Marketing The Invisible

By Tom PolandBusiness Education How To Marketing Management

Marketing The Invisible episodes

January 23, 2023How Being Successful in Any Endeavor All Comes Down to Mindset – In Just 7 Minutes with John Nieuwenburg
Discover how to free yourself from your business while still being IN the business
Learn why you should stop doing more of what you’re doing and get yourself out of the hamster wheel
Understand why systematizing your business is crucial to making your business, and even YOU, prosper
Resources/Links:
To get more advice on how to free yourself from your business, click here: w5coaching.com/freedom-eBook
Summary
Do you find yourself doing everything in your business that it’s hard for you to free yourself?
To have a successful business, it must survive without you in it. Humanize systems and systemize your business.
John Nieuwenburg is an award-winning Business Coach who has worked with hundreds of clients. John coaches in 3 primary areas– business, personal growth, and accountability.
In this episode, John shares his insights on how to continuously generate profits without the stress of being everywhere by creating efficient systems and routines.
Check out these episode highlights:
01:00 – John’s ideal client: There are typically two cohorts. So, one is their professional advisors, lawyers, accountants, and health practitioners. We all provide professional advice. The advice is different, but the business is the same.
01:24 – The problem he helps solve: Well, generally, their challenges around time, team, or money. So, time sounds like, “I’ve got too much to do and not enough time to do it. I can’t get it done. I don’t know, won’t get done.” Team, nowadays, is- top of the list is recruiting. It’s very hard to find good people.
02:17 – The symptoms of the problem: Well, typically, the manifestations are in their business, but the real problems are in their life. If you’re working 50, 70, or 80 hours a week, it’s going to show up in your home life. You know, you’re not going to your kids’ games.
03:28 – Clients’ common mistakes before consulting John: “They generally do more of whatever it is they’re currently doing. And because they don’t know that there are other options, and so that’s the part where they eventually, the metaphor I use is “They’re hitting their head against the ceiling of their business or the ceiling of their capabilities”, and they don’t know any other way to go.”
04:23 – John’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): You know, one of the common things I do when I first start with a business owner is work through an exercise to help them identify five to seven hours, 10 hours a week of work they do they shouldn’t be doing. And there’s a bit of a survey or an audit they can do or there’s a hack.
05:47 – John’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): To get more advice on how to free yourself from your business, click here: w5coaching.com/freedom-eBook
06:42 – Q: Business, you would go down the right path if you use this three-legged stool. A: Number one, systems run your business, people run your systems, and you lead your people.
Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:
“Systematize the routine, humanize the exception.” -John Nieuwenburg
Click To Tweet
Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)
Tom Poland 00:10
Welcome, everyone, to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. It’s my pleasure to have John Nieuwenburg back again. John, many happy returns. It’s been a couple of years since we saw, a lot of COVID under the bridge since then. Welcome back!
John Nieuwenburg 00:22
Thank you very much. It’s a pleasure!
Tom Poland 00:24
Where are you based, John?
John Nieuwenburg 00:25
Vancouver, British Columbia, which is on the west coast of Canada.
Tom Poland 00:25
While watching in the morning, and skiing in the afternoon. Beautiful!
John Nieuwenburg 00:25
Yes, we brag about that.
Tom Poland 00:27
For those of you who don’t know John, he’s an award-winning business coach. He’s worked with literally hundreds of clients, primarily in three areas– business, personal growth, and accountability. The subject today is one that’s often overlooked, and yet is a key ingredient to all sustainable success. It’s, “How to Be Successful in Any Endeavor with Mindset”. John, thanks for coming back to the show! Our seven minutes is going to start now. Question number one, who is your ideal client?
John Nieuwenburg 01:00
There are typically two cohorts. So, one is their professional advisors, lawyers, accountants, and health practitioners. We all provide professional advice. The advice is different, but the business is the same. The other one is people in the trade. So, they’re electricians, plumbers, general contractors. They’re very similar to the professional advisors, both took five, or seven years of training, great at their trade, and their profession, but not very good at business.
Tom Poland 01:24
Alright, interesting! So technically very good. But tell us, then, about the problem you solve for them.
John Nieuwenburg 01:24
Well, generally, their challenges around time, team, or money. So, time sounds like, “I’ve got too much to do and not enough time to do it. I can’t get it done. I don’t know, won’t get done.” Team, nowadays, is- top of the list is recruiting. It’s very hard to find good people. It’s hard, also, though, to get the culture you want and to get people to do the work at the level you need. And then moneys got two components to it. One component is having proper accounting financials reporting KPIs, and a dashboard. And the other side of money is, “I need more money. I need better sales and marketing.”
Tom Poland 02:02
So that were the three big problems of what you help folks with. So, what would you say, question three, and we’ve got just under six months left. If someone needs your services, what’s going on in their business or their life? What are the symptoms, in other words, that give them a heads up that they need to talk to you?
John Nieuwenburg 02:17
Well, typically, the manifestations are in their business, but the real problems are in their life. If you’re working 50, 70, or 80 hours a week, it’s going to show up in your home life. You know, you’re not going to your kids’ games. You’re not available when they are free. And so, my view of the world, the real purpose of a small business, are the ones that I’m- the kinds of small businesses I work with is, the real purpose of that business is to give the owner the life they want. Of course, it’s different if you’re a Fortune 500 company, with lots more complexity, and stakeholders. But in the kind of businesses I work with, your business ought to be a vehicle to give you the life you want, and often there’s a disconnect.
Tom Poland 03:00
Right. So, there’s almost like they’re stuck in the worst of both worlds. They’ve got all the responsibility and none of the freedom.
John Nieuwenburg 03:06
You know, that’s a very fine way of thinking about it. And that would be a very common, you know, kind of conclusion that a lot of the business owners would be thinking about.
Tom Poland 03:15
So, thank you for that! Four and a half minutes left. Question four is the common mistake they make when they’re trying to dig themselves out of those rather deep holes. What are your clients telling you that were things they tried that just, flat out, we’re never going to work, the biggest mistakes?
John Nieuwenburg 03:28
They generally do more of whatever it is they’re currently doing. And because they don’t know that there are other options, and so that’s the part where they eventually, the metaphor I use is “They’re hitting their head against the ceiling of their business or the ceiling of their capabilities”, and they don’t know any other way to go. They just simply don’t know and they often don’t know that help exists or where to find it. So, if you’re a hamster on a hamster wheel, the only thing a hamster knows to do is go faster. And eventually, they do that until they’re exhausted and can’t do anything else at all.
Tom Poland 04:04
Right, so more hours, more effort, more energy, actually leading to compounding the problem and becoming-
John Nieuwenburg 04:09
Exactly.
Tom Poland 04:10
So, let’s flip it! We’ve got three and a half minutes left. Let’s flip it now to what folks can do about this. Give us a top tip, if you would. A valuable free action, which probably not going to solve the whole problem for them, but it might take them a step in the right direction.
John Nieuwenburg 04:23
You know, one of the common things I do when I first start with a business owner is work through an exercise to help them identify five to seven hours, 10 hours a week of work they do they shouldn’t be doing. And there’s a bit of a survey or an audit they can do or there’s a hack. And the hack is anytime you say to yourself, “Oh crap, I need to ‘fill in the blank’.” That’s a clue that probably works that’s better done by someone else and that someone else will do a better job than you currently do. If the average, let’s just notionally say, the average business owner’s value of time is $300 an hour, well then why are you doing work that someone will do as capably are, in fact, doing better than you for $10, $15 $25 an hour. And so, when you do the survey, the first thing you start to notice is just how poorly you’re managing your time. You know, “You’re always just catching up with the urgencies and never the tyranny of the urgent”, Stephen Covey said it.
Tom Poland 05:19
Yeah, a lot of people do try stuff, but they just feel frustrated and trapped because they can’t get good help. And they hire people that don’t do it right, and so on. So, they end up chasing their tail. So, let’s help folks even more. We’ve got just under two minutes left, where can people go to find out more about getting some freedom into their business?
John Nieuwenburg 05:39
So, I wrote an eBook that addresses these three most common complaints that people have. I’m sure you’ll give them the link.
Tom Poland 05:47
We will. Let me just verbalize it because some people are listening to this. Folks, it’s w, number five, so, w5coaching.com/freedom-eBook. John, what will they find there, sir?
John Nieuwenburg 06:01
Well, the five steps of freedom which is a framework to get you from wherever you are in your business to ultimately getting time and money freedom. And we do that by solving the three problems that we’ve been addressing. We have 21 silver bullets that we talked about five of them in the book to kind of give you a taste of what we’d be working on together or what you can do yourself to make changes in your life.
Tom Poland 06:25
Free eBook, Five Steps to Freedom: How to Build a Business that Runs Smoothly, Profitably, and (Mostly) Without You. Folks, it’s w5, number five, coaching.com/freedom-eBook. John, thank you for that! We’ve got 35 seconds left. What’s the one question I should have asked you but didn’t?
John Nieuwenburg 06:42
Business, you would go down the right path if you use this three-legged stool. Number one, systems run your business, people run your systems, and you lead your people. Number two, humanize the, sorry- systematize the routine, humanize the exception. So about 85% of a business ought to be systems. And then the third is never to look for a people solution, always look for a system solution.
Tom Poland 07:05
Perfect! Five seconds to spare. John Nieuwenburg, thank you so much for your time.
John Nieuwenburg 07:09
My pleasure.
Tom Poland 07:10
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.
6 min
January 18, 2023The Transparent Sale Leader – In Just 7 Minutes with Todd Caponi
Discover why you shouldn’t diss the bad reviews you get and how it helps you sell better
Find out why perfection isn’t always the best answer in sales
Learn how you can bring transparency and imperfections into your sales
Resources/Links:
Want more tips on how to apply transparency in your selling? Click here: toddcaponi.com
Summary
Do you always feel like your product reviews need to be top-notch and perfect? Do you want to know how to convince prospects to buy your products with transparency?
Perfection doesn’t always mean wins; it also means losses. Switch from perfection to authenticity. Transparency plays a key role in turning leads into long-time sales.
Todd Caponi is the Author of The Transparency Sale and the Transparent Sales Leader. He is a multi-time revenue leader, a behavioral science nerd, and has successfully guided two companies to successful exits.
Dive into Todd’s tips and tricks on how to lead with your flaws and embrace the truth to ensure you’ll get more sales and leads!
Check out these episode highlights:
04:46 – Todd’s ideal client: I work with revenue leaders that are looking to upskill their teams, and they like a pod that everybody knew. But there have been tremendous revelations in our understanding of how human beings engage, prioritize, decide and buy.
05:26 – The problem he helps solve: I think you mentioned at the beginning that so many of your listeners think that sales mean “I got to get a plaid jacket and some gold chains. And like, off I go.” As it turns out, transparency sells better than perfection, right?
08:17 – The symptoms of the problem: Well, yeah, I mean, I think first of all where companies or individuals go wrong is they feel like, “Wow, that would be really bold to lead with my flaws. Like, are you crazy? How did you do it, Todd?” I actually believe it’s bold not to.
09:44 – Todd’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Want more tips on how to apply transparency in your selling? Click here: toddcaponi.com
10:27 – Todd’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): Well, just google your company name and then write reviews. Right, what’s there to come up? Know that your buyers are going to do that homework. If there’s anything like, empathize with the person that you’re selling to, right?
11:11 – A: Well, we talked about sales history. And we talked about that idea that like when cool people are doing cool things on the weekends, I’m reading an old 1905 magazine on sales. And, so- exactly! My wife makes fun of me all the time.
Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:
“Transparency sells better than perfection.” -Todd Caponi
Click To Tweet
Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)
Tom Poland 00:10
Welcome, everyone, to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. I’m Tom Poland beaming out to you from the little sunshine coast in Australia, joined today by Todd Caponi. Todd, good day. A very warm welcome from Down Under. Where are you based?
Todd Caponi 00:22
I am in the heart of the Midwest of the US in Chicago.
Tom Poland 00:26
And you’re- Chicago! So, you’re flipping from winter too, what are you in, autumn, right now?
Todd Caponi 00:32
We are in the random, every day you wake up to a different season. Today, it’s summer. Thursday, it will be freezing cold.
Tom Poland 00:41
All right. Well, enjoy the journey, whatever it is. Folks, really, this is going to be very interesting. Todd has got a certain way of presenting sales. And I have to say I just love it because it has a let me let you in, straight off the bat, and I’ll explain why I love it. So, it’s all about the transparent sale. And as soon as I heard transparency in sales, I think this could help so many people because it’s kind of a load off, you know. It’s, “I’m going to put my cards on the table. I don’t have to have any hidden agendas. I don’t have to try and manipulate people. I can be myself.” There’s a whole lot that unpacks from transparency. And so, I can’t wait! So let me tell you a little about Todd. He’s the author of The Transparency Sale, and The Transparent Sales Leader, recently released. He’s a multi-time revenue leader in his own right. He’s a behavioral science nerd. I happen to know also, he’s a sales history buff. we might touch on that a little later. And he’s successfully guided two companies to successful exits, and in doing so, no doubt has potentialized their sales revenue. So, the title today is, “The Transparent Sales Leader”. But before we start, I want to do something I’ve never done before. Because I think the subject is so interesting, I want to give- before we start the countdown timer, Todd, I want to give you, invite you, to give us a 30-40 second heads up on what is the transparency sale thing.
Todd Caponi 02:11
Yeah, I mean, it started and I’ll try to keep it brief, but there was a story. In my last company, we were in the ratings and reviews space, meaning we helped retailers and brands collect and display ratings and reviews on their websites. We did a research study that looked at how consumers engage when they’re buying something on a website. What we found were three data points. Number one, we all read reviews today, no surprise. But number two, 85% of us go to the negative reviews first. And then number three was that a product with an average review score between a 4.2 and a 4.5, was optimal for purchase conversion, meaning a product that had negative reviews right under it helped it sell more. Now those last two data points together, I realized, well that’s what a website is acting as a salesperson. But I found very quickly being the behavioral science nerd that I am, that it actually has the same impact in human-to-human or B2B selling. When we lead with the negatives and present our solutions is the truth. They’re not perfect. Magic happens! Sales cycles speed up. Win rates go up. We qualify better and faster. We qualify out faster and we make it really hard for our competitors to message against us, and it feels good, to be honest too.
Tom Poland 03:28
Why? Do you think it’s just a matter of believability? Boosts believability? Is this person real? Are they actually prepared to tell me their awards before they give me the bouquet of flowers?
Todd Caponi 03:39
Well, I’ll tell you. There are a couple of things. Number one is we as human beings, don’t buy when we’re convinced. Well, if we do, we’re probably pissed about it a few hours later. We buy when we can predict. Like we’re prediction machines, and we know subconsciously that perfection doesn’t exist. And until we can understand, whether is the juice going to be worth the squeeze, I got to know what that squeeze is before I can even assess the nutritional value and the taste of the juice. I can’t trigger a decision. So that’s why companies like Amazon, you may have heard of them. They were the first to list negative reviews right under the products they sold them. They did pretty well. Right?
Tom Poland 04:16
All right. And for those of us over in Australia, being pissed a few hours later, in this case, does not mean you’re drunk. It means you’re angry. Okay? In North America, it means you’re angry. Down here, it means you’re drunk as a skunk. So just to clarify that little cultural nuance up. So, our title today, folks, is, “The Transparent Leader”. And Todd, our seven minutes is going to start any second, just as soon as I find that HIT button. There we go! So, question number one, tell us more about your ideal client, please.
Todd Caponi 04:46
Well, yeah, I mean, I’m looking- I work with revenue leaders that are looking to upskill their teams, and they like a pod that’s everybody who knew. But there have been tremendous revelations in our understanding of how human beings engage, prioritize, decide and buy. And those organizations that want to leverage that for good, not evil, are really my ideal clients. And it’s typically revenue organizations mid to larger size.
Tom Poland 05:11
Fascinating! So, folks, if you’re a leader of a sales team or a team, that a company where you want more sales, whether you’re an individual and you are the company or it’s pretty big, you need to listen up. Question two, sir, just under six and a half left. What is the problem you solve for these folks?
Todd Caponi 05:26
Well, I think you mentioned at the beginning that so many of your listeners, think that sales mean “I got to get a plaid jacket and some gold chains. And like, off I go.” As it turns out, transparency sells better than perfection, right? And when we present our solutions as perfect, the sales cycle slows down, win rates go down, we lose slowly, and we arm our competitors to message against us. And really, those are the four things that we’re looking to fix by leading with your flaws, leading with transparency.
Tom Poland 05:56
Fantastic! I have to put in a little sub-question in there. Can you go overboard with this? Can you have too much leading with your flaws?
Todd Caponi 06:05
Well, yeah, the 4.2 to 4.5 data point is really important. I’m not advocating that anybody goes into their next sales engagement with, “Hey, this is why we suck like-“. You know what Tyra Banks, the supermodel, she’s got a term, a word called “flawsome”. And like, it’s to embrace your flaws, but know that you’re flawsome. I’d encourage all of you to think about your own flawsome messaging and positioning.
Tom Poland 06:30
Very clever! What were the 4.2, and 4.5? What was that thing you just said?
Todd Caponi 06:34
That was a product on a website that’s got an average review score between 4.2 to 4.5. That’s optimal, but that’s also the way our brains work.
Tom Poland 06:41
I mean, we’ve all seen the new book that’s come out, and it’s got five-star reviews. And we all go, “Yeah, that’s his mother, brother, sister, and best friend who he owes a living.”: Thank you for that! Just under five minutes left. The problem you solve, real quick. How would you define that?
Todd Caponi 06:58
Well, I think, first of all, it’s this idea that, for the most part, sales cycle lengths extend. We keep losing to the status quo, over and over again. And when we do lose, we lose slowly. That’s actually- there’s a huge opportunity to fix that. It’s not a foregone conclusion. And so, at its core, when you actually lead with transparency, you’re helping the buying brain predict, and you’re triggering, and speeding up all of that. Some of the best brands in the world embrace what they give up to be great at their core, like think IKEA, or any of the warehouse shopping clubs that you might go to, or some of the airlines that are like, “We’re just going to hurley on here, and you’re not going to get anything. You’re lucky you’re going to get there.” They give that up to be great at their core, and they’re flourishing doing that. You’ve got an opportunity in B2B or human-to-human selling to do the same sort of thing.
Tom Poland 07:51
Flawsome, absolutely flawsome! Just four minutes left. Well, what do you say are the typical symptoms that sales teams leaders and salespeople are going to be experiencing? I guess one of them is they just feel they don’t want to stick to the sales script because it’s manipulative, and it doesn’t feel like them. So, what else would be going on in their lives or their businesses that they could go, “Yeah, I need to find out more about the transparency thing”?
Todd Caponi 08:17
Well, yeah, I mean, I think first of all where companies or individuals go wrong is they feel like, “Wow, that would be really bold to lead with my flaws. Like, are you crazy? How did you do it, Todd?” I actually believe it’s bold not to. There’s a quote from an author in 1919. His name is Arthur Dunn. It’s my favorite sales quote of all time, but it is, “If the truth won’t sell it, don’t sell it”. And my take is, would you rather that that flaw come from you or a competitor? Would you rather that flaw come from you now? Or come after you’ve invested three months in this opportunity? Would you rather arm your competitor with trust? Or would you rather build trust right from the get-go? I think that it’s bold not to embrace the truth because you know, that’s how you make decisions for all of you. Don’t trust anything but five-star reviews. All of you read the negative reviews first. I know you do. Why would you think human-to-human selling would be?
Tom Poland 09:18
Yeah, it just flat-out makes sense, but it didn’t make sense until you told me about it. That’s the interesting thing! I didn’t figure this out myself. You figured it out. So now folks, Todd is giving it to you on a silver platter with the red carpet between you and him. We have two minutes left. Let’s get- I want to get people to your website. What’s your website where- I know there’s stuff there. There’s a podcast. There’s a blog. What’s the website that people can go to, Todd?
Todd Caponi 09:44
Yeah, it’s just toddcaponi.com. But just do a Google search. There are all kinds of stuff out there available for you. I’ve been on a bunch of podcasts but yeah.
Tom Poland 09:53
Todd, T-O, double D, Caponi, C-O-P-O-N-I, .com. There are resources, folks. Pardon me.
Todd Caponi 10:01
It’s C-A-P-O-N-I, like, it’s Al Capone but with an I instead of an E.
Tom Poland 10:05
I don’t know what I said. But yeah, what he said is better. C-A-P-O-N-I, .com. Thank you, Todd. Let’s go flip back. I’m missing you a bit here, but give people a top tip. It’s question five. What’s a top tip that someone could, you know, it’s not going to solve the whole problem, but it might take them a step in the right direction? Something like identifying a small floor and leading with that. What’s your top tip?
Todd Caponi 10:27
Well, just google your company name and then write reviews. Right, what’s there to come up? Know that your buyers are going to do that homework. If there’s anything like, empathize with the person that you’re selling to, right? They’re going to do the homework. If there’s something about your solution, that’s not a perfect fit, lead with it, right? Something that a competitor does better, maybe your higher price. Maybe when they do the Google search, they’re going to find a story about something you royally screwed up. Lead with it, embrace the truth, and you’d be amazed that the whole dynamic of all of your sales engagements changes immediately.
Tom Poland 11:03
It totally makes sense! 35 seconds left, sir. I’m going to give you a minute because I’m sidetracked by you. What’s the one question I should have asked you, but didn’t?
Todd Caponi 11:11
Well, we talked about sales history. And we talked about that idea that like when cool people are doing cool things on the weekends, I’m reading an old 1905 magazine on sales. And, so- exactly! My wife makes fun of me all the time. But for anybody who’s interested, just a hobby, just for fun, I do a podcast called The Sales History Podcast where I riff on different topics from 100 plus years ago, and I post daily on Twitter and Instagram at @saleshistorian just quotes and different facts from back then that a lot of people are getting a lot of pleasure and joy from. But I’ll tell you, we as professionals, step on the same rake over and over again. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from the past that we’ve seemingly forgotten about.
Tom Poland 11:58
Todd Caponi, thank you so much for your time. It’s been a blast and all the very best with the new book!
Todd Caponi 12:03
Well, thank you! Thanks for having me on.
Tom Poland 12:06
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.
9 min
January 16, 2023Why You Should Productize Your Offer – In Just 7 Minutes with Tristan Wright
Understand what productizing your offer means and how you can apply it
Find out how your ego can make or break your business and your sales flow
Learn why you should narrow down your offers instead of trying to cater everyone’s problems
Resources/Links:
Want to know more ways on how you can grow? Click here: linktr.ee/tristanwright
Summary
Do you want to stop being scared and start productizing your offers for a guaranteed continuous flow of income?
You can’t always be giving a custom solution to everyone’s problems– it’s just never going to work. You got to think of a solution that you can rinse and repeat anytime anywhere.
Tristan Wright is the Chief Business Sherpa at Evolve to Grow and is the Creator of “The Business Evolution Framework”. He is a 7-figure business owner himself and his model has changed the lives of busy entrepreneurs across the globe, taking them from feeling like they are running on a business hamster wheel to being able to work by choice.
Tristan shares with you a piece of his cake on how you can secure clients without stress and constant customization by taking action through productizing your offer.
Check out these episode highlights:
01:29 – Tristan’s ideal client: Well, ideal clients are B2B service-based business owners, typically those who have a creative streak. So, people that like to customize their offers, and be creative.
02:05 – The problem he helps solve: We’re talking today about productizing your offer, but at the end of the day, my ultimate objective is to help business owners run profitable businesses without their daily inputs.
03:56 – The symptoms of the problem: Most of the time, they’re probably going to be working after five or 6 pm. They’re going to be going home having dinner and then after dinner, asking all their email questions from clients for custom bespoke things and clients following up saying, “Why are you doing this? Or why are we doing it this way? Let’s change this.”
04:49 – Clients’ common mistakes before consulting Tristan: The biggest mistake is not taking action. It’s being scared that if they change their business model into a productized offer, they’ll lose clients.
05:40 – Tristan’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): Don’t try and be everything to everyone. Narrow down your offering, become the best in the world at one thing for one market, and let everyone know that that’s what you are.
06:15 – Tristan’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Want to know more ways on how you can grow? Click here: linktr.ee/tristanwright
07:01 – Q: What does the impact of ego have on your business? A: We need to park our ego just because we’ve done something our own way doesn’t mean it’s the best way. We need support from others.
Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:
“Don't try and be a full-service marketing agency for every single industry.” -Tristan Wright
Click To Tweet
Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)
Tom Poland 00:10
Greetings, everyone, and a warm welcome to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. I’m Tom Poland beaming out to you from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, joined today by Tristan Wright. Tristan, good day. A fellow Aussie! Welcome, sir. Where are you calling in from?
Tristan Wright 00:23
Thank you very much for having me! I’m calling you from cold Melbourne today. We’ve had 30 degrees the last couple of days and we’re back to our normal cold Melbourne weather.
Tom Poland 00:31
I’ve heard it’s been a long, cold, wet winter in Melbourne. Man, you’ve got to move up North where the sunshine is, but we’ll get off climate and geography and back on to your specialty. Folks, if you don’t know Tristan, he’s the Chief Business Sherpa at Evolve to Grow, Sherpa being your guide for growth. He’s the creator of “The Business Evolution Framework”, which is a seven-figure business owner himself. His model has not only changed his own business and his own life but countless lives of busy entrepreneurs across the globe. He’s got a really interesting subject that he’s known as today, if you feel like you’re kind of running on that hamster wheel, that you don’t have enough time and you’re still scratching around for you know how to serve as clients and so on, this is going to be a very valuable interview for you. The title today is, “Why You Should Criticize- Productize, I’m sorry. “Why You Should Productize Your Offer”. Tristan, I’m going to start the countdown timer. Our seven minutes start now. Our question number one is, sir, who is your ideal client?
Tristan Wright 01:29
Well, ideal clients are B2B service-based business owners, typically those who have a creative streak. So, people that like to customize their offers, and be creative. So, like a marketing agency or design agency or graphic designer, going down a tiny bit deeper, like maybe 3 to 15 staff is would be where my ideal clients are.
Tom Poland 01:51
Thank you for that! And that makes the problem you solve even more interesting because of their very often custom bespoke, rinse and repeat but reinvent the wheel for every client. So, tell us, question two, tell us about the problem you solve. How would you define that?
Tristan Wright 02:05
We’re talking today about productizing your offer, but at the end of the day, my ultimate objective is to help business owners run profitable businesses without their daily inputs. And for that, we need to move to productize offers as quickly as possible.
Tom Poland 2:24
What do you mean by the productized offers?
Tristan Wright 02:25
Rather than having a custom solution- sorry. Rather than having a custom solution and reinventing the wheel every single time, it is narrowing down and knowing “This is what I’m good at. This is what gets results.” So, we say, we’ve got an SEO package. And this SEO package, we have three different services, and we deliver that rinse and repeat. Or we’ve got a website service and we deliver a small, medium or large solution of that.
Tom Poland 02:51
Okay. So, it’s, they can, if you like, commoditize or have an offer that frees up their time because they can rinse and repeat the same solution to a common problem. Is that a reasonable summary?
Tristan Wright 03:03
Correct! A good way to describe it is as a business owner, you should create a menu like you go to a restaurant and you’ve got a menu to choose from. You’ve got your entrees, you’ve got your mains, and you’ve got your desserts. And you go and choose an entree, your main dessert. As a business owner selling your product, there should be five items on the mains, five desserts, and five entrees.
Tom Poland 03:24
That’s a great analogy! I mean, can you imagine the stress in the kitchen of a good restaurant, if everyone just walked in and ordered whatever they want without any menu? That’s going to be one stressful shift! And folks-
Tristan Wright 03:34
And for so many business owners, that’s how we operate. We think we’re making a chicken parm each day, but we’re making different variations of the chicken parm every other day.
Tom Poland 03:43
Ingredients are different. It’s stressful work. And it’s low profit, and it’s high volume. So, let’s move on to a couple of quick- question three, what are some of the typical symptoms that someone’s going to be experiencing in their business if they need your solution?
Tristan Wright 03:56
Most of the time, they’re probably going to be working after five or 6 pm. They’re going to be going home having dinner and then after dinner, asking all their email questions from clients for custom bespoke things and clients following up saying, “Why are you doing this? Or why are we doing it this way? Let’s change this.”
Tom Poland 04:14
Yeah, so they’re out of time because they’re not- they can’t deliver the value in an efficient manner. I guess that’s the big one, is it? They’re just working too long and too hard?
Tristan Wright 04:23
That’s the simplest one. And the other one is they probably raised a glass ceiling and they don’t know where or what they need to change in their business to get their time back for it to become more profitable.
Tom Poland 04:34
Thank you for that. And so, we’re talking about people have started their own business, typically. They’re going to be growth orientated. So, they’re going to try things to break out of this trap. Question four is what would you say are a couple of the biggest common mistakes that people make trying to solve this problem before they find your solution?
Tristan Wright 04:49
The biggest mistake is not taking action. It’s being scared that if they change their business model into a productized offer, they’ll lose clients. So, they’re like, “This is making me money. Yes, I’m busy. I don’t want to take the risk of alienating my clients because if I alienate my clients or do something, I’ll lose them.” So, they’re allowing the clients to end the relationship.
Tom Poland 05:16
Right. And they probably don’t realize that whilst it might alienate some of their existing clients, we won’t alienate the new ones because the new ones don’t really care how they get the solution as long as they get it. So, let’s move on to some advice for folks. We’ve got just over two minutes left. A top tip. It’s not going to solve the whole problem, but it might get people started, you know, a step in the right direction. What’s one valuable free tip you could give folks?
Tristan Wright 05:40
Don’t try and be everything to everyone. Narrow down your offering, become the best in the world at one thing for one market, and let everyone know that that’s what you are. Don’t try and be a full-service marketing agency for every single industry. Be the best SEO agency for the property development industry in Victoria.
Tom Poland 06:01
Right. Niche the specialty you offer or the market or both? Where can people go to get more information? Question six is to give us a valuable free resource, a URL people can go to, to find out more about your solutions.
Tristan Wright 06:15
You can jump on; I’ve got a link tree page. It’s linktr.ee/tristanwright. And I’ve got an eBook on there called Unicorns Are Myths, Profits and Freedom Shouldn’t Be. So that eBook literally walks you through the process that’s how to increase your profits, and get your freedom back.
Tom Poland 06:34
And it’s free, folks. You go to www.link, L-I-N-K-T-R, .ee. So that’s linktr.ee/tristan, T-R-I-S-T-A-N, Wright, W-R-I-G-H-T. Linktr.ee, remember there’s the full stop before the two e’s, tristanwright. 30 seconds left, sir. Question seven, what’s the one question I should have asked you but didn’t?
Tristan Wright 07:01
What’s the question you should have asked me? What does the impact of ego have on your business?
Tom Poland 07:08
Oh, yeah. Okay, in less than 12 seconds, what does the effect of ego have on the business?
Tristan Wright 07:13
We need to park our ego just because we’ve done something our own way doesn’t mean it’s the best way. We need support from others. We just want as- we’ve got the same end goal. It doesn’t matter which way we get there.
Tom Poland 07:24
Tristan Wright, thanks so much for your time and your insights.
Tom Poland 07:28
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.
6 min
January 11, 2023Social Selling and Dark Social for B2B – In Just 7 Minutes with Leslie Venetz
Find out how to stop doing the old seller-centric selling and dive into the new social selling
Learn more about what dark social is and how to ethically influence prospects and turn them into clients
Understand why consistency matters over frequency, especially in social selling
Resources/Links:
Want more FREE tips and tricks on how to build better sales? Click here: insidesalesteambuilder.com
Summary
Have you been stuck in the old ways of selling that it just doesn’t do you good nowadays? Do you want to learn how to switch from seller-centric selling to social selling– a new way of getting more clients without the fuss?
With new technological innovations, people heavily rely on social media for what they need. Ditch the telephone and the seller-centric sales talk and switch to online! Are you ready to learn how to increase your sales without the fuss and stress?
Leslie Venetz is a 3x Head of Sales with 15 years of B2B experience. She is an expert in building elite sales teams. Leslie is the Founder of Sales Team Builder and works with sales professionals and founders who need to create repeatable processes that work. When she is not talking about sales, Leslie enjoys traveling, reading, and riding her SoulCycle.
In this episode, Leslie gives us an amazing glimpse into how to increase your sales without the stress. She also shares more on how you can ethically influence your market through social selling and dark social.
Check out these episode highlights:
01:38 – Leslie’s ideal client: The ideal client is going to be a sales leader or founder but it’s a mentality thing, somebody that understands old ways of selling doesn’t serve them and don’t serve our buyers anymore.
01:55- The problem she helps solve: What is the problem? Helping them create those meaningful connections with their prospects and with their customers.
02:48 – The symptoms of the problem: In their life really made me chuckle because I do work with a lot of early-stage companies. So, they’re trying to come out of the “founder leg”. So, in their life you know, they’re the image of a person with the sticks.
04:00 – Clients’ common mistakes before consulting Leslie: Common mistakes, I think one of them is that they jumped straight to scaling. Like it’s such a buzzword, right? “We’re going to scale to the moon!” And they forget that it’s essential to build those foundations of repeatable processes first.
06:32 – Leslie’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): Every single salesperson should be creating content. So that is my tip is to go out there and do it. And while it’s going to help you today in this job, that is something that you take with you for your entire career.
07:10 – Leslie’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Want more FREE tips and tricks on how to build better sales? Click here: insidesalesteambuilder.com
07:34 – Q: What is your number one tip for people who want to be successful on social? A: And it’s consistency over frequency. Don’t get so caught up that I have to post every single day that it makes it feel daunting. If once a week is what you can do, make that your goal but be consistent.
Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:
“Consistency over frequency. If once a week is what you can do, make that your goal but be consistent.” -Leslie Venetz
Click To Tweet
Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)
Tom Poland 00:10
Greetings, everyone, and a very warm welcome to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. I’m Tom Poland joined today by Leslie Venetz. Leslie, where are you hanging out today?
Leslie Venetz 00:18
Today I am in Chicago, fresh off of six weeks of living the digital nomad life in South America.
Tom Poland 00:24
Holy Dooley! Six weeks in South America, wow! You rock and you missed your SoulCycle, I bet.
Leslie Venetz 00:32
I did. I like deeply missed it. I came back and I biked for like every day since I’ve gotten back here. You’re spot on there, Tom!
Tom Poland 00:40
Folks, if you don’t know what a SoulCycle is, go Google it. But it’s a pretty extraordinary experience. And getting off the SoulCycle, pardon the pun. Leslie is a 3x Head of Sales with 15 years on business-to-business experience, B2B. She’s an expert in building elite sales teams, which really is the potential powerhouse of any organization. She’s the Founder of Sales Team Builder and works with sales professionals and founders who need to create, and this is the word I love, repeatable processes that work. Because with repeatability, you get relentlessness. When she’s not talking about sales or being interviewed, she enjoys traveling to South America for six weeks reading, and riding her SoulCycle. All right, Leslie, our title is “Social Selling and Dark Social for B2B”. Our seven minutes is going to start as soon as I find the “go” button on the app. Here we go! It’s going to start now. Question number one, who’s your ideal client?
Leslie Venetz 01:38
Okay, I’m on the clock. The ideal client is going to be a sales leader or founder but it’s a mentality thing, somebody that understands old ways of selling doesn’t serve them and don’t serve our buyers anymore.
Tom Poland 01:49
Interesting! Old ways of selling. Question two, over six and a half months left. What’s the problem you solve for them?
Leslie Venetz 01:55
What is the problem? Helping them create those meaningful connections with their prospects and with their customers.
Tom Poland 02:01
Meaningful connections. Is that part of what was missing in the old?
Leslie Venetz 02:05
I think so. Absolutely! What was the old-school way? It was, “I’m the account manager. I need this.” It was so seller centric. And now we have this amazing opportunity to use things like social to be a part of the conversations that our customers are having. And to really lead with more value and more relevance. And you know, I think just start the relationship from a place that’s a lot more about them, and a lot less about us.
Tom Poland 02:33
Perfect! Thank you for that. Question three, six minutes left. Let’s talk about some of the typical symptoms. Someone who really needs you and your services and what you do, what’s going to be going on in their business or their life where they go, “Yeah, I’m manifesting those symptoms. I need to find out more about what Leslie does.”
Leslie Venetz 02:48
Okay, in their life really made me chuckle because I do work with a lot of early-stage companies. So, they’re trying to come out of the “founder leg”. So, in their life you know, they’re the image of a person with the sticks. And there are seven plates spinning all over them like they just need somebody who can come in and create consistency and take what maybe works for them as a founder and figure out what pieces of it are repeatable so that we can have repeatable. And yeah, I think more broadly than that’s like the hallmarks of a bad sales organization. Bad reply rates, people always asking for discounts, bad renewal rates, bad conversion– we can fix that with repeatable processes.
Tom Poland 03:25
So, they might be getting revenue, but there are a bunch of leaks in their bucket, so to speak. And it’s all a bit ad hoc. It’s all a bit random. I wonder what we’re going to do for this month’s sales. Okay. So, what would you say, I mean, we’re talking about generally founders and organizations that are moderately successful, if not very successful. So, they’re growth-oriented is what I’m saying, and they’re going to try stuff. And some of those things aren’t going to work. You know, maybe get the whip out on Monday morning to the sales team and drive them harder or whatever. What would you say are some of the common mistakes that people make when they’re trying to solve a sales problem? Four and a half minutes left.
Leslie Venetz 04:00
Common mistakes, I think one of them is that they jumped straight to scaling. Like it’s such a buzzword, right? “We’re going to scale to the moon!” And they forget that it’s essential to build those foundations of repeatable processes first. I think in the context of this conversation, Tom, one of the huge errors I see organizations make is either not wanting their sales reps on social or not believe that having a social presence is going to help them become a better salesperson or to generate more leads. They still have that very siloed view that marketing is social and sales just need to be on the phone. And that’s bad.
Tom Poland 04:41
Interesting. And there’s often a wall between sales and marketing, isn’t there? And the bigger the organization, normally the thicker the wall.
Leslie Venetz 04:48
Unfortunately, it is, but the leading organizations, folks that are just smashing revenue, beating their competitors, they’re taking down those walls and eliminating silos. We’re on the same team.
Tom Poland 04:58
So, we’ve got lots of time. Still, three and a half minutes left. What’s dark social? Pardon me. What’s dark social and where does come into the sales process?
Leslie Venetz 05:06
I think the dark social is different depending on who you ask. But it’s pretty much like everything that’s happening behind the scenes that aren’t the advertising, the branding, like the blatant, “Here are our company posts on LinkedIn. So, we are seeing a lot of intent being driven by folks just kind of being part of the broader conversations, we’re able to influence our buyers before they know they’re being influenced. And it’s a common stat that I mean, depending on who you ask, I saw a stat recently that we only get 7% of the buying process. So, it’s an opportunity to educate and maybe entice and inspire our buyers without actively selling to them.
Tom Poland 05:51
So, it’s more subtle. It’s COVID-like column. Were kind of ethically infiltrating and influencing.
Leslie Venetz 05:58
Yes, I like the word “ethical”, and they’re too, Tom, because it is. We’re not trying to manipulate. We are trying to educate, inspire, and do those pieces. Yeah.
Tom Poland 06:08
Right. And if anyone’s wondering about the difference between influence and manipulation, you draw a line somewhere, I don’t know where exactly you draw, but you do draw a line. And mostly it’s to do with your intention to help people and if it’s ethical to walk away if you just don’t think they’re a fit. So, let’s go with question five, two minutes left, one valuable free action. It’s like a quick top tip, not going to solve the whole problem, but it might help people to take a step in the right direction.
Leslie Venetz 06:32
You know, I think that every single salesperson should be creating content. So that is my tip is to go out there and do it. And while it’s going to help you today in this job, that is something that you take with you for your entire career. So that might not be whatever like company or sales leader or founder listening wants to hear, but inspire your reps to create their own brand. It will help them at the moment, but it is something important that they can take with them forever.
Tom Poland 06:58
Very interesting! Thank you. And question six is a valuable free resource. I think you’ve got a newsletter, which, as I understand it, is packed full of valuable information. Where can people go to sign up for that? One minute left?
Leslie Venetz 07:10
Yes, pop onto my website. It’s the first thing that comes up at insidesalesteambuilder.com. I also create daily on LinkedIn and on TikTok and sales TikTok. So, tons of free content that I’m just out there trying to help us all level up a bit.
Tom Poland 07:24
So, LinkedIn, TikTok and insidesalesteambuilder.com. Thank you for that! Question seven, 45 seconds left. Plenty of time. What’s the one question I should have asked you but didn’t?
Leslie Venetz 07:34
Plenty of time? I don’t know. I felt like we’ve been on the clock here! You know, I would say a lot of the questions I get asked about social is like about frequency and I would say maybe like what is your number one tip for people who want to be successful on social? And it’s consistency over frequency. Don’t get so caught up that I have to post every single day that it makes it feel daunting. If once a week is what you can do, make that your goal but be consistent.
Tom Poland 08:04
Leslie, thanks so much for your insights and your time. Cheers!
Leslie Venetz 08:08
Thanks, Tom.
Tom Poland 08:10
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.
6 min
January 04, 2023How to Create Raving Fans Who Want to Buy From YOU! – In Just 7 Minutes with Adam Bude
Discover how to increase the value of your business without losing so much money
Learn the importance of connecting and communicating with your customers to convert them into clients
Find out why you should switch from transactional selling to relationship buying
Resources/Links:
Want to learn more about how you can improve your sales overnight? Click here: http://www.13pointsaleschecklist.com/
Summary
Have you been losing so much money that you’re drowning in expenses and not profit?
Do you feel like you’re making enough sales but barely enough profit?
Sales aren’t all about transactions. Connecting and understanding your customers is crucial in turning them from just customers to loyal and high-paying clients!
Adam Bude is a sales guru, published author, and course creator who helps SME’s realize untapped sales and profit opportunities with their business.
Get a start on how Adam helps business owners kick up their conversion rates and make the switch from transactional selling to relationship buying– a crucial change you should do in your business.
Check out these episode highlights:
01:23 – Adam’s ideal client: The ideal client is SMEs with a minimum of two years in business, making a profit, and turning over at least 350,000 up to 10 million. But more importantly, they are in a growth phase and want to scale their businesses up that are still owner driven.
01:49 – The problem he helps solve: Look, the biggest problem that I find is that most small business owners do not understand how to increase the value of their business. And the reason for that is because they are losing so much money in expenses.
02:47 – The symptoms of the problem: The biggest symptoms are always, “we need more sales, we need more time, and we need more profit.” They’re the biggest issues that I find.
04:28 – Clients’ common mistakes before consulting Adam: If they have done any form of sales training, Tom, which ironically, most small business owners have not. They fall into business.
06:19 – Adam’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): The first thing I would do is a complete audit of your whole systems and procedures and processes. Most small business owners don’t have that in play. So do a complete audit of that. Look at how you’re getting your leads.
06:47 – Adam’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Want to learn more on how you can improve your sales overnight? Click here: http://www.13pointsaleschecklist.com/
07:19 – Q: How do I get my customers to want to buy from me instead of me having to sell to them? A: Authenticity.
Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:
“At the end of the day, it's the profit that keeps us in business, not the sales.” -Adam Bude
Click To Tweet
Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)
Tom Poland 00:10
Greetings, everyone, and a warm welcome to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. I’m Tom Poland, beaming out to you from the Sunshine Coast in Australia, joined today by Adam Bude. Adam, g’day sir, I believe you’re not too far down the road from me. Where are you hanging out?
Adam Bude 00:23
Hey, Tom! Yes, so I am on the Gold Coast, so only a couple of hours away.
Tom Poland 00:27
Yeah, a few hours south on this big strip of white sand beaches we got running around our part of the world. And, folks, Adam is a sales guru. He’s a published author. He’s a course creator who helps small-to-medium-sized enterprises. And that’s really important because a lot of people we have on the show are helping sales teams, but Adam can help you to realize untapped sales and profit opportunities within your business. So, it’s the untapped ones that we really want to focus on! Our title today, Adam, is, “How to Create Raving Fans Who Want to Buy from You”. So, folks, so often, we see you, me, everyone sees people just missing sales opportunities. And Adam is going to show us how to generate sales opportunities so that we can capture the full potential of your network and all the contacts in your business. Adam, let’s kick-off! Our time is going to start just as soon as I find the app. Here we go! Our time starts now. Question number one, sir, who is your ideal client?
Adam Bude 01:23
The ideal client is SMEs with a minimum of two years in business, making a profit, and turning over at least 350,000 up to 10 million. But more importantly, they are in a growth phase and want to scale their businesses up that are still owner driven. And the business owner is still the one that’s making the decisions.
Tom Poland 01:42
Very clear. Thanks for that! What would you say, six and a half minutes left, what would you say is the problem that you solve? How do you find that?
Adam Bude 01:49
Look, the biggest problem that I find is that most small business owners do not understand how to increase the value of their business. And the reason for that is because they are losing so much money in expenses. And they’re also not able to capitalize on their profits and their sales. They focus purely on the next sale, next sale, and next sale, but they don’t focus on how do we make more profit. And at the end of the day, it’s the profit that keeps us in business, not the sales, right? So, looking at their systems, their processes, their procedures, their pricing, and obviously, their skilled staff, we can quickly determine exactly whether or not they’re on the right track.
Tom Poland 02:36
How would someone know, this is question three, five and a half minutes left. What would you say are some of the typical symptoms that your ideal clients are experiencing before they find your service?
Adam Bude 02:47
The biggest symptoms are always, “we need more sales, we need more time, and we need more profit.” They’re the biggest issues that I find. So, they come to me because that’s what they’re looking to achieve.
Tom Poland 03:02
So that’s quite a holistic approach, then. More sales, more time, profit, so that, presumably, they’re going to have a feeling that there are sales slipping between the cracks, that they are probably scrambling timewise. And it doesn’t matter how fast or how big they grow, they still don’t seem to have a lot of money in the bank at the end of the month.
Adam Bude 03:20
And what that comes down to yeah, Tom, I was going to say what that comes down to is they know that they’re missing sales opportunities, so their conversion rates are not good. They may not know their numbers, so they’re not actually measuring and tracking. They may not even know what their GP is on the bottom line after their expenses properly from each of that. They have very low client retention. They have very little referral business, and they feel like they’re wasting so much money on marketing.
Tom Poland 03:51
Right. So, this goes a lot way further than sort of the enthusiastic, confident salesperson, you know, twisting arms, etc. This is a very holistic look at the numbers as well as the sales skills. So, question four leads into this nicely, just under four minutes left. People will have received sales training before, no doubt. They would have tried stuff a lot. And in other words, what would you say were a couple of the biggest mistakes that people make when they’re trying to increase their sales? I guess not understanding profit might be one, but what else? What else is going on? What are the things that they’re doing that are just playing never going to work?
Adam Bude 04:28
If they have done any form of sales training, Tom, which ironically, most small business owners have not. They fall into business. They may have had a little bit of on-job training from previous mentors in the industry, but they actually haven’t learned how to connect with their customers, how to communicate with their customers, and how to convert their customers. The biggest challenge that I see with the business owners, Tom, is that they’re focused on transactions and KPI, and it’s all about selling, as opposed to understanding their buyers, their buyers’ needs, their buyers’ wants, and most importantly, where those buyers are in their buying journey.
Tom Poland 05:13
Interesting! So, what do you mean by where they are on the buying journey?
Adam Bude 05:17
Well, most business owners will go straight for the kill. So, if you look at a sales training company, they teach you two things only. They teach you how to overcome an objection, and how to close a sale. Only the ability of tactics, whether it’s integrity, ethical, or whatever passwords they want to put on edits. That’s what their goal is.
Tom Poland 05:38
But your approach is much less egocentric, it’s much about, it’s much less about me and what I want and what I want to sell you, versus getting and establishing what’s important to you, etc. I’m sure that we could unpack that. There’d be a lot more to it than my butchered way of expressing it, but it is different psychology, and it’s yeah.
Adam Bude 05:57
It is simply put, Tom, we’re moving away from transactional selling, and we’re moving into relationship buying.
Tom Poland 06:04
Thank thanks for that! So, let’s go to question five because we’ve only got one minute and 40 seconds left, give us a quick top tip that someone could take. It’s not going to solve the whole problem, might need you for that, but it might take them one step closer.
Adam Bude 06:19
Yeah, the first thing I would do is a complete audit of your whole systems and procedures and processes. Most small business owners don’t have that in play. So do a complete audit of that. Look at how you’re getting your leads. Look at the systems that you have in nurturing through the funnels. Look at how they’re being communicated with by your staff. And look for any pitfalls that are coming up that you know could be potentially costing you sales.
Tom Poland 06:47
Thank you for that! Question six might help them even more with that. It’s a valuable free resource just for the sake of time, folks, I’m going to give you that link. It’s www.13, the number 1, 3, pointsaleschecklist.com. Real quick, what will they find there, Adam?
Adam Bude 06:59
They’ll find in that checklist, everything that I believe can help you improve your sales overnight.
Tom Poland 07:00
Perfect. Wow! Okay, so that’s 1, 3, the number 13, pointsaleschecklist.com. Go get it! Question seven, sir, 30 seconds left, what’s the one question I should have asked you but didn’t?
Adam Bude 07:19
How do I get my customers to want to buy from me instead of me having to sell to them?
Tom Poland 07:25
And the answer in less than 15 seconds.
Adam Bude 07:27
Authenticity.
Tom Poland 07:29
Adam, thanks for that. You’re going to find out a lot more, folks, at 13pointsaleschecklist.com. Any final words, Adam?
Adam Bude 07:36
Appreciate you having me on the show.
Tom Poland 07:37
All right. Thanks for rocking up. Cheers!
Adam Bude 07:40
See you.
Tom Poland 07:51
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.
9 min
January 02, 2023Sell Like a Spy – In Just 7 Minutes with Jeremy Hurewitz
Find out how personal connectivity gets you more promising sales than those data-driven tactics
Learn the crucial role of mirroring when it comes to selling like a spy
Discover how to have greater connectivity with your client bases
Resources/Links:
To know more on how to make ultimate promising sales, click here: Selllikeaspy.net
Summary
Have you been sticking with those overly data-driven sales tactics that nobody ends up listening to you?
Do you want to know how to keep your prospect hooked with what you have to say and make instant long-term sales?
Jeremy Hurewitz’s Sell Like a Spy program helps salespeople connect more deeply and overcome challenges by leveraging spy tradecraft. He is a former journalist and consultant and is the Founder of Challenger Hill Consulting.
Grab a drink and listen in to how Jeremy sells like a spy and get instant sakes by establishing a human-to-human connection through empathy and emotional intelligence.
Check out these episode highlights:
01:22 – Jeremy’s ideal client: I think the ideal client would be a B2B company with a revenue recurring retainer-based sales model with you know, fairly big ticket 5-, 6-, 7-figure sales models. That’s a lot of the sales that I’ve done.
02:31 – The problem he helps solve: Well, I think I help solve the problem of greater connectivity with client bases. So, you know, having come from the business development world, and you know, with leavened with a healthy dose of intelligence.
03:37 – The symptoms of the problem: Well, either you’re an inexperienced salesperson, and you’ve been given kind of a roadmap about how to sell or you’re an experienced salesperson who’s kind of had the same bag of tricks for a while.
05:35 – Clients’ common mistakes before consulting Jeremy: Some of the things that I’ve talked about before, again, rogue behaviors that they’re taught to do, you know, call thirty times and then give up or send the following email with the following language.
06:29 – Jeremy’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): Just a quick one to kind of, you know, the tip of the iceberg, but mirroring is taught in a sales context. That’s the physical replication of somebody’s behavior.
07:32 – Jeremy’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): To know more on how to make ultimate promising sales, click here: Selllikeaspy.net
07:50 – Q: Sales quotas and how everybody is just chasing a sales quota. A: It could be a bad market. It could be a tough time for the product or service you’re selling. You can be the greatest salesperson in the world and not, you know, attain your quota.
Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:
“Empathy is the WD40 of communications.” -Jeremy Hurewitz
Click To Tweet
Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)
Tom Poland 00:10
Welcome, everyone, to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. I’m Tom Poland joined today by Jeremy Hurewitz. Jeremy, a very warm welcome from Down Under, sir. Where are you hanging out?
Jeremy Hurewitz 00:20
I’m in Brooklyn, New York.
Tom Poland 00:21
Brooklyn, New York, home of the who? What’s the team you’re supporting there?
Jeremy Hurewitz 00:26
The home of the who and what team am I supporting?
Tom Poland 00:29
The baseball team that you support?
Jeremy Hurewitz 00:31
I’m a big Yankees fan. New York Yankees.
Tom Poland 00:34
Okay, cool. Go the Yankees! How about them Yankees? All right. So, folks, off baseball, which is one of Jeremy’s passions, on to business. Jeremy’s Sell Like a Spy Program is very, very clever, by the way, Jeremy. The whole positioning of that, it’s unique, And it’s clever, and it’s insightful. Folks, we’re going to learn more about it in a moment. He helps salespeople connect more deeply and overcome challenges by leveraging spy tradecraft. A former journalist and consultant, Jeremy is the founder of Challenger Hill Consulting, and the Creator of Sell Like a Spy, which is the title of our little interview here. Jeremy, thank you for being here. Our seven minutes is going to start now, sir. Question number one, who is your ideal client?
Jeremy Hurewitz 01:22
Well, I think the ideal client would be a B2B company with a revenue recurring retainer-based sales model with you know, fairly big ticket 5-, 6-, 7-figure sales models. That’s a lot of the sales that I’ve done. It means that a sales organization should be investing heavily in relationship development, both in the early stages of recruiting the client and then retaining the client. There’s a saying that a good spy re-recruits their agent in every meeting. So, it’s not just about closing that initial deal. But I have built Sell Like a Spy for more transactional quicker sales, whether it’s for a product or for smaller revenue sales. And one of the spies that I worked with to develop this, we talked about this, and she talked about how, if she had only an hour with an Iranian scientist in a hotel in Vienna, she would leverage the same skills and tradecraft to connect with that person even if she had months to do it. So, it’s a question of just making it more abbreviated, but, specifically, to circle back to your initial question, it’s about, you know, B2B, bigger ticket, sales organizations are probably the most ideal clients.
Tom Poland 02:25
Perfect! Thank you for that. Six minutes left, what would you or how would you define the problem you solve for those organizations?
Jeremy Hurewitz 02:31
Well, I think I help solve the problem of greater connectivity with client bases. So, you know, having come from the business development world, and you know, with leavened with a healthy dose of intelligence. Having worked in corporate security consulting, I’ve done many sales trainings, and I’ve frankly, found them to be not that effective. I feel like a lot of people do the training or, you know, not necessarily socially gifted people who have sold a lot themselves in my experience. And I think that you don’t have to be the most, you know, loquacious person to be a great salesperson. But I think that the market for sales training is overly data-driven. And I’m trying to solve for creating a little bit more emotional connectivity to know clients and overcome some of the problems that will result in human-to-human contact.
Tom Poland 03:15
Very interesting! Humans buy, right? Organizations that actually buy humans, individuals buy, and they-
Jeremy Hurewitz 03:20
People buy.
Tom Poland 03:20
We are often emotionally driven, and so on. So, what would you say are some of the typical symptoms, this is question three, that your ideal clients are experiencing before they engage with you? We’ve got over four and a half minutes left. What’s going on in their organization that will give them a heads up that they should really find out more about what you do?
Jeremy Hurewitz 03:37
Well, either you’re an inexperienced salesperson, and you’ve been given kind of a roadmap about how to sell or you’re an experienced salesperson who’s kind of had the same bag of tricks for a while. But I think that same data-driven approach to sales has kind of corrupted the way we might approach things a little bit. And there are tools in the toolkit of emotional intelligence and connecting with people that I help people discover inside of themselves that are very innate that they can bring out, such as humanizing yourself. I spend a lot of time on that, and people really connect to that idea. So, I think that people also wind up just kind of doing the same behaviors but doing it more intensely, where they get a little bit of sad, or they point fingers, and I am helping people kind of, you know, solve these problems and get around some of these issues with new tools to put in their toolkit.
Tom Poland 04:22
So, if you’ve got, say, a sales director in an organization, and it’s big-ticket items, like you said, they’re expensive. How would that person know they need to talk to you? What’s going on with their sales team? Are they just- sales ratios or conversion ratios dropping? Are salespeople saying they don’t have a connection? What’s going on there, do you think?
Jeremy Hurewitz 04:43
Well, I mean, it varies from organization to organization, but I think that people wind up again pursuing their narrow lane about how they sell and you know, they might think, “This person doesn’t want to be sold to and they’re just a jerk” or something like that. Whereas, you know, I talk a lot about that. And there’s a quote from Abraham Lincoln, “I don’t like that person. I must get to know him better.” So, you start with that as a challenge, and you think about how spies leverage radical empathy to connect with criminals, terrorists, you know, diplomats from some terrible places. They overcome significant challenges to make a very popular sale. So, there’s no reason that you selling that software or something that can overcome the challenge, as well. So, I think that helps inspire.
Tom Poland 05:20
So that might lead us nicely to question four. Three minutes left. The common mistakes that individuals or organizations make when trying to solve this problem? I guess one of them is blaming the prospect, what else? What else have you got that people try that just flat out isn’t going to work?
Jeremy Hurewitz 05:35
Yeah, I mean, you know, some of the things that I’ve talked about before, again, rogue behaviors that they’re taught to do, you know, call thirty times and then give up or send the following email with the following language, you know. And I teach people, “Look, that might work, and that’s a great template. And I know you have to hit 100 emails or whatever. But take a look at their LinkedIn, you know, profile and see if they’re University of Kentucky basketball fans or something and see if you can, you know, find something that you can bring into an email or a cold outreach call that can create a lot of personal connectivity.” So, I’m trying to disrupt that space a little bit. And, there’s some difference-
Tom Poland 06:09
And that goes back to that empathy you’re talking about with the spy in the hotel, or the terrorist, or whatever. It’s fascinating!
Jeremy Hurewitz 06:16
See, empathy is the WD40 of communications.
Tom Poland 06:19
Jeremy lubricates it very well. So, question five, valuable free action like a top tip. One minute, 45 left. What’s one quick tip you could give folks?
Jeremy Hurewitz 06:29
Yeah, just a quick one to kind of, you know, the tip of the iceberg, but mirroring is taught in a sales context. That’s the physical replication of somebody’s behavior. And subconsciously, it’s been shown in the behavioral science that a little shortcut to the rapport-building, cycle, and creates a little bit more connectivity. So, if your client is leaning forward, elbows on the table, you want to mirror that. And so, I talked about that, but I talk about what I call the “varsity level mirroring”, verbal mirroring, which I also talked about a partner from the FBI, a former Chief Hostage Negotiator. And we talk extensively about how FBI hostage negotiators leverage verbal mirroring to connect with people when they can’t be face-to-face with them. But you can be face to face in the sales context by leveraging some of the same words, and I have some tricks that I teach about, you know, really doing that well. It’s something to really think about to connect with people. So, start with basic physical mirroring, and then talk with me about verbal mirroring to take that to the next level.
Tom Poland 07:21
The sorts of phrases or words that they use on a regular basis, you drop them into your responses and questions, and that will-
Jeremy Hurewitz 07:27
Yeah, I don’t want to give too much away but it’s about particularly looking for colloquialisms and pet words, right?
Tom Poland 07:32
Perfect! Thank you for that. A valuable free resource, folks. I’ll answer this for the sake of time. Go to selllikeaspy.net. You’re going to find a fascinating video there on Jeremy. You can connect with him on LinkedIn as well. Selllikeaspy.net. 20 seconds left, Jeremy, what’s the one question I should have asked you, but didn’t?
Jeremy Hurewitz 07:50
Sales quotas and how everybody is just chasing a sales quota. It could be a bad market. It could be a tough time for the product or service you’re selling. You can be the greatest salesperson in the world and not, you know, attain your quota. So maybe you could ask me why sales have such a high turnover and I’d start pointing to that.
Tom Poland 08:06
Jeremy, thanks so much for your time!
Jeremy Hurewitz 08:08
My pleasure! Thank you for having me.
Tom Poland 08:09
It’s been interesting. Thank you.
Tom Poland 08:11
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.
7 min
December 28, 2022How to Pitch Your Offer Daily to Warm, High Intent Leads on LinkedIn without Sounding Spammy or Salesy – In Just 7 Minutes with Tyron Giuliani
Find out how to engage with intentional prospects that will turn their no into a yes
Learn more about the new LinkedIn and how you can get non-stop qualified leads
Understand why you should segment your prospect list and warm yourself to prospects first before everything else
Resources/Links:
To learn more on how you can gain non-stop and high-quality leads with LinkedIn, click here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LinkedInB2BMastery
Summary
Has marketing or pitching in your ideas to prospects been a struggle for you? Do you feel like you’ve been spamming messages but not getting enough responses?
Turning prospects into clients shouldn’t at all sound spammy and salesy, a good conversation at the right place and at the best time with a little bit of warmth is all you need to turn a no into a yes!
Tyron Giuliani uses tried and tested B2B business development methods on LinkedIn to win clients.
Find out how to turn unwanted no’s into amazing yes’s with Tyron’s tips on how you can pitch your offer without spamming and sounding salesy through LinkedIn and get a continuous flow of clients.
Check out these episode highlights:
01:26 – Tyron’s ideal client: I primarily work with small to mid-sized business owners that offer, you know, B2B services to other companies, or they’re kind of targeting skilled professionals like if they were selling to lawyers, or CPAs, for example.
01:48 – The problem he helps solve: What I solve is, you know, how to get into situations where you can pitch your offer wall, right, to people that are actually showing intent to solve the problem that you solve, and doing without ever sounding spammy and salesy.
02:33 – The symptoms of the problem: when people reach out and try business development on LinkedIn, they tend to experience a number of the same kind of challenges. One, no idea kind of wants to write without sounding like everyone else on the platform.
03:57 – Clients’ common mistakes before consulting Tyron: The big thing is not segmenting their prospect list, you know. They search, they pull up a search result, and then they treat everyone on the list the same way– same message, same outreach, same technique. It’s a huge mistake.
05:08 – Tyron’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): This one will absolutely solve a huge one. When building out your sourcing list of prospects, use the event function on LinkedIn. It is a goldmine now!
06:41 – Tyron’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): To learn more on how you can gain non-stop and high-quality leads with LinkedIn, click here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LinkedInB2BMastery
07:17 – Q: What’s one thing you can do on LinkedIn to avoid looking spammy in Messenger on LinkedIn? A: The advice is, to ask yourself this, “With what I know about this person and what my relationship is with this person, would I say it in real life?” And if the answer is no, don’t type it in Messenger.
Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:
“No one is attending an event on LinkedIn about a problem if they didn't have it, and they didn't have a desire to fix it.” -Tyron Giuliani
Click To Tweet
Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)
Tom Poland 00:10
Welcome, everyone, to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. I’m Tom Poland beaming up to you from the sunny Sunshine Coast in Australia, joined today by Tyron Giuliani. Tyron, g’day mate! How are you? Where are you hanging out?
Tyron Giuliani 00:22
Good day, Tom. I’m in Tokyo, Japan!
Tom Poland 00:25
Tokyo, Japan! Now, when I saw Tyron’s name, I imagined he was an Italian living in New York, but it turns out, he’s an Australian living in Japan. So, wherever you are, Tyron, it’s great to have you on the show! For those of you who don’t know Tyron, he’s got wicked, smart, clever, B2B business-developed methods, and it includes landing high premium clients from LinkedIn. So, it’s a very clever, well thought out, methodical, step-by-step method that you and I can use to land quite a high-fee paying clients from LinkedIn. So that leads us nicely into the title, Tyron, which is, “How to Pitch Your Offer Daily to Warm, High Intent Ideal Clients on LinkedIn Without Sounding Spammy, or Cheesy or Salesy”. So, let’s kick off, Tyron. Our seven minutes is going to start, any moment now, finding the link. We’re going to start now! Question number one, sir, who’s your ideal client?
Tyron Giuliani 01:26
So, I primarily work with small to mid-sized business owners that offer, you know, B2B services to other companies, or they’re kind of targeting skilled professionals like if they were selling to lawyers, or CPAs, for example.
Tom Poland 01:40
Perfect! Most of the folks listening to this are going to fit that, the profile, ideally. So, question two, six and a half minutes left, tell us about the problem you solve for them.
Tyron Giuliani 01:48
Yeah. So, what I solve is, you know, how to get into situations where you can pitch your offer wall, right, to people that are actually showing intent to solve the problem that you solve, and doing without ever sounding spammy and salesy.
Tom Poland 02:05
Right. And there are some key points there, folks, warm conversations with people who have demonstrated intent to want to have that conversation. So, it’s more inbound marketing than it is outbound, manipulative, selling techniques. Key points to note. So, six minutes left, question number three, how would someone know that they need to know more about your strategy? What are some of the typical symptoms that a B2B marketer is going to be experiencing that this is, “Yeah, I need to learn more about this”?
Tyron Giuliani 02:33
Yeah. So, when people reach out and try business development on LinkedIn, they tend to experience a number of the same kind of challenges. One, no idea kind of wants to write without sounding like everyone else on the platform. But the second big thing is, you know, they see less than 10% response rates, maybe even as low as 5% response rates to their messaging. And then the huge majority of the response is “No thanks”. And the third thing is that they’ve got no idea how to actually search for and find and segment prospects to ensure that they’re really focused on high-intent people, right? They just- and rather than going after dead and dormant accounts.
Tom Poland 03:14
So, it’s all about random and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey stuff.
Tyron Giuliani 03:17
And then no system to scale it.
Tom Poland 03:19
No system to scale. So, failure to identify people who are likely to be in the sweet spot and the target market, a lack of response, no system to scale, I imagine a hell of a lot of frustration, and copying and pasting, and, you know, hearing crickets. So, we’re talking about people here who are growth orientated, They’re marketing. They want to, you know- they’re happy to roll the sleeves up and do some marketing. So, they’re going to have tried stuff. What would you say are the common mistakes that folks are making, in doing their marketing, particularly on LinkedIn? You’ve mentioned a couple already. Four and a half minutes left. Anything you want to add to that in terms of the sort of mistakes, you see quite often?
Tyron Giuliani 03:57
The big thing is not segmenting their prospect list, you know. They search, they pull up a search result, and then they treat everyone on the list the same way– same message, same outreach, same technique. It’s a huge mistake. The second thing is no pre-warming of prospects with an intentional engagement before they ever speak and connect to someone. They might just go in there and do some random, like the last three posts, and then reach out and offer and pitch. It’s just its poor performance. And the last thing is many will use the kind of multi drip fed messages. And you know, they continue to get ignored, but they keep on sending them over and over four or five times. No one’s paying attention to the first three! They’re not going to pay attention to the next three.
Tom Poland 04:43
Yeah, if it doesn’t work, I’ll just do four times as much of it.
Tyron Giuliani 04:47
And then it’s left in the messenger as a history of spam. So, when you go back to them, there’s a history of six spammy messages. You’re not getting a second try on that one.
Tom Poland 04:55
Yeah, okay. So definitely a mistake! So, let’s flip it. We’ve just got over three minutes left. One valuable free action, like a top tip, you could recommend someone could, not going to solve the whole issue for them, but it might take them a step in the right direction.
Tyron Giuliani 05:08
This one will absolutely solve a huge one. When building out your sourcing list of prospects, use the event function on LinkedIn. It is a goldmine now! So, what you would do is go search for events that are addressing the problems that you solve, or an event where your ideal client would attend, right? Register for the event. When you register, you’re actually able to pull up the entire attendees’ list. You can then filter for your ideal prospects. You can start strategic outreach on those leads, and you can message them without even being connected to them. So, you’ve got to remember this, no one is attending an event on LinkedIn about a problem if they didn’t have it, and they didn’t have a desire to fix it. Right? And the beauty of it is more and more events every week, new events pop up. It’s this renewable source of high-intent leads. It’s the biggest trigger I see on LinkedIn today, that shows you someone has a problem and they want to solve it.
Tom Poland 06:10
Absolutely brilliant! Because, as you said, they’ve already put their hand up and said, “I have a problem. I am interested in a solution to the point where I’ve registered for the event.” So, if you’re offering something similar, pretty good chance they’re going to be interested in what you’re doing as well.
Tyron Giuliani 06:22
And you get 75% of the goodness of the event without even putting it on.
Tom Poland 06:28
I love this! So, question six, one minute, and 40 seconds left. Let’s direct people to more resources where they can find out more about what you do and how you can help them get clients through LinkedIn. You’ve got a Facebook group, by the way.
Tyron Giuliani 06:41
Yep, the easiest way! Go to Facebook. I’ve got a group of there’s over 7000 entrepreneurs in there. It’s called LinkedIn Sales Funnels for Entrepreneurs. LinkedIn Sales Funnels for Entrepreneurs. Go there, search that, and you’ll get, like my page, join. I do weekly thing training. This week, we’re going to have a workshop this Friday, going down. So, if you join, you can attend that.
Tom Poland 07:02
Wonderful! And, folks, there is a link underneath the video if you’re on our website. Otherwise, it’s to go to LinkedIn- sorry, go to Facebook. LinkedIn Sales Funnels for Entrepreneurs and join the group. Question number seven, sir, 55 seconds left. What’s the one question I should have asked you, but didn’t?
Tyron Giuliani 07:17
Okay, so what’s one thing you can do on LinkedIn to avoid looking spammy in Messenger on LinkedIn? The advice is, to ask yourself this, “With what I know about this person and what my relationship is with this person, would I say it in real life?” And if the answer is no, don’t type it in Messenger. Simple as that!
Tom Poland 07:42
It’s a great top tip. Tyron, sorry, thank you so much for your time! It’s been very insightful and very helpful. Cheers!
Tom Poland 07:51
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.
9 min
December 26, 2022How to Maximize Your Business Value – In Just 7 Minutes with Laurie Barkman
Find out how to shape your business into becoming transferable and profitable
Discover the ways how to stop letting your business become dependent to you
Learn how you can create an exit timeline for yourself and the future success of your business
Resources/Links:
Want to find out how to create a transferable and profitable business? Click here: meetlauriebarkman.com
Summary
Do you want to learn how you can exit your business without the worry? Are you ready to find the clarity that you need so that you can afford a grand exit?
The value of a business depends on its transferability and profitability in the long run. So how sure are you that your business is worth it?
Laurie Barkman is a Business Transition Sherpa working with business owners to create company value and plan for a future exit that rewards their hard work.
Dive in as Laurie talks about how you can maximize the value of your business and shares her awesome tips on how to find that clarity and alignment to get your master exit plan going.
Check out these episode highlights:
01:31 – Laurie’s ideal client: Business owners who are running privately held companies in the US and revenues of five to 50 million, any industries, but I work a lot with owners and business services, industrials, tech, and all across any industry.
01:51 – The problem she helps solve: Like you said, 100% of business owners are going to leave their company one day, boots on or boots off, but many of them, the vast majority of them, do not have a plan for that exit or to sell their business.
02:42 – The symptoms of the problem: The number one feeling or emotion that I encounter is people feel trapped. And they also feel encumbered by uncertainty. And so, the number one value that I provide to them or work with them on is finding alignment and clarity on a strategy.
03:38 – Clients’ common mistakes before consulting Laurie: Yeah, the biggest thing is they need to understand how they can de-risk their business. So many times, owners don’t understand that a business that isn’t transferable is a worthless business. And the business is too dependent on them personally.
05:37 – Laurie’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): I think a big thing is beginning with the end in mind. Can you create an exit timeline for yourself? Just sketch it out roughly, that you want to move on in 10 years, and maybe it’s not age, but it’s life stage.
06:31 – Laurie’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Want to find out how to create a transferable and profitable business? Click here: meetlauriebarkman.com
07:26 – Q: People want to know what their business is worth. You’d be shocked to know that 90% of us don’t know what that business is worth. Is it possible to find out? A: The answer is yes. We do business valuations to help owners understand what their value is or what can be their largest asset.
Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:
“A business that isn't transferable is a worthless business.” -Laurie Barkman
Click To Tweet
Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)
Tom Poland 00:10
Welcome, everyone, to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. I’m Tom Poland beaming out to you from the little sunshine coast here in Australia joined today by Laurie Barkman. Laurie, good day from Down Under. Where are you hanging out?
Laurie Barkman 00:21
I’m in the United States. I’m in Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, PA.
Tom Poland 00:24
Pretty much everyone’s in the US, it seems! So, you’re on Eastern time, is that right?
Laurie Barkman 00:31
That’s right.
Tom Poland 00:32
So, what do you got, like 20 to 5 pm yesterday?
Laurie Barkman 00:36
That’s right.
Tom Poland 00:37
And here is, it has gone. It’s just about this that has gone 20 to 7 am. So, let’s rock and roll off time zones on the business. So, for those of you who don’t know Laurie, she’s a Business Transition Sherpa. So that means she guides people toward creating company value and a plan for a future exit. And folks, we’re all going to exit our business, whether it’s the two feet first, or whether we sell it, we’re all going to exit. So, it’s not a bad idea to get your business in shape so that when you do exit, its value is maximized. And funny enough, the very things that you need to do to make your business uber successful are exactly the same things that you need to make it very valuable. So, Laurie is going to share a little bit more about that. The title is, “How to Maximize Your Business Value” so that your rewards for all your hard work come to fruition. Laurie, let’s kick-off! Our seven minutes is going to start now. Question number one is who is your ideal client?
Laurie Barkman 01:31
Business owners who are running privately held companies in the US and revenues of five to 50 million, any industries, but I work a lot with owners and business services, industrials, tech, and all across any industry.
Tom Poland 01:47
Thank you for that! Question number two, six and a half minutes left, what’s the problem you solve?
Laurie Barkman 01:51
Like you said, 100% of business owners are going to leave their company one day, boots on or boots off, but many of them, the vast majority of them, do not have a plan for that exit or to sell their business. They don’t have a succession plan, particularly in the baby boomer category of business owners. And it’s a particular problem for those folks without a succession, they don’t really have a way to reduce the risks. They run out of time. And many of them just close the doors.
Tom Poland 02:19
Right, which is such a massive wasted opportunity. So, let’s talk about question number three, which is, what would you say, when you get a new client on board, what were the symptoms they were experiencing prior to engaging with you? Just under six minutes left. What’s going on in their business or their life where they think, “Yeah, I need to find out more about what Laurie does”?
Laurie Barkman 02:42
The number one feeling or emotion that I encounter is people feel trapped. And they also feel encumbered by uncertainty. And so, the number one value that I provide to them or work with them on is finding alignment and clarity on a strategy. And it gives a sense of relief, and then when we execute that strategy, it obviously can have other benefits, financial and otherwise. But there’s a really strong need for people to find that clarity.
Tom Poland 03:08
Interesting. And that clarity gives them a sense of relief. And it gives them, I guess, also a sense of confidence that they’re going to be able to hit in the right direction. So, let’s- we’re talking about business owners who are generally quite successful, really. I mean, they’ve got good revenue coming in. They’ve put an established business. They’ve been doing what they’re doing for many years probably. Getting to here, they’re going to be trying stuff to solve the problem they’ve got. What would you say are some of the common mistakes that people make before they find your solution? That’s question four. And we’ve got four and a half minutes left.
Laurie Barkman 03:38
Yeah, the biggest thing is they need to understand how they can de-risk their business. So many times, owners don’t understand that a business that isn’t transferable is a worthless business. And the business is too dependent on them personally. And while that feels great, they feel needed and they have an impact. At the same time, it is creating a situation where that businesses cannot thrive without them. So, if they can’t take a vacation, and that wears on them, that wears on their health. So, a business that, has too much owner dependency is one big risk factor. And there are many others, whether it’s financial performance, whether it’s the team itself, turnover or not having the next key manager line in place. There are many, many things that can make a business less valuable, and at the same time many things that can make a business more valuable. And knowing what those things are is really important. Many owners are in their business day to day. They’re not working on their business.
Tom Poland 04:35
Sure. And I guess one of the common mistakes is not working on their business or the development of the processes and the people. Is there anything that comes to mind that people try the proactive with it, which is just the wrong direction or just, you know, just the wrong thing to do?
Laurie Barkman 04:50
That’s really an open-ended question. It really depends, but one example is in contracts. You might have contracts that are handshakes, and relationships that are non-written down And, what happens when the business owner moves on? Are those contracts transferable? Are those relationships transferable? And one example in the United States is certification as a woman-owned business. And we’re a minority-owned business or veteran-owned status. And while those can be great. if you’re developing a business around those contracts and relationships of your status, are they transferable to another owner? And it’s kind of a catch-22? And that’s just one example. We do run into lots of those issues.
Tom Poland 05:28
Perfect! Thank you for that. Question five is one valuable free action. Give folks, if you would, a top tip that’s not going to solve the whole problem, but it might take them a step in the right direction. Two and a half minutes left.
Laurie Barkman 05:37
I think a big thing is beginning with the end in mind. Can you create an exit timeline for yourself? Just sketch it out roughly, that you want to move on in 10 years, and maybe it’s not age, but it’s life stage. If it’s age-based, in the US, 65 is a popular number. For some folks, it’s a little bit older. For some folks, it’s younger, because they want to do other things. Maybe they want to start another company. Maybe they want to just take a step back and become chairman of their business. Whatever your goal is let’s articulate and write it down because the more likely we are to achieve that goal if we’ve written it down, and we’re more clear about it. So that’s the number one thing I can say, is really think about your goals. And the more you can shape that out, the easier it’ll be too, what I call, reverse engineer, and start with today and map out how we get there.
Tom Poland 06:23
Perfect. Thanks, Laurie! Question six is a valuable free resource. Where can we direct people so that they can find out more about working with you and what you do? 90 seconds left.
Laurie Barkman 06:31
There’s a web page that I have that is a shortcut, meetlauriebarkman.com. And there, they’ll find an invitation to meet with me. It’ll be a free consultation. And they’re also going to be invited to take a business assessment where they can learn about what strengths their business has, and also what hidden risks they might be facing that can hold back their value and hold back the transferability of their business, which is obviously something we want to avoid. So meetlauriebarkman.com.
Tom Poland 06:58
There’s a lot of value in this, folks. So, you can schedule a 30-minute call to discuss your goals and the process of creating a more profitable and transferable business. So, whether you work together or not, you’re going to get a lot of value out of that. So, it’s meet with Laurie, sorry, meetlaurie, meet as in have a chat, Laurie, L-A-U-R-I-E, Barkman, as in a dog barking, barkman.com. Thanks, Laurie! Question seven, what’s the one question I should have asked you but didn’t? 35 seconds left.
Laurie Barkman 07:26
People want to know what their business is worth. You’d be shocked to know that 90% of us don’t know what that business is worth. Is it possible to find out? The answer is yes. We do business valuations to help owners understand what their value is or what can be their largest asset.
Tom Poland 07:40
Terrific idea! Laurie Barkman, thanks so much for your time.
Laurie Barkman 07:43
Thank you! Thanks for having me, Tom.
Tom Poland 07:44
Cheers!
Tom Poland 07:51
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.
7 min
December 21, 2022How to Develop the Mindset of Sales Champions – In Just 7 Minutes with Ian Koniak
To let go of the mindset that everything is about you and focus on what your client’s goals are
Understand why hustling and doing more isn’t always the answer to your sales problem
Discover how you can shift your mindset and break free from the limiting beliefs that are holding you back from
Resources/Links:
Wanting to learn what are the top ten sales traits you should have? Click here: untapyoursalespotential.com/top-traits
Summary
Do you feel like you keep on hustling and grinding but just end up exhausted and getting nowhere? Are you tired of feeling like you’re missing something in life to get you to that next step?
Hustling isn’t always the answer and way to grow your business and sales. Achieving your goals isn’t just done through the snap of a finger. More activity doesn’t necessarily mean more money and more about you means less of the client.
Ian Koniak is a sales coach that helps account executives go from good to great by mastering the mindset, habits, and skills needed to perform at the highest level in sales. With over 100M sold in his career, Ian was the former #1 Enterprise Account Executive at Salesforce.com.
Grab a seat and listen to what Ian has to say about the hustle culture and what it takes to develop the mindset of a sales champion without much of the grind!
Check out these episode highlights:
02:14 – Ian’s ideal client: My ideal client, there are, really, two ideal clients. The first one is just the person that wants to perform to their full potential. So typically, this is an account executive selling, you know, software or something that has the high ticket potential similar to Salesforce.
03:34 – The problem he helps solve: The problem I solve was really limiting beliefs. And a lot of times, people, fundamentally, they have that internal thermostat, if you will, that says, “You know, I’m used to playing at 70 degrees. I’m not at 80 or 93 degrees.”
04:30 – The symptoms of the problem: They’re beating themselves up! They’re saying, “Why do I keep doing the same things over and over again? I know I need to be showing up differently.” A lot of the symptoms are they’re frustrated, they’re overwhelmed, they’re stressed.
05:42 – Clients’ common mistakes before consulting Ian: A big mistake is they think they can do more activity. “I’m going to just work harder. I’m just going to call more people. I’m going to just email more people. I’m just going to ramp up my activity and hustle.”
06:20 – Ian’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): I would say the number one thing they can do is, and this is easier said than done, it’s not like just an overnight thing. But the reason people are struggling is because they’re making it all about them, their inward focus.
07:39 – Ian’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Wanting to learn what are the top ten sales traits you should have? Click here: untapyoursalespotential.com/top-traits
08:24 – Q: What’s my favorite thing about Australia? A: I love the people in Australia! And my favorite place in Australia was the Whitsunday Islands. And I miss it and it was a wonderful year there!
Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:
“Instead of worrying about your goals, make your focus to help understand your customers' goals and help them achieve it through the products, services, or solutions that you sell.” -Ian Koniak
Click To Tweet
Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)
Tom Poland 00:10
Hello, everyone, and a very warm welcome to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. I’m Tom Poland joined today by Ian Kodiak. Ian, a very warm g’day from Down Under. Sir, where are you hanging out?
Ian Koniak 00:20
I’m in Los Angeles, California. Big fan of Australia so great to be here!
Tom Poland 00:24
Yeah, you were here for a year, a little birdie told me. Not too far away from where I am either. So, you’ve had a taste of Aussie and the same little bird told me it’s hot as hell in LA at the moment, right?
Ian Koniak 00:35
In inner LA, yes, but I’m by the beach, so we have the nice coast. And it’s about 82 degrees. I don’t know what that converts for Celsius, but it’s pretty warm. We’re in a heat warning, when you get that out of the weather app, you know it’s hot.
Tom Poland 00:51
Right. Alright, so Ian, a very warm welcome. Folks, if you haven’t heard of Ian, he’s a giver, that’s first and foremost. He does these interviews not to get more business in the door, but just so that he can share stuff that’s going to help people. His thing is sales coaching. He helps account executives, and if you’re selling something as a coach or a consultant, or you’re going to a corporation– that’s you! He helps them go from good to great by mastering the mindset, which, I think, is just so missing from sales conversations, you know. It’s the foundation to help master the mindset, the habits, and the skills, the complete package, in other words, to perform at the highest level in sales. Now, Ian has started a race, the metaphorical equivalent of a race, to the top of Mount Everest with hundreds and hundreds of competitors and got there the top. He sold $100 million in his own career, and he was the former #1 Enterprise Account Executive at Salesforce.com. That is nothing short of winning a sprint race to the top of Mount Everest. It’s extraordinary! And my congratulations on that. But essentially what it means is that you are one of the best-qualified people to talk about mindset, to talk about habits, and talk about skills. So, let’s get going! The subject is, “How to Develop the Mindset of Champions”. Ian, our seven minutes is going to start now. Question number one, sir, who’s your ideal client?
Ian Koniak 02:14
My ideal client, there are, really, two ideal clients. The first one is just the person that wants to perform to their full potential. So typically, this is an account executive selling, you know, software or something that has the high ticket potential similar to Salesforce. And they know they could be doing better, but they don’t know what to do. They’ve tried it on their own. They’re either performing average, or a little below average, maybe good, but not great, right? So, I really do help those people tap into what makes you phenomenal– the best of the best. Because my story was that I struggled and I was that average person, and I didn’t know what to do until I got help. And now I have the fortune of helping others figure out how to overcome what’s inside of them that’s holding them back. So, I coach mostly account executives and help figure out how they can get to the very best that they can be. And with that comes income fulfillment, a lot of times, confidence, so those are the people I work with.
Tom Poland 03:19
Thank you, sir. Thank you. So, five minutes and 50 left. You’ve probably defined the problem you solved quite well already. Anything you want to add to that? Is it lack of leads, or a lack of conversions, or the whole thing– from generating leads to getting that prospect over the line and buying?
Ian Koniak 03:34
The problem I solve was really limiting beliefs. And a lot of times, people, fundamentally, they have that internal thermostat, if you will, that says, “You know, I’m used to playing at 70 degrees. I’m not at 80 or 93 degrees.” Or they get hot, and they cool themselves down and they get cold, and they work themselves up. But they’re used to fully working in their comfort zone and kind of like not thinking they could be number one in their company or, you know, get their dream life possible. So, I help people break free of that which holds them back. And it’s often just their own patterns, their own habits, their own limiting beliefs, and thoughts.
Tom Poland 04:10
Thank you, sir. Five minutes left. What about some of the symptoms that someone listening to this would give them a heads up and say, “Yeah, I have those symptoms. I need to find out more about what Ian is doing”? And one of them probably is, you mentioned right at the start, they have this feeling they could be doing a whole lot better. So, I guess one of them is a bit of frustration. What else are they going to be experiencing?
Ian Koniak 04:30
They’re beating themselves up! They’re saying, “Why do I keep doing the same things over and over again? I know I need to be showing up differently.” A lot of the symptoms are they’re frustrated, they’re overwhelmed, they’re stressed. And a big one is they believe and think that something is missing in their life, right? There’s a big void that they’re trying to fill and a lot of times that void is the pursuit of their full potential and they’re just kind of like a hamster in a wheel, running around, doing the same things, frustrated unhappy, really just kind of living an empty existence, if you will, in the world of sales. That’s really stressed out and constantly just running around like a chicken with its head cut off. That’s a good way to-
Tom Poland 05:14
That’s a really interesting big picture take! We’re talking about, you know, someone’s life, right? We’re talking about how they’re feeling about themselves. And the interactions with their friends and their loved ones have probably an impact as well. Three and three-quarter minutes left, real quick, what would you say are some of the common mistakes after they’ve finished beating themselves up? People are going to try stuff. What would you say are a couple of the big mistakes that people make, instead of fixing the problem, they’re really doing something else that’s not going to work for them anyhow. Three and a half minutes left.
Ian Koniak 05:42
A big mistake is they think they can do more activity. “I’m going to just work harder. I’m just going to call more people. I’m going to just email more people. I’m just going to ramp up my activity and hustle.” Rather than changing their skills, getting help mentoring people, learning and modeling how to actually do it past their level. They just do more of what they were doing. That’s very clear.
Tom Poland 06:02
I’m doing 10 calls a day, and it’s an absolute disaster, so I’ll do 20 calls. I just doubled the disaster, right?
Ian Koniak 06:09
Yeah, they try and hustle harder.
Tom Poland 06:10
So, let’s go to question five, just under three minutes left, give us a top tip, a valuable free action someone can take. It’s not going to solve the whole problem, but it might take them a step in the right direction.
Ian Koniak 06:20
I would say the number one thing they can do is, and this is easier said than done, it’s not like just an overnight thing. But the reason people are struggling is because they’re making it all about them, their inward focus. They’re focused on their quote attainment, their income, their goals, and making it all about them. But when you’re making everything about you, okay, your customers are not going to receive you in the best possible way. So instead of worrying about your goals, make your focus to help to understand your customers’ goals and help them achieve it through the products, services, or solutions that you sell. So that shift from inward to outward focus is by far the biggest shift somebody can make. And it takes leaving your ego at the door, frankly.
Tom Poland 07:08
I mean, you’ve carried that through into your professional life, the whole giving mentality, the whole thinking about the other person mentality, the kind of, I suppose you have in the back of your mind, still, there’s a goal there. But the attitude is, “Let me help.” And I would venture to suggest you’ve probably carried that throughout your personal life as well. That must have been one of the big shifts you’ve made. I’ll carry on. A valuable free resource, questions six. Just over a minute and a half left. Where can people go to find out more about tapping their sales potential?
Ian Koniak 07:39
Well, it’s just there. It’s untapyoursalespotential.com. And if you want a free resource to really figure out what are those qualities of those top elite sellers, go to untapyoursalespotential.com/top-traits. Top traits, I’m sure we’ll put in the show notes. Tom will give that for you, but that’s where you’re going next. It’s a nice freebie, one-pager that you can keep with you and figure out what pages will you need to develop. I also will send, when you download that, a series of tips on each of the trades and how to develop them.
Tom Poland 08:11
Fantastic! So that’s untapyoursalespotential.com/top-traits. T-R-A-I-T-S. We’ve got a whopping 40 seconds left. Ian, what’s the one question I should have asked you but didn’t?
Ian Koniak 08:24
Well, you should’ve asked me my favorite thing about Australia. And since you didn’t-
Tom Poland 08:29
Apart from me, what’s your favorite thing about Australia?
Ian Koniak 08:32
I love the people in Australia! And my favorite place in Australia was the Whitsunday Islands. And I miss it and it was a wonderful year there! So, the people and the countryside, it’s just so beautiful there and I loved living there. I want to take my wife back when we’re older.
Tom Poland 08:52
Yeah, come on over. I’ll get the coffee ready for you! Come and visit. Ian, thanks so much for your time and your insights, and your generosity and giving. Cheers!
Ian Koniak 09:01
Thank you, Tom.
Tom Poland 07:51
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.
7 min
December 19, 2022How to Close the Deal in Business & Life – In Just 7 Minutes with Matt Easton
Discover why customer complaints don’t necessarily mean the end for you
Learn how to build a sustainable pipeline for more guaranteed revenue at a lesser expense
Find out how to move forward by doing things based on your customers’ reasons instead of yours
Resources/Links:
Want more tips on how to make sales less stressful and more bearable? Click here: Eastonuniversity.com
Summary
Do you want to know how you can easily close deals and get guaranteed streams of revenue without the hassle and stress?
Marketing isn’t about you; it’s supposed to be about who you serve. Closing the deal shouldn’t be as stressful as you think it is.
Sales are hard, but Matt Easton makes it a whole lot easier, more predictable, less stressful, and more fun.
Sit back and grab a drink while you tune in with Matt as he shares his secrets that can help give you a quick fix on your sales game plan and guarantee you more closed deals!
Check out these episode highlights:
01:59 – Matt’s ideal client: Ideal clients can be sales reps, managers, business owners, and entrepreneurs. Anybody, Tom, who wants to increase sales and top-line revenue. Those are two different things because I can increase sales and give my products away, you know, as a marketing genius.
02:33 – The problem he helps solve: Well, I would define it this way. And hopefully, it will resonate with some of the audience out there. Really, this is a terrible statistic, but it’s accurate. 98.4% of people in charge of sales, people in charge of business development, don’t have a simple process.
03:38 – The symptoms of the problem: So yeah, the obvious is, “I don’t know how to close” and I’ll teach you guys how to do that right here on this call, okay? Don’t know how to close it.
05:44 – Clients’ common mistakes before consulting Matt: They think they know everything, right? They think they’ve got it down. They underestimate the amount of people that they’re going to have to talk to, to sell their product.
06:43 – Matt’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): Well, I’m going to show you how to close both in your business career and in your life. Tom, let me ask you this. What do you say to close the deal?
08:16 – Matt’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Want more tips on how to make sales less stressful and more bearable? Click here: Eastonuniversity.com
Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:
“People are exponentially more likely to move forward to do things based on their reasons and not your reasons.” -Matt Easton
Click To Tweet
Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)
Tom Poland 00:10
Welcome, everyone, to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. I’m Tom Poland beaming out to you from the Sunshine Coast in Australia, joined today by Matt Easton. Matt, good day, sir. Welcome to Down Under. Where are you hanging out, buddy?
Matt Easton 00:22
A pleasure to be here, Tom. Thank you so much for having me!
Tom Poland 00:25
You’re very welcome! It’s a pleasure to have you here. How did you go with the midterms yesterday? It looks like your candidates are getting elected.
Matt Easton 00:32
Well, I’m a salesperson, Tom. So, what I figured out is, no matter who gets elected, or what’s going on, if I can control my business and my top-line revenue, it’s all good. So, I don’t need to worry too much about elections.
Tom Poland 00:45
Amen, I mean, my wife says to me, “You know, we’re in Mercury Retrograde. Your market isn’t going to go so well this week.” I said, “I’ll do it anyway.” You’re going to go and start a war in Ukraine, I’m still going to keep going with my marketing. Yeah, 100%. So, folks, one of the reasons that Matt is a pleasure to have on the show is that he does things differently. Yes, he’s a sales warrior, but he also understands balance in life. And I think he has a value set that’s a whole lot wider than just sales and marketing. And it’s always music to my ears, Matt. One of the shortest buyers in the world, which I’ll read to you now. Matt Easton makes it a whole lot easier, more predictable– God, I love that word– less stressful, and more fun to get sales happening.
Matt Easton 01:31
Sounds like a great guy. I want to meet this guy!
Tom Poland 01:34
Yeah! But that’s the whole predictability thing, isn’t it? And that’s what’s so much listing and sales., People wake up with anxiety. They practice random acts of sales. They have roller coaster revenue. And so, it’s the predictability. And it’s less stressful and easier. So, let’s rock and roll. Matt, the title today is, “How to Close the Deal in Business and Life”. Our seven minutes is going to start right now. Question number one, sir, who is your ideal client?
Matt Easton 01:59
Ideal clients can be sales reps, managers, business owners, and entrepreneurs. Anybody, Tom, who wants to increase sales and top-line revenue. Those are two different things because I can increase sales and give my products away, you know, as a marketing genius. You know, there comes a point where we’re giving too much away there. Anyone who wants to increase sales and top-line revenue without having to spend their entire budget on advertising or giveaway their profitability and discounts?
Tom Poland 02:27
Right. Perfect! Thank you, sir. So, question two, how would you define the problem that you solve?
Matt Easton 02:33
Well, I would define it this way. And hopefully, it will resonate with some of the audience out there. Really, this is a terrible statistic, but it’s accurate. 98.4% of people in charge of sales, people in charge of business development, don’t have a simple process. “What do I say? When do I say it? How do I do it to close business?” And it would literally be like, here in the United States with the national football team, the league, that would be like 31 of the 32 teams just show up on Sunday, and try really, really hard, but they don’t have a game plan. They don’t have an offensive coordinator. They don’t have a playbook. It would be a complete disaster in sports yet. That’s how 98.4% of businesses are managing their offense. That’s how they’re handling their offense is, “We’re just going to work really hard and hope for the best.”
Tom Poland 03:26
Yeah, that’s so true. And if there’s a game plan, they don’t stick to it.
Matt Easton 03:29
Correct!
Tom Poland 03:30
So, what would you say, this is question three, what would you say are some of the symptoms of this salesperson or the sales leader, or the sales team?
Matt Easton 03:38
Yeah. So yeah, the obvious is, “I don’t know how to close” and I’ll teach you guys how to do that right here on this call, okay? Don’t know how to close it. Don’t know the difference between objections and complaints. Just because somebody has a complaint doesn’t mean they’re not going to buy from you. Just because they’re complaining doesn’t mean they won’t go out on a date with you. If that were the case, my wife would have never married me, right? And we end up, a big symptom of this in the business world, is we end up trying to overcome a complaint because somebody from back in the day trained us on how to overcome objections, in most cases, the worst possible thing you could ever do. But we’re trying to overcome complaints. And we’re having these microaggressions and micro arguments with our customers that don’t need to have to be there. The last piece, the last symptom, is they don’t have a sustainable pipeline. So, they’re getting geniuses like you on the marketing side to fill their funnel with leads. And they’re saying things like, “Oh, they’re not qualified. They’ll never buy. I won’t call them back again.” You should have a sustainable pipeline where you can reach back into that pipeline at any time and reinvigorate it and pull revenue out of it.
Tom Poland 03:38
So, it sounds like the actual sales process is a point of conflict, therefore a point of stress and not having predictability. That pipeline is also a source of stress. So, predictability.
Matt Easton 04:55
Yeah. 100%, Tom. Yeah
Tom Poland 04:57
It might be pretty boring, but it’s certainly not stressful.
Matt Easton 04:59
Correct! And unfortunately, in a lot of the game plans that people are having, the common mistake that they’re making is using an old game plan. It’s like taking the playbook from a football team from the 1920s when they wear leather helmets and smoked cigarettes during the football game. Right? It just doesn’t work. Just doesn’t work today.
Tom Poland 05:20
Yeah, I see. 100%. I see that from the sales systems from the 1950s, for God’s sake, being, you know, lipstick on a pig and using it again. So, real quick, give us a couple of other- so we’re talking about people that are sales-oriented. They’re growth orientated. They want to try new stuff. They realize they’ve got this problem. But before they find your solution, what would you say are a couple of the common mistakes that they make?
Matt Easton 05:44
They think they know everything, right? They think they’ve got it down. They underestimate the amount of people that they’re going to have to talk to, to sell their product. And we see these Cold Wars, if you will, between marketing departments, if it’s a large organization and sales, or if you’re an entrepreneur, solopreneur, a cold war between you and whoever you’re buying your leads from, where you think it’s them, and they think it’s you. It might be both, but unless you specifically know, “Here’s exactly what I say. Here’s exactly how I close deals.”, you’re a big part of that problem.
Tom Poland 06:21
Right. Perfect! Thank you, sir. Two minutes left. Let’s go to a top tip. Question five, what can you offer people? It won’t solve the whole problem, they might need you for that, but it might get them started and step in the right direction.
Matt Easton 06:31
Yeah, I’ve changed their life right now and changed your life right now too, Tom. How about-
Tom Poland 06:34
I’m up for that!
Matt Easton 06:36
How about I teach everybody, including yourself, how to close right here, right now?
Tom Poland 06:39
This is the part I’ve been waiting for! Drumroll. Go for it!
Matt Easton 06:43
Okay. All right. Well, I’m going to show you how to close both in your business career and in your life. Tom, let me ask you this. What do you say to close the deal?
Tom Poland 06:51
Would you feel comfortable about moving ahead?
Matt Easton 06:53
Okay, would you feel comfortable about moving ahead? I like that. It’s very, very good! Okay, you’ve clearly been around. But let me tune that up a little bit more for you. And to rewind a lot of people who aren’t where you’re at right now, if they say things like, “Hey, do you want to sign the agreement?”, “Can we get this in front of the board?”, “Do you want to have lunch together?” Okay. People are exponentially more likely to move forward to do things based on their reasons and not your reasons. So, what I’d like everybody to start saying is, “Does it make sense to (blank)?” because I might not feel comfortable doing something, but it might make sense. Every time I go to my doctor, they get me to do stuff that I’m not comfortable doing, but it makes sense. So, if we just change that wording to “Does it make sense to (blank)?” Tom, does it make sense to sign the contract? Does it make sense to get this in front of the board? Does it make sense for you and I to have lunch together? If that person says no, it positions you perfectly because you’ve asked them a timing question. Right? To go, “No, no, it doesn’t make sense.” “Got it! What’s a good next step, then?”
Tom Poland 07:56
Oh, love it!
Matt Easton 07:57
Yeah, so shut up and let them lay an answer, right? If they don’t know, say, “Point the question at yourself. What’s a good next step for me? Or what’s a good next step on my end?” And at that point, if they still don’t know, you can set the next step. Hey, Tom, I’ll call you Friday if I haven’t heard from you before then. Fair enough?
Tom Poland 08:12
10 seconds left. Where can people go to find out more about what you do?
Matt Easton 08:16
Eastonuniversity.com. E-A-S-T-O-N, university.com.
Tom Poland 08:22
And what are they going to find there, Matt?
Matt Easton 08:23
They can jump on my free video tips mailing list. I will be sending them useful tips just like the one we went over right now on a very regular basis. No cost to them.
Tom Poland 08:32
Matt Easton, you’ve brought a lot of value in a very short space of time. Thank you so much for your wisdom and your insights. You’re just oozing with experience. Thanks! It makes sense.
Matt Easton 08:41
Tom, thank you so much. Pleasure being here! Yeah, it makes sense. If it ever makes sense for us to talk again, let me know.
Tom Poland 08:46
We should do that. Thank you.
Tom Poland 08:48
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.
10 min

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The Mission of Marketing The Invisible is to bring proven marketing ideas to professionals offering a service, advice or software and who want a weekly flow of inbound new client inquiries. We deliver one idea to boost marketing results using our “7 questions in 7 minutes”.

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