - i.e. your marketing - hit the target. You successfully convinced a customer to contact you about your product or service. Great news, right?

That depends. If the receiver fumbles the ball - or starts running in circles - you still have absolutely no chance of scoring a goal, no matter how awesome your quarterback might be.

In this instance, your "receiver" is whoever answers calls or inquiry emails - a sales person, a receptionist, whoever has that responsibility. That person needs to guide the generated lead to buying a product or making an appointment, rather than just giving out "yes" and "no" answers. That's how you get the ball across the goal line. Too many times, your advertising is much more effective than you realize - and then the sales phone call is completely mishandled, costing you thousands and thousands of dollars over the long haul.

Investing in measuring the ROI of both your marketing efforts and your customer service sales performance is critical to the success of your operation. It allows you to make important adjustments that lead to more sales, more profits and a better bottom line. And in these tight times, we all need to make sure every dollar counts.

Copyright (c) 2009 Richard Seppala