Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.679 --> 00:00:07.629 It's the feeling that people have when they work with you. For me, 2 00:00:07.870 --> 00:00:13.910 and for me that is absolutely everything. When you create and deliver a better 3 00:00:13.990 --> 00:00:20.670 buying experience, you're obviously setting up a better customer experience overall. My name 4 00:00:20.710 --> 00:00:25.059 is ethanbued welcome back to the CX series here on BB growth. That is 5 00:00:25.140 --> 00:00:30.019 our topic today and I've got with me Josh Feedi, who is the founder 6 00:00:30.219 --> 00:00:35.219 of sales reach, a buyer enablement and buyer experience platform. It's got a 7 00:00:35.259 --> 00:00:38.250 video components. are going to be talking a little bit of video. We're 8 00:00:38.250 --> 00:00:41.609 going to be talking about buyers remorse. We're going to be talking about how 9 00:00:41.649 --> 00:00:47.289 to leverage your customers to improve your product or service, two ways to personalize 10 00:00:47.649 --> 00:00:52.679 not just the customer experience in general, but each of your messages in particular. 11 00:00:52.759 --> 00:00:56.679 We're talking about how to turn people into evangelists and how those help the 12 00:00:56.799 --> 00:01:00.560 experience for your other customers as well. My name is Ethan butwed. I 13 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:04.469 host the CX series here on the show. I'm chief evangelist at bombomb coauthor 14 00:01:04.510 --> 00:01:10.590 of Rehumanize Your Business. You can see video clips of this episode short write 15 00:01:10.590 --> 00:01:15.069 ups of every episode at Bombombcom Slash podcast. But for right now, let's 16 00:01:15.069 --> 00:01:23.379 join Josh Feedie of sales reach. The customer experience often starts at or near 17 00:01:23.900 --> 00:01:26.939 the buying experience, so today we're going to be talking about creating and delivering 18 00:01:26.980 --> 00:01:32.340 better buying a experiences. Our guest brings more than twenty years of sales and 19 00:01:32.379 --> 00:01:37.569 marketing experience in digital marketing in tech, most often as director of business development, 20 00:01:37.609 --> 00:01:41.049 but also as a two time company founder. So why did he found 21 00:01:41.090 --> 00:01:45.450 his latest company, sales reach? In his words, because buyers have changed, 22 00:01:45.890 --> 00:01:49.599 sales people matter and marketing shouldn't have all the fun. Josh feedy, 23 00:01:49.799 --> 00:01:55.280 welcome to the customer experience podcast. Hey, thanks for having me on youth 24 00:01:55.319 --> 00:01:57.040 and you did your homework before this one. That was good. Well, 25 00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:00.709 Linkedin makes it easy and you know, I do spend time in advance, 26 00:02:00.790 --> 00:02:04.510 like I want to have good conversations and I want to feel a little bit 27 00:02:04.549 --> 00:02:07.950 like I know you before we start talking. A It's a show of respect 28 00:02:07.989 --> 00:02:12.469 to you for sharing your time and expertise with me and listeners. But be 29 00:02:12.590 --> 00:02:15.740 it makes it a little bit more fun and, well, some ways, 30 00:02:15.780 --> 00:02:17.819 easier to do as well. So, yeah, thank you for noticing. 31 00:02:17.900 --> 00:02:22.379 Yeah, and it's easier than ever it's srecially for someone like you. Was 32 00:02:22.419 --> 00:02:25.900 Publishing a lot, which brings me to collect before we get into CX, 33 00:02:27.379 --> 00:02:30.969 before we get going, I was watching episode four of your new video series 34 00:02:30.009 --> 00:02:34.650 on the rocks, yeah, and you mentioned a few people I really like, 35 00:02:34.969 --> 00:02:39.090 Chris Lindall, todd hockenberry and a previous guest on this podcast, Dan 36 00:02:39.250 --> 00:02:43.889 Tire. Yeah, Spot. So I thought just to warm it up, 37 00:02:44.439 --> 00:02:46.919 could you tell me a story about one of those guys? Yeah, and 38 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:53.120 bonus points if it has a CX angle. It doesn't have damn tire is 39 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:55.120 one of my favorite people in the world. If I'm being totally honest, 40 00:02:55.159 --> 00:02:58.789 and I've said this before, some people probably really think all that, Josh, 41 00:02:58.830 --> 00:03:01.110 he's a he's a broken record, but I believe in giving respect for 42 00:03:01.270 --> 00:03:06.150 respect is do. I would not have started the business that I started today 43 00:03:06.229 --> 00:03:09.030 without Dan Tire, and I mean that with every ounce of my being. 44 00:03:09.270 --> 00:03:15.860 He was the person that was giving me the sales training on the hub spot 45 00:03:15.939 --> 00:03:20.060 platform. I was going through Dan Tires Lily in boot camp. I can't 46 00:03:20.060 --> 00:03:23.740 remember the exact name of it, but he was super inspiring and as we're 47 00:03:23.780 --> 00:03:28.090 going through all this training, it brought to light a product that I had 48 00:03:28.250 --> 00:03:32.050 created many years ago for myself with no intentions of ever product tizing it. 49 00:03:32.330 --> 00:03:35.770 Didn't really see that there was a need for it in the market place. 50 00:03:36.090 --> 00:03:38.930 But as I was going through the training through hub spot, I realized that 51 00:03:38.330 --> 00:03:42.159 the thing I had created was a huge gap in the market place. It 52 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:45.520 wasn't something that hub spot was offering. I started digging around to see who 53 00:03:45.560 --> 00:03:47.599 else was making it and at the time no one was really making it. 54 00:03:47.960 --> 00:03:52.759 And so I flew out to Boston and asked an I said, look, 55 00:03:53.159 --> 00:03:55.949 I just need fifteen, maybe thirty minutes with you. I just want to 56 00:03:57.030 --> 00:04:00.150 show you the MVP of what I had built ten years ago and I want 57 00:04:00.150 --> 00:04:02.110 to tell you what I planned to do with it. I just need someone 58 00:04:02.150 --> 00:04:08.189 to validate this one and that meeting did a lot for me. He validated 59 00:04:08.270 --> 00:04:12.180 the idea almost immediately. He did not agree to be an investor, which 60 00:04:12.300 --> 00:04:15.779 was fine because it also taught me how to properly try to raise money very 61 00:04:15.819 --> 00:04:21.100 quickly. But he has stayed available to me ever since that day, just 62 00:04:21.259 --> 00:04:25.689 over two years ago. I have his link to his calendar. He's made 63 00:04:25.689 --> 00:04:28.490 it very clear I can grab any time with them whenever I want to talk 64 00:04:28.529 --> 00:04:32.889 to him and I've used that to my benefit to continually utilize him as an 65 00:04:32.889 --> 00:04:38.009 unofficial advisor in my business, and it's been it's been invaluable. Honestly, 66 00:04:38.759 --> 00:04:41.519 that's awesome. I'm so glad I ask that and he is definitely one of 67 00:04:41.560 --> 00:04:44.759 those guys that walks his talk. Of course he's got a mountain of energy. 68 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:46.920 He's like, probably needs you on his calendar just to burn some of 69 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:53.189 that energy off. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, what a good dude. 70 00:04:53.790 --> 00:04:58.069 So let's get into CX and we'll probably get into that product idea as well. 71 00:04:58.110 --> 00:05:00.870 I do want to know more about it, but let's start just to 72 00:05:00.990 --> 00:05:03.230 set the scene. When I see customer experience, what does that mean? 73 00:05:03.269 --> 00:05:06.740 Do you Josh? Yeah, it's the feeling that people have when they work 74 00:05:06.779 --> 00:05:11.660 with you. For me, and for me that is absolutely everything I want 75 00:05:11.660 --> 00:05:14.139 to be. I want to be memorable, I want to be deliberate, 76 00:05:14.180 --> 00:05:16.459 I want to be intentional, I want to be strategic. I want people 77 00:05:16.579 --> 00:05:21.689 to walk away from any interaction I have with them feeling that way. Nice 78 00:05:21.769 --> 00:05:25.930 and talk about those feelings. I've been thinking about this a lot and I 79 00:05:26.410 --> 00:05:30.050 did a short self episode on it. It'll release just before just after this 80 00:05:30.209 --> 00:05:32.009 conversation, and I blow the whole thing down to the same thing. It's 81 00:05:32.250 --> 00:05:36.120 how we make people feel, and the angles on it, like is, 82 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:39.839 of course, how they feel about us, but then there's also like, 83 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:43.000 how do they feel about themselves by spending time with this? There's so many 84 00:05:43.079 --> 00:05:46.480 like you, like the feeling just goes in a variety of directions. Yeah, 85 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:50.550 that's a super important clarification that you just made there, because you do 86 00:05:50.790 --> 00:05:54.110 need to be looking at it. In my opinion, and it sounds like 87 00:05:54.189 --> 00:05:58.470 yours, in both ways, it is not just how they feel about the 88 00:05:58.589 --> 00:06:02.189 sales professional or the company that they're moving forward with, but the feeling that 89 00:06:02.269 --> 00:06:08.259 they're empowered, that they made the right decision after moving forward. The most 90 00:06:08.339 --> 00:06:13.220 human the most human thing is buyers remorse. The second we buy anything, 91 00:06:13.300 --> 00:06:16.699 every single one of us has a certain amount of buyers remorse it. No 92 00:06:16.819 --> 00:06:20.250 matter what we're purchasing, there's always the question of did I need that? 93 00:06:20.610 --> 00:06:24.689 Did I need did I need the turbo on this car that I just bought, 94 00:06:24.769 --> 00:06:27.610 or could I have gone with the s version of this car right? 95 00:06:27.649 --> 00:06:30.930 Why did I why did I have to get that version? It could even 96 00:06:30.970 --> 00:06:33.000 be a pack of gum at the Home Depot on your way out? Did 97 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:36.279 I really need to buy that? Fires aremorse sets in immediately, and so 98 00:06:38.279 --> 00:06:42.720 it's honestly, all customer facing teams need to really step things up, because 99 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:46.680 the buying experience is not just me as a sales professional. There's going to 100 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:49.750 be a handoff to the onboarding, implementation, customer success team, whoever comes 101 00:06:49.829 --> 00:06:54.589 next in that line of command, and that's almost the most, in my 102 00:06:54.750 --> 00:06:58.589 opinion, the most critical time to make sure that, like, everything is 103 00:06:58.790 --> 00:07:02.379 turning on all cylinders here, because the second of ball is dropped, after 104 00:07:02.540 --> 00:07:06.699 that money changes hands, that's when that buyers remorse goes into the red zone 105 00:07:06.740 --> 00:07:12.459 immediately. And we've all had that experience where, immediately after landing the deal, 106 00:07:12.779 --> 00:07:14.779 someone comes running in the room and says, Hey, take it off 107 00:07:14.860 --> 00:07:16.930 the leaderboard. You, you lost that deal. Why didn't? Why did 108 00:07:16.930 --> 00:07:20.730 I lose that deal? Did I overpromise? WHO Under delivered? What happened 109 00:07:20.769 --> 00:07:25.410 here? But that buyers remorse is real and we need to find find ways 110 00:07:25.769 --> 00:07:30.959 to make people feel empowered in the decision they're making so that they move forward 111 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:36.319 with less regret. Yeah, really good buyers remorses super powerful. I feel 112 00:07:36.360 --> 00:07:40.079 like you know, depending on the price point in the product of the service 113 00:07:40.199 --> 00:07:44.040 and the anticipated impact, you know you're on the clock as soon as that. 114 00:07:44.589 --> 00:07:46.990 You know that invoices signed or the credit card is swiped or whatever the 115 00:07:47.069 --> 00:07:49.829 case may be. And so in some cases you know you're on the clock 116 00:07:49.910 --> 00:07:54.350 in the next seventy two hours and other cases you're on the clock over the 117 00:07:54.430 --> 00:07:57.949 next three weeks or maybe even three months, but that clock is moving in 118 00:07:58.189 --> 00:08:01.579 managing the confidence, you know, all the excitement that they had going into 119 00:08:01.660 --> 00:08:07.660 this start of the clock there needs to be sustained. So sales reach. 120 00:08:07.819 --> 00:08:09.819 I assume that that is the idea that you had it. I was obviously 121 00:08:09.939 --> 00:08:13.490 coming out of a felt need that you were experiencing at the time. Maybe 122 00:08:13.569 --> 00:08:16.850 that was a little bit of that arc. I guess I was going to 123 00:08:16.970 --> 00:08:20.009 initially go in with like, you know, who is your core customer and 124 00:08:20.089 --> 00:08:22.209 what are you solving for them? But I have a feeling if you kind 125 00:08:22.209 --> 00:08:24.569 of tell the story a little bit, it sounds like there's a story there 126 00:08:24.930 --> 00:08:28.319 that I would love to hear that that might emerge naturally out of that. 127 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:33.480 Yeah, I mean, so the arc where this came from was when I 128 00:08:33.559 --> 00:08:39.080 owned my first business I had a marketing agency. I knew enough about coding 129 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:43.389 to be slightly dangerous, and every single day I was becoming more and more 130 00:08:43.470 --> 00:08:50.029 dissatisfied with my sales process. This was years ago. This is before sales 131 00:08:50.029 --> 00:08:52.470 force was a household name, before hub spot even existed. This was years 132 00:08:52.509 --> 00:08:56.419 ago, so I didn't really see that this was something other people would need. 133 00:08:56.539 --> 00:09:01.179 But what the problem was was that I was falling into this call and 134 00:09:01.340 --> 00:09:05.620 response with my prospects. They would ask me for things, I would send 135 00:09:05.700 --> 00:09:09.259 them those things, I would feel like I did my job, but then 136 00:09:09.259 --> 00:09:11.649 they'd always be this confusion. They'd come back to me months later. Hey, 137 00:09:11.730 --> 00:09:15.289 we're about to go in front of the review team. I can't. 138 00:09:15.289 --> 00:09:18.129 I could have sworn. You sent me something about this. I can't find 139 00:09:18.129 --> 00:09:20.649 it. Can you resend it for me? Yeah, no problem. I 140 00:09:20.769 --> 00:09:24.200 resent it. And it was then that I've realized that I'm making your life 141 00:09:24.279 --> 00:09:28.960 challenging. Why am I doing this? I know enough about putting to make 142 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:33.679 something better for you. So what I started doing was just making simple wordpress 143 00:09:33.799 --> 00:09:39.070 web pages that I would stand up for every single prospect that I had spoken 144 00:09:39.110 --> 00:09:41.110 with and when they needed something for me, I would load it on to 145 00:09:41.110 --> 00:09:43.429 that page. It was very rudimentary, but it made it simple for them 146 00:09:43.470 --> 00:09:46.789 to have one source of truth for everything they needed to share with their team. 147 00:09:48.029 --> 00:09:52.100 That's where it started. And then the advent of things like personal branding 148 00:09:52.139 --> 00:09:56.379 and started popping up and video based sales, one to one sales efforts, 149 00:09:56.419 --> 00:10:01.580 and you know all about that. And that's where I started seeing, hey, 150 00:10:01.899 --> 00:10:07.570 there's a need for the core product of what I built with some additions, 151 00:10:07.090 --> 00:10:13.370 for the modern sales professional to meet the modern buyer the way they want 152 00:10:13.409 --> 00:10:18.450 to interact. We live in this world right now where the same consumer on 153 00:10:18.490 --> 00:10:22.320 Amazon is your consumer right now as well, and everything is so simple for 154 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:26.559 them in that digital space. They're comfortable in that digital space. They don't 155 00:10:26.600 --> 00:10:30.600 have to be put up, you know, you know, in a corner 156 00:10:30.679 --> 00:10:33.039 where they have to, you know, talk to this salesperson that's telling them 157 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:37.789 what they need there they're making decisions on their own. So why are we 158 00:10:37.870 --> 00:10:41.750 pulling them out of those spaces? That's when I decided to, you know, 159 00:10:41.190 --> 00:10:46.389 pull together a team, start building this, validate it with some early 160 00:10:46.509 --> 00:10:50.899 customers, see if pulling all these components together, your personal branding, personalizing 161 00:10:50.980 --> 00:10:56.940 the materials that you're sending to somebody, organizing this process for them so that 162 00:10:56.379 --> 00:11:00.980 when it's brought to the decisionmaking table, they have everything in one source of 163 00:11:01.100 --> 00:11:03.929 truth, and then infusing it with personalized video as well, so that you 164 00:11:05.090 --> 00:11:09.610 can help narrate the situation. However, you need to at every stage of 165 00:11:09.690 --> 00:11:13.049 the sales process, in your own words. Love it. So how much 166 00:11:13.049 --> 00:11:18.049 more like from an experiential standpoint, like I can visualize a very, very 167 00:11:18.129 --> 00:11:22.279 simple wordpress page. Yet maybe a little headline in a link, headline, 168 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:26.519 link, headline, link. Yeah, what does it feel like now to 169 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:30.519 visit one of these one of these days? And when, in the relationship 170 00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:33.509 do you start building one of them? Yeah, so first question. What 171 00:11:33.590 --> 00:11:39.389 does it look like? It's a I like to say it's a visual dropbox 172 00:11:39.429 --> 00:11:41.950 essentially. Right. DROPBOX is a great way to send a whole bunch of 173 00:11:41.990 --> 00:11:45.789 information, as somebody, but there's things that get in the way. Before 174 00:11:45.789 --> 00:11:48.580 they can look at the documents, they have to download them. There's nothing 175 00:11:48.620 --> 00:11:50.779 visual about it. All it is is a title of a material that you're 176 00:11:50.860 --> 00:11:54.580 setting them. So there's a very visual component to this whole thing. The 177 00:11:54.700 --> 00:11:58.220 beauty of the visual portion of this is that it is locked down by marketing 178 00:11:58.259 --> 00:12:01.889 teams. So what we've created as a software that marketing teams can kind of 179 00:12:01.929 --> 00:12:05.450 set it and forget it. It's the Ron who peels chicken friar methodology, 180 00:12:05.490 --> 00:12:09.649 right. So I didn't forget it. Handed after your sales team. You 181 00:12:09.730 --> 00:12:13.970 don't need to worry, worry anymore, because they're enabled now to put whatever 182 00:12:13.970 --> 00:12:16.279 they need on the page. It's already been approved by you. The design 183 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:18.279 is already set in stone. They can't change the color scheme on the page. 184 00:12:18.440 --> 00:12:22.600 It's all locked in on your branding element. So that's you know, 185 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:26.159 that's kind of how it is. It's just it's a visual crm. Is 186 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:28.919 What it is at the end of the day. What was the second question? 187 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:33.190 Again on that? Like when, when in the relationship, are your 188 00:12:33.190 --> 00:12:37.590 customer setting these up? Because I can see us being incredibly useful like like, 189 00:12:37.549 --> 00:12:39.870 way, way, way, at the beginning of the journey. And 190 00:12:39.990 --> 00:12:43.419 then, of course, you know, is the account continues to grow in 191 00:12:43.500 --> 00:12:48.899 the relationship matures, I can see an account manager or CSM having a lot 192 00:12:48.940 --> 00:12:52.299 of value in it as well. Yeah, you already get it. You 193 00:12:52.379 --> 00:12:54.299 can. You can use this product whenever you want, even know but that 194 00:12:54.860 --> 00:12:58.889 you set it up right from day one. There's no reason not to. 195 00:12:58.929 --> 00:13:01.289 You can actually use this on more of a you should never do a cold 196 00:13:01.289 --> 00:13:05.210 outreach, but you should. You can set this up on a warm outreach 197 00:13:05.330 --> 00:13:07.970 very early on. The page builds as you need it to build, so 198 00:13:09.409 --> 00:13:11.210 you never you don't have to send out a page with literally all the bells 199 00:13:11.210 --> 00:13:15.320 and whistles on it. It could be as simple as a way to get 200 00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:18.960 on your calendar, a personalized video to you know, let him know why 201 00:13:18.039 --> 00:13:22.120 you want to meet with them. Maybe a lupold materials, but for sure 202 00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:24.000 your bio so they know who they are going to be talking to. And 203 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:28.710 then, as the relationship grows, you add to this page. The page 204 00:13:28.750 --> 00:13:31.549 auto updates. No matter how you change the things in the asset library, 205 00:13:31.590 --> 00:13:35.549 the page auto updates. You can change it dynamically throughout all the conversations. 206 00:13:35.710 --> 00:13:41.070 And then where I was talking about, all customer facing teams. That's really 207 00:13:41.110 --> 00:13:45.500 who uses this product. It's not just a business development tool. It then 208 00:13:45.659 --> 00:13:50.019 turns into a client relationship management tool or an onboarding and training portal or even 209 00:13:50.100 --> 00:13:54.700 recruiting. We've seen some of our customers use it in their recruiting efforts to 210 00:13:54.820 --> 00:13:58.129 make the recruiting process even more personalized. So it's been pretty cool to watch 211 00:13:58.210 --> 00:14:01.250 that. Yeah, that's that is a really fun thing and I would say 212 00:14:01.250 --> 00:14:05.250 we've had a similar experience here at bombomb where you know you have the you 213 00:14:05.330 --> 00:14:09.120 know this. This software was built in the company was built in part out 214 00:14:09.159 --> 00:14:13.080 of same thing, felt me by one of our cofounders in a sales role. 215 00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:16.080 Wanted to get faced face more often. Had too many clients spread over 216 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:20.080 two wide to geography. Let's recording, send videos and Oh, by the 217 00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:22.399 way, I guess a lot of other people could use this too for the 218 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:24.269 same days and that I did. And then all of a sudden you turn 219 00:14:24.269 --> 00:14:28.269 it loose into the world and customers start doing things that you didn't anticipate and 220 00:14:28.350 --> 00:14:33.389 it's just delightful. And the recruiting layer, by the way, makes perfect 221 00:14:33.429 --> 00:14:37.909 sense. I've been teaching a lot about video across essentially a bowtie funnel, 222 00:14:37.070 --> 00:14:41.100 you know, a customer journey against a bow tie funnel. Yeah, or 223 00:14:41.220 --> 00:14:45.500 life cycle, and and you can map the exact same thing. The employee 224 00:14:45.539 --> 00:14:48.700 life cycle is exactly the same as the customer life cycle. Just some of 225 00:14:48.740 --> 00:14:50.500 the terms are different, but it's the exact same thing. If you're doing 226 00:14:50.580 --> 00:14:54.490 it well and I'm currently working out in my head, by the way, 227 00:14:54.129 --> 00:14:56.970 is the same thing, but for like a personal network thing right, like 228 00:14:58.090 --> 00:15:01.730 like yeah, this isn't a sales relationship, it's not an employee relationship, 229 00:15:01.769 --> 00:15:05.690 but there's some point in yours, in my relationship Josh, where we have 230 00:15:05.889 --> 00:15:09.080 some kind of a level of commitment and then this positive thing or if fades 231 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:11.120 out in the beginning. We're not going to go that way. I just 232 00:15:11.159 --> 00:15:15.519 feel that. But you know some thing about a personal network to not that, 233 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:18.039 not that your product would be necessarily be appropriate for it, but I've 234 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:22.350 bet someone could apply it to some of their personal relationships as well. So 235 00:15:24.110 --> 00:15:26.470 obviously alignment is a big theme on the show. I imagine it's something that 236 00:15:26.549 --> 00:15:30.590 you have a lot of thoughts and experience around. We've already talked about the 237 00:15:30.629 --> 00:15:35.100 the alignment of communicating with a client, you know, marketing, maybe in 238 00:15:35.100 --> 00:15:41.700 the early stages in two sales be DRS drae handoff to CSM account management. 239 00:15:41.779 --> 00:15:45.460 Like, when I say alignment, what comes to mind? Is it a 240 00:15:45.500 --> 00:15:48.019 played out terms? It actually like fundamental to the success of any business. 241 00:15:48.179 --> 00:15:52.610 Like what do you think about alignment? Two things. A yes, it's 242 00:15:52.649 --> 00:15:58.649 fundamental to the success of any business and be it is the most misunderstood thing 243 00:15:58.769 --> 00:16:04.480 in the entire world for companies and it's painful to watch and I've been I've 244 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:11.919 worked in enough companies in an enough different roles where I've seen misalignment and so 245 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:15.879 many different ways. And even being in all those different positions, I don't 246 00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:18.990 have the answer for how do we better alive? Are So but what I 247 00:16:19.110 --> 00:16:23.870 believe the answer is right now is that we need to find technologies that we 248 00:16:23.990 --> 00:16:29.710 can utilize throughout the customer life cycle that make it simple, and the core 249 00:16:29.830 --> 00:16:33.899 word is simple, because we tend to make things way more complex than they 250 00:16:33.899 --> 00:16:40.139 actually beat need to be in companies and many times the best answer is the 251 00:16:40.259 --> 00:16:45.779 simplest answer. Right. There's no there is no magic to it. When 252 00:16:45.779 --> 00:16:48.009 you see misalignment. Give me like one or two stories, and I mean 253 00:16:48.129 --> 00:16:52.850 like unpack horror stories. It include the names, but like yeah, just 254 00:16:52.970 --> 00:16:56.889 so people can feel that, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, 255 00:16:56.250 --> 00:17:02.720 so this has happened the probably the worst case that this has ever happened 256 00:17:02.759 --> 00:17:06.039 in my personal life. Names will not be mentioned. I can't mention name. 257 00:17:06.119 --> 00:17:11.440 Please don't. Yeah, but will protect the innocent on this one regardless. 258 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:15.559 Big Deal closed a big deal. It took many, many months to 259 00:17:15.950 --> 00:17:21.069 wrap up this deal. It was a large contract for a large price tag, 260 00:17:21.230 --> 00:17:23.630 and so so I involved many members of the organization I was at while 261 00:17:23.829 --> 00:17:29.670 this proposal was being created. I'm a big believer in making sure that everyone 262 00:17:29.710 --> 00:17:34.700 understands exactly what we're selling in here before we move forward. However, I 263 00:17:34.819 --> 00:17:40.299 do not think that the respect was given to the review process of our agreement 264 00:17:40.460 --> 00:17:45.490 before we put it in the customers hands, because immediately after landing that deal, 265 00:17:45.130 --> 00:17:48.890 we it was within about a month, the customer started asking questions. 266 00:17:49.170 --> 00:17:52.089 Well, when are we going to get to this piece? Well, when 267 00:17:52.089 --> 00:17:53.450 are we going to do that? Josh said we were going to do that 268 00:17:53.849 --> 00:17:57.130 and the team was coming back and saying, Oh, no, no, 269 00:17:57.410 --> 00:18:02.079 Oh, I don't think Josh said that. I kept getting pulled forward and 270 00:18:02.200 --> 00:18:03.359 I pull out the agreement. I'd say, guys, it's right here, 271 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:07.400 it's right on the agreement here. Yes, I promised this and this is 272 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:11.160 part of what we say we do here, so we should probably be doing 273 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:12.950 this for these people. This is what they paid us for. This is 274 00:18:14.029 --> 00:18:17.789 why it cost so much money to move forward in this contract. At the 275 00:18:17.910 --> 00:18:23.309 end of the day, that deal was salvaged. However, there were some 276 00:18:23.470 --> 00:18:29.099 discussions about potentially having to do it have legal teams intervene, and I don't 277 00:18:29.220 --> 00:18:33.779 think that I left that place before that deal to see what ended up at 278 00:18:33.859 --> 00:18:37.220 transpiring with that deal. It was just part of an ongoing issue that I 279 00:18:37.259 --> 00:18:40.220 had to get out of there, but I don't think that you can ever 280 00:18:40.339 --> 00:18:44.369 really salvage a relationship that starts off that way. People will always have that 281 00:18:44.529 --> 00:18:48.730 in the back of their minds and honestly, it could have been alleviated by 282 00:18:48.250 --> 00:18:53.250 a better review of what we were actually delivering to these this customer before we 283 00:18:53.410 --> 00:18:56.960 move forward. Be I learned that I probably should have done on a better 284 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:00.720 job when it went from sales to on boarding and the customer support team, 285 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:06.480 properly communicating. This is exactly what's going on here because instead down that deal 286 00:19:06.519 --> 00:19:10.470 specifically, my process was you've already reviewed this agreement in detail. Correct, 287 00:19:10.470 --> 00:19:14.789 yes, awesome, here's the signed agreement. Move Forward. I'm onto working 288 00:19:14.869 --> 00:19:18.190 on the next deal. Big Mistake on my head. Yeah, I like 289 00:19:18.349 --> 00:19:22.589 that you said properly communicating. I think you know, as you were sharing 290 00:19:22.670 --> 00:19:25.980 that I kept thinking, like I feel like just clear communication. But there's 291 00:19:26.019 --> 00:19:30.019 it's more than that. It's shared values, it's a it's maybe this is 292 00:19:30.180 --> 00:19:33.420 where I've seen some miscommunication and misalignment is around kind of like one off stuff 293 00:19:33.500 --> 00:19:37.740 that that is like it. You know, it's not repeatable. You're going 294 00:19:37.779 --> 00:19:41.650 to wind up doing like we work each time. You do a unique deal. 295 00:19:41.769 --> 00:19:45.170 That just doesn't make a lot of sense. So here's another term that 296 00:19:45.289 --> 00:19:49.250 I think. Do you call alignment misunderstood? Yes, absolutely. Okay. 297 00:19:49.289 --> 00:19:52.880 Here's another term that I think is misunderstood that I feel really confident that you 298 00:19:52.920 --> 00:19:57.880 have something interesting to offer on and that is personalized. Like what is a 299 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:03.240 posonalized experience? Yeah, in your view, like yeah, yeah, it's. 300 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:07.069 Look, there's two different ways to look at personalization in your process, 301 00:20:07.269 --> 00:20:11.470 and I think that this is where the confusion happens. There is infusing yourself 302 00:20:11.710 --> 00:20:15.670 and your personal character and who you are, what you stand for, your 303 00:20:15.710 --> 00:20:19.150 personal brand, infusing that into your process. That's half of personalization in my 304 00:20:19.230 --> 00:20:23.140 mind. But the other half, the most important half, is where you 305 00:20:23.220 --> 00:20:30.380 stop talking about yourself and you start delivering materials that are personalized to the person 306 00:20:30.859 --> 00:20:34.849 that you're sending it to to address their unique challenges. And if you don't 307 00:20:34.849 --> 00:20:38.089 do both of those things, you don't say you don't build a trust, 308 00:20:38.089 --> 00:20:41.210 because they don't know who you are, they don't care who you are. 309 00:20:41.769 --> 00:20:45.369 That's it's just a thing. But if you don't deliver what they actually ask 310 00:20:45.490 --> 00:20:49.000 for, what they actually need. Amazon does a great job of this. 311 00:20:49.160 --> 00:20:52.799 There is a there's a very good reason why, every time you go to 312 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:56.079 Amazon and you select anything, it says customers that bought this also bought this. 313 00:20:56.160 --> 00:20:59.960 Are you interested in that? That's how they help personalize this. That's 314 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:03.349 how they let you know we understand you. You're purchasing a mop. You 315 00:21:03.390 --> 00:21:07.829 might also need a bucket and you might also need some soap, because everyone 316 00:21:07.869 --> 00:21:11.309 else, the bottom up, did to. We're going to be helpful here. 317 00:21:11.549 --> 00:21:12.990 We're going to make a guess that this is what you need. Right. 318 00:21:14.269 --> 00:21:17.549 Sales people need to be strategic in that same way. If somebody reaches 319 00:21:17.589 --> 00:21:21.140 out to you and says this is what I need, you need to dig 320 00:21:21.180 --> 00:21:22.740 into it a little bit more. And and what if you just use the 321 00:21:22.779 --> 00:21:26.660 Amazon model? Well, the last customer I spoke with that needed that also 322 00:21:26.740 --> 00:21:32.180 needed this in this. Could you also use that? Oh Wow, I 323 00:21:32.220 --> 00:21:34.009 could actually I wasn't even thinking about that. Well, there you have it 324 00:21:34.369 --> 00:21:37.529 right. So Chris Lind Al, who you know, who's a big fan 325 00:21:37.650 --> 00:21:41.849 of bombomb and, is going to be on my podcast here soon. I 326 00:21:41.130 --> 00:21:45.569 love that guy. He's great. He was just on my friend Nicklivador's podcast 327 00:21:45.650 --> 00:21:49.720 called coffee and closers. He said something absolutely profound. He said that he 328 00:21:49.960 --> 00:21:55.640 loves to look at industries outside his own when he's trying to decide how to 329 00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:57.960 move forward, how to innovate, how to truly innovate in his space, 330 00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:02.029 and I thought that was absolutely profound. I think a lot of us do 331 00:22:02.309 --> 00:22:04.430 this without really thinking about it. But I think the sad reality is that 332 00:22:04.509 --> 00:22:07.549 a lot of us don't do this. A lot of us just kind of 333 00:22:07.549 --> 00:22:11.470 look at our exact competitors and go well, bomb I's doing this, then 334 00:22:11.750 --> 00:22:14.549 whiskey is should be doing this, and if we Stey, then twenty three 335 00:22:14.710 --> 00:22:18.099 should also be doing none. Why don't we look at why don't? Why 336 00:22:18.099 --> 00:22:21.059 don't we, as Bob I, look at Uber? What could uber teach 337 00:22:21.140 --> 00:22:25.299 us about the customer experience? Because I guarantee there's something there. We just 338 00:22:25.460 --> 00:22:27.700 have to be willing to pay attention to it and dive a little deeper and 339 00:22:27.900 --> 00:22:33.490 think a little bit more intentionally. Yeah, really great. I love that, 340 00:22:33.769 --> 00:22:37.130 in addressing personalization, off the top there, that you went to Amazon, 341 00:22:37.250 --> 00:22:38.769 because what I what I think a lot of people go to in their 342 00:22:38.849 --> 00:22:42.490 heads, is, oh my gosh, I have to do all this work 343 00:22:42.609 --> 00:22:47.480 and it's not enough just to slug in the variable data of their company name 344 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:49.839 and their perfect their first name in their industry name. I actually need to 345 00:22:49.880 --> 00:22:53.319 go read a linked in profile and maybe see if they were a guest on 346 00:22:53.400 --> 00:22:57.000 a podcast. So I have something personal to talk about. And that's true. 347 00:22:57.160 --> 00:23:00.549 But there's also and I'll tie alignment back in here too, is something 348 00:23:00.589 --> 00:23:04.390 I was imagine as you walk that out, is you know there's information because 349 00:23:04.430 --> 00:23:07.589 this, Oh, you bought them up, maybe you need a bucket, 350 00:23:07.029 --> 00:23:10.750 and so you have that curiosity for starters, as a word that came to 351 00:23:10.829 --> 00:23:11.900 mind, this curiosity to say, oh, that's interesting. Why do you 352 00:23:11.940 --> 00:23:15.380 think you need that? Oh well, maybe you need this in that. 353 00:23:15.619 --> 00:23:18.420 But then also kind of closing that loop, because you know the customer success 354 00:23:18.420 --> 00:23:25.420 or customer support, customer service, Account Management as or sorry, account manager's 355 00:23:25.420 --> 00:23:30.410 Am's. Yep, have information about customers that have fedback up earlier in the 356 00:23:30.529 --> 00:23:33.730 process is going to teach sales and marketing a lot more about how this actually 357 00:23:33.890 --> 00:23:40.569 pans out. And so personalization isn't it is scalable in a lot of ways 358 00:23:40.930 --> 00:23:44.640 and it doesn't just mean spend a bunch of time doing a bunch of research 359 00:23:44.680 --> 00:23:48.119 and figuring out, you know, what their favorite coffee cake is so you 360 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:49.880 can send it to their office on a Wednesday morning and to light them. 361 00:23:51.240 --> 00:23:52.799 That's not a bad thing to do either. No, you don't know, 362 00:23:52.920 --> 00:23:59.470 but the personalization doesn't have to be completely time consuming and manual. Yeah, 363 00:23:59.509 --> 00:24:02.109 and what I would throw out there as well, as long as we're thrown 364 00:24:02.150 --> 00:24:06.910 out words right and riffing off of words, the word that I like is 365 00:24:06.950 --> 00:24:12.420 visibility. Visibility throughout the organization is what helps you be more intentional and personal 366 00:24:12.579 --> 00:24:18.380 in your efforts to deliver more value with every interaction. Because, look, 367 00:24:18.460 --> 00:24:22.299 if I'm just in a sales capacity, my job is to find leads, 368 00:24:22.339 --> 00:24:27.329 land deals, past them on Rinse and repeat all day law, and many 369 00:24:27.410 --> 00:24:32.730 organizations keep the salesperson doing that all day. Law. Now that you've handed 370 00:24:32.769 --> 00:24:34.329 this off, your out. Now we have a custom success manager. This 371 00:24:34.490 --> 00:24:37.849 is their role. Don't, don't, don't get in the way. Don't 372 00:24:37.890 --> 00:24:40.880 do that. That's the worst thing you can possibly do, because if I 373 00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:45.359 don't have visibility as to what happens next after I've handed that off, that's 374 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:48.559 where you have issues, like the story I told earlier. Right, I 375 00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:52.480 don't know that I need to explain this more intentionally to my internal team. 376 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:55.950 If I don't know, you've already been having issues doing the things I've been 377 00:24:55.990 --> 00:24:59.430 selling in at this company. You need to give me the visibility to do 378 00:24:59.589 --> 00:25:03.230 that. Additionally, though, on the good side, I need visibility to 379 00:25:03.390 --> 00:25:07.180 the good things that happen as well post sale, because that's how I can 380 00:25:07.220 --> 00:25:12.180 double down preemptively bring in bigger dollar amounts, because I know that if I 381 00:25:12.259 --> 00:25:17.140 land this person that does this, there's a ninety percent chance that they're going 382 00:25:17.140 --> 00:25:18.579 to also need this of this. I might as well make it part of 383 00:25:18.619 --> 00:25:22.809 a package right now, so they don't feel like we're like continuably upselling them 384 00:25:22.849 --> 00:25:26.289 but after the deal, yeah, or that we misunderstood them and we held 385 00:25:26.289 --> 00:25:30.849 back opportunities and whatever what it's better for everybody. Yeah, that'solutely. It's 386 00:25:30.890 --> 00:25:33.890 really good. And before I before we move on to another topic, I'll 387 00:25:33.890 --> 00:25:37.839 just double down and say yeah, Chris Lindell. I've I've always regard him 388 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:41.400 as like a kind of a marketing genius or savant. Might be too far, 389 00:25:41.559 --> 00:25:44.440 and I think the way the the what you offered there is more of 390 00:25:44.480 --> 00:25:48.279 an illustration of the genius, because he does have like a lot of natural 391 00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:53.109 instinct there, but this idea of intentionally seeking out new influences and new voices 392 00:25:53.269 --> 00:25:59.789 and new perspectives to broaden that like that. The creativity happens in taking too 393 00:25:59.910 --> 00:26:03.390 seemingly disparate things, but somehow they just collide together in your brain, which 394 00:26:03.390 --> 00:26:07.059 is part of where the genius and creativity happen. But the more you vary 395 00:26:07.180 --> 00:26:10.299 your input, I think, the more interesting the outputs going to be, 396 00:26:10.819 --> 00:26:15.059 at least from a learning and development creativity stand point. How let's talk briefly. 397 00:26:15.220 --> 00:26:18.970 Go to market. You know, are you all would you? Are 398 00:26:18.049 --> 00:26:22.170 you more product led, sales led, marketing led? Like, how do 399 00:26:22.250 --> 00:26:25.970 you regard that? You think a lot about it or did you know? 400 00:26:26.250 --> 00:26:29.410 How did you so? And I'll just back it up one more step. 401 00:26:29.450 --> 00:26:33.359 Yeah, you had this idea, it was validated, it was clearly a 402 00:26:33.480 --> 00:26:36.599 good idea. You had a clear use case for it. So you're like 403 00:26:36.839 --> 00:26:37.799 now we're going to bring it to market. Like, how did you think 404 00:26:37.839 --> 00:26:41.720 about all of that? Yeah, I was. I was very intentional with 405 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:47.349 our go to market strategy. It was all about storytelling. So I suppose 406 00:26:47.549 --> 00:26:51.549 that you could say it. We're a marketing let organization. However, I 407 00:26:51.710 --> 00:26:56.869 would say that sales people should also be sales storytellers today. So we're a 408 00:26:56.950 --> 00:27:00.230 sales and marketing let organization. I'm super proud of the product that we've created 409 00:27:00.460 --> 00:27:04.220 and the product proves itself every single day. So when when I tell the 410 00:27:04.380 --> 00:27:07.579 story about the benefits that this is going to bring your organization, when I 411 00:27:07.660 --> 00:27:11.660 tell the story about the challenges that you're likely facing and the reason we created 412 00:27:12.180 --> 00:27:15.890 this, the product has to make good on that story and that promise, 413 00:27:17.049 --> 00:27:21.329 and so we've been really, really blessed in that we have not had the 414 00:27:21.410 --> 00:27:26.410 churn rate that many SASS companies have. When people come in it becomes part 415 00:27:26.450 --> 00:27:30.680 of the grain of their company pretty quickly. We started as a sales tool. 416 00:27:30.680 --> 00:27:33.960 That's why we called it sales reach and I thought this is just a 417 00:27:34.039 --> 00:27:38.240 sales tool. That was my own ignorance. My customers were the ones that 418 00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:42.039 decided. This was for all customer facing teams, because our customers were the 419 00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:45.589 ones that started using it and all these other divisions and then coming back to 420 00:27:45.670 --> 00:27:48.269 us and saying, did you know what works well for this, and I'd 421 00:27:48.269 --> 00:27:52.390 say now I didn't what you can you tell me about that? Then they'd 422 00:27:52.430 --> 00:27:56.630 explain it to me. My customers have made this product something that I think 423 00:27:56.990 --> 00:28:00.500 can be a very valuable company, not me. I didn't do it. 424 00:28:00.700 --> 00:28:03.019 I was the visionary that thought we could build a sales tool, but turns 425 00:28:03.019 --> 00:28:07.740 out it's for any customer facing team. It responds to a lot of different 426 00:28:07.779 --> 00:28:11.140 needs and we keep finding more and more and more people using it in more 427 00:28:11.180 --> 00:28:15.609 unique and interesting ways. We just the other day, just real quick story, 428 00:28:17.009 --> 00:28:19.569 with all of this covid nineteen scare going around, but by the time 429 00:28:19.609 --> 00:28:23.210 you release this, hopefully that scares over and we have moved on, but 430 00:28:23.289 --> 00:28:27.000 I kind of doubt we will have by then. Unfortunately, regardless, we 431 00:28:27.079 --> 00:28:32.480 were watching all these conference is getting canceled. All of these sales teams for 432 00:28:32.599 --> 00:28:36.240 our customers were calling us up and saying, not only is our conference canceled 433 00:28:36.440 --> 00:28:38.599 in our trade shows are canceled, but we've been grounded. We cannot fly 434 00:28:38.680 --> 00:28:44.789 anywhere right now. We don't want to meet with customers facetoface, because WHO's 435 00:28:44.910 --> 00:28:49.069 legally responsible if we get someone really sick and they die? What? What? 436 00:28:49.269 --> 00:28:52.710 Then? What do we do? And so we were brainstorming in the 437 00:28:52.789 --> 00:28:57.940 office and thinking, Wow, could our products help with these events that are 438 00:28:57.940 --> 00:29:03.900 now canceled, to do more of a digital conference? And so within two 439 00:29:03.940 --> 00:29:07.099 hours we used our product as it stands right now and created our own digital 440 00:29:07.140 --> 00:29:11.690 conference just as a proofpoint and MVP of could it work for this? And 441 00:29:11.930 --> 00:29:15.569 it does. It's really simple to do it actually. So now we've had 442 00:29:15.690 --> 00:29:18.930 some of these event places reaching out to us saying hey, how did could 443 00:29:18.930 --> 00:29:22.329 we use that for ours? We combine up our speakers on your just like 444 00:29:22.450 --> 00:29:23.640 that too. Right, yeah, how long we to take a bunch? 445 00:29:23.880 --> 00:29:26.200 Two hours. I can have a going Oh wow, okay, that's simple. 446 00:29:26.440 --> 00:29:30.640 So, you know, I think the covid nineteen thing, I don't 447 00:29:30.680 --> 00:29:32.920 want to say it's going to be good for business at all, but what 448 00:29:33.039 --> 00:29:34.720 I do think it's going to be good for is I think that it's going 449 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:40.509 to for sales professionals to double down on the tools that they've likely had access 450 00:29:40.589 --> 00:29:44.549 to all along, that they really haven't invested enough time in because we're going 451 00:29:44.549 --> 00:29:48.109 to have to find ways to be more personal and intentional in our efforts without 452 00:29:48.190 --> 00:29:52.059 the facetoface, and this is where companies like bombomb and sales reach really, 453 00:29:52.180 --> 00:29:56.740 honestly, are probably going to win. Yeah, I agree. I you 454 00:29:56.819 --> 00:30:00.299 know, I haven't found a really t tasteful way to make that argument, 455 00:30:00.380 --> 00:30:04.259 but it's it's right there to be had. Honestly, it is the reason 456 00:30:04.299 --> 00:30:07.410 we get on airplanes and spend all this money and stay in hotels is to 457 00:30:07.450 --> 00:30:11.970 get facetoface with our customers and our future customers. And so you know with 458 00:30:12.369 --> 00:30:15.410 I love your use case there, and of course zoom comes to mind. 459 00:30:15.450 --> 00:30:18.089 It's what we're using right now, something that we use all the time here 460 00:30:18.130 --> 00:30:22.160 at bombomb, and then for the Asynchron of stuff, of course bombomb helps 461 00:30:22.200 --> 00:30:26.480 fill that gap. I love this idea of learning from your customers. I 462 00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:32.200 think it is certainly something a founder or an early team member someone needs to 463 00:30:32.240 --> 00:30:36.990 be building those relationships really early on to create that intense feedback loop. So 464 00:30:37.230 --> 00:30:41.190 for you, and there's a CO creation element. I just love for you 465 00:30:41.269 --> 00:30:42.750 to talk a little bit about what do you think it was that made these 466 00:30:42.789 --> 00:30:48.029 customers so eager to share back with you or your team members. You know 467 00:30:48.349 --> 00:30:52.500 what they're doing and like we've always had that here. It's essentially been kind 468 00:30:52.500 --> 00:30:55.940 of a key part of my role as the as the early marketing person here, 469 00:30:56.099 --> 00:30:59.299 is like how we're actually people using this word. Are The stories that 470 00:30:59.420 --> 00:31:02.059 we can share? Can We? Will they give us permission to share their 471 00:31:02.140 --> 00:31:03.730 videos? Would they come on and, you know, talk with a couple 472 00:31:03.730 --> 00:31:07.289 of us about what they're doing? It just seemed instinctual. But I think 473 00:31:07.289 --> 00:31:11.970 they're or companies. It people inside companies right now where it's not maybe normal 474 00:31:11.049 --> 00:31:15.130 behavior or they don't have those the nature of relationship that maybe you do with 475 00:31:15.210 --> 00:31:18.960 your customers that I know you do talk a little bit about how you cultivate 476 00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:23.559 those relationships and maybe some of the upside benefits of that, that that relationship 477 00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:30.279 and that cocreation of the product. Yeah, so where it starts is it 478 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:36.349 starts in being available. It starts in creating not the illusion but the the 479 00:31:36.549 --> 00:31:41.470 knowledge that you are available. There are so many organizations that exist right now 480 00:31:41.750 --> 00:31:45.789 that are great companies and I can't name the CEO, I can't name them, 481 00:31:45.950 --> 00:31:48.940 I don't know who he or she is. They aren't on Linkedin, 482 00:31:48.980 --> 00:31:52.619 they aren't on any channels, they're not making any noise anywhere. They are 483 00:31:52.779 --> 00:31:56.819 not accessible to me. And the worst part about those organizations that usually if 484 00:31:56.859 --> 00:32:00.299 the CEO isn't accessible, neither are the employees, because all of this personal 485 00:32:00.450 --> 00:32:06.809 branding and social sharing and and bringing communities together around your company and around the 486 00:32:06.849 --> 00:32:10.170 mission and vision that starts at the top. The top has to make it 487 00:32:10.730 --> 00:32:15.089 something that other people in the organization embrace and say, Oh, that's okay. 488 00:32:15.170 --> 00:32:16.440 If if he or she is doing that, then I can do that 489 00:32:16.559 --> 00:32:20.279 too. Right, that's where it starts. And so for me, I 490 00:32:20.440 --> 00:32:22.960 was very, very intentional. Right from the ghetto. I said storytelling already, 491 00:32:23.160 --> 00:32:27.359 but I wanted to tell my story and I wanted people to know that 492 00:32:27.559 --> 00:32:31.950 I truly believe my central mission is that I'm not successful unless we're all successful. 493 00:32:32.309 --> 00:32:36.430 There's no reason for me to try and do all these great things and 494 00:32:36.549 --> 00:32:39.509 keep it in a back human keep it to myself, because bomb you guys 495 00:32:39.549 --> 00:32:43.509 can be as successful as you want, it's not going to take anything away 496 00:32:43.509 --> 00:32:45.859 from me. And it's the same way back and forth. Right, we 497 00:32:45.940 --> 00:32:50.579 should all be cheering each other on and being accessible. And when you are 498 00:32:50.579 --> 00:32:54.420 accessible, there's kind of a double edged sword to this, because your customers 499 00:32:54.460 --> 00:32:59.250 expect you to be the one that responds to them. We use drift on 500 00:32:59.329 --> 00:33:04.210 our website and so we created Josh Bot, is our BOT, and that 501 00:33:04.329 --> 00:33:07.849 was kind of tongue in cheek because people were coming onto the chat and they're 502 00:33:07.849 --> 00:33:09.049 like Hey, is Josh there? And it's like well, yeah, but 503 00:33:09.410 --> 00:33:13.160 he's our CEO. And Yeah, I want to talk to Josh. I 504 00:33:13.240 --> 00:33:15.559 see all his videos. He seems like I want to talk to well as 505 00:33:15.559 --> 00:33:16.799 let's just make a Josh Fot, you know, and then I can shim 506 00:33:16.920 --> 00:33:21.759 in if I have time, and that works great right, but it builds 507 00:33:21.799 --> 00:33:28.230 a evangelist faster than anything in the world, and evangelists are the easiest sales 508 00:33:28.309 --> 00:33:32.390 team you can possibly create because if a lead comes in through a passionate evangelist 509 00:33:32.470 --> 00:33:36.430 of your organization, you don't even have to work on that deal. Some 510 00:33:36.509 --> 00:33:39.670 of the biggest deals that we've landed here at sales reach are from evangelist that 511 00:33:39.789 --> 00:33:43.940 have just sent out a page to one of their customers and their customer comes 512 00:33:43.980 --> 00:33:45.460 back and says what the heck was that and they say, Oh, here's 513 00:33:45.500 --> 00:33:49.180 Josh is in fall and to copy me on it and I see the whole 514 00:33:49.259 --> 00:33:52.180 email chain and I just follow up and say here's a page just for you, 515 00:33:52.339 --> 00:33:54.700 but it's done. We just landed it. It was that easy. 516 00:33:55.089 --> 00:34:00.009 You can't do that without passionate advocates and there's no reason for your customer to 517 00:34:00.130 --> 00:34:05.529 Teut your product for you unless they feel like they want to. And that's 518 00:34:05.569 --> 00:34:09.800 how you build that. I love it. I love the the evangelism and 519 00:34:09.880 --> 00:34:15.679 that or the fanaticism or the advocacy. There I found that people not only 520 00:34:15.719 --> 00:34:20.440 will basically sell the deal for you, but they'll also oftentimes train it and 521 00:34:20.599 --> 00:34:22.360 on board it for you. To you know, it's like yeah, because 522 00:34:22.440 --> 00:34:27.349 it's like you know this, you're selling, I assume nationally of course, 523 00:34:27.389 --> 00:34:30.230 but probably internationally as well. Yes, right, and so in you're probably 524 00:34:30.269 --> 00:34:35.429 doing training, some self serve, probably some zoom calls or those other types 525 00:34:35.469 --> 00:34:38.420 of things, but you know the person that sold and probably lives down the 526 00:34:38.460 --> 00:34:42.659 street or works upstairs in the office tower or whatever the case may be, 527 00:34:42.860 --> 00:34:45.139 and so they're just even more available. Of course that's a value add to 528 00:34:45.219 --> 00:34:52.929 it's really interesting. I've seen a number of our customers selling in teaching bombomb 529 00:34:52.010 --> 00:34:55.329 to other people as a value add to the other person, like as as 530 00:34:55.369 --> 00:35:00.570 a benefit to the so it's when you can get there that's really powerful. 531 00:35:00.570 --> 00:35:04.170 Well, look, this is thought leadership, this is personal branding, one 532 00:35:04.530 --> 00:35:08.039 and one. So the best thing you can possibly do is bring something of 533 00:35:08.159 --> 00:35:13.320 value to another person. And it shouldn't matter if it puts money in your 534 00:35:13.360 --> 00:35:16.679 pocket every time, because what it actually does as guarantees that it's going to 535 00:35:16.719 --> 00:35:20.840 put the right dollars in your pocket at the right time, and that's the 536 00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:24.789 important thing we should all be focusing on. If we discover something and becoming 537 00:35:24.829 --> 00:35:29.949 evangelist our self for that company. Right. For many, many years I 538 00:35:30.110 --> 00:35:34.909 was a sab evangelist before, unfortunately, they filed bankruptcy and I couldn't buy 539 00:35:34.909 --> 00:35:37.739 it an I saw anymore right. But I drove nothing but sobs from the 540 00:35:37.820 --> 00:35:40.780 age I was thirteen years old when I bought my first sap. I bought 541 00:35:40.860 --> 00:35:45.099 SOB, sobs of I had eighteen of those things. Everybody knew me as 542 00:35:45.099 --> 00:35:47.139 the guy that owned a sob. That's how they knew me. It became 543 00:35:47.260 --> 00:35:51.010 part of and so when someone asked me, well, what do you think 544 00:35:51.010 --> 00:35:52.489 about sobs, it's a you should definitely buy us ob it's the best car 545 00:35:52.530 --> 00:35:55.369 I've ever owned, and they would buy us all and then it would break 546 00:35:55.409 --> 00:35:59.289 down and they'd realize how expensive it is repair and then they hated me. 547 00:35:59.489 --> 00:36:01.570 So I learned a valuable lesson in communicating what's going to happen down the road 548 00:36:01.570 --> 00:36:05.960 as well. With the Evangel it's yeah, don't oversell it. It's, 549 00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:07.639 you know, a great experience. You might spend a little more money, 550 00:36:07.800 --> 00:36:12.960 but that's that's how it works though, right. Yeah, yeah, it's 551 00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:15.079 really good. Even before we wind down too much, I'd love for you. 552 00:36:15.119 --> 00:36:19.909 You are obviously understand the power of video. You use it. I 553 00:36:20.070 --> 00:36:22.989 just talk a little bit about video, how you got going with it in 554 00:36:22.070 --> 00:36:25.190 some of your favorite ways to use it. Yeah, so video for me 555 00:36:25.389 --> 00:36:30.750 started in a very rudimentary way. I started putting videos onto proposals that I 556 00:36:30.789 --> 00:36:35.179 would send the people to kind of narrate the process of here's what you're looking 557 00:36:35.179 --> 00:36:37.260 at, here's where you're going to have questions, here's what I didn't put 558 00:36:37.300 --> 00:36:40.699 in this proposal and why I didn't put it in, in hopes that it 559 00:36:40.739 --> 00:36:45.300 would help a keep them higher up on the proposal. So they didn't do 560 00:36:45.539 --> 00:36:47.090 just do the scan to the price so I could explain myself a little bit 561 00:36:47.130 --> 00:36:50.369 before they saw the price. It seemed to work pretty well for that, 562 00:36:50.730 --> 00:36:52.610 but they also seem to like the narration of what they were looking at. 563 00:36:52.969 --> 00:36:57.730 That's how I started with video and I was very uncomfortable when I started doing 564 00:36:57.849 --> 00:37:00.329 the video. I was an actor, I wasn't myself. I was, 565 00:37:00.519 --> 00:37:04.199 you know, I was the newscaster. That's what I looked like and it 566 00:37:04.519 --> 00:37:07.960 wasn't great. Then when I decided to start this business, that's when I 567 00:37:08.119 --> 00:37:13.559 decided I need to start speaking more, I need to start doing the right 568 00:37:13.679 --> 00:37:16.670 things to build my credibility, to bring my thought, to build my thought 569 00:37:16.710 --> 00:37:21.949 leadership, and I was not seeing anything as powerful as video at that time. 570 00:37:22.349 --> 00:37:27.190 So I absolutely doubled down. Doubling down as an understatement. I immediately 571 00:37:27.550 --> 00:37:30.579 I didn't even know how to use any of the equipments, but I ordered 572 00:37:30.659 --> 00:37:32.820 the best. That's just the way I am, that's the way I'm programmed. 573 00:37:32.860 --> 00:37:37.500 I don't want a fifty lens when there's a two Tho lens that's going 574 00:37:37.500 --> 00:37:40.300 to make me look really, really amazing. I don't want a USB powered 575 00:37:40.420 --> 00:37:45.210 microphone when I can have Mike's hanging all over the place. And I can 576 00:37:45.289 --> 00:37:49.090 have a broadcasting microphone like this. I can have a wireless papel like we're 577 00:37:49.090 --> 00:37:52.409 right now. I can run this thing through preamps and filters and all kinds 578 00:37:52.449 --> 00:37:54.849 of stuff. I'm big on getting the best quality I possibly can and I 579 00:37:55.010 --> 00:37:59.519 just get really passionate about this stuff. And what I will say is that, 580 00:37:59.760 --> 00:38:02.760 making that investment, I spoke with my lead investor before I did it 581 00:38:02.800 --> 00:38:07.440 and I explained the thought process around it. kind of got his blessings before 582 00:38:07.480 --> 00:38:09.079 I went jot dropped this amazing amount of money. But I told him, 583 00:38:09.079 --> 00:38:12.599 I said look, Hey, if I do invest in this, I'm going 584 00:38:12.599 --> 00:38:15.349 to be even more motivated to use it because I do not want to throw 585 00:38:15.389 --> 00:38:19.269 all that money away. Be If I can produce at a higher level, 586 00:38:19.269 --> 00:38:22.110 I think I can get a higher reach with organic contents then I can with 587 00:38:22.510 --> 00:38:28.420 inferior product with paid so let's just try this out and see what happens. 588 00:38:28.460 --> 00:38:30.260 See if I buy the right equipment. I can tether it to all my 589 00:38:30.340 --> 00:38:34.219 other technology. I don't need to have a shoot hooter and an editor. 590 00:38:34.340 --> 00:38:36.579 I can do all this stuff. I could learn all this. So I 591 00:38:36.699 --> 00:38:39.659 shoot all my own videos, I edit all my own videos, I the 592 00:38:39.780 --> 00:38:43.289 content that I produced. I don't think about it too much. I'm one 593 00:38:43.329 --> 00:38:45.489 of those guys are it's like, Hey, I have this thought or I 594 00:38:45.610 --> 00:38:47.130 just saw this and this is my thought, my take on it, I'm 595 00:38:47.130 --> 00:38:50.730 going to hit record. I have everything I need right next to my desk 596 00:38:50.730 --> 00:38:52.250 all day long. Might as well just make a quick video about it. 597 00:38:52.650 --> 00:38:55.960 And so I think that to start, you have to just get started. 598 00:38:57.239 --> 00:39:00.920 You just have to get started and you have to battle through the incomfortableness. 599 00:39:00.159 --> 00:39:04.400 I deal with this all the time with my customers. Video is a critical 600 00:39:04.440 --> 00:39:07.360 component of our software and when they start using it, they go, oh, 601 00:39:07.440 --> 00:39:10.829 we were so excited because we saw your videos and your videos were great 602 00:39:10.829 --> 00:39:14.710 on this page, and I can't make them like you. Can you make 603 00:39:14.750 --> 00:39:16.590 my videos? I say no, I'm not spokesperson, I'm not billy may 604 00:39:16.989 --> 00:39:21.110 write. I do jump around and scream all the time that I'm not billy 605 00:39:21.190 --> 00:39:22.750 May. I can't do that for you. You're going to have to learn, 606 00:39:23.030 --> 00:39:25.780 and the only way to do that is to make like thirty or forty 607 00:39:27.059 --> 00:39:30.659 absolutely horrible videos and to force yourself to share them with somebody so that you 608 00:39:30.739 --> 00:39:36.340 get used to that. And then guess what you get better because you learn 609 00:39:36.420 --> 00:39:38.090 to act, and by learning to act I mean you learn to just be 610 00:39:38.170 --> 00:39:42.530 yourself when a camera is turned on your face, and that's when the magic 611 00:39:42.610 --> 00:39:45.929 starts happening. It's awesome. Okay, so so much good stuff. They're 612 00:39:46.570 --> 00:39:52.250 especially, especially around getting out of the newscaster mindset and just becoming yourself. 613 00:39:52.369 --> 00:39:54.920 It does it practice, is the only way, and I mean around poll 614 00:39:55.000 --> 00:40:00.559 peel and a billy may reference in the same episode. Like really peeking here. 615 00:40:00.599 --> 00:40:04.400 I see a lot to about. I got another interview tomorrow, but 616 00:40:05.920 --> 00:40:08.630 we've really set a high bar here. This has been awesome. If folks 617 00:40:08.789 --> 00:40:14.110 you know, Josh referred to a couple of the microphones. He swung one 618 00:40:14.110 --> 00:40:15.710 of them in front of his camera. If you want to see video clips 619 00:40:15.789 --> 00:40:20.269 and you want to get highlights of these episodes, I do write them all 620 00:40:20.349 --> 00:40:25.699 up at Bombombcom podcast. It's just the word bomb twice podcast and and you 621 00:40:25.739 --> 00:40:29.260 can see some of the stuff that we're talking about. If you were primarily 622 00:40:29.300 --> 00:40:30.659 a listener, you might want to drop in for some of those video clips 623 00:40:31.059 --> 00:40:35.659 in the blog post. Josh, this has been awesome. We could probably 624 00:40:35.699 --> 00:40:38.250 just word drifted for an hour. Yeah, yeah, I love it and 625 00:40:38.570 --> 00:40:44.289 real quick with the equipment. I have a video that explains a whole bunch 626 00:40:44.329 --> 00:40:46.090 of the equipment that I use. I'll send you a link to that and 627 00:40:46.130 --> 00:40:49.969 if you want to share that with your fingers as well that that'd be a 628 00:40:50.039 --> 00:40:52.639 great one for them to just kind of see all the different things that I 629 00:40:52.800 --> 00:40:55.239 personally use in my equipment. Awesome. I will absolutely take that. I'll 630 00:40:55.239 --> 00:40:59.840 look for that and I will absolutely add it to the post. At bombacom 631 00:41:00.119 --> 00:41:04.469 podcast, Josh, relationships are our number one core value here at Bombam and 632 00:41:04.550 --> 00:41:07.070 down the show, and so I always love to give you, before we 633 00:41:07.309 --> 00:41:10.190 part, a chance to think or mention someone who's had a positive impact on 634 00:41:10.309 --> 00:41:15.510 your life or your career. Yeah, so I already think think Dan tire 635 00:41:15.590 --> 00:41:16.789 at the beginning, so I'm not going to do that one again. I'm 636 00:41:16.789 --> 00:41:22.579 going to thank the other most important person in this business, outside of my 637 00:41:22.699 --> 00:41:28.059 wife and family of course, which was my lead investor, who is not 638 00:41:28.739 --> 00:41:31.860 we don't list him publicly anywhere right now, but his name is also Ethan. 639 00:41:32.409 --> 00:41:37.050 He was the one that he gave me everything. Honestly, he was 640 00:41:37.090 --> 00:41:42.130 the one that that invested in a dream and an idea. It was nothing 641 00:41:42.289 --> 00:41:45.409 really more than a Napkin sketch when I shared it with him, and without 642 00:41:45.769 --> 00:41:50.599 that support early on, we could have never, never been here, and 643 00:41:50.760 --> 00:41:54.960 he's been a critical, critical component ever since that day. He's doubled down 644 00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.719 on his investments. He's helped lead the sea round that we just closed. 645 00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.269 It's been an absolutely incredible relationship and he's been a solid resource for me, 646 00:42:04.510 --> 00:42:07.829 as have all of my investors. I was very intentional and selecting investors. 647 00:42:07.869 --> 00:42:13.190 Anyone listening that's a founder that's thinking about starting a business, I can't stress 648 00:42:13.190 --> 00:42:16.179 enough to be very intentional with the investors that you allow in and really treat 649 00:42:16.179 --> 00:42:20.179 it that way that you're allowing them in, because these are people that are 650 00:42:20.219 --> 00:42:23.579 either going to help you succeed or push you towards failure faster. And in 651 00:42:23.739 --> 00:42:30.449 my case, my investors and I are on a text message basis. We 652 00:42:30.570 --> 00:42:34.929 are constantly in communication. For the most part there's a lot of encouragement and 653 00:42:35.050 --> 00:42:38.409 support, but there's also hard conversations when they need to be there, and 654 00:42:38.530 --> 00:42:42.849 that's been really, really critical. But it all started with my first investor, 655 00:42:42.929 --> 00:42:45.400 Ethan. That's awesome. I love the answer, and a really good 656 00:42:45.440 --> 00:42:49.840 tip in there too for folks that are thinking about raising some money and it 657 00:42:50.039 --> 00:42:52.559 really is an opportunity and a gift, even though you might not feel that 658 00:42:52.599 --> 00:42:54.800 way when you're in the position. Like, seriously, I really need that 659 00:42:54.920 --> 00:43:00.750 cash. How about give me a mention of a company that you really respect 660 00:43:00.789 --> 00:43:04.389 for the way that they deliver for you as a customer? Oh Man, 661 00:43:04.510 --> 00:43:08.469 I mean there's there's so many right, but there is. There is a 662 00:43:08.550 --> 00:43:14.420 salad place. I don't know if they've spread outside of Minnesota yet, but 663 00:43:14.460 --> 00:43:17.380 they're called green and grain. I think that it's just a Minnesota company right 664 00:43:17.420 --> 00:43:21.699 now. I'm telling you, man, these these people have it down. 665 00:43:21.900 --> 00:43:23.860 Every time I go in there to order to salad, all everything is perfect, 666 00:43:23.900 --> 00:43:28.570 everything smells amazing, everything is clean. I'm a bit of a Germaphobe, 667 00:43:28.610 --> 00:43:30.690 so I have a hard time eating out, so restaurants need to be 668 00:43:30.809 --> 00:43:34.650 clean for me and I love when I can see the food being prepped even 669 00:43:34.690 --> 00:43:36.889 better, and that's kind of the way this is. It's like Chipotle, 670 00:43:36.889 --> 00:43:40.329 a, only all salad stuff. Green and grain doesn't absolutely incredible job. 671 00:43:42.000 --> 00:43:44.639 Awesome. I will look for them in my travels. They are not here 672 00:43:44.760 --> 00:43:47.320 in Colorado right now to my knowledge, but I'll look them up. Cool. 673 00:43:47.400 --> 00:43:52.119 Thanks to hey if I'm sure people enjoy this episode, enjoyed the energy 674 00:43:52.199 --> 00:43:55.590 obviously the knowledge that you bring. If someone wants to follow up and connect 675 00:43:55.630 --> 00:43:58.989 with you, Josh, or with sales reach, where would you send people? 676 00:43:59.389 --> 00:44:01.349 Yeah, I'd love it for anybody to send me a connection request on 677 00:44:01.429 --> 00:44:06.909 Linkedin. I love connecting with people on Linkedin and having meaningful connections. They're 678 00:44:06.989 --> 00:44:10.139 having conversations there. You can always reach out through sales reach DOT ioh as 679 00:44:10.219 --> 00:44:13.980 well. We have a like a said drift bought on there that you can 680 00:44:14.019 --> 00:44:15.460 talk with me or anyone on the team, or you can just fill out 681 00:44:15.460 --> 00:44:19.900 the form on there as well. But linkedin is is the best way if 682 00:44:19.900 --> 00:44:22.900 you want to have a conversation or get more involved in what we're doing here 683 00:44:22.940 --> 00:44:25.849 or vetted out for your company some reach out to me on Linkedin or the 684 00:44:25.889 --> 00:44:31.449 website awesome. Look for Josh Feedi and Ethan butte on Linkedin. Add a 685 00:44:31.530 --> 00:44:35.690 note to your request. It just makes us so much easier to say yes. 686 00:44:36.489 --> 00:44:38.519 Just a little bit of context goes a long way, and so, 687 00:44:38.599 --> 00:44:42.840 Josh, I just so appreciate your time. This is absolutely a pleasure for 688 00:44:42.920 --> 00:44:45.800 me and sure listeners are going to enjoy it too, and I hope you 689 00:44:45.840 --> 00:44:47.599 have a great afternoon. I hope you do two and thanks so much. 690 00:44:47.679 --> 00:44:51.400 This have been an honor being on this podcast, honestly. So thank you 691 00:44:52.309 --> 00:44:57.429 for you founders out there. What great advice from the founder of sales reach 692 00:44:57.510 --> 00:45:00.349 at the end of that episode when he gave his investors a shout out. 693 00:45:00.630 --> 00:45:04.550 That was Josh feedy of sales reach. My name is Ethan Butt I welcome 694 00:45:04.630 --> 00:45:09.940 your direct feedback about these conversations. Email me, Ethan etch an at bombombcom. 695 00:45:09.980 --> 00:45:14.539 Hit me up on Linkedin. I'm pretty sure I'm still the only Ethan 696 00:45:14.739 --> 00:45:19.619 butte Bee ute at a note to that connection request and let's get into linkedin 697 00:45:19.699 --> 00:45:22.530 messages together. Or, of course, you can learn more about this episode 698 00:45:22.610 --> 00:45:30.170 in every other one by visiting bombombcom slash podcast. That's bomb bombcom slash podcast. 699 00:45:30.489 --> 00:45:38.639 Thanks for listening to the CX series here on BTB growth. Is Your 700 00:45:38.719 --> 00:45:43.679 buyer a BTB marketer? If so, you should think about sponsoring this podcast. 701 00:45:44.079 --> 00:45:46.760 BB growth gets downloaded over a hundred and thirty thousand times each month and 702 00:45:46.920 --> 00:45:52.030 our listeners are marketing decision makers. If it sounds interesting, Sin Logan and 703 00:45:52.110 --> 00:45:53.590 email logan at sweet fish, Mediacom
