In this Expert Insight Interview, Raúl Galera discusses word of mouth and referral marketing. Raúl Galera is the Chief Advocate at Referral Candy, an app that helps eCommerce brands launch and run customer referral programs

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The relationship between word of mouth and referral marketing
• The importance of a high-quality product
• How a great customer experience can generate word of mouth

Word of Mouth and Referral Marketing

Word of mouth and affiliate marketing can mean different things to different people. Still, it typically relies on a behavior most humans enjoy — talking about things that we’ve done, seen, and in the case of eCommerce, bought.

It is a sphere of marketing that stems from the general effect of people talking about a brand, creating awareness, and potentially generating new business around it. Referral marketing is something companies can build on top of word of mouth.

Product Quality

Suppose you have a business or a brand that is organically generating word of mouth, and you’re getting new leads from existing customers referring their friends and family. In that case, you can build a referral system and a referral marketing strategy on top of that to capitalize on the existing word of mouth.

As our consumer expectations keep rising, it becomes more difficult to drive people to share their experiences with a brand. However, one thing never changes — if you want recommendations and referrals, you need to make sure your product is good.

Customer Experience

Provided you have a good product, which is the essential component in generating word of mouth, you can improve your position by improving a few other aspects of your business.

First of all, you should have a good purchase experience and a robust support system to solve problems your customers may encounter proactively. If you have these things in place and have a strong brand on top of that, your customers will be more than happy to talk about their experience with your company.

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.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Lisa Morton discusses positioning and messaging. Lisa Morton is the founder and CEO of Roland Dransfield, a fully integrated communications agency.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The evolution of positioning and messaging
• What positioning and messaging is all about
• Examples of companies “talking the talk,” but not “walking the walk.”

Evolution of Messaging

Over the last several years, we’ve seen a rapid evolution of how people are messaging each other and positioning themselves, as well as the cultures they’re trying to present in their organizations.

The pandemic has accelerated the entire process. We have reached a point where people are looking for something a bit different, something more in terms of identifying with a company, either as an employee or a customer. In other words, people are looking to associate with organizations that fit their own culture and their own values.

Walking the Walk

Positioning and messaging is all about how you describe the value that you deliver, and it is also what makes your brand or organization, or even yourself, unique. There needs to be a genuine reason for you to be telling the story, sharing the message, and producing the content in the first place.

Before social media, it was very easy for advertising professionals to put messages on billboards and position organizations in the way their respective marketing teams wanted them to be positioned. These messages didn’t necessarily run through the DNA of the organizations. In contrast, now, everything being much more transparent, it is very easy to see if a brand or an organization isn’t “walking the talk.”

The Truth Behind the Buzzword

Nowadays, there are so many different touchpoints where people can interact with brands, and it is much easier to spot when the brands are not genuine in their messaging. For example, over the last ten years, “customer-centric” has been a huge buzzword, showing up on almost every business’s website and social media profile.

However, customers’ experiences with these brands often tell a different story. Few companies are actually customer-centric, and the disconnect is noticeable.

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.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Dr. L. Carol Scott discusses the surprising fact that many of the tools we need could have been picked up by the age of seven but often were not. Dr. L. Carol Scott has created the unique Self-Aware Success Strategies model.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The skills people develop at a very young age
• How our brains are shaped before the age of five
• The patterns of behavior that stem from different upbringings

People Skills and Early Development

Many of us think that the tools and skills we need to be successful, particularly in business, are ones that we develop much later in life by learning them from various mentors or researching them ourselves. We used to think that children didn’t need to start education until they were 14, and in time that number dropped down to around seven in most countries around the world.

However, the surprising truth is that many skills are available for us to learn before we reach the age of seven, or even five.

Shaping Our Brains

We need to understand that we build our brains from the moment we’re born to around five. So, before a kid walks through the door of kindergarten for the first time, they have taken a bundle of a hundred billion loose neurons and connected them up in meaningful patterns of understanding and interpretation of the world.

Perhaps most surprisingly, almost all of that brain development happens before the age of three, and 95% is done by age five. Therefore, interpersonally, all of the brain’s wiring around getting along with other people, which is the core of success no matter what you do, happens before you’re five years old.

Patterns of Behavior

Different people have different parenting styles, and people are raised in different environments and under various sets of rules. Interestingly, someone trained in developmental psychology, such as Dr. L. Carol Scott, can see clear patterns showing how one person was nurtured at an early age compared to another.

Developmental psychologists look at the whole lifespan of development, but the focus of Dr. Carol’s expertise has been on kids aged 0 – 5.

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.

In this Expert Insight Interview, John Meese discusses whether the Age of Information has ended and what this could mean for all of us. John Meese is a serial entrepreneur on a mission to eradicate generational poverty by equipping entrepreneurs with the training they need to succeed.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The end of the Age of Information
• How the Age of Information transpired and what it looked like
• The shift into the Age of Insight and what it means

Exiting the Age of Information

We read about the various ages in the history books, such as the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, etc. We understand that technology changes and the world changes with it, but we also subconsciously believe we live in the last age.

However, the reality is somewhat different. Last year, the World Economic Forum declared that the Age of Information has ended, and we’re moving into a new age. This shift has been happening for a while, but it is fascinating because, just like the change from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age, we have to go back and look at our tools and systems and rethink everything.

Ubiquitous Access to Information

The Age of Information began in the early 80s, as people gained increased access to information across the globe through the rise of computers, the internet, and social media over a period of 20 – 30 years.

Gradually, the information gatekeepers died off, and now if you’re curious about anything or want to know the answer to pretty much any question, you can pull out the tiny supercomputer you keep in your pocket, hit a couple of buttons, or simply talk, to find the answers to all your questions.

Age of Insight

When the shift into the Age of Information happened, the world changed dramatically because every business and culture had to rethink its relationship with information. That was very exciting for a time, but over the last 5 – 10 years, for the most part, we’re spending 90% of our energy ignoring information.

With notifications, headlines, emails, etc., there’s too much information, and we’re drowning in it. Even companies are collecting more information about their customers than they could consume. All of these changes have pushed us into what the World Economic Forum calls the Age of Insight.

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.

Roderick Jefferson joined hosts John Golden & Martha Neumeister to talk about The Art & Science of Selling Through Turbulent Times, including:

• Why selling the old way won’t work
• Moving from selling to helping
• How to better identify and address customer pain points

Named as a “Leading Sales Enablement Consultant” by SellingPower, Roderick Jefferson & Associates is focused on driving growth in small/mid-size companies and Fortune 500 corporations. He has been both the buyer and the seller of high technology products, sales platforms, and professional services, so he understands what will resonate with your customers.

About SalesChats
SalesChats is a fast-paced (no more than 30 minutes) multi-media series that provides leading strategies, tactics and thinking for sales professionals worldwide. It can be found on Twitter (#SalesChats), as a live Zoom Hangout, and as a podcast available on iTunes, SoundCloud and right here on SalesPOP! If you think you would make a great guest for #SalesChats, please contact co-host Martha Neumeister.

SalesChats is co-hosted by John Golden, CMSO Pipeliner CRM, and Martha Neumeister, Social Media Strategist Pipeliner CRM.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Trent McEntire discusses the phenomenal work that he keeps doing. Trent McEntire has helped people gain back their mobility for more than two decades, and his passion stems from his backstory.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• His childhood, teenage years, and dancing career
• How he learned that he had cerebral palsy
• How he was able to push through his condition through willpower and sheer athleticism

Early Years

Trent has been athletic his whole life, and at one point, he realized that he enjoyed the creative nature of dance, which allowed him to be an athlete while also pursuing something that he loved.

He ended up going to college for dance, and this is where everything started. At that time, he was dancing 6 – 7 hours each day while also lifting weights, doing Pilates, etc. Unfortunately, he hit a point where he got up in the morning and could barely walk. He had inflammation in his legs that was so bad that he had to hobble to the bathroom to get in the shower.

Learning About Cerebral Palsy

The problems that Trent experienced were pretty alarming, especially because, as a dancer, he wanted to stay injury-free if at all possible. The immobility and pain he went through made him think that things might be over for him in terms of dancing.

He was home for a holiday break and complained to his mother about his pain and stiffness and not knowing what was going on. That’s when his mom told him that he was born with cerebral palsy. He was 19 years old at this point.

Powering Through

Trent says that it might have been a gift not to have a label growing up, but he also realizes that it might have been good to know about his condition from the start. He recognizes that it is difficult to know which path would have been less painful for him.

His mother asked him to remember his early childhood and having casts on his legs. It turns out the casts were the doctors’ response to the immobility in his ankles. The fact that Trent suffers from Class 1 (relatively mild) cerebral palsy means it is impossible to tell that he has the condition from simply looking at him, but it does come with a lot of movement restrictions. Thankfully, because he was so athletic in his youth, he was able to power through it.

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.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Olly Wood discusses health, performance, and energy. Olly Wood is the Head Coach, Nutritionist, and Exercise Specialist at The Meta Project.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The rise of fitness-related awareness throughout the pandemic
• The division between the body and the mind and bringing the two together
• Channeling people’s mental health through their physical pursuit

Health Awareness

During the pandemic, a lot of people have gone one of two ways. They’ve either taken more of an interest in their health and wellbeing, fitness, etc., or they’ve taken more of an interest in watching Netflix and thrown the rest out of the window.

Jokes aside, health and fitness awareness has risen throughout the pandemic, even though a section of the population has chosen to ignore it. One thing that has particularly grown during the past 18 months is people’s awareness of the connection between mental and physical health.

Body-Mind Connection

We’ve all become more conscious of how much our physical wellbeing reflects on our mental health as well. That said, even though the awareness has risen overall, each of us has to decide on whether to act on it or not.

Nowadays, it is tough to ignore the strong connection between the body and the mind, but we still live in a world where the two are mainly divided. For example, you’ll go to one person to improve your physical health and another to improve your mental health. Bringing the two together is still somewhat rare.

Mood Improvements

What The Meta Project focuses on doing is channeling people’s mental health through their physical pursuits. During this time, people often realize that when their energy levels go up and inflammation markers go down across the board, thanks to exercise, their mood improves, and their mental wellbeing is enhanced overall.

The evolving conversation that happens when you start to bring awareness to how the human body works is particularly important. During their weekly check-ins, Olly’s clients often point out that the effect they’ve felt on their mood and mental wellbeing has been much more important to them than the physical changes they’ve experienced.

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.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Amy Looper discusses virtual selling. Amy Looper is the founder of Relativity Sells. She is a sales executive with over two decades of experience who helps tech founders and salespeople improve their revenue.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• Using technology to make deep connections
• The difficulties of transitioning into a virtual environment
• How to practice your virtual selling

Using the Tech

Many people were forced into virtual selling due to the pandemic, and even after a year and a half, it still doesn’t seem like everybody has a complete grasp on how to do it as effectively as they possibly could.

There are many opportunies to leverage the technology that is out there right now to make deep connections with clients. The business world is still tentative about doing in-person meetings, so all salespeople, and businesspeople in general, really need to be comfortable with being in front of a camera.

Transitioning to a Virtual Setting

There are people out there who can walk into a room full of people and be completely comfortable. These natural salespeople can go to any networking event and be the star of the evening, connecting with people left and right.

However, sometimes, these people just don’t have the same level of energy and charisma if they’re in a Zoom meeting. Something about being on camera, looking at their own face down in the corner, puts them off their game and can cause havoc to their performance. It just goes to show that how we operate in the “real world” doesn’t always naturally transition to how we operate in the virtual space.

Practice Makes Perfect

Practice is the best way to get comfortable with anything, so if you’re struggling to transition to virtual selling, you’ll need to utilize your friends and family, or even your best customers (the ones who won’t hold it against you if you feel a bit uncomfortable) and get used to the new environment.

At the end of the day, having an authentic conversation via video is not that different from having one in person. If you’re really comfortable with the situation, your customers will be comfortable too, but unfortunately, the opposite is true as well.

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.