Attracting Prospects vs. Pushing Them

Two phrases that caught my attention over the past 10 years:

Magnetic Marketing
Marketing Gravity

Both speak about marketing – but if you’re in sales, don’t think this is something for your marketing group – it’s not (at least not exclusively). Finding new prospects is marketing – whether you’re in sales or marketing. Once a suspect is interested, you can begin the sales cycle.

Cold Calling = Hard Forced Labor

Sometimes I hear a sales person say, “I like cold calling.” Usually it’s in an interview for a sales position and I don’t believe them. How can someone like calling people who don’t answer, leaving vmails – never to be returned. And doing it tirelessly day after day with no results.

Both terms above come from authors who talk about the importance of attracting new customers rather than cold calling, begging, and pressuring people to do something. The idea of finding those you really can help, and finding a way to get a unique message in front of them (not an easy task), is appealing. If they can make the connection, suddenly there’s an attraction, or a gravity-like force, that pulls them your way.

I can think of several things I have invested in this year already that fall into that category…But I also know that people have tried to push me to buy things or give to causes that I am just not interested in. The latter is uncomfortable and irritating.

Unique Value, Targeting Specific People

Demonstrating unique value to a specific people group – a group of people that need what you have, takes some work. It doesn’t start with creating an email or making a phone call. You can’t even start by learning your company’s elevator pitch – it’s probably meaningless. You must start by looking at the people you are targeting – at whatever level you target. It might be IT people, data center managers, CISOs, or application developers…regardless, a study of their needs is the place to start.