The Remarkable Project

In this episode of The Remarkable Project Jay chews the fat with business partner Neil Terry, as they tackle the topic of how to stand out in the sales process. Via a collaborative roundtable format featuring a handful of colleagues and listeners from all over, the pair touch on three powerful pillars which you can start using to support your selling and set you apart from the competition.

Our guests share their stories, approaches and experiences as we discuss how important an intentional approach to curating the sales experience for customers really is to business success.

Key questions which inform the conversation include:

Are you prepared to talk to the value of what you're selling in a way that doesn't just focus on functional benefits?

Beyond their purchase history, what do you really know about your clients that would help you engage more meaningfully?

What qualifies as truly memorable about your sales process, and what makes your approach hard to ignore?

Keen to join us for the next Remarkable Roundtable? Share your insight on how to build a business that people feel compelled to talk about by registering your interest here. We’d love to welcome you.

Connect with Us and Our Guests

Jay Tinkler and Neil Terry - Remarkably
From intentional impact to unexpected moments and compounding communities, Remarkably are about marketing done different, where making yourself memorable becomes your bottom line.

https://www.remarkably.com.au
Jay's LinkedIn
Neil's LinkedIn

Kate Visconti – Five to Flow
Go below the surface. Five to Flow is a global consulting collective that builds integrative organizational wellness solutions designed to achieve and sustain peak business performance.

https://www.fivetoflow.com
Kate's LinkedIn

Michelle O'Hara – Oh! Marketing
Oh! Marketing believe great marketing is about creating great relationships, so they’re committed to facilitating as many of those as possible, across branding, marketing and sales.

http://ohmarketing.com.au
Michelle's LinkedIn

Ben Johnston – Evocative
Brand design that inspires. Evocative inspire forward progression through creative brand design so that their purpose-centred clients can think and act deliberately to perform better.

https://www.evocative.cc
Ben's LinkedIn

Brendan Forwood – SBB People
SBB People are passionate about linking the value between leadership, culture and outcomes. They offer outsourced HR services, compliance and workforce planning that help businesses build strength through their human capital.

https://www.sbbpartners.com.au/people
Brendan's LinkedIn

Louis Bartle – Bartle Real Estate
The ultimate goal of Bartle Real Estate is to de-stress one of life’s biggest decision making processes – buying a home or property. Keeping everyone informed and treating each client as unique allows their expertise to shine through.

https://bartlerealestate.com.au
Louis' LinkedIn

In this episode of The Remarkable Project Jay talks to one of the most vibrant voices in the business of podcasting, Adam Schaeuble, about why patience is a virtue when growing an engaged audience, how every piece of content is an opportunity to bolster customer value, and what cutting the clutter can bring to your work-life balance.

Adam Schaeuble is a full-time podcaster and podcasting business coach, as well as the host of top ranked listens on the craft of the cast, Podcasting Business School and Podcast Launch Tips. He helps podcasters of all shapes, sizes and specialities launch and grow their shows, so they can mobilise, monetise and increase the impact of their personal or professional brand and any associated business interests. 

As well as being a prolific podcaster and mentor, Adam is also a community leader and has made it his mission to bring likeminded people together around a shared love of the format. His goal is to teach his students and Pod Pals how they can love their show like a hobby AND build it like a business. He’s twice been named an Icon of Influence and speaker at the New Media Summit and he speaks regularly at prominent podcasting events and online summits including Podfest, The Flyover Podcast Festival and PodQuest Live.

Remarkable Quotes

“I appreciate you, I'm here for you, I'm here to interact. I'm not a bot, let me know what I can do for you.”

“We need the right people We don't need millions of people, we don't need tens of thousands of people. It's a thousand true fans thing.”

“Make it about them and not so much about you. It’s about your passion, but it’s about their impact.”

Connect with Adam

Check out his website: https://www.podcastingbusiness.school

Follow Adam and his Podcasting Business School on Instagram

Interact on Clubhouse

In this episode of The Remarkable Project Jay talks to well-travelled chef and local food delivery business owner Kelly Eastwood about being resourceful in the face of adversity, why personal connection is the ground zero of community and organisational culture, and how care is key to making customers feel crucial.

After 14 years of working as a Private Chef to Royalty, Russian Oligarchs and many more on the Forbes list, Kelly Eastwood left the high seas and transferred her skills to Television. Working as a Home Economist and TV Food Producer for shows such as Masterchef, MKR, Better Homes and Gardens and The Great Australian Bake Off. The River Cottage Australia first brought Kelly to the Far South Coast of NSW, and it was there that she started her own business, Eastwood's Deli and Cooking School in picturesque Bermagui, hosting cooking lessons, pop-up dinners and coastal private catering events.

During the 2020 bushfires Eastwood's was converted into a Disaster Relief Kitchen for a not-for-profit organisation called World Central Kitchen, where Kelly and a team of 270 volunteers output almost 50,000 meals over a seven week period, feeding firefighters, evacuees and displaced locals in surrounding communities. Soon after the fires were done along came COVID-19 restrictions, forcing Eastwood’s to rethink their business model. Now their focus is on catering, cooking lessons and a much loved and ever growing take-home meal delivery service, which operates weekly from Pambula to Batemans Bay.

Remarkable Quotes

“We've all made lots of friends through our customers, which is just lovely.”

“Even if it's just one person and it's 15 kilometres down the track, return trip, we still will deliver to that person because it's a service that we want to offer.”

“For me, it's keeping a quality consistent, making sure that our customers are always happy with what we're delivering.”

Connect with Kelly

Explore the Eastwood’s website

Follow their Instagram

Thank you

Credit David Rogers for the photography

In this episode of The Remarkable Project Jay talks to author Bo Burlingham about what it takes to be a company that that has chosen to be great over big. We look at the principles of the highly successful companies that Bo researched, the communities they serve and the relationships and stories that define them.

Bo Burlingham has been writing about entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship for 40 years, mostly for Inc. magazine, where he served as executive editor and then editor at large. Along the way, he has authored five books, the most recent being Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top. 

 On this episode we dive into Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big, which was a finalist for the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year award. That book inspired the Small Giants Community, which he co-founded with Paul Spiegelman. He has written three other books with co-authors, including two with Jack Stack, CEO of Springfield Holdings Corp. and the pioneer of open-book management—The Great Game of Business and A Stake in the Outcome— and one with serial entrepreneur Norm Brodsky entitled Street Smarts.

Remarkable Quotes

"This is all about love right?! You have to love the community and the community has to know that you love the community.”

 "If the employees don't have the same passion for the company as the founder and owner, the experience they are going to have with the customer is not going to be the same” 

"A company need to have viable gross margins and protect those gross margins. It can't just reduce its prices.”

Relevant References

 ‘Small Giants: Companies that Choose to be Great Instead of Big’ by Bo Burlingham [2005]
 'Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top' by Bo Burlingham [2014]
 'The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company' by Bo Burlingham and Jack Stack [1992]

Connect with Bo

Learn about Bo's books and business
Reach out via LinkedIn 
Bo also kindly gives his email address in this episode.

In this episode of The Remarkable Project Jay talks to sales expert and author Brent Keltner about why traditional funnels are failing, how to build buyer journeys that matter, which tools can help businesses ensure they are a true fit for their customers, and what fierce loyalty means for shareability. 

Brent Keltner, Ph.D. is founder and President of Winalytics LLC, a go-to-market and revenue acceleration consultancy. He is also author of the forthcoming book ‘The Revenue Acceleration Playbook’. Winalytics helps clients achieve optimum growth potential by shifting from product-driven speeches to authentic conversations anchored in buyer-defined value.

Before starting the business, Brent spent more than a decade as a revenue leader in enterprise to early stage companies, and he began his career as a Ph.D. social scientist, spending a decade conducting qualitative research interviews at Stanford University and the RAND Corporation.

Remarkable Quotes from the Episode

“Your product doesn’t matter, it sounds like blah blah blah to your customers, what they want to know is how can your product make them more successful, so start there.” 

“You’ve got to go from thinking about selling to thinking about being a buyer guide.”

“Harness the maverick behaviour for the benefit of the team.”

Relevant References

‘The Revenue Acceleration Playbook’ by Brent Keltner [2022]

Connect with Brent

Learn about Brent’s business and book

Reach out via LinkedIn

We have spoken a lot about the physical experience that you give to your customers but what about the online experience? How often are you helping your customers feel connected to your business and community online? 

On the Remarkable Project this week, we have Jing Reilly. Jing is a CyberPsychologist and a Human-Centric Consultant who works with clients to unlock the potential of their customers through a deep understanding of how they think, act and react online. She has worked for multinationals like Facebook & IBM, and has also helped grow a number of start-up companies to a total of €200m in acquisitions. Jing lives and works in Ireland with with her husband and two children.

During the episode Jing touches on why it’s important to understand the power of technology in the context of the human condition, she shows us how having a strong understanding of how the human brain works is crucial to not only improving our bottom line but also making the world a better place. She also talks to us about the ingredients needed for a successful community and how it all starts from inside your business. 

Key Takeaways 

• Understanding the impact of technology on humans is super-important for generations to come. 
• The psychological impact of algorithms and AI
• How Pepsi used identity psychology to talk to a whole generation of potential customers. 
• The pillars needed to create and grow a successful physical community.
• How confirmation bias gets used in mainstream marketing to influence our buying decisions.
• The importance of listening deeply to your customers.

Remarkable Quotes

“It’s never about technology, it’s always about people”

“Community is just a by-product of your attention”

“Businesses need to accept that the power has shifted – from companies to customers. Companies are not controlling their marketing strategy anymore, it’s the customers that do. The customer has the power..”

“For businesses to drive a certain action from their customers, we need to understand their motivations”

Relevant References

The Century of the Self - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnPmg0R1M04

Influence – Robert Cialdini – https://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Robert-Cialdini/dp/006124189X

Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman - https://www.amazon.com.au/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0141033576

 Connect with Jing

Visit Jing’s website here: http://www.jingreilly.com/

Reach out and chat with Jing via LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jingreilly/

Follow Jing on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/jingreillycyber/

People are understandably selfish when it comes to spending their time and money, but what does this mean when it comes to how we should engage with them?  

Darcy Smyth is a co-founder and director of the Why Bravo. Why Bravo helps project-centric sales teams celebrate new company records globally by developing and deploying strategic thinking, deliberate sales and marketing plans, and unrivalled leverage within their industries to create significant growth.

As a psychology specialist, he’s obsessive about human behaviour. This official background in the discipline means Darcy has been able to articulate the sales playbook clearly and comprehensively. He’s an author and podcast host, and the creator of The Sales Game and The Champions League programs, which have been responsible for giving thousands the hidden power of reading between the lines and growing their pipeline. 

In this episode of The Remarkable Project Darcy touches on why it’s important to acknowledge how the buyer’s brain work, what value really means, and how we can make customers feel noticed and significant, quickly and cost-effectively.

Remarkable Takeaways

Understanding why and how buyers’ make decisions is crucial to developing the ability to push the buttons that make them feel significant and say yes more often than no.

Focusing on the pain points a potential customer is experiencing, not the size of the thing you’re giving them, puts you in a position of power competitively, as they see you solving their problems, not just your own.

The pitfalls of trying to make raving fans out of those who were never going to be that – real fans don’t need convincing so seek them out and facilitate them becoming front-line advocates for what you do and why.

Just like individuals, companies’ internal values expose themselves on the outside, so if a potential client hasn’t prioritised growth for the last ten years there’s little to suggest it’s a core value that you can engage and enhance successfully.

The power of relatability as a strategy – why personalised content is a great way to bring clients and customers closer and create enduring, profitable relationships.

Remarkable Quotes 

“Value is derived from the size of the problem someone is experiencing, not the size of the thing that you’re giving them.”

“You should never spend a single dollar on marketing that is trying to convince someone of something that they don’t already think.”

“Business is a reflection of humans, humans are not a reflection of business.”

Relevant References

Greg Head – https://greghead.com

‘It’s Not About You: A Little Story About What Matters Most in Business’ by Bob Burg and John David Mann [2011]

Connect with Darcy

Check out what Why Bravo do by visiting their website

Reach out and chat with Darcy via LinkedIn

Do you use the power of storytelling to bring your business to life for your clients and customers?

Gabrielle Dolan is considered a global expert in business storytelling and real communication.

She is a highly sought after international keynote speaker and best-selling author of seven books. Her latest – Magnetic Stories – was a finalist in two categories at the 2021 Australian Business Book Awards, as well as three in the recent International Book Awards.

Her client list is extensive, including the likes of Visa, Amazon, EY, Accenture, Telstra and Australia Post. The highlight of her career so far is meeting Barack Obama while delivering storytelling training for the Obama Foundation.

Gabrielle is the founder of Jargon Free Fridays and her dedication to the industry was recognised when she was awarded Communicator of the Year for 2020 by the International Association of Business Communicators.

In this episode of The Remarkable Project Gabrielle discusses why stories matter, what to consider when developing narratives of your own, and how real and relatable storytelling can be used by businesses to bring their customers closer

Remarkable Takeaways

• Why some stories are stickier than others, and how their highlights can become shorthand for a particular point or position.
• How enhancing emotional connections and forging lasting memories through stories can add value to experiences, products and services alike, especially when human relationships are more precious than ever.
• The benefits of making an organisation’s passions, purpose and values more than just words on a wall.
• Short, succinct, relatable and believable – the essentials of setting up a story for shareability.
• What leaders actively leaning into softer skills such as vulnerability and authenticity means for the way modern businesses communicate.

 Remarkable Quotes

"Be really clear on your message, really succinct, and make your stories relatable…then they will be shared.”

"You don't want to share a story and then act in the opposite way…that is where the authentic congruence comes in – you have to really believe in what you’re saying."

“Heal before you reveal…if it’s something really recent and really raw, you probably don’t want to be sharing it because you’re probably too emotionally engaged in it for it to it to be effective.”

Relevant References

‘The Leader’s guide to STORYTELLING: Mastering the Art & Discipline of Business Narrative’ by Steve Denning [2005]

‘The Story Factor: Inspiration, Influence, and persuasion through the Art of Storytelling’ by Annette Simmons [2000]

Connect with Gabrielle

Free storytelling starter kit
Check out her work website
Explore more on her books
Follow her on Instagram and Twitter
Reach out via LinkedIn

How do we harness the power of human connection to create stronger and more valuable relationships with our customers and clients? 

David Meerman Scott spotted the real-time marketing revolution in its infancy and wrote five books about it, including ‘The New Rules of Marketing and PR’, which is now in its 7th edition and has sold over 400,000 copies sold in English (having been translated into 29 languages).

Now David says the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of superficial online communications, with tech-weary and bot-wary people hungry for true human connection. Successful organisations have learned to win by developing what he calls a “Fanocracy”, tapping into the mindset that relationships with customers are more important than the products they sell to them.

His Wall Street Journal bestselling book of the same name, which was written in collaboration with his 27 year old daughter Reiko, focuses upon Fandom culture and how any business can turn fans into customers and vice-versa.

David has authored a total of eleven books to date, has a popular blog and provides advisory services for fast-growing companies. All this plus his speaking engagements around the world give him a singular perspective on how businesses are implementing new strategies to reach buyers directly and in real time. 

In this episode of The Remarkable Project David discusses the relevance of tribes, how putting passion on display can attract likeminded people and why trying to tightly control fan behaviour can prove counter-productive. 

Key Takeaways

·       Humans are craving a return to personal connection, to humanity, because we’re hard-wired to want to be part of a tribe of likeminded people. 

·       When you find a group of people who love something that you do too (music, sport, books etc.) you have an opportunity to join a tribe. If you act upon this, then over time the safety and acceptance you feel from the group becomes part of what you love about the ‘thing’, bolstering the emotional connection. 

·       Any business can find and nurture a tribe of fans, regardless of what industry they operate in. By actively fostering Fandom you can mobilise tribes to create new knowledge and attract new people via warmth of intention and shared understanding. 

·       We’re all fans of something, so when we share what we’re truly passionate about in a genuine manner we attract people to us. 

·       Close proximity to other people brings with it more pronounced emotional reactions – it’s biological.  

Remarkable Quotes

 “...big companies, small companies, it doesn’t matter…if they understand how and why somebody becomes a fan of something they can do business in a different way than the nastiness that’s going on right now in social media.”

“...once you create something and put it in the world, it no longer belongs to you, it belongs to the fans.”

“…you can try to aggregate a group of fans, but keep in mind that the ultimate is when they self-aggregate.”

Relevant References

‘The New Rules of Marketing and PR’ by David Meerman Scott [2017 – Updated Edition]

‘Fanocracy’ by David Meerman Scott and Reiko Scott [2020]

‘Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead’ by Brian Halligan and David Meerman Scott [2010]

‘Beyond Culture’ Edward T. Hall [1976]

 Connect with David

Learn more about David here and Fanocracy here

Follow David on Twitter (@dmscott)

Connect with David on LinkedIn

How do we ensure our businesses stays relevant and profitable? By building them from the outside-in, with customer experience at the epicentre of everything we do.

Phillip Di Bella is an entrepreneur, business owner, marketeer and mentor. His unique ability to visualise and commercialise what many others may never see has been on display through establishment of Di Bella Coffee, which became Australia’s largest speciality coffee company, as well as third-party businesses such as International Coffee Traders and Abbotsford Road Specialty Coffee in New York. His latest venture, Brisbane-based The Coffee Commune, is dedicated to the long term development, sustainability and success of the broader coffee industry for all participants.

Phillip is a champion of strategic business and personal growth wherever he goes. As well as driving forward the Di Bella Group of Companies where he is a Director, he also regularly lends his strategic thinking to businesses such as BDO Consulting, helping their clients overcome challenges, see new opportunities, and then supporting the commercialisation of these solutions.

In this episode of The Remarkable Project Phillip discusses the right questions to ask to unlock the true intent of a business, what makes understanding people so important to forging memorable experiences, how to encourage creativity and why it pays to avoid confusing ability with ambition.

Key Takeaways

• A simple three question framework can be a great way to establish the direction of a business and make sure it holds itself accountable to the values it holds dear. What problem are we solving? How are we going to stay relevant? What is our purpose?
• Narrowing your target audience and segmenting efficiently can help focus thinking and doing. Then turning this into competitive advantage relies upon identifying fresh opportunities not only to satisfy customers but to delight them, to such an extent that if you weren’t there those same customers would struggle to know how to replace your impact and influence.
• Adopt a mindset that a sustainable business is best build from the outside in, with customer transformation at the heart. In doing so, size, power and profitability shift to outputs of people seeing your brand positively and understanding its intent, rather than inputs which will guarantee that they care. If you choose people, they’ll choose you.
• Exceeding customer expectations needs to be a strategic and creative endeavour.  Life is about memorable moments, so making time to observe, listen to and, crucially, think about how customers interact with what you do to, and having a clear process to act upon what you learn, is how to maintain real relevance over time.

Remarkable Quotes

[03:28] “...If you can say “our client-base would struggle” if we closed our doors tomorrow, because no one can replicate what we do, then you have a rock-solid business.”

[41:48] “…The secret ingredient is emotional engagement…when people leave the room and they’re telling other people, that’s your brand.”

Relevant References

‘Entrepreneurial Intelligence’ by Allan Bonsall [2014]

‘The Dash’ by Linda Ellis / Robert Browning [poem]

Harvard Business Review [publication 

Connect with Phillip

Learn more about The Coffee Commune

Listen to the FlashCast by PDB on all Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more

Connect with Phillip on LinkedIn