Show notes
In the past you've said that market leaders think, act and communicate differently than the rest of the population. What do you mean by that? And how can people start thinking, acting and communicating like a leader?
David: Hi and welcome to the podcast today co host Chris Templeton and I will be talking about communication, how market leaders do it compared to the rest of the population. Welcome Chris.
Chris: Hey David, thank you very much for having me back. I sure am enjoying these conversations. I'm super excited about this one because leadership is something that is so important, so missing in business, and when you say that leaders think and they act and they communicate differently than the rest of the population, talk about what that means from your standpoint.
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David: Okay, well first of all, when I talk about leaders, I don't necessarily mean presidents of organizations or chairmen of boards, things like that. When I talk about leaders, I simply mean people who other people look at as someone that they want to pay attention to and people who lead tend to communicate differently. They tend to be more focused. They tend to be more authoritative in a lot of cases, generating good ideas, engaging people, all that sort of thing. And most people don't really think about it, they don't focus on it. And as a result they end up meandering around and just having sort of boring conversations and hopefully every now and then they'll hit on something that moves people.
Chris: So how do you make that change when you switch to really becoming a leader? What do you think are some of the more important characteristics around that?
David: Well, in terms of communication, I think it really begins with the idea of wanting to, once again, as we talked about previously, help other people and how can I get to that as quickly as possible? You know, a lot of people today talk about content like this podcast is content. A blog post is content. A social media post is content. It's all content. And what some people do is they just go out there with a whole lot of words and hope that occasionally some of their words will connect up in a way that means something to someone. And I find that rather inconsiderate of the listener. One of the reasons that I've hesitated in the past to have the kinds of conversations that we're having now is that I wanted to make sure that it stayed focused, that it stayed on track so that people are able to get something from it.
Chris: Right.
David: And if we started wandering off on crazy tangents, then it loses its value. And so I think that from a leadership standpoint, it means really thinking in terms of what is going to help the other person, what's going to help this prospect? What's going to help this client? What's going to help this person that I would like to be able to establish some sort of business relationship with? And if my communication can then reflect that, then it's going to be better all the way around. I'm sure you're familiar with the book, How to Win Friends and Influence People.
Chris: Dale Carnegie.
David: Yeah! So, the basic concept of that book is that if you talk to other people about themselves, they'll think you're the most interesting person in the world. And what I think leaders do and salespeople who are leaders certainly do this, is that they make it about the other person. They make it about the prospect, they make it about the client, and then figuring out based on what that person needs, how they can help.
Chris: And I think there are a couple of things that really help to push that along in the nicest of all ways. You and I have in the last two podcasts have talked about fit quite a bit and one of the things that I think is the nicest approach is to say, you know, I'd love to sit down with you and see if there is a good fit between us. And then I think the second thing that you can add to that is I'd love to be a great resource for you, but if it's not a good fit, let me see if I can't help to get you pointed in the right direction. You know, really what we're talking about in a lot of ways in regards to being a good leader is getting people to relax with you and to feel like they're not being threatened. And their guard doesn't have to be up that we're just trying to sell them something. Right?
David: Right, and the idea of saying to someone, I'd like to sit down with you. I think that many salespeople should be, in some ways hesitant to have that conversation. I think many salespeople are too quick to jump at the idea of sitting down with someone else before they even know if they can possibly help them.
Chris: Right.
David: That's why I believe the idea of qualification, you know, intelligent, thoughtful qualification should always precede the appointment. And I've had discussions with salespeople about this who have argued with me about it. They're like, well, no, you've got to go for the appointment. I'm like, why would you want to have an appointment with someone who may not be qualified to buy from you where there's not a good fit? They don't have the need, the desire, the money, the budget, the willingness to spend. Why would you even want to have a conversation? And I learned that lesson the hard way, as I've learned most lessons in my business career; when I set up an appointment with someone who was no way qualified to buy from me, and I didn't bother to figure that out in advance. So, it took me forever to schedule the appointment. And then when I finally scheduled the appointment, the guy didn't show up. And when I ended up at his place, I looked around and I realized that I didn't belong there to begin with. He probably didn't have two nickels to rub together and he wasn't even polite enough to show up and tell me that. So I recognized that the idea of saying, “would you like to sit down and have a conversation?”, that goes both ways. Salespeople feel like someone's doing them a favor when they say that they'll get together with them, but it's not really like that. When you've got something of value to offer to your prospects and clients, then it should be reciprocal. It should be just as beneficial or more beneficial to the person you're sitting down with than it is for you.
Chris: That's a great way to put it too, and you're right and thinking about it, my approach is really about, I'd love to get on the phone with you and just get a sense of where you're at, and see if that's a fit and how guilty are small business guys of doing what I suggested at the beginning. It's just - get into the appointment and then find out that it wasn't a worthwhile use of my time or their time.
David: Well, I think in a lot of cases because many salespeople have been trained to go for the appointment and even what you said there about wanting to get on the phone with somebody to find out if or how we can help, we all want to do that, but the problem is the approach and it's just like going for the appointment. If I say to somebody, I'd really love to get on the phone with you and find out this or that, then it sounds like they're doing me a favor by doing that.
Chris: Ah, that’s a good point.
David: Ideally it's better if you're able to create an environment, and this is what Total Market Domination is all about. If you can create an environment in which the very best prospects in the market for the products and services you offer actually want to talk to you and they say, Hey, listen, I'd love to have a conversation about this, and then you welcome that conversation. It's a hundred times better if it's their idea. They're saying they want to have a conversation with you than if it's the other way around.
Chris: Wow. I missed that one completely, Huh?
David: Okay. Well that's why we're having the conversation.
Chris: What are some of the ways that with your course that you help these people want to come to me as a business owner?
David: Okay, well let's think about what we're doing in this podcast. All right? So there are people listening to this podcast that are not a good fit for what we do, right? I don't really want to have a conversation with those people. They're welcome to listen to whatever I put out. They're welcome to use it however they want. And I hope they do great with it, but it's not the kind of thing where I'm going to call people and say, “Hey listen, I think we should have a conversation about your business.” Instead, it's the other way. There are some people who are listening to this right now and they're going, “Wow, that makes sense for me. I'd like to have a conversation about that.” And so if they want to initiate a conversation with us, they can do that. We've got a way they can do that right on the website. We'll talk about it at the end of the podcast, and if they want to initiate that conversation then we'll sit down with them and we'll go over which market are they looking to dominate? Who are they looking to reach, what do they need to communicate? And we'll have a very positive in-depth conversation with them about how they can do it and if it makes sense for us to work together. And if we both think it makes sense, then we'll work together. And if it doesn't make sense on their side or our side, then we won't work together. But either way they walk away from the conversation having gotten tremendous value from the communication and value from the interaction. And when I talk about how leaders communicate,