The importance of staying human when it comes to sales

This week I tuned into to VideoWeek’s The Future of Identity conference and heard Rishad Tobaccowala’s refreshing take on the usefulness of data in advertising. Essentially, he said that there’s an ocean of data out there and if you don’t know what’s useful to you then collecting it all is a waste of time.

He drew a funny comparison with having kids: they’re expensive, you won’t get the money back, they wear you out, and they take over your life. When thinking about kids as a life choice, the data really isn’t encouraging. But as a father to a wonderful new daughter this year, I know there is something much greater at play that makes me very happy – and makes me count myself as extremely fortunate - to be in the position I’m in.

It’s that undefinable thing that made the crucial difference in my, and my wife’s, decision to have a baby.

When drawing a link between parenthood and advertising, Tobaccowala was demonstrating that buying decisions cannot be influenced via a database alone. There’s a human element at play, and it’s the quality of the connection that brands forge with an individual that often makes the real difference.

It’s the same principle with B2B sales as well. I’m having a lot of conversations with vendors at the moment about driving new sales leads in the absence of many of their usual tactics. They don’t simply need a list of names - they need a pipeline of meaningful conversations. And that’s where the quality of the content that customers first connect with makes a real difference: it influences the perception of the company and the people they’re talking to.

It’s that human element that really drives sales.

You can read more about Platform’s approach to lead generation in our latest guide, which you can download for free here - there’s no data collection form, just go ahead and read it, then let me know if you’d like to find out more.