You're sitting in a chair in the sky, so while you're up there appreciating it all, start a helpful conversation.

The whole point of the bit is the fact that we've become impatiently complacent take-for-granted magic-bullet-biting babies. One of my favorite lines is when he's taking about flying and how so many people don't appreciate how far we've come with global transportation.

Did you partake in the miracle of human flight? You're sitting in a chair in the sky. It's amazing.

Amazing indeed. Unfortunately we want our oompa loompas right now and it's multi-generational. I don't know how many HR Suppliers I've spoken with who send out one direct marketing campaign or one search-optimized press release with the expectation they will have throngs of buyers and media flocking like bugs to a porch light.

The bigger the number the better. Qualifying fit comes later. Five hundred unqualified Webinar registrants versus five highly qualified and motivated buyers. Which would you choose?

Now jump to the fact that with all the "now" technology we have today to help keep us organized and focused, the true average length of time we can focus on a project is 11 minutes before being interrupted. (Based on research referenced in The Myth of Multitasking, which I highly recommend.)

11 minutes.

I can't even get dressed by myself in 11 minutes much less spend any quality reviewing HR supplier pitches for a new [insert product and/or service here]. No wonder disruptive marketing doesn't work.

In marketing and sales, we're focused so much on the brand slamming and the product/service pitch, thinking that our messaging alone will convince our buyers to knock on the door and come on in for coffee and a contract.

But there are so many other factors involved on the buyer side - so many political, financial, switch and background tasking craziness, and other circumstantial factors - most of which we know nothing about and/or we never try to address.

Recently we were on a call with a supplier interested in our agency services, and I assumed based on how well it went, that the deal was in the bag.

The same bag that keeps getting kicked down the road, for no other reason other than they're still getting their ducks in row.

How many times have you heard that? What the heck is going on?

I just ordered Dirty Little Secrets where the author deals with the fact that:

One of the problems we're having selling now is not about a buyer's need, or our solution: it's the internal, behind-the-scenes issues buyers are having difficulty managing internally. And these issues are now very politically motivated and economy-driven.

I look forward to reading it, but in the meantime what can we do?

• Continue best practices content marketing to help educate your buyers and build thought leadership, credibility and trust (white papers, webcasts, podcasts, etc.).
• Develop buyer and influencer relationships via social media by investing the time and staff needed to do so (read our eBook).
• Speaking of influencer relationships - start a business blog, identify those blogs you should be reading, and participate in your industry conversations. This is the new media you can no longer afford to ignore.
• Revisit HR trade shows to develop buyer and influencer relationships - the face-to-face interaction is critical and social media fuels this. The investments are big with sometimes little immediate return, but if you want to get what's going on, include these activities.
• I can't emphasize enough - focus on developing relationships with your buyers and influencers. Period. Get to know them.
• Send your prospects helpful resources like The Myth of Multitasking or other HR-business-related resources completely unrelated to your product pitch - help them help themselves.
• And lastly, ask your current customers why they bought and what were the "behind-the-scenes" issues they had to manage. They are your immediate champions - ask them.
• And just as important, courtesy of an invaluable comment from @loismelbourne co-founder of Aquire, It is also very valuable to ask questions of the people that didn't buy from you. If you treated them right during the buying process, they will often share their reasoning for choosing against you, or for making no decision at all.

You're sitting in a chair in the sky, so while you're up there appreciating it all, start a helpful conversation.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn)

Labels: content marketing, marketing and PR, multitasking, sales, social media marketing, trade shows