YAs business professionals, we like to think that we’re in control of the work that we do and the results that we achieve. It’s certainly true that if we give it our best shot, we’re more likely to achieve the results that we’re working towards, but it’s also true that we’re not the ones who ultimately decide whether our company is successful.
Iconic businessman Sam Walton put it best when he said, “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” And this highlights a problem that many marketers and businessmen are quick to overlook.
Metrics and KPIs are great. After all, they help us to monitor our progress and to determine whether we’re on track or whether we need to make changes. But too often we spend so much time focusing on conversion rates that we forget that our customers are real people, and if that happens then they’ll quickly turn to a competitor.
Putting the customer first
Ultimately, it boils down to this. While the campaigns that we deploy are designed to capture leads – and while we can aim to then nurture those leads and to turn them into customers – we need to remember that it’s the customer who comes first. Ask not what your customer can do for you but what you can do for your customer.
Sometimes we create content for the sake of creating content. We write blog posts for search engines instead of for the people whose problems we’re trying to solve, and we run ads to push people towards ‘free’ downloads that actually come at the cost of their email address. Sometimes we can stand out by simply doing things because the customer will benefit – especially in a world in which we’re so obsessed by numbers.
Of course, it’s not always easy to get around this. You can start by examining your product or service itself and finding particular pain points to solve at no extra cost to the customer, such as by offering unlimited support. You can also approach your customers and ask them for their feedback in the form of a survey and then try to identify what they really, really want. Then give it to them – without necessarily worrying about how to generate leads or to generate a return on investment.
Conclusion
We think lead generation campaigns are fantastic. After all, that’s what we do. But it’s also important to remember that lead gen isn’t some magic bullet, but should rather act as a part of your overall strategy – not just when it comes to marketing but when it comes to the way you do business as a whole.
Need help with lead generation? We’ve got you covered. Request a demo of Bant.io today to find out how we can help your company to grow by sending hot B2B leads directly to your inbox. You won’t regret it.
Dane
Dane Cobain is a published author, freelance writer, book blogger, poet and (occasional) musician from High Wycombe, UK. Before going freelance, he worked as a social media marker, now specialising in writing about publishing, technology and marketing.