Water Marketing Recap | April 2024

Today, I am personal.

I want to be able to have coffee with my customers and not talk about our business relationship we have.

I've followed this rule ever since I started my own company. And it's a great rule because it's easy to apply and understand. Feel free to replace coffee with whatever you like.

Either you can talk to your counterpart, or you can't. This rule has become very clear to me again in the last few weeks. 

During the Global Water Summit in London, I took the opportunity to meet with Lorenzo Falzarano from Orb . He was one of my first clients and still is today.

Our meeting in London was not characterized by new contract negotiations, price discussions, or other things you would expect when you meet your client in person once a year. Instead, we sat for 3 hours in a church converted into a restaurant (btw: awesome location) and talked about the essential things in life — family, meaning & faith, friendship, etc. The conversation was highly lasting and further strengthened our "customer-supplier" relationship towards a friendly basis of trust, without the usual business blah-blah.

And isn't that what it's all about? To build relationships and create experiences?

I once went to WEX Global and ran with a group of like-minded people at 7 a.m. It was great, and the pictures on the beach were unique. Such an experience builds personal relationships. 

One of the participants was Frank Rogalla. A super-star in the water industry but not in my "bubble". Since then, we're always thrilled when we see each other again and talk about running. To this day, I don't really know what Frank does, and he doesn't know what I do either. Nevertheless, we had an experience and created a relationship that connects us to this day. 

Something like that can also carry a business relationship. Usually further than if such experiences had not taken place.

Because that's what counts, anyone who goes to an event like the GWS or WEX or now IFAT and to pitch their technology to as many people as possible will, in my view, have a more challenging time than others who are really interested in the people.

And that is also what social media is about: creating personal branding and transferring it to the real world. Nobody will be interested if you only talk about your product on Social Media. 

A trusting relationship starts online. 

Allow closeness, open up and show who you are. Be personal! Not to be mistaken with private. There is a significant difference. 

I was recently contacted via LinkedIn by a company who wanted to work with me. They wanted to do a small test project before we were allowed to do the bigger marketing things. This test project was so far below my budget that, from a purely economic point of view, it was absolute nonsense to do it. I did it anyway. And for one reason only. I thought the founder was just a cool guy, and I was sure that I could have a coffee with him and it wouldn't be boring.

Now that we've been working together for several weeks and fortunately on a reasonable budget again, my decision was absolutely right. I would even have two coffees with this founder and pay them with pleasure.

In principle, it's all about one thing. Can you spend time with your clients outside of business? If so, that makes many things much easier. 

Please show a real interest in the other person, and don't run around trying to get your technology into the water industry and forget the other person's name. We've seen it all before.

Longlasting business is the product of intense personal relationships.

Talk less and listen more. That's marketing! That's sales! It works online and offline.

Meet Me

Here is the next event where you can find me to talk business, strategy, and marketing:

IFAT, Munich - May 13-17 more info

See you soon?

Cheers Björn

Need more?

You can connect with me here on LinkedIn or check out the Interius Solutions webpage and book your call with me.