Episode Summary
Michael Wise says he’s selling a solution not a product, and this is essential to all aspects of marketing and the customer journey.
As Director of Marketing & Strategy at Intelligent Contacts, a company that provides innovative cloud contact center communication, billing, and payment software for the healthcare and financial services industries, Michael focuses on brand management, lead-generation and strategy development for a technology product that can be difficult for clients to understand.
So that’s why he tries to look at it from a different perspective, showing clients how to leverage their use of the latest in data management systems and machine learning to hook their own new clients.
“The big thing is solution selling. We’re not selling a product, we’re selling a solution, so all of our communication is based on: ‘Hey, remember that problem that we both kind of identified that seemed to trigger some emotion in you that you want to get fixed immediately? Is that still a problem? We did agree that was something our solutions could fix.’,” Michael says.
They try to look at these relationships more as partnerships, working alongside client companies to help them understand how to market their own products and services by showcasing the solutions Michael’s company offers.
“We’re saying not only will this help your business grow from today, but it’ll help you get new business because you’re now using the types of technology that are required to reel in the big fish.”
Guest Profiles
- Name: Michael Wise
- What he does: As Director of Marketing & Strategy at Intelligent Contacts, which provides innovative cloud contact center communication, billing, and payment software for the healthcare and financial services industries, Michael is responsible for brand management, lead-generation and developing go-to-market strategies as well as looking into integration partners and technology partnerships
- Company: Intelligent Contacts
- Noteworthy: “But all marketing is the same. It's person to person, at some level. It's just that, at least in business to business, you have to really nail your messaging to resonate with those decision makers because they're much more refined.”
Key Insights
- It’s a constant search for balance with the sales team, Michael says. He tries to pin down the desired outcome in order to build something that the whole sales team wants no matter what they are selling. This information has to be general but also flexible. The challenge is making it something that everyone can use and can help sales make pivots on the fly and quick content changes.
- In terms of thought leadership, the most effective method for Michael’s company has been webinars, which consist of learning series for niche industry memberships. Beyond information on the technology, Michael puts out his own expertise in marketing as thought leadership, teaching clients not only about his company’s products but also how they can market that technology to get more clients. In other words, it’s content that teaches them how to articulate the advantages of using data, machine learning and AI to get more business.
- With content, the key is answering the questions that his company’s clients are asking. Michael says they do this through consumer studies. These examine the issues of their clients’ clients, to get them to interact with their platform. Then they build content around how to answer those problems with very specific information.
Episode Highlights
- Own your (web) traffic
- Research-backed content
- From words to practice
- Content with meat (your have to do more than repurpose)
- Clearing doubts early on