Remove customer help

Chris Koch

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Why Can’t Companies Be More Like the Iroquois?

Chris Koch

Each tribe had its own language, customs, and culture. Women hold a strong place in Iroquois society, leading individual clans within tribes, helping determine chiefs, and holding veto power over treaties and declarations of war (the Iroquois declared war on Germany in both world wars). This has got to stop. Talk to the frontliners.

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I have seen the future of B2B marketing. It’s on Forbes.

Chris Koch

I’m especially fond of the effect it has on my colleagues in SAP marketing: they understand that they no longer need to pitch products to get the attention of customers and prospects. That’s because customers and prospects actually come to the Forbes site and read our stuff. What’s Wrong with BrandVoice. My Current Project.

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Want to understand your customers’ business needs? Give them an award.

Chris Koch

The winners get serious recognition for their work that helps their companies and their careers. If you haven’t considered creating an awards program for your target customers, you should. What is the customer need? Research provides the supporting evidence for a new insight into customer or market needs.

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Why salespeople should sell ideas: an FAQ

Chris Koch

They assume that salespeople can’t help them at that point. Every B2B company has subject matter experts (SMEs) who are working with customers to solve problems and have deep backgrounds in customers’ processes, industries, and functions. How do I get these ideas in a form I can use with customers?

FAQ 100
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How to get others to blog

Chris Koch

One of the biggest challenges for B2B social media marketers isn’t creating content, it’s helping others create content. And while marketers can create some social media content, they can (and should) rely on their subject matter experts (SMEs) to create most of the stuff that’s going to build trust and relationships with customers.

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Bring marketing into the account planning process

Chris Koch

Sure, salespeople know the accounts—they know what the customers have spent and what they are most likely to want next. They may also know what the customers’ major business issues are—if they know how to ask. Marketers could help with that problem. But there’s more that can be done.

Planning 100
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The five components of a successful thought leadership program

Chris Koch

Recently, I was asked by a former ITSMA client to help put together a plan for a thought leadership program for a B2B technology company that sells both products and services. Survey internal sales and marketing staff, customers, target markets, and influencers to determine what they are looking for.