“What am I going to write about today?”

If you are the primary blogger dude at your company, no doubt, this is an issue you deal have to deal with …everyday. So where do you go to get ideas to write about that will be relevant to your readers?

A common and completely legitimate source for content is the Sales team. But, inevitably, you’ll have to filter through the Sales-speak to get the good stuff.

When I was a corporate marketing leader looking for customer and market insight (which is great content for today’s company blogger), I relied on an approach that was both enlightening and enriching:

The best way to get or see or feel or experience “content” from sales is on SALES CALLS. Listening and participating in a conversation with a sales rep AND a customer will give you significantly more dimension and context versus, say, a one on one conversation with a rep. It gives you the opportunity to ask direct questions of a customer. I always came away from these interactions with new product ideas, communication angles and more.

There are other similar opportunities within the company:

• Customer Service  - Go spend a couple of hours and listen in on customer calls.
• Technical Support –  Although more of a technical nature, you can still listen to calls and learn.
• Accounts Receivables – yes, collections! Why not? Getting paid is fundamental to the business and understanding why folks don’t pay can offer customer insight from a whole new perspective.

Where else? Any part of the company that has interaction with customers: Shipping, customer training, etc.

The key is you get a triangulated interaction (a customer, an employee, a specific topic) that will give you more perspective and content.

Thanks for reading my blog and please visit again.

Vincent out.