#BehindTheCurtain 12: 3 Things We Did Differently with James' New Book

WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:10.189 Want to expand the reach of your content, start a podcast, feature industry 2 00:00:10.230 --> 00:00:14.589 experts on your show and leverage the influence and reach of your guests to grow 3 00:00:14.669 --> 00:00:24.379 your brand. Learn more at sweetphish MEDIACOM. You're listening to be tob growth, 4 00:00:24.780 --> 00:00:29.179 a daily podcast for B TOB leaders. We've interviewed names you've probably heard 5 00:00:29.179 --> 00:00:33.060 before, like Gary Vannerd truck and Simon Senek, but you've probably never heard 6 00:00:33.179 --> 00:00:37.369 from the majority of our guests. That's because the bulk of our interviews aren't 7 00:00:37.409 --> 00:00:41.969 with professional speakers and authors. Most of our guests are in the trenches leading 8 00:00:42.049 --> 00:00:46.850 sales and marketing teams. They're implementing strategy, they're experimenting with Pactics, they're 9 00:00:46.890 --> 00:00:51.399 building the fastest growing BB companies in the world. My name is James Carberry. 10 00:00:51.479 --> 00:00:55.000 I'm the founder of sweet fish media, a podcast agency for BBB brands, 11 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:58.200 and I'm also one of the CO hosts of this show. When we're 12 00:00:58.200 --> 00:01:02.079 not interviewing sales and marketing leaders, you'll hear stories from behind the scenes of 13 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:04.790 our own business. Will share the ups and downs of our journey as we 14 00:01:04.870 --> 00:01:11.189 attempt to take over the world. Just getting well, maybe let's get into 15 00:01:11.230 --> 00:01:19.540 the show. Welcome back to be tob growth. I'm Logan Lyles with sweetfish 16 00:01:19.579 --> 00:01:23.299 media. Today I'm joined by my good Buddy James Carberry, the founder and 17 00:01:23.379 --> 00:01:26.299 CEO here at sweetfish media. James hasn't going to day, man, it 18 00:01:26.500 --> 00:01:29.859 is going well. The man stoked to talk about this me to me and 19 00:01:29.939 --> 00:01:32.299 I always love these chats and I love when we get to share them with 20 00:01:32.420 --> 00:01:37.049 be tob growth listeners during these behind the curtain episode. So today we're going 21 00:01:37.090 --> 00:01:41.450 to be talking about three things that you did differently as we're preparing to launch 22 00:01:41.489 --> 00:01:44.489 your new book, content based networking. I just have to say I'm so 23 00:01:44.609 --> 00:01:47.280 excited for you, man. I know you've put in a lot of work. 24 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:51.159 It has been a long time coming and it's finally coming to fruition. 25 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:55.359 Content based networking is hitting the world here pretty soon. Yeah, man, 26 00:01:55.959 --> 00:02:00.280 it is been a grueling process and, yeah, not for the faint of 27 00:02:00.359 --> 00:02:04.189 heart. I thought it was going to be way easier than it actually turned 28 00:02:04.230 --> 00:02:07.349 out to be. Not Easy, but I think it's going to be totally 29 00:02:07.430 --> 00:02:09.909 worth it. And in the things I wanted to talk about today, Logan, 30 00:02:10.069 --> 00:02:13.909 we're not necessarily around the launch of the book. I think we can 31 00:02:13.949 --> 00:02:17.539 probably do another episode because I'm doing some some different things around how I launch 32 00:02:17.620 --> 00:02:22.180 it too, but these were really things that we baked into the book. 33 00:02:22.379 --> 00:02:27.139 And so I see a lot of books and I see them doing a lot 34 00:02:27.219 --> 00:02:30.090 of things based on, you know, based on things that are no longer 35 00:02:30.210 --> 00:02:35.090 relevant anymore. And so one of the things that stood out to me was 36 00:02:35.650 --> 00:02:38.889 how people do testimonials on books. And we've got a lot of really good 37 00:02:38.930 --> 00:02:44.400 friends that do testimonials on their book. But when I think about why do 38 00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:49.000 you do a testimonial on your book? Well, it's because someone is typically 39 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:54.400 picking it up at a book store and they want to be able to showcase 40 00:02:54.639 --> 00:03:00.349 credibility for the book by having them open up the book claps or see the 41 00:03:00.270 --> 00:03:04.870 testimonials on the back of the book and by reading someone else say hi, 42 00:03:05.349 --> 00:03:07.349 you know, give high praise to a book. It makes you go up. 43 00:03:07.430 --> 00:03:09.830 Well, I should probably read this now, you and I. Third 44 00:03:09.949 --> 00:03:15.219 Part Yeah, yeah, the thinking is there's third party validations can make them 45 00:03:15.259 --> 00:03:17.740 more apt to it. But we've seen those so many times and we see 46 00:03:17.860 --> 00:03:22.979 the little snippets of reviews of new movies coming out, but are we really 47 00:03:23.020 --> 00:03:27.449 making that decision based on those snippets or, you know, the trailer and 48 00:03:27.490 --> 00:03:30.330 how enticing we think the movies can be. But yeah, yeah, and 49 00:03:30.449 --> 00:03:34.930 so you and I know that those testimonials on books are typically bull right, 50 00:03:35.090 --> 00:03:38.650 like they're not. I mean, it's your buddy, it's also an author 51 00:03:38.889 --> 00:03:42.199 that's telling that's saying how great the book is and they've probably never read it. 52 00:03:42.520 --> 00:03:46.719 But that's really insider baseball. Like I think marketers know that, they 53 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:49.560 know how the bread is buttered, so to speak, but for the most 54 00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:52.919 part, I mean I don't think the mass numbers of people that are reading 55 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:58.669 books understand that necessarily. So let's let's take that off the table. Let's 56 00:03:58.710 --> 00:04:02.710 assume that most people consider these testimonials on the backs of books and on the 57 00:04:03.150 --> 00:04:08.069 you know, cover flaps to be legitimate. But there's a big problem that 58 00:04:08.110 --> 00:04:10.340 I see, and and that's when I go back to the you know, 59 00:04:10.419 --> 00:04:14.699 when I first started sharing this example, you know, they got popular because 60 00:04:14.900 --> 00:04:19.620 it was helpful for people that were buying physical books in physical retailers like Barnto 61 00:04:19.699 --> 00:04:25.250 noble and different places like that. Logan, I don't know the last time 62 00:04:25.250 --> 00:04:29.649 I bought a book at Barnes and noble and I think by the sheer number 63 00:04:29.689 --> 00:04:32.129 of Barnes and nobles there are because they're shutting down, I'm sure by the 64 00:04:32.170 --> 00:04:36.689 day. It informs the fact that, or it tells you that, people 65 00:04:36.689 --> 00:04:41.199 are buying books on Amazon and when you go to buy a book on Amazon, 66 00:04:42.120 --> 00:04:46.920 the readability of being able to read the testimonial on the book is impossible. 67 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:50.160 Yeah, I mean I don't think it's possible to see the review. 68 00:04:50.360 --> 00:04:56.389 Maybe it is if it's embedded into your description somewhere, but but on the 69 00:04:56.509 --> 00:05:00.389 cover itself it really has zero impact. I don't know. You're probably not 70 00:05:00.509 --> 00:05:04.550 going to pension zoom on your phone to look at that itell a size text 71 00:05:04.589 --> 00:05:08.819 right. Yeah, if you are concerned about that third party validation, you're 72 00:05:08.819 --> 00:05:11.259 probably going to look at the early reviews, which I know a lot of 73 00:05:11.300 --> 00:05:15.139 people are baking into their launch process of trying to get early reviews, which 74 00:05:15.220 --> 00:05:16.779 makes a lot of sense and I like what you're saying here. Man is 75 00:05:16.980 --> 00:05:23.209 just as opposed to leaning into those commonly held best practices that might be a 76 00:05:23.250 --> 00:05:27.170 bit antiquated and thinking about, okay, tactically, what is going to be, 77 00:05:27.810 --> 00:05:30.129 as we talk about all the time here on bb growth, what's going 78 00:05:30.209 --> 00:05:32.769 to be the customer experience. Think about what is the experience when you go 79 00:05:32.850 --> 00:05:36.160 to buy a book from Your Own Life? So Yep. And so with 80 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:40.319 that in mind, I thought, man, I don't really want to get 81 00:05:40.360 --> 00:05:43.600 a bunch of testimonials on the book anyway. Like I don't want to go 82 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:46.279 through that process. It's not fun to be like Hey, can you talk 83 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:50.310 about and so instead I said, you know, people are going to read 84 00:05:50.350 --> 00:05:54.189 these anyway. It's not going to help them make a purchase decision for the 85 00:05:54.230 --> 00:05:58.149 book anyway. So instead I'm going to use the cover flaps as calls to 86 00:05:58.230 --> 00:06:03.149 action. And so we we have a little snippet of my linkedin profiles, 87 00:06:03.300 --> 00:06:08.180 you know. That tells people to connect with me. We have another snippet 88 00:06:08.300 --> 00:06:12.379 of our podcasts, of this podcast actually bb growth, and we tell people 89 00:06:12.420 --> 00:06:15.500 to subscribe. Give some social proof. It shows, you know, how 90 00:06:15.579 --> 00:06:19.569 many, how many reviews we have, shows the logos of people will be 91 00:06:19.610 --> 00:06:24.209 able to find it whenever they go to search. And then on the left 92 00:06:24.250 --> 00:06:27.930 side the cover flap, I actually share my phone number, which is the 93 00:06:28.089 --> 00:06:30.490 second thing that we did with this book that I think is very unique. 94 00:06:30.529 --> 00:06:35.160 I've seen this happen one time and my one of my favorite books of all 95 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:39.480 time. Love does written by a guy named Bob Golf. He put his 96 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:42.920 number in the back of the book, which I if you read the last 97 00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:45.720 page of the book or listen to the last, you know, a few 98 00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:49.189 minutes of the audiobook, that you're going to hear me share my phone number. 99 00:06:49.310 --> 00:06:54.069 I got a google voice number for this, so it's not my real 100 00:06:54.149 --> 00:06:57.230 phone number that like my wife text me on, but it's a phone number 101 00:06:57.230 --> 00:07:00.149 that I can easily get text messages on. It's Google Voice, is free, 102 00:07:00.790 --> 00:07:03.060 so it's not like a marketing text me and you're going to end up 103 00:07:03.100 --> 00:07:08.060 on my you know, mass blast texting, texting emails like what Gary He's 104 00:07:08.100 --> 00:07:11.180 doing. It's an actual number that I'm going to text on and I share 105 00:07:11.220 --> 00:07:13.620 that number in the back of the book and then I share it on the 106 00:07:13.860 --> 00:07:16.610 cover flap. And the reason that is, I mean the books about relationships 107 00:07:17.089 --> 00:07:21.730 and I want to be seen as someone that cares deeply about relationships because because 108 00:07:21.730 --> 00:07:25.129 I do. I don't just want to be seen that way, I actually 109 00:07:25.170 --> 00:07:29.209 am, and and so that was a fun way for me to integrate that 110 00:07:29.370 --> 00:07:32.680 in. But the strategic part of that was that, you know, Bob 111 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:38.319 Goff's book love does was incredible. But anytime I hear someone talk about that 112 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:41.319 book, what I hear them actually talk about is the fact that he put 113 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:44.279 his phone number in the book. Yeah, even so, they talk about 114 00:07:44.279 --> 00:07:46.110 the content. Even before they talk about the content, they talked about the 115 00:07:46.149 --> 00:07:49.230 fact that he put his phone number in the book, which what Jay Bear 116 00:07:49.389 --> 00:07:54.670 calls a talk trigger. So embedding some sort of talk trigger, something that's 117 00:07:54.790 --> 00:07:58.579 different, into your book I just think is really, really smart. So 118 00:07:59.019 --> 00:08:01.420 we were very strategic with what we chose to put on the cover flaps of 119 00:08:01.459 --> 00:08:05.699 the book and we put my phone number in the book, again to things 120 00:08:05.740 --> 00:08:09.699 that are different. But I think you're going to be really, really effective. 121 00:08:09.740 --> 00:08:13.889 Yeah. So. So the third thing that I want to talk about 122 00:08:13.889 --> 00:08:16.730 here before we wrap up this episode is the fact that I'm launching the book 123 00:08:18.250 --> 00:08:22.449 not just in Amazon, where people can get a physical copy, but I'm 124 00:08:22.490 --> 00:08:26.089 launching audible on the same day. So when the book goes live on January 125 00:08:26.199 --> 00:08:31.560 seventh, you're not just going to see it, you know, as a 126 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:35.120 physical book, you're also going to be able to get audible. And I 127 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:37.720 put something on Linkedin the other day and I basically said, hey, you 128 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:41.029 know, the just recorded the audio book. You know, it's grueling process, 129 00:08:41.190 --> 00:08:45.029 but it was. You know, it's going to be awesome. If 130 00:08:45.110 --> 00:08:48.990 you want me to send you a message whenever the book is live, let 131 00:08:48.070 --> 00:08:50.750 me know and comment and tell me whether you're going to be listening to the 132 00:08:50.950 --> 00:08:56.659 Audio version or the book version and look in the lion. Share of those 133 00:08:56.740 --> 00:09:01.820 comments were audio. People listen to audio books. Yeah, I mean it 134 00:09:01.980 --> 00:09:03.419 makes sense. Man. They always frustrates me. I'm like, Oh, 135 00:09:03.419 --> 00:09:07.379 there's a new book out, I really want to read it. AUDIOBOOK option 136 00:09:07.539 --> 00:09:11.769 is not there on Amazon, because that's what most people do. As you've 137 00:09:11.769 --> 00:09:15.090 gone through this process. If you heard from folks, is that just a 138 00:09:15.129 --> 00:09:20.690 legacy best practice? Because audio typically was kind of the redheaded step child of, 139 00:09:20.889 --> 00:09:22.610 you know, the book on process or what? Man, I guess, 140 00:09:22.730 --> 00:09:26.840 man, I don't know. You know, even the company that helped 141 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:30.399 me with the publishing of the book, they didn't seem to put a lot 142 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:33.720 of emphasis on audible and I was just like no, like we have to 143 00:09:33.799 --> 00:09:37.629 launch with audible, and they're like well, you know, you know this 144 00:09:37.909 --> 00:09:41.470 and that, and they didn't dissuade me from it or try to talk me 145 00:09:41.509 --> 00:09:46.909 out of it. But I just know that most books that launched don't launch 146 00:09:46.230 --> 00:09:50.429 on audible. You know the kind of books that of the people that you 147 00:09:50.549 --> 00:09:52.659 and I know, obviously, like the Simon Senex and the Gary B's and 148 00:09:52.779 --> 00:09:56.779 like those kind of guys are, you know, their audiobook is available whenever 149 00:09:56.940 --> 00:10:01.419 the book launches. But there's a lot of books of like Friends of mine. 150 00:10:01.460 --> 00:10:03.620 I'm like, man like, why? Why can I not get the 151 00:10:03.659 --> 00:10:07.450 audiobook when the book is ready? Because that's still clay. I'm going to 152 00:10:07.490 --> 00:10:11.049 Insmisconsin and yeah, yeah, and exactly, and according to my Linkedin Post. 153 00:10:11.049 --> 00:10:13.129 So it's not just me. You know, for a while I thought, 154 00:10:13.129 --> 00:10:16.009 well, maybe it's just me. Maybe, I guess, because we're 155 00:10:16.009 --> 00:10:18.649 sewing to podcasting, so into audio. Okay, we've got our blind us 156 00:10:18.769 --> 00:10:22.919 on. Maybe it's just us right, but not in again, it's not 157 00:10:22.039 --> 00:10:24.639 the case. I mean, and you could argue that, you know, 158 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:28.679 a lot of my audience on Linkedin are podcasting because of how I've built my 159 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:33.159 brand in audio. So that could be skewed a little bit, but I 160 00:10:33.399 --> 00:10:37.950 just don't think people should sleep on launching the book in audible. Whenever you 161 00:10:37.149 --> 00:10:41.909 actually launch your book, don't wait, don't make it an afterthought. Make 162 00:10:41.990 --> 00:10:45.309 sure you're launching your book on audible. So those are the three things that 163 00:10:45.509 --> 00:10:48.389 I think we're doing a little bit different with the book that that I wanted 164 00:10:48.389 --> 00:10:50.820 to make sure we share because I think it's going to be really, really 165 00:10:50.860 --> 00:10:54.299 helpful for folks. And they're absolutely I mean, and a lot of folks 166 00:10:54.340 --> 00:10:58.740 are thinking about yeah, they're either CEOS we're talking to or marketing leaders talking 167 00:10:58.779 --> 00:11:01.940 about man, it would be great if our CEO was able to write a 168 00:11:01.980 --> 00:11:05.289 book. So, you know, for those folks listening to this, you 169 00:11:05.370 --> 00:11:09.690 know, think about the cover flaps, think about the user experience and what 170 00:11:09.809 --> 00:11:13.210 you could do differently, think about, you know, whether it's your CEOS 171 00:11:13.250 --> 00:11:16.210 phone number and a way that you can do that that's personal but also manageable, 172 00:11:16.289 --> 00:11:18.960 like you did, James, with with Google voice for some sort of 173 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:22.720 talk other yeah, exactly. Or doesn't necessarily have to be a phone number, 174 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:26.480 because something else that's going to make people go oh, man, did 175 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:31.120 you hear about what they did with their book? They data Datada, and 176 00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:33.269 so for me it was a phone number because I like engaging with people and 177 00:11:33.269 --> 00:11:37.350 I'm going to like getting a florry of text messages for, you know, 178 00:11:37.789 --> 00:11:39.870 a few months after the book launches, yeah, so it might be something 179 00:11:39.990 --> 00:11:45.029 more, you know, to your CEO's personality or your personality if you're writing 180 00:11:45.070 --> 00:11:48.179 the book, whatever the case may be. And obviously you know we're so 181 00:11:48.299 --> 00:11:52.379 bullish on audio and have been for a long time. But I think you 182 00:11:52.460 --> 00:11:56.019 know your little mini survey on Linkedin does reiterate you know, there could be 183 00:11:56.139 --> 00:12:01.299 some merit to launching your audiobook at the same time, if nothing else to 184 00:12:01.419 --> 00:12:05.289 do something a little bit different to zig when everybody else is Zaya, which 185 00:12:05.289 --> 00:12:07.929 usually gives you a little bit of Greenfield opportunity to work with. So I 186 00:12:07.970 --> 00:12:11.809 would definitely encourage people. I appreciate you sharing these three things that we did 187 00:12:11.850 --> 00:12:16.279 differently with your book man, and we'll be talking a little bit more about 188 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:20.480 launch strategy and those sorts of things that we're doing with the book launch coming 189 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:24.279 up in January. If anybody listening to this is not yet connected to James 190 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:28.159 or myself, hit us up on Linkedin, James Carberry, Logan Lyles. 191 00:12:28.200 --> 00:12:33.350 You can also connect with us on instagram. James is at James Carberry Nice 192 00:12:33.350 --> 00:12:37.309 and easy, mine is at. I am Logan Lyles, still frustrated that 193 00:12:37.590 --> 00:12:39.470 I don't have at Logan Lyles at at instagram. I'm going to say that 194 00:12:39.509 --> 00:12:43.789 every time I drop that until I get that switch, but, as always, 195 00:12:43.990 --> 00:12:50.620 thank you so much for listening. We totally get it. We publish 196 00:12:50.659 --> 00:12:54.179 a ton of content on this podcast and it can be a lot to keep 197 00:12:54.179 --> 00:12:58.059 up with. That's why we've started the B tob growth big three, a 198 00:12:58.220 --> 00:13:01.610 no fluff email that boils down our three biggest takeaways from an entire week of 199 00:13:01.730 --> 00:13:07.490 episodes. Sign up today at Sweet Phish Mediacom Big Three. That sweet PHISH 200 00:13:07.570 --> 00:13:11.090 MEDIACOM Big Three