“But there’s no substitute for personal contact in the relationship space.”

I am a living case study, we invested in the latest and greatest technology; we developed content that educates and editorializes. We won prospects over by sharing research and content that adds value. Guess what, we tried it, it did not work. I went back to something I learned very early in my sales career, people buy from people.

When we trademarked “Optimizing People, Process and Technology,” I knew it was a three legged stool, but I failed to proactively engage with the client. People have to be part of the process. Someone has to engage the client, someone has to differentiate and articulate our unique value. Someone has to close the deal.

People expect great content, people expect a usable site, people want to be pitched on their terms with solutions that solve their business issues, that is the new norm.

What has not changed is that people buy from people.