Magnus Marketing Blog

I had spoken with a client last week who informed me in a very serious tone that they were speaking with a prospect, a mid-market CIO and asked his advice. One thing he told them was that mid-market CIO's do not respond to emails and phone calls, particularly phone calls from people they don't know. They rely on their own internal network (which apparently you have to break into). She said, no matter how good you are - like you Rachel, it is impossible to sell to these people. A little extra info is that these CIO's are part of the Gartner Group club. My client now wants to stay with shows more than any outbound since that gets faster results.

A couple thoughts went through my mind here (aside from concerns about losing the client):
1. The Gartner Club probably represents 1% of the million or so midmarket companies out there, which means that while you get a few who have a need and visibility - then what of the others who have a need that are not being reached?
2. If the CIO's are are the bell weathers of innovation aren't interested in innovation then what does this say for the economic growth? If the CIO's stay within their network of peers only, how are they promoting competitive advantage for companies through technological innovation or application? They are using the same stuff, by the same people, in the same way? Wow, that's as bad as the marketing people who use the same agencies and tools? Boring.

I also had found a posting from a CIO who wanted to create a do not call list which had a rah-rah agreement from peers.

Then I realized, who cares? The CIO is going the way of prospecting people - walking dead, right? I mean with SAAS and IAAS and all the "as a service offerings" no one really needs a CIO - particularly a mid-market CIO. Consider that most applications will be hosted by "GOOGLE" type companies, so all you need is someone to maintain physical infrastructure. As a salesperson, I don't want to talk with or need to talk to the CIO - they wouldn't know the feature/benefit/need of a SAAS solution for a marketer, accountant, or finance person right? I don't need to call them or need their approval or advice on technology implementation.

So, I guess the CIO's can retain their club and set up the do not call list. No one cares to call on them much anymore anyway (unless it is a pure technology solution).