The brief article, linked to below, is an interesting read regarding customer service, and includes this very valid statement, “There is only one customer, the one in front of you.” Click here to read the article.
Marketing vs. Engagement
I believe both nonprofits as well as for profits often confuse sales, marketing and engagement. Or even more challenging weight engagement last. The fact is, without engagement of donors, clients or customers your sales and marketing have far less impact. Social media absorbs so much of our time these days. One of the great draws of social media is it makes us feel engaged in both our own life and with others. It is easy, immediately gratifying and of little to no expense, monetarily to us. So that is your competition. Sectors, let’s take the food industry, see market share shrinking, even though we’ve never seen more choices on the shelves. Why? Because the donor, client or consumer doesn’t care if you’ve created tens of options. In fact it can be feel oppressive to decide when we are already overwhelmed with a lengthy to do list. It reminds us you are thinking of everybody, and we want to feel special. What we want is immediate gratification and to feel as if you are speaking to us as individuals. The day of mass marketing’s return on investment is coming to a close. If you can’t engage your target audience, making them feel as if you are talking only to them, or providing them with a special benefit, cost and/or return on their investment, quite frankly you are sunk.
Dealing With It
Yesterday I had a conversation with a sales manager at a company that is going through a lot of great changes. The conversation was about how to deal with change. Change is great, without it progress will lag if it exist at all, but change usually isn’t embraced. The dichotomy (and disaster) with change in business comes when we don’t like/embrace change, but also feel we have to pretend it is no big deal. Change is a big deal. Change helps us propel forward. Propel is defined as “drive, push, or cause to move” and let’s face it…”push” is usually the indicator in play. Being ‘pushed’ is not a comfortable thing for most people. It puts us in the position of feeling we have no control. It creates a dynamic which in turn has us focused on resistance rather than progress. Thus I repeat, change is a big deal. This is why having a way to cope is such a big player. Pretending you easily adapt because you don’t want to look weak is a recipe for disaster. Epic failure is always born out of the failure to touch base with who we are as individuals. Forging forward in fear combined with faith, with drive, preparation, like a woman on fire, etc., is great. Forging forward in fear and acting like it is not big deal…not so great. What is comes down to is this…when you forge forward showing you are maybe nervous/scared but driven and prepared you will have developed a layer of coping skills that engages others in your journey. What an excellent fit to go along on the ride with your other internal/external coping skills. When you march forward like it is the easiest thing in the world, and the world by nature knows it is not, you de-humanize yourself and disengage from your team. It is equivalent to telling everyone that you are better than them. And by the way, even if you are, exhibiting it will serve no one…not you, not them. All this is to say, as people we love to have someone to root for, and we’d love to root for you too! Will you let us?
Sales. Are You Prepared?
Two things have struck me in the past few days about sales. One, do not pursue sales aggressively until you are prepared. Two, sales is about the other guy not you. Sales equals growth which is great. However, growth prior to preparation and/or capacity is not so great. Depending on your size the not so great can be major or minor. I’ve recently been working on updating some materials. I know I am not at a place where I want mass expansion so building marketing list and finding a way to touch large numbers anticipating a response would not be good for me right now. It goes back to the classic, you only have one chance to make a good impression. Six months from now, totally different story. Know where you are. Know what you can handle. Know your timeline and capacity (or desire) for growth. Sales also equals giving your client/customer what they want. It is about making them comfortable. Sales is about engaging on a level that speaks to your customer, not to you. If you are involved in multiple markets this means having a base that you can morph to fit their needs. Again, their needs, not yours. There may be some play here, depending on your target market. If you are looking at attracting like-minded individuals, build your tools and pitch around you. If you are looking on going wider than that, give your tools a neutral feel and individualized message. Someone recently shared a pitch they gave. I was shocked. The pitch had nothing to do with the company they wanted to do business with. Not surprisingly, the account was not landed. Not many have time to sort through all that is ‘you’ to get to what you can do for them. Not many will.