7 Minutes to Better Selling Podcast - S2 - Ep. 13

Thank you

All right. As you saw from the excellent work from our producer, Simon, the king of all production

we have a new intro. So love it, Simon. Looks great. So thanks so much for it. So welcome

everybody, to the 7 Minutes of Better Selling podcast. I am your host, Colin Lake. I'm also

the president and founder of Development and Next Leaders. As many of you know, if you long-time

listeners know, we are an organization that is committed to excellence in all things sales

whether you're a sales organization, whether you're a sales leader, a sales team, or a sales

professional. We are committed to doing the things that help you perform at your highest level. Each

one of us has our own superpower or our own thing that makes us amazing at communicating

really effectively with our clients. And so our job as an organization is to take all of these wonderful little tips, tactics

strategies, ideas from the best of the best in the world and bring them to one show

And that's exactly what we do here in the 7 Minutes of Better Selling podcast. Now, while our show says we're 7 Minutes of Better Selling, the live shows typically last

anywhere from like, say, 8 to 12 minutes. I have a sneaky suspicion based on the guests we have

who I'm about to introduce in just a second. We may go a few minutes longer than that. So

if you can hang with us for about, say, somewhere probably a 12 to 14 minute range today

We will edit that show. We'll get it down to seven minutes, keep those pearls of wisdom out

or in there and bring it out to the rest of the world to listen. So I'm so excited to introduce

our second time guest, our first second time guest of the show after two long seasons and

50 plus shows. We have Scott Crossan joining us. Scott Crossan is a brand expert. He has an amazing

history behind him in terms of developing all of these things that make him a brand expert

And Scott and I have a long storied history together doing some wonderful things from

professional to spiritual to life's toughest moments to life's best moments together. So I've

known Scott for a better part of three decades, and welcome, Scott Crossan

Good morning, Colin. And because you know me so well, that's why you have a sneaky suspicion that

we may run long. Is that correct? That is exactly right. Maybe

Hi, buddy. That is so true. It's so good to have you back, Scott. And I said on LinkedIn and some

of the other social platform, literally backed by popular demand, people want to hear more

from you. And it's because they love your handsome face. But more so than that, Scott, it's because of the stuff you were talking about as it

relates to creating a brand. And so it's stuff that's near and dear to my heart, something we train on a lot

So I'm really excited to get into this conversation. So Scott, if you will, maybe in like a two minutes, just give people a reminder of who

you are and how you get to this lofty position as a brand expert where organizations and

individuals all over the world look to you to help them create their right brand

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, Colin. Always thrilled to be with you, buddy, both personally and professionally

My background primarily was with a company called QVC. I spent over 20 years at QVC at a time when it was continuously evolving from a traditional home shopping channel and all the stigma attached to that, negative stigma attached to that, into one of the world's largest video and e-commerce retailers and a $10-plus billion business globally

So I kind of went along for that ride, if you will. part of my job along with my team was the branding addressing the stigma of the qvc brand

as well as that being a qvc being an umbrella brand being a retailer that sells lots and lots

and lots and lots and lots of other brands and partners with lots of other brands so i was responsible for how we position every brand within our brand umbrella So that was the main sort of the nuts and bolts if you will of my experience

It was an amazing ride. I learned a ton. I won, I lost, I fell, and everything in between

and really gave me a great perspective on what does branding mean

And I've had the opportunity to apply it in the nonprofit world

in the entrepreneurial world, and everything in between. So this has not worked for me

This is where my passion is. So I'm thrilled to talk about it and thrilled to help all those in our audience

So thrilled to be here. Scott, let me just see if I distill this and see what type of thoughts it inspires from you

So you had the responsibility of helping further and future and create the QVC brand

And within that, you had to build your own brand, your brand in that corporation

Right. And then also help all of these different businesses who are trying to sell their products on QVC

improve their branding. Like you've had it from like three different angles

all at the same time. Am I hearing that right? You are. And I didn't realize it at the time

I wish I, you know, if there, if there, if there are a few things you could go back in time and

you know, just be equipped with from a knowledge perspective, this is one of them

I didn't realize that there was such a thing as my personal brand

So I was so focused on my company's brand and trying to develop that, elevate that, as well as our client or customer or partner brands

I didn't really I was focused on that as well. Really wasn't focused on my personal brand

At some point, you know, you learn from others and you're blessed with great leaders and you're blessed with great mentors

And eventually, you know, I learned and figured it out that that is just as important as any

There are so many folks to this day, to this day, friends, colleagues, former partners who are absolutely brilliant brand marketing minds who do amazing things for their respective brands, but do not recognize or at least invest in their own personal brand

So that, you know, if anything, if there's one takeaway from today, I would hope to encourage others to, A, recognize that whether you like it or not, you have a personal brand and B, be intentional about it

Invest in it. Because it can take you to places that you've never been

Scott, you and I were talking, we've talked about this topic a lot, but you and I were talking prior to the call

And, you know, I said almost like tongue in cheek, like the very first handshake you deliver to someone, the words that come out of your mouth, the way you dress, all of that stuff contributes to or maybe you would suggest is your brand

Yes. Yeah? Yes. So tell us more. Like, how do you invest more in that

How do you invest more in that so that the brand is aligned with who you are, maybe

That's one. Or who you actually want to be, who you ultimately want to become

Yeah. The good news, bad news. The great news, bad news. The bad news is because of how we've become a digital world, there are so many more brand touchpoints

Okay? Right. Your logo everywhere. your social media channels, your website, all of your traditional marketing avenues

the handshake, how you answer the phone call, how quickly you respond to a service call

all of that. There are so many more touch points. That's the challenge, right

The great news is that you have so many more tools in the toolbox to attract new customers

to delight existing customers and take your B customers to A plus customers

So that the great news The opportunity is to recognize that those tools all of those tools in the toolbox need to have a strategy Okay So all of your brand you are clear on your brand and you are living your brand

intentionally every day, every touch point. That doesn't just happen organically. It doesn't happen

randomly in a positive way or in an integrated way. You have to be very strategic, very intentional

about it. And I say that, Colin, as a leader of a business or an organization's brand strategy

also as the leader of Scott Cross's brand strategy, my personal brand. So in so many ways

it's one and the same. Scott, I'm going to give you a story. So one of the folks we coach is a

financial advisor and he's on LinkedIn. In fact, he has 500 plus connections on LinkedIn

So you'd suggest maybe he's somewhat active on his profile. He doesn't have a picture

So it's like one of those like silhouettes. Yeah. And I said to him, so your brand to the person who

happens to look at your page is that you don't care too much about this platform or care too

much for this platform. He said, that's not true. I like LinkedIn. I think LinkedIn is really

valuable. I said, well, that's probably not what they think. If it's not what all 500 plus think

it's certainly what some of the 500 plus think because I know that's my first off. Yeah. That's so common and it doesn't need to be that way. Too many of us look at personal

branding as in a negative connotation. Some of us view personal branding as self-serving

or even egotistical or just fluff, right? I am who I am and my clients and my colleagues

they know who I am. Some do. Some don't, for sure, especially when it comes to

attract, becoming more engaging and relevant to new people, new audiences, new customers

new clients. I liken it, Colin, how that perception on personal branding to it's the

same reason why we didn't raise our hand in clicks. Number one, we don't want to look stupid

Right. Number two, we do not feel comfortable putting ourselves out there

And we don't want to be viewed as a show off or a know it all. Right. And that's really not what it's about

I understand that negative connotation, but that's really not what it's about

Back to your example. Do I, you know, putting a profile, putting a profile pic on my LinkedIn page

I understand that it may be outside my comfort level to put myself out there like that, but you need to look at it from the perspective of your best future client, your best future partner, your best future customer

Wouldn't they be more inclined to have a comfort level with establishing a connection with you if you are expressing yourself in a personal, authentic way

That's how you need to look at it, not from a self-serving standpoint, but what will help your personal brand resonate in the eyes and hearts and minds of your audience

Boy, that's a power statement there. That one's going to stay in there, Simon, to remember that when we're editing

But be intentional about it and know that your best or most ideal client is going to look at that

So what would all of those touch points look like? What would your profile pic be

What would it say below that profile pic? What kind of post would you do

What kind of clothes would you wear? So it's really a good thought. All right, Scott

So we're getting a little bit long on this one. Let me ask you this. So season two is all about selling yourself

Like making you do the things that you are intentional about being your best or you do the things that help you perform at your best

So from a I guess from like a personal motivation standpoint like what things can you be doing to be more intentional about building your brand so that you can actually be perceived as your best self Yeah The first and most important and I guess most uncomfortable step is to just sit down think

and put pen to paper, identify what you think makes you, you

Yeah, love that. Love that. Go ahead. I could ask 10 of Colin Lake's colleagues, clients, partners

What is it about working with Colin that makes him unique, makes him special, makes Colin Colin

Do you trust him? What makes you trust him? How do you feel when you interact with him

That's Colin Lake's personal brand. Not what you think it is. Not that logo to your left shoulder, Colin

It's how other people feel about interacting with you. That is your personal brand. So that's why I'm saying if you you need to be intentional about that

And part of step one literally is getting clear on what that is

And if you are not happy with looking in the mirror at what you see, the great news is you can change

you can get clear on what do I want to be known for? What do I want people to expect and count on

and trust they will get from me when we interact together, when we partner together

when we do business together? Get clear on that is step one. Step two is very simple

do it, express yourself, take action. How are you showing up every day? I'm avoiding the phrase

value proposition because I don't want to, I don't, I say that and I see the look in people's

eyes sometimes, even super savvy, experienced business folks, sales folks. But that's really

what it is. What makes us us? That's our value proposition. Now you can improve it, you can

develop it and you should every day, but you need to get clear on it and you need to take action

every day to live it. And that is the handshake column. That is how you answer the phone. That is

how you position your email. That is how you reach out to folks. That is how you interact with someone

at an event. Everything you are doing is creating an impression on everyone that you're interacting

and it better be intentional and connected to your value proposition, who you are, what makes you, you

or it's just random and completely outside of your control. So your opportunity is to take control

of how people feel about you, take control of your personal brand and be very, very intentional

and deliberate about it. Boy, that's awesome, Scott. I'm going to wrap it up with a thought

and I just want you to get ready to like where people should find you

where they should get connected with you. this is for anyone. If you're an entrepreneur, a salesperson, you're working in an IT department

at a big firm, whoever it is, I want you to hear this. The only thing unique about like your job

your role is you. It's like, if you're a salesperson, it's not your product. It's not your

it's not your website. Like all those things add to it, but it's you. You personally is what people

want to do business with. They want you. And so what Scott is teaching us here is to get that out

into the world, like get the us out into the world, the social media platforms that exist

allow that to happen in a way that we control the narrative. And it doesn't take too much to do it

which was a great lesson, Scott. So last word. And then how do they get in touch with you? How

do they find Scott Crossan? Yeah, you nailed it, Colin. It really is taking control, okay, of

you know, how others, what you're putting out to the world, what you're putting out to

folks that you mean to engage with and doing it in a very intentional and authentic way

For sure. You nailed it. And the great news is that it's not rocket science. You can do this

Anyone could do this and everyone should do this. I would be delighted to connect with anyone for

sure on this topic, on any topic by way of LinkedIn, all my contact information

That's the easiest way to connect with me. Yeah, there's Scott's LinkedIn

I would recommend it. I mean, this guy is so good at what he does. He's so thoughtful with the questions he asked and helping you decide or determine those

things and help you decide the right actions to forge your brand. So Scott Cross, and thank you and good selling everyone

Good selling, Colin