Wingtips on the Beach

In 1990, as my partners and I were beginning to accelerate the growth of our new consulting company, DecisionQuest, our marketing, business development, and sales were going through a rapid series of changes. Helping our team learn to use the internet and navigate early social media is where my new friend and future mentor, Larry Smith, senior vice president of Levick Communications, came in. We scheduled a pitch meeting for Larry and Richard Levick to meet our COO, Phil, and me at a beach location in Newport Beach, where we were holding a two-day staff session.

Phil and I were sitting on the beach, working on a table with four chairs. At the appropriate time, here came Larry and Richard in their suits, ties, and wingtip shoes across the sand. Their willingness to go the extra mile to meet with us in this most unusual location spoke volumes and told us this would be a great relationship. Needless to say, they had the sale closed by the time they reached our table!

In the years to come, Larry and his team helped us grow, expand, communicate, and sell. To be truthful, Richard, Larry, and I would often meet at New York City and Washington, D.C. steakhouses to hold our review sessions. When I started my own company in 2006, Larry was still mentoring me in my new endeavor.

My unique first prospect meeting with Larry illustrates how many experienced salespeople endeavor to present their brand. They might describe their “brand” as the following:

• • “The ‘essence’ of your business,” according to Mickey Marraffino, managing partner of her firm, MM Marketing.

• • “A ‘feeling’ associated with the person and their product/service,” according to Bryan Heathman, publisher of Made for Success and author of six Wall Street Journal best-selling business books.

In my story above, both the essence and feeling of the Levick brand were absolutely clear. They would cross deserts for us to find success. Even better, it was not only an immediate feeling; Indeed, it has continued to this very day.

Your brand is both your takeaway and your differentiator and presents your values.

Are You Kleenex or Tissue?

Successful selling requires a careful analysis of what people buy and how you present yourself to them. You must directly address how your brand fits with your prospecting—are you known as one of the best or just one of the others? In other words, are you Kleenex or tissue? Are you Xerox or just a copier?

How can you get others to notice what you’re selling? By clarifying their needs and issues and discussing how your product or service is a good fit, you should have prospects ready for the next step, converting their needs to your values. First, identify someone’s need; then, you can offer the value.

When you ask a well-prepared question to determine their need, and they answer it, your response should be, “Here’s how we met that need in a similar situation. Would this work for you?” Most likely, they’ll say “yes” and see your value. In meeting their need, you are defining your brand for them.

What else have you just done? You have converted their need to one of your values. Follow that process two or three times, especially with somebody who’s relatively new to your service or product, and you now have values in their minds that are yours—their “takeaway” from you.

Let me give you a unique example from history of someone who was able to convert his company’s values. Think about this: Henry Ford built the first automobile. How did he convert people to leave a horse and get into a car? How did he convince people to give up oats and hay and buy gasoline?

Initially, Ford focused on making the Model T a status symbol. Then, by building an assembly plant capable of turning out a large number of cars, car ownership soon became available for many more people.

Remember this story because it will keep in your mind the importance of selling your values, defined by your brand, and converting their needs. With this story, also remember the following IBM quote that solidifies this whole discussion:

Let’s restate this slightly. Don’t sell what you have; sell what they need. When you do that, you have brought them back around to your values.

Develop Your Brand Using These Five Keys

• 1. What are the benefits you are offering to your clients, to your prospects, to your companies? Keep in mind that they’re looking for benefits, both from an individual point of view and from a company’s or a service agency’s point of view.

• 2. Are you really offering solutions to problems or issues or concerns that they have, and are these solutions also contributing to possible opportunities that they see in their own market?

• 3. Part of this conversion process is talking about results that you’ve achieved elsewhere. As they explain their needs in more detail, you will need to address them specifically, not just by comparing them to what you’ve done before.

• 4. Building trust is absolutely critical and is done through references, examples, the professionalism that you present during a meeting or Zoom call, in emails, or wherever the opportunity presents.

• 5. You are, overall, presenting the values that are encompassed in your brand. Those are the values that will stick with these people as they consider purchasing your offerings—the takeaway.

Remember, with every opportunity you need to include these five values... and let me remind you about the IBM quote. “Do not sell what you have... Sell what they need.” Sell your brand.

Beware of Leaving an “Anti-Brand”

One major asset you have is your “takeaway.” It is an adaption of your brand, focused specifically on the prospect or client you are addressing. No matter what else people remember or don’t remember from your meeting or conversation with them, they must take away this core message.

It’s important to leave a strong first impression that you can solve their problem. By not being direct and demonstrating how you have solutions for the prospect’s problems, you might inadvertently leave an “anti-brand” and waste your preparation and effort.

Remember that old joke, “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” The answer is, “Practice, practice, practice.” One recommendation we always make to our clients is to practice lunch. It is not a throwaway line. If you are meeting for lunch, practice lunch.

Do not walk into a meeting cold. Practice your agenda, key points, and takeaway message with one of your colleagues. The takeaway is the differentiator for you and your firm from your competitors. The wording can have slight differences, but do mention it often during your discussions.

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has said it best: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and only 5 minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” Even at the earliest stages of developing your new product or service, build positive relationships wherever and whenever you can. Test your brand, your takeaway, your differentiator.

Remember, a brand is not a logo; it is not an isolated image. It is the feeling or the essence of what you are producing that will ultimately resonate with future buyers.

As you progress into the marketing phase, and ultimately into sales, your brand becomes more critical. Creating a brand will first require developing the following:

• • A style guide

• • A color guide

• • Fonts

Once developed, these then lead to the creation of:

• • A logo

• • A tagline

You Are the Brand to the Customer

Scott Hogle, in his book Persuade: The 7 Empowering Laws of the SalesMaker, illustrates this accelerator’s most critical message on branding with the following quote:

“How you handle the relationship with the customer is what will create your reputation with them and make the decision as to whether they buy from you again or turn to another company. You are the brand to the customer, not your company.”1

Once you have your brand,...