The Sales Evangelist

Many people get sales enablement wrong because they have different concepts and ideas about what it actually is. Roderick Jefferson began his sales career as a BDR, then an AEE, and finally moved into sales management. He discovered that he enjoyed sales more than he enjoyed closing deals. So he stepped into sales training. Now, through his company Roderick Jefferson and Associates, he breaks the complexity of sales into practical ideas through scalable and repeatable practices. SALES ENABLEMENT MISTAKES Sales enablement helps develop the right conversations the right way with the right tools. Ultimately, it seeks to decrease time to ramp or increase productivity and revenue. Many companies make mistakes implementing their sales enablement. They fail to establish consistency and parameters. Many wait too long to hire sales enablement consultants. They assume they need a consultant or a resource without realizing they need both. One can help you lay the groundwork that you can hand off to another. Many companies aren’t really sure what they need. They know what isn’t working and they treat enablement like IT. But those who do sales enablement aren’t the fixers of broken things. They aren’t sales scribes or sales support. They must be sales partners. TRAINING VS. ENABLEMENT A difference exists between training and enablement. Roderick believes that training applies to animals while enablement applies to humans. Enablement is woven into the fabric of the company. It literally has to be one of the top five initiatives of the overall success of the company. It also must have specific time-bound and measurable deliverables, metrics, and KPIs. MEASUREMENTS Some of the sales enablement measurements have changed. We used to talk about butts in seats, headcount, and NPS scores, but those things don’t carry water. Sales enablement now focuses on different questions. What’s the completion percentage of certification or accreditation? What’s the average deal size? Collateral use infrequency? How much new pipeline is being created? What’s the number of closed deals? What’s the product mix? What’s the quota attainment percentage? What’s the time to revenue? What’s the win rate? Many of the old measurements aren’t definitions of success and they won’t help move the needle forward for sales. BIGGEST MISTAKE Companies aren’t tying their goals, their sales processes, or their sales methodology to figure out where they fit into their buyer’s journey. They are trying to make their buyer fit into their processes, methodologies, sales stages, and CRM. They must step back and reverse engineer their process and document what the buyer’s journey looks like. They must also figure out where to fit in multiple touch points in the buyer’s journey. Sales enablement must be in place before you need it. By the time you need it, it’s already too late. If, for example, you’re planning to hire more people over the next year, you must have the content ready for them. You must have a process for onboarding. Without these processes in place, you’ve essentially planned to fail rather than ensuring success. RETHINK ICP Rethink the ideal customer profile. Start thinking instead about the ideal employee profile. From an enablement perspective, you start to get a feel for new hires and who is going to be a rock star. Instead of doing that after the hire, Roderick focused on working with HR resources around talent acquisition. Consider what a rock star looks like especially in the context of where the company is going. Then take that job description to HR and explain what you’re hiring toward. Sometimes sellers do well by accident because the prospect happened to need their product or service. In that case, they become simply order-takers. When we fail to measure, plan, or structure our efforts, we don’t optimize. Imagine if every organization operated that way. It’s the detriment of the sales industry. Supply chain ensures that you hit your markers and that sales leaders don’t move the goalposts. If you’re in the red zone about to score, you don’t want anyone to move the goal post. RESOURCE VS. CONSULTANT Many companies don’t want to pay for consultants but they want help connecting the dots. It’s important to use resources and consultants because what one lacks, the other brings. Roderick’s team brings templates to their clients so they don’t have to recreate the wheel. The process includes four stages. Infrastructure build and augmentation. Established sales enablement team. Sales leadership and coaching. Sales-focused metrics. HOPE  Instead of hoping that marketing does its job and that the customer buys, institute a clear process instead. Remove hope at every stage and rely on the process that focuses on your buyer’s journey. Enablement is an ongoing conference rather than a single event. “SALES ENABLEMENT” EPISODE RESOURCES You can connect with Roderick on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, or you can email him directly with questions at roderickjefferson.com. Connect with me at donald@thesalesevangelist.com. Try the first module of the TSE Certified Sales Training Program for free. This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. I developed this training course because I struggled early on as a seller. Once I had the chance to go through my own training, I noticed a hockey-stick improvement in my performance. TSE Certified Sales Training Program can help you out of your slump. If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your competitors, we can help you fix that. The new semester of TSE Certified Sales Training Program begins in April and it would be an absolute honor to have you join us. TOOLS FOR SELLERS This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It’s super easy, it’s helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You’ll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. Mailtag.io allows you to see around the corners. You can see when people open your email, or when they click on the link you sent. Mailtag.io will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald at check out. I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility. If you haven’t already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss a single episode. Share it with your friends who would benefit from learning more.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

It seems counterintuitive in sales, but leading with your flaws can shorten the sales cycle and disarm your customers, ultimately leading you to better metrics. Todd Caponi was the chief revenue officer for a company called Power Reviews which helps retailers and brands collect and display ratings and reviews on their website. His time there caused him to rethink the way he leads sales organizations because he discovered that consumers were more likely to buy a product that had a 4.2 to 4.5 rating than a 5-star rating. Statistics show that 95 percent of consumers in the B2C world are looking at reviews before they buy. Of those, 82 percent are looking for negative reviews before buying. Todd wondered what might happen if the same notion could be applied to the B2B world. Pros and cons Todd embraced the idea of embracing the pros and cons and leading with them. He discovered that his first deal, which previously had a sales cycle of 6 months, closed within 4 weeks. They discovered that when you lead with your flaws, your sales cycle speeds up dramatically. You’ll qualify deals faster and eliminate those deals that you probably weren’t going to win anyway. Todd was in New York when his VP of sales called him to say the company had an inbound lead from an apparel brand that wanted to initiate an evaluation. The brand happened to be headquartered in NY, so Todd scheduled coffee with the senior vice president of e-commerce. The coffee meeting became a presentation instead, and the SVP got right to the point. Competitor is better He said that his company had been talking to Todd’s competitor, and he wanted to know why Todd’s company was better than the competitor. Todd figured he had nothing to lose, so he asked an unexpected question. “Do you mind if I tell you why the competitor is better?” He explained that the competitor had offerings that his own company didn’t, so if he wasn’t going to be able to meet their needs, he wanted to determine that quickly so both parties could move on. The room deflated. The guy clearly thought Todd was crazy, but he agreed to the idea. Todd talked about an add-on that the other company had but explained that his own company was focused on certain core beliefs. The SVP acknowledged that the add-on the competitor was offering wasn’t a necessity for his company, so they moved on. Transparency Within 20 minutes, the SVP kicked everyone else out of the meeting and grabbed a folder that includes the company’s budget for ratings and review software. He pointed to a number inside and asked Todd if he could hit that figure. The two engaged in a collaborative process that culminated in a deal a few weeks later. The company didn’t initiate an evaluation. It simply chose Todd’s company. He recounted that he had called Todd’s competitor, who quickly went on a rant about the add-on that distinguished the two companies. Every time they led with their flaws, it completely disarmed their prospects. The company built its sales cycle on a foundation of trust and all of its metrics moved in a dramatically positive direction. Wired to resist Todd said that we’re all wired to resist being sold to. As a buyer, he simply wants to be able to predict what his experience with a certain product will be like, and then to get the best deal he can. He said that a salesperson will demonstrate within the first five minutes whether he will be a great resource or push toward a sale even if it isn’t what the buyer wants. People believe in authenticity and honesty. Many of them believe that there’s a trade-off required so that in order to have authenticity and honesty, you will sacrifice results. But the data suggests otherwise. The data says that when you provide authenticity and honesty to your customers, you’ll maximize your sales results. Truthfully, the era of hiding your flaws from your prospects is over. The proliferation of ratings and reviews has moved into the B2B area and it has become the way of the world. B2B buying behavior A company called Trust Radius just published a study of B2B buying behavior. The data demonstrated that B2B buyers are using reviews 56 percent of the time and analyst ratings only 24 percent of the time. Every year, reviews are climbing and independent studies are going down. Marketing is becoming less trustworthy and reviews are becoming the core that brings buyers to the table. Sellers must embrace that. It’s counter-intuitive to most people to show weakness. Many sellers will listen to this and wonder why this works. Todd dug into the neuroscience of this and discovered that buyers make decisions using feeling and then back them up with logic. Logic is the justifying mechanism to emotional decisions. We are also wired to disbelieve anything that looks perfect. We are taught to seek the negative. A recent study reported that buyers in a typical purchase cycle spend 39 percent of their time talking to sellers and 61 percent of their time doing other homework. This includes research, reviews, and back-channel information. Utilizing levers In his book, Transparency Sale, Todd tells the story of a rep who was selling something to an oil company. He explained the concept of levers, which he has become famous for. If you search Google for tips on negotiating, you’ll find countless pointers that destroy trust. It’s like a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament. But if you want to build trust through the goal line, you lead with what is important to you as an organization. You create buyers who are actually able to negotiate their own deals. In the case of the oil company, Todd was pulled into a last-minute negotiation with a group of procurement people. Before they even started, he asked for permission to write four things on the board. He listed four levers on the whiteboard. Volume, or how much they buy Timing of cash, or how fast they pay Length of commitment, or how long they commit Timing of deal, or when they signed Discount The people in the meeting immediately asked for 30 percent off. Instead of offering to do 15 percent and initiating that song and dance, he acknowledged that it might be doable and then suggested using the four concepts on the board. These concepts represent four things Todd’s company was willing to pay for in the form of a discount. The notion immediately disarmed the people in the meeting. “Commit to more technology and because that’s valuable to us, we’ll pay you in the form of a discount.” “Since we have a three-year commitment, pay us for years two and three and we’ll pay you in the form of a discount.” “Extend your deal to five years and we’ll discount an extra 5 percent for years four and five.” Todd’s company got something in return for every dollar they gave away, and the oil company loved Todd’s company at the end. Remember that you aren’t negotiating hostages. You’re negotiating agreements with products. Be upfront Commit to being as transparent as possible. Every person simply wants to feel that they’ve been heard and that they’ve gotten a good deal. Get rid of one-sidedness. You’ll bring humanity back to the conversation. You’ll have the confidence of interacting with people as human beings. So few companies have a framework for the way they negotiate. You could implement this concept right now. It doesn’t require a three-day class. [Tweet "Transparency sells better than perfection. With the proliferation of feedback and reviews, transparency is a requirement. #SellerTransparency"] "Leading With Your Flaws" episode resources You can connect with Todd on LinkedIn or at his website, transparencysale.com. Grab a copy of his book, Transparency Sale. If you haven't connected with me on LinkedIn already, do that at Donald C. Kelly and watch the things I'm sharing there. You've heard us talk about the TSE Certified Sales Training Program, and we're offering the first module free as a gift to you. Preview it. Check it out. If it makes sense for you to join, you can be part of our upcoming semester. You can take it on your own or as part of the semester group. If you and your team are interested in learning more, we'd love to have you join us. Call (561)578-1729 to speak directly to me or one of our team members about the program. This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Humor takes away tension and sellers who use humor in the sales process can increase efficiency and improve effectiveness. Andrew Tarvin realized over the course of his career that you can't be efficient with humans. Instead, you must be effective. His experience in stand-up comedy revealed that improv demands the same skills necessary to be an effective leader. He explored the intersection of humor in the workplace and fell in love with the subject. He observed that it's strange to think that companies pay him to teach employees to have more fun. He notes, though, that it's missing from the workplace, and he addresses the issue in his book, Humor That Works. Strategic humor We know that humor relieves stress and that it's overall a good thing. We do not seem to know how to deploy humor strategically. Rather than simply using it for the sake of fun. we must use it to achieve a specific result. How do I use humor in the sales process to build rapport?Can I get people to pay attention to what I'm saying with humor? Will humor relieve my own stress in the sales process? We tend to think work must be strictly business. In actuality, though, you're still dealing with humans. Humor inspires people to connect and let their guard down. Would you rather? Andrew calls it a stupid question, but he wonders whether people would rather do something fun or not fun? Of course, people will say they'd rather do something fun. And if work is a little more fun, they'd probably be more likely to do the work. If you could make interactions a little more enjoyable, people would be more willing to engage in them. Even if the work you're doing is serious in nature, like the Red Cross, you're still working with humans. Humor happens to be one of the most effective means of engaging people. It's something different that people enjoy. Working with the FBI The FBI has a group called the office of private sector where agents work to build relationships with senior leaders at private companies. If the FBI can develop strong relationships before there are problems within companies, they can more readily identify problems when they emerge. They want to set meetings with people but you can imagine how people respond when they hear from the FBI. Andrew worked to teach them how to use humor to build rapport. The agents learned to build rapport despite the intimidation factor. Boring meetings If you hold an initial meeting that bores your attendees, they won't want to attend the next time you invite them. If people get value out of your meetings and enjoy attending, they'll be more likely to attend future meetings. Humor isn't what you do. It doesn't replace the work. It's simply a matter of presenting information that someone needs in a way they enjoy consuming it. Engaging strangers Sales reps face many different hurdles when engaging prospects or new people. One of the greatest difficulties is making a great first impression and building rapport when they meet people for the first time. Within existing sales processes, a number of challenges exist. The average person sends and receives more than 100 emails per day, with many spending up to 80 percent of their time in active communication. Many sellers present information to help the buyer purchase rather than sharing information that will help develop a relationship. Asking questions Andrew points to a sales presenter named Phil Jones who says that sales is simply earning the right to make a recommendation. Think of it as a visit to the doctor. Before the doctor gives a diagnosis, he asks questions and ultimately gives a prescription. Imagine if you went to a doctor who gave you pills before you even told him what was wrong. You'd assume he was a quack and you wouldn't trust him with your health. The same scenario is true in sales. If the seller doesn't even know anything about you, how will he address your challenges? Enjoyable process Since the seller and the buyer are both humans, see if you can make the process a bit enjoyable. Then, discover whether you can be on the same side. Ian Altman wrote a great book called Same Side Selling that encourages sellers to solve problems without trying to trick buyers into buying something. Understand that humor is broader than comedy. Make the process a bit more fun to get people to pay attention. In your outreach, what are you doing to introduce a bit of humor? If it's true that people buy from the first person who provides them value, recognize that humor adds value. Fun Andrew got a cold email from a guy with a regular pitch. He ignored it like he does most cold emails. About a week later, the guy followed up with a gif of John Travolta from Pulp Fiction with his coat over his arm looking confused. There was no text with the email because it wasn't necessary. He didn't need to point out that he had emailed just the week before. Another seller started each cold call by acknowledging that this was a cold call and the person on the other end of the phone could hang up if he wanted to. Some of them did, but many others allowed him another 60 seconds because of the humor. Capture attention and build intrigue. Connections Humans are seeking different connections and one way to build rapport throughout a conversation is small talk. Instead of asking the typical questions, ask slightly more interesting questions. Instead of asking "What do you do?" ask, "What's the coolest thing you've worked on the past few months?" It changes people's perspective and then their response. Then, drop relevant facts throughout the conversation, like whether you're a nerd or an introvert or from Ohio. If you offer this kind of information as part of a smaller group, you'll have an instant connection to anyone else who is also from Ohio. Humor doesn't only help during the introduction part of the sales process, either. It can help improve understanding about ideas and it can lessen the awkwardness of the money conversation. You decide Even if you work for a company that doesn't allow humor, the company can't control how you think. There are benefits to using humor to increase sales and get better results. Additionally, though, you can use humor to help you enjoy your work more. You'll be more willing to do your work and you won't dread Monday. It comes down to a choice. You decide how you do your work every day. Andrew's book provides 10 strategies for using humor in the workplace, and the 11th strategy, a bonus one, is perhaps the most important. [Tweet "Strive for one smile per hour. What's the one thing you can do each hour of the day that brings a smile to your face or the face of someone else? #saleshumor"] It develops a humor habit. "Use Humor In The Sales Process" episode resources You can connect with Andrew at humorthatworks.com, where you'll find a bunch of free resources and a newsletter. You can also grab a copy of his book, Humor That Works, which teaches the what, why, and how of humor in the workplace. Connect with him directly @drewtarvin on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Drew also recently discovered that he still has a Myspace page from 2008. Connect with me at donald@thesalesevangelist.com. Try the first module of the TSE Certified Sales Training Program for free. This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. I developed this training course because I struggled early on as a seller. Once I had the chance to go through my own training, I noticed a hockey-stick improvement in my performance. TSE Certified Sales Training Program can help you out of your slump. If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your competitors, we can help you fix that. The new semester of TSE Certified Sales Training Program begins in April and it would be an absolute honor to have you join us. Tools for sellers This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It's super easy, it's helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. Mailtag.io allows you to see around the corners. You can see when people open your email, or when they click on the link you sent. Mailtag.io will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald at check out. I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility. If you haven't already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won't miss a single episode. Share it with your friends who would benefit from learning more. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Sellers who want to succeed must ask themselves a vitally important question: Are you ready and prepared to have a value-rich conversation? I recently took a camping trip with my buddies to St. Louis, and though many of us were excited about the trip, we realized that being prepared was something completely different. Being ready for it suggests that you believe in your ability to get it done. Being prepared means having the proper equipment and gear to succeed.     Sales pitch    My friend Doug shared recently that many different sellers pitch his company, and though many of them are ready, most are not prepared. Sellers often feel excited about the sales pitch and the possibility that it could lead to great opportunities for their company.  If, however, they arrive unprepared, they'll be unable to identify the problem their prospects are facing. They won't have any idea about how to solve the problem for the client.  If our crew didn't prepare for our camping trip, we wouldn't have enough food and water to sustain our group. If we can't communicate with the folks who are scheduled to pick us up, we could quickly find ourselves in the midst of a disaster.  Understanding problems Imagine I sell office furniture and I'm excited to pitch our new sofas and standing desks to my prospects. I must be ready and prepared to address the person's business, how it operates, how it makes money, and the changes that exist within the industry.  If my client is facing higher prices because of the trade war with China, I have to understand that business problem and then offer ways to solve it. It's the same as going camping without enough drinking water. You're going to land yourself in a tough situation, and ultimately, you'll sound like every other sales rep.  Be prepared The same friend was working with a prospect when he discovered that he didn't understand enough about the prospect's industry. He started by researching the people who were going to attend his upcoming meeting. He researched each person on LinkedIn so he was prepared to have good conversations.  Next, he Googled the company's history so the prospect wouldn't have to educate him on it. And when the prospect asked him what he knew about the company, he was able to share the history. He also observed that many of the company's employees changed position from one department or role to another. That helped him have more meaningful conversations about the changes the company was facing.  His preparation set him apart from his competitors, many of whom show up expecting the prospect to provide this information for them. Buying cycle  "Research repeatedly shows that buyers are 50 to 60 percent through the buying cycle before they ever meet with you. The buyers are more prepared than ever, which means that sellers must do the same. These buyers come to the table with more understanding. They want to have meaningful conversations with companies that can solve their problems and offer great deals.  If you find yourself being dismissed often, it's likely that you didn't provide a value-rich conversation. If your prospects frequently offer to "follow up with you," you didn't provide compelling reasons for the prospect to engage with your company.  Competition Go a step further and research your main competition. Who is your prospect working with now? Who have they done business with in the past?  Uncover your competition's shortcomings and leverage that information to show how you can be the ideal solution.  Sometimes companies are in contracts with vendors but if you can create reasonable doubt, you can help the prospect realize that the current partner isn't the greatest fit.  "Ready and Prepared" episode resources   If you haven't connected with me on LinkedIn already, do that at Donald C. Kelly and watch the things I'm sharing there. You've heard us talk about the TSE Certified Sales Training Program, and we're offering the first module free as a gift to you. Preview it. Check it out. If it makes sense for you to join, you can be part of our upcoming semester. You can take it on your own or as part of the semester group.  If you and your team are interested in learning more, we'd love to have you join us. Call (561)578-1729 to speak directly to me or one of our team members about the program. This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Value is in the eye of the buyer, and because assessing value is not as simple as it sounds, companies often get this wrong. Ken Rutsky specializes in helping companies tell their story in a way that connects it to the customer. He says that value is all connected to the stories we tell. Defining value We're trying to sell something. Essentially what we're doing is making a trade of the two things they value the most in order of least to more. Money is the thing everybody values, but often buyers value their time even more. They value the time they spend understanding, evaluating, and implementing a solution or a product. We're asking our buyers for two rare commodities, so we have to deliver something that is equal to or hopefully greater in value. As a result, the simple definition of value is what will the customer open his wallet and pay for? Many sales reps perceive that they are creating value but that may not be the case because assessing value is not as simple as it seems. Perceived value Ken said that the biggest mistake sales reps make is overvaluing value. Seems strange to say in a discussion all about value, but it's true. If we're sitting next to each other on an airplane and I'm showing you pictures of my four kids, by the third kid you've probably seen enough. We tend to get excited about our goods and services just like we do about our kids. Many times, we want to show the client thousands of pictures of it. We overvalue what they'll see in it. Instead, we really need to relate our product to our customers. Sales doesn't work the way it once did. Your customer doesn't need you to tell him about your product. They'll go to your website and find out everything they ever wanted to know.  In the book Launching to Leading, Ken talks about how salespeople should succeed today. Start by creating that shared context with the customer. Realize, too, that it's the customer's context, not yours.  Viewpoint You have to start the conversation about your customer's world. Come in educated about how you can transform your customer's world.  In a recent survey of B2B buyers, business buyers ranked product knowledge as the 8th most important factor in the process. They ranked the seller's ability to understand the buyer's business as the number one priority.  Number 2 was the ability to teach the customer something he didn't already know. Don't enter the relationship with the intent to sell something. Instead, have a conversation about their business, and then teach them something.  Teaching is critical to establishing your value as a salesperson. If the customer isn't learning from you, he could just as easily go to your website instead. In fact, most customers are 60 percent through the process before they ever want to speak to a salesperson. Find a teaching opportunity.  Stories  Realistically, it is marketing's job to create the stories, but the sellers are the ones who must deliver them and create context around them.  Marketing is a one-to-many art. Great sales reps show up and contextualize the stories. Understand the story of your product and how it transforms your customers' business.  You have to do the hard work of understanding all these things. There is no magic shortcut.  Empathy Sales leaders must operate with a sense of empathy. Understand that marketing is working hard to provide the stories and the materials. If marketing feels like they aren't getting the things they need, there's a shared responsibility to make that connection.  Marketers must have empathy for the pressures and difficulties of selling. Great marketers have empathy for sellers. They understand the need to work as a team.  Leaders must create that environment of empathy across the organization.  Confidence Sales reps have to be competent and courageous enough to show the product very early in the sales cycle. Whether it's a true demonstration or a case study, sellers have to demonstrate value if they want customers to believe it.  Don't wait six weeks into the sales cycle. Demonstrate early and often. Sellers must have the ability to create and demonstrate their own contexts.  Teach your customer something and then show them how the product can enable the thing you taught him. It can happen in the first call and then it should happen again and again through the process.  The teaching diminishes as the process goes along because the customer already understands the possibility. Your competition may be showing the products sooner because prospects don't have the patience they used to have. [Tweet "You can lose the sales you don't even know if you're shy about your value. Your customers may assume you're hiding something. #Value"] Do the homework and understand your customer and everything follows from there. Assessing value is not as simple as it sounds. "Assessing Value is Not As Simple As It Sounds" episode resources You can connect with Ken at kenrutsky.com. You can find information about him and his clients, and grab a copy of his book, Launching to Leading.  Connect with me at donald@thesalesevangelist.com. Try the first module of the TSE Certified Sales Training Program for free. This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. I developed this training course because I struggled early on as a seller. Once I had the chance to go through my own training, I noticed a hockey-stick improvement in my performance. TSE Certified Sales Training Program can help you out of your slump. If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your competitors, we can help you fix that. The new semester of TSE Certified Sales Training Program begins in April and it would be an absolute honor to have you join us. Tools for sellers This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It's super easy, it's helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. Mailtag.io allows you to see around the corners. You can see when people open your email, or when they click on the link you sent. Mailtag.io will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald at check out. I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility. If you haven't already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won't miss a single episode. Share it with your friends who would benefit from learning more. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

During our time at the Florida State Minority Supplier Development Council's expo, we've met a number of people who understand the secrets behind growing your business and creating value. Felix Bratslavsky works at Tampa General Hospital, a very large level-one trauma center that is number one in Florida for transplants. The organization has more than 8,000 employees but they still contract out much of their workload. Gilda Rosenberg started a vending machine company 35 years ago in Miami and she slowly grew it to include major clients like universities, schools, and hospitals. She calls her relationship with  the NMSDC a love affair that resulted in referrals, connections, and mentorship that helped her to grow her business. Partnerships Tampa General has a minority business program that breaks out the four procurement categories from construction and professional services to general goods and services, and medical services and supplies. The hospital has a lot of contracting opportunities and a lot of partners within the state of Florida and even nationwide. The Minority Business Enterprise program administered by the NMSDC recognizes for-profit businesses in the U.S. that are 51 percent owned, operated, capitalized, and controlled by minorities. Felix says that MBEs that want to stand out should strive to be a partner. Add value, be cost-efficient, and know about the customer. Understand the customers' goals, their missions, and where they're headed. Bring the solution to wherever your prospective customer is going. In the case of Tampa General, the hospital recently got a new CEO that is leading the organization down a different path. MBEs that want to engage should recognize that the business has changed paths and they should offer solutions that relate to the path the company is on. Be an expert in your own business. Instead of coming to the prospect with a variety of items, they should know the situation well enough to narrow the solution down the best possible option and lead with that one. Homework MBEs must do their homework and focus on preparation if they that want to get noticed. Organizations receive hundreds of emails every day, so generic outreach will generally get deleted. Learn the process to get on the vendor application and then build a relationship. Finally, come with solutions. Understand your business and their business well enough that you can have meaningful conversations about each. If you want to be the next partner, you should already know who your competitors are, and who your prospect is currently using and why they are using that company. You should know whether a contract exists, and whether it's up for renewal. Companies that do those things win opportunities. Differentiate Differentiate yourself by being prepared. When there are so many companies doing the same thing and offering the same service, you have to stand out. Maybe you stand out on price or on value or even additional services. Whatever it is, make sure that the corporations you're pursuing know what sets you apart. Finding the right people Gilda recalls asking a bank for a $5 million loan for vending machines and being treated as though she was crazy. She said that her connections through NMSDC helped her learn how to negotiate the loan process as she interacted with banking people and how to create bids from connecting with hospital CEOs. Her biggest challenge in the vending industry has been the labor force. Her first route driver stole from her, so she learned that she had to control inventories differently. As the industry grew into a technological one, she had to bring in geek squads. She also learned how to find the human resources that support your mission and your vision. She said that finding the right manpower still poses one of her greatest challenges even today. The company struggles to find loyal employees who stick around because small companies struggle to sustain high turnover. The cost of training is simply too high. NMSDC She experienced a huge lift when she was introduced to the minority certification program. Then, she slowly grew her network and interacted with larger organizations where she landed contracts. You must prove yourself to the client. She says the most incredible satisfaction comes from helping minorities nationwide. Her suppliers and equipment originate from minorities. And now newer companies want her to introduce them to other contacts. Gilda calls her mission a mission to help other minorities. She also calls NMSDC the best college she ever went to. Although she studied economics in college, she grew professionally among the members of the NMSDC. She learned to nurture others. [Tweet "The product and service aren't so important anymore. It's your personality and how you take care of your clients that matter most. #Differentiate"] Don't think twice about joining the council because there's nowhere better to network. The council's handholding helps businesses by taking extra steps to get you to the right people. And knowing the right people can be the key to growing your business and creating value. "Growing Your Business and Creating Value" episode resources You can connect with Felix at (813) 844-3474 or at fbratslavsky@tgh.org or go to the hospital website. You can connect with Gilda at gilda@gillyvending.com. Learn more about the National Minority Supplier Development Council and its offerings at the website, nmsdc.org. If you haven't connected with me on LinkedIn already, do that at Donald C. Kelly and watch the things I'm sharing there. You've heard us talk about the TSE Certified Sales Training Program, and we're offering the first module free as a gift to you. Preview it. Check it out. If it makes sense for you to join, you can be part of our upcoming semester. You can take it on your own or as part of the semester group. The program includes 65 videos altogether, and we just completed a beta group that helped us improve the program and maximize the information in it. If you and your team are interested in learning more, we'd love to have you join us. Call (561)578-1729 to speak directly to me or one of our team members about the program. This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

The same secret scale up success strategies that help entrepreneurs grow their businesses to the next level will benefit individual sellers who recognize their territories as their own business. Lauren Cohen works with foreign investors to find the right business opportunities, make the right investments, and get and keep their visas. She discovered along the way that many of these people didn't pay a lot of attention to their business structures and that the same was true of American business people. 7 Steps Scale Up Success Strategy Lauren characterizes her role as creating a GPS for your business, but you have to have a destination. You can't tell your GPS that you don't know where you're going. These 7 areas of a business' foundation can result in disaster if they are overlooked. Funding in capitalization. Without the right capital, or if you're under-funded or under-capitalized, it doesn't matter how great your business idea is, you're going to fall apart.  Business planning. If you don't have a business plan and an exit strategy, you don't begin with the end in mind. Branding and marketing. Building your brand is part of your foundation but it doesn't exist independent of all these other elements, and marketing is part of branding. Legal and compliance. Without a legal structure in place, which so many business owners don't have, you're risking your family and everything you have. Financial and taxes. Everyone knows what that is all about. Operations and systems. Without systems, you can't repeat your success. Insurance and licensing. If you don't have insurance and someone sues you, you've got nothing to protect you. Without the right licenses, you can be shut down. Know your area You cannot be an expert in every area, so Lauren's number one tip is to stay in your lane. You don't know what you don't know. Figure out where your gaps are and then allow someone who is an expert to oversee the process. She suggests a 3-step process to assess your company. Assess Diagnose Deliver Diagnose the issues and then fill the gaps you identified in the process. Exit strategy Lauren related the story of a client who wanted to exit her business within five years so she needed an exit strategy. She needed a strategy to get from where she is to where she needs to be. She wants to sell to one of four parties but she doesn't want to sell at a discount on her dollar. Rather, she wants to sell at the highest possible dollar amount. In order to do that, she needs to increase the profits. That's where the various elements of branding, compliance, taxes, operations, and all these other components become important because they will help the business owner get more value at the time of exit. [Tweet "Begin with the end in mind when developing your business plan. Develop an end game and then create a strategic plan to ultimately get you there. #BusinessPlan"] Funding and capitalization It sounds crazy, but if you ask someone to invest $100,000 in your business, they are going to laugh at you. If, on the other hand, you ask for $5 million, they'll suddenly believe that you're serious. The problem is that there's no ROI for $100K. The cost of obtaining the money is so high that it's not even worth it for them to pursue it. Financial and taxes This one is easy. If the IRS is after you because you haven't paid your taxes, get them filed. You may pay penalties but at least you'll be up-to-date. Legal and compliance Legal and compliance include your corporate record books, which everyone should have. Some companies don't even have the corporate entity which is a whole other story. Make sure you have a corporate record book that's affiliated or associated with that entity. Hold a meeting each year and record the minutes in that record book. Reflect all the changes to shareholders and bank accounts in your records. She estimates that 70 percent of businesses don't keep their record books up to date. If you try to sell your business or you end up in litigation, you'll need that book. Building and scaling It's vitally important to have all of these considerations in mind as you're building and scaling your business. If you find a potential strategic partner who wants to help you build your business but he discovers that you don't have all your contracts in place, the deal will fall apart. If you have the wrong documents, you're potentially setting yourself up for liability. Don't try to do this alone. Consult with a professional. Everybody avoids hiring a lawyer or a professional for fear of getting the bill at the end. But it's better to get the bill now than to get a larger bill later. "Scale UP Success Strategies" episode resources Grab a copy of Lauren's book Finding Your Silver Lining In the Business Immigration. You can take a copy of her quiz at showmethemoneyquiz.com. It's quick, free, and fun and it will give you access to schedule a call with her. You can also find her on Facebook @scaleupcheckup or on LinkedIn @scaleupcheckup. You can also reach her directly at (866) 724-0085 or info@scaleupcheckup.com. Connect with me at donald@thesalesevangelist.com. Try the first module of the TSE Certified Sales Training Program for free. This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. I developed this training course because I struggled early on as a seller. Once I had the chance to go through my own training, I noticed a hockey-stick improvement in my performance. TSE Certified Sales Training Program can help you out of your slump. If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your competitors, we can help you fix that. The new semester of TSE Certified Sales Training Program begins in April and it would be an absolute honor to have you join us. Tools for sellers This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It's super easy, it's helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. Mailtag.io allows you to see around the corners. You can see when people open your email, or when they click on the link you sent. Mailtag.io will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald at check out. I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility. If you haven't already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won't miss a single episode. Share it with your friends who would benefit from learning more. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Every seller should create good content as a tool to gain leads, grow their business, and increase overall success.  Kyle Burt first heard The Sales Evangelist podcast two years ago when we interviewed Alex Berman about using video in sales. Kyle, who once chose business school over film school, went home and started making videos.  Massive success Kyle quickly turned his video capability into massive success for himself. Before video, he was using cold calls, email, and "screaming from the tops of mountains," knocking on every door and delivering cookies. When you're starting out, you have to be willing to do whatever it takes.  He realized that video provided a good strategy to get leads. But he shifted his focus to making videos because he wanted to make videos. He realized he had a level of value and a perspective that wasn't being shared.  Kyle recognized, too, that only the people in his bubble would understand the content he was posting because it was niche content.  Coca-Cola He established a weekly schedule because he knew he had to post consistently, and he introduced Whiteboard Wednesdays. It was a chance to introduce different technologies. Maybe 20 videos later, he was on vacation in Cancun in 2017 when he got a LinkedIn message from the VP of technology for Coca-Cola. He assumed someone was pranking him, but in fact, the gig turned into a consulting opportunity with the company. When Kyle realized the VP had seen the very first video he ever posted, the most awkward of the bunch, he knew that he was on to something with video.  Objections  In the case of objections, sellers often face their own objections to appearing in or creating videos.  "I don't look good enough for the camera."  "I don't have the right equipment."  "There isn't enough time to create videos." The important parts of the content are good audio and good content.  [Tweet "When you see something that looks like a commercial, smells like a commercial, and feels like a commercial, most people run. Instead, be relatable in your videos and focus on the message. #VideoContent"] Fear of the comments In my own case, I've been slow to take advantage of YouTube because I'm a little bit afraid of the comments I might get. People can be nasty sometimes.  The point is that there will always be the possibility of those comments. Someone once told Kyle he sounded like a little baby. He wasn't even entirely sure what they meant by it, but he had to let it roll right off.  You have to be ready to take it on the chin when you put yourself out there. You're going to get some good and some bad.  Internalize the fact that nobody has it all figured out, and then realize that people are genuinely good. Most people don't want to tear you down, so don't spend your time on the small number of people who have something negative to say.  It's worth noting, too, that stories only survive for 24 hours, so they won't live forever. If you create a bad one, it won't be around for long. Even with LinkedIn, the feed algorithm means that it might technically always be there, but it will be harder to find.  Persistence We spent two years trying to get Kyle on the show but we couldn't make it work out because of different schedules. Our recording day is Monday because it's what works best for my team, and sometimes we have to bypass opportunities if they don't fit with that schedule. In Kyle's case, he was persistent. He got early access to LinkedIn Live, which as of this writing is only available to a few people, and he invited me to connect with him. After 18 months of no real interaction, he reconnected with me and we made it work. He grabbed my attention and we ended up recording with him on a day outside of our normal schedule.  Disrupt the norm. Create good content that stands out.  LinkedIn reach My good friend Stephen A. Hart from the Trailblazers Podcast pointed out recently that there are 9 billion impressions on LinkedIn every week, which amounts to 468 billion impressions annually. Of those, only about 3 million users are creating content. That means there is a lot of space to create more free content.  You can't find that kind of visibility on YouTube, Facebook, or any other platform. Basically, there are a small number of creators and a huge number of impressions, so it behooves you to grab a piece of the video market.  I happened to get into podcasting early when there were only a few sales podcasts. Now I'm a grandfather in the podcasting world.  Much innovation seems to happen with consumers first. The business world moves more slowly because there are more considerations to think about.  The marketplace dictates what it wants.  Coffee With Kyles Kyle previously collaborated with another guy named Kyle to launch a video podcast called Coffee With Kyles. Now he's working on a solo style show that will primarily involve live video. It will allow him to eliminate a lot of the editing and create more interactive experiences.  In the case of this podcast interview, our audience can't interact with us right now as the interview is happening. When they are finally able to, it will change the game.  The goal is to get more people engaged and online. When you go live, you can't stop the show because something goes wrong. Kyle said he has gone live five times and has broken the system five times.  Because of his persistence, he was one of the few to beta test LinkedIn Live, and it allowed him to connect with people and build relationships. If you try to be known, you'll miss the mark. If you create good content, you will be known. It's all about who knows you.  If you aren't creating some form of content or interacting with content on social media, you are irrelevant. Figure it out quick. If you're a writer, write. If you can do video, do that. If you can do audio, do audio. Figure out your lane and experiment. Every seller should create good content. [Tweet "In the end, the middle is just noise. #Noise"] "Every Seller Should Create Good Content" episode resources You can connect with Kyle on LinkedIn or at his website, www.catchcloud.com.  If you haven't connected with me on LinkedIn already, do that at Donald C. Kelly and watch the things I'm sharing there. You've heard us talk about the TSE Certified Sales Training Program, and we're offering the first module free as a gift to you. Preview it. Check it out. If it makes sense for you to join, you can be part of our upcoming semester. You can take it on your own or as part of the semester group. The program includes 65 videos altogether, and we just completed a beta group that helped us improve the program and maximize the information in it. If you and your team are interested in learning more, we'd love to have you join us. Call (561)578-1729 to speak directly to me or one of our team members about the program. This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

It can be frustrating for prospects to ask to speak to your current customers, and it can leave you wondering, "Should I Give Client References?" It can be tricky to balance this need, because you don't want your current customers, the ones you've developed into raving fans, to be constantly bombarded by prospects. Root cause Throughout the process, your prospects are trying to determine whether you're a good fit and whether you can truly help solve their problem. I recommend that you develop a wide base of people that can give you good support. But let's address the root cause of how your prospects got to this point. In my experience, it's because they don't have confidence in you as an organization, so they are seeking third-party validation. They don't want to make a bad decision. Put yourself in your buyer's shoes. His job or his reputation may be on the line. His company may not have a lot of money, so they can't waste it on buying the wrong product or service. Diffuse risk This issue usually traces back to a fear of risk, so you must diffuse this fear. [Tweet "If you're getting the request for references early on in your sales process, somehow you're failing to address their fears. #Objections"] It's not bad to give customer references, but client testimonials might work better. You can collect them in video form or as case studies. In last week's episode, we discussed the importance of leave-behinds, and testimonials might be a great option for you, especially if you're in a high-risk industry. Leave behind video testimonials of your current customers addressing some of the common questions or the challenging objections you routinely hear. You can leave them information about your past customers' pain and how you've addressed it. You can also indicate that you'll discuss these topics more on your next interaction. Your prospects simply don't want to be guinea pigs. Value You know your product or service is fantastic, but your prospects don't know that yet. Give value in order to help them understand. Use videos, case studies, and client testimonials on your website to communicate value. You can also create YouTube videos to help your client when he does the research you know he's planning to do. They'll establish a level of comfort with your product or service. If I'm your customer, I've got my own business to run. I'm too busy to answer all your customers' questions and to do all your selling for you. Referral phone calls interrupt my day. Compromise Perhaps the best option, then, is to offer to provide testimonials and case studies first to see if they can address the most frequent questions. Then, if the customer still has a level of uncertainty, you can consider providing referrals. You can even explain that you're trying to be considerate of your current customers just as you would do for this prospect someday when they've become your customer, too. Make sure you minimize the prospects' risk. Give them an opportunity to alleviate. Use leave-behind to help you accomplish that. Tell stories of clients that had similar challenges.  "Should I Give Client References?" episode resources You can connect with Ebony at her website, www.ebenumequationcoaching.com, or on LinkedIn @EbonySmithCoach. You can connect with Abdullah at tharooa@paykoncept.com. Connect with me at donald@thesalesevangelist.com. Try the first module of the TSE Certified Sales Training Program for free. This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. I developed this training course because I struggled early on as a seller. Once I had the chance to go through my own training, I noticed a hockey-stick improvement in my performance. TSE Certified Sales Training Program can help you out of your slump. If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your competitors, we can help you fix that. The new semester of TSE Certified Sales Training Program begins in April and it would be an absolute honor to have you join us. Tools for sellers This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It's super easy, it's helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. Mailtag.io allows you to see around the corners. You can see when people open your email, or when they click on the link you sent. Mailtag.io will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald at check out. I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility. If you haven't already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won't miss a single episode. Share it with your friends who would benefit from learning more. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Your brand tells your story when you're not in the room, and today Lindsay Pedersen shares tips for forging an ironclad brand with sales reps, entrepreneurs, and other business professionals.  Lindsay is a brand strategist who helps professionals identify the single idea that their business stands for. She's passionate about working with leaders to harness the power of brand every day.  Branding Brand is what you stand for in the mind of your audience. If your audience is a group of customers, it's the thing you mean to your customers. If it's future employers, it's what you mean to them. It's a crystallized meaning of what you uniquely bring to your audience.  [Tweet "When you stand for one idea, it's easier for your audience to grasp it than if you stand for multiple ideas. It's easier for a person to let one idea in. #branding"] When you spray a bunch of ideas out, it's harder for your audience to understand. It's in our interest for our audience to be able to understand because they'll be more like to remember us, like us, and talk about us.  It's up to us to make it easy by distilling it for them. Empathy We want to empathize and understand what it's like to be our customer. You and your company are not the center of the universe for that customer. They have many other things going on besides your value proposition.  When you crystallize it into something specific, it uses their worldview rather than their worldview. It makes it easier for them to buy what you're selling. Sometimes as businesses, we forget that we're not selling to a machine or an inanimate object. We're selling to humans with joys, sorrows, scarcities, worries, and pride. When they feel seen they are more likely to bond with you and want to do business with you.  Deconstructing brand One of Lindsay's motives for writing her book was people's widely varying definitions of brand. For some people, it's the name of the business. For others, it's the logo. Others assume it's related to marketing budget or television advertising.  She concluded that the concept was becoming problematic, and she wanted to demystify it.  There's some merit to all of those ideas, but she needed to bust the myths about what brand isn't. Otherwise, we'll keep having puzzling conversations where people aren't speaking the same language.  9 Criteria of ironclad brand Not all brand is created equally. You have a brand whether you deliberately created it or allowed it to be passively created.  If you aren't actively choosing the meaning, you won't have the brand position you want to have. A brand needs to be big enough to matter to your customer. A brand must be narrow enough that you own it.  Your brand must be asymmetrical so it uses your lopsided advantage to position you with your customer.   Your brand must be empathetic enough to address a deeply relevant human need.  It must be optimally distinct so it strikes a balance between being a familiar promise while also being novel.  It's a balance between functional and emotional so that it's rationally meaningful to your customer but also emotionally resonant.  Your brand must be a sharp-edged promise that is simple and singular.  It must have teeth and be demonstrably true.  Your brand must deliver on time, consistently, every time.  Vision When you think of sharp objects as they relate to your vision, those things are easier to see. Your eyes have to do less work.  Ease is good because when you ask less of your audience they are more likely to learn and remember. An example of this is the fact that people around the world associate the Volvo brand with safety. Same thing with Prius, because people think of fuel-efficient cars.  Buick doesn't have this sharp edge in its branding. If you're the CEO of Buick, how do you feel when your audience doesn't know what your brand means? Who even is the audience? The Buick salespeople have to do much more work than the Volvo or Prius salespeople.  Wide net We assume that if we can keep the door open without narrowing our message to a target customer that we'll appeal to everyone. The reality is that it's an illusion of an opportunity.  The more an entity puts a stake in the ground, the more authentic they are perceived to be. Customers won't trust companies who won't take a stand on anything.  People respect you more when you demonstrate what you're optimizing for.  The other thing is that developing a specific message might turn away the people you shouldn't be serving anyway, but that's ok because it's time and money you could devote to the people who are your target customers.  Mystique Remove the mystique of branding. You don't have to have a good handle on branding in order to intentionally craft your own brand.  Choose with crystal clarity who your target customer is, but don't just rely on demographic observations. What are they like? What keeps them up at night? What do they value in life?  This doesn't mean you don't sell to other people. It just means that you optimize with humility on your way to forging an ironclad brand.  "Forging An Ironclad Brand" episode resources Grab a copy of Lindsay's book Forging An Ironclad Brand. She also has a free giveaway on www.ironcladbrandstrategy.com. You can grab the workbook that Lindsay adapted from her book. It's a supplement that provides a step-by-step workbook-style guide to building your own brand strategy.  If you haven't connected with me on LinkedIn already, do that at Donald C. Kelly and watch the things I'm sharing there. You've heard us talk about the TSE Certified Sales Training Program, and we're offering the first module free as a gift to you. Preview it. Check it out. If it makes sense for you to join, you can be part of our upcoming semester. You can take it on your own or as part of the semester group. The program includes 65 videos altogether, and we just completed a beta group that helped us improve the program and maximize the information in it. If you and your team are interested in learning more, we'd love to have you join us. Call (561)578-1729 to speak directly to me or one of our team members about the program. This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com