Give More, Get More with John Morris

WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.340 --> 00:00:10.010 this is B two B growth A show designed to help B two B marketing and sales 2 00:00:10.010 --> 00:00:14.740 teams be highly effective. I'm your host Benji Block and a member of the 3 00:00:14.740 --> 00:00:19.150 sweet fish team and I'm really ready for today's episode today. I'm joined 4 00:00:19.150 --> 00:00:25.000 by john Morris, john is the executive director of brand at club colors, john 5 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:28.660 welcome in to be, to be growth Benji, How are you sir? Thanks for having me 6 00:00:28.660 --> 00:00:33.280 on. I'm doing great. I'm excited to be talking to you today. It's gonna be a 7 00:00:33.290 --> 00:00:38.470 fun time together as we dive in. John let me ask you this question just right 8 00:00:38.470 --> 00:00:42.680 off the top before we even get to the topic of, of discussion really, but 9 00:00:42.680 --> 00:00:47.040 like what's the best thing about your job and what you get to do day in and 10 00:00:47.040 --> 00:00:50.220 day out. Um, and I got to tell you there's a couple things, number one, 11 00:00:50.220 --> 00:00:53.600 the culture of club colors is absolutely dynamic. It's a riot. Um, 12 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:58.660 one of our core values is winning is fun. And so it's a culture that's 13 00:00:58.660 --> 00:01:01.580 predicated on the fact that we're going to battle. We're gonna get in the 14 00:01:01.580 --> 00:01:05.170 trenches and we're gonna have an absolute blast doing it, but it's all 15 00:01:05.170 --> 00:01:08.360 about winning for the client. We say things like make the client the hero. 16 00:01:08.440 --> 00:01:12.180 So it's really a client first thing. So we have real pride of brand. When I say 17 00:01:12.180 --> 00:01:15.660 pride of brand, I don't mean just club colors. I mean the brands that we 18 00:01:15.660 --> 00:01:19.420 represent and work with, that we have an opportunity to help them to make 19 00:01:19.420 --> 00:01:23.170 their brand pop and shine and bring out their culture. That's something that's 20 00:01:23.170 --> 00:01:28.740 extremely important to us and something that we really thrive on. So I get a 21 00:01:28.740 --> 00:01:31.590 real kick out of our culture. I get a real kick out of the people that we 22 00:01:31.590 --> 00:01:35.080 interact with, not only internally but externally as well. Yeah, I was gonna 23 00:01:35.080 --> 00:01:38.190 say for me, I totally resonate with that because it's these kind of 24 00:01:38.190 --> 00:01:41.240 conversations, right? Just to get to connect with people that are thinking 25 00:01:41.240 --> 00:01:45.640 big, they're making making moves, it's fun. And I love learning from each and 26 00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:50.300 every one of these these chats. So I'm excited to talk to you and to glean 27 00:01:50.300 --> 00:01:55.140 some insights today personally and I know our audience is gonna grab so much 28 00:01:55.140 --> 00:01:59.930 from this conversation as well. So I reached out to you after seeing and I 29 00:01:59.930 --> 00:02:03.520 don't even know if I told you this, but a post that you made on linkedin a 30 00:02:03.520 --> 00:02:07.210 video and they're just felt like there's some similar passion and vision 31 00:02:07.210 --> 00:02:10.520 and so I thought it'd be fun to have you here on an episode. So what I want 32 00:02:10.520 --> 00:02:14.480 to do, john is I want to throw a phrase at you that I heard you say and I just 33 00:02:14.480 --> 00:02:19.020 want you to unpack it a bit for me. Okay, sure. All right, so here's the 34 00:02:19.020 --> 00:02:25.480 phrase give more, get more, give more, get more what comes to mind when I say 35 00:02:25.480 --> 00:02:30.270 that Yeah, this is this is really something that for me comes from the 36 00:02:30.270 --> 00:02:34.860 belief that being a steward is one of the most important things that you 37 00:02:34.860 --> 00:02:40.430 could do in life and in your career. And I really believe that I believe in 38 00:02:40.430 --> 00:02:43.420 energy, right? And if you give everything of yourself and you put 39 00:02:43.420 --> 00:02:47.860 everything out there and um you really come at things with a positive mindset, 40 00:02:48.040 --> 00:02:53.200 I have a saying that mindset behavior technique equals sales success, mindset 41 00:02:53.210 --> 00:02:58.040 behavior technique, equal sales success. Well, guess what? Everything for me 42 00:02:58.040 --> 00:03:02.210 starts with a mindset and that mindset, if it's centered properly, where you're 43 00:03:02.210 --> 00:03:07.010 putting your time and effort and energy into others, then ultimately what's 44 00:03:07.010 --> 00:03:11.390 going to happen is that's going to come back to you over and over and over 45 00:03:11.390 --> 00:03:15.730 again. So that's kind of later on in my career, on the way that my life has 46 00:03:15.730 --> 00:03:19.940 played out. That's been the purpose that I've tried to operate with, that 47 00:03:19.950 --> 00:03:23.690 if you give more to your, your team and your clients, you're going to get 48 00:03:23.690 --> 00:03:28.220 better results. Yeah. And I love that phrase. And when it's taken to heart, I 49 00:03:28.220 --> 00:03:32.110 mean, it's gonna have a lot of effects on your decision making process, right? 50 00:03:32.120 --> 00:03:37.420 So in sales and in marketing there's just kind of like a domino effect that 51 00:03:37.420 --> 00:03:41.360 is going to happen if you take on that mentality. If we're saying give more, 52 00:03:41.440 --> 00:03:45.450 john, what exactly are we advocating for? Like, walk that out? Practically. 53 00:03:45.480 --> 00:03:48.400 Well, just think about it from this way, like active listening, right? We know 54 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:51.530 about how important Active listening is. Well, if you're genuine with Active 55 00:03:51.530 --> 00:03:54.820 listening in order to be able to give something to somebody to be able to 56 00:03:54.820 --> 00:03:58.230 create solutions for somebody, you really have to put the time and energy 57 00:03:58.230 --> 00:04:01.800 into understanding what it is that they want. Well, there's no way to truly do 58 00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:04.650 that. If what you're thinking about while they're talking is what you're 59 00:04:04.650 --> 00:04:10.890 going to say next. Right? Right. So the idea of active listening is a great 60 00:04:10.890 --> 00:04:14.950 principle in life. It's that you're genuinely taking a real interest of 61 00:04:14.950 --> 00:04:20.950 curiosity into the desired outcome that your potential client has or your 62 00:04:20.950 --> 00:04:25.240 current client has and you're taking the time to dig deep into that. I don't 63 00:04:25.240 --> 00:04:28.870 want to be too cliche, but we always talk about like peeling the onion. Well, 64 00:04:28.880 --> 00:04:32.340 you know, guess what cliches are cliches for a reason. They probably 65 00:04:32.340 --> 00:04:37.190 work and they work for a long time. The reality is that if you take the time to 66 00:04:37.190 --> 00:04:44.060 really dig deep into what the desired outcome is for a prospective client, 67 00:04:44.070 --> 00:04:47.790 what you're going to end up doing is learning more and more about what makes 68 00:04:47.790 --> 00:04:53.060 them tick, what's their driver, how you can impact them as a person. I call it 69 00:04:53.060 --> 00:04:57.360 the want behind the want behind the one, Right? So whenever we approach a client, 70 00:04:57.640 --> 00:05:01.020 we're always thinking about what, what, what they want. So we can fit in where 71 00:05:01.020 --> 00:05:03.980 our solution is and then ultimately convert that into a sale and a 72 00:05:03.980 --> 00:05:08.500 partnership. The reality is that if you really want to get deep with somebody 73 00:05:08.500 --> 00:05:11.720 and you really want to impact that human being, you should be looking for 74 00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:14.730 the wand behind the wand, behind the wand, What's the want behind the wand? 75 00:05:14.740 --> 00:05:18.700 It's not just your product or service, it's the impact that it has on their 76 00:05:18.700 --> 00:05:24.240 organization to resolve or impact or positively impact the organization, but 77 00:05:24.250 --> 00:05:28.940 even deeper than that, How does that impact that person that's making that 78 00:05:28.940 --> 00:05:33.150 decision? Could that be the thing that gets them promoted? Could that be the 79 00:05:33.150 --> 00:05:36.110 thing that frees up their time so they can take little bobby, your little 80 00:05:36.120 --> 00:05:40.070 little Betty to to practice more often? Could it be the thing that drives 81 00:05:40.070 --> 00:05:43.910 quality of life for them? So if you can get to that, then you have a stronger 82 00:05:43.910 --> 00:05:47.130 likelihood of really getting a personal connection, You also have a stronger 83 00:05:47.130 --> 00:05:51.400 likelihood of getting them to take action and that's Yeah, because you 84 00:05:51.400 --> 00:05:56.380 understand motive, right? And that's obviously that's going to be huge in 85 00:05:56.380 --> 00:06:02.350 sales and marketing. I love that. And I also think you convicted so much of 86 00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:06.610 sales and marketing team members just now when you said to actively listen, 87 00:06:06.610 --> 00:06:11.160 you know, the thing is to bend you like what's the driver that somebody has in 88 00:06:11.160 --> 00:06:13.820 their decision making? One of the biggest challenges that we have in 89 00:06:13.820 --> 00:06:18.340 sales is when clients always make it about price. Well if you don't dig deep 90 00:06:18.340 --> 00:06:22.520 enough to understand what the emotional element of their decision making is the 91 00:06:22.520 --> 00:06:25.840 want behind that want and you stay at that price point. You end up in a 92 00:06:25.840 --> 00:06:31.270 negotiation, nobody wants that hand to hand combat negotiating sales style 93 00:06:31.270 --> 00:06:35.440 anymore. That's not how people buy, that's you selling to them. So the end 94 00:06:35.440 --> 00:06:40.060 goal is for us to get the client to get to a point where they go, I should buy 95 00:06:40.060 --> 00:06:45.180 from you because you care about me. You believe I matter, you understand my 96 00:06:45.180 --> 00:06:50.850 greater purpose and sparked too often we get caught up on just trying to make 97 00:06:50.850 --> 00:06:55.280 a sale based on I have this product, I have this service. This works for you 98 00:06:55.280 --> 00:06:58.510 don't you want it? And I'm gonna convince you if you're spending your 99 00:06:58.510 --> 00:07:02.370 time trying to convince a client, you might be in the wrong game and you need 100 00:07:02.370 --> 00:07:06.890 to backtrack and start figuring out what's going to get them influenced to 101 00:07:06.890 --> 00:07:12.140 buy. What do you see in the current landscape or in the way that maybe it's 102 00:07:12.140 --> 00:07:16.460 been in the past that's really frustrating to you, john. Because even 103 00:07:16.460 --> 00:07:19.820 just coming out of what you just said? I think there is some old mentality 104 00:07:19.820 --> 00:07:23.280 that still is kind of lingering as we see so much of sales and marketing 105 00:07:23.280 --> 00:07:26.620 shift. Right? What do you see that's still frustrated to you? What's 106 00:07:26.620 --> 00:07:29.690 frustrating to me is and this happens to me, especially as I've gone from 107 00:07:29.690 --> 00:07:33.150 Director of sales to executive director of brand. Now, I'm now I'm more of a 108 00:07:33.150 --> 00:07:38.180 buyer, whereas before I was more of an influencer and trying to drive revenue 109 00:07:38.180 --> 00:07:41.620 from my organization. Now I'm, I'm hearing more from people that are 110 00:07:41.620 --> 00:07:46.100 trying to sell me to help me to drive our brand. And what I find far too 111 00:07:46.100 --> 00:07:53.020 often is I'll get like the a I bought five paragraph email in my DM that 112 00:07:53.020 --> 00:07:56.470 doesn't talk about it in any way, shape or form that give more, get more 113 00:07:56.470 --> 00:08:01.290 philosophy. Like take a minute to understand my profile, what drives me, 114 00:08:01.290 --> 00:08:04.900 what's my brand about? Um, what's my organization doing? So for instance, 115 00:08:04.900 --> 00:08:09.270 I'll get people often that will tell me I've got this great way to solve your 116 00:08:09.270 --> 00:08:12.600 lead generation problem. Here's the problem. I don't have a lead generation 117 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:16.760 problem. Yeah. We're actually on a major growth track right now and 118 00:08:16.760 --> 00:08:19.590 probably one thing that is really important for us is getting the right 119 00:08:19.590 --> 00:08:23.620 people on the bus to keep up with the growth. So it's interesting how people 120 00:08:23.620 --> 00:08:27.100 would just come at you with, I have this, this great solution for you 121 00:08:27.100 --> 00:08:30.410 without taking the time to get to know you and understand what is my want 122 00:08:30.410 --> 00:08:35.720 behind my want, what's our driver and whether or not it's even a compelling 123 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:39.890 argument for them to be talking to me at this point and if they would take 124 00:08:39.890 --> 00:08:44.840 the time to kind of dig in and get to know people first, then there's a 125 00:08:44.840 --> 00:08:48.430 stronger likelihood that I might not be the right answer for you, but I might 126 00:08:48.430 --> 00:08:51.880 know somebody who is well, if you come at me that way, I'm not going to get 127 00:08:51.880 --> 00:08:54.550 you to the point where I'm gonna introduce you to somebody who would be 128 00:08:54.550 --> 00:08:58.500 a good prospect for you, right? So that's the frustration I have is people 129 00:08:58.500 --> 00:09:02.560 far too often want to sell their product instead of establishing and 130 00:09:02.560 --> 00:09:07.430 engaging in an intelligent, humanistic communication where there's real 131 00:09:07.430 --> 00:09:14.410 connection and a bond that's created and then becoming influencers for each 132 00:09:14.410 --> 00:09:20.250 other instead of like treating me like I'm a decision maker, Maybe I'm not the 133 00:09:20.250 --> 00:09:23.250 right person, but if you come at me wrong, I'm not going to get you to the 134 00:09:23.250 --> 00:09:27.270 right person. If you come at me right, then I might become somebody that fuels 135 00:09:27.270 --> 00:09:30.700 that opportunity for you and drives you to that right person. That right 136 00:09:30.700 --> 00:09:34.810 decision maker. That's ultra frustrating. It is frustrating. I 137 00:09:34.810 --> 00:09:40.400 resonate so, so much with that assumed problems that we just blanket over 138 00:09:40.400 --> 00:09:43.830 whole groups of people like, oh, they must all struggle with lead generation, 139 00:09:43.830 --> 00:09:49.260 like exactly what you're saying, where we sales teams can just assume they 140 00:09:49.260 --> 00:09:53.110 know that everyone has these core issues or they asked hyper general 141 00:09:53.110 --> 00:09:56.980 questions right? And like everyone's going to answer that question the same 142 00:09:56.980 --> 00:10:00.310 and they're just trying to find that little way in. I love that. Dm wouldn't 143 00:10:00.310 --> 00:10:03.760 you love to drive your revenue, wouldn't you love to maximize your 144 00:10:03.760 --> 00:10:07.330 profit. And then when you say, well of course I would or you say, no man, I 145 00:10:07.330 --> 00:10:10.560 don't want to do that, then they're like, so you mean to tell me you want 146 00:10:10.560 --> 00:10:14.870 to drive your profitability? I think that's lazy sales. I think it really is, 147 00:10:14.880 --> 00:10:20.600 and I think that people that are really, really effective in sales have 148 00:10:20.610 --> 00:10:25.280 intentional activity, They're really intentional in their activity and 149 00:10:25.290 --> 00:10:28.660 they're not just going through the motions of activity. I think you can 150 00:10:28.660 --> 00:10:33.390 really weed out the top performers from the average or they're not so great 151 00:10:33.390 --> 00:10:37.380 performers on how they approach the activity. Are you working your call 152 00:10:37.380 --> 00:10:41.860 account? Are you working your your touch points or you actually really 153 00:10:41.860 --> 00:10:45.020 trying to become a solution for somebody? You can't become a solution 154 00:10:45.020 --> 00:10:47.540 for somebody until you understand what their challenges are and you're not 155 00:10:47.540 --> 00:10:50.790 going to get to the challenges until you build trust and you ain't going to 156 00:10:50.790 --> 00:10:57.490 build trust with coming at me with an Ai five paragraph D. M. Yeah, so no 157 00:10:57.490 --> 00:11:01.010 more lazy sales. I love that. We're gonna become a solution for somebody. 158 00:11:01.020 --> 00:11:07.060 So that obviously leads to the next question, which would be okay, we're 159 00:11:07.060 --> 00:11:11.340 setting aside old habits or lazy routine, whatever it is and we're 160 00:11:11.340 --> 00:11:16.080 moving into a new way? What do you see as being the new way? What do you see 161 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:22.060 as working for you when we start to think about being more relational and 162 00:11:22.060 --> 00:11:27.170 maybe content even driven right in our in our approach? Well, I think far too 163 00:11:27.170 --> 00:11:30.220 often folks are going right in with their presentation of what their 164 00:11:30.220 --> 00:11:34.950 products and services are, instead of putting out, you know, content creation 165 00:11:34.950 --> 00:11:40.520 and media creation that essentially discusses who their brand is. What is 166 00:11:40.520 --> 00:11:45.140 their, why, what drives them as a human being, what's their purpose? How were 167 00:11:45.140 --> 00:11:49.400 they able to take somebody that had a challenge and get them to the promised 168 00:11:49.400 --> 00:11:53.530 land and talk about it in third person? You know, that's the other thing, that 169 00:11:53.530 --> 00:11:57.280 is a challenge. I think far too many people in sales want to speak in first 170 00:11:57.280 --> 00:12:01.740 person like this is what I can do for you. Well, I gotta tell you whenever 171 00:12:01.740 --> 00:12:05.620 I've said to a client, this is what I can do for you. I feel them back up. 172 00:12:05.630 --> 00:12:09.070 There's a natural thing that happens when somebody is being approached and 173 00:12:09.070 --> 00:12:12.390 you say this is what I can do for you, or this is how I can help you before 174 00:12:12.390 --> 00:12:16.530 they've asked for help. There's a natural resistance that happens. So we 175 00:12:16.530 --> 00:12:20.050 actually create an objection for ourselves before we need that objection. 176 00:12:20.440 --> 00:12:24.170 Everything that we say in sales either overcomes an objection or creates an 177 00:12:24.170 --> 00:12:28.130 objection. Why in the world would you create objections for yourself by 178 00:12:28.130 --> 00:12:31.610 essentially assuming that you can help somebody and causing them to have that 179 00:12:31.610 --> 00:12:37.510 resistance um that builds up, so I always think that content is great in 180 00:12:37.510 --> 00:12:42.550 speaking in third person, this is what I do for my most successful clients, 181 00:12:42.560 --> 00:12:48.440 this is the impact that I have on some of my most successful clients lay out 182 00:12:48.440 --> 00:12:52.980 the start point where you started with somebody, what trials and tribulations 183 00:12:52.980 --> 00:12:57.630 happen, how you overcame that and how that created a solution for somebody, 184 00:12:57.640 --> 00:13:03.490 talk about that through your content creation and then have a call to action 185 00:13:03.500 --> 00:13:08.480 that causes somebody to say, okay, well I'll give you a shot to prove that, you 186 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:11.830 know, with our clients, we've got this logo challenge. I think we talked about 187 00:13:11.830 --> 00:13:15.340 that where we essentially say, hey look, you don't need, you don't need to 188 00:13:15.340 --> 00:13:18.590 believe the words I'm saying to you right now and you're not gonna believe 189 00:13:18.590 --> 00:13:22.520 them because I haven't earned the right yet. Let me earn the right by proving 190 00:13:22.520 --> 00:13:26.550 it to you with a sample of what our capability is at no cost to you. So you 191 00:13:26.550 --> 00:13:31.940 can touch it, feel it, where it see it. And then at that point, once you feel 192 00:13:31.940 --> 00:13:35.400 comfortable with that, then we'll start to build on what the wants are and the 193 00:13:35.400 --> 00:13:40.240 needs are. So we actually have this process of creating content, um, that 194 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:43.560 talks about or why it talks about a greater purpose, talks about who we are 195 00:13:43.560 --> 00:13:48.050 and makes people feel our culture and then in them feeling our culture, 196 00:13:48.050 --> 00:13:52.330 they're intrigued and then by taking the logo challenge, they get a free 197 00:13:52.340 --> 00:13:57.680 logoed item with their company brand on it, a quarter zip or a blanket or 198 00:13:57.680 --> 00:14:01.750 whatever it is, they decide to order once they get that they go, wow, this 199 00:14:01.750 --> 00:14:06.170 is really cool. They gave me something now I'm at a neutral point, I'm willing 200 00:14:06.170 --> 00:14:11.580 to actually engage and allow you to earn my trust. So by getting that in 201 00:14:11.580 --> 00:14:15.040 their hands, it makes the conversation the next conversation a lot easier 202 00:14:15.050 --> 00:14:19.020 because they already know what the quality of the work is. Hey everyone 203 00:14:19.030 --> 00:14:22.150 Emily brady with sweet fish here. If you've been listening to B two B growth 204 00:14:22.150 --> 00:14:25.290 for a while, you know, we are big proponents of putting out original 205 00:14:25.300 --> 00:14:28.950 organic content on linkedin. But one thing that has always been a struggle 206 00:14:28.950 --> 00:14:32.720 for a team like ours is easily tracking the reach of that linkedin content. 207 00:14:32.730 --> 00:14:36.340 That is why we are really excited about Shield analytics. Since our team 208 00:14:36.340 --> 00:14:39.270 started using Shield, we've been able to easily track the reaching 209 00:14:39.270 --> 00:14:42.600 performance of Arlington content without having to manually log it 210 00:14:42.600 --> 00:14:46.320 ourselves. It automatically creates reports and generates dashboards that 211 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:49.490 are incredibly useful to determining things like what content has been 212 00:14:49.490 --> 00:14:52.870 performing the best, what days of the week we're getting the most engagement 213 00:14:52.880 --> 00:14:56.640 and our average views proposed shield has been a game changer for our entire 214 00:14:56.640 --> 00:15:00.660 team's productivity and performance on linkedin. I highly suggest checking out 215 00:15:00.660 --> 00:15:03.790 this tool if you're publishing content on linkedin for yourself or your 216 00:15:03.790 --> 00:15:08.190 company, you can get a 10 day free trial at shield app dot Ai or you can 217 00:15:08.190 --> 00:15:12.910 get a 25% discount with our promo code B two B growth again, that Shield app 218 00:15:12.910 --> 00:15:18.100 dot Ai and the promo code is b the number to be growth. All one word for a 219 00:15:18.100 --> 00:15:23.150 25% discount. Alright, let's get back to the show. Yeah, there's so much I 220 00:15:23.150 --> 00:15:28.990 want to dive into there because I think the logo challenge is a intriguing part 221 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:32.980 of a content strategy. So let's back up a couple of steps and then we'll get 222 00:15:32.980 --> 00:15:38.020 there. Talk to me about those first active steps, like what you've actively 223 00:15:38.020 --> 00:15:42.290 tried to do to share culture, what's working for you right now in that sort 224 00:15:42.290 --> 00:15:46.290 of phase. Yeah, so I think it's whether it's a company brand or it's an 225 00:15:46.300 --> 00:15:49.470 individual. I think every single salesperson should be building their 226 00:15:49.470 --> 00:15:54.470 own personal brand within the pillars of the company brand, meaning the 227 00:15:54.470 --> 00:15:58.440 overall organization. The brand has a vision for the organization, it's not 228 00:15:58.440 --> 00:16:01.610 your job as a salesperson to create the vision for the company, it's your job 229 00:16:01.610 --> 00:16:05.060 to carry out the vision, but you should be creating your own personal brand 230 00:16:05.060 --> 00:16:10.630 within that brand and you should be creating content that has a cadence. So 231 00:16:10.630 --> 00:16:15.120 what I like to what I like to do with my content creation is to be vulnerable 232 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:18.020 and authentic first. So I'll talk about things that are near and dear to my 233 00:16:18.020 --> 00:16:23.370 heart, family, things that I do outside of work, like coaching young athletes, 234 00:16:23.380 --> 00:16:27.460 I'll talk about trials and tribulations that I've had in life, whether it be, 235 00:16:27.470 --> 00:16:32.930 you know, overcoming challenges mental health or you know, just perspective, 236 00:16:32.940 --> 00:16:37.300 right? Things that inspire. So you kind of start with that to get people to go, 237 00:16:37.300 --> 00:16:40.720 this is a real person, not just trying to make a sale all the time. Then the 238 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:47.070 next phase, the next step is to create some sort of content that really 239 00:16:47.070 --> 00:16:50.940 expresses the culture of the organization that hey, this is a great 240 00:16:50.940 --> 00:16:55.060 company with great people that has a ton of energy, a ton of passion and 241 00:16:55.060 --> 00:16:59.500 there's proof of concept that they do it on their own. I think that's a big 242 00:16:59.500 --> 00:17:03.220 thing is companies want to know that if you are trying to sell us a product or 243 00:17:03.220 --> 00:17:07.770 service, do you have proof of concept, do you do it yourself and you do it 244 00:17:07.770 --> 00:17:14.020 well. So we create content that shows you know that we are, who we say we are 245 00:17:14.020 --> 00:17:16.960 and what we believe and then it's real, it's authentic and that it's a very 246 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:21.500 vibrant culture. And then from there there is a call to action and then we 247 00:17:21.500 --> 00:17:25.990 promote the organization. Right? So it's the cadence is raw, authentic, 248 00:17:25.990 --> 00:17:31.210 humanistic, then talk about the overall organization, the culture then promote 249 00:17:31.220 --> 00:17:35.370 your solution. Then in that promotion of the solution, there is a call to 250 00:17:35.370 --> 00:17:38.960 action, which in this case is dropping the logo challenge in the comments, 251 00:17:39.130 --> 00:17:42.980 somebody takes that now we know that they're engaged and then there's a 252 00:17:42.980 --> 00:17:47.440 follow up to that where we can actually start to dig deep into who they are all 253 00:17:47.450 --> 00:17:53.520 very insightful, go through a little bit more on the logo challenge for me 254 00:17:53.530 --> 00:17:58.090 because we want to be able to apply that across industry, you know what I 255 00:17:58.090 --> 00:18:01.370 mean? Like I want to be able to give a takeaway here to our audience and they 256 00:18:01.370 --> 00:18:05.390 go, I'm gonna leave and I wanna, I wanna take what john said and think 257 00:18:05.390 --> 00:18:09.610 about ways I can use it in a different space. Right? So what's kind of the key 258 00:18:09.610 --> 00:18:12.960 elements there and what have you found to be really successful for you guys? 259 00:18:13.040 --> 00:18:16.930 So Benji, 20 years ago, 25 years ago when I was coming up in sales, all the 260 00:18:16.930 --> 00:18:20.890 sales trainers always taught me was never tell the client what the solution 261 00:18:20.890 --> 00:18:26.190 is. Never give them the solution, right? You gotta so odd. Right? So odd. Right? 262 00:18:26.190 --> 00:18:31.590 So this new generation of salespeople, which by the way, are 100 times better 263 00:18:31.590 --> 00:18:36.610 than the absolute stone cold killer sales people 25 years ago, they are all 264 00:18:36.610 --> 00:18:42.850 about influence and guidance and again, giving more. So this is consistent with 265 00:18:42.850 --> 00:18:45.980 that new style of selling where people don't want to be closed, they want to 266 00:18:45.980 --> 00:18:51.730 buy. Right? So it's guiding them to buy. So think about it this way for us 267 00:18:51.730 --> 00:18:56.550 because we do branded apparel and hard, good products that our logo, we can put 268 00:18:56.550 --> 00:18:59.250 this logo challenge in there with somebody clicks on a link and go pick 269 00:18:59.250 --> 00:19:04.830 the product, put their their jpeg or vector file their logo in there, we'll 270 00:19:04.830 --> 00:19:08.720 decorate it, drop ship it directly to them within five days. They open up the 271 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:11.740 box, they have this wow factor and go, oh my gosh, this is so cool. They 272 00:19:11.750 --> 00:19:15.010 really did send me something free and its logo, this is great. Now they want 273 00:19:15.010 --> 00:19:18.560 to engage. Well obviously that's the industry we're in. So let's say that 274 00:19:18.560 --> 00:19:22.810 you're an advisor, let's say that you sell insurance, let's say that you sell 275 00:19:22.810 --> 00:19:27.460 wealth management or let's say that you sell some sort of other type of service, 276 00:19:28.440 --> 00:19:33.430 give them some answers to the test, give them some solutions, give them 277 00:19:33.430 --> 00:19:40.390 guidance. So maybe your type of version of logo challenge could be a little one 278 00:19:40.390 --> 00:19:46.000 pager deck that gives the five or six absolute biggest challenges that you 279 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:51.730 should look out for within our industry that perhaps other companies might tell 280 00:19:51.730 --> 00:19:54.970 you and we're going to tell you the truth. This is what it really is. We're 281 00:19:54.970 --> 00:19:59.510 going to give you the answers to the test, right? So maybe give them some 282 00:19:59.510 --> 00:20:03.970 real insight and some real data that they can actually use on their own that 283 00:20:03.970 --> 00:20:08.170 may not might not get you to an immediate close what makes you 284 00:20:08.170 --> 00:20:12.460 memorable. You capture their attention and you're gonna stay front of mind 285 00:20:12.460 --> 00:20:16.050 with that client because you gave them facts, you gave them data that's usable 286 00:20:16.740 --> 00:20:21.690 from there. You've got something now because if they go with another company 287 00:20:21.690 --> 00:20:24.550 and they don't get the result they were looking for or they get caught up in 288 00:20:24.550 --> 00:20:28.910 that negotiating type of sale, they're gonna come to you now and you're gonna 289 00:20:28.910 --> 00:20:31.950 have a much better opportunity because that trust factor has been built in, 290 00:20:32.340 --> 00:20:37.390 yep, give the answers to the test. It's so true. And a lot of times it also 291 00:20:37.390 --> 00:20:40.930 exposes like man this is there's so much effort that we're going to have to 292 00:20:40.930 --> 00:20:44.160 put in, right? Like you see what the answers are and you're like, oh this is 293 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:47.300 a lot of work, they already have the answers, why don't we hire them to do 294 00:20:47.300 --> 00:20:50.620 it? And Benji, that's the absolute trick, right? So the reality is any 295 00:20:50.620 --> 00:20:53.870 company that hires somebody to provide them with some sort of value and 296 00:20:53.870 --> 00:20:57.820 benefit more likely it's because they can't do it on their own. You know, 297 00:20:57.820 --> 00:21:01.550 it's time money knowledge. Right? So there's three things that you're 298 00:21:01.550 --> 00:21:06.110 looking for TMK Time money knowledge, that's what people are looking for. Can 299 00:21:06.110 --> 00:21:10.170 you save them time or make better use of their time, can you create a better 300 00:21:10.170 --> 00:21:14.230 return on investment than they have currently or save them money because 301 00:21:14.230 --> 00:21:18.150 you have a better mousetrap or can you provide them with something that gives 302 00:21:18.150 --> 00:21:22.060 them more data, more knowledge, more expertise that they have a better 303 00:21:22.060 --> 00:21:27.020 likelihood of success, right? So maybe the local challenges somebody would use, 304 00:21:27.020 --> 00:21:30.570 or some version of that would be incorporating those three things. How 305 00:21:30.570 --> 00:21:33.680 are you gonna save them time? How are you going to make better use of their 306 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:37.270 money and how are you going to provide them more knowledge? I think the 307 00:21:37.270 --> 00:21:41.190 knowledge part for a lot of companies is the best thing. If you can teach 308 00:21:41.190 --> 00:21:45.310 them five or six things that they need to look out for when talking to 309 00:21:45.310 --> 00:21:51.670 somebody in your industry, misnomers, give him the back office information. 310 00:21:52.440 --> 00:21:56.090 Um, ultimately, let's remember, if they could do it on their own, they would 311 00:21:56.090 --> 00:21:59.610 have done it by now. They're typically not looking for a solution because they 312 00:21:59.610 --> 00:22:03.860 want to do it themselves, they're looking for somebody else to do it, but 313 00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:08.270 they want to know whether or not you're the right person to do it for them. And 314 00:22:08.270 --> 00:22:11.550 truthfully if all they need is knowledge and you can give that away. I 315 00:22:11.550 --> 00:22:15.410 mean, that is still not lost because the back and forth is still worth it. 316 00:22:15.410 --> 00:22:18.840 The, the connection that's made there, who knows what it turns into down the 317 00:22:18.840 --> 00:22:23.840 road and you're giving away information for free. It's still like even it makes 318 00:22:23.840 --> 00:22:27.540 you an expert in the space, right? Like you having to work through it and give 319 00:22:27.540 --> 00:22:32.710 it away for free. Like, there really is no downside there, but I understand why 320 00:22:32.710 --> 00:22:36.320 there would be a perceived downside. I don't think somebody can be considered 321 00:22:36.320 --> 00:22:40.810 an expert either until they can absolutely and teach it to somebody 322 00:22:40.820 --> 00:22:45.600 that at a level, right? Where you're not using insider baseball language, 323 00:22:46.540 --> 00:22:49.320 you got to leave a few things where they still gotta, there's still gotta 324 00:22:49.320 --> 00:22:53.080 be compelled to want to do business with you. But if you can really give 325 00:22:53.090 --> 00:22:58.510 your prospective client the answers to the test and teach them something so 326 00:22:58.510 --> 00:23:02.390 that there are more educated buyer or remember sometimes the person you're 327 00:23:02.390 --> 00:23:05.230 talking to is not the ultimate decision maker. So one of the best things you 328 00:23:05.230 --> 00:23:08.380 can possibly do is teach the person you're talking to, how to sell the 329 00:23:08.380 --> 00:23:12.120 person that is the decision maker. So sometimes you have to do it because 330 00:23:12.120 --> 00:23:16.960 they got to walk into somebody else's office and make the sale to go with you. 331 00:23:17.040 --> 00:23:23.500 Yeah, john tell me some of the results you've seen from this approach and just 332 00:23:23.500 --> 00:23:28.040 give us maybe an example. What's been amazing is people don't necessarily 333 00:23:28.040 --> 00:23:32.030 like the cold call. I think cold calling is extremely important, but I 334 00:23:32.030 --> 00:23:36.490 think what has happened is the results have been, if somebody takes the time 335 00:23:36.490 --> 00:23:41.340 to go through the steps of answering the questions and engage on that level 336 00:23:41.340 --> 00:23:46.600 and receives the package and receives that free item, they now feel compelled 337 00:23:46.600 --> 00:23:49.850 to at least have the conversation. So what ends up happening is the initial 338 00:23:49.850 --> 00:23:53.970 presentations that we have with clients, they're far more engaged in some cases 339 00:23:53.970 --> 00:23:59.480 they're wearing or utilizing the item in the zoom call that we have with them 340 00:23:59.480 --> 00:24:03.880 or in the live presentation they have it on, so they're now engaged and 341 00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:07.440 they're already kind of part of the team. So what's happened is it's driven 342 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:12.460 our closing percentage up significantly. And it also weeds out a lot of folks 343 00:24:13.140 --> 00:24:17.070 because in sales, I think what's extremely important is not only 344 00:24:17.070 --> 00:24:21.780 qualifying clients but disqualifying clients. So by gathering that 345 00:24:21.780 --> 00:24:25.230 information, we can recognize whether or not it's a client that would simply 346 00:24:25.230 --> 00:24:29.760 be transactional, which is not a huge factor for us. We're not looking for 347 00:24:29.760 --> 00:24:34.070 transactional clients were looking for partnerships. So it allows us to weed 348 00:24:34.070 --> 00:24:37.500 out the clients that maybe you're only going to make one or two branded item 349 00:24:37.500 --> 00:24:41.670 orders per year. There's tons of solutions out there for them. We may 350 00:24:41.670 --> 00:24:45.450 not be that person. We're looking for companies that want brand management, 351 00:24:46.040 --> 00:24:50.550 want advisement and want the whole suite of services that we have to offer. 352 00:24:50.560 --> 00:24:55.050 So it eliminates and weeds out the prospects that are not strong 353 00:24:55.050 --> 00:24:59.690 candidates for us that we don't go down a dead end. And it highlights those 354 00:24:59.690 --> 00:25:04.860 clients that would be fantastic. Target audiences for us. So we can spend a lot 355 00:25:04.860 --> 00:25:08.300 of time and energy nurturing that relationship building trust and 356 00:25:08.300 --> 00:25:12.720 ultimately creating partnerships. Fantastic. What a good conversation 357 00:25:12.730 --> 00:25:17.470 there's so much here, give more, get more, it's easy to remember. It's 358 00:25:17.470 --> 00:25:20.600 something that I'm walking away with, but I'm walking away with several other 359 00:25:20.600 --> 00:25:24.440 things. So here's, here's my quick white board summary because I'm always 360 00:25:24.440 --> 00:25:26.970 writing down notes on my whiteboard when I'm having these conversations, 361 00:25:26.980 --> 00:25:32.400 mindset, behavior technique equals sales success. That was a big one early 362 00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:36.500 in our conversation. No more lazy sales, right? We're going to become a solution 363 00:25:36.500 --> 00:25:40.570 for somebody. I think that that is a fantastic approach and then give away 364 00:25:40.570 --> 00:25:44.870 the answers to the test. That's how you give more. Right? You, you don't try to 365 00:25:44.870 --> 00:25:49.430 hold something and wait right? Like if you can help somebody, you just help 366 00:25:49.430 --> 00:25:55.120 them and let that lead where it may. But that's a fantastic stuff johN 367 00:25:55.120 --> 00:25:58.530 anything you would add here as we begin to wrap up. No Benji, it's been 368 00:25:58.530 --> 00:26:03.430 fantastic. You're a great host and I've been waiting for this and thrilled to 369 00:26:03.430 --> 00:26:07.760 do it really appreciate it. Just hope that folks will check out club colors 370 00:26:07.770 --> 00:26:11.430 and give us an opportunity to showcase what we're capable of doing. Yeah, johN, 371 00:26:11.430 --> 00:26:14.950 if people want to connect with you further, how can they reach out. Yeah. 372 00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:18.090 So obviously I'm very active on linkedin. So you can look up john 373 00:26:18.090 --> 00:26:22.150 Morris on linkedin, I got two clovers by my name by the way, not just because 374 00:26:22.150 --> 00:26:26.330 I'm irish, but to weed out those bots. So there's a clover in front of my name 375 00:26:26.330 --> 00:26:29.510 and a clover behind it. I know if you send me a message and the clovers in 376 00:26:29.510 --> 00:26:34.060 front of john then you're a bot unless you're really, really detailed. You can 377 00:26:34.060 --> 00:26:38.740 go to our website at www dot club colors dot com and by the way, I will 378 00:26:38.740 --> 00:26:42.380 send you that logo challenge, get yourself a free item. I'll show you the 379 00:26:42.380 --> 00:26:46.330 quality of the club colors provides. You can also check out my podcast in 380 00:26:46.330 --> 00:26:50.870 the club on our club colors Youtube channel. I am the host. Not nearly as 381 00:26:50.870 --> 00:26:54.860 good as you though, Benji. Well, I appreciate that compliment and it's 382 00:26:54.860 --> 00:27:00.300 been such a fun back and forth here and man for everybody listening. Hey, let's 383 00:27:00.300 --> 00:27:04.390 be intentional givers as we leave this this episode, we're always we want to 384 00:27:04.390 --> 00:27:07.480 be the people that are always looking to help people and not as worried about 385 00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:10.780 what we're going to get. And it's funny how there's kind of this paradox right 386 00:27:10.790 --> 00:27:14.750 in the world that we live in where truly when we come from a place of 387 00:27:14.760 --> 00:27:18.390 giving, that's when we find abundance. So, thanks for listening to another 388 00:27:18.390 --> 00:27:21.640 episode. You can find me as well on linkedin. Just search Benji blocks. I'd 389 00:27:21.640 --> 00:27:23.860 love to connect with you and we'll talk again. 390 00:27:26.340 --> 00:27:26.550 Mhm 391 00:27:28.540 --> 00:27:32.720 At sweet fish, we're on a mission to create the most helpful content on the 392 00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:37.290 internet for every job function and industry on the planet for the B two B 393 00:27:37.290 --> 00:27:41.330 marketing industry. This show is how we're executing on that mission. If you 394 00:27:41.330 --> 00:27:44.790 know a marketing leader that would be an awesome guest for this podcast, 395 00:27:44.950 --> 00:27:48.370 shoot me a text message. Don't call me because I don't answer unknown Numbers. 396 00:27:48.380 --> 00:27:55.110 But text me at 407-49033-8. Just shoot me their name, maybe a link to their 397 00:27:55.110 --> 00:27:59.040 linkedin profile. And I'd love to check them out to see if we can get them on 398 00:27:59.040 --> 00:28:01.560 the show. Thanks a lot.