Differentiate and Stand Out Without a Doubt with Mandi Graziano

I probably should have been fired because they laid off everyone else and I had somehow kept my job. I just looked around and people were having a moment. And that moment, it wasn't about my hotel.

Attention is everything, and it's getting harder and harder to get people's attention. They're getting bombarded through everything. Someone probably still remembers that to this day. Like, yo, you remember that girl in the lavender power suit? You remember her? Yeah, right. So someone still remembers.

This may sound crazy, but I think now people are more open to creativity and clever antics than they ever had before because they can't remember how it used to be done, right? So a lot of people would say, well, that's just not how we do it.

When you think about your career, what is one of your biggest sales fails? Like, one of your biggest. Like, oh, my God, I can't believe I did that, or that happened.

When you say that, something instantly just comes to mind. It makes me sweat a little bit. And it was years ago, I would say almost 20 years ago. It was right after September 11, and I was a salesperson at a hotel. I probably should have been fired because they laid off everyone else and I was the lowest person on the totem pole. So there was only a couple salespeople left. And it was, gosh, the first or second quarter of 2002. And I had somehow kept my job by working with government groups and working with the military because those are the only people that were actually using hotels and traveling at that time. No one else was allowed to travel, or they were, but they were on all the different alerts. And I aligned with the people that were coming home from deployment. I got wind that there was an aircraft carrier that was coming back into town, and I was like, well, our hotel needs to be a part of that. We need to be visible. We need to show we support the community. So I started attending all these meetings with all these military spouses for the homecoming day. And I was an a hole. Like, all of these people, their whole worlds were, right? Like, they've gained weight, they've lost weight, they've fallen out of love with their partner. Some of them had kids while their partners were gone. The world had changed. Our country was at war. And these people were coming back. And there I was, like, here, let me tell you about my hotel. And they looked at me like I was crazy. I was obsessed with the placement of the table, obsessed with where the signage would be, all that stupid stuff. And then I couldn't figure out what they thought I was crazy. Until the day of. And then I arrived at that dock with my perfectly placed table and my just casual corner suit. I think it was like a lavender casual corner suit, my super cheap ones. And I had my, you know, I was ready to go with my little pastries, my business cards. And I just looked around, and people were having a moment. And that moment, it wasn't about my hotel. And so, you know, the ship pulled in, and it was a thousand or so service people saluting, and they were staring in the distance, and it's a beautiful day by you2 was playing. So as the ship got closer and closer, I felt that energy of like, okay, Mandy, you were a jerk, and this isn't about you, and you technically don't belong there, so you're just going to hand out some pastries, and people might think that you work for the bake shop on the. On the. On the Navy base, and that's fine. You know, they asked for a business, but that was like, what I realized, the value of a good business bedside manner. And I didn't have one in that moment. And I think ever since then, and this was almost 20 years ago, but ever since then, I feel like I'm catching up and trying to repair that and trying to never do that again. I would say that was. And I still regret that. Like, I still regret how I made those people feel in that moment, because I just had blind ambition, and we've all done that before. But I would think that's probably one of my bigger fails that I keep trying to gain my. Regain my footing on, for sure.

And what I love at the end of that, right? Because what do they say? Like, technically, it's not a failure as long as you've learned something, right? And it sounds like you've learned from it, right? Which is the key to growth and the key to really improvement in life in general, which is what I think is fun to dive into. The topic today is around being different, right? Of, like, and how to be different, how to stand out in a good way, right? Not just the lavender suit at, you know, like a coming home party, but, like, how to stand out in a good way. Because we know in sales, attention is everything, and it's getting harder and harder to get people's attention. They're getting bombarded through everything. So when I pinged you and said, what topic? And you mentioned differentiation, why, like, why was that, like, ooh, this is what I want to talk about today.

You know, a couple things. So, one, I have a lifetime of selling, so after A while, you get bored, and you just want to try something different. And I want to hear what other people are doing. But on the other side, I'm a buyer now, and I've been in the buying role for about 12 years. And so I interact with a ton of salespeople who are just. They're doing the same thing over and over. They're regurgitating the same questions over and over and over again. And I think the salespeople that try something different, they go out on a limb, they get clever, they're just a little more interesting. I remember those people, and I think being memorable is way more important right now because, you know, as you know, you may work with a person at that company, but they may leave and go to another company. And a lot of times that relationship travels with the person. It doesn't travel with the company. So you want to be a memorable business person no matter what you do. You know, I mean, I think about during COVID I put how are you? Away. I threw that question in the drawer, and I replaced it. I swapped it out with what made you laugh this week. Because we all know how we were back then, right? We were tired, fearful, confused, all these things. So let's put the boring stuff away and replace it. So I really want to challenge people to think about, what are you currently doing? And what can you swap it out with something more clever and more memorable?

And I love that I wrote this down as you were talking. I was like, if before every or at this point, for every salesperson afterwards, if you ask the question, why was I memorable? It might change your entire demo. Because I bet by the end of it, if you asked, why am I memorable? And you go, oh, geez. Because I showed the deck, right? Like, there's nothing there. And so I love this as a premise of, like, you know, being memorable. So let's go a layer deeper here, right? Because, like, the real juice of this show, I think why people tune in is because we get into the how of things, right? Of, like, so how. How do you become memorable? And this is almost like a split question, like, how? Also, how do you do it the right way? Because there's a lot of big ways to be memorable that maybe aren't the right ways to be memorable.

So, yeah, like, I was memorable at the ship docks that day, right?

Someone probably still remembers that to this day. Like, yo, you remember that girl in the lavender power suit? You remember her? Yeah, right? So someone still remembers. But, like, how do we. Like, let's get into this A little bit. How do we become memorable and how do we do it the right way?

I'll give you an example. So a client ghosts you and what do most salespeople do? They just keep sending emails, they keep placing calls, they keep bumping people on LinkedIn or over social media channels, right? But why not create a choose your own adventure email and send that email to the customer and say and you have to know a little bit about the customer, right? You have to know maybe where they went to college or if they have any kids or what professional stalking. Just a little bit and ask them, you know, here. I haven't spoken with you a while. I'm soon you're on an adventure. Were you attending the UNC alumni barbecue? Were you on vacation with your kids? Or have you been thinking and it's A, B or C multiple choice or C, you've been thinking about my proposal? I'm on the back burner for now, but you'll get to me as soon as you come up for air. Whichever the option, let me know and I'm here for you when you need me. That return ratio on that is so awesome. I would say 85% of the people that you haven't heard from from choose your own adventure email is a great memorable way to get a customer to call you back or email you back. And the thing is they may email you back saying who are you And I don't want to work with you. But then that's an opportunity for a no and an opportunity to ask why or how you can improve or who they're working with. So I think if somebody ghosts you, send a choose your own adventure email. I think video. I know, I think Vidyard is a, is a sponsor or whatever, but any video is powerful. I know when I was doing interviewing publishers for the book, I talked to all these different people and one publisher after we hung up sent me a video on Loom after and I hadn't used Loom yet. And I thought well that's kind of cool. Like it was a. Hey Mandy, great to talk to you. Here are two or three things I picked up from our conversation. Have a great day. A follow up video is awesome. And then take that a step further for holidays this past year Omicron had kind of hit us, right? I send my customers a whole bunch of stuff because none of them were at their offices anymore. And so I wrote a holiday haiku. And a haiku is so easy. It's a 575 run scheme and it related to their industry. And I put a Santa hat on with a super fun zoom background, and I recorded myself, and I blasted it out to my customers, and I blasted it out to people that don't work with me because they were all going through that. So, you know, write a haiku. Choose your own adventure. Email, use video. There's so many ways you can be different. And people. Now I really believe this. And this. This may sound crazy, but I think now people are more open to creativity and clever antics than they ever have before because they can't remember how it used to be done, right? So a lot of people would say, well, that's just not how we do it. It's like, cool story, bro, but we're in a situation where we're all doing things differently. So, like, use this window. Capitalize on this window now to be creative.