We are Human!

Yes, you read the title correctly, "We are Human"!. At first you may wonder did he fall of the deep end finally or did he have a moment of clarity. Probably a combination of the two but the bottom line is this, in the B-B marketing world we tend to forget that we are marketing to people, just like you and I. Please excuse me for categories you with my, my sincerely apologize.

During my daily discover of scanning newsletters, articles, blog post ect., I came across this wonderful piece by one of my favorite companies called www.Oneupweb.com (more info here). In there blog piece that talked about this basic marketing principle which made me jump for joy that I am human. The business to business marketing article talked about who are the decision makers behind the businesses and it came back to humans (for the time being).

The article also discussed how businesses of all types must go where your customers are and interact with them. Cold calling percentage of winning business is as good as direct mail, usually a 1-2% closing rate. Not a very good closing rate for an activity that takes hours upon hours (research, pitch development, calling, not answering, leaving messages, writing notes, ect...).

I personally do not like unsolicited calls but will sometimes have fun with the person especially if they did not do their homework on me or business. Had one the other day in which I asked a few questions that they could not answer then I politely said not interested. From the caller I heard a huff of disgust and then a dial tone. Do you think that I will be doing business with that company? Quite the opposite which leads to authentic and transparent, both keywords from last year that will still be resonating this year because of the continued growth of online social networks and the ability for all humans to have a voice online.

So, please, be human, think human and market human because that is who we are behind those phones, computers, social networks and doors.