We sales people have evolved.
We don’t always pitch our product or service, sometimes we’re helpful enough to send over a white paper or blog post that may be of interest.
But as it goes with good ideas, content is getting overused.
I mean how many blog posts or white papers can a buyer read in a week? We’re all “frazzled” these days. If we’re not stuck in a meeting, we’re frantically working on some project that we hope will help us keep our job. White paper reading time…not large.
As much as I would love to think content marketing is the be-all-and-end-all of lead generation (this is a blog remember!), I don’t think it really is.
We humans want our problems solved more easily than reading a book and designing our own solution, let alone implementing it. Too exhausting! Make it easier…I have no time…
One idea: Ideas
Back in the day, I worked for a bloke that was an “idea machine”. I don’t know how he came up with all these ideas every day. Not my skill, but if you are one of these machines or have one on your team, that’s a great asset.
What this bloke would do is contact people every morning and say “I have an idea for you” (or seven) and he’d tell his contact his idea for them. Every now and then one of those ideas would hit the nail-on-the-head for the recipient and lo-and-behold that idea would turn in to a new project for our company.
These ideas really need to address the pain points of your target audience/buyers. To do this you need to know your target market. Better yet, you need to know the situation that your contact/buyer is facing. This is one great reason to “call low” and find out what is really going on in the companies in your target market.
Once you really understand the top 3 things on your target buyer’s plate, your brain (or your colleague’s brain) will start whirring and you will come up with some ideas of how to reduce the pain in your buyer’s life.
Don’t limit yourself to solutions that are delivered by your product or service. Every way you help your target audience will pay off for you down the road. Make friends with people that can provide other services to your target market. Offer ideas that might be implemented by your friends not by you. Be helpful.
My best friend is a person
Sending people white papers and webinars is helpful. Sending them well-targeted ideas to help them solve their problems is even more helpful. But the best helper on the planet, even today, is a person.
The thing about people is that they can do the work not just tell you what you should do.
They also have pretty amazing brains so they come up with new ideas and share experiences all the time.
As an added bonus the more people you meet, the more people they know and if you manage it, you can have access to an amazing network of supercomputers (called “people”) that are helping you all the time.
So when you’re trying to meet someone in your target market, or keep-in-touch with them, consider offering them an introduction to someone you already know that may be able to help them with their challenges.
As with ideas don’t limit yourself to your area of expertise (e.g. HR systems) broaden your scope once you understand your prospects top challenges (e.g. childcare, yes personal problems are great to help with once you’ve earned the right to know them.)
If you come from a place of really trying to help people in your target market, they will give that love back in the future. Don’t limit yourself to white papers and webinars as a way of being helpful. Share some well-targeted ideas and best of all, connect your buyer to some great people. People are really the best.