The Man In The Chair

Exercise prospects have a clue who your visitor actually is?

mcgraw-hill-ad Over 55 years ago, specifically in 1958, a powerhouse publishing arrangement, McGraw-Loma, ran an ad in their magazines that became known equally the "Man in the Chair" ad and y'all've probably come across it because it'south become iconic. The advertisement showed a stern faced, balding, middle-aged executive wearing a bowtie and a brown accommodate, sitting in an office chair, hands clasped together and looking attentively at the reader as if the reader was a salesperson. To the left of his picture were a list of 7 very direct "I Don't Know" assertions, followed by even more pointed question:

I don't know who you are.

I don't know your company.

I don't know your company's production.

I don't know what your company stands for.

I don't know your company's customers.

I don't know your company'south record.

I don't know company's reputation.

Now—what was it you lot wanted to sell me?

I remember it would be safe to say that the importance of beingness able to addressed these questions are equally important today every bit they were 1958. Crazy how things don't change. These questions are timeless not only for B2B marketing, just all types of marketing and for all individuals responsible for communicating on behalf of their respective organizations. And one could probably argue that in today's digital and social media world, it's maybe even more powerful. (Click on the video at the bottom to see what I hateful.) Information technology remains a clear outline of fundamental sales and marketing questions every system must exist able to answer. How your people and marketing efforts accost these 7 "I don't know'south" might very well determine if you become the new business…or not.

I don't know who you lot are

When was the final time you made a major purchase without knowing anything nigh the company? Yeah, me too. Every auction requires a knowledge base or understanding with the brand or a person prior to a sales taking identify. Now, however, salespeople spend less time on common cold-calling, so that familiarity has to come from somewhere else. What is that "somewhere else" for your system?

I don't know your company

B2B buyer behavior has changed a lot… in even the past five years. The primary change is that if a buyer needed to get information on a certain solution, they needed to go to the vendor. Now the heir-apparent has lots of sources of information. In fact, the heir-apparent probably doesn't desire to talk to the vendor because they're the to the lowest degree credible source of data. And so the buyer goes around and does all their research…without talking to a vendor as long as possible. Sales opportunities for a visitor may die depending on how easy information technology is for the buyer to find your info and say, "I've heard of you." And so the implication is that if you lot exercise any B2B marketing, you're going to have to produce stuff or give them reasons to interact with you. And the only way you tin can practice that is by producing really astonishing, useful, relevant content that a prospect is happy to appoint with, happy to swallow and happy to share. How strong is your presence in the digital and social media space?

I don't know your company's product

Personal selling is still an important part of having people know something near you, but non in the fashion it used to be. Word-of-mouth was always of import, and it's 10 times easier to get word-of-mouth communication today as a outcome of the all the online resources bachelor. People want the information right away, and if it'south not available or where they retrieve it should be, they'll look somewhere else, and you lot won't even know that they looked. Another prospective sale — which could have led to numerous repeat sales — goes to a competitor. Your making sure that product features and benefits are clearly known beforehand will exist the difference betwixt speaking to a prospect or not.

I don't know what your company stands for

Whether you call it a USP or value proposition, without it, without a proficient one, you're expressionless! If you tin't very apace draw what makes y'all, your service or your visitor truly special in the eyes of the client, don't expect your client to do information technology for you. By default, they'll just put you lot on the shelf called "commodity," and there you'll stay. To have a lasting, assisting business with some other business organisation, building both brand awareness and credibility is job-one in B2B marketing. Later all, it is much easier to open doors when the potential customer inside knows who you are, what you're about and why you lot might be a ameliorate alternative than the next guy who knocks on the door.

I don't know your company's customers

In the past, referrals were personal, or references were checked personally. A Google search can observe referrals quickly, specially the ones than you'd prefer not be found. In today'south globe, the majority of prospective customers, both B2B and B2C, spend time researching online or through social media before they purchase. They depend more than than ever on word-of-oral cavity references from people who accept used those brands or products – whether those references are in the form of bearding reviews or customer testimonials. Think Angie'south List, Buzzillions or Yelp. In fact, according to a the marketing group, ODM, about ninety% of consumers trust the give-and-take of people they know and seventy% of consumers trust the discussion of peoplethey don't know. Simply look at how we store online: one of the starting time things we do is check the customer rating number on the production. And and then we typically read the bodily client reviews to see why someone gave that product 1 star and why others gave the aforementioned product 5.

I don't know your company's record

Letting prospects know your company's track record is easier today than it used to be. There are channels upon channels – from your website to social media to e-newsletters and electronic mail blasts to printing releases – that can be used to ensure that the bulletin is delivered in a consequent style. Buyers want to take some comfort in knowing that you lot're a visitor with a tape of accomplishment and innovation, a company that has won awards for products or service or functioning, an organization that'due south been effectually for a while, i who isn't caught upwardly in multiple lawsuits, etc.

I Don't Know Your Company's Reputation.

We're talking near your visitor's standing…status…character. Things that boil down to "tin they trust you?" Will people discover out that you practice what y'all say yous'll do? Act with integrity? Do you come across every bit thought leaders in the manufacture? Is the company aligned with other organizations that have skillful reputations? You get the idea. Buyers cast verdicts on reputation with their pocketbooks, withholding business concern from companies they believe are ethically deficient and rewarding those with skilful reputations. And, information technology doesn't take long for judgments to spread. Will prospects run into a company that values its customers or a visitor that people have no problem calling out in social media?

Now, What Was Information technology You Wanted To Sell Me?

The original "Man in the Chair" advert was published long before Twitter, blogs, give-and-take boards, web 2.0, etc. We're in a new era. We're all learning new ways to connect with prospects. Just as things await like they have changed in the ways that we engage, inform and get known to our markets, the basic message behind the ad is just as relevant today as it ever was. Beingness visible to our prospects and winning credibility in word and deed is still disquisitional. Today it takes new ways of thinking and new ways of engaging in our markets and conversations also as reframing some of the onetime ways that we went about information technology before.

As we know, sales start earlier a salesperson makes contact. Times modify, markets alter, technologies and approaches change…but marketing fundamentals and homo nature don't. What would exist said if the next sales chat your company had, over the telephone or even in person, was with the "the man in the chair?"

Click on the video and see a comparing of the original "Man in the Chair" with how that would play out in a modernized version for today's world.

[youtube https://world wide web.youtube.com/watch?five=9Y3DDqmGizc]

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Rolf Gutknecht is vice president, director of account services for LA ads. To discuss your thoughts with Rolf on this blog or any marketing matters, e-mail via this link, or visit www.LAadsMarketing.com. Yous can besides connect with Rolf on LinkedIn.