Triggering events are shifts in your prospects' business environment that necessitate change in the status quo. We all know that change is hard, so knowing what's driving specific needs for change is a boon for marketers and salespeople. Or, it should be. How well you integrate triggering events into your communication strategy will depend a lot on how on-target your assumptions are about your prospects' concerns. Mistaken assumptions can cause your prospects to utilize that delete button and ignore you if they think you just don't get it.For example, let's "assume" that a regulatory change has occurred that says your prospects have to change the way they process information. You decide that their biggest concern will be the level of difficulty in redefining their information handling processes. All your communications are focused on "information processing made easy."But, you're not seeing your prospects rush to engage with you. Why not?Maybe it's because the processing isn't the BIG issue. The hot button for them is the retraining issue. You missed the boat and your prospects have gone down the street to your competitor who's addressing the more relevant concern.So what do you do? Before you create communications to leverage a triggering event:Talk to existing customers and find out what they're thinking about this new change. Ask them both what worries them and what they see as a beneficial outcome once they've shifted to address that triggering event.Create a feedback (Q&A) guide for salespeople involved in new conversations and get a "facetime" read on related concerns.Look carefully at your personas and make some adjustments based on what you learn, if necessary.Make sure you're not using messaging for one industry segment across your entire database. Not unless you've verified the perspective is similar.Be careful that the vocabulary you're using is the same as how your prospects talk about the issue.Determine how influencers will be involved in evaluating how the trigger is addressed - and then match up your communications to influence everyone involved in the decision.You've worked hard to ensure your communications are relevant. Triggering events often mean you need to re-assess and not jump to assumption too fast, just because it seems logical. Since when has addressing problems (buying) been logical? It's a good rule of thumb to consider all the angles, not just the ones that make sense to you. Almost always, solving one problem will overlap another situation that then must be handled. Determining which issue has the highest "concern factor" will keep your communications focused and relevant.On top of that, once you've done this successfully, you'll have a template for how to effectively assimilate triggering events into your communications strategy in the future. Repeatable consistency is a good thing.
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