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29 Mar 2010
I love what Chad and Linda Nelson from The Basis Group have to say about sales and thought leadership in their paper “Thought Leadership is the New Sales Pitch.” These guys absolutely get it. It is a must read for anyone in sales and marketing.In my all my research and writings on the topic I have come across only a handful of people who can articulate so succinctly the impact thought leadership has on selling a brand, product or service . Dana vandenHeuvel and David Meerman Scott are two others who spring to mind.
Consumers actively seek experts
Chad and Linda point out that consumers no longer passively accept marketing information. Instead, they actively seek experts who have answers or insights into their world and who through these insights help them manage better this world and the issues and challenges they face. Consumers today crave relationships and resources in the form of knowledge and insights and herein lies the opportunity for selling differently.
While traditional marketing is still the bread and butter of many sales efforts, as the Nelsons point out: “When you begin your marketing efforts by establishing trust and demonstrating thought leadership, you create a new more effective entry point for your brand message.”
Stop pushing products and services
Very true. But before this happens, companies need to unlearn current habits of pushing products and services down their customers’ throats. Instead they should start demonstrating their insights, knowledge and expertise in their sector and in particular the issues and challenges facing their consumers.
Underpinning this approach is thought leadership. There are many positive outcomes of thought leadership, I have a table illustrating these in an earlier blog post, but the ultimate outcome should always be that your customers seek you out because they trust you based on the knowledge and insights you have shared so openly with them.
Thought leadership builds trust which underpins sales
While thought leadership may not result in a quick sell, what it will do is truly cement your brand with your publics in a way that has a far deeper stickability factor. But this is what most marketers and salespeople have difficulty getting their heads around - thought leadership does not primarily drive sales. Rather it builds trust, takes your conversations with customers to another level so that when the time comes to present your offering they are so vested in your brand that the sale is as good as done.
As the Nelsons point out: ”you need to be out in your marketplace talking to people, learning what they know, discussing ideas, taking the pulse of the industry to see where it’s going, responding to concerns and expanding your understanding of what is needed. This is the best kind of leadership because it demonstrates your intimacy with your audience and your industry.”
While there is nothing new in this and the best sales people will tell you that the best selling is all about listening, the difference is how you interpret, articulate and then package and share your insights and information.
Thought leaders have an abundance mentality. They share openly and freely and understand that it is not first and foremost about the sale but rather it is first and foremost about being available and being generous with your knowledge.
Only this way will take your place at the head of your industry’s table. The sales will naturally follow.
6 Responses to “The sales pitch is dead”
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Craig, the main question I have about this perspective is how one monetizes thought leadership. It seems to me that the investment of time is so significant, that it could take literally years to pay off in new business.
Perhaps I’m too close to this issue (having launched Communication AMMO just a year ago, almost to the day), and winning business more through the quotidian business development efforts than by my brilliant insight shared.
I don’t doubt that one’s reputation enhances business development — hardly a new idea — but does such effort work better for existing firms than for new ones?
Sean
@commammo
And, btw, I shared some of my own frustrations in a post in January - http://bit.ly/acKydT.
Sean, having started two businesses of my own, one successful and the other not I know exactly where you are coming from. Thought leadership is a long-term investment and as a result should be part and parcel of your business strategy and vision. The more it can be part of who you are and what you stand for the better.
I have read your post at http://bit.ly/acKydT and nothing quite substitutes the good old telephone and face to face meetings. However, if you having something to share with these contacts other than selling them your service. If you have something of value that makes for an interesting conversation, that gets them to think about their challenges differently, you will have far more meaningful conversations with these prospects and they will be more interested in what you have to offer. So while it sounds like lots of effort, if you can identify a position, a view that is different you can start today on seeding this information with those prospects.
Put yourself in their shoes. Would you rather have a discussion with a supplier about their products and services or would you rather hear about some insights they have that inform a challenge you are facing in your business. Two very different conversations with two very different outcomes. While a conversation like this may not result in a sale right away, if it opens the lines of communications for further information sharing on these issues. This, over time builds trust, and when the opportunty comes you will be first in line.
Price almost always becomes a non-issue when you can effectively communicate how you’re going to help solve a client’s problem. Not just by selling them a product, but by communicating how this is going to improve their situation, increase their knowledge and effectiveness and the role you play in the process.
Being an “Education First” company if you will. If you can capture an audience, I think you can stand out in your niche very well in this way.
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I think you’ll gather from my previous posts Ricardo that I would agree wholeheartedly with you. By being an “Education First” company as you call it you build trust and there is nothing quite as powerful as a brand that has the trust of its publics - it makes selling so much easier.