Okay, you’ve built a foundation of relevance, credibility & evidence! What next?

Communicate! Keep talking to your customers! Make sure you’re not talking at your customers - but try to engage in dialogue. Keep them interested. In this context mass communication is dead. To win, you need to focus on the person.

Here are three tried and tested communications tools to help you cut through the noise:

Pick up the phone
email, call …It may take six to ten separate contacts before action is taken. Don’t make a nuisance of yourself - however polite and friendly persistence pays off. But, it is about knowing your customer - knowing what they like and don’t like. If you do this - make sure what you do adds value to them. It won’t work if you only call for personal gain. 

Get good at sending letters
send a card, a letter, a newspaper clipping, an article, a book, a bar of chocolate … whatever it takes - but make sure its relevant - and focuses on stuff that’s important to them - not you.

Direct mail isn’t just for the marketing department. People still love to receive letters - and the more personalised the letter is the better. Mass letters are a huge turn-off (on the whole). They go in the bin - quickly. But letters that are relevant and written for one person in mind - are kept.

Write a good letter - and it will be treasured.

Nothing beats face-to-face
At the end of the day, we all do business with people. Usually people we like working with. I certainly do. With web, email, social networks - and so many things to focus on - there is still no better way of doing business in the B2B world - than face-to-face.

Above all, add value
In all of this you need to make sure your conversations are relevant - and make sure your customer gets value out of the contact - else they may dismiss future “relevant” communications.

It’s a fine line, but before you pick up the phone, send and email, ask for a meeting - make sure it will be a positive experience for your customer.