Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.540 --> 00:00:02.740 Yeah. 2 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:08.970 All right. Welcome back to be to be growth. I'm Leslie Cruise with Sweet 3 00:00:08.970 --> 00:00:13.910 Fish Media. Today we will be continuing our deep dive into demand generation. 4 00:00:13.920 --> 00:00:19.180 And I'm very excited to have Carlos Hidalgo joining us today. Carlos is the 5 00:00:19.190 --> 00:00:23.760 author of Driving Demand, which is specifically designed for B two B 6 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:27.710 marketing leaders assessing the challenge of demand generation 7 00:00:27.710 --> 00:00:32.420 transformation and asking themselves Is it really worth it? And that's a little 8 00:00:32.420 --> 00:00:34.750 bit about what we're going to talk about today. So, Carlos, thank you so 9 00:00:34.750 --> 00:00:38.630 much for joining me. Hey, Thanks, Leslie. Really appreciate it. Love what 10 00:00:38.630 --> 00:00:43.710 you guys are doing in this space. Great. Well, I want to start off by saying 11 00:00:43.710 --> 00:00:48.670 that when I was starting my research for conducting this deep dive, Really? 12 00:00:48.670 --> 00:00:53.620 There was only one specific book that I could find that really addresses the 13 00:00:53.620 --> 00:00:57.810 benefits and challenges integrating a demand jin strategy. And it was yours. 14 00:00:57.820 --> 00:01:01.400 And what I really enjoyed about this book is that it contains a very 15 00:01:01.400 --> 00:01:06.420 specific roadmap for implementing the change and, you know, that really needs 16 00:01:06.420 --> 00:01:11.120 to happen in a business for their demand. Jin strategy to help sales and 17 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:15.430 revenues start to take off. But before we dive into all of that, Carlos, I 18 00:01:15.430 --> 00:01:19.330 really wanted to start off by asking, you know, going back to the basics. And 19 00:01:19.340 --> 00:01:22.420 this is a question I've been asking everyone I've talked to so far, So I 20 00:01:22.420 --> 00:01:26.120 wanted to give you an opportunity to just share in your own words. How do 21 00:01:26.120 --> 00:01:31.610 you really define demand generation? Yeah, I define demand generation as 22 00:01:31.610 --> 00:01:35.200 first and foremost. It's a customer acquisition and a customer expansion 23 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:40.440 strategy, and so many times I see organizations just focus on customer 24 00:01:40.440 --> 00:01:45.290 acquisition. But when we realize that 90% of our customer lifetime value 25 00:01:45.300 --> 00:01:49.480 occurs after our first purchase, it necessitates the fact that we include 26 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:55.700 expansion. I also say that it's a marketing and sales discipline, and 27 00:01:55.700 --> 00:02:01.050 some people do not involve sales in that. And marketers for the 25 years 28 00:02:01.050 --> 00:02:05.040 I've been involved in this space get increasingly frustrated of how do I get 29 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:09.350 sales involved, or how can I get sales to take my leads while you involve them 30 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:15.960 in the development of strategy in the first place? And that's going to really 31 00:02:15.970 --> 00:02:20.400 drive that collaboration and an alignment that everybody is looking for. 32 00:02:20.410 --> 00:02:24.890 But further than that it makes sure when we defined. Imagine that we're 33 00:02:24.890 --> 00:02:30.150 talking about aligning to the buyers at every stage of their purchase path, 34 00:02:30.540 --> 00:02:34.990 using content and channels that they prefer. And when I talk about the 35 00:02:34.990 --> 00:02:39.990 purchase path, I'm not talking about a funnel or a waterfall, and I've said it 36 00:02:39.990 --> 00:02:43.560 a million times. I'll say it again. I've never heard a buy or salmon in the 37 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:49.460 sales accepted lead stage of my buying process, and so we have to make sure 38 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:56.540 that what we are putting out there is contextually and relevant, a relevant 39 00:02:56.540 --> 00:03:01.500 way aligned to our buyers. And it's not the strategies that we think it's what 40 00:03:01.500 --> 00:03:05.830 they need to hear at that right time. What are their watering holes? Where do 41 00:03:05.830 --> 00:03:10.280 they gather the information to make an informed decision? Yeah, and I want to 42 00:03:10.280 --> 00:03:13.670 talk a little bit about something that you discussed in the first couple of 43 00:03:13.670 --> 00:03:18.380 chapters of your book here, and that is the real issues with modern demand, Gen. 44 00:03:18.380 --> 00:03:22.600 And more specifically, you shared a few reasons why marketing departments are 45 00:03:22.600 --> 00:03:26.680 kind of lacking and the ability to measure quantifiable business impact. 46 00:03:26.680 --> 00:03:29.810 So do you mind just sharing a little bit about that and a little bit about 47 00:03:29.810 --> 00:03:34.400 those issues. Yeah, I think one of the reasons they're they're struggling 48 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:37.960 still. I mean, that book is we were talking about before we hit record. You 49 00:03:37.960 --> 00:03:42.350 know, the book is almost six years old, which is hard to believe. But I think 50 00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:49.240 first and foremost is it's difficult. We have a proliferation of technology 51 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:54.860 and our data scattered all over that technology. So to try to bring all of 52 00:03:54.860 --> 00:03:59.300 that together to define that attribution makes it increasingly 53 00:03:59.300 --> 00:04:05.350 difficult for a marketer. That's number one. Number two marketers were not have 54 00:04:05.350 --> 00:04:09.860 not been trained with the right skill set to do quantitative analysis. 55 00:04:10.940 --> 00:04:14.530 And when we think about that, when we think about, we're asking people who 56 00:04:14.530 --> 00:04:18.560 don't have this training to do something they've never done before. 57 00:04:19.240 --> 00:04:22.450 There's a little bit of a fear factor. There's a little bit of trepidation, 58 00:04:22.840 --> 00:04:26.020 and what I've seen many marketers do is say, Well, I'm just gonna go grab the 59 00:04:26.020 --> 00:04:29.550 technology to get it done with no strategy on how they're going to 60 00:04:29.550 --> 00:04:34.710 measure in the first place. And so we get wrapped around the axle with is a 61 00:04:34.710 --> 00:04:39.080 multi touch. Distribution is the first touches at last touch. Let's just get 62 00:04:39.080 --> 00:04:42.600 to a point where we can measure our impact on pipeline and impact on 63 00:04:42.600 --> 00:04:48.620 revenue. Start there. And so I think we also overcomplicated, and what I have 64 00:04:48.620 --> 00:04:55.160 seen in many organizations is multiple tries or they just ignore it altogether. 65 00:04:55.740 --> 00:04:59.520 And so they shy away from. And I talked to one CMO who said, I don't want to be 66 00:04:59.520 --> 00:05:03.600 tied to revenue that scares me to death. But the reality is the business 67 00:05:03.620 --> 00:05:08.250 requires that we be tied to revenue we need as marketers to be coin operated. 68 00:05:08.740 --> 00:05:12.400 Yeah, that's so true. I think that a lot of people tend to overcomplicate a 69 00:05:12.400 --> 00:05:15.910 lot of this and it's it's not. It doesn't have to be. And I like that 70 00:05:15.910 --> 00:05:21.200 idea. And I wanted to talk about embracing change a little bit, and, you 71 00:05:21.200 --> 00:05:25.070 know, as marketers were constantly dealing with change, the marketing 72 00:05:25.070 --> 00:05:29.550 world is exploding, and even I talked to a few people even with the pandemic. 73 00:05:29.560 --> 00:05:34.280 It's changed so much in the last two years alone, and we're dealing with 74 00:05:34.280 --> 00:05:38.640 this explosion of touchpoints channels, new technologies, all of this, newness 75 00:05:38.640 --> 00:05:44.590 all the time and what type of change do you feel like marketers need to really 76 00:05:44.590 --> 00:05:50.460 embrace in order to drive that demand? And why are these changes necessary? 77 00:05:51.140 --> 00:05:54.860 Well, I think the changes are necessary because their buyers are are driving it. 78 00:05:55.240 --> 00:05:59.280 You know, we when you think about the millennial generation, we are now 79 00:05:59.280 --> 00:06:04.060 seeing the first generation of digital natives involved in it be to be buying 80 00:06:04.060 --> 00:06:09.760 process and B two B decisions that fundamentally changes things. So when 81 00:06:09.760 --> 00:06:13.550 we think about what kind of changes I think first off just embracing the fact 82 00:06:13.550 --> 00:06:20.860 that our roles have changed. I remember the day when I was told by my boss I 83 00:06:20.860 --> 00:06:25.820 was a necessary evil, not real motivating. I also remember being told 84 00:06:25.820 --> 00:06:30.270 by sales that, hey, don't ever forget where your customer and you guys are 85 00:06:30.270 --> 00:06:35.630 just the arson craft department. Also not real motivating. So when we think 86 00:06:35.630 --> 00:06:40.720 about these digitally savvy, sophisticated customers and buyers, we 87 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:45.480 are serving well. We have to first and foremost understand, and sales needs to 88 00:06:45.480 --> 00:06:51.170 understand. This probably more than marketing is, sales is not as important 89 00:06:51.180 --> 00:06:56.170 in a deal as they were 15 years ago. I'm not saying they're not important. 90 00:06:56.170 --> 00:07:01.840 They're not as important when we think about what marketing's role is now I 91 00:07:01.840 --> 00:07:07.750 have to fill in the gap for a buyer who is looking, or a customer who is 92 00:07:07.750 --> 00:07:14.270 looking for a solution in a digital manner. Whatever percent that is C E B, 93 00:07:14.280 --> 00:07:19.680 which is now. Gardner talked. You know, years ago, about 57% I've seen 70%. I 94 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:23.840 mean, who the research to me is irrelevant because you got a base that 95 00:07:23.840 --> 00:07:30.350 based on vertical marketers now the change we have to embrace is we have to 96 00:07:30.350 --> 00:07:36.530 understand who are buyers are even in an A B M context, what's important to 97 00:07:36.530 --> 00:07:40.770 them, the type of content they want to consume, the channels by which they 98 00:07:40.770 --> 00:07:45.940 want to consume it. And we have to create a continuity of dialogue across 99 00:07:45.940 --> 00:07:48.250 that entire purchase process. 100 00:07:49.340 --> 00:07:55.840 And then we have to enable sales to continue that conversation. So the 101 00:07:55.840 --> 00:08:03.210 biggest thing we can do is understand that the customer is our customer and 102 00:08:03.210 --> 00:08:04.960 that if we want that 103 00:08:06.440 --> 00:08:11.600 elusive seat at the table that everybody talks about, it is our job as 104 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:18.270 much as sales to create revenue through our demand generation. Josh, what do 105 00:08:18.270 --> 00:08:22.270 you think is the most irritating thing for me to be buyers right now, man. 106 00:08:22.280 --> 00:08:26.140 Logan, I love talking to you about this. You know that the number one challenge 107 00:08:26.140 --> 00:08:30.530 right now is that many customer facing teams in the B two B space right now 108 00:08:30.530 --> 00:08:35.159 are forcing their potential buyers, too, by the way that they want to sell. 109 00:08:35.340 --> 00:08:39.000 Buyers don't want to buy that way right now. They want to, by the way they want 110 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:43.820 to buy. We need to enable those buyers. We call this buyer enablement at sales 111 00:08:43.820 --> 00:08:48.380 reach. We need to enable those buyers to make better decisions quicker in a 112 00:08:48.380 --> 00:08:51.870 comfortable environment that's more personalized for them to move forward 113 00:08:51.870 --> 00:08:55.800 with that process. Dude, that's awesome. I couldn't agree more. Since I've been 114 00:08:55.800 --> 00:08:59.610 using sales reach in my own sales process, it's allowed me to really 115 00:08:59.620 --> 00:09:04.010 enable the buyer to move more quickly in really two ways. One, they don't 116 00:09:04.010 --> 00:09:07.670 have to download a bunch of attachments. I can send them to one page with the 117 00:09:07.670 --> 00:09:11.760 proposal. Case studies different resources because, let's face it, the 118 00:09:11.760 --> 00:09:15.810 proposal is just one part of the sales conversation and probably only one 119 00:09:15.810 --> 00:09:20.070 sales enablement piece of content that you're sending so it makes it easier on 120 00:09:20.070 --> 00:09:23.530 them. And then the other thing is, you know, we're selling to our champions, 121 00:09:23.530 --> 00:09:26.890 and then we're making them have to re give our pitch to the entire buying 122 00:09:26.890 --> 00:09:31.230 committee. So one thing I do is put a custom 2 to 3 minute video on the top 123 00:09:31.230 --> 00:09:34.760 of my sales reach page that says, Hey, here's all the resources. Tie it back 124 00:09:34.760 --> 00:09:37.530 to the conversation. Here's the proposal. Let me know if you have any 125 00:09:37.530 --> 00:09:41.650 questions, and it allows me to give a little bit of kind of a mini pitch to 126 00:09:41.650 --> 00:09:45.250 the rest of the buying committee. Introduce myself, which helps me build 127 00:09:45.250 --> 00:09:48.720 trust and credibility and helps the buyer not have to repeat the entire 128 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:53.110 pitch from scratch. So if anybody is looking to do the same thing in their 129 00:09:53.110 --> 00:09:56.540 own sales process, I'd highly suggest they reach out to you and the team over 130 00:09:56.540 --> 00:10:00.780 at sales reach for anybody listening. Just go to sales reach that I owe to 131 00:10:00.780 --> 00:10:06.730 talk to Josh and the team. Yeah, that it's so funny because that is such a 132 00:10:06.730 --> 00:10:09.750 trending thing. And everyone I've talked to has talked about that 133 00:10:09.750 --> 00:10:13.110 collaboration between sales and marketing because I think that a lot of 134 00:10:13.110 --> 00:10:16.450 times sales over here marketing over here, and they're butting heads like 135 00:10:16.450 --> 00:10:19.340 you said. I mean, someone literally called marketing, arts and crafts 136 00:10:19.340 --> 00:10:24.260 department. That's it's It's intense, but it's it's so important in demand. 137 00:10:24.260 --> 00:10:28.070 Gen two kind of collaborate on the two. And why do you think that is so 138 00:10:28.070 --> 00:10:32.470 important? Well, I think sales has a different view of the customer than we 139 00:10:32.470 --> 00:10:36.420 do. You know, they're they're talking to them all the time, every day, all 140 00:10:36.420 --> 00:10:40.380 day. We are not as marketers now. We should be talking to our customers, but 141 00:10:40.380 --> 00:10:45.490 we're not going to be given the access to them that sales is going to get. So 142 00:10:45.490 --> 00:10:49.630 that's number one. Number two. You know, sales is ultimately the one who's going 143 00:10:49.630 --> 00:10:55.000 to bring the deal across the finish line. So if we think as marketers, we 144 00:10:55.000 --> 00:11:01.680 can create personas or profiles or journey maps or campaigns or even 145 00:11:01.680 --> 00:11:06.500 measurement and not go to the other side of the house that is playing such 146 00:11:06.510 --> 00:11:11.470 also a very critical revenue generation role and say, Hey, how can we work on 147 00:11:11.470 --> 00:11:15.980 this together? Why then should we expect them to just magically take our 148 00:11:15.990 --> 00:11:20.960 leads? and run with them. That's a pretty arrogant assumption on our part. 149 00:11:21.640 --> 00:11:27.090 And so what we have to do is start to speak the language of the business. And 150 00:11:27.090 --> 00:11:31.830 when I think about sales and marketing, alignment and collaboration, as I said, 151 00:11:32.140 --> 00:11:36.790 I've been in this industry for 25 years. This is nothing new. Yet nobody seems 152 00:11:36.790 --> 00:11:40.910 to have made any headway with it. Well, if marketers would say, Hey, let's stop 153 00:11:40.910 --> 00:11:48.050 trying to quote, get our place and just focus on the buyer and working with 154 00:11:48.050 --> 00:11:53.810 sales to understand that buyer and assuming some of the responsibility for 155 00:11:53.810 --> 00:11:58.750 revenue. Guess what? We would have our seat at the table because we would 156 00:11:58.750 --> 00:12:03.930 actually be a revenue generation part of the business and not an arts and 157 00:12:03.930 --> 00:12:08.160 crafts department. Mm, That's good. That's good. That collaboration is so 158 00:12:08.160 --> 00:12:13.310 important, vital, so switching gears a little bit. Here in this book, you 159 00:12:13.310 --> 00:12:17.340 really focus on a road map to implement change, and that's what I really want 160 00:12:17.340 --> 00:12:20.890 to focus on here. I think a lot of organizations struggle with the idea of 161 00:12:20.890 --> 00:12:25.900 change. In general, change is hard, but for those who are ready and willing to 162 00:12:25.900 --> 00:12:29.660 take that step, forward and to challenge the status quo, if you will. 163 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:34.890 Can you share some of the pitfalls to be aware of? That might come along with 164 00:12:34.890 --> 00:12:38.330 this change and likely will. I think one of the biggest pitfalls is not 165 00:12:38.330 --> 00:12:43.010 realizing from a CMO perspective or even a director senior director. 166 00:12:43.010 --> 00:12:47.700 Perspective is that what you're about to embark upon is more a change 167 00:12:47.700 --> 00:12:52.020 management initiative than a marketing initiative. So that makes two culture. 168 00:12:52.030 --> 00:12:56.080 I think the pitfalls are not recognizing the fact that you're going 169 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:59.060 to have people who this scares them to death. 170 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:04.230 You know, James talks about it with what you guys do. Their at sweet fish 171 00:13:04.230 --> 00:13:07.770 and the B two b gross show is the human element of what we do in business every 172 00:13:07.770 --> 00:13:13.050 day. You know, we have people who, when you say, hey, we're going to change the 173 00:13:13.050 --> 00:13:16.780 marketing charter and become more of a revenue engine immediately, you're 174 00:13:16.780 --> 00:13:19.460 gonna have people saying, What does this mean for me as an individual? 175 00:13:20.730 --> 00:13:26.590 And it is my job, secure house, my job going to change. You know how How do I 176 00:13:26.590 --> 00:13:30.130 collect sales may scare somebody, right? I don't want to talk to sales they 177 00:13:30.130 --> 00:13:35.210 scare me to death there. There are all type a go getter. So it's that type of 178 00:13:35.210 --> 00:13:38.030 thing that we have to be aware of. Number one is that human element. 179 00:13:38.030 --> 00:13:43.450 Number two is This is not an overnight fix. You're not going to change the 180 00:13:43.450 --> 00:13:47.490 culture of your marketing organization in 90 days. You're not going to create 181 00:13:47.570 --> 00:13:52.750 a buyer driven strategy in 90 days just because you bought marketing automation. 182 00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:57.040 It doesn't happen that fast. Transformation doesn't happen that fast. 183 00:13:57.040 --> 00:14:00.460 And what I always say to my clients is, you didn't get yourself here overnight. 184 00:14:00.470 --> 00:14:05.930 You can't expect to change it overnight and then understand, too, that there's 185 00:14:05.930 --> 00:14:12.050 going to be ebbs and flows. You're gonna have really great winds, but 186 00:14:12.050 --> 00:14:16.640 you're also going to take some steps back. So the example I always uses any 187 00:14:16.640 --> 00:14:20.900 time you've done any hiking, if you've done any hiking in the mountains and I 188 00:14:21.010 --> 00:14:25.850 spent 10 years in Colorado and so when you hike a 14,000 ft, you don't go 189 00:14:25.850 --> 00:14:31.500 straight up the side of the mountain. You sometimes do switchbacks where you 190 00:14:31.510 --> 00:14:35.070 start to wind around the side of the mountain and sometimes you go down so 191 00:14:35.070 --> 00:14:39.650 that you can go up and same with change. There's gonna be some EBS. There's 192 00:14:39.650 --> 00:14:44.470 gonna be some flows. There's gonna be some, you know, moments where you have 193 00:14:44.470 --> 00:14:49.320 that sharp curve that goes up and everybody's celebrating. Well, at that 194 00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:53.750 point, everybody is now adjusting to the new world, so you can expect a 195 00:14:53.750 --> 00:14:57.180 little regression, and that's fine. You're just going to go back up. So 196 00:14:57.180 --> 00:15:00.400 when you understand that it's a journey and understand that you're gonna have 197 00:15:00.400 --> 00:15:04.330 some ebbs and flows, you're gonna be able to embrace that change in a much 198 00:15:04.330 --> 00:15:11.510 more important and much more impactful way. Yeah. So you're saying basically, 199 00:15:11.520 --> 00:15:17.250 through all of this, in order to kind of implement a really good demand in 200 00:15:17.250 --> 00:15:20.830 strategy, you kind of have to start backwards, take a step backwards and 201 00:15:20.830 --> 00:15:26.300 look at your culture. Yeah, I think I mean, I talked to one prospect recently 202 00:15:26.300 --> 00:15:29.740 who I said, you know, from talk to me about your ideal customer profiles, 203 00:15:29.750 --> 00:15:33.340 What do you have? They said, Well, we have them, but we really haven't done 204 00:15:33.340 --> 00:15:38.040 much with them. And I said, Okay, well, we would start there to revisit those, 205 00:15:38.040 --> 00:15:41.410 and their response is well, we know we have them. We don't. Okay, so you have 206 00:15:41.410 --> 00:15:46.720 them, But you're not doing anything with them. So I can't start to work 207 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:51.100 with you in a demanding strategy. Unless you're willing to take a hard, 208 00:15:51.100 --> 00:15:55.570 fast look at these personas and use those to help drive your channel and 209 00:15:55.570 --> 00:15:59.280 your content strategy. If you don't want to start there, I can't work with 210 00:15:59.280 --> 00:16:05.500 you. And so that understanding that Hey, if we do this, if we go forward and 211 00:16:05.500 --> 00:16:10.180 develop a modern, sophisticated demands on strategy which we need to do to 212 00:16:10.180 --> 00:16:15.140 match the sophistication of our buyers, it is going to change the way marketing 213 00:16:15.150 --> 00:16:20.220 traditionally has worked, which is get a content asset, blast out an email 214 00:16:20.220 --> 00:16:23.760 posted on the website, collect all the names, send them off to sales and say, 215 00:16:23.760 --> 00:16:28.310 Hey, we just launched a campaign and then go off to the next one. That's not 216 00:16:28.310 --> 00:16:32.770 how modern demand generation works. And so, yeah, you have to embrace the fact 217 00:16:32.770 --> 00:16:35.530 that your role is going to change and it's going to become much more 218 00:16:35.530 --> 00:16:40.930 important to the organization. Yeah, and among all of this change and all 219 00:16:40.940 --> 00:16:46.020 these potential pitfalls, I guess my question is in the end, is it worth it? 220 00:16:46.030 --> 00:16:50.640 And what are those benefits? What are the benefits of, you know, really 221 00:16:50.640 --> 00:16:55.880 implementing this change in this strategies? Yeah, I think number one is 222 00:16:55.890 --> 00:16:59.070 You actually become relevant to the organization in terms of you become a 223 00:16:59.070 --> 00:17:05.050 revenue engine and always on sustainable revenue engine, which means 224 00:17:05.220 --> 00:17:09.810 marketing actually becomes sought after an important in the organization. And 225 00:17:09.810 --> 00:17:14.319 quite honestly, that's what are CEOs and CFOs are begging for. So that's 226 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:17.560 number one number two. Just from a personal aspect, I've seen people who 227 00:17:17.560 --> 00:17:22.270 create those have an incredible opportunity within their careers to get 228 00:17:22.270 --> 00:17:26.380 promoted, to take new roles, to move into a CMO position or an S V P 229 00:17:26.380 --> 00:17:30.950 position. So from that aspect, Number three, it's worth it for our customers. 230 00:17:31.340 --> 00:17:35.780 Customers are out there are begging from an experiential perspective for 231 00:17:35.780 --> 00:17:40.130 companies to meet them where they're at and customer experience starts long 232 00:17:40.130 --> 00:17:44.530 before anybody buys something. And so, in my definition, I talked about the 233 00:17:44.540 --> 00:17:50.670 attraction or the acquisition. I also talked about the expansion of customers, 234 00:17:51.140 --> 00:17:55.720 and so when we think about how we're gonna expand our customers, we need to 235 00:17:55.720 --> 00:17:59.990 ensure that they have a great experience as well. And so if we want 236 00:17:59.990 --> 00:18:04.770 to succeed as marketers in this new world in which we live, which is a 237 00:18:05.540 --> 00:18:10.410 rapid, digitally transforming world, if we want to stay in this role and 238 00:18:10.410 --> 00:18:15.620 succeed in this role, we have to do demand generation to match a digitally 239 00:18:15.620 --> 00:18:21.330 savvy buyer. I love what you said about customer experience starts long before 240 00:18:21.330 --> 00:18:26.080 anyone buys anything, and I think that's that's so important and people 241 00:18:26.080 --> 00:18:31.080 don't really think about it. But it's building that relationship that kind of 242 00:18:31.090 --> 00:18:35.920 goes in before or even you set up this demand jin strategy. It's like building 243 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:39.280 those relationships, making yourself known in the space, making yourself to 244 00:18:39.280 --> 00:18:45.880 go to. So would you say that that is kind of and correct me if I'm wrong 245 00:18:45.880 --> 00:18:51.670 here. But maybe that's kind of similar to, in a way, content based networking. 246 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:57.030 Yeah, I think it is, absolutely. I mean, one of the ways I'm gonna endear you to 247 00:18:57.030 --> 00:19:05.290 my brand is to build trust. So here's an example. I got a LinkedIn email 248 00:19:05.330 --> 00:19:11.360 yesterday from someone who basically they're they're lead generation company 249 00:19:11.940 --> 00:19:16.350 and said, Hey, I'm looking for a coach, Can you and I set up a time. So I 250 00:19:16.360 --> 00:19:21.570 checked out the profile and I knew what she did for a living. But I was like, 251 00:19:21.580 --> 00:19:25.010 Okay, this is interesting. Maybe they're really looking for that advisor 252 00:19:25.010 --> 00:19:30.400 type role. So I said, Hey, I would love to set up time. Well, the follow up 253 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:34.160 email said Well, actually, what I want to know is, would you be open to 254 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:39.200 getting 10 to 15 leads a week from our company? It was a total lie, and 255 00:19:39.210 --> 00:19:43.020 honestly, it just pissed me off. So I took a look at her company. I'm like, 256 00:19:43.020 --> 00:19:46.200 Do you? So I emailed her back and I said, Do you think I would ever at this 257 00:19:46.200 --> 00:19:51.270 point do business with you in any way, shape or farm? Because you lied to me 258 00:19:51.740 --> 00:19:54.640 and you were deceitful in your original email? If you would come at me with 259 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:58.400 your original proposition, I still would have said no, but at least you 260 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:01.820 would have had your integrity intact. And so when we think about what we're 261 00:20:01.820 --> 00:20:06.760 trying to do and the content based in networking, I'm there to build trust 262 00:20:06.760 --> 00:20:11.690 and into endear my brand to you to say, Hey, I know what I'm talking about. I 263 00:20:11.690 --> 00:20:15.190 have your best interest in mind. I'm gonna build trust and I'm going to be a 264 00:20:15.190 --> 00:20:20.390 source Whether or not you buy from us, I am going to be a source that you can 265 00:20:20.390 --> 00:20:25.280 come to to help qualify and quantify your purchase. If, at that point I'm 266 00:20:25.280 --> 00:20:30.170 that brand where people will see that, then great. Once I'm in a buying 267 00:20:30.170 --> 00:20:33.480 process, I may come to you not saying you're always going to be the vendor of 268 00:20:33.480 --> 00:20:39.280 choice. But you've done a lot in that experiential piece to build that trust 269 00:20:39.290 --> 00:20:43.170 so that I can move forward when that purchase process kicks off based on 270 00:20:43.170 --> 00:20:46.860 whatever trigger events happened. That's so good. And that's kind of what 271 00:20:46.860 --> 00:20:49.430 we're trying to do here at Sweet Fish, too. You know, we're trying to make 272 00:20:49.430 --> 00:20:53.850 ourselves to go to and b two b podcasting, and it's interesting 273 00:20:53.850 --> 00:20:57.590 because it's not all about generating sales and generating leads and doing 274 00:20:57.590 --> 00:21:00.580 these things. It's about building relationships with people and making 275 00:21:00.580 --> 00:21:05.170 ourselves that go to and, you know, we're even doing a B two B podcasting 276 00:21:05.170 --> 00:21:08.090 course. We're working on it now, and I think that's going to be a great 277 00:21:08.090 --> 00:21:12.080 resource to people, and so that's that is the overall goal. And I do think 278 00:21:12.080 --> 00:21:14.850 that building those relationships are important and, you know, like you said, 279 00:21:15.140 --> 00:21:20.240 people will lie to you and people will use you for things and it's like, Oh, I 280 00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:24.770 know you're just trying to make a sale So that's good, Yeah, But you can make 281 00:21:24.780 --> 00:21:29.090 you can make a sale in a way that keeps your integrity intact. You know, last 282 00:21:29.090 --> 00:21:34.110 week I had to prospects who? After a half hour conversation, I said, I just 283 00:21:34.110 --> 00:21:39.050 don't think I'm gonna be the best vendor for you. I don't think with what 284 00:21:39.050 --> 00:21:43.710 you need and it was one of those, like, Could I do it? But am I the best at it? 285 00:21:43.710 --> 00:21:48.660 Would it be a good relationship between myself and that client? The answer was 286 00:21:48.660 --> 00:21:53.770 no. So I said, Here are three other groups you should call based on what 287 00:21:53.770 --> 00:21:59.270 you need. If you need anything else, let me know. But there's a company who, 288 00:21:59.940 --> 00:22:05.420 you know, they had a need. They came to me. It wasn't the right fit. Now down 289 00:22:05.420 --> 00:22:09.330 the road, they may leave that company. They may have something that's more 290 00:22:09.330 --> 00:22:15.410 aligned. But I have a fairly strong confidence that one. Another need 291 00:22:15.410 --> 00:22:20.800 occurs. I'm going to be on their list simply by saying, Hey, I'm going to 292 00:22:20.800 --> 00:22:24.560 help you again. Whether or not you buy from me, I'm gonna help you. So you 293 00:22:24.560 --> 00:22:29.310 make the most informed decision. Call these three other vendors. Yeah, that's 294 00:22:29.310 --> 00:22:34.030 great. Carlos, this has been so insightful. Thank you so much for 295 00:22:34.030 --> 00:22:38.440 joining me. And if anybody out there is listening and you know is interested in 296 00:22:38.440 --> 00:22:41.620 learning more, where can they find you online? Yeah, you can find me on 297 00:22:41.620 --> 00:22:47.410 LinkedIn. Carlos Hidalgo. H i d a L g o. You can find me on Twitter at sea a 298 00:22:47.420 --> 00:22:53.930 hidalgo, uh, or visit our website. Visit the c X. That's B I s u M c x dot 299 00:22:53.930 --> 00:22:57.550 com. Great. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for joining me on GDP growth. I 300 00:22:57.550 --> 00:23:03.930 appreciate it. Absolutely. Thanks. Leslie, are you on LinkedIn? That's a 301 00:23:03.930 --> 00:23:07.540 stupid question. Of course you're on LinkedIn. Here's sweet fish. We've gone 302 00:23:07.550 --> 00:23:11.920 all in on the platform. Multiple people from our team are creating content 303 00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:16.400 there. Sometimes it's a funny gift for me. Other times it's a micro video or a 304 00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:20.670 slide deck. And sometimes it's just a regular old status update that shares 305 00:23:20.740 --> 00:23:24.760 their unique point of view on B two b marketing leadership or their job 306 00:23:24.760 --> 00:23:29.150 function. We're posting this content through their personal profile, not our 307 00:23:29.150 --> 00:23:33.420 company page, and it would warm my heart and soul. If you connected with 308 00:23:33.430 --> 00:23:37.780 each of our evangelists, we'll be adding more down the road. But for now, 309 00:23:37.790 --> 00:23:42.290 you should connect with Bill. Read our CEO, Kelcy Montgomery, our creative 310 00:23:42.290 --> 00:23:46.710 director. Dan Sanchez, our director of audience growth. Logan Lyles, our 311 00:23:46.710 --> 00:23:50.850 director of partnerships, and me, James Carberry. We're having a whole lot of 312 00:23:50.850 --> 00:23:54.340 fun on linked in pretty much every single day, and we'd love for you to be 313 00:23:54.340 --> 00:23:54.860 a part of it.
