Everybody loves Pie. And everybody loves a good story we can learn from, so here is my Pie & Learn story. The other day I was working at my home office and was caught by surprise, the doorbell rang. It was my neighbour. The day before I brought her some Plums and she woke up 8 o’clock in the he morning to bake. There she was with a delicious piece of homemade Pie.

Actually the timing was impeccable, because I was about to have a coffee and that Piece looked like it would go perfectly with it. I definitely enjoyed to eat it (right away). Even more efficient, I put the cake on a dish of my own, So she wouldn’t miss her own Tupperware dish. Big mistake.

But first, before I continue: Thanks Annemieke, it was the best coffee break of the week, possibly the month.

But as I walked to my office and sat back behind my computer something dawned on me – It is better not to give the dish back directly.

Bringing the dish back later would have been more appreciative. And also a great excuse to thank her, tell her how much I enjoyed it and talk more about delicious Pie’s, etc. I probably would have thought of something extra to give her back. Meanwhile having the Tupperware dish on the kitchen counter would have reminded me of that delicious Pie. (now I am writing a blog about it instead, but who does that).

Companies make the same mistake all the time.

Companies give out Pie’s all the time; mostly not literally (although I do get a couple of them per year). A pie might be a bottle of wine, but more often it is in the form of content on a blog, whitepapers, free advice at a conference, maybe a free trial or sample of your product. You give something and made sure it was delicious.

But these companies aren’t your neighbour, you don’t see them every day. The biggest mistake companies make is they forget to add something lasting. They give their Pie on a carton plate or wrapped in tin-foil. And they think that a good inbound marketing strategy is to keep on baking new Pies every week, without wondering what it does.

Incorporate a mechanism that makes it inevitable to have a follow up, or make a lasting impression and for customers or relations to easily / casually get in touch when they would have wanted to talk to you anyway.

How are you giving Pie’s?

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