Notice I said, appear to be an order-taker. Yes, I do want my peers and competitors to think that I'm just lucky. And yes, I do in fact want a steady stream of phone calls from decision-makers I've yet to meet who are on the brink of placing an order with me. But no, sadly, I still can't afford to sit back and expect that to happen without a whole lot effort on my part first. So here's the situation:
They think they already know everything they need to know about me, my company and my products and services
They won't (and in many cases simply don't have the time to) explain to me what they need
They need, want and are ready to make a decision right now!
Let's start with the fact that they're ready to make a decision right now. (Before they consulted you! Horrors!) They're not dopes. They didn't just wake up this morning with a deep understanding of their organization's strategies, issues and problems. They're smart. They're experienced. They're hard-working. They've been thinking about it for a long time. They've been doing research.
They probably started with a Google search that led to an article, and then another, and then a blog or two or three, and then a few podcasts, videos and webinars. That stuff they read, heard and viewed was produced by their colleagues and peers; by your competitors, college professors, consultants and all kinds of so-called "experts." Each of those came complete with comments, comments on the comments and links to a whole series of other resources.
That's exactly what you do when you want to buy something isn't it?
So here are the critical questions:
- Are you the source of the information they're getting electronically?
- Are you doing you own "starting with Google" research to know what's on the mind of your customer decision-makers?
- Are you plugged into and constantly working THE most common buying process in use today? Are you?
The correct answer to that last question is something like:
- I author a blog that I update five or six times a week, and
- I host or participate in six or so podcast episodes per year, and
- I have a LinkedIn? account with a detailed personal profile, belong to a dozen or so groups and regularly post comments and conscientiously work to expand my number of quality connections, and
- I e-publish at least four articles or white papers per year, and
- I just started a YouTube? series about how my customers creatively use my products and services
...but of course I know that's not enough, what would you recommend I do next?
- Create a YouTube? video of me delivering my fundamental value proposition? (...obviously I'll do a slightly different one for each market segment I serve.)
- Implement and moderate a wiki for use by the VPs of X in my territory so they can ask questions, share insights, help one another get smarter and convince each other just how valuable I really am to them?
- Write an e-book that clearly demonstrates my superior expertise and knowledge to all buyers of my products and services?
If you're thinking any of the following: not my responsibility, not my job, not my skill set, not what I want to do, not what I have the knowledge to do, not what I'm smart enough or intend to learn to do, not needed to compete in my industry or this article is such a load of hooey; I sure hope you're my competitor.
All, or at least a significant portion of the above, is what it's going to take to just be in the game. You're not going to get a meeting at the C-level without a solid, credible online reputation. Somebody that has done a significant portion of the above - some "order-taker" - is going to take that order from you.
Think about it..
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