business-to-business

February 20, 2018 by Marc Hausman

Lessons from Bloomberg’s Maiden Sale

Michael Bloomberg in the 1980s. (Photo source: HollywoodReporter.com)

It’s 1982. Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger dominates the pop charts. Imagine you work at financial services firm Merrill Lynch. A young Michael Bloomberg arrives unannounced at your office with a cup of coffee for you. What do you do? Give him 15 minutes to pitch his product.

It is now 2018. You are humming Ed Sheeran’s Perfect at your desk. A bold and brash sales rep barges in. What do you do? Dial security.

Last week, entrepreneurs from across the United States gathered in Washington, DC for the 10,000 Small Businesses Summit, hosted by Goldman Sachs. Billionaire (and former New York City mayor) Michael Bloomberg was among the A-list speakers. He shared a wonderful story about how he scored his first customer for Bloomberg LP.

Every morning for nearly a year, Bloomberg scoured Merrill Lynch’s office chatting up anyone he stumbled across with the goal of building relationships. One of his targets turned out to be the company’s chairman, who eventually approved funding to trial Bloomberg’s product.

“No matter how much digital we have, people are what make businesses,” Bloomberg told attendees at the conference.

While Bloomberg is spot on that the world works on the relationships, the approach to foster connections has been dramatically recast. There is no walking the halls of customer accounts. Cold calling is unproductive. Unsolicited Emails get minimal response.

That is because broadband adoption, the searchable Web and social networks have empowered customers, and given them more control than ever before on how and when they consume information about products and services. Gartner Group refers to these customers as enlightened buyers. Forrester Research uses the phrase the buyer’s journey.

Today, it is incumbent for companies like yours to meet buyers on their terms. Thought leadership content is the vehicle to accomplish that. When combined with targeted distribution and analytics to assess engagement, lead generation and account based marketing becomes more disciplined and measurable.

December 7, 2017 by Marc Hausman

Connected Aviation Today Showcases the “Must Haves”

I am often asked by business-to-business marketers about the attributes that provide the foundation for successful content marketing and demand generation program. There are three primary “must haves,” which include:

Industry segment or technical area that is timely and of interest among key audiences (i.e. customers, prospects, partners, market influencers, etc.);
Recognized and established brand as a program sponsor to lend credibility; and
Commitment to thought leadership in editorial strategy and development, rather than promotional or marketing speak.

Here is a recent example: Connected Aviation Today, introduced by Rockwell Collins. Take a few moments to review the site, check out the user interface and evaluate the editorial strategy. Message me here on this blog or via Twitter @StrategicGuy with your thoughts.

November 1, 2017 by Marc Hausman

What Sales NEVER Tells Marketers

I just had the most unexpected phone conversation with a new business prospect. My head is still spinning. Here’s the story…

Each week I set aside time to dial marketers who I have yet to meet. I quickly introduce Strategic Communications Group (Strategic) and, since I am calling unannounced, attempt to schedule an initial phone conversation at a later date.

Yesterday, the North American field marketing lead at a global technology products company picked up her line. We chatted for a minute and agreed to compare calendars via Email. Then, she hit me with a surprise.

“Hey, while I have you on the phone. You are in sales. Tell me, what does my sales team not share with me when it comes to their expectations of marketing?”

Imagine that! Rather than simply rushing me off, this marketer viewed the conversation as an opportunity to gather insight and intelligence to help her be more successful. I was happy to oblige.

A comprehensive view of a prospect helps me initiate a dialogue. Provide me intelligence based on the prospect’s digital footprint and social engagement. How are they engaging with content? Where do they interact? By understanding areas of possible need, my rate of success in securing a first meeting will skyrocket.
Sales cycles have gaps in time. Help me fill them. I don’t want to contact a prospect to just “follow up.” Develop thought leadership oriented content I can use to maintain a dialogue when they are not ready to buy.
Steer me away from unproductive activities. I want to attend events…organize Webinars…sponsor conferences. Help me understand if these tactics are misguided and will fail to reach the right audience.
And perhaps most important…

That’s when I stopped. The line remained quiet for a good 10 seconds. You could practically feel the anticipation.

“Well?”, she finally asked.

I will tell you during our introductory call, I explained. That’s because the goal of each step in the sales process is simply to reach the next step.

What is my final (and most important) expectation of marketing? Look for an update to this blog post in the next few days.

—————————————————————————————–

What is my last “sales guy” expectation of marketing? Help me develop a voice on social media.

Sales reps identify and qualify more leads when they are actively engaged in social networks, especially LinkedIn. Unfortunately, many refrain from social engagement because they are unclear of how to do it in a disciplined and a professional way. This is an area where marketers can help.

June 27, 2017 by Marc Hausman

Non-Knowing Sales Rep Exposed

She asked in the Email subject line if I were OK. She didn’t care about my well-being though. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out.

The Email was the third in a series of messages I received from a sales rep at a marketing firm pushing content development services. She offered to save my consultancy “serious time” when it comes to writing high quality blog posts.

Of course, much of Strategic Communications Group’s (Strategic) work is in thought leadership content creation — for a client’s Web site or blog, or for one of our online buyer communities. We are not a viable prospect for this vendor. A quick review of our corporate Web would have proven that out.

In her Email pitch, the sender then made an unexpected shift in strategy from empathy to humor.

“I’m going to assume that you’re not dead or kidnapped,” she wrote. Are you in prison? If you are in jail, don’t worry – I’ll post bail for you. Just let know the best way to connect so I know where to send the money.”

OK…I get it…an attempt to be funny. To make jest of the fact I have yet to respond to one of these template pitches. However, as someone who has performed stand-up comedy for nearly a decade (seriously!) I am well versed in the three tenets of humor:

Be relevant to the audience’s interests
Be timely
Be responsive to reaction and feedback

To meet these standards, it helps to actually know something the person. And this, my friend, is ultimately why most sales outreach with little, if any, diligence is so darn ineffective. When we don’t know the prospect or customer, there is simply no way to credibly connect with them.

May 31, 2017 by Marc Hausman

Crash and Burn with “Hopeful” Content

For years the missives wandered into my Email inbox from exotic locales such as Pune, Bangalore and Bucharest. Regardless of the origin, the offer was the same: cheap content creation to gin up search optimization.

Google’s adoption of a more sophisticated search algorithm that penalizes low value and limited social sharing strangled many of these content farms. However, as any business-to-business marketer will attest, the pitches solider on. The source, theme and value proposition have merely shifted.

“I came across your profile on LinkedIn and found it very interesting,” she wrote to me last week. “We’re primarily focused on creating high quality blog content…think well researched, time consuming blog posts…not generic 500 word SEO fluff.”

That is compelling, right? Companies that produce and publish a steady stream of thought leadership oriented content attract more qualified leads and close a higher percentage of business.

If that’s true, why is there so much dissatisfaction with the content marketing process?

It is because few marketers have taken the critical step of connecting engagement to demand. For many, content creation is a “check the box” tactic that – like other brand oriented activities – relies on hope to produce a measurable outcome.

Marketers tend to live in a world of hope with their content. I hope a prospect finds it. I hope it inspires them to contact my company. I hope my sales team moves on the opportunity. I hope it turns into revenue.

Here are three ways you can elevate your content program from a hopeful tactic to a strategic function that generates sales pipeline:

Align content creation with account based marketing. Here is an example from Dupont Fabros Technology’s From the Racks corporate blog.
Integrate with CRM and/or marketing automation platforms. Content can be repurposed for nurturing and drip campaigns. Prospect interaction tracked via analytics can inform lead scoring and qualification process.
Publish where the prospects are. Strategic Communications Group manages online buyer communities in government, healthcare, financial services, retail and insurance. We’re always on the hunt for content relevant to our readers.

Lessons from Bloomberg’s Maiden Sale

Connected Aviation Today Showcases the “Must Haves”

What Sales NEVER Tells Marketers

Non-Knowing Sales Rep Exposed

Crash and Burn with “Hopeful” Content

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