The Rules of Engagement

Last week I spent a thoroughly enjoyable couple of days speaking at ‘Sage World 2010’, a conference run by the business software company Sage. I spoke both at the beginning of the first day of the event and at the very end of the last, so was involved throughout. And I had a wonderful time.

What made Sage World so outstanding for me was the atmosphere. It was one where the staff, the speakers and the delegates all shared a positive spirit and a sense of community.

When an event of this nature is put on by a large company specifically for a ‘target’ audience the risk is that they will use the opportunity to sell at every turn. While Sage naturally had a highly visible presence across the event, the attitude seemed to be one of educating and supporting, rather than selling. The majority of delegates were existing customers rather than prospects and Sage Staff made up the bulk of the event ‘crew’, simply focusing on making sure everything ran smoothly rather than thrusting any corporate message down delegates’ collective throats.

In fact, possibly the biggest compliment I could pay is that if you didn’t know otherwise, you could have assumed that many of the event crew ran events full time.

I was also impressed at how many of the senior members of the Sage team got involved and played their part in making the Conference run smoothly. There was a strong sense of team spirit and focus, with everyone equally involved.

Sage’s approach last week was one that so many other larger businesses should take notice of; an approach that embraced what I believe is the new form of marketing.  Rather than simply trying to sell, they sought to engage with their customers and support their needs.

At a meeting with another large organisation after the conference I was asked for my thoughts on the concept of ‘A Random Act of Kindness’; the value of giving something without necessarily expecting something direct in return. After a moment’s hesitation I simply outlined the power of Sage’s approach and the response from their customers who I met at the event.

It is so easy for companies dealing with small business to become a faceless corporation to the masses they serve. And I am sure that, like any organisation of this size, there are those who will have their ‘war stories’ describing issues with Sage.

However, the more they do to engage directly with their customers in this way, the more the positive stories can outweigh any negative. In my closing talk I explained how, left to their own devices, people will be far more likely to spread bad news than good. After all, if you only meet people’s expectations they have no story to tell. Fall below them and they will want to tell everyone.

You have to substantially exceed expectations to generate positive word of mouth. Such ‘random acts of kindness’ as putting on a free event of this nature for your customers and bringing together industry leaders and business experts to speak for them creates such a buzz. But it can only do so if you embrace such a venture with the positivity and openness displayed last week.

I say that this is a ‘new form of marketing’ and it contrasted starkly with the actions of one of Sage’s competitors. It was this contrast that prompted me to write this blog.

This competitor saw what Sage were doing and decided to embark on some guerrilla marketing to try to hijack the event. They parked advertising trucks outside the venue with negative slogans and they tried to hijack the Twitter conversation by promoting their own message and adding the Sage World hashtag.

Their approach was both crass and clumsy. Their staff even blogged and tweeted in praise of their own “brilliant marketing”, overlooking the fact that using their company name in every Twitter profile made their tweets look anything but objective.

If Sage had simply tried to sell to the people who attended, if their staff hadn’t positively engaged with everyone there, perhaps such a campaign would have enjoyed some success. In the circumstances, however, it was impossible for their competitor to be heard above the positive comments from attendees on the Twitter stream and elsewhere.

If you have enjoyed the company of Sage staff and found the event they have put on for you valuable, would you really be distracted by an advertising van outside for a competing product?

Ironically, I later found out that the product the competitor was promoting was targeting a completely different audience to the one attending Sage World. So not only was their approach negative, their research was seriously lacking.

Twenty-first century marketing is about engagement and attraction, not negativity and destruction. It is about listening, not broadcasting. It is about letting people buy from you rather than selling as much as you can.

This approach of putting a free event on for customers and prospects isn’t unique, nor is the enthusiasm of the team involved. Other companies put on similar events, albeit often locally rather than nationally and not always on such an ambitious scale. I am sure we’ll see more to come. It is imperative that the attitude at such events should always be one of engagement, not selling; seeing customers as colleagues, not targets.

In the meantime, I hope that their competitor’s efforts get their just reward too, and that they recognise that there is a different, more positive and more enjoyable way to win new business.