Go NARROW With Your SALES MESSAGE [Bullpen Sessions Episode 22]

Welcome back. It is Friday. It can only mean one thing. That's right. It's time for Friday Bullpen Sessions. My name is Andy Neary, and this is episode 22. Today, I'm going to talk to you about becoming a specialist. But before I go there, I want to quickly talk about our sponsor, APN Consulting. Hey, if you want to grow your business today, it requires three things. Number one, you have to create massive awareness around your brand, around your organization. It is a game of attention today. Number two, in order to do that, though, you have to have a better message for your target audience. But none of it works if you don't have the right daily habits and rituals in place. You need to be working on your business as much as you're working in it. If you know you have a weakness in any one of those three areas, APN Consulting can help you create that clarity. Pair that clarity with confidence so you take action. So check it out. APN Consulting. Hit me up if you need help with the message, and you need clarity on your awareness, you're creating for that message. All right, back to the episode. All right, today we are talking about becoming a specialist. Yes, that's right. You, your brand, your organization, you need to become a specialist. So what in the world do I mean? Well, I'm gonna go into a baseball analogy, which, you know, I love to do, to show you how and why it's important that you become a specialist today. Why? You go narrow in who it is you serve and how you are serving them. If you look back at the history of baseball, you go back 15, 20 years ago, the type of pitcher that was emphasized back in the day was the starting pitcher. If you look at statistics around pitching, again, 15, 20 years ago, it was the starting pitcher who was really the emphasis on baseball. It was the starting pitcher whose job it was to go 7, 8, even 9 innings, a complete game for the victory. So when you would look at numbers of innings pitched BY starting pitchers 15, 20 years ago, it dwarfs what starting pitchers put in today. You see, as a starting pitcher, you could kind of say you had to be all things to all people right throughout a 7, 8, 9 inning appearance. You're going to face all different types of batters, and you're going to have to adjust and figure out how you're going to attack each and every batter that you face. You couldn't go narrow. You had to go wide because you were facing such a wide range of hitters, and you had to constantly adjust throughout the game. Because if you were facing the same batter three, four times in one game. Your strategy couldn't be the same every time. You had to be all things to all people. But in my opinion, as a Die Hard baseball fan, the game changed forever in 2014 when the Kansas City Royals, who ended up winning the World Series in 2015 after losing it in 2014, defined what it meant to be a specialist. You see, the Kansas City Royals instituted a different philosophy around pitching. Their starters really only had to go six innings. Why? Because in those 2014, 2015 glory years of the Kansas City Royals, they had a seventh inning specialist, they had an eighth inning specialist, and then they had the closer in the ninth inning. You see, Calvin Herrera for the Die Hards out there was the seventh inning specialist for the Kansas City Royals. Wade Davis was the eighth inning guy. And then Greg Holland would come in and close it out. So for a starting pitcher on those Royals teams, you knew your job was only to go six innings. That's all you had to do because Calvin, Wade and Greg would come in to close it out. And what's happened in the game of baseball since then is the emphasis on the specialist, on that guy who can come in and face one, two, maybe three batters, has become more important now than it ever has been. So for a guy like Calvin Herrera, who was the seventh inning guy, he knew his role, he had to go narrow and he just had to focus on that seventh inning. Wade Davis, he just had to focus on that eighth inning. And then Greg Holland just had to focus on that ninth inning and get three outs to close the game out. So what in the world does this have to do with you and your business? Here's what it has to mean for you. Quit trying to be all things to all people.

I coach so many right now who are afraid to go narrow with their message, with their brand, who they're serving, because they fear that they may miss out on sales opportunities if they go too narrow. But here's the truth. If you know who your target prospect is, your target audience, and you craft a message specifically for that audience, are there going to be people who don't like the message? Absolutely. But the people you're afraid to hear no's from are the people you don't want to do business with anyways. You're just afraid to hear the no. But instead, you need to do the opposite. What I advise you to do right now, if you own a business, you are in sales, you are in any kind of revenue generating position. Figure out who that prospect is, you want to work with literally, name him or her. Who is it? Think about your favorite client you have right now, and if you could build an entire portfolio of clients like that individual, who would it be? Name him, Name her. Who are they? What do they like? What do they do? How much money do they make? What industry are they in? And then craft a message directly for that person.

Because when you get clarity on that message and then you start sharing that message, you start pounding that message consistently and persistently, you're going to attract the clients you want. Yes, there are going to be plenty of people out there who don't like the message, who say no to you. But guess what happens? You. It makes your life a heck of a lot easier because the no's are coming from the people who don't resonate with the message. Therefore, they are the people who you didn't want to do business anyways. Far too many businesses, far too many sales professionals today attract clients they don't want to work with. In the health insurance industry, it happens all the time. A sales rep brings in new clients, not quite the client they want to work with, and that becomes the pain in the ass client account managers hate. Account executives hate. But if instead you would just focus on who it is you want to work with and then you tailor the message around that specific type of individual, that specific type of company, you will develop and build a clientele you love to work with, that you love to do business with, that you would love to get to know. And it's going to make your life and your client's life a hell of a lot easier. So my advice today is this. Quit trying to be the jack of all trades. Quit trying to be nice and be accepted by everybody and try to be all things to all people. I want you to go narrow today. I want you to take the time and sit down, figure out who it is you want to work with. I want you to craft that message specifically for that individual, your top client. And then I want you to put yourself out there, share your story and tell that message and over and over and over again. No, your target prospect is not anyone who would say yes to you. Your target prospect is the individual you would love to do business that you're probably already doing business with. That's going to help make your life a hell of a lot easier. And your company, your organization, and your pocketbook is going to thank you. So that's it for today. If you would be so kind to go and subscribe to the podcast, give it a five star rating. I'D be extremely grateful. And if you know anybody who you think would find these messages impactful, please do me a favor and share this podcast with them as well. All right. Until next week. You know what happens when confidence and clarity collide. Action happens. Go make it happen. Take care.