0
SPEAKER_02
In this episode of the Advanced Selling Podcast, Bill rants about audio quality, Bill rants about audio quality again, and we dip into the co-video mailbag and hear from listener Paula who asks, how do I stay out of the commodity dungeon?
0
SPEAKER_02
Welcome back, fans and friends and odds and ends.
0
SPEAKER_02
You gals and guys and gals are my best pals.
0
SPEAKER_02
Nope, this is Brian Neal from the Advanced Selling Podcast.
0
SPEAKER_01
You re bringing back some old 50s disc jockey stuff there, Bill Kasky.
0
SPEAKER_02
It s actually Bill Kasky.
0
SPEAKER_02
This is the Advanced Selling Podcast.
0
SPEAKER_02
This is not Grease.
0
SPEAKER_02
That s actually the line from the guy who brings it in from Grease.
0
SPEAKER_02
This is the Advanced Selling Podcast.
0
SPEAKER_02
We re glad you re here with the longest running sales training podcast in the history of sales training podcast history.
0
SPEAKER_02
And we re glad that you re here.
0
SPEAKER_02
Thousands of you listen every week, and tens of thousands of you
0
SPEAKER_02
have listened over the months and millions have listened over the years.
0
SPEAKER_02
We re very, very thankful for you.
0
SPEAKER_02
We go on the road occasionally.
0
SPEAKER_02
If you re having a sales meeting or need a keynote speaker or anything like that, a sales retreat, breakout, anything like that, you want it to have a little different slant than what you re used to from the cliche keynote speakers you have at a lot of sales meetings, shoot us an email.
0
SPEAKER_02
Listener at advancesellingpodcast.com.
0
SPEAKER_02
Come see us in the subject line.
0
SPEAKER_02
We ll get in touch with you and talk to you about how to get that done.
0
SPEAKER_02
A lot of fun.
0
SPEAKER_02
Bill s been on the road a bit.
0
SPEAKER_02
I m heading on the road here soon.
0
SPEAKER_02
We d love to come visit your event if it makes sense.
0
SPEAKER_01
Mm-hmm Brian, can I I know you think I m really silly and And well, I mean some I bring up this thing a lot though, and so I m gonna bring it up again yet again
0
SPEAKER_01
Do you know who Brian Regan is?
0
SPEAKER_02
Oh, of course.
0
SPEAKER_01
Brian Regan is one of my favorite comics.
0
SPEAKER_01
I haven t seen much new from him lately, but maybe I m just not in the right circles.
0
SPEAKER_01
But he does this skit where he talks about why is it that whenever something doesn t work right, we always reference back to, geez, we can put a man on the moon, but we can t make the telephone cord straight.
0
SPEAKER_01
So there s always that reference to, we can do this, so why can t we do that?
0
SPEAKER_01
So the question I have, in keeping with that, if we can do this, why can t we do that, is this very simple thing of audio.
0
SPEAKER_01
And you know how I am always encouraging our listeners when they send in a voice memo to make sure it s good quality.
0
SPEAKER_01
And for the most part, it is.
0
SPEAKER_01
But over the last couple of weeks, I ve heard podcast hosts who have a guest on.
0
SPEAKER_01
And it s not clear whether this guest is in a trunk of a car or at an airport on a runway.
0
SPEAKER_01
And the audio is just awful.
0
SPEAKER_01
Now, on talk radio, you ll hear people pretty quickly say, hey, let s get a new connection.
0
SPEAKER_01
We can t hear you very well.
0
SPEAKER_01
Yes, yes, yes.
0
SPEAKER_01
But on podcasts, for some reason, podcast hosts are reluctant to do that.
0
SPEAKER_01
And so you have to kind of wade through really bad audio.
0
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
0
SPEAKER_01
So that s one thing.
0
SPEAKER_01
The second thing is I have some sales groups that I run, and I ask for volunteers to give me an audio testimonial.
0
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
0
SPEAKER_01
So I had 10 people who said they would, very gracious, appreciate it.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I thought, well, you know what?
0
SPEAKER_01
I ll send them a USB mic so that they can get really good crisp audio, because they don t have studios.
0
SPEAKER_01
And we could do that, but I don t expect people to do that.
0
SPEAKER_01
So very nice.
0
SPEAKER_01
It was like a $40.
0
SPEAKER_01
It was very clear, very crisp, good sound.
0
SPEAKER_01
Got all 10 back.
0
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_01
Guess what I found?
0
SPEAKER_01
What?
0
SPEAKER_01
One.
0
SPEAKER_01
One was good quality.
0
SPEAKER_01
Now, I think everybody used it.
0
SPEAKER_01
But between plugging it in and actually having this mic pick up, because what was happening a lot of times is the onboard mic was picking up the audio, because you have to go in and.
0
SPEAKER_01
The whole point is that.
0
SPEAKER_01
No, this is true, though.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I think that we live in an audio age.
0
SPEAKER_01
Think about Alexa.
0
SPEAKER_01
Alexa is all audio.
0
SPEAKER_01
And if you went to Alexa and said, hey, Alexa, give me a podcast on sales, and something came up and the audio quality was bad, what would you do?
0
SPEAKER_01
You d say, Alexa, stop.
0
SPEAKER_01
Give me another one.
0
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_01
So audio quality is becoming, I think, more and more important.
0
SPEAKER_01
We re kind of in the age of voice here.
0
SPEAKER_01
And whether you re shooting videos, I know we have a lot of clients, a lot of listeners who shoot videos.
0
SPEAKER_01
Make sure your audio is good.
0
SPEAKER_01
If you re on Skype calls, make sure your audio is hearable.
0
SPEAKER_01
What could be more important than them hearing what you say?
0
SPEAKER_01
And the answer is nothing.
0
SPEAKER_01
Visual, OK, maybe you have a bad tie-on and you re
0
SPEAKER_01
Your hair is out of place.
0
SPEAKER_01
But if your voice is bad, it becomes hard to listen to.
0
SPEAKER_01
Delivering speeches, doing podcasts.
0
SPEAKER_01
I know a lot of, we have a lot of listeners who do audios for clients.
0
SPEAKER_01
Just make sure the quality doesn t need to be perfect.
0
SPEAKER_01
It just needs to be good.
0
SPEAKER_02
That s a nice little rant.
0
SPEAKER_02
You should start another podcast about high-quality audio.
0
SPEAKER_02
Get into some of the megahertz.
0
SPEAKER_01
Well, we ll just have a segment on this podcast about it.
0
SPEAKER_02
We ll do a side segment on high-quality audio.
0
SPEAKER_02
And what s beneath all that is really recognizing that everything that you put out is a reflection of your brand.
0
SPEAKER_02
That s right.
0
SPEAKER_02
That s, to me, the bigger, no matter what it is.
0
SPEAKER_02
Totally agree.
0
SPEAKER_02
Right?
0
SPEAKER_02
Audio, video.
0
SPEAKER_02
And so that s what people need to think about is, if I listen back to something, a lot of people go, it doesn t matter.
0
SPEAKER_02
You know what I mean?
0
SPEAKER_02
Like, oh, just put it up.
0
SPEAKER_02
People don t care about that.
0
SPEAKER_02
They really do, because it speaks to the brand.
0
SPEAKER_01
They might not even say they care, but three seconds and they ll be off.
0
SPEAKER_01
And they ll be off listening to something else.
0
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, there s no doubt.
0
SPEAKER_02
I m amazed sometimes at how bad when
0
SPEAKER_02
like, professional shows do Skype calls?
0
SPEAKER_02
How bad that sounds.
0
SPEAKER_01
I know.
0
SPEAKER_02
And they let that roll through there.
0
SPEAKER_02
And I think they think, well, it s Skype, so everybody understands.
0
SPEAKER_01
And they re kind of doing us a favor by being on.
0
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_01
No, I mean, Skype calls, you ve got to have, I mean, we re going to be interviewing a pretty good-sized guest here in the next, I mean, he s huge.
0
SPEAKER_01
He s like 600 pounds.
0
SPEAKER_01
He s enormous.
0
SPEAKER_01
He s a really, really big fella.
0
SPEAKER_01
He s a leader.
0
SPEAKER_01
6 8 .
0
SPEAKER_02
He s a leader.
0
SPEAKER_02
Left tackle for the Chiefs for a little while.
0
SPEAKER_01
He s a leader in the marketing and sales arena.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I asked him the other day when I talked to him, I said, do you have the proper mics?
0
SPEAKER_01
He goes, oh, yeah.
0
SPEAKER_01
He goes, you will not.
0
SPEAKER_01
It ll be like I m sitting right in your office.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I know he will, because he s used to that.
0
SPEAKER_01
He will.
0
SPEAKER_01
So anyway.
0
SPEAKER_01
Okay, hey, we ve been monitoring and training sales professionals, Brian and I have for years, and one of the most important elements to career success is aligning yourself with a company that develops employees, values their customers, and has a portfolio of products that can compete with anyone in the market.
0
SPEAKER_01
That s why we recommend our podcast listeners have CenturyLink at the top of their list when they look for a new career opportunity.
0
SPEAKER_01
With the recent acquisition of Level 3, the new CenturyLink has become a world leader in the areas of cloud, security, real-time communications, managed services, and hybrid IT.
0
SPEAKER_01
So, if you re a top performer who s looking for a fresh start in 2018, visit CenturyLink.com forward slash advanced selling.
0
SPEAKER_01
and join their talent community.
0
SPEAKER_01
Once you join that community, a member of their team will reach out soon to connect and see if a career at CenturyLink is in the cards for you.
0
SPEAKER_01
That s centurylink.com forward slash advanced selling.
0
SPEAKER_02
I like.
0
SPEAKER_02
So we are going to dip into our co-video mailbag today.
0
SPEAKER_02
And if you haven t done so already, if you re looking for a way to stand out, our good friends at Covideo have come up with a program, an application that allows you to create really short, really direct, really meaningful videos on your phone, on your desktop, doesn t matter where you are, and just email them in lieu of, in replace of email.
0
SPEAKER_02
And they ve got a deal set up for you to try this out.
0
SPEAKER_02
Several of our clients have been on it.
0
SPEAKER_02
We ve gotten great feedback from that that said, hey, of all the things we ve talked about on the show, this is one that s really helpful, very, very reasonably priced, great value for you and your clients and that sort of thing.
0
SPEAKER_02
If you re looking to stand out, make yourself different, go to advancedsellingpodcast.com slash co-video.
0
SPEAKER_02
And they ve got a special offer for you there, advancedsellingpodcast.com slash co-video as we dip in today to the co-video mailbag.
0
SPEAKER_00
Hi Bill and Brian, I m Paula Williams from Aviation Marketing by ABCI.
0
SPEAKER_00
Our job is to help aviation companies sell more of their products and services.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I m a long-time listener, first-time caller, love the Advanced Selling Podcast and have been listening for years.
0
SPEAKER_00
We just reviewed Bill s book, Same Game, New Rules, with our book club for aviation sales and marketing professionals, and we loved it.
0
SPEAKER_00
And there s a review of the book on our site, AviationSalesTraining.com.
0
SPEAKER_00
So one of the questions that we discussed is this.
0
SPEAKER_00
In the aviation industry, many of our members talked about Chapter 11.
0
SPEAKER_00
You re always in danger of sinking into the commodity dungeon, right?
0
SPEAKER_00
This really hit home for us because a lot of our clients sell things like airplanes, charter flights, aircraft components, maintenance services, and so on that are already priced pretty high.
0
SPEAKER_00
This is aviation after all.
0
SPEAKER_00
And dependent on a number of factors outside of our control,
0
SPEAKER_00
The FAA governs many of the factors of the products and services that we can offer and can t offer, and the prices of fuel have a huge impact on us and a lot of other factors that are just outside of our control.
0
SPEAKER_00
So we loved the comparison of competitors that you set up, but we were hoping that maybe you could give us an example
0
SPEAKER_00
that would be applicable for our group or other maybe business-to-business, more technical industries that would be a little more specific and help us get over this commodity dungeon trap that seems to be really insidious for us.
0
SPEAKER_00
Thanks for your help, and it s great talking with you both.
1
SPEAKER_01
and I look forward to hearing from you.
1
SPEAKER_00
She has a great voice.
1
SPEAKER_00
She does have a good voice.
1
SPEAKER_00
Quality of the audio.
1
SPEAKER_00
But her voice was awesome.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
You put that voice on a good microphone.
1
SPEAKER_00
Paula, you re going to sleep.
1
SPEAKER_01
You are a superstar.
1
SPEAKER_01
You could sell that voice, but get a better one.
1
SPEAKER_01
VO.
1
SPEAKER_01
You can make a billion dollars doing voiceover work, can t you?
1
SPEAKER_00
I don t know, can you?
1
SPEAKER_01
I think you can.
1
SPEAKER_01
Why aren t we doing that, then?
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
Or maybe we are.
1
SPEAKER_01
Maybe we are.
1
SPEAKER_01
We just don t know it.
1
SPEAKER_01
OK, good question.
1
SPEAKER_01
Something that has a lot of juice in the marketplace, in my opinion, that salespeople deal with this all the time, where certain things get out of our control, things we can t help, whether they re inputs to our product.
1
SPEAKER_01
It doesn t matter whether they re inputs or outputs.
1
SPEAKER_01
There are things out of our control.
1
SPEAKER_01
There s a high level of competition.
1
SPEAKER_01
So it s a very, very relevant topic.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m glad she brought it up.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I ve got some real interesting ideas here.
1
SPEAKER_00
I think they re well, let me let me be the judge of that.
1
SPEAKER_00
I think so Brian Why don t you start with one of your the most interesting?
1
SPEAKER_00
The most interesting podcast hosts and the most interesting of the most interesting ideas.
1
SPEAKER_00
Go ahead Best one and then I ll all up.
1
SPEAKER_01
You know, I want to put the picture of my yacht rock with my pipe in no, I feel like Smoking pipe.
1
SPEAKER_00
We might have look at that picture.
1
SPEAKER_00
What do you see a 70s guide?
1
SPEAKER_00
Oh
1
SPEAKER_01
Mustache in a pipe.
1
SPEAKER_01
Most of the world s mustache in a pipe.
1
SPEAKER_01
Let me set this up a little bit, too.
1
SPEAKER_01
I worked with a client for a few years called Imperial Sugar.
1
SPEAKER_01
Imperial Sugar is a sugar company that makes sugar.
1
SPEAKER_01
And just like sugar and salt, they exist.
1
SPEAKER_00
These branded- Let me see if I understand this right.
1
SPEAKER_01
Imperial Sugar is a sugar company that makes sugar?
1
SPEAKER_01
It is.
1
SPEAKER_01
They do make sugar, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
I thought they made battery acids.
1
SPEAKER_00
They make sugar, huh?
1
SPEAKER_01
Imperial Sugar is a SaaS company.
1
SPEAKER_01
No, it s not.
1
SPEAKER_01
It is not a SAS.
1
SPEAKER_01
No, then it would be called Sugar.
1
SPEAKER_01
S-U-G-A.
1
SPEAKER_01
No, it s pronounced Sugar.
1
SPEAKER_01
S-H-U-G-A.
1
SPEAKER_01
It sounds like a SAS company, doesn t it?
1
SPEAKER_01
It kind of does, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
Isn t there a Sugar CRM?
1
SPEAKER_00
CRM, yeah, Sugar is a CRM.
1
SPEAKER_00
So there is a SAS company, so don t think about naming your SAS company Sugar.
1
SPEAKER_01
No, Sugar.
1
SPEAKER_01
I d love to get a list of SaaS company names that didn t make it.
1
SPEAKER_01
There has to be a list of SaaS company names, like Merkle.
1
SPEAKER_01
Like, what does that mean?
1
SPEAKER_01
It s like where Purple and Urkel come together.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s Purkle.
1
SPEAKER_01
Let s see, so, and I think of brands like Morton s Salt, and I ask myself, why does Morton s Salt even exist?
1
SPEAKER_01
Because it s salt, and you can get generic salt, and it s cheaper than the Morton s Salt.
1
SPEAKER_01
And it s salt is salt, and you put it in a salt shaker, and it s not like you re sitting there at someone s house for dinner, like, you passed the salt.
1
SPEAKER_01
Is this Morton s Salt?
1
SPEAKER_01
Dang, this salt, hey, pass that back down here, that Morton s Salt.
1
SPEAKER_01
People put value in things outside of what is in the bottle or in the thing.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s like wine, too.
1
SPEAKER_00
I mean, remember the whole two-buck Chuck thing back years ago, where they matched up a $5 bottle and a $50 bottle?
1
SPEAKER_00
People couldn t tell the difference.
1
SPEAKER_00
It doesn t matter.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s grape juice.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s been sitting around for a while.
1
SPEAKER_00
Fermented.
1
SPEAKER_01
That s what it is, exactly.
1
SPEAKER_01
Making it boozy.
1
SPEAKER_01
So this is something that you have to really watch yourself, because you can get caught up in the sameness.
1
SPEAKER_01
That s a real, real trap, which is why we call it the Commodity Dungeon.
1
SPEAKER_01
So let s talk about some ways to get out of that and stay out of it, I think, for Paula s question.
1
SPEAKER_00
Now, are we talking about this from the salesperson s perspective or from the company?
1
SPEAKER_00
Because there s also the company perspective side, too.
1
SPEAKER_00
That s a good question.
1
SPEAKER_00
I can go either way.
1
SPEAKER_01
I ve got interesting stuff either way here.
1
SPEAKER_01
Most of our listeners are salespeople.
1
SPEAKER_01
We know that.
1
SPEAKER_01
And so if you hear a company idea, salesperson listening, then be sure to raise your hand and take this to your sales leader, the VP of sales, the chief marketing officer, the CEO.
1
SPEAKER_01
Don t be afraid to do that.
1
SPEAKER_01
That would be a very wise thing to do for you.
1
SPEAKER_00
OK, let s go.
1
SPEAKER_00
Well, my first one, and you mentioned it,
1
SPEAKER_00
when I think we were maybe doing the pre-show, is you talked about the brand, the Morton s brand.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I do think that brand is really a vital part of the answer to this.
1
SPEAKER_00
But not thinking about it just as a logo, because that s where people usually go.
1
SPEAKER_00
Like the Morton Salt, you can see the little girl with the umbrella and the blue and the deep blue.
1
SPEAKER_00
But that s just one part of their brand.
1
SPEAKER_00
Their brand is their website and their mission.
1
SPEAKER_00
And they talked about serving people.
1
SPEAKER_00
And all these things together make up the brand.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I know, and we all know, that people buy from brands that make them feel good, that make them feel safe and warm and inspired or whatever your brand needs to stand for.
1
SPEAKER_00
I do think, though, there s also the sales side of that brand, which is when you show up as a sales professional, do you
1
SPEAKER_00
Mimic the brand are you in alignment with the brand if the brand is soft and it has pastel colors in it And you have a soft image.
1
SPEAKER_00
Do you go in trying to get the sale and Be outside of the brand.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yes, so
1
SPEAKER_00
And we can talk maybe, I know we ve got the personal brand makeover course that we have, we created, Brian and I did late last year, and it s selling well.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I think you should maybe go take a look at that because we talk about a lot of those branding things.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yes.
1
SPEAKER_00
But I think it s not only just the marketing brand and how you look to the customer, but it s also do you behave in a manner consistent with that when you re selling?
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
Really well said, really well said.
1
SPEAKER_01
And you have to listen.
1
SPEAKER_01
You have to, I mean, the first thing I wrote down is very generic and very serious, is you have to think differently about this whole deal.
1
SPEAKER_01
You cannot buy into the idea that, well, gas is gas, salt is salt.
1
SPEAKER_01
The moment you do that, you re dead.
1
SPEAKER_01
So for Paul, all of the people that you re going to forward this to,
1
SPEAKER_01
That s the number one thing right there.
1
SPEAKER_01
You have to have a belief that s different.
1
SPEAKER_01
If you believe that it s a commodity, you re dead on arrival.
1
SPEAKER_01
And you know what?
1
SPEAKER_01
If it s a commodity, get a website.
1
SPEAKER_01
You don t need salespeople anymore.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s a lot cheaper to just put a website up and just have a reverse auction pricing deal there, which I m sure people have been involved with.
1
SPEAKER_00
So what you re saying there is
1
SPEAKER_00
Nothing truly is a commodity.
1
SPEAKER_00
If salt and sugar aren t a commodity, nothing is.
1
SPEAKER_00
So the commodity dungeon probably is misnamed.
1
SPEAKER_00
There is no such thing as a commodity dungeon unless you allow it to be a dungeon that you get trapped in by not understanding that everything you do can be proprietary.
1
SPEAKER_01
Right, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
Everything has a commodity element to it also.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
I mean, there s an element.
1
SPEAKER_01
I mean, our show is free to listen to.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s advice.
1
SPEAKER_00
Come on, it s advice.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s OK.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s free.
1
SPEAKER_01
Well, you get free sales coaching everywhere.
1
SPEAKER_01
And a lot of people listen to it for free.
1
SPEAKER_01
And a lot of people raise their hand and say, come see us.
1
SPEAKER_01
See, I did that subliminal plug.
1
SPEAKER_00
Oh, that was good.
1
SPEAKER_01
Send us an email.
1
SPEAKER_01
Listener, advancedsellingpodcast.com.
1
SPEAKER_01
Come see us.
1
SPEAKER_01
Come speak at your event.
1
SPEAKER_01
And some people raise their hand and pay for it.
1
SPEAKER_01
We don t spend a lot of one-on-one time with the people who want it for free, free, free, free, free.
1
SPEAKER_01
We communicate through them this way.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s a much more leveraged deal.
1
SPEAKER_00
So then what you just said, though, I like that idea that there s always a commodity element to what we do.
1
SPEAKER_00
And there s also a unique and proprietary element to what we do.
1
SPEAKER_00
Absolutely.
1
SPEAKER_00
If you re only focused, if you re focused in on that middle part, which is commodity, you will never get out of it.
1
SPEAKER_00
No.
1
SPEAKER_00
Because you have to pull focus and say, how am I unique in the market?
1
SPEAKER_00
What do you do that s unique?
1
SPEAKER_00
Do you know what your competitors do?
1
SPEAKER_00
Do you know how they deliver proposals?
1
SPEAKER_00
Do you know what they talk about on the first meeting they have?
1
SPEAKER_00
If you don t, find out and then do it differently.
1
SPEAKER_00
So you become unique.
1
SPEAKER_01
Absolutely.
1
SPEAKER_01
So here s a way.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m going to move to the tactical side.
1
SPEAKER_01
I ve got two tactical pieces of advice here.
1
SPEAKER_01
One is behavioral, and it s Paula, right?
1
SPEAKER_01
Paula, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
Sorry, Paula.
1
SPEAKER_01
Great voice.
1
SPEAKER_01
I shouldn t remember that.
1
SPEAKER_01
Velvet voice, Paula.
1
SPEAKER_01
We have to make sure that we are great sorters.
1
SPEAKER_01
Be a great sorter so the people that are listening
1
SPEAKER_01
If the commodity element is real strong in your business, you have to make sure that you re spending time with people who want to buy the Mortons of what you do, not the generic brand, if you will.
1
SPEAKER_01
And so what I ll find a lot of people do that sell a highly influenced commodity element, like sugar, salt, fuel, things like that, is they will spend lots of time with people who buy it like a commodity.
1
SPEAKER_01
There are fewer people that will buy a commodity not like a commodity.
1
SPEAKER_01
Does that make sense?
1
SPEAKER_01
then there are people that will buy the commodity itself.
1
SPEAKER_01
A lot of people just buy in the free market.
1
SPEAKER_01
Like, I just need salt.
1
SPEAKER_01
I don t care.
1
SPEAKER_01
There s a lot of people like that.
1
SPEAKER_01
You have to work a little harder to find the special people that pay more for the brand, that sort of thing.
1
SPEAKER_01
So you have to be really diligent in your sorting process to make sure that you re spending time with the people who care about the things that you do to enhance your brand outside the commodity is the idea.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that s good.
1
SPEAKER_01
Don t get caught up trying to convince a commodity buyer that you re not a commodity.
1
SPEAKER_00
No.
1
SPEAKER_01
Move on.
1
SPEAKER_01
Find.
1
SPEAKER_01
Find the next one.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yes, that s the deal.
1
SPEAKER_00
So a good exercise I think you can do with your sales team if you are experiencing this is have a session where your goal for the session is to identify the unique properties of doing business with us.
1
SPEAKER_00
The unique properties means how do we deliver quotes?
1
SPEAKER_00
How do we follow up?
1
SPEAKER_00
Do we have co-video?
1
SPEAKER_00
Are we able to send videos to people?
1
SPEAKER_00
Yes.
1
SPEAKER_00
All those things.
1
SPEAKER_00
in and of themselves don t mean much, but all together they add up.
1
SPEAKER_00
And they add up into a brand that now, we talked about this the last podcast, fear of missing out.
1
SPEAKER_00
What am I going to miss out on if I decide not to do business with Brian and Bill?
1
SPEAKER_00
If the answer to that is, oh, not much.
1
SPEAKER_00
then your best decision probably is to do business with somebody cheaper.
1
SPEAKER_00
But if I start to feel like, you know what, I m going to miss this and this, and I m not going to get this, it causes me to think, you know what, for a 20% premium, it s easily worth it.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yes, absolutely.
2
SPEAKER_00
Absolutely.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I ve talked about my, I ve got one of my best friends from growing up, works for a company that sells commoditized brackets.
2
SPEAKER_00
I ve talked about them on the podcast before, like little truss brackets in construction that are metal and really inexpensive.
2
SPEAKER_00
But they ve created this software that their customers get access to if they sign contracts to buy their truss brackets that is a design software that their clients love because they re in the building spec world where they re doing construction work.
2
SPEAKER_00
And the clients love access to that.
2
SPEAKER_00
So that s the value play on top of the trust brackets themselves.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I bet you, when they were deciding to do that, there was a lot of resistance in the room of people saying, we re not in the software business.
2
SPEAKER_01
That s not the business we re in.
2
SPEAKER_01
We re in the bracket.
2
SPEAKER_01
Let s make our brackets as good as we can make them.
2
SPEAKER_01
And somebody else said, no, brackets ain t going to do it.
2
SPEAKER_01
We ve got to be more important.
2
SPEAKER_00
His company is owned by a gentleman named Warren Buffett.
2
SPEAKER_00
So there s that.
2
SPEAKER_00
That rings a bell.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m not sure.
2
SPEAKER_00
Pretty smart peoples.
2
SPEAKER_01
Did I ever tell you the story about Warren Buffett and when his people come into a company they own?
2
SPEAKER_01
Did I tell you that story?
2
SPEAKER_00
No, but I had sat with a guy who sold his company to Warren Buffett.
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh, really?
2
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
2
SPEAKER_01
Well, a friend of mine works for a company that is a Buffett company.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
Or Hathaway?
2
SPEAKER_01
No.
2
SPEAKER_01
Berkshire Hathaway.
2
SPEAKER_01
Berkshire Hathaway.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
And he says, they ll come in every quarter.
2
SPEAKER_01
He goes, the first couple of times that all the execs, a couple of execs, not Warren himself, but a couple of his people would come in and say, OK, we re going to do a couple of day retreat here on what you guys are working on.
2
SPEAKER_01
And just, he says, they re really nice.
2
SPEAKER_01
They re just really, real helpful people.
2
SPEAKER_01
But so my guy.
2
SPEAKER_01
Jeff got up on the board and he s doing here are 16 initiatives for the next 90 days and they basically say pick 14 pick Delete 14 of those 16 and my Jeff s like well, well, no these all know pick two right pick two and they re in the they do everything 80-20 and
2
SPEAKER_01
Everything is the 80-20 principle, because they know that focus is their most important asset.
2
SPEAKER_01
And he said, it took us a couple of quarters, and then the next time we thought, well, we ll start with 10.
2
SPEAKER_01
Well, pick one then.
2
SPEAKER_01
And the point is that that s how they run their businesses.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I thought that was fascinating.
2
SPEAKER_01
And then they got to the point where they didn t take him long before they just put two foot.
2
SPEAKER_01
But then their focus changed, and they ve been off and running and doing a great job.
2
SPEAKER_01
That s brilliant.
2
SPEAKER_00
Focus, focus.
2
SPEAKER_00
Hocus pocus.
2
SPEAKER_00
I have something to add to one of the things that you mentioned earlier.
2
SPEAKER_00
And it s a new way that I ve been teaching people to develop their story.
2
SPEAKER_00
What I want to teach you to do, so Bill talked to you about having to do a whiteboard session on what makes you unique, which you have to do that.
2
SPEAKER_00
You have to know your unique defendable position, advantage, whatever you want to call it in the market.
2
SPEAKER_00
You have to know that and practice it and message it.
2
SPEAKER_00
The way I ve been teaching this that I ve added onto that is to start to acknowledge to clients out loud up front where we and all the other competitors are the same.
2
SPEAKER_00
Because what they re thinking, if you don t do that, they re listening for how it s the same.
2
SPEAKER_00
Because they re not listening for maybe they say, well, I want to know how you re different.
2
SPEAKER_00
And if what you say starts to sound the same, they go, you re the same.
2
SPEAKER_00
So instead you say, OK, we re in the airline business, and we distribute airline parts or fuel.
2
SPEAKER_00
We sell airplanes.
2
SPEAKER_00
Here s what you re going to see from most of us.
2
SPEAKER_00
Most of us have access to the same equipment.
2
SPEAKER_00
We sell Beach Hawk and whatever these.
2
SPEAKER_00
And then we all have fuel issues, right?
2
SPEAKER_00
So fuel is fuel, and it s a level set thing that puts us all in the same.
2
SPEAKER_00
We all have about the same avionics packages, that sort of thing.
2
SPEAKER_00
We have the same access to maintenance and that sort of thing.
2
SPEAKER_00
So 90% of what we all do with our competitors is the same.
2
SPEAKER_00
Here s the 10% that makes us different, because that s really what it is at the margin.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I found that that really disarms the person listening, because they re like, yeah, OK, yeah, you guys are all the same.
2
SPEAKER_00
Because if you don t do that, what you run the risk of doing is pulling out one of the things that s in the same column and trying to make it different.
2
SPEAKER_00
Make it different, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yes, see that?
2
SPEAKER_00
And it really forces you into that.
2
SPEAKER_00
I like that.
2
SPEAKER_00
The differentiating points really are at the margin.
2
SPEAKER_00
They really are in that 10% range.
2
SPEAKER_01
You can t be in the avionics electronics business if you don t have certain value.
2
SPEAKER_00
You ve got to have certain things that you do, and it works.
2
SPEAKER_00
When I turn it on, it works.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yes.
2
SPEAKER_00
We have a collision avoidance system.
2
SPEAKER_00
It rests.
2
SPEAKER_00
So does everybody else.
2
SPEAKER_00
We have two captain seats.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yes.
2
SPEAKER_00
With autopilot, yes.
2
SPEAKER_01
They all do.
2
SPEAKER_00
They all do.
2
SPEAKER_01
So who cares?
2
SPEAKER_01
So that s good.
2
SPEAKER_01
Those two exercises together fit perfectly.
2
SPEAKER_01
So now you could even expand the exercise I gave you and talk about where are you the same, where are you different, and then turn it into language so you can communicate that.
2
SPEAKER_01
That s really good.
2
SPEAKER_01
Great to do, Adam.
2
SPEAKER_01
So anyway, hopefully, Paula, that helps some of your viewers and listeners and members address this issue.
2
SPEAKER_01
Do you have anything else, Brian?
2
SPEAKER_00
No, no, it s really good.
2
SPEAKER_00
Thank you, Paula, for the audio and for having such a wonderful voice.
2
SPEAKER_00
And if you need some recording coaching, Bill s available.
2
SPEAKER_00
Just send us an email, listener at advancedsellingpodcast.com.
2
SPEAKER_00
Say, help me with better audio.
2
SPEAKER_00
We re teasing, Paula.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s really thankful that you sent your email.
2
SPEAKER_01
Nothing is a commodity.
2
SPEAKER_01
That s my takeaway here.
2
SPEAKER_01
Nothing is a commodity.
2
SPEAKER_01
If sugar, salt, oil, and coffee aren t, then you certainly aren t.
2
SPEAKER_01
And so get really serious about distinguishing between the things that everybody does and the things that you do uniquely well and the properties of your offer and be able to communicate that.
2
SPEAKER_01
I think you re going to be able to fix this issue.
2
SPEAKER_01
Love it.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
Send us a check if you want to.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, 3%, 3.5 points.
2
SPEAKER_01
Is that our commission on stuff like this?
2
SPEAKER_01
On jet fuel?
2
SPEAKER_00
On jet fuel.
2
SPEAKER_01
That d be pretty lucrative, probably, for a quarter.
2
SPEAKER_00
I bet.
2
SPEAKER_01
So make sure that if you re interested in having us, Brian or I, and I, come out and doing a retreat or a sales meeting or a kickoff or a workshop of some kind, get the ball rolling by sending us an email to that effect.
2
SPEAKER_01
Subject line, come see us, a listener at advancedsellingpodcast.com.
2
SPEAKER_01
We still have our ultimate pregame document up.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s a way for you to get oriented on it before you make a sales call.
2
SPEAKER_01
And go to advancedsellingpodcast.com, put in your email address, and you ll get access to that as well.
2
SPEAKER_01
So anything before we close?
2
SPEAKER_01
It s at the Ultimate Pregame.
2
SPEAKER_00
I will say it s great for newer listeners.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that s good.
2
SPEAKER_00
If you re not on here, you ve just found us or whatever, new listeners, all new listeners should have the Ultimate Pregame.
2
SPEAKER_00
It doesn t cost you anything.
2
SPEAKER_00
You just put your email address in there, but you have to have that.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s a great reading tool for you.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, good.
2
SPEAKER_00
All right, see you next time.
2
SPEAKER_00
Bye.
2
SPEAKER_00
Bye.