In my previous post, I wrote about the value of empathy in business. To be clear, empathy is not agreement. It is an understanding of another’s position. It is also a form of caring which carries with it a responsibility to be strong about your own position. Sometimes this requires courage. The combination of empathy, caring and courage is a form of respect.
Read MoreEmpathy is the identification and the power of understanding and imaginatively entering into another person’s feelings, thoughts or experience. It seems to me that one of the things we are lacking in our society, as well as in business today, especially in the relationship between sales and marketing, is empathy. What if we remembered the other person is thinking, “Do you understand me, can you help me, and do I trust you?” Maybe we wouldn’t get lost on our sales and marketing journey.
Read More3M has an unwritten cultural tradition that allows employees to spend 15% of their time working on their own ideas. This is time that managers can’t ‘second guess’ or override. The process, which has been in place over decades, breeds a type of thought leadership and product leadership that has been studied and emulated by many. It also makes the bean counters and upper management uncomfortable because they can’t always measure the immediate result.
Read MoreA key characteristic of true thought leadership is sharing; sharing ideas, technology, knowledge, and intellectual property, all without the thought of immediate gain. It contains elements of passion, generosity and education. Ultimately, like brand, it is about what others say about you. You can’t say you are a thought leader or if you do, no one will believe you. It’s like saying you are the world’s greatest lover. Though that also has something to do with sharing, recognition comes more with simmering the sauce over a long time.
Read MoreTargeting the right prospects is Sales and Marketing 101. In my experience it’s done poorly by both marketing and sales more than 75% of the time. There are two reasons for this.
How can you make sure you don’t fall into the trap of selling to the wrong segment? Read more.
Read MoreOn the eve of the mid-term elections, I am struck by the tactics for messaging used by the major parties and the parallels for Sales and Marketing. The first is that those that keep their message simple and consistent are much more likely to get their point of view accepted. The second thing is that we are all risk averse. Our little medulla oblongata (lizard brains) in the back of our skulls that generate our flight or fight response take precedence over our frontal lobes where reason happens. So messages based on loss or fear tend to trump those based on reason.
Read MoreHe is a world-renowned theoretical physicist who has developed theories of black holes and space-time. On the other hand, unless you are in the black hole business, he hasn’t really produced much of a practical nature. We can’t use his inventions in our cell phones, and we can’t teleport ourselves to Barbados. So what good is he?
Moore’s concept of Crossing the Chasm is overlaid with Maister’s concepts of service organizations to provide a solution to the common problem of applying the wrong company structure or resources to the business situation facing your company. You can then decide if Hawking is a good hire for you.
Read MoreWhile crossing the chasm applies to technologies and products across an industry lifecycle, Stocking’s corollary is that it can also apply to a single customer or client. It’s not only the industry or technology that goes through a cycle, individual clients and customers do as well.
If you are concerned about the lifetime value of a client, you have to bring new ideas, services and products to your existing base, otherwise they are going to forget about you and go somewhere else. It’s surprising how often this happens. When it does, you’ll often find yourself driving into your own chasm.
Read MoreThanking customers and clients for their business is Marketing and Sales 101. But it’s rare when we do it with sincerity. One of the most successful marketing campaigns I’ve been involved with was sending personal thank-you notes to over 1400 customers. The benefits were twofold…
Read MoreThere is a law of project management and business development that states that there will be four crises during the course of any project. This extends to most endeavors whether they are marketing projects, sales cycles with prospects, the relationship between sales and marketing, building a business, or even a marriage. Stocking’s corollary to this law is that you will be responsible for at least one of those crises. Why? It doesn’t matter. The real question is what are you going to do about it?
Read More