How to Market to Each Generation Separately (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Mary Ann Pruitt discusses generational marketing and how to market to each generation separately. Mary Ann Pruitt started her career in media working as a Senior Sales Executive at some of the largest national media outlets. She founded Mosaic to provide niche expertise and experience to agencies and marketing departments across the country.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

The record-wide age range of the American workforce
How to market to all these different generations
The major shift in consumer behavior over the last 18 months

Five Generations in the Workforce

We have more generations in the workforce than ever before. For the first time in American history, we have five generations in the workforce, which means five different generations have a high spending capability and spending power. We have never had that before at the capacity that we have now.

This makes this period in American history unique. We’re actually on the cusp of having six working generations, with traditionalists and baby boomers choosing not to retire and the teenagers headed into the demographic as well.

Finding the Ideal Customer

The wide age range of the potential customer pool is a massive challenge for many organizations, particularly if your product or service isn’t targeted at a particular age group. So, how do you market when all of these different generations like to receive information in very different ways?

It is all about getting back to the basics of your ideal customer and who you’re ideally targeting. We used to be able to go broad with our demographics, simply dividing them into 30-year-wide age groups. Today, the data we collect on customers is a lot more nuanced, targeting very specific groups.

Effect of the Pandemic

So, are there very distinct traits helping you market to different generations? Over the last 18 months, we’ve seen consumer behavior shift, and we’ve learned quite a lot about the different generations of consumers.

There’s a multi-fold tide happening in the shift of behavior. The evolution of social media consumption that should have taken the older generation a decade occurred overnight. Everybody over the age of 60 was suddenly on social media, while the younger generation turned more and more to traditional media. This all resulted in massive changes in how we market to these demographics.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Key Tips for Confidence Leadership and Resilience (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Dr. Lizzy Bernthal discusses essential tips for confidence, leadership, and resilience. Dr. Lizzy Bernthal has worked as a health professional and educator in the National Health Service and the British Armed Forces for over 25 years.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

Why do we avoid making choices
How putting off decisions almost always makes the situation worse
The role of courage in decision-making

Choices

As a leader, you always have a choice, whether you realize it or not. And you make these choices every minute of every day. Once you begin to notice the choices that you’re making, you can change them to empower yourself and your team.

Not making a choice is still a choice, as convoluted as that may sound. And sometimes people don’t realize this. As human beings, we tend to avoid choices, or we struggle to make them at the very least. This is because we know that if we choose one thing, we disregard something else, and we don’t like to do that.

Procrastination

Humans have a natural need for certainty, and that is where our reluctance to make a choice sometimes comes from. By definition, making a choice implies a right path and a wrong path. But in reality, nothing is worse than sitting on the fence and not making an empowered decision.

The more you put off making choices, the worse the situation gets, generally speaking, provided you have the correct input and you’ve done the proper research. All procrastination is just fear, and once we acknowledge that we can just do whatever we need to do regardless of that fear, we can take action and solve our problems.

Courage

Sometimes we need to make choices with only partial information, and as leaders, we need to be prepared to take these risks. This brings us to the courage side of the leadership equation. People tend to think that courage is reserved for people who do momentous things, but the reality is that you have to show courage every day in whatever you’re doing.

Collecting all the evidence you can is another part of the decision-making process. We almost always have some evidence to help us make an informed choice, even if the information is not 100% complete.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Authenticity and Its Power in Leadership Speaking (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Dr. Laura Penn discusses the power of authentic presence in leadership speaking. Dr. Laura Penn is the founder of the Leadership Speaking School, where she trains global leaders and changemakers how to speak in public.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

Why authenticity matters and what it means
The fact that you can’t “hack” authenticity
The connection between self-awareness and authenticity

Meaning of Authenticity

“Authenticity” might just be the 2021 buzzword of the year because everybody seems to be throwing it around. We have talked so much about authenticity this year, not only from the perspective of personal development but also marketing, brand identity, company culture, and other aspects of business.

That being said, there is a lot of value in authenticity, and for Dr. Laura, it means laying down one’s armor, having the courage to dance like nobody is watching, and simply “doing you.” It is about not only living and breathing your truth but being OK with it.

Becoming Your Authentic Self

We often find ourselves thinking about how to be more authentic and almost approaching it from a “life hack” point of view. However, you can’t hack authenticity — it is a state of mind, and it responds to your level of personal development.

Ask yourself if you’re ready to lay down your armor and dance like nobody’s watching. Think about what needs to be going on around you for you to feel safe and grounded enough to do those things. When you finally get there, you will feel free.

Being Awake

Self-awareness and confidence to be your authentic self are incredibly liberating. But before you can be your authentic self, you have to be aware of what that means. And that is a difficult journey for people to go on.

People find themselves in different stages of “being awake” throughout their lives. Speaking in front of an audience can give us a real wake-up call, suddenly making us aware of what we’re doing. This often leads to us not being able to recognize ourselves while on stage and feeling bad after a public speaking appearance.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

How To Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile To Get Found (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Donna Serdula discusses how to optimize your LinkedIn profile to get found. Donna Serdula is a LinkedIn profile writer and optimization expert.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

The current situation with LinkedIn as a platform
Why a LinkedIn profile is so much more than an online resume
How to stay on top of your profile and optimize it for the best results

LinkedIn as a Tool

LinkedIn was huge before the pandemic, and it’s now become even bigger. However, it has also become quite noisy, turning into a bit of a spamming platform. So, the question is, how does one stand out on a platform that is so noisy right now?

Despite its apparent noisiness, LinkedIn is a helpful tool and a place where people go to learn about who they would be meeting with. Many people think of LinkedIn profiles as online resumes, but there’s so much more to LinkedIn than that.

More than an Online Resume

Salespeople, in particular, should not aspire for their LinkedIn profiles to look like resumes because that approach could potentially turn both prospects and employers away. As a salesperson, you need to understand that people are looking for services or products such as yours and need your help.

Most of these people do not know who you are, and you want them to know you. So, you need to think about the keywords that these people would be entering into the LinkedIn search bar. On the flip side, someone might be looking for you specifically because you popped out on their radar for one reason or another.

Optimizing your Profile

People often set up their LinkedIn profiles while looking for employment and completely forget about it once they get hired. This means that their profile will often show them as someone who is looking for a job, even though they’ve had one for a long time, and they’re happy with their current situation.

Aside from staying on top of your profile and making sure it is not presenting information that is no longer relevant or true, Donna Serdula emphasizes the importance of your LinkedIn headline. Your name, picture, and headline follow you around the platform and are attached to every action you perform on the website, so your headline needs to draw people in.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

The Problem of Sales Call Reluctance (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Connie Kadansky discusses sales call reluctance. Connie Kadansky is a noted authority on call reluctance and sales productivity.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

The persistent problem of call reluctance and how to put a stop to it
Why do sales professionals need to stop focusing on themselves
How focusing on creating value can help you achieve more in every aspect of your life

Call Reluctance

Call reluctance seems to be an evergreen problem — an issue that never goes away. Chances are, at least some members of your sales team is reluctant to make sales calls. So, why does it happen?

Sales call reluctance is an emotional hesitation to prospect and promote proactively, and people who experience call reluctance are often self-centric in their mindset. They are focused on what the prospect would think about them and what would happen if they had a negative experience with the potential customer.

It Is Not About You

Instead of focusing on themselves, sales professionals should focus on the value they could create for the prospect. Unfortunately, however, we live in a more self-obsessed world than ever before. Please do not assume that this increased self-absorption is our fault. It is primarily the result of the social media culture we live in.

This is a significant problem because it hampers our ability to connect with other people, prospects and customers included. So, if there’s one thing for you to take away from this interview, it is that any sales call you make is not about you; it is about the value that you can create for the prospect.

Creating Value

The “this is not about me” approach works not only in sales but in almost all other aspects of your life. When you engage in something, instead of looking at what you can get out of it and how you feel about it, try to consider the value you can bring to someone else.

If you can do this, you’ll be much more excited to take on any project. As humans, we are hard-wired to cooperate, and we all have a deep-seated desire to help other people. So, if you can tap into that desire, you’ll likely be much more motivated to do anything you need to do.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Taking Advantage of Non-Sales Moments to Drive Growth (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Ben Worthen discusses taking advantage of non-sales moments to drive growth. Ben Worthen is the CEO of Message Lab, which combines journalism, data, and design to help organizations create content that resonates with real people.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

How to start thinking about your customers and prospects as people
How to engage with your audience when they’re not looking to buy from you
Why it is essential to nurture your relationship with your prospects

Your Customers Are Just People

In pretty much any company, everything is oriented towards sales. This is normal, as it is what keeps companies in business. The problem with this approach is that it forces us to think of people as customers or prospects when in reality, a person is only a customer or a prospect for a small amount of time.

Most of the time, our customers and prospects are just people, and people have needs that don’t necessarily align with your product. This means they will spend a lot of their day thinking about things that do not necessarily relate to the product you’re selling but probably fit into the broader picture of your company.

Engaging With Your Audience

Think about how you relate to your audience and engage with them when they’re not looking to buy your product. To add value, you need to create something that resonates with your audience, which requires more creativity than traditional marketing.

The best approach, in most cases, is to make things that are meant to engage people around ideas that they care about — content that informs them, entertains them, or provides any other form of value to them when they are not in “customer mode.”

Nurturing the Relationship

It all begins with getting outside of your head, and outside of the walls of your company, and thinking about the things that your audience members care about in all the “other” moments of their life.

Good salespeople can do this innately, but sometimes even they tend to stick to the sales path and believe that unless they’re moving towards a sale, they are not providing anything of value for the customer or the company. The fact is that your prospects will not be ready to buy most of the time, so you should be thinking about what you can do to nurture that relationship.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Leadership Development & Communication (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Barbara Teicher discusses leadership development and communication. Barbara Teicher brings 25+ years of experience developing leaders in Fortune 500 companies, specializing in strategic leadership and effective business communication. She has also appeared on many leading television networks, including ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

Communication as a crucial component of leadership
Why do people crave authenticity and compassion in leadership
The importance of being strong, rather than looking tough

Communication in Leadership

There are a lot of different components to leadership development. While communication is obviously a strategic part of it, other things go into leadership development. Barbara Teicher treats communication separately because she believes it is a priority, even though it is not the only thing that matters.

Communication and human connection are more important now than it has been for a very long time, especially in a sales environment, where people are largely doing things differently than they used to.

Authenticity and Compassion

Even pre-pandemic people were looking for something a little bit different, and the pandemic has accentuated that. As the pandemic came and we struggled to find what this “new normal” was, the thing we craved most was for other people to be authentic.

The simple fact that a person is not at their desk 24/7 doesn’t mean they’re not dedicated and don’t want to move up the ladder. It is now more critical than ever for good leaders to show compassion, and rather than spending their time trying to convince you of how good they are, focus on convincing you how good you are.

Strength vs. Toughness

People want open, transparent, authentic communication. That doesn’t mean you have to be happy all the time — good leadership is still about delivering tough messages, demanding results, etc. However, when setting expectations, it is crucial to remember the human element in the equation.

It is not about being tough; it is about being strong enough to be your authentic self, regardless of the title of the person in the room with you.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

21 Lessons Learned in Leadership (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Ted Kulawiak discusses his book 21 Lessons Learned in Leadership. Ted Kulawiak is the President of Ted Kaye Sales Management Training and a much-sought-after sales management and leadership coach, business consultant.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

Why leading by example is critical for people in leadership positions
The importance of trust in leadership
Why leaders need to strive to be better human beings

Leadership in Action

In leadership positions, you can pontificate all day and “talk the talk,” but leading by example is the only way to truly inspire people. At the end of the day, nothing you can say to somebody will ever be more powerful than the conclusions they come to themselves.

If the people who look up to you see you presenting a worthwhile behavior model, they are much more likely to take after that model. We see the same thing in all professions and walks of life, including but not limited to sales.

Trust

Trust is a significant factor in sales. The actions that the salesperson delivers or shows the potential customer drive the sale’s intent. If the salesperson is working in the customer’s best interest while protecting the company at the same time, it is easy to see that.

When it comes to defining trust in leadership, we can say that it is all about seeing the leader’s actions and how they support both their coworkers and their customers. This is what builds trust.

Being a Great Human Being

We can all strive to be better human beings, but it is particularly important in the leadership context. With the pressure to deliver results, we tend to lose sight of the importance of being a decent human being, and unfortunately, sometimes this is particularly noticeable in sales. Sales teams are the part of the organization with the “number on their back,” so their value is most often measured based on delivering those numbers.

It is easy for a sales manager or sales leader to get into the perspective of playing the numbers game and only looking at employees through that lens. People in these positions often think that the key to success is “cracking the whip” and becoming tougher on their team members. In actuality, more often than not, this results in anti-motivation.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.