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Every B2B Brand Needs a Face
56 Plays6 years ago
Ever wonder why some B2B brands seem to be everywhere -- people talking about them, doing news stories, winning awards, speaking at conferences? While advertising and good marketing can go a long way, many of these brands have discovered the incredible value of putting a face (or faces) to their brands.
In this week's episode, VanillaSoft CMO Darryl Praill shares why B2B brands should cultivate executives, as well as other employees, to be visible thought leaders who share, speak, and advocate visibly on behalf of the brand. Everything can't just come from "the logo."
Darryl shares:
- How fear stops people from taking on the role of champion or spokesperson
- Why it's important for B2B companies to have visible champions and thought-leaders (hint: people like to buy from people they trust)
- His thoughts on entering VanillaSoft as the most public figure for the company and how putting a face out there has changed things for the company
- The importance of leading by example and grooming people to be ready to get on camera or speak and be visible on behalf of the company
- The magic of transforming the company "junk room" into the company's studio and hiring a media producer
- How you have to build personal rapport and influence with your brand's audience and how Darryl built his community of sales professionals and influencers when he started with VanillaSoft
- The power of being a bit of a contrarian on social media and video and why you need to have an opinion
- The importance of authenticity and using your personality to shine to build awareness for yourself and the brand
- How his wife helps him shine online
- What qualities and traits do employees need to be a competent and successful public thought-leader
- How powerful it can be to have public-facing spokespeople from a variety of departments -- tech, customer success, product marketing, and more -- to hit different audiences
- Why you HAVE to get your LinkedIn presence in order before you start looking for your next job
- Why he would never hire you for sales or marketing roles if you aren't active on LinkedIn
- How to help people rise to the challenge
- Why you can't put your eggs in one spokesperson's basket; cultivate multiple, capable people
- Steps he's taking to prevent over-saturation
- Some of the results that VanillaSoft has seen since amping up executive visibility
- What he would do if he weren't CMO of VanillaSoft and could do any job in the world
- A little sarcasm at the end because he still can't believe Stacy edits the show with GarageBand (he's slowly pushing us to advance our podcasting gear and tech)
If you'd like to get in touch with Darryl, connect with him on LinkedIn. He's always happy to share his thoughts and discuss ideas with others in the sales and marketing community.
The B2B Mix Show with Alanna and Stacy is brought to you by Jackson Marketing. Need help with your B2B online presence? Let's talk!
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome
Introduction to the B2B Mix Show
00:00:00
Speaker
to the B2B Mix Show with Elena and Stacey. Each week, we'll bring you ideas that you can implement in your own marketing strategy. We'll share what we know and advice from industry experts who will join us from time to time here on the show. Are you ready to mix it up? Let's get started. Hey there, this is Stacey Jackson. And I'm Elena Jackson.
00:00:25
Speaker
We're co-founders of Jackson Marketing. We're also sisters. And we're bringing you episode 13 of the B2B Mink Show. Alaina, what is today's episode about? Today we have a very special guest. Stacy
Meet Darryl Prell, CMO of VanillaSoft
00:00:40
Speaker
and I have known this person for almost two years now, and we are in touch almost daily. He's a friend and a mentor to us. His name is Darryl Prell. And he's the CMO of VanillaSoft, a sales engagement software leader.
00:00:53
Speaker
If you have not yet come across Darryl on social media or at a conference, then you're in for a treat. Darryl has over 25 years of experience spanning startups, restarts, consolidations, acquisitions, and divestments. He started his career off as a coder and ended up in marketing. He ran his own successful marketing agency, which led VanillaSoft to hunt him down and make him an offer he couldn't refuse.
00:01:18
Speaker
He's been the CMO of Vanilla Soft for almost a year and a half and has helped push the company to make some big wins for the brand. Sure, he's a marketing rock star, but Daryl does more than just sit behind a desk all day strategizing. He's also a guest lecturer and public speaker. You may have seen him in his famous blue jacket at one of the many conferences he's attended so far this year. If not, look for him at an upcoming conference such as Inbound 2019, MarTech East and more.
00:01:48
Speaker
I don't think the blue jacket is going to go away anytime soon because, let's face it, it's awesome.
00:01:53
Speaker
And it's not just us who think he's a terrific marketer. Daryl was recently named as one of the 19 B2B marketers to follow in 2019. So if you're not currently following Daryl, stop what you're doing right now and go check him out on LinkedIn and Twitter. And links to his profiles are gonna be found in our show notes. Daryl has some advice for companies that want to elevate their B2B brands. You've got to have a face to the brand. We aren't talking mascots, people.
00:02:22
Speaker
Brands need active and engaging champions out in front, evangelizing on behalf of the brand. And that's exactly what Darryl does. So Darryl, welcome to the B2B Make Show. I just want to know, like you got the check, right? I sent it to you before you crafted that to make sure you get it right.
00:02:41
Speaker
Oh, so listening to that, thinking to myself, you know, what's missing the book. I haven't got that published book yet. And they know that intro would have been better if you would have said, and best selling author. I got to work on that. I can't believe you guys can throw that in. Right. You can do a quick picture book, fact checks, these things anyway, you can self publish. I can self publish. Why not? I mean, there you go. I know one person who would buy it, but there's a candidate by my own book. I don't know. There we go.
00:03:09
Speaker
We can put your name on one of the eBooks. I like how you're thinking. What's fantastic. You guys are brilliant. There's a way to work it. There's always a way to work. I'm just thrilled to be on the marketing mix. I mean, you know, you often struggle in life and you built, you know, will I have success in my career? And early on, I thought to myself, if I was a guest in the marketing mix.
00:03:31
Speaker
then I will have made it. And today I'm a guest, so I have made it. I'm very excited. You know what? It's even more exciting because we actually changed the name of the show to B2B mix. Okay. I've grown. I'm not just marketing on B2B. That's awesome. Right. Exactly. So it's even doubly awesome. That's right. You're part of the new era. Am I the first guest on the B2B mix? You're
Understanding Sales Engagement
00:03:54
Speaker
the second. Oh, you know, second is for losers. That's what I've heard.
00:04:01
Speaker
Second is for first place in our hearts. Oh, that's it. Oh, my God. It's getting thick in here. Nice recovery. There we go. OK, Darryl. So we we know a little bit about you. Well, we know more than a little bit, I guess. But our listeners know a little bit about you now. Can you tell them a little bit about Vanilla Soft and what Vanilla Soft does?
00:04:23
Speaker
vanilla soft is a sales engagement platform. And since this is the B2B mix, I'll make some assumptions that you guys understand a little bit about technology and the technology stack. And I'll make it really simple because everybody likes to know, you know, well, you know, what does that mean? And where do you fit in my world? And so what I'll often tell people is, Hey, you have a tech stack? Well, of course you have a tech stack.
00:04:45
Speaker
I'm going to guess your tech stack is probably marketing automation where your marketers work and they live and they produce great content and inbound leads resulting in a marketing qualified lead in MQL. Yep. We have that. And I'm going to guess you then pass it over to sales, uh, who lives in their CRM, their customer relationship management tool, like a salesforce.com, for example. Um, and sales pursues your MQL. Yep. That's what we have. That's our stack right there. Fantastic.
00:05:13
Speaker
Well, the problem with that stack, if I look at the stats is that typically anything that marketing generates in the MQL front, when they pass it over that wall from marketing automation to the CRM sales will not follow up on 48% of the leads. And they'll only make about two call attempts or email or whatever it touches to try to follow up with that lead.
00:05:35
Speaker
If it's a new lead coming in, they should respond within the hour, but on average is a day and a half to two and a half days. Um, so that's bad. That's bad. Cause you spent all this money as a marketer and you know, 50% is going out the door. So, you know, and it's real simple. If you're a sales rep, I would say to you, do your reps cherry pick and there and go, Oh yeah. And if you're a marketing person, I would say to you, you know, are you tired of your leads being followed up on? Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. So we all know that we can all relate. That's our stack and that's our world.
00:06:05
Speaker
Sales engagement is all being the right tool for the right purpose, for the right role. What I mean by that is sales engagement fits between your marketing automation and your CRM. And what it does is that when you pass that MQL over the wall to the next player in your stack, you're going to pass it over to sales engagement.
00:06:25
Speaker
Sales engagement is where the sales development reps or the inside sales reps live. Their whole job in life is simply to qualify the sales, qualified the MQL. And they do that through a series of ongoing touches, email, phone, social video, wherever as many times as required as fast as possible. The classic playbook is seven touches in seven days.
00:06:50
Speaker
And the whole point is I'm trying to take that MQL and make it sales qualified. And once I know it's sales qualified, they've got budget, they've got authority, they've got need, they've got timeline. This is bad. This is awesome. It's SQL. They flip it over the wall to the CRM or the account executives or the PDRs.
00:07:07
Speaker
Then create the opportunity in the CRM, it pops on the forecast and they work the deal to a close. The beauty of sales engagement being in the middle is that we get rid of the problems with CRM, uh, that 48% thing. Um, because CRM is list space. People are living in lists all the time. You log in, you see a list, the list of my leads and I'm going to pick the ones I want to follow up on, ignore the rest.
00:07:30
Speaker
and sales engagement, you can't do that. We're gonna just force feed each rep the best lead to follow up on right now. And they cannot do anything until they deal with this lead right now. And by doing that, you're actually gonna make sure you follow up on 100% of your leads. You're gonna touch them as many times as required, six, eight, 10, 12, 14, 22, whatever it requires, using all the necessary and available channels available to you, email, phone, social.
00:07:57
Speaker
So that you actually take that, that MQL, turn it into an SQL and generate revenue. You will triple your, your actual pipeline, literally triple your pipeline just by doing this. That's spending a dime more in marketing program without hiring a single additional staffer. It's proven it's tried. It is the new stack. Awesome. That's the saying that David had come up with that CRM is for managing relationships and sales and engagement as we're starting them. I think Daryl actually came up with that.
00:08:26
Speaker
Oh, did Daryl come out? No, that actually was Steven Fulcrum. I just took credit for it, but it was actually his creativity. And David is the CEO of Vanilla Soft. All
The Role of Brand Champions
00:08:38
Speaker
right, folks, before we dig into this topic, we are going to take a quick break to hear from our sponsor. And we are back. All right, so let's get down to the nitty gritty. Are you ready?
00:08:56
Speaker
Bring it sister. So there are many growing companies that don't have a face to their brand, right? And a lot of them don't even have a visible champion. It's just a logo image that they see. So why do you think that is? And why is it important for those B2B companies to focus on having that face as a spokesperson?
00:09:20
Speaker
So what I think it is, I think, and I think it's changing. I think it's getting better, but what I think that these companies don't have a brand, a visible champion, I believe is the word you use. It's because we have a lot of really shy people. We have people who don't want to be in camera. We have people who aren't good in front of the camera. We have people who
00:09:38
Speaker
are unable to deliver a concise brief message that's compelling and understood we have people who are afraid to let the personality shine with people who are afraid of conflict because in social media have to be half the world will love what you say and half the world will spit on you. So for all those reasons you know no one wants to step up the other reason is no one wants to be held accountable what if i go online and i say something that is sounds good in the moment.
00:10:05
Speaker
But upon reflection was politically incorrect and therefore I have tarnished the brand that's bad alright so there's a lot of fear a lot of fear or insecurity some people viewed as vanity other people don't really add value they'll have no problem getting from a camera but they actually don't add value they just talk a lot.
00:10:28
Speaker
So I think to me, that's the reason why you have such reluctance for there to be designated spokespeople. Why is it important for them to have it? And that's pretty straightforward. I think people connect with people. It's as simple as that. You know, brands are interesting. You know, we value brands. I might drink Coke and I might buy Nike sportswear, but in the end, you know, if I,
00:10:54
Speaker
If I look at that brand and how I interface with them, there's going to be designated spokespeople that I follow on Twitter, I follow on social media, and that's what it is. People connect with people. And that's why you see even television commercials where there's always a spokesperson that you see over and over again. The Trevago guy, right? You know, we all know the Trevago guy, right? He's a visible spokesperson.
00:11:18
Speaker
And the reason people connect with people is because they want to trust, they want to establish a rapport relationship. I may or may not like Chavago and there's a lot of other options out there. You know, there's Expedia, there's hotels.com, there's all these other travel sites.
00:11:37
Speaker
But I like the Travago guy. So because I like the Travago guy, I just like him. I kind of liked the brand because the brand is him. You know, they put them in place. That must be what they're like there. They must be fun. I'm going to go to Travago and give them a chance for my business. That's exactly what it is. People establish bonds, trust, relationships, uh, they identify with, they connect with people. And if you don't have that, you're putting yourself at a massive disadvantage.
00:12:07
Speaker
Yeah. You mentioned, sorry, go ahead. Say, no, go ahead. No, no, some of it. You mentioned, um, that a lot of people are scared to, to get on video and maybe they don't have the confidence to do that. Uh, a few months ago, I think it was, I did that video where I put all my bloopers at the end. I think you guys remember that. And boy, were there a lot of. Yeah.
00:12:33
Speaker
But that generated some conversation and like Gavin Harris came on there and said, yeah, this has pushed me to do my video, which he has yet to do, which I have also bugged him about. But it gives them a sense of I don't have to be perfect all the time to put those videos out there. And I think you hit the nail on the head. A lot of people are scared of that. Yes. Yeah. And speaking of maybe hesitancy and being
00:13:00
Speaker
Scared maybe it's in the right word but hesitant vanilla soft before you got there really didn't have that spokesperson out there is that something that you expected to come in and have to be that person or were you looking.
00:13:14
Speaker
to install another person or encourage someone else to do that?
Video Marketing at VanillaSoft
00:13:20
Speaker
So good question. Um, I assumed it would be me only because I recognize the role needs to exist and I recognize Vino was off, wasn't doing it. So it wasn't like I was going to go on and say, okay, now I need to find me a, my first employee hire is going to be an out of work actor. You know, it,
00:13:40
Speaker
It wasn't that, uh, because I also recognized, you know, it's not just enough to have somebody who's, you know, shall we say the face of the, of the brand or the company, you know, they're on video or what have you, you know, the person's got to add value. Right. So, you know, if I were to hire an unemployed actor, they may be the world's best actor, but they, they, they just might really.
00:14:07
Speaker
Not connect or identify with what it is vanilla soft does because they don't have the background they don't they don't have the experience. In what it is we do maybe experience in sales for example so. I suspected it was going to be me but i'm always looking for for talent even now i've got multiple people that i'm grooming to to get more for the camera but it's taken time.
00:14:31
Speaker
And I think a lot of it was me leading by example, so they could see that, you know what? You can make mistakes. You can laugh at yourself. You can screw up. And, and if it's done with the right spirit, the right intent, the right, I guess, just a delivery that the audience will laugh with you. They won't, you know, they won't mock you or, or, or we're happy exactly. Like you said, it's exactly what you did, Elena, where you said, I put my bloopers at the end and I,
00:15:01
Speaker
Create a massive conversation because people look at that and what it is, is they relate. They go, Elena screwed up. I screw up. I'm not the only one that screws up. She screws up too. Cause she looked so good in that video. And then I realized that was just the art of editing.
00:15:17
Speaker
In fact, she's a, I mean, I thought I was bad. Holy smokes. She's a bigger screw up than I am. So, you know, I like her cause she screws up and I screw up, but then I feel better about myself cause she's bigger screw up than I am. So I'm okay. It's exactly what it is. And when you see that and you watch it, you go, Oh, cause so many people put so much pressure on themselves to perform, right? We've got one fellow in our company.
00:15:44
Speaker
He is an amazing individual. He is so.
00:15:48
Speaker
Brilliant on our product. He put them on a phone with a client or even on a video call with a client. He has missed a personality. He can drill down. He's incredible. I'm like, dude, you camera, let's go. I'm going to package you up. I put him in front of a camera and I asked him a simple question, you know, so why would I, what problem would I have if I was, uh, if, uh, if what problem would I be experienced
00:16:15
Speaker
experiencing that vanilla soft could be a good solution for just give me the top three problems i may be experiencing what what what what what he just went on and on and you can look at the lens and he was brutal and i'm like dude you're like mister personality and and and what he admitted he goes it's the camera.
00:16:32
Speaker
I'm in front of the camera and there's lights and I'm freaking out right now. Um, so I get that. And for the record, he is not a spokesperson for the company publicly. He's still on those phone calls. Um, but, but yeah, the answer to your question, long would it answer, I suspect that it was going to be me and I would have to lead by example. And the other part was.
00:16:55
Speaker
Handily, I knew I needed to teach the people here at the company how, how you can do it. Um, that was huge. So one of the first things we did on that front, you know, as we had this room, that was, uh, this, this, for lack of better word, it's an office space. Um, that wasn't being used. It was full of, of just stuff.
00:17:17
Speaker
You know whenever you didn't know what were to throw this empty box throw it in that room and it was just it was you know what's what's her name mary what's her face the organizer she would have condo yes she would've she would've walked away from this room that's how bad it is like a junk drawer but it's a junk room junk room.
00:17:35
Speaker
And i'm like what's up with this remote that's the junk room right and is anybody know what's the junk room i do we need this junk no it's a junk room. Great we're getting rid of the junk room will hire this out call one hundred got junk get it out and i'm taking it over and i turn it into a studio my boss is like we need a studio for. Now as a marker you go really.
00:17:58
Speaker
But candidly, that's a legit question. And it's just, it's just a lack of familiarity. I'm like, you need a studio because video is king.
00:18:07
Speaker
And it's also my brand and I need a space that I can have cameras and lights so that we're well lit, we're well spoken. You know, it's all wired up and it's always set up so that when I am inspired to go do a video or to go do a recording on the B2B mix show that I can physically just hop in, sit down and everything's there.
00:18:28
Speaker
Um, and he was like, okay. Like he trusted me, but I don't think he really trusted me because I was still new. And then, you know, a few months later, he was like, Oh, I get it. I get it now. Right. Cause he watched it. Um, but in a sec, even when we, you know, about six months ago, I hired, um, I hired my first full time video guy until that point in time.
00:18:53
Speaker
I was the chief marketing officer and I was the video producer and I was the video editor and I was this and I was that, right? So out of necessity. So when we were doing our budgets last year, I had my head count down and one of the positions was in a full-time media producer. And this is probably last September.
00:19:12
Speaker
And my CEO is like, Dara, what are you? Really? We need, we need this? Like, like, cause in his world, as far as he concerned sees all the videos are just magically appearing and he has no idea what's going on for the, you know, that Dara was working at eight o'clock at night every night.
00:19:27
Speaker
And I'm like, yeah, he's like, why I said, you know, we're getting such momentum and my bandwidth is getting less and less. I said, I now am at a point that I need to be able to just simply to walk in when it's, you know, 30 seconds before production starts, sit down, do my video, shoot my audio, my recording, whatever. And when it's done, get up and walk out the door and go on to my next task, knowing
00:19:50
Speaker
That somebody is taking care of, you know, they're getting the audio, they're getting the video, they're doing the editing, they're posting it to the various channels and I don't have to worry about it.
00:19:59
Speaker
And he was like, okay. So then fast forward two months, I went back to him as in November and I said, uh, okay, I'm ready to hire now. I'm ready to hire that position. And it was so funny cause you know, he had again, so now because he was aware of it, cause I positioned it, he was watching me more. And, uh, and, and so his reaction now was w went from being, you know, again, why do you need this to being, oh my gosh, yes, you, you totally need this position. Like, you needed that a month ago. And I'm like, you think so.
00:20:27
Speaker
All of that transpired simply because people are always watching you and until they see how it's done and why it's done until they experience the consequences of doing it. They just don't know and it's nobody's fault is just a lack of merely.
00:20:44
Speaker
And I got to tell you, I was super excited when we heard that you were coming on with Vanilla Soft. We started looking you up and seeing, I'm like, Oh, he does video. I really want to get some more video in here. And I was so excited. And then you came in and you just took it like a boss. You just took over it and have just created this brand for Vanilla Soft that has just taken them to different levels because of the having that champion in the spotlight.
00:21:12
Speaker
Now, but you came from more of a marketing background and had more of a marketing audience. So how did you take it to get your name in the company out there and start picking up the traction with the salespeople? So this is a really good question because many of us are artisans with our craft. You know, you may be a rock star marketer, um, and then you start working for a company and you don't know anything about their product or the technology.
00:21:41
Speaker
But you're a marketer. So now you have to learn how to apply your skills to, you know, to their space. Um, and then, and I was no different to your point, Atlanta. Um, you know, uh, yes, I was active already on LinkedIn. I wasn't by any stretch of the imagination prolific. It was just, you know, what I would call, I was, I was periodical periodically. I would post something and as the mood struck because it's, I was a busy guy and my connections were primarily marketing.
Expanding Influence and Reach
00:22:09
Speaker
My audience here is my target audience. My customers are primarily sales or sales and marketing, but I didn't have the sales. So to your point, I had to get the sales. And the first part was just identifying, you know, who were the influencers. And it's so funny because, you know, people always say,
00:22:28
Speaker
Okay, so first thing I did, you identify the influencers, then you got to connect with them and you got to really engage with them. And I'm like, okay, let's go do this, man. So how do I identify the influencers? So like, I'm on like a BuzzSumo and everything else, looking for all the keyboard sales or sales engagement or sales development. And yeah, you get a list of influencers. They have 80,000 followers. They have 10,000 followers, you know, blah, blah, blah. Okay.
00:22:51
Speaker
You see some names, but again, you're new to the space. You don't know, you know, Adam from Eve. Um, what it really took me cannily was just getting involved in a lot of sales conversations on LinkedIn and watching, uh, following people. Um, and it's kind of like a, um,
00:23:10
Speaker
a game of, uh, uh, of snakes and ladders only, right. You know, you, you say, Oh, that person looks like they know they're talking about someone to follow them. Okay. So now, now, now, who does that person look up to? Who do they, when they respond to, Oh, you're like Keenan. Oh, Keenan. Who's Keenan? Let's go. Yo. So he's snakes. Now I'm going to go up the ladder. Keenan. Okay. So there's Keenan. Okay. So Keenan Keenan, he's a player. He's a bigger player. Okay. And let's follow him. And who does, who does, who does Keenan look up to? Oh, he, he liked very good. I mean, who the hell's there? I mean, okay. They're open and go up again. They're the mean.
00:23:39
Speaker
And it took months to figure out the players and follow them and start posting on some of the stuff. I did a couple of things to answer your question. Once I kind of got a lay of the land was I made sure that my posting
00:23:58
Speaker
with those individuals stood out. So I'll use Keenan. Keenan will post something and it'll be good. You know, if I posted it, I'd get 10 comments. He posted, he gets a thousand comments.
00:24:14
Speaker
We're both saying the exact same thing, but he's Keenan. He's a, he's Keenan. And so, um, just everybody's like, oh, Keenan. And so everybody goes, um, and goes, yeah. And you see of those thousand comments, 990 of them are like, you rock Keenan, love you and add no value.
00:24:35
Speaker
You know, so why bother if this is my attitude, right? You're just noise. So I was the guy, you know, if I agree with him, like, yeah, no, give it a like or whatever. I'd say something, but usually what I did was I picked my spots to say, I don't agree. Or I think you're only party, right. And I'd be the guy that would go in there and say, um, love what you're saying here and here.
00:24:55
Speaker
So I know I'm validating him not to be an ass, but I disagree with you here and here. And this is why, and this is my take. How do you respond? And so being that, that contrarian helped me, uh, stand out, you know, they may never have commented on me or they may give me a cursory. Oh, thanks, Darryl and move on. But over time, three, four or five, six months, uh, they began to know who I was.
00:25:22
Speaker
Well, I imagine for someone like Keenan too, they have a raving audience of fan girls and boys who probably, you got their juices going. So it got a lot of conversation going anyway. Yes. And the part was really interesting is that when you comment on something like a Keenan, well, you don't ever realize cause they're, they're this, the vast majority of people on social media are lurkers. They don't say Jack squat.
00:25:46
Speaker
But they see that I argue with Canaan and they actually liked my argument. And so they start following you and, and you know, they were to melt through their body. Hey, check out Darrell. Um, and before you know it, you've got this silent army of people who are following you and you're oblivious to them, just oblivious, but they know who you are. Um, so that, that was, you gotta understand that the next thing I did was we started producing content.
00:26:10
Speaker
Anna and i would love your guys take on this because this is part of the conversation you guys love the idea and then i think after a while you guys got scared with what i was doing which was i have no problem picking a fight. You know we'll call it a debate but it was a fight right and i know i know it's hard to believe but but this was intentional this wasn't just because there is a.
00:26:34
Speaker
contrarian. Maybe he is. Um, and maybe that's his personality, but this was a thousand percent intentional. So I would look for content where somebody would say, uh, what's the color of the dress blue or gold. And you'd have a thousand comments and half would say blue and half would say gold. And I would look at that and go on. There's no clear winner here because the audience is split. The man does everybody have an opinion.
00:27:00
Speaker
So I would go back to the person who posted it, you know, John Doe was the person who posted it and I would reach up to them and I would say, John Doe, you and I should have a debate. And you'd be picking blue and I'd be picking gold and we'll have the great, you know, argument and we'll get everybody who's emotionally attached to this argument to attend.
00:27:20
Speaker
And that did wonders for initial reach. And this, now this is, this is really important. We're going to say that did wonders for getting us a spike. The reason, in my opinion, would love your thoughts. The reason in my opinion, we were able to not just spike and drop again was because when we do these debates.
00:27:44
Speaker
We actually bring solid, credible stats, facts, and arguments to back us up. So if I'm in a fight with Keenan, everybody's like, Keenan's going to mop the floor with Darryl. And then they watch us go back and forth. And afterwards they're like, Keenan didn't mop the floor with Darryl. In fact, Darryl got in some really good shots and Keenan was staggering. Darryl was a little smarter than I knew. I got to follow Darryl.
00:28:09
Speaker
Yeah, you come in prepared. It's not like you're just using the internet famousness of someone to get some registrations. You're actually prepared for these conversations. Yeah, and I think the first one was the Dan Disney one, right? That was the first big debate, and that was a huge one.
00:28:30
Speaker
And you came in and I think most everybody came on thinking, oh, Dan Disney, it's social selling where it's modern daytime in the business world. There's no way cold calling has any leverage. And you came in and dropped all these stats and you really held your own on these conversations. And I think a lot of people were like, what? Yeah, maybe cold calling is good. Yeah.
00:28:57
Speaker
And that was, to me, that was what was the start of the, of, of really our growth. And we've had, we've had staggering growth. I mean, you, you folks stays in Atlanta, you guys are, are social media savants yourself. You've worked with a lot of the other social media players in the space who themselves are social media rock stars. So you, you know, of what you talk when it comes to this.
00:29:21
Speaker
And I think we've had a lot of growth because of that. Now the last thing, so there's couples. All right. So we kind of got the lay of the land. Then we started connecting with the influencers. Then we reached out and did live, you know, debates and webinars and seminars and live streams with these guys. We were prepared. That was that, that was really important. So now we were street cred. The last thing was, and this is what I hear over and over again. And this is the heart of this is possibly the hardest part because you can do everything I just said with no problem.
00:29:50
Speaker
The last part of the magic formula I would, I would contend was your personality. Yes. So the, the feedback I get from people is they like me because they find I am and it's an interesting one because the feedback I get is that you're direct Daryl and you're, you can be like really direct, but it's direct and it's substantive.
00:30:17
Speaker
And it's not malicious, but then you can be funny and you can be engaging and you can be self-deprecating and you can pick on them. You can make us giggle. Now I'm not saying you need to do that. What I'm trying to say is.
00:30:32
Speaker
I have somehow, myself, managed to create a personality mix that was somewhat unique in the area I'm in that resonated with a broader audience. If I was just a statistician spewing stats, I would be referenced a lot, but I wouldn't necessarily be
00:30:48
Speaker
invited to a lot of speaking gigs, right? But they wouldn't include me. Um, and if I was just, you know, a negative Nelly, then they would just completely discount me. Even if I had a big brand, I think, I think the ability to connect with every person to, to be approachable and humble. And then, and then to be that, to be that country and to be that bold,
00:31:14
Speaker
when required, you know, uh, using it carefully, um, works well. The funniest part, the biggest feedback I get everywhere I go when we talk about social media, and I love this because it just shows you can't plan anything.
00:31:33
Speaker
My wife, God bless her, she is the antithesis of me. She is not into technology. She does not have a LinkedIn account. She just rolls her eyes to me. She's an interior designer, has her own business. She refuses to let me market her because she doesn't want to have that much business.
00:31:52
Speaker
And so she's up to me so what i have done on occasion where relevant is we'll go for a walk or have you and i'll pull the camera out and i'll just interview her on something that's. Relatable to the everyday person you know i'm most recent answer video i said you know.
00:32:09
Speaker
Uh, social media said, what would, what would your reaction be? If somebody on social media, Facebook, whatever, um, came to you and wanted to connect with you. And instead of saying, Hey, Tracy, let's connect. It would be, Hey, Tracy, um, can I have 15 minutes in your calendar? You know, let's connect and can I have 15 minutes in your calendar to talk about your quarterly objectives? I said, what would your reaction be? And she's like, I don't know who these people are. I'd say, get the hell out of here. And I would say, go away.
00:32:37
Speaker
That was one of my favorite videos. And then I said, we're okay. Fair enough. I said, now what if they said, Hey, let's connect. And they said, and, and, and, you know, okay, connect. And then they engaged with you in conversation for the next month or two. And then to, you know, two months or whatever later, they say, Hey, Tracy, great talking. Listen, I've got this solution that, you know, watching you and I think maybe it's a good fit for you.
Authenticity in Social Media
00:32:58
Speaker
Would you be willing to give me 10 minutes so I can tell you about it.
00:33:01
Speaker
What would you do? And she says, well, then I'd probably, I'd probably give him 10 minutes because I become their friend and I'd say, okay. And then I, you know, so then I, the whole point I did that interview was to say, people stop asking for meetings on initial connection requests. Here's a normal person, not me, a normal person. And this is how they think. So I've done a grand total of two videos with my wife and I post videos, not stop just two.
00:33:29
Speaker
Everywhere I go, I love your wife. Your wife is like amazing. I love, I love your wife. It's the first thing I get, not stop. Hey, are you Dara pro? Yes. I love your wife. So my wife clearly is the real rock star. And, but the point I want to ask people, why do you know, what is, what about it?
00:33:50
Speaker
My wife, is it that you like? And the answer is interesting. They said, because it makes you Darryl approachable. We don't hear you preaching, preaching, preaching product. We're seeing you, we're seeing you in your family life. We're seeing you. So that's the really the secret to growth and visibility and brand name recognition. It's just be authentic, you know, be, be you. People will connect with you no matter what shape, size, or color you are. If you're just you, everybody can connect to something about you because we're all human.
00:34:18
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's really important. I think where some people kind of go off the rails is they try to be Daryl or they try to be Keenan or they try to be so-and-so and it just falls flat. Yeah. And it's like they're trying too hard. Yes. And that's not being authentic. Right. That's, that's posing and never pose. And a lot of people can't get beyond that. They don't know how to be authentic. They're in front of the camera. They're in front of that mic.
00:34:46
Speaker
They fall back on a crutch of I'm uncomfortable where I'm at. So I'm going to channel my inner Tony Robbins and that's what I'm going to be. And, and, and, or I'm going to, you know, channel my inner Keenan and our channel, whatever. And, and, and that's what I'm going to be. Cause I know them, I'm going to emulate them. People smell that up pretty fast. That might be, that might get you one or two good hits. Then after a while they go, this person isn't the real deal. And then you fall to the wayside.
00:35:13
Speaker
So we learned a little bit about your personality and how that has played into the whole process of creating your followers and getting a bigger voice for Vanilla Soft. But what kind of person do you think should be the face of a brand? Like what traits and social savviness should they have? Do you think that it needs to be an executive? What, aside from who you are, because you have like the full package, you've got the funny, the I'm going to be blunt, you know, just all of that in it.
00:35:42
Speaker
What should the company look for in somebody that's going to be a face?
00:35:45
Speaker
I think it comes down to the role. I look at a company like Gong, Gong.il, they do conversational analytics. Their rockstar is Chris Orlop, if I recall his name, and Chris is a product manager. So here with the face of the company is a product manager. They're not a director, they're not a VP, they're not a CC level, they're a product manager. And he, as a product manager, he's all about the product. So he's always spewing off stats and facts as they
00:36:14
Speaker
You know, analyze all the transactions that are taking place on their platform. That makes sense. That's product related. So it's being true to your role. He's a product manager. I'm a marketing guy. So by default, you know, and you could say the same thing about a salesperson. I'm supposed to be a little more out there. Um, you don't need to be an executive.
00:36:37
Speaker
You just need to connect with your audience. That's really it. If my financial controller wanted to get really big in video, I would say knock yourself out and you should focus on ROI and financial related matters as comes down to sales. You should not be talking about coding because that's not what you do, right? And you would get
00:37:04
Speaker
an audience and they would love what he have to say. And he could become the go-to guy quoted about all things financial related. It could be, you know, SaaS company, you know, metrics. It could be whatever. It could be the art of collecting overdue payments and how do you handle upset customers when you process their credit card and you shouldn't have all these wonderful stuff that are finance related he could do and that's his role. So I think you just need to find people in your organization.
00:37:33
Speaker
That are up to the challenge and in serving need you know so for example for me. We're actually now trying to grow other people in the company to be spokespeople and i would love you know i designate a person from the tech support team.
00:37:48
Speaker
So they got always just talk about the product and the challenges and issues and nonstop and maybe the go to face from a support side and that that humanizes the company and that also makes people feel better. I had that problem. Everybody else has a problem. I feel so better. I feel like a moron and there's a solution. Isn't that fantastic? You're awesome. So
00:38:08
Speaker
Similarly, I'd want to have somebody from the success team. So our success team, they really make sure that if you're an established user, that you, we, we take your usage, you know, uh, savvy, if you will, to the next level, you become like a superstar user, you know? And so they, they're, they're exposed to not the day to day tech support issues of this doesn't work. They're like, you've got it working now. What if you can make it work even better? What if you could do this or if you could do that?
00:38:33
Speaker
novel, innovative applications of the tool that you might not even have thought about, but if you hear it, you go, wow. You know, so just people in the company having roles and speaking, we will all hit different audiences. There will be some overlap, but not a lot. And that's huge.
00:38:50
Speaker
So maybe even advice for today's job seekers are to cultivate those skills because there could be a role for you at the next company you go to where you need to be able to get in front of the camera, talk or speak in public because it seems like it's becoming a more important skill set with video and podcasts and everything growing.
Career Visibility on LinkedIn
00:39:11
Speaker
Over 60% of people, when they hear your name, we'll go to LinkedIn first. That's a fact it's proven. And, and, and you can imagine in the hiring circles of HR recruiters, that number is dramatically higher. I'm hiring multiple positions right now. I've been inundated with the resumes. The first thing I do every single time, this is literally the first thing I do. Uh, I, I, I, I look at the resume and I don't even open the first page. I was looking for, okay, do they have to elicit their content information? Do they have LinkedIn? Okay. Well, they do. All right.
00:39:38
Speaker
LinkedIn search for elena jackson okay what do we got how many contacts you have was the last time you posted what are you saying. Who you connected with you know be personalized your actual link what's your profile as you look like an investment time. I'm going if you can't even get linked in no matter what your role is in marketing. Then you're you're not a marketer you don't get it end of story i was with a colleague of the day.
00:40:06
Speaker
And we're talking, uh, and he's a chief operating officer of a large company and we were out for, uh, adult beverages catching up. And, uh, we're talking about sales. Just, you know, sales, you know, how's your sales, how's your sales, blah, blah, blah, blah. Hey, I met this guy. This guy is a rock star. That's what he's saying to me. Have you heard of this guy? Well, who is he? He's so and so. So up comes the app and we're using them and, and, oh my gosh. And I have a pull up his app and here he is. Oh, I said, I'm actually connected with him. That's really weird. I.
00:40:32
Speaker
I didn't recognize the name but i'm first connection and i'm looking at i'm looking at i'm looking at i'm going. Has he never posted on linkedin like like literally i'm not seeing a single post because no he's never posted he's not into that and i'm like i would never hire him and he's like why not i i i said he's a sales you know rockstar.
00:40:54
Speaker
Who clearly does not understand social selling and that's one of the three main channels. It's getting stronger and stronger and stronger. He has no credibility with me. Have you seen his wins? He's built teams to 70 to a hundred to 200 people. I said, you know what? That's great. Again, he doesn't understand social media wouldn't hire him. And that's the truth.
00:41:15
Speaker
So yes. And especially because more than half of, especially for tech companies, more than half of sales are going to come from digital by 2020 is what Adobe has said. So how can you not be on social? I fully agree.
00:41:30
Speaker
And like they'll run across marketing directors and CMOs and marketing managers where they are not doing anything on LinkedIn. They have like 50 connections, no pose. And it is so baffling to me. It just is. Yes. Yeah. That's weird. You know, I always ask people, you know, they'll say, well, I'm not into that.
00:41:51
Speaker
I'm like, dude, this is not about you being into that, you know, like before I got this job, I could argue I wasn't into that, but I knew enough to make sure that I at least spent a few hours making my profile look good. And I keyword stuffed everything because I never knew what that next.
00:42:08
Speaker
client is gonna come from or the next recruiters gonna come from brand new how they're gonna do it they were doing through a keyword search they're gonna do it through. Once they found me in a keyword search never gonna go and they're gonna do exactly what i said you know how many connections you know how many recommendations you know what companies has he worked out what what has he done you know what what what what's he all about i said. This is about investing in you and your career you don't need to be me you don't need to be social media prima donna.
00:42:39
Speaker
but you need to invest in you. And if you don't even take time to invest in you, wow, that's saying something about your commitment to your career and your craft. Right. And it's kind of scary when you think about it. It is. And right about now, everybody's going, Oh sugar, when was the last time?
00:42:59
Speaker
I still work at the same job. I quit 10 years ago. Yeah, exactly. So if you're one of those people who are not happy with what I just said, I apologize, but Hey, there's, you know, I'll tell you this. I wrote a post on this. When I overhauled my LinkedIn profile not too long ago, it was one Christmas. I was at home and I knew I needed to update it. Probably hadn't been updated for like six or seven years.
00:43:21
Speaker
I'm like, I got to finally do it. I spent like eight bucks and got an ebook. I read it in an hour. And then I spent the next day, actually, you know, slowly updating all the stuff the ebook said. And that was, that was it. I did that over my holidays. And, you know, I recently actually had it, it audited. There was a show we were at where our good friends, Ben Grosso were, uh, were offering, Hey, we'll audit your LinkedIn profile. And they audited mine. And they actually asked me, did we do your profile?
00:43:51
Speaker
And I'm like, no, it's awesome. And I'm like, thank you.
00:43:55
Speaker
Yeah, that's how I praise from those guys. Yes. That was from my good, talented friend, Viveka van Rosen. And she was like, there's nothing I can say to tell you to fix this. Right. And I spent eight bucks, eight bucks on an ebook. And that's all I did guys. So if this doesn't have to be scary, that's why you have the ebook. They'll tell you what to do. This doesn't have to be hard. You just have to make it a priority. It's in your own best interests, both for you and your employer. Trust me on that one.
00:44:24
Speaker
So what should a company do? Say they don't have someone identified, but maybe somebody in the company is very eager to be that person, the brand picture, but they're not the right fit. How should they kind of tackle that situation?
00:44:42
Speaker
They're not the right fit because they're ugly. Um, because they're not articulate because they're not, they're not knowledgeable enough. Maybe articulate would be the thing because you could train, I guess you could train people to be a better speaker though. Maybe. Yeah, you absolutely can. And, uh, and, and I'm proof that you don't have to be good looking to still have some success. So, uh,
00:45:04
Speaker
To me, I think you, you have to get your chops under you. So be, so if, if we're of the opinion that perhaps they're not ready to be on video because they're not articulate or they don't have enough substance yet.
00:45:16
Speaker
Then what I would challenge them to do would be, uh, let's build up the video and let's do some written posts. Uh, let's watch you debate. So let's have the back and forth. Let's do some written content. Let's, in other words, let's build up that depth of knowledge. And there's nothing like building up a depth of knowledge by forcing you to write eBooks and white papers where you're forced to research and learn it. Um, so do some of that because especially a research, like if you look at anything I talk about half of my, my.
00:45:46
Speaker
half of my statements, my declarations, what have you, are literally based on research I've read and internalized from other thought leaders. They're not my own thoughts. You know, like I did one just the other day on how bad this person's landing page was because they had 10 required fields. Right. And, and I knew it was bad, but I knew I couldn't go and just post that and say, this is bad. So, you know, I went and just.
00:46:12
Speaker
I just did a wonderful thing called Google. I did a search on, you know, best practices for landing pages and I got the stats and then I, and I said, no, this is bad because the stats say this and their conversion rates are going to suck because the stats say this. Right. Um, so I would have them focus on the written word and the back and forth written in exchange because what you're going to watch in that and the written exchange of social media, it's really easy to, to, uh, quickly, uh,
00:46:42
Speaker
drop down the basic instincts and say, well, you suck. Will you suck more? You know, and it becomes a name calling thing, right? It takes much more finesse and experience to say, I hear what you're saying and I respect your point of view, but you know, as a pattern counterpoint, have you considered X, Y and you know, Z. Um, so try to knock an emotional and actually be intelligent about it. Once I've seen that, then, then give them some harmless video to start with, uh, maybe promoting an event.
00:47:11
Speaker
Hey, we're going to be, you know, this show, I'm going to speak with A and B and C are going to be there. Love to see it. And then, you know, see how that goes and how the reactions are and then, and then have them perfected. And then you can eventually unleash the hounds and give them the really meaty stuff and let them, you know, engage with the industry thought leaders on, you know, is the dress blue or is the dress gold?
00:47:33
Speaker
One thing that's interesting to us is if you've got somebody that's really been the star of the show, really out there getting the name made for the company, what do you do if that person leaves? I mean, obviously you've already talked about how you're trying to encourage other people in the company. So I assume there's some kind of succession planning. You should have a place or just a culture of employee advocacy.
00:47:59
Speaker
Yeah. So if I do my job right before I leave, and if I'm leaving because I'm just ticked off because they've screwed me. Um,
Handling Increased Visibility
00:48:07
Speaker
and I just like, that's it. I'm out here and I'll screw you back. I'm out the door. Uh, and it's all heated and emotional. Then, you know, it's hard to anticipate for that. But if I'm doing my job right as a, as the leaders of the company should be anticipating, um, that there's going to be turnover, right? Cause the irony is more visible, you get.
00:48:28
Speaker
suddenly you start getting calls and you know emails and hey no just wondering if you know of anybody who might fit this opportunity you know profile, nudge nudge wink wink if you know anybody you know that they should, they can reach out to me because we're hiring this and it's a really fat paycheck and if you know anybody you should let us know. So when you get more visible you get more of those so you are more vulnerable to be poached.
00:48:53
Speaker
Um, the leadership should be making sure that there is more than one. That's it. That's the first thing. And now, and, but then I would go one step further, whoever the individual is, who's the spokesperson should themselves be creating a line of succession. Um, so that there's other people there, uh, back literally six months ago, I went into my CEO's office, David, and I said, I have some concerns and he's like, what? I said, my concern is, is, is that I'm getting oversaturated.
00:49:22
Speaker
And I need to have, there needs to be less of Daryl and we need more people. And so, so now, uh, like I said, we are grooming some people and we're going through the exact process that we were just talking about to get them ready. They've got, they've got nice gear. Now they've been practicing some voiceovers. Uh, they're on video gear, they're practicing video. They haven't gone out there yet, but we're building up to that. We have a, we have a plan in place.
00:49:51
Speaker
And conversely, I'm already hiring people with that in mind. Again, I'm hiring a position. I was in an interview yesterday where I was with this individual and I was explicit. I said, I'm looking for a mini-me. I don't want you to be me. I want you to be you. But I need another person who can get on the video, who can get on social and hold their own.
00:50:14
Speaker
is that of interest to you because that's a big part of this is a big part of the job and if that scares you away then you're probably not with the right fit so i was looking from that from the get go in and that's a change before but i was looking to the have the raw skills right where now it's like.
00:50:32
Speaker
not do you have the skills but do you have the where with all the desire the capability to engage this medium to reach our audience i have a question about the results that you've seen so you've been speaking at.
00:50:47
Speaker
a buttload of conferences lately and doing all different kinds of webinars, podcasts, everything. You're, you're everywhere. So have you seen, do you think that that is as a result of your being having more of an executive level visibility for the company? Does that play, do you feel like that plays a big part into it? And what have the results been for the company? Right.
00:51:09
Speaker
So I can speak to the results. Um, you guys probably better answer to give, to espouse what you think the, the answers to the first question. I would love to hear it.
00:51:20
Speaker
In the results side, what I can tell you is a couple things. If I look at, so I started with the firm in January and September 2017, when the first thing I did was make sure we start tracking stats and all that wonderful stuff, which they were doing, but of course I wanted to overhaul it. So we looked at the stats from January 2018 to January 2019.
00:51:41
Speaker
And depending on the programs we're doing, on average in that one year period, when I compared year over year, we were anywhere from three to four times the volume of leads that were generated in the previous year. So in that one year, in that 12 months, whether it be webinar leads or trade show leads or what have you, inbound leads, depending on the channel, it was three to four times more.
00:52:07
Speaker
So was that a result of Daryl talking a lot and listening to himself speak and being a dick on social media or what have you? I think it all adds up. It's really hard to measure the impact of public speaking and of social media.
00:52:27
Speaker
Um, but similarly, I can look at the sheer volume of content that's been shared. I can look at the engagement levels. So, you know, we recently did a webinar on webinars. And one of the things we shared in that webinar on webinars was how we produce webinars. And, you know, we started our first, it was in December, 2017. So, and we had, you know, like eight people show up. We might've had, you know, 25 people register, give or take.
00:52:50
Speaker
And now it's not uncommon for us to be 800, 1000 people attending our webinars. So what happened in that timeframe? Is that simply because our content got better? Well, no, it's because our reputation got better. So now when we
00:53:07
Speaker
And our reach got bigger and further and our, and our influence grew stronger. So now when we say we're doing this thing, um, people are like, yeah, I'm signing up because it's just, it's vanilla soft. It's terrible. Um, you know, when we began the webinars, we had a bank borrow and plead with people, please, please, please be on our show. We like you please.
00:53:28
Speaker
Whereas now we have people coming to us all the time saying, Hey, dude, how can I be on your show? Right. Um, and we get, we get to, we get to pick, you know, so when I go for the big names, you know, he and I just did a webinar a couple of weeks ago. Um, you know, I,
00:53:43
Speaker
There's no pushback. You know, I just, I was talking to a fellow named Matthew Pollard a couple of days ago and he was, he sought me out. We were at a conference. He sought me out and he knew who I was. And I know Matt Matthew as well, but I'd never met him before. And he's like, dude, what can we do? What can we do? Right? So we did a video where we're at the show and I'm like, let's do a webinar. And he goes, okay, so here's the name of my admin. He goes, we get asked all the time. He goes, when you mail her, I don't know if we were talking and we'll make sure you get the top of the list.
00:54:12
Speaker
That wouldn't have happened a year ago, but here's the real big kicker. You know, the only advice I can give you, you gotta be patient. You know, from the get go, we had a long game plan. I told this to my fellow executives. I told this to my team, you know, the first few things times we do something, whether it's on social, whether it's a webinar or it's something in piece of new piece of content, I expect zero results and I expect it to only be a learning lesson so we can get better from there.
00:54:39
Speaker
But I do expect in six or 12 months from now, we're going to be kicking ass. And if we're not, we haven't done it right. So, you know, be gentle on yourself, but the, and then I guess the last piece of advice that would give you is be really, really, really consistent.
00:54:55
Speaker
So, you know, we do two webinars a month for two different audiences and the second Tuesday and the fourth Tuesday. And it's always the second Tuesday and the fourth Tuesday. It's not Maduro's schedule for me. It's the second Tuesday and the fourth Tuesday because my audience gets used to it being the second Tuesday and the fourth Tuesday. Just like my podcasts are always the same time, they get used to that. So you want to kind of train and condition them and then, and they look forward to it with anticipation because it's predictable because you're consistent.
Sustaining Digital Strategy and Momentum
00:55:22
Speaker
Um, that's harder to do than it sounds, but that's, that's what's necessary. Yeah. I agree that it's, it's like a whole digital strategy is not just the one thing. Cause we've done so many pillar pages. We do blogs on a regular basis. We've got the podcasts. We do social. I mean, we're doing so many different things as part of the digital strategy and your videos play into that as well. You're.
00:55:49
Speaker
your personality being that voice of the brand. And I think all of those put together has just created buzz and excitement around vanilla soft that we didn't have before. And I think that that has really been something that has moved the needle on, on what's happening.
00:56:06
Speaker
Well, you know, you want good examples of that to inspire and incent the people who are listening. You know, when I was named recently, um, one of the top 19 markers to fall on 2019, I was on, I was in a car driving from San Francisco from show. I just finished to San Jose to a show I was just going to. And, and it came across in an, in a Twitter mansion, uh, I got tagged and I'm like, what the hell, what the hell is this?
00:56:29
Speaker
I had no idea i zero knowledge i was even being considered you know today today is a good case in point. I know i'm i'm i'm doing my own thing and you know we've got software that mentions for media mentions and boom up comes a media mention and hub spot hub spot.
00:56:45
Speaker
little hot spot small little company name does you know one of the top ten sales management tools in twenty nineteen. You know again i had no idea this was coming so how you know how is it we've been around since two thousand and five. And none of the stuff has happened previously but now it's just like it's becoming you know every other day it's like we're on another list where other podcasts where another directory we're being asked to participate here speak there.
00:57:11
Speaker
It is the long game. It is momentum and it is a snowball and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. My biggest fear though, candidly is how do you sustain? That is what keeps me up at night is how do I sustain? How do I, it's kind of like, you know, think of your favorite TV sitcom. It's a great sitcom for the first year or two. And then after a while, well, you know, it's always going to be there. And if I miss one this week, an episode, it's no big deal. And then before you know it, it's like, Oh, it's off the air.
00:57:35
Speaker
That's too bad, you know, because it just, it became the new normal. And, and so that's my, that's my, that's my worry. That's my next one is how do we sustain? How do we grow? How do we continue to push? But that's a good problem to have, right? Right. Exactly. That sounds like another podcast episode. So we have a just for fun question to, to kind of wrap it up. If you were not the CMO of vanilla soft.
00:58:01
Speaker
and could do any job in the world, what would you do and why? I hope someday I will be the CMO of the LASAP. I'm really hoping. I've been asked this question before and ironically, people are going to listen to this going to say, well, it all makes sense now. I want to give you the answer. I would love to be a talking head, whether it be on a cable news show or a talking radio, you know, national audience, where every single day I could sit down to the newsmakers of the world, whether it's politics or something else.
00:58:30
Speaker
And just sit there and hammer it out. I would love that. Cause I just love, you'd be good at that. I love news and I love asking the hard questions. You know, I'm a bit of a news junkie. So that's the kind of stuff that would probably do. Uh, ironically, my son is falling in my footsteps. Only he's doing just that. You know, he's, he's going to say it. You have an end with that world.
00:58:51
Speaker
I built it in with that world. But if I was to do it all over again, that's what I would do. But you know what? I love what I do. And the best part of what I do, and this is with all sincerity, is I'm surrounded by really, really, really good people on my team. And they make going to work today every single fun. Every single day, it's just a blast. They have no problem calling me an idiot. And I like that.
00:59:15
Speaker
You know, and they have no problem in the disparaging me. And, uh, so nobody on the team takes themselves too seriously. But what's really cool about my team and why I like my job so much is that when we ask them to step up and to work a few extra hours or put the extra effort in, because we have a big goal of mine every single time they step up. And I think, you know, they're the reason I get up in the morning because they're just so much fun. So I I'm blessed. I'm happy where I'm at. And maybe in my next life I'll do that.
00:59:41
Speaker
Well, we have to say you make it fun for us. Of course you have to say that if you don't do that, I don't pay the bills. That's right. You really do. We, we really enjoy doing the work with you and the rest of the vanilla softballs. So folks, if you don't know it, Jackson marketing are some pretty amazing people. And I'm not saying this to plug them because you know, they've asked me to, cause they, they sure as hell didn't.
01:00:06
Speaker
And that's what I love about them. But what's, what you get with Jackson marketing is you get the full service. These people know the tech stack to the operations, the best practices, you know, they're out there on the bleeding edge learning and they're doing right. So they're not just talking about doing a podcast. They're doing a podcast. And what I love about it is they're chronicling what they've learned and they're sharing it with you. That's the kind of agency you want to partner with.
01:00:30
Speaker
So whatever you do, surround yourself with good people like them and you will have fun and you will be successful and you will learn so much. So that's words of wisdom from Darryl, whether you want to hear it or not. There you go. Well, thank you, Darryl. We appreciate that. Well, there you have it, fellow B2B sales and marketing people. Are you ready to embrace the role of the company spokesperson or at least cultivate some people in your organization to take it on, take it from Darryl? It does work.
01:00:57
Speaker
Daryl, if our listeners want to ask you any questions or follow you online or see you in action at a conference or in your videos, how can they find you? The just LinkedIn is really the simplest, uh, because I'm always telling you what I'm doing. I'll be speaking here or talking there or debating somebody else, you know, somewhere else. So follow me on LinkedIn. I would love the connection. Uh, I would love to connect with you. I'm a big believer in, in, in, in loving and endorsing and supporting and helping the tribe. You got a question. You want to know my opinion and you will end this, this.
01:01:27
Speaker
There's nothing in it for me that's cool reach out let's do it that's what we do let's be fellow tribes let's do it let's do it what about your podcast you want to tell everybody the name of that because you say it so well if you want to listen to the world's best show on inside sales that you need to listen to inside inside sales where we give you the meat and potatoes just the fact
01:01:50
Speaker
None of the fiction, no strategy, no vision. It's just hardcore. How do you do this? And you do this job. Great. We bring in the industry's best thought leaders and we make it happen and we laugh and we share knowledge. And when you're done listening to that half hour podcast, you will be smarter, wiser, better, and more prepared to succeed all at inside inside sales. We got to work on it and saying our name like that, Alayna. I know. Right. Or get it, get Tracy to say it for us. I hear she does a good impression.
01:02:20
Speaker
She does a good job. She mocks me pretty good. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Everything to her is I'm a big monster truck announcer. Well, thanks, Darrell, for joining us. We appreciate it. Yeah, we really do. No problem. It was fun. It's any time. So I look forward to hearing this live soon and, uh, and learning about all the leading edge tools you're using to produce this puppy. So there you go. Oh, Darrell.
01:02:49
Speaker
All right, Alayna, end of another great episode. Why don't you tell people how they can get in touch with us? There are multiple ways you can get in touch with us. And the first one is Twitter. You can reach Stacey at Stacey underscore Jax. That's S T A C Y underscore J A X.
01:03:07
Speaker
Or you can reach me at Alayna underscore Jax. A-L-A-N-N-A underscore J-A-X. And if you prefer, you can catch us on LinkedIn instead. Just look up our names, Stacey Jackson and Alayna Jackson. And don't forget, you can leave us a voicemail on the Anchor mobile app. We might use your voicemail on next week's show.
01:03:31
Speaker
So thanks everybody for listening in. We'll catch you next week. Bye. Bye.