The Bacon Podcast with Brian Basilico | CURE Your Sales & Marketing with Ideas That Make It SIZZLE!

Life & Leadership | Empowering Effective Leaders | Leadership Researcher & Speaker | Published Researcher & Author | Doctor of Management | Certified NLP Master Coach & Trainer

Helping business professionals, create professional images, through quality photographic services

HEY B2b Businesses – Bridge the Gap between your Marketing & Sales – Relationship Marketing is what is working to SPARK SALES Growth with EXPLOSIVE Content that POWERS your Brand and DRIVES your Sales ENGINE!

Storyteller–Video Producer–Photographer–Founder of Both/And Pictures

Expert VA® ♦︎ Websites, Branding, and Social Media Management for Authors, Bloggers, Coaches, and Musicians ♦︎ “Your Virtual Stage Manager” ♦︎ [email protected]

Creative Solutionist & Strategy Consultant | I help identify blind spots in your business & streamline your operations

Every year, around the 3rd to 4th week of November, until the 1st week of January, business starts to slow down (unless you are in retail). We start to reflect on the previous months of the year. It’s also a time to look forward to what’s next.

I can tell you as you get older the time compresses and seems to pass faster. That’s why I get so upset when they start pushing Pumpkin Spiced EVERYTHING in August, Christmas stuff for sale in September, and Black Friday sales in October!! Trust me, I get that it’s all about business and extending seasons to increase revenues, but seriously, can we just pause a bit and give thanks on Thanksgiving?

Hey, if you are into that I am not here to judge. I am all good with you being you… but I digress!

Thanks to my wife, dog (Layla), family, friends, readers, commenters, guests, clients, prospects, vendors (new and old), golfing buddies, musician friends, neighbors, and all the people in my social and business networks (all 10,000+ of you). The last year was filled with love, encouragement, faith, truth, and frequent reality checks! You bring purpose, pleasure, and occasional pushes, prognostication, and purposeful profanity that keep me moving forward!

In this episode, we will explore What I’m Thankful for over the past year and hopefully prompt you to do the same!

I am the CEO and Founder of Web Collaborative, a full-service digital creative agency. We pride ourselves on producing high-quality work that authentically communicates the value and story of our clients. In short, staying true to their “Digital DNA” so that they are successful for the long haul. Our vision is to empower and inform my clients to make better digital investments in an age of disruption. Our mission is to unleash the untapped potential of companies, organizations, and communities through inspired ideation and creativity. Our goal is to equip them with the tools to adapt to the digital age, and to build a future-proof ecosystem of people, products, and processes.

I am a board member of KEDO, Inc. This is a nonprofit organization that “Builds Schools and Futures in War-Torn Countries”. It is a charity whose work is based in Liberia, West Africa, and has built a school serving 80+ school-age children and currently is in the progress of completing a health clinic to help mitigate the ongoing health crisis in the nation. In particular, dealing with the 5th highest maternal mortality rate in the world.

I am also a board member of Chester County Futures. They are a nonprofit organization that provides comprehensive academic support, mentorship, and scholarship opportunities for economically disadvantaged youth, it promotes academic success, higher education, and personal development.

Consumers are fickle. How do I know? I am one.

Consumers change loyalties in an instant, while B2b customers are more complex. Switching brands or companies is easy for B2c. Not so much for B2b.

One of the Baconisms I post every month is, “When you contact a prospect… you are a salesperson. When a prospect contacts you… you are the expert!” All too often, a business sales team will focus on finding more leads. Sometimes they focus on nurturing prospects.

I think the main point is you are dealing with people. All people are consumers so it makes sense to treat them that way, but unless they are surfing Amazon at work, they will act and react differently when it comes to business.

In this episode, we will explore How B2c and B2b marketing and sales are so different!.

Jon is a SaaS entrepreneur and a CRM pioneer. He’s mostly known for founding one of the first CRMs, GoldMine. After selling his first company and retiring for 10 years, he decided to get back in the business because he saw that contact management was broken with no CRMs offering business owners an entire view into the relationships with their customers. He founded Nimble, an easy-to-use CRM that works for you everywhere you work. Jon often speaks about social media’s effects on sales and marketing, and growing businesses by utilizing community building, PR, guerilla marketing, and influencer marketing.

I have no idea how old you are, but I am this old… Do you remember TV Magic Cards?

Marshall Brodine was a famous magician (and he was the clown Wizzo on the Bozo Circus Show) who lived in Geneva, Illinois (close to where we lived in Aurora). I was enamored with those cards and remembered the commercials on TV. I eventually convinced my parents to drop $2 and buy me a set.

It has been said (by a very wise marketer) that, “98.67% of statistics are made up to benefit the statistician, and 63.2% are made up on the spot.”

I have seen fads come and go. QR Codes were going to replace print marketing. Apps were going to replace websites. CDs were going to replace Vinyl. In 2021, vinyl sales topped CDs in the US for the first time in 30 years. In 2022 that gap has grown with vinyl sales growing and CDs in a rapid decline.

In business (as in magic), always keep your eyes on the hands of the performer and not what they want you to focus on (that’s the distraction). That way, their sleight of hand will not end up with your pocket getting picked!

In this episode, we will explore how marketers and platforms are using tricks to get you to redefine success to their definition.

Xenia is the CEO and Co-Founder of Planable, a content review and marketing collaboration platform used by over 5,000 teams behind brands such as Hyundai, Christian Louboutin, Viber, and United Nations.

Prior to launching Planable, at 20 y.o. she built a digital marketing agency and led social for clients such as Coca-Cola.

Xenia has been recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and she spoke on the Innovation Stage at Cannes Lions in 2018. Xenia graduated Tim Draper’s startup academy in Silicon Valley and took Planable through the Techstars London accelerator in 2017.

She has also published a book –

I want you to imagine that you have just ingested some poison. After the initial shock of realizing the impending doom, you hear the doorbell ring. At that very moment, an antidote salesman is standing at the door and says, “I have what you need. I can give you the recipe for free or you can buy the vile for $1,000,000.” What would you do? What could you do?

There is a difference between consumer and business-to-business marketing. In the consumer world, you can sell the symptoms and the consumer will buy an over-the-counter remedy. If it works (or they think it does) they may buy it again. In B2b marketing, the goal should be to get the patient to talk with a doctor (your sales team) who can diagnose and prescribe a treatment. If there is no cure needed, you have won trust and that goes a long way in building referrals and future sales.

In this episode, we will explore if your sales and marketing are more of poison in search of an antidote or an antidote in search of a poison..

Umar Hameed is an expert in changing individual behavior and improving team dynamics. He uses techniques and tools from the world of Applied Neuroscience and NLP to make individuals and organizations more successful.

Umar helps sales professionals break through their limitations so they do an extra 20 transactions this year. I help team leaders become better leaders so they help their team members become more driven and tenacious.

This is what sets Umar apart from other sales consultants and trainers:

* Over 40+ years of experience as a successful business and sales consultant

* Over 25+ years experience in changing human behavior using Neuroscience, NLP and Hypnosis

* International Keynote speaker at conferences in 16 countries

Consistency can be defined as conformity in the application of something, typically that which is necessary for the sake of logic, accuracy, or fairness. When it comes to sales and marketing, consistency is a moving target. Technology and the business environment continue to evolve. You can adapt and help to provide consistently, or consistently improve results.

If you follow me on social media (especially Facebook), you know that I do a motivational quote every morning (called Deep Bacon Thoughts), and a caption contest at night. I use an app and post a motivational quote that aligns with events in my life or the world at large. People often like those, but occasionally they strike a nerve with some people. Sometimes it’s the funny bone (with a quippy reply), while others disagree with the sentiment. My goal is never to tell people what to think, but I will reply back with insight or the purpose of posting.

I know this sounds counterintuitive and conflicts with my point about researching people to limit the Connect and Pitches. It does not mean becoming a sucker or being willy-nilly with your time. It means, when you make a commitment, do so with consistency, and purpose.

In this episode, we will discuss how consistency is the key to success.