At first, you’d think old-fashioned style of lead generation would get you closer to those who like doing other things the old-fashioned way too. Sadly, it could only be because attachment to nostalgia drives the decision to keep it all, instead of anything that’s really in a business’ best interest.
What are some of the annoying things you commonly hear about infomercials? They’re deceptive? Sales pitch-ey? Shamelessly promotional? Rigged even?
Well at the heart of all those offenses is the idea that they’re too focused on the product and less on the people who’ll be using them.
It just goes to show how central of role your customers have when you’re qualifying your B2B leads. It’s not just about how many people actually took the product in all its glorious face value. It’s about showing that they have the capacity to create that value for themselves.
Last week, images of the exploding Antares rocket made the news as officials are now looking into any possible cause for the catastrophe.
Oh but wait, unlike other space-mission malfunctions, this one didn’t come at the cost of human lives. What a relief eh? But you know, as much you should always be glad nobody was killed, the rocket’s development still cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Much like a lead generation campaign, the negative long-term effects of a major accident can still pose a very eminent threat to the people involved.
Normally, it’s always advisable to think the best of your customers. On the other hand, this shouldn’t be a reason to include the so-called ‘village idiots’ in your prospect organization.
Yes, it sounds rather obnoxious to suspect any potential client of being that stupid. But remember, sending the wrong prospect to a sales rep is more likely going to frustrate them. You don’t honestly think the village idiot is going to those qualifications now do you?
For the many in the IT industry, there’s not much appreciation for all that coding, testing, and debugging that takes up a professional’s work day. (That and Googling for the answer.) Everyone from the CEO down to the customer is more interested in the bells, whistles, and digital buttons (after which they’ll likely complain about something as if it were on cue).
But you know, there’s really a lot of merit to understanding the non-techie-ness of customers, prospects, as well as your own higher-ups. It gives you a fresh perspective, one that could really be useful in your IT lead generation campaign.