Episode 163: Highlights from Sessions at Home

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They managed the expectations and then beat them. That was the key to marketing happiness. It was different. Everyone's over-promising. Zappos did something totally different. They under-promised.

Hi friends, I'm Bobby LeHew, the Chief Content Officer at Common Skew. On October 8th, we hosted Sessions at Home, the industry's only virtual sales conference for promotional products professionals dedicated exclusively to the topic of sales. We had a blast with so many of you who showed up, and in today's episode, we're sharing a few brief highlights from each of our speakers. Now, if you attended Sessions at Home, you'll appreciate the reminder. If you didn't make it, you'll appreciate this compilation of greatest hits. And speaking of events, you might have heard that we opened registration for SKUCON, which will be held on January 7th, featuring keynotes Seth Godin and Anne Hanley, plus some of the most creative and emerging voices both inside and outside of the industry. Having Seth and Anne bookend our events as keynotes is such an honor. I called up Mark Graham, who many of you know as Comiskey's President and Chief Brand Officer, to chat about it.

Mark Graham, good morning. Bobby LeHew, nice to see you, my friend.

Nice to see you. So it's 24 hours later, we launched SKUCon yesterday. How you feeling?

I'm feeling fantastic. You know, I've got the, the jitters are a little out. I'm saying that I think we talked about this yesterday that we've been doing SKUCon since 2015. And every time we do this event, there's always this massive amount of nervousness before we publish it. And you'd think that that would become easier in time, but We were nervous yesterday, just like we were nervous in 2015. But it's a delight to have it out.

The reason I think we're always nervous is we keep raising the bar. I told Catherine, we keep raising the bar on ourselves, not just like— we keep wanting this to be bigger and better event, and we're challenging ourselves. So there's part of this nervous energy around us as the organizers and Kate, Ali, and the team. How do you feel about Seth joining finally?

Such a surreal moment, and obviously such a delight and a privilege for us to welcome Seth to the virtual stage this year. My relationship with Seth started in about 2006, 2007 when I read his book, The Purple Cow. And at the time I was a distributor with Right Sleeve and the book stopped me in my tracks. It completely changed how it is that I thought about marketing, about how to create a remarkable brand, how to build tribes and how to build meaningful, true, authentic connections with your customers. That was something that just completely changed how it is that I thought about marketing and business in general. Lots of those principles have certainly carried forward with the birth of Common Skew. From that book, I reached out to Seth and thanked him for his work and his blog and his book. He wrote back and that started a great friendship and also had the opportunity to meet him on a couple of occasions, including one incredible time last year in New York, where Catherine and I were down in New York for sessions, and we traveled up to his studio just north of New York City. And we had this epic lunch with him and his team in this great studio he has there. And he just sat down with us for about 75 to 90 minutes, answered our questions. We spoke about the state of the world and marketing and what was going on with Common Skew. And it just forged a really meaningful friendship. And we're delighted to welcome him to the stage to share his experiences with the rest of this community. How about you, Bobby? I know that Ann Hanley has been a close friend for some time and must be kind of cool to welcome her as well.

Yeah, yeah, it's big for both of us, right? Both you, you and Seth, me and Ann. And I've known her for 10 to 15 years, and she's just as authentic and beautiful a person privately as she is publicly. But, but we go way back now. And when I was with Robin, actually, we sold merch to Marketing Profs.

They were—

we did some, we did some cool campaigns and projects for them. But I was I was friends with Anne before that. And so it's great to bring her. And one of the things that I love about both Seth and Anne is this authenticity, this word that we use so flippantly, has been at the core of both of their works in whatever iteration they've been through. And now they're two of them, if not the most, of the most influential marketing leaders in the world today, not just in the US, but in the world. And of course, Anne leading the largest B2B marketing organization in the world. For both of us to have not just our heroes and mentors and advisors and friends bookending this event is like a dream come true for us. And the other thing, I think you and I talk about this, that we feel like a new era, we're on the precipice of a new era as an industry. And so putting a stake in the ground that marketing, that what we do as a medium is no longer the stepchild of marketing, that it's at the forefront, this is a part of that conversation. So there's a lot going on with us having this.

Yeah, for sure. And I think in closing, I'd be remiss to say that we are so fortunate to also have an incredible lineup of industry up-and-comers and rock stars and some people that have been on the stage before and others that we were really fortunate to be able to attract to the stage. And I just, I love the fact that we're going to have this wonderful mix of outside personalities that can bring that macro perspective to the community coupled with that on-the-ground, feet-on-the-street industry experience. And to Seth, to Anne, and to everyone that has generously agreed to be with us at SKUCon in January, we really, really thank you. So it's exciting. Registration is on fire, and we can't wait to see everyone on the 7th of January.

We are so excited about this event. You can learn more and register you and your team at skucon.com. Now, on to our highlights from Sessions at Home, where our first speaker is Catherine Graham, Commonsku's CEO, who kicked off the event with the topic, The New Frontier of Selling: How Chaos Creates a Golden Opportunity for Promo.

I think the most interesting thing out of all of this experience of the past 6 months is the fact that the client's toolkit of what it is that they have been using historically has been completely upended. So you think about all those images that I showed in that first slide— conferences, trade shows, sporting events, experiential marketing— all All of those things that our clients have historically relied upon to accomplish their business objectives, to generate leads, to retain clients, to engage kind of with employees, all of these tools that they have used in the past have temporarily been completely removed from their toolkit, and they're left in some cases, some of them startled, wondering, you know, what on earth they're going to do to still be able to get through to the other side in terms of what they have to achieve from goals. Those goals may have lessened, but they're still there in terms of all the things that they needed to achieve with those tools in the first place. So we have a tremendous opportunity right now to be guiding our clients through what should be in their toolkit going forward, and frankly, to be able to take a much greater share of that toolkit in terms of what they used to do in the past and a much greater share of budget, because we have an amazing medium that is perfectly primed for this socially distanced world.

And here's another clip from Katherine talking about the 4 demands that clients want from you now.

Number 1 is an understanding of their business. Number 2 is an opinion. Number 3 is the willingness to ask the hard questions of our clients. And the last thing, number 4, is to help them rethink their purpose and the purpose of what product can do for them. So first, an understanding of their business. We need to become research experts. Experts. And I'm sure given what is going on in the world right now, many of you are hiding from the news. News is a scary place right now. We've got COVID, we've got the election, we've got civil unrest, we've got all these things that are absolutely dominating the headlines and dominating our mindshare that I'm sure makes many of us want to hide under a table and never pick up a newspaper or open a browser, a news browser again. But buried beneath kind of all that noise is an incredible trove of information of what is going on economically right now. There's so much writing right now about what is going on within the economy, what is going on within specific industries, in some cases what is going on within specific companies that you deal with. And if you're paying attention to that information out there, there are incredible signals that you can pick up upon that give you that ability to be able to have much more strategic conversations kind of with your clients. You need to arm yourselves with that knowledge of what is going on so that you are prepared to have a totally different level of conversation than you've ever had with your clients before. So ensuring that you are carving out time to spend on this, it's a very different muscle that needs to be exercised, and spending time kind of doing deep research. So the third thing of the demands that clients want from you today is the willingness to ask hard questions. Harvard Business Review wrote a fantastic article about why women are the future of B2B sales. And the context around which they were talking about here was in comparison to what were called kind of the hard sales skills of the past, the more Mad Men era of charm and, and 4-martini lunches and, you know, all of those tactics that used to be successful kind of in those previous days. And now are finding that it's the soft skills that are the things that are being the most effective in that B2B environment, that ability to create, to have empathy for the client, the ability to create connection, The ability to be able to develop relationships regardless of what kind of channel you're doing that through. And we're in a new territory in this regard of having relied in the past and being able to take our clients out for lunches or have coffee or go visit them in their office and show product and get them excited. And now we have to be able to engage with them in a virtual way that requires a totally different skill. And those soft skills are now far more important than ever in terms of our ability to create those connections. This is not to say for you guys out there that you don't have jobs anymore in B2B sales. It's saying that all of us need to exercise that muscle of how it is that we are going to deploy soft skills to be able to create those connections and to have that empathy for our clients to be able to succeed in this changed world.

Next up was our keynote, Mike Michalowicz, speaker and author of The Pumpkin Plan and many others, and one whom Simon Sinek called the patron saint of entrepreneurs. Mike spoke on the topic, "Better is not better, different is better." In this clip, Mike's talking about a subject I know many of us wrestle with, making promises to our customers.

You ever have a friend, like, he's like, "Hey, I gotta really meet with you. Do you mind if we meet for a cup of coffee? Yeah, let's see, right now it's about almost 3 o'clock Eastern. Let's meet at 4 o'clock today." "Okay, I'll be there." "Yeah, I really need to talk to you." You arrive 4 o'clock, you're sitting there like, where's your friend? 4:05, your phone rings. Oh, I'm running late. Obviously. I'll be there in 10 minutes. Be there 4:15. And you sit and then they roll in around 4:20, 4:25. That's an overpromise, underdeliver. It sets us up with a little tinge like, this is so important. You're kind of blowing me off. What's going on? There's a little bit of disappointment. And in business transactions, that can be devastating. Personal transactions, Friendships, hopefully not. Well, Zappos knew this and used this as a different marketing approach. They sell happiness, after all. When you would order a product— I don't know if anyone here has ever bought anything from Zappos. When you buy something from Zappos, they, uh, very funnily, they say, um, you say you order like on a Monday, they say we'll get the shoes you purchased to you by Friday. And then they FedEx 'em overnight. So you have an expectation set to receive these on a Friday, but you order 'em on Monday, they arrive on Tuesday, you come home, there's a package there. It feels like it's your birthday. Zappos is awesome. Now, a lot of people don't know the backstory. Zappos, when they started, was competing against Foot Locker. You've probably heard of that name before. Foot Locker is in every mall in America, and they're backed by venture capital. They have a very established name and they saw that the future of business was on the internet. And they too were taking orders through a website and Zappos was. Now Zappos was starting out of a garage. Ultimately Tony Hsieh joins them. Foot Locker would set a promise. So when you order the shoes on Monday, they said, we're going to FedEx these to you. You'll have them on Tuesday. And 99% of the time they'd arrive there on Tuesday. But 1 out of 100 times FedEx would get stuck, a plane wouldn't land on time, a storm would come tearing through, whatever it was, and the package would arrive a day late. It wasn't there on Tuesday, it was there on Wednesday. Now, Foot Locker sucks. They can't deliver on their promises. Hurt their reputation. Zappos, you'd order the exact same shoes on the exact same day, and they would promise to deliver them on a Friday. Then they would FedEx your shoes overnight, and 99% of the time it would arrive there on Tuesday, and it's your birthday. Because you're expecting on Friday. One time, one out of 100 times, arrive on Wednesday because a plane didn't land on time or a storm came through, and it still felt like your birthday because it was early. They managed the expectations and then beat them. That was the key to marketing happiness. It was different. Everyone's over-promising. Zappos did something totally different. They under-promised, which becomes very attractive because they beat their promises and they wow you. And the direction is very clear: become a loyal customer, buy from us again. The order forms, the customer loyalty, the VIP cards were in the package itself. You're among the tribe now, join us. What do you promise and how can you reset the promise to under-promise and over-deliver? How do you manage expectations this way?

One other tip Mike shared was a challenge we see a lot in our industry and was also one of his biggest challenges.

I think the defining moment was when I met with a friend of mine and I had just become an author writing those books I have up there behind me. I came out with my first book and didn't sell well. In fact, the first day was miserable. I sold zero copies. And just to drive home the pain of selling zero copies of a book as an author, that means my own mother didn't buy a book that day. It was tough. And I, went to this guy, his name is Yannick Tzil, and I was speaking with him and I said, I don't know how to market it. And he says, let me ask you something about, about how to market it. He goes, let me ask him about why you need to market it. He goes, is your, is your product or offering better than what the competition does? He was asking me, but I'm also asking you what you do in some form. Do you have better service? Is it more thorough? Is it more accurate? Is it better quality? Are you better in some capacity than what the competition's doing? I strongly suspect you are. I mean, the fact that you're here looking to learn and improve your business, I clearly believe you care more about your business. So I strongly suspect you're better in some capacity. And so I said to Yannick, yeah, I'm absolutely better. He's like, is this book of true service to your customers? I said, absolutely. He goes, what if the customers buy the alternative? The other books that are out there? I said, there's, there's some really bad stuff put out there. There's these, these people who just kind of throw something out there just to sell something quick and they're trying to upsell their service.

They—

I said, I put my soul into this. Everything I know is in my book. It will be of service and you don't even ever have to do anything beyond it. Just get the book and it'll change your life. That's how I wrote it. He goes, you really believe it's better than the competition? I said, yeah. And he goes, and they're buying something else, right? I said, yeah. He goes, that may be their problem. Because it's your fault. Because you have a damned responsibility to out-market them. If you have something that's better than what your competition does, it is of a disservice not to be marketing it better than the competition. You have something that's great, I know it. And if you're not marketing it differently, if you're not pushing it to the limit, you're failing your customers, you're failing your prospects, you're failing the community. Different is better.

Danny Rosen is the co-founder of Brand Fuel Inc. and talked about Promo 3.0: The New Revolution and shared a ton of actionable insights like this one.

So in order to help solve client problems, we've got to identify what the problems are, and then we must deliver those answers that motivate, not manipulate, them to purchase from you. I'm going to share some of those, uh, challenges today. And if there's one takeaway, just one takeaway I want for you guys to have: whiteboard what your customers' challenges are. Go and ask them and come up with products and services that will be the solutions they are desperate for. Dive deep into specific industry verticals, into departments, trends, even headline news, and you will begin the critical journey of actually earning that title of trusted partner that we all brag about on our website. You'll find better customers and be able to rid yourselves of price divas who whore you out.

What I love is that Danny got to the heart of what we do and really challenged us.

Let's try and answer our client's ongoing number one challenge. How do we help customers sell more stuff? Now, I'm curious, how many of you really believe that our medium and how marketers dangle a carrot and drive sales and marketing results. Think about it. Can we help with meeting attendance, engagement, follow-up post-meeting, data capture, appreciation, demos, surveys, education, referrals, getting them to watch a video, webinars, take this test, take this trial, activation and action? Yes. Yes, we can. And if we better understand the value of our client's client, we can make a strong case for ROI. Here's an example. Imagine the lifetime value of a client's client is $150,000. Now, if that's the case, why are we suggesting 99-cent tea handle mugs with our client's big obnoxious logo on them as the gift that is exchanged for spending time with a $150,000 value target? We must convince our clients that their time, their clients' time is valuable and that they must invest in the relationships with a gift of a high-quality branded merchandise, perhaps with subtle logo treatment. To me, a handmade $70 sustainable Cotopaxi bag is likely a much better answer than the ceramic mug that's gonna end up in the back of a cabinet or an Aunt Sally's garage sale. Sustainability matters. You know, buying behaviors are driven by personal values. So sell stuff that lasts. Anything less is a liability to you as a salesperson, your company, your client, and our industry.

And finally, Danny shared a glimpse into the future.

Now imagine a future where products have a life expectancy statistic associated with them, where we could tell our clients that one mug is $9 and lasts for a year, and another mug is $35 but lasts for 10 years. I know where I put my budget. Sustainability matters to our customers, and it better matter to you. Sustainability is the future of our industry. Less crap, more quality. Get this, the word specialties and promotional will be replaced in the future. Maybe our medium will be called tangible media or product media, and in the future My guess is ASI and PPAI will probably have to do a little rebranding.

And finally, we saved the best for last and invited Darrell Griffin, President of Accolades Inc., to close out our day. Darrell has been the recipient of numerous awards. Most recently, she was recognized as the 2019 recipient of the PPAI Woman of Achievement Award and the H. Ted Olson Humanitarian Award. Darrell spoke on the topic of 3 Timeless Sales Secrets to Help You Thrive through any season and shared this insight on building a team.

Does your team have that pit crew mentality? While pit crew relates to a NASCAR race, the process is about knowledge, roles and responsibilities, and employee engagement. When the race car driver pulls the car over, each member of the pit crew knows exactly what they are expected to do and how long they have to do it. A pit stop for 4 tires and fuel can last 12 to 16 seconds, and a stop for 2 tires and fuel may take 5 to 7 seconds. Late in a race, a team may only need a small amount of fuel to make it to the finish. This is called a splash and go and may take as little as 2 to 3 seconds. So there are no assignments given in the pit, no training, no safety instruction. That's done. Focus is on all actions for efficiency and safety, for a win for the driver is a win for the team, and the pit crew is an important part and key part of that team. Are there pit queue— Crews in your company, are they treated as ladies and gentlemen? The investment in people will reap a bountiful harvest in loyalty, respect that they will emulate and replicate with your client family.

Darrell shared a rich message on the subject of sales leadership, and she closed with this final point.

There's a company in St. Louis named Barry-Weidmuller. It's a large manufacturing company run by a guy named Bob Chapman. Bob believes that leaders of the company have the responsibility for the precious lives that work there. He knows that every single person in his company is someone's son or daughter, and it's his responsibility to take care of them. If you ask him, what does your company do? He says, "We build people to do extraordinary things." His first thought is about people, not the manufacturing of packaging equipment.

People.

Is Barry-Wehmiller a successful company? Yes, primarily because of its culture. Bob Chapman gets it. They've managed to weather the economic downturn. Morale is high. Loyalty is high. And innovation is incredible. How do you describe your company? What is the culture and the style of leadership? Style determines success, not size, as we all know the story of David and Goliath.

Stop.

Small is relative. And if you ever think you're too small to be effective, you've never been in the dark with a mosquito. Style and culture are the KPIs that are the foundation for loyalty and likability. When in my second career in corporate America, I experienced several kinds of managers. One was highly principled, hardworking, and clearly willing to help you become successful. Another was highly autocratic with a do-as-I-say style. Quick true story. The do-as-I-say manager was having a weekly one-on-one with one of our team members, and the fire alarm sounded. As we dashed to the stairs, we noticed his door was closed, and we knocked, we banged. When we got outside, we noticed they weren't there. Finally, they both appeared and both were very angry. The employee was angry because that employee was told not to leave the meeting as it was only a fire drill. The manager was angry because when the fireman checked the building and found them there, they asked him to leave, to evacuate. So much for this management style, which was short-lived. How do you show that you care in your company?

Thank you for tuning into today's episode. If you want to catch our next event and inspire and challenge your team, visit skucon.com.

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