1107: Tired of Hearing About Branding? Too Bad w/ Joe Morabito

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.200 Are you trying to establish your brand as a thought leader? Start a PODCAST, 2 00:00:04.679 --> 00:00:09.750 invite industry experts to be guests on your show and watch your brand become 3 00:00:09.830 --> 00:00:14.830 the prime resource for decision makers in your industry. Learn more at sweet phish 4 00:00:14.949 --> 00:00:24.300 MEDIACOM. You're listening to be tob growth, a daily podcast for B TOB 5 00:00:24.420 --> 00:00:28.539 leaders. We've interviewed names you've probably heard before, like Gary Vander truck and 6 00:00:28.579 --> 00:00:32.380 Simon Senek, but you've probably never heard from the majority of our guests. 7 00:00:33.020 --> 00:00:37.770 That's because the bulk of our interviews aren't with professional speakers and authors. Most 8 00:00:37.810 --> 00:00:41.929 of our guests are in the trenches leading sales and marketing teams. They're implementing 9 00:00:41.969 --> 00:00:46.969 strategy, they're experimenting with tactics, they're building the fastest growing BTB companies in 10 00:00:47.009 --> 00:00:50.320 the world. My name is James Carberry on, the founder of sweet fish 11 00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:53.880 media, a podcast agency for bb brands, and I'm also one of the 12 00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:58.159 cohosts of this show. When we're not interviewing sales and marketing leaders, you'll 13 00:00:58.200 --> 00:01:00.880 hear stories from behind the scenes of our own business. Will share the ups 14 00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:04.549 and downs of our journey as we attempt to take over the world. Just 15 00:01:04.709 --> 00:01:15.390 getting well maybe let's get into the show. Welcome back to BEDB growth. 16 00:01:15.469 --> 00:01:19.459 I am your host bit today's episode, Nikki Ivy, with sweet fish media. 17 00:01:19.780 --> 00:01:23.980 Guys I've got with me today show more of Beuto, who is president 18 00:01:25.060 --> 00:01:30.620 and CEO at Paragon Global Resources. Joe, how you doing today? I'm 19 00:01:30.780 --> 00:01:36.129 doing okay. I'm not many hurricanes, so I'm okay. That's right, 20 00:01:36.689 --> 00:01:38.450 that's right. A lot of us, a lot of us, we Floradians, 21 00:01:38.450 --> 00:01:42.250 had escape that sort of thing, but it sounds like you, geographically 22 00:01:42.569 --> 00:01:45.650 are not in a place where where you'd be at Risso so good for you, 23 00:01:45.769 --> 00:01:49.680 man. Uh. So we're going to be talking about is something that 24 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:53.799 I know a lot of you listening have been, you know, doing a 25 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:56.239 lot of a lot of rereading about, lot of research into, and I'm 26 00:01:56.239 --> 00:02:00.400 super interested in and that is the importance of branding in be tob but before 27 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:04.709 we jump into all of that, Joe, I would love it if you 28 00:02:04.750 --> 00:02:07.909 would just give us a little bit of background on yourself and what you and 29 00:02:07.950 --> 00:02:10.469 the folks at Paragon I have been up to these days. Well, I'VE 30 00:02:10.509 --> 00:02:15.979 WORKED IN BUSINESS FOR FORTY YEARS and I've worked all over the United States. 31 00:02:15.780 --> 00:02:21.139 The first twenty years I did management consulting with some of the largest firms in 32 00:02:21.219 --> 00:02:24.620 the world and then I actually had to start running my company, which not 33 00:02:24.780 --> 00:02:30.569 sure which was more fun. But literally I've worked all over the United States. 34 00:02:30.610 --> 00:02:34.289 I've worked outside the country, both in Asia and in Europe, and 35 00:02:34.650 --> 00:02:38.250 so I can say that I've touched, I think, all aspects of running 36 00:02:38.289 --> 00:02:43.729 a small or midsized business and also, since I've worked for very large companies, 37 00:02:44.250 --> 00:02:49.280 working in corporate America, you know relative to the dynamics that that goes 38 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:53.520 with working for a top one hundred company. So I speak, I speak 39 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:58.439 big corporate and I speak small and midsized business pretty comfortably when I need to. 40 00:02:59.110 --> 00:03:04.349 Paragon Global Resources is the Holding Company that actually owns for companies, paragon 41 00:03:04.430 --> 00:03:09.550 relocation resources, which is focused on corporate relocation, Paragon Home Resources, which 42 00:03:09.750 --> 00:03:14.979 is our retail moving services. We deal with first time buyers, right size 43 00:03:15.060 --> 00:03:21.419 buyers, empty nesters, seniors moving to retire and seniors moving into assistant living. 44 00:03:21.860 --> 00:03:27.689 Paragon financial resources is our business process outsourcing company because we do have an 45 00:03:27.689 --> 00:03:31.650 India connection, and also then paragon real estate resources, which we're just now 46 00:03:31.810 --> 00:03:38.610 rebranding to do reach specific to senior communities. So we got a lot of 47 00:03:38.689 --> 00:03:42.919 different things going on, a lot of different revenue streams, but obviously branding 48 00:03:43.080 --> 00:03:45.960 is critical to all of them. Yeah, yeah, you got you got 49 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:49.879 a lot of different experiences, a sort of whole from and that's what we 50 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:53.159 we're talking about offline, is that this idea of the importance of B to 51 00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:59.030 be branding can be pretty broad, because sometimes that means to talk about employer 52 00:03:59.110 --> 00:04:02.110 branding right in a client or prospect facing way, and then other times it 53 00:04:02.189 --> 00:04:06.710 can be and talking about recruitment marketing right and how the how the organisation comes 54 00:04:06.750 --> 00:04:12.460 off to perspective employees, or you're talking about branding at the personal level, 55 00:04:12.900 --> 00:04:17.220 the individual level, for executives or for those individual contributors who work on a 56 00:04:17.379 --> 00:04:20.699 team. So there is a lot not to to sort of keep straight. 57 00:04:21.259 --> 00:04:24.569 So what I like to have you do first it just give us a little 58 00:04:24.569 --> 00:04:29.970 overview of what exactly you focus on when you think about employer brandy. I 59 00:04:30.050 --> 00:04:33.490 mean's are when you think about branding it be to be and where you learned 60 00:04:34.170 --> 00:04:38.089 some of these things, where it first became sort of a clear to you 61 00:04:38.129 --> 00:04:41.000 the importance of these things. Well, you know, I could just relate 62 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:44.639 a very funny story when I worked at Merrill Lynch as a very young manager, 63 00:04:45.319 --> 00:04:48.560 I was doing these big proposals. Than I decided that we needed some 64 00:04:49.319 --> 00:04:53.829 kind of stationary to actually do these proposals on, and so I took the 65 00:04:53.949 --> 00:04:58.670 Merrill Lynch Bull, everybody's familiar with the Mary Lynch Bull, and I put 66 00:04:58.750 --> 00:05:01.509 it over in the right hand corner of the page, on the bottom, 67 00:05:01.550 --> 00:05:05.269 and then I'd had like a square that was, you know, the piece 68 00:05:05.310 --> 00:05:10.220 of the paper that the text actually went into. And I was using that 69 00:05:10.379 --> 00:05:14.300 paper for about a year and one day I got a call from the Merrill 70 00:05:14.300 --> 00:05:18.139 Lynch Bull Police in New York City and they said to me you're using the 71 00:05:18.300 --> 00:05:21.290 bull. I said yes, well, first I said what do you mean, 72 00:05:21.329 --> 00:05:26.370 because I played a little bit since, look, we know you're using 73 00:05:26.449 --> 00:05:30.529 the bull in an unauthorized way. And I said, well, I didn't 74 00:05:30.529 --> 00:05:32.370 change the bull, I mean it's the bull. And they said no, 75 00:05:32.569 --> 00:05:38.560 no, you don't seem to understand the brand equity we have in the bull 76 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:43.079 and whenever the bull is used it has to be used as part of our 77 00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:46.680 Mary Lynch logo. It is never pulled off that logo. It is always 78 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:50.149 part of that logo. And they said to me, and remember I was 79 00:05:50.230 --> 00:05:54.910 a young manager of about, Oh, twenty nine years old. They said 80 00:05:54.949 --> 00:06:00.509 to me you will either cease and desist from using the bull in an unauthorized 81 00:06:00.629 --> 00:06:06.220 way or you will be fired. Well, that was my first lesson about 82 00:06:06.220 --> 00:06:13.180 branding and what I came to realize eventually when we founded paragon, and you 83 00:06:13.259 --> 00:06:17.300 know, our logos a double diamond logo, and that happened almost by accident, 84 00:06:17.459 --> 00:06:20.930 with me just squiggling on a yellow path, because in those days we 85 00:06:21.009 --> 00:06:24.689 didn't have a lot of money to pay marketers, you know, and get 86 00:06:25.170 --> 00:06:30.410 fancy dancy consulting. So I designed our logos a double diamond logo and that 87 00:06:30.529 --> 00:06:35.360 double diamond logo is in front of everyone of the paragon companies that we own 88 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:42.959 and we simply never mess with the brand we've created because we have a tremendous 89 00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:46.310 amount of brand equity. We've spent millions and millions of dollars over the years 90 00:06:46.949 --> 00:06:53.470 in promoting that brand and creating the visibility in each market place that we need 91 00:06:53.910 --> 00:06:59.029 with that brand and fortunately, you know, we've never had to file bankruptcy 92 00:06:59.189 --> 00:07:03.139 or anything crazy were you know, sometimes when you have turmoils, you come 93 00:07:03.180 --> 00:07:06.740 out of that and you decide you're going to Redo your brand because you know 94 00:07:06.860 --> 00:07:11.540 maybe that brand equity just wasn't there anymore. Well, we've never experienced that, 95 00:07:12.100 --> 00:07:16.370 and so whenever I see anybody within our company who tries to get creative 96 00:07:16.490 --> 00:07:20.730 with our brand, I give them the story that I got when I was 97 00:07:20.769 --> 00:07:25.850 at Merrill Lynch and I say no, you will not use the double diamonds 98 00:07:25.930 --> 00:07:29.329 separately. You will not. You know certain things in terms of what we 99 00:07:29.410 --> 00:07:33.199 will allow, including our colors, which are blue and silver, and so 100 00:07:33.399 --> 00:07:36.399 there's just things we don't change. And I will tell you when I first 101 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:43.360 founded the company, the most important thing was the brand and getting the brand 102 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:47.110 out there before we had clients, before we had revenue, before we had 103 00:07:47.230 --> 00:07:51.029 anything. I focused in those days. Today it's all Internet, of course, 104 00:07:51.069 --> 00:07:56.269 and the web and all path but I focused on those corporate brochures and 105 00:07:56.350 --> 00:08:01.459 I focused on marketing materials because I knew that if we didn't look like we 106 00:08:01.540 --> 00:08:03.860 were much bigger than what we were, and remember we were signing big, 107 00:08:05.100 --> 00:08:07.980 big fortune, five hundred companies and doing business with them, we had to 108 00:08:09.100 --> 00:08:13.250 look bigger than we were at that point and I knew that it was very 109 00:08:13.329 --> 00:08:18.529 important from a professional standpoint that everything we were doing related to creating that brand 110 00:08:18.689 --> 00:08:22.529 was going to be absolutely critical to the success of the company. So before 111 00:08:22.529 --> 00:08:28.879 I spent money on virtually anything and everything, the money went into the brand 112 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:33.200 creation because I do no matter how good our services might have been at the 113 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:37.759 time and even today, if we couldn't sell the brand, we weren't going 114 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:39.799 to be able to generate a revenue, we were going to grow, you 115 00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:43.909 know, we weren't going to be a growing concern, and so I was 116 00:08:43.070 --> 00:08:48.470 very focused in the beginning on on what that brand was going to look like 117 00:08:48.750 --> 00:08:54.029 and what image we were going to portray. Today we have the slogan assisted 118 00:08:54.190 --> 00:08:58.059 assisting with life decisions, because if you think about all the services that we 119 00:08:58.259 --> 00:09:03.059 provide, that's exactly what we do. And so that's that's slogan. Assisting 120 00:09:03.139 --> 00:09:09.820 with life decisions runs across all four of our businesses, all four of our 121 00:09:09.940 --> 00:09:13.649 brands. That again or under the Paragon logo, but with the differentiate or 122 00:09:13.730 --> 00:09:20.649 whether it's paragon relocation resources or paragon resources, paragon financial resources or paragon real 123 00:09:20.690 --> 00:09:26.600 estate resources, but the brand identity is very clear. That's so interesting. 124 00:09:26.840 --> 00:09:31.440 I you know, my experience is mostly in start up and, you know, 125 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:37.039 selling like a bub best solution, and I haven't seen, at least 126 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:41.909 not in a way that it was clear to me right, folks take that 127 00:09:41.950 --> 00:09:45.389 out approach. You just talked about where they start with brandom prioritize. That 128 00:09:45.470 --> 00:09:48.629 what I've seen more often than not with and maybe it's because if you mentioned 129 00:09:48.750 --> 00:09:52.100 of the technology that's out there now, but what I've seen more often than 130 00:09:52.139 --> 00:09:58.620 not is there's a star made of whoever the founder is of this this startup, 131 00:09:58.100 --> 00:10:03.779 and all the emphasis is on the idea of this person had and how 132 00:10:03.899 --> 00:10:07.330 cool the technology is that there you or how cool they're using the technology. 133 00:10:07.850 --> 00:10:11.250 And at most, when we talk think about branding for those organizations, it 134 00:10:11.450 --> 00:10:13.610 comes down to you like a such are kind of limited to whatever personal brand 135 00:10:15.090 --> 00:10:20.769 that that founder or that prominent executive of add with that company has, and 136 00:10:20.970 --> 00:10:26.639 then the efforts to have a discernible brand outside of that kind of become an 137 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:30.960 after thought because they are they are thinking about, you know, stealing from 138 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:35.519 it in terms of their sales organization or getting as any clients and in you 139 00:10:35.559 --> 00:10:37.750 know, acquiring as any clients and poppable in the beginning. And so for 140 00:10:37.870 --> 00:10:41.429 you guys to say, Hey, look we got. We're confident that that's 141 00:10:41.470 --> 00:10:45.509 going to come, so much so that we're just going to figure out how 142 00:10:45.549 --> 00:10:48.350 to get, you know, eyes and ears on us in a way that's 143 00:10:48.429 --> 00:10:52.980 meaningful, that's powerful. That's how well I knew, to be honest, 144 00:10:52.059 --> 00:10:58.580 as founder of the company and as someone who's done management consulting where I really 145 00:10:58.700 --> 00:11:03.539 was selling myself and presumble the expertise that I had, I knew that I 146 00:11:03.659 --> 00:11:09.049 couldn't grow beyond just me if I didn't create a transactional business. Right, 147 00:11:09.129 --> 00:11:11.129 that have nothing to do with me. Obviously I've been around for twenty eight 148 00:11:11.169 --> 00:11:16.529 years and I'm integral to the management of the company. But I knew that 149 00:11:16.649 --> 00:11:20.720 that there's only so many out if your management consult there's only so many hours 150 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:24.360 in a year you can sell and you could never have achieved the kind of 151 00:11:24.440 --> 00:11:30.000 stain ability of success that we've achieved unless we created a brand that was way 152 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:33.669 beyond anything I could do personally, and so I was very, very cognitive 153 00:11:33.710 --> 00:11:37.990 that, having done consulting at that point for many years, I knew that, 154 00:11:39.190 --> 00:11:41.750 you know, if we were going to become a corporate relocation company, 155 00:11:41.830 --> 00:11:45.549 we had to have the ability to move thousands of people all over the world 156 00:11:45.669 --> 00:11:48.980 for major companies. Well, I wasn't going to be doing those myself. 157 00:11:48.019 --> 00:11:52.820 Obviously we have relocation consultants who work with our customers. So I knew that 158 00:11:54.100 --> 00:11:58.659 we had to create a sustainable brand that was going to appeal to very large 159 00:11:58.740 --> 00:12:01.769 companies, even though at the time we were a very small company. And 160 00:12:03.049 --> 00:12:07.169 so we did that successfully and you know, even now, as I look 161 00:12:07.169 --> 00:12:11.610 at our paragon home resources brand, and that's company's about three years old, 162 00:12:11.649 --> 00:12:15.129 we just redid our website. Now, of course it's all Internet based, 163 00:12:15.210 --> 00:12:18.240 although we do have some printed materials. But you know, we just targe. 164 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:24.039 We did our website so that we're targeted at the five market segments that 165 00:12:24.279 --> 00:12:28.320 are the services that we deliver under that brand. And if you looked at 166 00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:31.470 it, if anybody went to Paragon Home Resourcescom, you would see that it's 167 00:12:31.590 --> 00:12:37.549 very, very brand specific relative to the five market segments that we're focused on. 168 00:12:37.750 --> 00:12:41.389 You know, first time buyers, right size buyers, empty nesters, 169 00:12:41.470 --> 00:12:46.740 seniors moving to retire usually from cold to work places, and then also the 170 00:12:46.820 --> 00:12:50.779 seniors moving into assistant living. So it's not Nebulus, it's very specific from 171 00:12:50.779 --> 00:12:56.580 a branding perspective to the customer that I believe we're going to be working with 172 00:12:56.820 --> 00:13:01.009 and we are working with an or that particular brand. So you know, 173 00:13:01.210 --> 00:13:07.490 I can't emphasize enough TRICKLI FOR STARTUPS, particularly for smaller companies, how important 174 00:13:07.529 --> 00:13:09.889 it is to figure out, you know, who you are right, to 175 00:13:09.970 --> 00:13:15.720 make sure were that your brand demonstrates it clearly, whatever it is you know, 176 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:20.440 see, show the pizza man, it doesn't matter. Has To be 177 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:24.039 very clear as to what you're selling right and knowing who you are. Obviously 178 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:28.549 that definiteble and like all of life. But when you and I were for 179 00:13:28.629 --> 00:13:33.590 starting to talk about, you know, individuals developing their their personal brand, 180 00:13:33.629 --> 00:13:39.629 and so I am going to make a confession here. I was on instagram 181 00:13:39.870 --> 00:13:46.860 and there's advertisement for this free ebook on how to, you know, quickly 182 00:13:46.139 --> 00:13:52.299 gain a following or become an influencer. I was doing an instagram thing and 183 00:13:52.379 --> 00:13:56.210 I was starting an instagram account from scratch, and a piece of advice in 184 00:13:56.370 --> 00:14:03.409 this in this Ebook, was like you have to sort of cultivate some some 185 00:14:03.809 --> 00:14:11.759 personality that is like you, adjacent that I don't know, like you're from. 186 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:13.759 Everybody wants to be your best friend. Blah, blah, blah, 187 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:16.320 blah, blah, and I re I feel like that was really bad advice 188 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:18.639 and that's why I so I stopped reading this people without together, but I 189 00:14:18.759 --> 00:14:22.639 was like, look, it has to be that who I actually am. 190 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:24.870 And I think when you look at in terms of Randy, we look on 191 00:14:24.990 --> 00:14:31.029 Linkedin like an example, who's winning that competition or whatever the brand wars happened 192 00:14:31.029 --> 00:14:33.070 to be between individual a lot of them can fultants like you mentioned, if 193 00:14:33.149 --> 00:14:39.500 those folks that come across add the most clear to themselves on who they are? 194 00:14:39.179 --> 00:14:45.100 Well, today especially, you know, it's interesting. My son Michael 195 00:14:45.259 --> 00:14:50.860 is in charge of sales for us and he is an expert at using social 196 00:14:50.980 --> 00:14:56.009 media. In fact he's in the top one percent of linkedin users in the 197 00:14:56.049 --> 00:15:00.570 United States, maybe even in the world, and so he has used social 198 00:15:00.690 --> 00:15:05.850 media in ways we know. When you talk about personal branding, he's really 199 00:15:05.889 --> 00:15:09.919 good at this. In fact, one of our former employees was in a 200 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:15.080 training session at the new company she was working for and it was about sales 201 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:18.360 and account management and they actually, this is one of my competitors, referenced 202 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:24.070 my son Mike Because he's so visible on the Internet in terms of social media 203 00:15:24.190 --> 00:15:30.509 and Linkedin and all the other crazy things that people now I'm an old guy, 204 00:15:30.629 --> 00:15:33.870 that's way beyond me. But this is where people young people, particularly 205 00:15:33.950 --> 00:15:37.700 in sales, and I do say to my salespeople, you know, you 206 00:15:37.899 --> 00:15:43.860 need to brand yourself because before the company, the client, buys us, 207 00:15:43.019 --> 00:15:46.620 they have to buy you and if they don't buy you, they're not buying 208 00:15:46.659 --> 00:15:52.009 us. And so I say to sales people one of the reasons successful salespeople, 209 00:15:52.450 --> 00:15:58.009 the twenty percent who sell eighty percent of everything, are successful is because 210 00:15:58.049 --> 00:16:02.049 they've done a great job branding themselves. Today and in some ways it's much 211 00:16:02.049 --> 00:16:04.200 easier than it was. You know, when I was selling a million years 212 00:16:04.200 --> 00:16:08.799 ago, because social media didn't exist, when I started at Mary Lynch and 213 00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:12.879 I was the young sales guy or I was in consulting. My branding all 214 00:16:14.039 --> 00:16:17.720 happened when I went to conferences and networking and I always did all of that. 215 00:16:18.440 --> 00:16:22.269 But now, because of social media, you can extend your reach exponentially. 216 00:16:22.389 --> 00:16:26.350 And by the way, I would make this suggestion, and I always 217 00:16:26.389 --> 00:16:30.789 on my radio show I talk about Joe the Pizza Man. I don't care 218 00:16:30.870 --> 00:16:34.299 what the business is, the branding element is absolutely critical, both from a 219 00:16:34.340 --> 00:16:40.179 company standpoint and from a personal standpoint and to the extent that you, you 220 00:16:40.419 --> 00:16:44.379 yourself, no matter who you work for, are a brand in and of 221 00:16:44.580 --> 00:16:47.649 yourself. You got to make that happen. And those, by the way, 222 00:16:47.649 --> 00:16:52.129 are the most successful salespeople. And keep in mind that if that person 223 00:16:52.649 --> 00:16:56.769 goes from one company to another, their brand goes with them, right. 224 00:16:56.970 --> 00:17:00.169 So, even though they may have worked tray BC company, now that they 225 00:17:00.250 --> 00:17:03.480 work for DF company, finally work for another company, but the brand that 226 00:17:03.599 --> 00:17:10.960 they created automatically transfers to the new company, and so it's that's one of 227 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:15.279 the things that difficult when when you are, you know, an individual contributor 228 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:19.670 at an organization that maybe they understanding importance of branding for them as an organization, 229 00:17:21.150 --> 00:17:26.910 but in terms of how you spend your time in a given work day, 230 00:17:26.269 --> 00:17:32.420 there isn't always the Freetom to spend your time and a given work day 231 00:17:32.500 --> 00:17:34.819 building your brain, because so many folks, when it comes to steal people, 232 00:17:36.099 --> 00:17:38.180 are putting this pressure on them. As far as well, did you 233 00:17:38.259 --> 00:17:41.220 get leads from it? Did you book any meeting from it with the Rli? 234 00:17:41.339 --> 00:17:45.730 And it's like they don't understand the, you know, relationship building aspect 235 00:17:45.809 --> 00:17:52.450 of it in and of itself, the awareenesself. I see the end result 236 00:17:52.769 --> 00:17:56.769 and you know, to the extent that the sales people in our company that 237 00:17:56.849 --> 00:18:02.640 are most successful are those that have have created their own personal brands, and 238 00:18:02.920 --> 00:18:07.799 so some part of their day is just it's like, look, I've always 239 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:11.119 said in my mind the sales people are born, they're not made. That 240 00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:15.829 you can enhance sales skill, but I think there's a genetic element that is 241 00:18:15.910 --> 00:18:19.509 either there or it's not there. And this social media aspect of it is 242 00:18:19.670 --> 00:18:22.789 just part of the Business Day. You don't even think about it. It's 243 00:18:22.910 --> 00:18:29.859 the way you use your brand to contact other people, to shortcut the sales 244 00:18:29.980 --> 00:18:34.380 process, presumably, and ironically, what I see anyways, is people will 245 00:18:34.460 --> 00:18:38.859 respond to a linkedin connection more often than they will if you just send them 246 00:18:38.900 --> 00:18:44.089 an email. I'm texting myself right now. Yeah, so that's what I'm 247 00:18:44.130 --> 00:18:47.849 finding and you know it's beyond me at this stage in my life, but 248 00:18:48.009 --> 00:18:52.690 certainly in terms of our young people that are involved in sales and account management, 249 00:18:52.089 --> 00:18:56.400 it's very, very powerful and I really encourage them to do it. 250 00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:00.440 It's part of job. I don't see it as a detraction. I see 251 00:19:00.440 --> 00:19:06.160 it as an integral part of what their daily responsibilities are. I agree. 252 00:19:06.759 --> 00:19:08.519 I would never question it is I guess what I'm saying. Yeah, but 253 00:19:08.680 --> 00:19:12.549 I think what happens is, besides the time ten strain, and I know 254 00:19:12.630 --> 00:19:17.430 when I first started this, this personal brand, being journey on Linkedin, 255 00:19:17.910 --> 00:19:22.589 there was a lot of just confusion and the lack of resources in terms of 256 00:19:22.589 --> 00:19:26.819 understanding what content I should be putting out right. So if, on the 257 00:19:26.900 --> 00:19:33.700 one hand, I want to be engaging folks who are who might be prospectable 258 00:19:33.779 --> 00:19:37.980 one of the relationships with in terms of the role that I'm currently in, 259 00:19:37.569 --> 00:19:41.529 and then, on the other hand, I want a brand that's going to 260 00:19:41.650 --> 00:19:45.410 transcend the role that I'm in. So how do you, how do you 261 00:19:45.690 --> 00:19:52.250 navigate or or negotiate that ratio between how much of your personal brand has to 262 00:19:52.329 --> 00:19:55.759 do with you and who you are and what your trend thend the role and 263 00:19:56.200 --> 00:20:00.720 what has to do with the role and you advancing there. We're always representing 264 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:06.119 the company that you work for and you're always creating some connectivity at what you're 265 00:20:06.119 --> 00:20:10.750 doing in social media to the company that you work for, because that's your 266 00:20:11.190 --> 00:20:15.910 point of attempting to network and connect with people. So it is it's just 267 00:20:15.990 --> 00:20:19.630 an integral part of what a good salesperson does every day. I just don't 268 00:20:19.630 --> 00:20:25.220 see it as disconnected at all. Yeah, I see it totally integrated with 269 00:20:25.819 --> 00:20:30.420 creating both the personal brand while you're advancing the company's brand. I mean, 270 00:20:30.500 --> 00:20:33.500 to me it's centrical. But again, if you were to go to another 271 00:20:33.619 --> 00:20:37.210 company, a competitor, let's say, you still have created that personal brand 272 00:20:37.289 --> 00:20:42.329 equity and to the extent that you use it for another company, you certainly 273 00:20:42.410 --> 00:20:48.170 can do that and I don't see it, from a personal standpoint as time 274 00:20:48.329 --> 00:20:52.400 wasted at all, because you're always going to have that personal connectivity in the 275 00:20:52.440 --> 00:20:55.240 market place. I agree. I'll be specifics though. Right. So, 276 00:20:55.559 --> 00:21:00.200 I work for a startup that sold into the construction industry. So the tool 277 00:21:00.279 --> 00:21:04.029 to subcontract us to make sure that they were getting paid more quickly or paid 278 00:21:04.029 --> 00:21:08.750 according to their term, and a lot of the marketing collateral that those sales 279 00:21:08.789 --> 00:21:15.069 folks or that we have sells folks were being provided and encouraged to share on 280 00:21:15.190 --> 00:21:19.220 our social channels. You know what's so specific that even if you were taking 281 00:21:19.259 --> 00:21:25.420 a good chunk of your day to be on Linkedin and engage with folks, 282 00:21:25.460 --> 00:21:30.019 especially your engagement folks who might be prospect once you are not in that role 283 00:21:30.099 --> 00:21:34.329 anymore and someone else from in your new role or new industry maybe comes to 284 00:21:34.369 --> 00:21:37.490 your page and sees that all the rest of the content, they're going to 285 00:21:37.529 --> 00:21:41.650 be I was confused to why they wouldn't be confused, like, okay, 286 00:21:41.650 --> 00:21:45.970 if the person was talking about construction stuff here with, you know, their 287 00:21:45.049 --> 00:21:48.720 companies, right papers, and now they're giving me, you know, tips 288 00:21:48.759 --> 00:21:52.720 on how to stay motivated on a Monday. So where is that individual in 289 00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:56.039 all of this content? Is really where I was going. I guess I 290 00:21:56.279 --> 00:22:03.069 just assumed that a successful salesperson would go from one company to another that's a 291 00:22:03.190 --> 00:22:07.309 competitor selling the same problems services. Now, obviously, if you leave an 292 00:22:07.390 --> 00:22:12.829 industry and you go to a completely different industry, you know now your contacts 293 00:22:12.869 --> 00:22:17.740 are completely different, so you're selling a different product. So you're kind of 294 00:22:17.819 --> 00:22:21.140 starting over when you're in that environment. But right, ideally, if you 295 00:22:21.259 --> 00:22:26.059 were going from going to another company in the same industry, then for sure 296 00:22:26.339 --> 00:22:30.529 you're contacting the same people, you're just now representing a different company. Right 297 00:22:30.650 --> 00:22:33.730 that I think you would lose some of that brand equity if you left the 298 00:22:33.809 --> 00:22:36.170 industry. No, doubt, you have to start over. That's right. 299 00:22:36.250 --> 00:22:38.369 That's right, which for me means that I've just had to lead more heavily 300 00:22:38.529 --> 00:22:42.569 on things that are evergreen. Right, if I want to talk about I 301 00:22:42.650 --> 00:22:45.880 do talk more about, like things that have to do with, you know, 302 00:22:47.319 --> 00:22:51.559 being most staying motivated, whether you're individual contributor or a leader, and 303 00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:56.680 I just identifying things that anybody, and you need, business is going to 304 00:22:56.920 --> 00:23:02.069 want, you know, value from or going to be having this same the 305 00:23:02.230 --> 00:23:07.950 same kinds of discussion. So picking content that transcend industry has really been what's 306 00:23:07.990 --> 00:23:14.339 been working for me, and not mention the fact that I fell into I 307 00:23:14.420 --> 00:23:17.420 felt a feller than my self marketer. So easy to parallel packet that way. 308 00:23:17.819 --> 00:23:18.980 But I cannot this with you all day long. I do want to 309 00:23:19.019 --> 00:23:22.740 make sure that I give our listeners a shot and getting to know you just 310 00:23:22.859 --> 00:23:26.329 a little bit better. So so now that I've processfully picked your brain and 311 00:23:26.769 --> 00:23:29.609 seeing what I could get out of it, at the time for you to 312 00:23:29.690 --> 00:23:33.329 tell us about what you're putting in it. So talk about a learning resource 313 00:23:33.369 --> 00:23:38.690 or something that you've just engaged without in life and is either inform your approach. 314 00:23:38.809 --> 00:23:42.400 That's just got too excited these days. Well, what I'm most excited 315 00:23:42.440 --> 00:23:47.480 about today, and one of the reasons why I guess I'll probably never retire, 316 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:51.519 is, you know, we market and sell our services through a variety 317 00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:56.670 of sales channels that ultimately give us visibility in the market place. So, 318 00:23:57.309 --> 00:24:00.589 you know, other than the old way, which would have been national advertising, 319 00:24:00.630 --> 00:24:03.750 which is very cost effective, we have other ways to get to the 320 00:24:03.869 --> 00:24:08.789 customer. But what I'm focused on today is not only getting the customer from 321 00:24:08.910 --> 00:24:15.220 those sales channels, but actually selling other services to those sales channel because, 322 00:24:15.740 --> 00:24:18.339 the way I look at it, when you establish a business relationship, and 323 00:24:18.500 --> 00:24:22.660 it's true in any industry, the question is, how do you maximize that 324 00:24:22.819 --> 00:24:26.569 business relationship, because you spend a lot of time and money and resources getting 325 00:24:26.650 --> 00:24:33.369 that business relationship, that partnership, and then how do you maximize that partnership? 326 00:24:33.450 --> 00:24:37.009 So, for example, we get leads from senior care communities that these 327 00:24:37.009 --> 00:24:41.759 are people who need to sell their homes in order to move into assisted living. 328 00:24:42.119 --> 00:24:47.920 Well, we're creating products and services now to sell to those same senior 329 00:24:47.960 --> 00:24:52.109 communities. We can do business products outsourcing for them. We're developing an elder 330 00:24:52.230 --> 00:24:56.990 care assistance program that they can buy an offer to their customers, and so 331 00:24:57.829 --> 00:25:03.349 I'm now looking for, I don't know, other ways to maximize our talent, 332 00:25:03.509 --> 00:25:07.019 frankly, and the pieces of the puzzle that we bring to the table. 333 00:25:07.140 --> 00:25:11.779 And every day is the learning experience for me with every meeting that I 334 00:25:11.940 --> 00:25:15.900 have with one of our partners, because I'm a very good listener, having 335 00:25:15.900 --> 00:25:19.940 been in consulting for twenty years. I listen very carefully and I listen for 336 00:25:21.099 --> 00:25:23.809 needs in the market place and when I see in need that we can fill 337 00:25:25.049 --> 00:25:27.890 through one of our businesses, I'm all over it. And so I'm actually 338 00:25:29.009 --> 00:25:32.849 focused on the new stuff. Yeah, because I'm the old stuff is kind 339 00:25:32.849 --> 00:25:34.690 of old stuff. It's not that much fun for me anyway, but the 340 00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:38.480 new stuff is fun. And then, of course I have my radio show 341 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:44.559 Seeo business mind, which anybody can we're syndicated. We're in markets across the 342 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:49.430 country and you can catch that on podcast as well at American matters media dot 343 00:25:49.509 --> 00:25:53.549 us. All the shows are there from the last three years. You can 344 00:25:53.589 --> 00:26:00.230 go to CEEO businesspindcom and put in your email address and follow the confirmation instructions 345 00:26:00.349 --> 00:26:04.339 and if you do that you can check out my blog postings going back years. 346 00:26:04.940 --> 00:26:07.380 You can see some of the businesses that we're in. You can even 347 00:26:07.380 --> 00:26:11.900 see some of the job openings that we have somewhere in the United States, 348 00:26:11.940 --> 00:26:14.940 sometimes even outside. I love it. I love it listen. Thanks so 349 00:26:15.059 --> 00:26:18.329 much for laying that out for us other than what you've wanted it to already. 350 00:26:18.329 --> 00:26:22.009 As far as you know, your radio show and your podcast. If 351 00:26:22.089 --> 00:26:23.809 both want to connect with you individually, how can they? I go about 352 00:26:23.849 --> 00:26:26.690 doing that? Well, you can always you know, I'm on email, 353 00:26:26.730 --> 00:26:32.329 seven hundred and twenty four a j Moore, a Vito at Paragon Gurcom, 354 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:36.400 and anybody that wants to connect to me can certainly get me by email. 355 00:26:36.880 --> 00:26:40.359 The most efficient way to get my eyes on what you're trying to tell me. 356 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:42.440 And you haven't folk reach out. Smart Man, lots of experience. 357 00:26:42.519 --> 00:26:45.799 Thank you so much coming on the show, Joe, with all your experience. 358 00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:48.109 I get I bet you could feel a few episodes. We'll have to 359 00:26:48.190 --> 00:26:52.269 have you one again, but this is being great. Thank you so much. 360 00:26:55.630 --> 00:26:59.710 We totally get it. We publish a ton of content on this podcast 361 00:26:59.829 --> 00:27:02.900 and it can be a lot to keep up with. That's why we've started 362 00:27:02.980 --> 00:27:07.980 the BOB growth big three a no fluff email that boils down our three biggest 363 00:27:07.980 --> 00:27:12.220 takeaways from an entire week of episodes. Sign up today at Sweet Fish Mediacom 364 00:27:12.900 --> 00:27:18.049 big three. That sweet PHISH MEDIACOM Big Three