Target audience not listening? Try listening to them first.
We create laser-focused brand identity, positioning, differentiators, value proposition, messaging and go-to-market strategies by first uncovering your customers’ Elevator Rant. The Elevator Rant is what your target audience is really thinking, wishing for or complaining about on the proverbial (or literal) elevator when you’re not around. Learning these rants yields fresh insights to help create new competitive advantages and make your marketing and sales more effective.
THE PROBLEM
“B2B marketers are talking past their customers, focusing on themes that aren’t relevant.”
“Tech marketers invest in areas that IT buyers don’t consider important in the decision process.”
“B2B vendors focus on providing material that buyers don’t find very useful or trustworthy.”
Stop assuming or guessing what’s important to your target audience
Start asking them the right questions. That’s the key to making your marketing and sales more relevant and effective.
>> Click to see what happens when you listen to the customer. <<
What’s your rant?
“We look and sound too much like others in our space.”
“We don’t have a clear positioning.”
“Our messaging and value prop don’t resonate, so our marketing and sales results are weak.”
“We focus too much on features and benefits.”
“We lose deals we should be winning. And too often we lose on price.”
How do we help?
Isolate differentiators that truly matter to your target audience.
Understand how they buy.
Create a hyper-relevant positioning and messaging “playbook.”
Recommend the right investments based on your goals.
Ensure the strategy is well-executed across all channels and initiatives.
The ROI on listening to your customers
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Formulating the Story Using the Customer as the Reference Point
“We worked with Bob at a very important time when we needed to narrate our story and distill our business model in a way that could resonate with investors and others outside the company. He is relentless, in a positive way, about using a customer as the reference point (‘what would the customer think?’). This really rooted us with the audience and prevented us from sounding like we were talking to ourselves.”
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Pinpointing the Value Proposition of Data Integration Software
“Great results came from our deep engagement using Bob’s ‘customer listening’ approach, because it got right to the heart of the true value of our product–from the customer perspective–beyond fuzzy platitudes. What was cool was the actionable insight–sometimes cold reality–that helped us shape our precious investment into the software platform. In addition, the independent view of hearing our customers’ perspective versus our own was both confirming and challenging to common wisdom.”Read the entire story here.
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The Big Pivot: Switch to Single-Purpose Cloud Optimizer App Wins Customers and Funding
“The bottom line is that the insights Bob uncovered were instrumental in helping us understand what customers really needed today. The resulting pivot to ParkMyCloud has turned out to be a great bet.”Read the entire story here.
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Creating a “Scalable” Brand Identity and Mission
“We regularly refer back to Bob’s work, particularly the insights he extracted from his one-on-one interviews with our clients and other decision-makers. Those discussions revealed real-world pain points and needs—in the customers’ language, not marketing-speak—that revealed a number of ‘rants’ that were previously unspoken and therefore unmet by others in our space. These insights became the basis of our new strategy.”
Read the entire story here.
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Marketing with a capital “M”
“I’ve engaged Bob as a marketing consultant and advisor on several business opportunities over the last several years and found his expertise to be very valuable in terms of understanding how to evaluate market opportunities and structure a pragmatic go-to-market approach. While a creative executive and resourceful problem-solver, Bob understands that success comes from sales/marketing alignment and execution moreso than having a clever tagline. Bottom line, he applies business savvy and experience to make marketing a good investment rather than simply a series of activities that may or may not have the desired result.”
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This Inc. 5000 CEO Did Something Shocking to “Decommoditize” His Business. He Listened
“Bob used this amazing concept he calls ‘discovering the customers’ Elevator Rant.’ Now we see our prospects’ eyebrows jump off their head, and they say, ‘Why doesn’t our provider do this?'”
Watch the video here.
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You Can’t Just Say “Smaller is Better,” You Have to Show How
“Bob asked (customers and prospects) a number of probing questions we wouldn’t have thought to ask,” said Pat Friel. “Like ‘What annoys you most about working with search firms?’ What’s the best and worst experience you’ve had on a search?’ and ‘How can you predict how much attention your search will receive before you choose the firm?’”Read the entire story here.
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Clarifying and Prioritizing Go-to-Market Strategy for Training & Certification Firm
“In meeting with Bob for just an hour or so, I got precious new clarity on our go-to-market strategy and priorities—something I’d been wrestling with for two years (with multiple marketing resources). He’s the opposite of the old expression, ‘If all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.’ By contrast, Bob’s deep expertise and insights across various marketing disciplines is incredibly refreshing and valuable.”
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Repositioning of Specialized Hosting Provider Leads to Acquisition
“A year later we remain convinced we made the right choice with London, Ink. Bob’s ‘outsourced CMO’ model plus full-service capabilities, is the right combination for a growth-stage company like ServerVault.”Read the entire story here.
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Seeing the Marketing Forest Through the Sales Weeds Uncovers New Sales Opportunities
“I give a significant amount of the credit for our newly energized marketing and business development approach and our overall business trajectory to Bob’s efforts. I’m letting you know this in case you are in a similar situation where you need senior-level marketing expertise and horsepower but don’t have the resources for a full-time executive.”
Read the entire story here.
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NAFCU Services: Strategic Plans Boost Success of Association Affinity Partners
“The feedback from every Partner, as well as my assessment of the effort, was outstanding and led to tangible results, including the partners’ satisfaction with their NAFCU partnership.”
Read the entire story here.
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Go-to-Market Positioning & Value Proposition for SaaS Product
“We got actionable customer insights tied to great creative concepts.”Watch the video.
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Strategic Repositioning & Rebranding for Teleradiology Company
“You rarely find this combination of strategy and creativity in one resource.”
Bob London talks about the importance of knowing your customers’ Elevator Rant–and how to discover it.
Why do most elevator pitches, and most marketing for that matter, sound like white noise–stiff, generic and totally irrelevant? Because it doesn’t reflect what your customers and prospects are really thinking and what they actually need–from their perspective not yours. In their real-world language, not marketing speak.
The Elevator Rant is what real people say on the proverbial (and sometimes literal) elevator before or after they engage with you. And discovering their “rant” is the key to differentiating your business, being more relevant than your competitors and creating marketing that actually moves the needle.
>> Book Bob to deliver a high-energy dose of customer perspective to your audience of executives, business leaders or employees. <<
Let’s chat.
Start seeing what the world looks like from the customers’ perspective with a complimentary Elevator Rant diagnosis.
Recent Rants
E-Book: 8 Customer Rants Every B2B CEO Needs to Read Today (No email registration required!)
- August 23, 2018
- Bob London
- Insights
Want to know your target audience’s “truth”? Can you handle it? These real-world, unfiltered perspectives will open your eyes—and open up...
And now, a message from your customers. (OK, 9 messages)
- May 31, 2018
- Bob London
- Insights
We all spend a lot of time–much of it in grueling brainstorming sessions–debating, honing and delivering OUR messages. From our perspective....
WORKSHOP – Agenda-Less Listening: How to Discover & Leverage What Your Target Audience Really Thinks
- May 10, 2018
- Bob London
- Insights
I had a wonderful experience doing a talk/workshop with a group of CEOs, courtesy of Lee Self’s Renaissance Executive Forum. We...