The sooner you realize your business is the customers’ business, the better you and your organization will perform. If you don’t understand your customers’ strategic strengths and weaknesses, and believe in their competitive advantages, you may earn a few bucks here and there, but you won’t make a long-lasting difference. You’ll be just selling a job, not a relationship.

Focusing on solving customer strategic challenges naturally transforms a company from order taker to strategic partner. Brand representatives (i.e., salespeople) who can sell strategically will feel more empowered in their day-to-day business lives than before. Less available face-to-face time means companies need to quickly change their sales focus to strategic value and data.

Salespeople who rely on bagels, donuts and lunches have been feeling the pressure for years, but during the pandemic they were forced to change, literally overnight. As things open up, it’s important for companies to remember the best way to compete is through data and ideas, and to use face-to-face meetings to reinforce this point, not visa-versa.

Caution: Push-based advertising still makes up 36% of all spam content, but smart money says it will go down from there. The pandemic has accelerated the timetable for push marketing’s demise. Being housebound for so long has lowered many people’s tolerance for invasive advertising, and the junk button is being used more now than before.

Bottom line, the ability to create compelling content will be a skill very much in demand. This is different than a decade ago. Search engines are so good, and today’s buyers are so well trained to do their own research, that marketing’s #1 goal is now to create and execute a winning content creation and management strategy. If you properly research, write and place it, they will find it.

Providing information that aids customers in overcoming their strategic challenges is the key to effective content marketing as well as consultative selling. Keep your eye on the customer and listen to what they say. Provide the information and the support they are seeking. Success for all will result.

Contact your account executive at Think Patented for assistance in overcoming your strategic challenges. Call 937-353-2299.