From Person To Person…

True story…

I was working at an ad agency and was in an initial client meeting with a man that sold cleaning equipment to businesses. He was lamenting (naturally) that his business was slow and I asked him what kind of advertising/marketing he had done in the past.

He told me he had not done much (naturally). Imagine that, no business and no advertising/marketing. Go figure.

Anyway, we ended up getting the account and the first thing he wanted to create was a sales letter, something to send out to prospects. Me being the writer and all scribed such a letter, informing his prospects of all the fabulousness that awaits them if they patronize this particular company.

I emailed the initial draft of the letter to the client for review and his response back to me was something I have never, ever forgotten.

“Change the copy. It’s too personal. We are a B2B company, not B2C.”

My email back to the client went something like this…

“Thank you for your feedback. I understand completely you are a B2B company, however please remember that this letter is going to a person, meaning there’s a real, live person on the other end of the line, hence my “personal” tone in the letter.”

The client’s email back to me…

“I don’t care… change the copy. Don’t want any personal tone, language, etc…”

I made the changes as requested, we mailed the letter… it flopped like a fish, his business continued to flounder and the rest is history.

Of course I am simplifying things but you get my point.

This gentleman, and how many more like him(?), could not grasp the fact that there was a real human being on the other end of his sales pitch. In his mind, he was a B2B company and B2B companies don’t need to be personal or conversational…that was for the B2C folks.

The moral of course I don’t care what you are, B2Bm B2B, E=MC2, whatever… until actual businesses can speak for themselves — and who knows, Steve Jobs may just have an App for that, you have to remember there is ALWAYS  a person on the other end of the line.. with emotions, feelings, opinions and so on.

One person in particular who’s a hellluva smarter than me (not too hard to do mind you) once wrote…

“How many marketers are putting 2 and 2 together and recognizing that the most obvious and direct route to sales and profitability starts with conversations with individuals – who, at their core, love to converse - that lead to relationships that lead to advocacy?”

The person in question is Lisa Petrilli who blogs over at LisaPetrilli.com.  The aforementioned quote was in a recent post of hers entitled “Why You Must Rethink Your Marketing.”

I highly recommend reading her blog and check out this post in particular. She’s got some great feedback from more smart folks like Mack Collier and Tom Martin to name but a few.

Tags: b2b, b2c, Lisa Petrilli, Mack Collier, steve jobs, tom martin

3 Comments to From Person To Person…

1. 

   Very good point, Steve. And I think social media is showing many businesses (B2B or other) that a personal tone goes a long way. People want to interact with people. Not robots. (Well, unless they’re really cool robots).
Zack Kinslow on August 9th, 2010
2. 

   Steve,

   I’m so honored that you included my quote here! I really appreciate you reading my blog and being a highly participative part of the community – it means so much to me!

   All the very best,
   @LisaPetrilli
Lisa Petrilli on August 16th, 2010

3. [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Steve Woodruff, Lisa Petrilli. Lisa Petrilli said: From Person To Person…by @steveolenski – why being personal in business makes $ sense http://bit.ly/c3V7n5 [...]
Tweets that mention From Person To Person… | Going Postal -- Topsy.com on August 16th, 2010

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