How brutal is market familiarity?

How brutal is market familiarity?

We recently worked with a company who had beein in business for over 100 years.   We were so excited to win the contract for so many reasons but predominantly as we dreamt about calling people who knew of our client!    Imagine our surprise when we started reaching out to their ideal prospects, not one of their potential buyers recognised their name; there was no familiarity in their market.  Just to reiterate they had been serving this market for generations – way before any of us were born. 

To complete the picture there was no social media activity an unloved website which had not been updated since before the Queen died,  google search was captured by their competitors, no local club pitch boards, no obvious allegiance with any local causes, minimal visibility at  business events and networking you get the picture.

Generations of customer service that touched 3 centuries; a huge story.  Zero recognition was their 2025 reality – heartbreaking.    That’s how brutal buyer familiarity really is.   You can’t assume the market knows you, even if you’ve been around for generations, you have to keep reintroducing yourself stay in the mind and on their radar and be an active citizen.   Whatever you do don’t let your familiarity disappear – make it part of your company culture to be outward facing and active in the community you wish to serve.

Make outreach part of your company culture and train your people to be outward facing. Measure it by number of meetings, calls, follow ups, visits  demos, networking, upsells, cross-sells, know and grade your pipeline of opportunities.  Dont let people off the hook – discuss this stuff as part of the weekly numbers you measure and start creating a proven process that works to deliver the outcomees you want. 

How do keep market familiarity and then stay on a prospects radar?

Whether a young or old company how do you get and stay front of mind?   For us its three months of hard graft turning  cold prospect data into a warm graded pipeline as we professionally pursue them to get to them to   that  “tell me more” milestone; they know who you are, they trust us enough to take our calls, they are starting to see that you might be able to help.  

Then we hand it over to you our expert client – what is your attitude to leads and how do you nurture them?  In so many times instead of taking the reins, someone fires off “we are over here if you need us” email  and wonders why nothing comes back.  If I had £1 for every time I hear that line when we ask how opportunities have progressed and we get the response…. “I sent an email”.

If that’s your follow-up, please read on (or even better call me!).

When someone recognises your name or answers your call without hesitation, you’ve broken through the noise.    However, buying takes confidence and confidence is built through connection and conversation not a “check-in” email. Pick up the phone, visit them, show that you’re serious about helping them solve something that matters.  Everywhere you look, outreach is automated and impersonal. The biggest edge you have but are not maximising is to be human so get of your a**e away from Ai and start engaging with the people you want to do business with.   People buy from people who make things make sense.

If you’re the one who helps them understand their problem why wouldn’t you get a shot at winning the sale?