In this concise interview, Professor Pete Alexander hosts Curt Anderson, an e‑commerce consultant for manufacturers and author of Stop Being the Best Kept Secret. Curt shares his enthusiasm for Made‑in‑USA producers, emphasizes the importance of staying in one’s “strike zone” and targeting an ideal “soulmate” customer, and stresses a customer‑first mindset (the WIFM principle) while warning against the “we‑we” syndrome. He recommends fellow leaders Allison DeFord and Jeffrey Stern (VoiceXpress) for future podcast episodes, recounts his first job cleaning a library book‑sale event which taught him hard‑work values, and provides his LinkedIn profile and a weekly manufacturing e‑commerce webinar as ways to connect. The episode showcases practical, experience‑driven advice for business leaders seeking to grow through focused, customer‑centric e‑commerce strategies.
Chapters
This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
Professor Pete, thank you. What an honor, privilege. This is great. So, Curt Anderson, I am an e-commerce consultant for manufacturers. I'm an author. I wrote a book. It's called Stop Being the Best Kept Secret. I'm a husband and a dad. And so that's my story.
Curt, it's so great to have you on the show. Question number 2: What is something that makes you smile and/or laugh about working in your industry?
Great question. So I work with manufacturers and very blessed, very fortunate, all sorts of different walks of life around the country. And it's great just seeing these, you know, great Americans producing, creating amazing products here in Made in USA. And it's just such a privilege. It's amazing. You're like, well, geez, I never thought that somebody does need to make that. And you find out who it actually is and how they make it and that whole process. So it's just such a gift, such a blessing. It's really a cause and a mission for me to help manufacturers especially in this time of COVID and with their e-commerce strategies.
Oh, I love it. And I can hear the passion in your voice. It's so fun. Question number 3. I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
Well, first, I would love to have that book if I could. I would pay a lot of money for it. I'm sure a lot of entrepreneurs would. You know, the one chapter, I guess a lot of chapters. You know, I'm a baseball fan, so I like to tell people, stay in your strike zone. And I know the counterpoint could be like, hey, wait a minute, you know, sometimes you need to step out. So I didn't say comfort zone, but I really encourage people, uh, stay in that strike zone. A lot of times we fall out of that strike zone, we find ourselves— I just had that conversation this morning where, you know, struggling, floundering, have some challenges, you know, digging deep into like, um, that persona exercise. You know, we've talked about your business with landscaping and the stress. You do an amazing, amazing job with your stress relief. And, you know, what's so critical is like staying in that strike zone and understanding who do we resonate. You know, we were just talking about, you know, sometimes as an entrepreneur you try to be everything to everybody. We become nothing to no one. So when you can really stay in your wheelhouse, really hit it hard, uh, resonate with that ideal customer. I do a lot of webinars and my workshops, I call them our soulmates. How can we really resonate with that ideal dream customer, our soulmate, and just really help them elevate to the next level. So that's a chapter that I would love to read.
I love it. I would agree with you too. I think that would be the first chapter I'd go to in the book, and especially with that soulmate caricature that I love, that the way that you termed that. So that's so wonderful. Question number 4: Other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?
Great question. Well, how about a shameless plug? Stop being the best kept secret, right? So no, I'm just kidding. So, you know, there's my, here's my answer to that question. Unfortunately, whether we wanna feel this or believe it or not, it's not about us, you know? It's like the sad reality is nobody really cares about us unless they know that we can help them, you know, solve their problem today. You know, you and I have had just wonderful conversations. We have a lot of symmetry with early in the e-commerce, different walks of life, and we talk about like, um, you know, what's the value proposition that you can bring to that person. So, you know, a lot of times, uh, our dear friend of mine, uh, Allison DeFord, she does a great job where she talks— she has a podcast and it's for manufacturers and marketing, and they talk about the we-we syndrome. And the we-we syndrome is, is you go on to a website and it's, we do this, we do that, we deliver on time, we make great products, we, we, we, we all over ourselves when all the customer wants to hear is like, how can you help me right this minute? So if there's something in my journey, in my path, that I can bring to the table that helps you, then it's valuable, then they want to hear it. But otherwise, I hate to say, they just don't care about us unless we have to make it all about them. So that's my message to any leaders. Let's make it all about the other person.
And that is so insightful. It reminds me of that old acronym, WIFM, what's in it for me. Yeah, you don't want to listen to it. How many presentations have you been in where the salesperson up there, one of the first slides that they put up is, "Oh, we've worked with all these various companies," and the logo slide, and then they talk about how great they are, the feature, advantage, benefits that they just start just throwing at you. So what you're saying is so profound because it really is. We don't care. We just want to know that, can you help us? So you just hit that right on the mark.
Right, right. It's like, and just, you know, it's like you were just sharing with me like your stress buster challenge. I just think that's brilliant. You know, you're making it all about the, you know, we're coming in holidays, 2020 has been so challenging, and here you are just delivering great value. And we were just talking like, you know, you're not talking the talk, you're walking the walk. You've lived this and you're taking these practices and how to help people relieve that. We're not managing it, we are relieving it. Man, it just sounds so much better. So kudos to you. So thank you.
Well, thank you for that plug. I really appreciate that.
Yeah, absolutely.
Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
Absolutely. Well, I just mentioned Alison DeFord, I think would be just a home run for you. She is just a delight, dear friend. She's actually speaking at Exit Your Way coming up. She is wonderful. Another person that I would love to share who I think is a really great fit for your message is Jeffrey Stern. Jeffrey Stern is the CEO of a company called VoiceXpress. If you've ever gone into a Build-A-Bear, bought a bear for a child, and that little— and that bear speaks to you, he manufactures that little device that speaks to the child. Super cutting-edge technology. And while we're on, I'm sure this is super quick, I know we're tight on time, is here's a great story. So, he had a client who— there was a story where there was a young child, 6 years old, had leukemia. And what the mother did is they had recently lost the grandfather, passed away. They took a bear from Build-A-Bear, dressed it like grandpa. They took that device and they took a bunch of phone messages from grandpa, put his voice on that device, put it in the bear, and the bear spoke to the child who here is fighting leukemia. And the grand— and it was in the grandfather's voice speaking to the child. How powerful was that. So that's— I'm sorry to, you know, go on in that, but that's another great person who would be wonderful for your podcast at VoiceXpress, Jeffrey Stern. Wow.
Thank you for that. And that story just really hit home. So I really appreciate the referral to both. I'll reach out to them. Question number 6, please tell me about your first job.
Oh, my first job.
Okay.
This is a, this is a tough one. So I'm going to go back. So my, my, uh, probably 12 years old, my mother is, uh, was a librarian. She's now retired. God bless her. And she was a librarian and every year the library would put on this big annual book sale. And so, you know, it was this big, you know, 4-day event. And on Sunday morning at 7 o'clock, the janitorial staff, which I think was probably one, would, you know, revamp everything from this huge giant, you know, recover the hangover of this book sale. And so, I was recruited to help the janitor and man, he put me to work and just, you know, we're running a big vacuum cleaner and cleaning, moving, da da da. And, you know, is your— is it As a child, sometimes you get those little cash jobs, mow a lawn or do this. It was my first actual check. I was like, I actually had to go to the bank and cash that check. And so, I'll say that was my first job and I learned that that was really hard work. And so, that's why now I'm in e-commerce.
I love it.
It's heavy lifting on e-commerce, right?
Absolutely. Absolutely. So, it's so funny. And for those younger who talk about, you know, that's a check, that's this paper e-com.
Yeah, exactly, yeah, right, right. I'm sure, that's a great point. I'm showing my age. So guys, a check is, back in the olden days, as my daughter likes to say, we had this piece of paper. Yeah, you're right. So I am definitely showing my age that I had a check, that's right.
I love it. Well, so Kirk, thank you so much for being on the show. How can people find you?
LinkedIn, man. Find me on LinkedIn. Friends with Pete through the Exit Your Way group. I offer a free weekly e-commerce, we call it Manufacturing E-Commerce Success. We have wonderful dynamic speakers. Every Friday, 1:30 Eastern time, and that's also on Exit Your Way. So, I'd love to connect with you on LinkedIn. So, Pete, what a pleasure. Thank you. Love what you're doing. Keep it up. What a blessing you are.
Oh, and you're very welcome, and it's been an absolute pleasure, Curt. And this is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
