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I love getting emails. Well, I get so many that I can’t keep up. BUT I love to see how competitors, vendors, clients, and other B2B firms are messaging their offerings and solutions. I attended the #forrb2bsummit last week, and I’ve been BOMBARDED with emails!

I’ve noticed that we really lack any sort of imagination in emails – I got so many from different vendors with similar subject lines and top-level messages. It all just becomes noise – very disappointing. Let them say what they want, but it’s not being heard!

Let this song by the Cars knock you around as we hear what the experts are saying this week.

Let the Stories Be Told

Not surprisingly, the role of Generative AI was prominent at the Forrester B2B Summit last week. Some key takeaways from the various keynotes:

• Don’t wait to implement your Generative AI strategy. If you don’t have one, then develop one. “You might not be interested in Generative AI, but Generative AI is interested in you.”
• Why is now any different? Big tech change is difficult to predict and typically arrives in ‘thunderstorms’. What triggers that change? A substantial shift in the user interface evolves access to the technology, making it available to a significantly wider set of the population. That’s what just happened.
• SEO in its current form will be obsolete. Why drive people to a website when Generative AI can simply tell you the answer?
• Websites in their current form – also obsolete. The future website is a large language model, made available to Generative AI. Rather than a dump of marketing information on a set of pages, data is simply made available and AI can sort through it.
• B2B sellers are MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER. As more of the buying process becomes digital, human interaction and sellers will be integral. These sellers are ‘fast’ relationship generators. When AI can tell you so much, the differentiator becomes associated with how fast the seller can build a solid relationship.

What do you think? Things are getting more automated and more decisions can be driven through AI, so it’s good practice to let AI be on your side. But at the same time, the relationship matters more than ever – so don’t let it suffer!

Let the Good Times Roll

It’s been 45 years since the Cars released their first album. Wow. I remember playing that album over and over in my parents’ basement – my brother or sister bought it, but I wore it out! At the time, these guys were groundbreaking – they always embraced the latest technology and equipment… even if they knew it would be obsolete in two months!

As a guitar player and tech nerd, I tend to get a little too excited about gear. Do you know anyone that’s similar? A musician that has more gear than they know what to do with? Perhaps they suffer from Gear Acquisition Syndrome!

It’s a tongue-in-cheek ailment, but the behaviour is real! The trigger stems from a deep-seated emotional connection coupled with the satisfaction received from the pursuit of the instrument at hand.

For me, it’s a connection with Gibson Les Pauls, since I was obsessed with Led Zeppelin when I was learning how to play rock guitar. Seeing those guitars takes me back to that precise moment in time when I first heard Zep.

B2B impact? How can you get your customers to have that same emotional connection with YOUR brand? Consider those innovators and early adopters – the ones that HAVE to have the coolest and newest technology. Don’t let them leave you up in the air – foster those relationships and cross the chasm into the early majority!

As always, don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or just say hello!

Looking forward,
Rick

Rick Endrulat, President | ricke@v-causeway.com | www.linkedin.com/in/rickendrulat

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