When Words Speak Louder Than Actions

The wise old saying that what you do is more important than what you say has a lot going for it, but it is not absolute. Let's say, for example, that a service person, technician A, drops by to fix your internet connection. Suppose the problem gets fixed right away, but technician A is not friendly, and doesn't take the trouble to inform you that you have to reboot your router. You get things working eventually, but when the customer sat people call you for feedback, you're not feeling very magnanimous.

Now, suppose the company had sent technician B instead. Technician B is friendly, explains all about having to reboot the router, but unfortunately screws up the job, leaving you down for another day, and has to come back to get it right. When all's said and done, and the customer sat people call, it is very likely that you will give Technician B a higher rating the Technician A.

Words were more important than actions here. A narrow focus on the hard features of their products and services precludes the kind of relationship building that can make the difference between a satisfied customer and one who heads for the door. Customers need to know how to manage their side of the modem, and they're looking for help.

The Most Efficient Way to Build a Sales Pipeline

In the B2B world, sales pipelines don't come cheap. Trade shows, telemarketing, cold calling and special events all cost a bundle. The cost of inaction is even higher, because this means you have expensive salespeople idle.

The cost factor may what gets people to jump on the internet marketing / social media bandwagon. When you look at the cost of publishing today compared to, say, 20 years ago, it has dropped by over 90%. And as Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel observed in his book "Only the Paranoid Survive", when a change occurs in the marketplace that involves a factor of 10, things will happen.

Publishing a blog or newsletter costs much less now than other marketing options. Furthermore, it is highly efficient - the only cost is what is spent on the content itself. Good content can be not only a good tactical tool, but a valuable asset that can be re-used in other forms. For example, a blog post by a company's Chief Technology Officer could be reused in:

• A customer training document.
• A PR piece for a trade magazine or other publication.
• A whitepaper or other discussion document.
• A product brochure.

What this boils down to is that content, in comparison with any other method of building and maintaining sales pipelines, can be a pretty good investment - perhaps even the one with the best return. It would be tough to do an ROI calculation on published information, but it would be interesting to set a benchmark like doubling your opt-in mailing list. If, for example, a software company were able to do this, how would it affect their overall pipeline? It probably wouldn't double it, but I'll bet the results would be pretty impressive.