Imagine my surprise when I spotted the following phrase in Marketing Powerhouse’s special report on Content Marketing and Outbound Classifieds, and I had to re-read it at least three times before I could read it again:

Your customers either don’t get or don’t care about your “unique selling proposition.” The customers know.

This, by the way, is a strategic error all B2B companies make when they want to have both higher sales revenue and higher profit margins. It’s like telling your sales team “as long as we sell enough SUVs to the General Motors’ business customers that we can make enough profits, we should make every car sales-value oriented and decide which SUVs to pursue.”

The customer already knows about you, even if you try to hide that.

Okay, I have some reservations about how you make use of information about customers that you’ve already handed over to them. Did you know, for example, that your customers would be so upset with you if they knew you were re-selling them their performance data, suggesting that they’re not high performers, and now actually lowering their value to you, that they would just leave you and go to somebody else. Even if your competitors don’t do that, it could send sales revenue plummeting.

I’m a little more positive about your subscribers in your Lead Generation programs. They actually care what you think. But they’re already knowing it.

Many B2B companies use some kind of direct marketing to increase lead flow. Of course, it’s still important to build your pipeline. But the subject is no longer “People are buying X products from us and not buying Y.” You need to get over this–people care very much if they think that you actually understand their needs, in terms of service, products, and style.

I bet the real difference is not how many people you’re sending a lead to, but how you use that person. Use him/her to generate a deeper relationship by training and helping that person learn about your company. That’s because someone who knows how to build a relationship with a company is not your average, disconnected lead, or an email lead. It’s a unique lead who truly understands your business and thinks about your organization in ways other lead sources can’t.