Tag: sales

Reciprocity

FabrizioLeave a comment

Ideally, relationships are established in good times.

It is more challenging to do that when the crisis hits, when everyone is occupied saving their neck, when nobody knows what tomorrow will bring. There’s a sense of individualism that grows in dire times, preventing the reciprocity needed to build and cultivate relationships.

The only thing that can be done now then, in this moment of unprecedented unknowns, is forget about the reciprocity and just give. Is there anything you own that could be useful out there? Do you have anything to say that could lift the spirit of those most distressed? Is the message you have to deliver looking at a positive future, or is it dilating stress and urgency beyond the here and now?

Marketers should be careful out there these days, the risk in terms of reputation is really high.

The difference you make

FabrizioLeave a comment

Generosity and kindness work very well as a marketing tactic, particularly in times of uncertainty and discomfort.

If you have something valuable to share, do it. But value is not measured on your income statement, in this case more than ever. It is measured in the impact you have on those you serve, in the difference you make in their lives, in the ways you enhance their capacity to get past such difficult times.

If you have something valuable to share, do it. In all other cases, just continue business as usual. Leveraging the pandemic, covid-19, remote working, social distancing to sell a bunch of new subscriptions and products is not something we feel the need of.

The two options

FabrizioLeave a comment

Are you building thought leadership or are you looking for leads?

It might seem like it’s just a marketing question, but it is actually much more than that.

Are you establishing deep connections or are you greeting everybody and move on?

Are you here to make a change or to share your numbers?

Are you interested in telling a story or in surfacing shortcuts?

Are you creating or copy-pasting?

And the one that I personally prefer.

Are you for quality or quantity?

Certainly, the two can be simultaneously present. And yet, you can’t go all in on both. Eventually one will prevail, projecting your work in very different directions.

Also, the more you stick with one the more difficult it will be to move onto the other. But this is more true when the movement is from leads to thought leadership. So, the idea that “we are going to do quality work when X and Y will happen” is a mirage.

I bet you already knew that.

Take my data

FabrizioLeave a comment

You are more ok with the idea of paying taxes if you regularly benefit from tangible services your taxes contribute to cover.

The same is valid with data.

The problem with companies collecting information about us is not the collection per se.

It’s the secrecy of the operation, the impossibility to control what is collected and what not, and the fact that six months after buying a new car you are still getting ads with car offers.

“Have you already purchased a car?”

“Yes.”

“Ok, from now on you will stop seeing car offers while navigating the web. If you want to reactivate car offers in the future, you can do so by typing ‘activate car offers’.”

“Thanks, and feel free to take my data.”

Story and evidence

FabrizioLeave a comment

A downside of the amount of data and information we live with nowadays is the fact that one can cherry pick the metrics that better support their story of the day.

Story and evidence go hand in hand, and story-building is also about choosing what to measure and what to focus on. If tomorrow that has a negative trend, you can only defend the story by going out there and try to explain the reasons why it is so. When you present a different set of data, the story changes, inevitably.