1123: How Can Brand Unleash the Power of CX w/ Chris Willis

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:04.519 Are you struggling to come up with original content weekend and week out? Start 2 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:09.189 a podcast, interview your ideal clients, let them talk about what they care 3 00:00:09.230 --> 00:00:14.589 about most and never run out of content ideas again. Learn more at sweet 4 00:00:14.589 --> 00:00:23.699 fish Mediacom. You're listening to be tob growth, a daily podcast for B 5 00:00:23.820 --> 00:00:28.059 TOB leaders. We've interviewed names you've probably heard before, like Gary Vannerd truck 6 00:00:28.140 --> 00:00:32.020 and Simon Senek, but you've probably never heard from the majority of our guests. 7 00:00:32.659 --> 00:00:36.649 That's because the bulk of our interviews aren't with professional speakers and authors. 8 00:00:37.210 --> 00:00:41.049 Most of our guests are in the trenches leading sales and marketing teams. They're 9 00:00:41.090 --> 00:00:46.570 implementing strategy, they're experimenting with tactics, they're building the fastest growing BB companies 10 00:00:46.609 --> 00:00:49.770 in the world. My name is James Carberry. I'm the founder of sweet 11 00:00:49.770 --> 00:00:53.399 fish media, a podcast agency for BB brands, and I'm also one of 12 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:57.439 the cohosts of the show. When we're not interviewing sales and marketing leaders, 13 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:00.280 you'll hear stories from behind the scenes of our own business. Will share the 14 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:03.549 ups and downs of our journey as we attempt to take over the world. 15 00:01:04.189 --> 00:01:15.109 Just getting well, maybe let's get into the show. Welcome back to be 16 00:01:15.269 --> 00:01:18.859 tob growth. I am your host for today's episode, Nikki Ivy, with 17 00:01:18.980 --> 00:01:23.459 sweet fish media. Guys. I've got with me today Chris Willis, who 18 00:01:23.700 --> 00:01:26.620 is chief marketing officer of Afro Links. Chris, how you doing to day? 19 00:01:27.140 --> 00:01:30.019 I am good. How are you? I'm doing well. You know 20 00:01:30.060 --> 00:01:33.569 what I mean that the sun is shining here in north Florida. I can 21 00:01:33.689 --> 00:01:37.769 never complain when that's the case and I'm getting to talk to you and I'm 22 00:01:37.769 --> 00:01:40.370 super excited about this. This topic think we're going to be getting into. 23 00:01:40.370 --> 00:01:45.049 We're going to be talking a bit about the relationship between marketing and customer experience 24 00:01:45.129 --> 00:01:49.200 and also, more specifically, how brand plays into that. But before we 25 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:53.280 dig in, Chris, I would love it if you would just give us 26 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:56.760 a little bit of background on yourself and what you and the folks that acrow 27 00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:59.959 links have been up to these days. Great, so again, I'm come, 28 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:02.390 Chris Willis. I run marketing here at ACCRO links. We are and 29 00:02:02.590 --> 00:02:08.550 AIPOWER platform. It really eliminates a lot of the content chaos in the engines 30 00:02:08.629 --> 00:02:14.509 of businesses. We deliver strategy line content at scale. Our customers tend to 31 00:02:14.550 --> 00:02:17.099 be some of the largest brands in the world. What we do essentially is 32 00:02:17.139 --> 00:02:23.060 our platform captures the way that an enterprise communicates, so thinking things like terminology, 33 00:02:23.340 --> 00:02:28.979 tone of voice, can clarity, levels, gender balance right, and 34 00:02:29.139 --> 00:02:35.530 it aligns your content creation with those guidelines. So it's shortening your editorial process 35 00:02:35.689 --> 00:02:39.849 with automation, creating better content faster and then providing analytics. It show you 36 00:02:39.889 --> 00:02:44.250 a full three hundred and sixty degree view of your content engine in the way 37 00:02:44.289 --> 00:02:47.599 that you've never seen it before. I love it. This idea of a 38 00:02:47.639 --> 00:02:52.479 content engine is something that we believe in and kind of run on here as 39 00:02:52.520 --> 00:02:54.360 we fish media. So I you are a man after my own heart, 40 00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:58.360 and even more so, like I said, given this topic that we're going 41 00:02:58.360 --> 00:03:00.030 to be talking about today, because I just don't think it's talked about enough. 42 00:03:00.069 --> 00:03:04.189 I'll jump right in with the question, you know that we're really trying 43 00:03:04.189 --> 00:03:07.030 to answer here, and that is, how does brand work with customer experience 44 00:03:07.469 --> 00:03:13.659 to ensure that a company is differentiated and individual? Talk to us a little 45 00:03:13.659 --> 00:03:15.500 bit about that and sort of some of the things you were you're seeing people 46 00:03:15.539 --> 00:03:21.259 run into. I think it's interesting the way that brand sits in a lot 47 00:03:21.300 --> 00:03:23.979 of enterprises. The more folks that I talk to you that that run brand 48 00:03:24.060 --> 00:03:28.530 at fortune five hundred companies, the more I find that it really is a 49 00:03:29.050 --> 00:03:32.129 segmented silo of a business place. I'm not even going to call it a 50 00:03:32.210 --> 00:03:38.729 business unit because it tends to be a fairly small group that lacks the authority 51 00:03:38.289 --> 00:03:44.879 to going to use the word govern that brand that they create across the entire 52 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:49.360 business. And so when you think of brand, I mean a lot of 53 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:53.639 us see it in the form of be Toc big consumer brands that we see 54 00:03:53.680 --> 00:04:00.590 on TV. Right. So this concept of we've created a message, we've 55 00:04:00.669 --> 00:04:04.669 created a tone, a way that we communicate, becomes a campaign, it 56 00:04:04.789 --> 00:04:11.819 becomes advertising, and so that's great for the acquisition aspect of bringing in new 57 00:04:11.900 --> 00:04:16.500 customers. But when you think about the areas in the business that really have 58 00:04:16.740 --> 00:04:21.579 the the broadest reach right now, as we've shifted to digital, as we've 59 00:04:21.660 --> 00:04:28.490 moved into a world where most of our customers are really doubling down on the 60 00:04:28.569 --> 00:04:33.410 customer experience aspect of their business, it is in areas like customer success, 61 00:04:34.050 --> 00:04:42.040 Customer Support Service where a lot of touch points live. Right. So how 62 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:49.120 did those folks who are fairly segmented from marketing or from brand a benefit from 63 00:04:49.160 --> 00:04:55.550 the brand that's been created and be communicate that brand out to their audiences and 64 00:04:55.829 --> 00:04:59.550 see, finally test to see if that brand resonates with those folks. And 65 00:04:59.670 --> 00:05:02.389 it's, like I said, it's conversation that we're having a lot more recently 66 00:05:02.470 --> 00:05:08.339 as that that run to customer experience really happens. I think if you look 67 00:05:08.339 --> 00:05:11.939 back two years it was everybody was talking about the digital shift. I feel 68 00:05:11.939 --> 00:05:15.060 like we've made that shift and and today a lot of what we're hearing about 69 00:05:15.100 --> 00:05:21.449 is this this drive towards enhanced customers customer experience, and I think this plays 70 00:05:21.490 --> 00:05:29.290 a big role that that intersection between marketing, brand and experience to create touch 71 00:05:29.410 --> 00:05:31.329 points that align with the rest of the business and a line. That really 72 00:05:31.449 --> 00:05:35.079 is the important aspect of this right. So what I got from that is 73 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:40.879 a couple of places where folks are are missing. Number One is you, 74 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:47.360 is folks not having the Authority to get the adoption that they need across disciplines, 75 00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:51.629 right or across the the enterprise. Yep, to talk about why that's 76 00:05:51.629 --> 00:05:58.230 happening. I think that nobody in a lot of businesses, nobody reports to 77 00:05:58.389 --> 00:06:03.860 brand it's a part of in most businesses, marketing, reporting to the CMO, 78 00:06:04.819 --> 00:06:11.579 and it's a function that creates and offers to the rest of the business. 79 00:06:12.060 --> 00:06:15.500 And as you talk to people that hold that role, they understand it's 80 00:06:15.540 --> 00:06:19.610 a relationship game. I had a call with a svp of brand last week 81 00:06:19.689 --> 00:06:25.810 and he described his job as very relationship driven. He's reaching out to leaders 82 00:06:25.850 --> 00:06:30.569 in the organization explaining the value of the brand and how it can be used 83 00:06:30.209 --> 00:06:32.879 and then, I don't know what his word is, but I'm going to 84 00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:38.839 use hoping that they'll adopt it. But he doesn't have a way to make 85 00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:43.959 them adopted. It has to be an edict from the CEO and in the 86 00:06:44.040 --> 00:06:48.149 case of this fellow what he was looking to do is find ways to provide 87 00:06:48.670 --> 00:06:51.949 a function inside the organization that would be assistive to them, that would seem 88 00:06:51.990 --> 00:06:58.269 to be a benefit to the users that would also allow them to align with 89 00:06:58.509 --> 00:07:01.300 his brand. That was that the end goal. It's really interesting. So 90 00:07:02.259 --> 00:07:06.899 this person's role as svp of brand, which I don't hear even existing very, 91 00:07:06.939 --> 00:07:11.579 very often. You more often here that you know the whatever the brand 92 00:07:11.620 --> 00:07:15.569 initiatives are come from sort of marketing proper. How often do you see that 93 00:07:15.610 --> 00:07:21.370 that it's a separate role or aperate ownership piece brand, separate from marketing, 94 00:07:21.850 --> 00:07:26.649 and is that why? Is that something that you think needs to or do 95 00:07:26.810 --> 00:07:28.930 you think that's something that that needs to be the case? More often than 96 00:07:29.009 --> 00:07:31.639 not, I think it totally depends on the CEO of the organization really and 97 00:07:31.720 --> 00:07:35.639 what the background of that CEO is. If you have a very marketing savvy 98 00:07:35.800 --> 00:07:42.920 CEO, it's possible that brand can be its own segment inside the business. 99 00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:46.470 If the marketing leadership really comes from the CMO, the CMO is going to 100 00:07:46.509 --> 00:07:50.269 capture that. I know in our case I own that and it makes the 101 00:07:50.350 --> 00:07:57.230 most sense. They're I was talking to a heavy equipment manufacturer yesterday and brand 102 00:07:57.870 --> 00:08:03.540 lives as an overlay across all business units and is largely a creation and training 103 00:08:03.699 --> 00:08:09.740 engine. And so they have created this this brand for the organization. There 104 00:08:09.779 --> 00:08:15.250 in the process of pushing out a brand refresh right now and their job is 105 00:08:15.329 --> 00:08:18.970 to go and enable and they've done enablement for a thousand people so far and 106 00:08:20.089 --> 00:08:24.370 they're in the next stage of iteration of the brand. WHOA WHOA stop freewind. 107 00:08:24.529 --> 00:08:28.759 So you've already trained a thousand people and now you're going to make a 108 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:33.480 change and then you're going to go and train a thousand people again. Right, 109 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:39.159 and we all agreed that that seems like a thing that could be avoided, 110 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:43.590 but it's a thing in their business assary. They sit in their own 111 00:08:43.629 --> 00:08:46.750 position. They want all of their touchpoints, leveraging this line, which they're 112 00:08:46.750 --> 00:08:50.909 very customer center company, and the only way that they can reach their those 113 00:08:50.990 --> 00:08:54.509 customer experience touch points just to literally go out and the field, sit down 114 00:08:54.549 --> 00:09:01.820 with people and train them on style, guidelines, terminology, well, a 115 00:09:01.980 --> 00:09:07.340 lot. So what has to happen is, right, these CMOS or SBPE's 116 00:09:07.379 --> 00:09:13.690 of brand who do all this work to create the voice and the face of 117 00:09:13.769 --> 00:09:16.210 the company and then, I guess, at that point, not even know, 118 00:09:18.129 --> 00:09:20.210 no matter how effective it is, if it's going to end up getting 119 00:09:20.370 --> 00:09:26.000 to the audience without the buying of the CEO, or what's to be done 120 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:28.799 at that point? Right, let's say, let's say you, you do 121 00:09:28.919 --> 00:09:33.799 all that work and then you don't get you don't necessarily have CEO buying, 122 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:39.470 right, but you you are empowered to make sure that the the messaging in 123 00:09:39.470 --> 00:09:45.590 the voice you created is something that gets to your CS folks in your sales 124 00:09:45.669 --> 00:09:50.389 folks. How do you enact that strategy without the support of of your CEO? 125 00:09:50.509 --> 00:09:56.659 Is a possible? It's really hard. I mean to create internal mechanisms 126 00:09:56.820 --> 00:10:05.019 for alignment better manually driven is tough. It's really about leveraging automation. It's 127 00:10:05.019 --> 00:10:09.649 about providing smart systems that are able to drive that process for you and it 128 00:10:09.809 --> 00:10:13.970 drive benefit to the folks that are using it. Like I got to want 129 00:10:13.970 --> 00:10:18.490 to use whatever word is you're giving me. If it's onerous to me sitting 130 00:10:18.490 --> 00:10:22.440 at a support desk creating support content, I'm not not going to use it. 131 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:26.919 And so if it's additive, if it's providing me more time in my 132 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:28.840 day, if it's providing me with better results in my job, it's creating 133 00:10:28.840 --> 00:10:33.000 better kpis from my department and what I'm trying to do, then yeah, 134 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:37.669 that's that's seems like something that's interesting. So it goes from being an edict 135 00:10:37.110 --> 00:10:41.669 to being assistants got, and that's really the only way to drive this. 136 00:10:41.870 --> 00:10:45.350 You can't tell people what do just because you want them to do it. 137 00:10:46.029 --> 00:10:50.419 You have to give them something that helps them do their job better to be 138 00:10:50.539 --> 00:10:52.659 more successful in the end. I mean everybody's trying to make more money, 139 00:10:52.700 --> 00:10:56.700 right, and that's that's really how to how to get to a level of 140 00:10:56.779 --> 00:11:01.860 success. And you want to start that in one area and let it spread 141 00:11:01.899 --> 00:11:05.809 across a wider swap through business, and we're really starting to see a ground 142 00:11:05.889 --> 00:11:09.129 swell around that right now. Of the how do we put something in the 143 00:11:09.210 --> 00:11:13.129 hands of our knowledge creators, in our in our support organization that's going to 144 00:11:13.210 --> 00:11:18.200 make them it's going to allow them to create better content faster, in less 145 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:22.879 time, with less review processes, so that they can be spending time making 146 00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:28.759 more and solving more problems and driving the customer satisfaction levels up, driving all 147 00:11:28.840 --> 00:11:33.309 of their key metrics associated with their customer touch points right. So that's the 148 00:11:33.389 --> 00:11:37.350 the story, or that's the selling point, right, and that I would 149 00:11:37.389 --> 00:11:41.389 surprise me if that didn't resonate across all disciplines right, this idea of leveraging 150 00:11:41.470 --> 00:11:45.190 all the touch points that are out there, because outside that we are kind 151 00:11:45.190 --> 00:11:48.419 of leaveing those on the table. And and that's where it gets into this 152 00:11:48.740 --> 00:11:52.580 audience guided strategy, which I think also is one of the biggest benefits. 153 00:11:52.620 --> 00:11:58.220 Are things that organizations stand to gain if they take this approach. That you're 154 00:11:58.220 --> 00:12:01.809 talking about digging it that for us a little bit. Yeah, so there's 155 00:12:01.850 --> 00:12:03.450 a report from gardener that came out in the last month or so. Chris 156 00:12:03.570 --> 00:12:09.009 Ross over there did a brand study and I think you know when you think 157 00:12:09.049 --> 00:12:15.570 about how we as as Brandon Marketing people, look at the world we're building 158 00:12:15.690 --> 00:12:18.799 for our audience. So I created a tone of voice here. I've created 159 00:12:18.840 --> 00:12:24.960 a personification of our brand and our services team put together an actionable plan that 160 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:28.159 allowed us to create a version of our software for US that speaks, that 161 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:31.590 helps us to speak the way that we want to speak. And I did 162 00:12:31.669 --> 00:12:35.870 that based on, I think, a fairly solid knowledge of our customer base, 163 00:12:35.429 --> 00:12:39.669 of the audience we're trying to speak to. We have three specific personas, 164 00:12:39.110 --> 00:12:43.509 so we have three different ways of communicating, because we talked to marketing, 165 00:12:43.629 --> 00:12:48.019 customer experience and product development. So we've devised this model and put this 166 00:12:48.100 --> 00:12:52.059 out market place. Here's the thing. I did that right. Not My 167 00:12:52.139 --> 00:12:56.419 audience didn't do it, I did it. And what Gardener uncovered is that 168 00:12:58.019 --> 00:13:01.850 eighty percent of enterprises don't know their audience the way that they think they do. 169 00:13:01.649 --> 00:13:07.049 So twenty percent right on the money, eighty percent don't know them the 170 00:13:07.090 --> 00:13:11.250 way that they think. And if that's true, then no amount of alignment 171 00:13:11.330 --> 00:13:16.360 of content creation with your brand is going to solve the problem of you don't 172 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:22.799 know your audience. And so I can have a very solid brand that I 173 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:26.830 turn into a very solid set of guidelines that allows me to create very specific 174 00:13:26.990 --> 00:13:31.909 content and a very specific voice, and then I put it out in the 175 00:13:31.950 --> 00:13:35.029 world and it's all aligned. Everything is aligned all the way through. I've 176 00:13:35.149 --> 00:13:39.590 created the content that my brand wanted from day one and I put it out 177 00:13:39.590 --> 00:13:41.820 in the world and it doesn't perform. What do you do with that? 178 00:13:43.059 --> 00:13:46.179 Like, what does that mean? Does that mean that your content creation, 179 00:13:46.539 --> 00:13:48.980 like your content creators, are bad at what they're doing? And I would 180 00:13:48.980 --> 00:13:50.940 argue it is not. I would argue that all the way back to the 181 00:13:50.980 --> 00:13:56.289 beginning of that process, Gartner already called you out. You don't know your 182 00:13:56.330 --> 00:13:58.850 audience the way you think you know your audience and when you think in terms 183 00:13:58.889 --> 00:14:03.649 of something like customer success or customer support and all the contents being created in 184 00:14:03.730 --> 00:14:07.929 knowledge bass, it's super easy to throw at the end of one of those 185 00:14:09.049 --> 00:14:13.279 pieces of content this solving problem. And if no, why? Well, 186 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:18.879 it was unclear I couldn't really understand what it said. Interesting, so clarity 187 00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:22.200 levels seem to be a problem. It used words I didn't I couldn't follow, 188 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:26.070 I didn't understand. Okay, terminology like we can turn this into action 189 00:14:26.750 --> 00:14:33.429 and route back into a V testing that helps you to evolve your brand. 190 00:14:33.070 --> 00:14:37.789 So you're actually going to create, you're going to go from alignment to your 191 00:14:37.830 --> 00:14:41.820 strategy, which maybe you made up. Made Up is a simplified term for 192 00:14:41.940 --> 00:14:45.220 you. Hired an agency and that spent millions of dollars. Gotta got to 193 00:14:45.259 --> 00:14:48.779 got it anyway. Yes, that sure right to something that your audience has 194 00:14:48.820 --> 00:14:54.210 guided you to. And so this full circle process of iterating your brand based 195 00:14:54.250 --> 00:14:58.250 on what your audience says is Great. But then your brand is constantly changing 196 00:14:58.570 --> 00:15:01.370 and your governance model is constantly changing, because all the people that you told 197 00:15:01.409 --> 00:15:05.690 to say white instead of purple notice a white now and now you got to 198 00:15:05.730 --> 00:15:07.200 say purple. And how do I tell them to do that? And so 199 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:13.080 this concept of constantly aligning really is this evolution inside business that needs to be 200 00:15:13.240 --> 00:15:16.440 governed, needs to be managed, it needs to be addedive to your users, 201 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:20.360 for sure. God, thank you so much for for laying that out. 202 00:15:20.470 --> 00:15:22.429 The way you did. I, like I said, this is not 203 00:15:22.470 --> 00:15:26.509 a conversation or, like you said, it's not a conversation that folks are 204 00:15:26.590 --> 00:15:31.629 having enough and everybody's losing when it comes to us being left on on the 205 00:15:31.710 --> 00:15:35.259 table in terms of what it could do for customer experience, what it could 206 00:15:35.259 --> 00:15:41.860 do for brands, for the identity of marketing and brand as as a profession. 207 00:15:41.980 --> 00:15:46.460 Moving forward. Word like so much stands to be gained or lost in 208 00:15:46.659 --> 00:15:50.649 really, Simu is right. I mean that what in really simple areas like, 209 00:15:50.769 --> 00:15:56.009 yeah, acquiring customers. So having consolidated front to your audiences helps you 210 00:15:56.049 --> 00:15:58.809 to get customers. These helps you to keep customers because you're putting up you're 211 00:15:58.809 --> 00:16:03.049 putting out support and Assiste of content to your existing customer base that aligns with 212 00:16:03.049 --> 00:16:06.559 the rest of the things your business is saying and the ways that they're saying 213 00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:10.399 it. It also helps you, helps you to avoid risk, so don't 214 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:14.480 say things across your entire enterprise that are going to get you in trouble. 215 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:18.399 Let's go through some light level of compliance check. And then, finally, 216 00:16:18.440 --> 00:16:21.070 all the things that you don't really even think about, like how do I 217 00:16:21.190 --> 00:16:26.830 internationalize my content in a way that it's still sounds like us. How do 218 00:16:26.909 --> 00:16:30.909 I create source content that's translatable, for instance, and continues to be on 219 00:16:32.070 --> 00:16:36.059 brand in German as much as it is in American, which is super hard? 220 00:16:36.539 --> 00:16:41.259 And we don't. We don't have that conversation and it's going from being 221 00:16:41.860 --> 00:16:45.100 a conversation that was really fun to have a year ago to a conversation that's 222 00:16:45.139 --> 00:16:51.129 really important to have today. It becomes a competitive differentiator when you're talking about 223 00:16:51.210 --> 00:16:55.610 driving top line revenue, when you're talking about retaining customers and reducing churn in 224 00:16:55.730 --> 00:16:59.730 a world where most things are subscription, in a world where you're launching major 225 00:16:59.850 --> 00:17:04.200 products that need to be supported and lack of support and lack of documentation and 226 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:11.720 documentation issues create huge risk positions for businesses. Content matters and being able to 227 00:17:11.799 --> 00:17:15.150 align that with the brand's being created in the organization. The voice that companies 228 00:17:15.230 --> 00:17:21.430 created is now a critical aspect of the way that enterprises to business. All 229 00:17:21.430 --> 00:17:25.789 Right, today's growth story revolves around search engine marketing and will be shining the 230 00:17:25.869 --> 00:17:30.619 spotlight on the ages software, a company that makes software for manufacturing operations. 231 00:17:30.539 --> 00:17:34.339 Ages was one of the first companies in their space to invest in search marketing, 232 00:17:34.779 --> 00:17:40.420 but this competition grew, their performance plateaued. To counter this, they 233 00:17:40.460 --> 00:17:45.769 hired directive consulting, the B Tob Search Marketing Agency with unparalleled experience in in 234 00:17:45.849 --> 00:17:51.210 Bentley Gen for bdb companies, directive was able to increase a just as monthly 235 00:17:51.369 --> 00:17:56.490 online leads by four hundred and fifty seven percent, while at the same time 236 00:17:56.769 --> 00:18:00.440 lowering their costpro lead by a hundred and forty seven percent. I have a 237 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:04.039 hunch that directive can get these kind of results free to so head over to 238 00:18:04.119 --> 00:18:11.910 directive consultingcom and request a totally free custom proposal. That's directive consultingcom. All 239 00:18:11.910 --> 00:18:17.309 right, let's get back to this interview. So now, Chris, that 240 00:18:17.349 --> 00:18:19.269 I've I've gotten a chance of success, will be pick your brain and see 241 00:18:19.269 --> 00:18:22.789 what I could get out of it's time sound for you to tell us about 242 00:18:22.789 --> 00:18:25.789 what you are putting in it. So talk to us about a learning resource 243 00:18:25.990 --> 00:18:29.140 you've been gazed with here recently. That is, you know, informing your 244 00:18:29.180 --> 00:18:33.700 approach of this. Just got you excited these days? So, all right, 245 00:18:33.779 --> 00:18:36.339 how do you know if somebody does cross fit? Don't worry, they'll 246 00:18:36.339 --> 00:18:44.569 tell you. My Meditation is really the gym. It's gives me time in 247 00:18:44.690 --> 00:18:48.970 the day to not think about anything clear my mind. So you wake up 248 00:18:48.970 --> 00:18:51.809 anxious, you wet, wake up concerned. There's a lot going on. 249 00:18:52.650 --> 00:18:59.599 I don't have time or interest in medicating for morning anxiety. I GET A 250 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:03.200 to the gym five thirty in the morning every day and for an hour I 251 00:19:03.720 --> 00:19:07.759 am clear and when I get here to the office at seven hundred and fifteen, 252 00:19:07.799 --> 00:19:12.230 I'm ready to face the day. All the anxiety is gone. I've 253 00:19:12.309 --> 00:19:18.990 been competitive, I've driven myself to the edge of my limits and now I'm 254 00:19:18.029 --> 00:19:23.150 ready to dig in and get things done. And for me that's really critical 255 00:19:23.190 --> 00:19:26.740 and I can feel when I don't do it, like it's very different. 256 00:19:26.740 --> 00:19:29.460 People are like, well, do you feel different? Yeah, absolutely different. 257 00:19:29.500 --> 00:19:33.859 If I don't go it becomes really important in clearing the way for me 258 00:19:33.460 --> 00:19:37.579 to be able to be a critical thinker, to be able to solve problems, 259 00:19:37.619 --> 00:19:38.769 to be able to just get my work done. I think, I 260 00:19:38.849 --> 00:19:44.730 mean this is something that's still fairly new. I'm in my way forties and 261 00:19:45.930 --> 00:19:49.250 this is something within the last five or six years that I've adopted into my 262 00:19:49.410 --> 00:19:55.640 life and I think that that's really it's been a huge differentiator and my ability 263 00:19:55.680 --> 00:20:00.920 to be to be as effective as well. Some people say I am as 264 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:03.920 effective as you. Definitely are. A thank you for sure. That's one 265 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:07.309 of my favorite answers. I think you I think you nailed it. Not 266 00:20:07.630 --> 00:20:11.750 gonna lie, I M I know you said you're new in this as far 267 00:20:11.829 --> 00:20:15.190 as this fitness not maybe not the fitness thing, but the crossfit thing. 268 00:20:15.349 --> 00:20:19.470 I, by contrast, up until about a couple weeks ago, never really 269 00:20:19.470 --> 00:20:22.700 worked out at the M II life. So but I feel you, though, 270 00:20:22.819 --> 00:20:26.460 on the benefits. Reason why I started it wasn't because I had like 271 00:20:26.539 --> 00:20:30.140 a goal weight or something. I don't even know that I believe in those, 272 00:20:30.819 --> 00:20:32.940 but I just okay, sure, I want my boat to be cuter, 273 00:20:33.099 --> 00:20:36.210 but besides the hat h just I did, I wanted this clarity that 274 00:20:36.250 --> 00:20:38.730 you're talking about. The SOS encouraging to hear. You mean, if you 275 00:20:40.170 --> 00:20:44.890 one hour a day trying not to die, it's really healthy sweet. So 276 00:20:44.970 --> 00:20:47.450 I'm nailing it. Well. I know that, just like me, Chris, 277 00:20:47.609 --> 00:20:51.440 other folks listening have become fast fans of yours and then going to want 278 00:20:51.480 --> 00:20:52.960 to know how to keep up with you. So let everybody out here know 279 00:20:53.119 --> 00:21:00.480 how to connect with you easiest ways I'm on twitter at CP Willis all one 280 00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:03.509 word, or Linkedin. I don't know what my I think I'm CP Willis 281 00:21:03.549 --> 00:21:07.869 on Linkedin as well, but Christopher Willis at accur links. Will find me 282 00:21:07.950 --> 00:21:11.309 on Linkedin. I am excited to talk all you cool. Well, thank 283 00:21:11.309 --> 00:21:15.109 you so much for coming on the show. I have a million other questions 284 00:21:15.150 --> 00:21:18.779 for you. So the only solution here is that you're going to have to 285 00:21:18.859 --> 00:21:19.940 come talk to me again. I'M gonna have to have you on this show 286 00:21:19.980 --> 00:21:23.339 again and I would like to, but for now we're going to go ahead 287 00:21:23.339 --> 00:21:26.019 and close it out. Thank you so much for being on the show with 288 00:21:26.059 --> 00:21:30.660 us, Chris. Thank you for having me. We totally get it. 289 00:21:32.019 --> 00:21:34.650 We publish a ton of content on this podcast and it can be a lot 290 00:21:34.809 --> 00:21:38.569 to keep up with. That's why we've started the BB growth big three, 291 00:21:40.009 --> 00:21:44.529 a no fluff email that boils down our three biggest takeaways from an entire week 292 00:21:44.569 --> 00:21:49.240 of episodes. Sign up today at Sweet Phish Mediacom Big Three. That sweet 293 00:21:49.240 --> 00:21:52.039 fish Mediacom Big Three