1322: How Outside Sales Reps Can Transition to Remote Selling w/ Mark Williams

WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:08.470 Welcome back to beb growth. I'm Logan lyles with sweet fish media. I'm 2 00:00:08.470 --> 00:00:13.269 joined today by Mark Williams. He's president and CEO over at broker's international. 3 00:00:13.390 --> 00:00:16.390 Mark, how's it going today, sir? Awesome. Thank you very much 4 00:00:16.390 --> 00:00:18.989 for asking and I'm thrilled to be here. Awesome. What did you have 5 00:00:19.109 --> 00:00:21.620 for breakfast today, by the way, Mark, what we love to hear 6 00:00:21.739 --> 00:00:25.179 how guests on our show are getting up, getting going and getting their day 7 00:00:25.260 --> 00:00:31.179 started. Today was some cottage cheese and a banana. Man, that sounds 8 00:00:31.179 --> 00:00:35.969 way healthier than that breakfast Burrito I had and now I have now I have 9 00:00:36.130 --> 00:00:41.369 breakfast envy. Yeah, I think you probably made the better choice there, 10 00:00:41.609 --> 00:00:43.810 though, Mark. So, mark, we're going to be talking about you 11 00:00:43.890 --> 00:00:48.170 know, you are in the in the insurance world. In that industry is 12 00:00:48.210 --> 00:00:51.960 going through a lot of change right now, kind of playing catch up to 13 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:59.799 some some other industries where sales professionals are more used to engaging on social engaging 14 00:00:59.880 --> 00:01:03.280 with prospects remotely, and so what you're going to be sharing about is ways 15 00:01:03.390 --> 00:01:08.069 for sellers who are used to being in the field directly, facetoface, you 16 00:01:08.150 --> 00:01:12.670 know, palm to palm with customers, are now working remotely, are now 17 00:01:12.829 --> 00:01:19.260 selling remotely and trying to engage prospects and customers digitally. Why is this something 18 00:01:19.340 --> 00:01:22.819 that's such a hot topic for you right now, that that it's really what 19 00:01:22.900 --> 00:01:25.739 you wanted to share on today? Sure so, first and foremost, this 20 00:01:25.780 --> 00:01:30.099 is the lifeblood of our organization. So broker's international is a distributor of financial 21 00:01:30.099 --> 00:01:36.689 services products, life insurance and a nuities to individuals through independent agents. So 22 00:01:36.849 --> 00:01:41.689 the independent agent works with us, they see the consumer, and so our 23 00:01:41.849 --> 00:01:48.319 entire business model is built on an insurance agent visiting the public and introducing solutions 24 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:55.400 to their financial issues. And traditionally that industry has been a facetoface, not 25 00:01:55.560 --> 00:02:00.760 only prospecting but existing clientele visiting facetoface either in an office, at the kitchen 26 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:05.189 table in a living room and conducting business. So our entire business model has 27 00:02:05.230 --> 00:02:09.389 been built on agents in the field with their customers. And clearly covid and 28 00:02:09.750 --> 00:02:15.099 the situation that we're in today doesn't really warrant that. So the entire business 29 00:02:15.139 --> 00:02:22.099 model has been turned upside down. So we are watching an entire industry try 30 00:02:22.259 --> 00:02:27.099 to rebuild itself or reshape itself literally within the last five or six months. 31 00:02:27.419 --> 00:02:30.969 So I am passionate about it because we work with over five thousand independent agents 32 00:02:31.009 --> 00:02:37.930 nationwide and we're trying to assist them in changing their business model in a relatively 33 00:02:37.969 --> 00:02:40.849 short period of time to keep them in business and, quite frankly, that 34 00:02:42.210 --> 00:02:46.199 to be keep offering solutions to consumers needs when it comes to financial services product. 35 00:02:46.439 --> 00:02:50.919 Yeah, absolutely, that's a great way to tee it up. Mark, 36 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:54.840 as as you started to see this transition take place in your industry and 37 00:02:54.919 --> 00:03:00.590 you're advising those agents on how to how to handle remote selling differently. A 38 00:03:00.830 --> 00:03:04.710 lot of it stays the same, but a lot is very different. And 39 00:03:04.870 --> 00:03:07.870 then engaging, especially on social media, which is, you know, something 40 00:03:08.030 --> 00:03:13.419 that is not touched by a lot of the the sellers in in this field 41 00:03:13.620 --> 00:03:19.060 up to now. Where did you start on advising them on what to do 42 00:03:19.259 --> 00:03:23.740 next, what to do to take those first steps to prepare for the remote 43 00:03:23.780 --> 00:03:30.889 selling environment and digitally engaging those prospects? Great questions. So, first and 44 00:03:30.050 --> 00:03:35.090 foremost, we wanted we reached out to almost all of our producers and really 45 00:03:35.129 --> 00:03:43.360 took an inventory of their technology capabilities. Unfortunately, the financial services industry is 46 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:47.879 a more mature industry and a lot of our financial professionals are a little bit 47 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:53.280 older demographically and but frankly, weren't used to using the social media tools that 48 00:03:53.400 --> 00:03:58.430 some of the younger generations are growing up with. The first who wanted to 49 00:03:58.469 --> 00:04:01.270 make sure we knew what did. What did our field force have as way 50 00:04:01.509 --> 00:04:05.030 of technology? Do they know how to use zoom, for example, or 51 00:04:05.110 --> 00:04:11.099 Microsoft teams, or even skype or facetime, the basics of using that? 52 00:04:11.979 --> 00:04:15.660 How good are they at communicating with their customers vias, via digital means, 53 00:04:15.699 --> 00:04:19.980 as opposed to the phone or direct mail, which traditionally was the way most 54 00:04:19.980 --> 00:04:24.449 of them did business? So the first thing we did was too take an 55 00:04:24.490 --> 00:04:29.689 inventory and the second thing we did was to offer tools that they could use. 56 00:04:29.810 --> 00:04:33.410 So again, subscriptions to a zoom or to a Microsoft team's or skype. 57 00:04:33.889 --> 00:04:39.759 We held educational workshops on how to use those tools. Then we introduce 58 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.000 how to communicate with your customer, right, so letting your customer know that 59 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:47.120 business is going to have to be handled differently, but that they're still in 60 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:50.279 business. Right. This is a business that you don't have to close the 61 00:04:50.360 --> 00:04:56.550 doors. I don't have to see you facetoface or personal touch. I can 62 00:04:56.670 --> 00:05:00.790 see you via video call and we can do a policy review or an annual 63 00:05:00.829 --> 00:05:04.110 review of your finances or your policy review. We can do that in a 64 00:05:04.230 --> 00:05:08.980 medium, much like we are doing right now. So the second piece was 65 00:05:09.300 --> 00:05:14.019 teaching them and giving them examples of how to communicate with their customers so their 66 00:05:14.180 --> 00:05:19.100 customers knew they can. There's now another avenue to reach them. I learned 67 00:05:19.139 --> 00:05:23.889 long ago if you're you want to have as many doors to your business open 68 00:05:23.970 --> 00:05:27.769 as possible. So you want people go to walk in or or call in 69 00:05:28.089 --> 00:05:30.970 or use the Internet. You know, have a website. So for an 70 00:05:30.050 --> 00:05:34.089 agent, have an eight hundred number, have a phone number, have a 71 00:05:34.209 --> 00:05:40.519 digital presence, maybe it's on Linkedin or facetime. Have another avenue that your 72 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:44.519 customers can reach out to you, and then communicate those avenues to your customers. 73 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:46.680 Make sure they know what your website is, make sure they know you're 74 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:51.110 multiple email addresses, that they have a linkedin connection, that they can reach 75 00:05:51.189 --> 00:05:56.069 you by I am of some sort right some sort of instant message. So 76 00:05:56.389 --> 00:06:00.670 communicating with your customers and then finally, how to prospect differently than what you're 77 00:06:00.670 --> 00:06:04.779 used to. And so prospecting has changed as well. If you're used to 78 00:06:04.819 --> 00:06:09.019 doing direct mail, for example, you might try email. If you're used 79 00:06:09.060 --> 00:06:13.220 to email. You might try seminars, if you're used to dinner seminars, 80 00:06:13.220 --> 00:06:16.420 which are in person. Now let's hold virtual seminars. Let's have a virtual 81 00:06:16.500 --> 00:06:21.250 meeting where we invite sixty or seventy people to a time and place meeting that's 82 00:06:21.529 --> 00:06:27.329 digital, and now you can entertain thirty, forty, fifty people digitally, 83 00:06:28.129 --> 00:06:30.569 and then to teach you how to follow up with those people, because that's 84 00:06:30.649 --> 00:06:35.399 different as well. So all of those tools we started to introduce literally back 85 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:40.920 in in February and March, as this as the covid situation starting to erupt. 86 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:45.240 I love that it sounds like you get you guys were able to help 87 00:06:45.560 --> 00:06:49.269 take a lot of agents from from zero to hundred and sixty pretty quickly. 88 00:06:49.350 --> 00:06:56.029 Let's talk about the prospecting piece and the the engagement piece. Digitally, where 89 00:06:56.189 --> 00:07:01.740 you advising the agents that sell within your ecosystem mark to start to engage folks 90 00:07:02.100 --> 00:07:06.699 digitally, not only to open those new doors but to continue that engagement? 91 00:07:08.180 --> 00:07:13.100 Does it start with kind of asking folks where they most active? Where would 92 00:07:13.100 --> 00:07:15.410 they prefer to get that community cation? Is At facebook? Is At linkedin? 93 00:07:15.610 --> 00:07:19.290 Is it email? Where did you start in advising them on that next 94 00:07:19.370 --> 00:07:24.769 phase to take their business digitally? Great. So the first thing we did 95 00:07:24.970 --> 00:07:27.689 was, like I said before, we took an inventory of what a producer 96 00:07:27.769 --> 00:07:30.560 had, what a financial professional already had. Most of them had websites, 97 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:35.319 most of them were using email, many of them were using some form of 98 00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:41.759 digital communication. What they weren't doing and where we wanted them to start was 99 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:46.550 number one, create a linkedin presence and create a facebook business presence. That's 100 00:07:46.589 --> 00:07:50.189 an easy place to start. It's relatively inexpensive and relatively quick to get up 101 00:07:50.189 --> 00:07:55.110 and running. Right a Linkedin linkedin profile is a great place to start. 102 00:07:55.269 --> 00:08:00.699 We know that consumers today, after meeting any financial professional, the first thing 103 00:08:00.740 --> 00:08:03.540 they're going to do is to do some research and that's going to be online. 104 00:08:03.819 --> 00:08:07.300 So we took an inventory of what happens when I google them. Right. 105 00:08:07.300 --> 00:08:09.139 So, if your producer of mind, the first thing I'm going to 106 00:08:09.180 --> 00:08:11.220 do is to go into Google and I'm going to look up your name and 107 00:08:11.339 --> 00:08:15.009 see what comes up, what's out in that, in the APP, in 108 00:08:15.129 --> 00:08:18.529 the digital world, about you. To begin with, let's clean that up 109 00:08:18.569 --> 00:08:20.930 and if you have nothing, let's start to create something. So go out 110 00:08:20.970 --> 00:08:26.370 to linkedin own. Of the easiest things to do is start to share articles 111 00:08:26.889 --> 00:08:31.879 that are already out in the in the digital universe. So when forms or 112 00:08:31.080 --> 00:08:37.000 Time magazine or Newsweek or USA Today, public has publish as an article about 113 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:41.350 financial services, for teaching them how to repost that on their own pages. 114 00:08:43.309 --> 00:08:46.470 So start with the basics. Create a linkedin profile, create a facebook business 115 00:08:46.629 --> 00:08:54.789 page and start receiving set up google and Yahoo alerts that bring articles and articles 116 00:08:54.870 --> 00:08:58.340 of relevance to your Inbox, and then teaching them how to repost that so 117 00:08:58.500 --> 00:09:05.340 that their consumers or their friends or their connections start to see that they have 118 00:09:05.419 --> 00:09:07.899 an online presence. That was where we started. Yeah, I love that. 119 00:09:09.019 --> 00:09:13.529 And for folks who are you know, are not, they're selling on 120 00:09:13.889 --> 00:09:18.250 social or creating that presence and and creating content, telling them go to Linkedin, 121 00:09:18.330 --> 00:09:22.649 go to facebook and start creating your own content seems like a big chasm 122 00:09:22.769 --> 00:09:28.639 to jump over. Sometimes just showing them how to curate and share that content 123 00:09:28.679 --> 00:09:31.639 as a first step can help bridge that gap. And then you know my 124 00:09:31.879 --> 00:09:37.120 recommendation. I'd love to hear where you're advising your producers on this point. 125 00:09:37.159 --> 00:09:39.870 Mark if it lines up or maybe if it's been a little bit different, 126 00:09:39.190 --> 00:09:43.149 but if I were talking to those folks is funny. I was just having 127 00:09:43.149 --> 00:09:48.509 a conversation with a former colleague of mine. I've been selling remotely via zoom. 128 00:09:48.590 --> 00:09:52.190 We work with customers internationally here at sweet fish and a lot of them 129 00:09:52.230 --> 00:09:56.139 I have never physically met facetoface. Some of them I have, but the 130 00:09:56.379 --> 00:10:00.340 by and large it is usually as zoom relationship and a linked in relationship and 131 00:10:00.460 --> 00:10:03.500 then email relationship that I fully cultivated. And I was talking to one of 132 00:10:03.539 --> 00:10:09.250 my former colleagues who is in a similar, similar space in the office equipment, 133 00:10:09.330 --> 00:10:13.649 copiers and printers. Those sales reps are very much like the producers that 134 00:10:13.730 --> 00:10:18.690 you work with used to facetoface, hand to hand combat, if you will. 135 00:10:18.129 --> 00:10:24.919 And you know what I recommended was getting on linked in and sharing content, 136 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:28.240 especially in your space. You've got to you got to be careful. 137 00:10:28.279 --> 00:10:31.320 You there's not everything that you can share based on a compliance standpoint, but 138 00:10:31.480 --> 00:10:35.950 when you look at the conversations that you're having with your customers that aren't related 139 00:10:37.350 --> 00:10:41.710 to specifically where you come in in insurance and financial services, but how they're 140 00:10:41.750 --> 00:10:46.590 dealing with things, how how they're coping with the current situation, those conversations, 141 00:10:48.070 --> 00:10:52.299 those are little gold nuggets of content that those folks can share on Linkedin, 142 00:10:52.500 --> 00:10:56.259 on facebook. Hey, I'm hearing from my community. They found this 143 00:10:56.419 --> 00:11:00.659 solution as their kids are going crazy. They found this website called out school, 144 00:11:00.659 --> 00:11:03.019 where you can sign up for different courses. Sharing that content, even 145 00:11:03.019 --> 00:11:07.610 though it's not related to the solutions you provide to your customers, is going 146 00:11:07.730 --> 00:11:11.409 to make you a valuable resource. And guess what, none of that has 147 00:11:11.490 --> 00:11:13.129 to go through compliance. None of that, you know, has to be 148 00:11:13.370 --> 00:11:18.169 curated and gone through by a legal or compliance team, but it can be 149 00:11:18.330 --> 00:11:20.600 a way for you to not only curate and share that content, which is 150 00:11:20.679 --> 00:11:24.600 a good first step, but I don't think you're going to get, you 151 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:28.799 know, as much reach there as if you're creating and sharing your own content 152 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:31.799 on linkedin and facebook. So that would be the next step for me. 153 00:11:31.879 --> 00:11:35.629 How does that align with the recommendations you guys were making? Mark, you 154 00:11:35.789 --> 00:11:37.950 bet your spot on it. I'm glad you mentioned compliance as well. So, 155 00:11:39.190 --> 00:11:41.029 first and foremost, I've at I do reach out to a lot of 156 00:11:41.149 --> 00:11:46.789 our financial professionals and ask them to link to me on Linkedin. One of 157 00:11:46.830 --> 00:11:50.019 the reasons I do that is so that they can see the content how I'm 158 00:11:50.100 --> 00:11:54.259 sharing in what I'm sharing. Most of the content that I share, about 159 00:11:54.299 --> 00:11:58.580 fifty percent of it, is already information that's that someone has already posted that 160 00:11:58.620 --> 00:12:03.649 a news organization or an article that I like that I think makes sense to 161 00:12:03.809 --> 00:12:09.250 my constituents or to my audience. So you are exactly right. That doesn't 162 00:12:09.289 --> 00:12:11.690 have to run through compliance. It's already out in the in the atmosphere, 163 00:12:13.330 --> 00:12:16.799 in the digital world, and they can share that and it's relevant, good 164 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:20.519 information and they can share them not only through a linkedin digital platform that they 165 00:12:20.519 --> 00:12:24.120 can also attach that to an email, for example, and send that up. 166 00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:26.799 The second place we started, and I have started recently, is with 167 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:31.429 video. To shoot a very short video. First of all, I do 168 00:12:31.549 --> 00:12:35.389 about two or three videos a month and my videos that I'm using I'm using 169 00:12:35.429 --> 00:12:39.830 for my iphone. It's literally as I take a walk in my neighborhood, 170 00:12:39.870 --> 00:12:43.779 I shoot a two minute video of things that I've I'm thinking about and I 171 00:12:43.940 --> 00:12:50.460 post that our business at broker's international. We also can help a financial professional 172 00:12:50.460 --> 00:12:54.740 run through compliance, for example, but to shoot a two minute video on 173 00:12:54.820 --> 00:12:58.450 a topic takes no time. UPLOADING that and sharing. That takes no time 174 00:12:58.649 --> 00:13:03.210 and, quite frankly, it's almost at no cost, which is a great 175 00:13:03.289 --> 00:13:07.370 way to engage. It's personal. People can see you, they get a 176 00:13:07.409 --> 00:13:13.360 flavor for who you are and in our business up most financial professionals the customers 177 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:16.519 doing business with them, because they're doing business with them first. Right, 178 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:20.120 it's the personality they're buying persons, yea, and video gives a way to 179 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:24.480 show that. So that's one way we say to connect with people is through 180 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:30.070 that medium. I also don't I also don't want agents to forget about direct 181 00:13:30.149 --> 00:13:35.830 mail, linking them back to their social media pages. So, because there's 182 00:13:35.909 --> 00:13:37.870 so much digital, we can help them do direct mail as well. We 183 00:13:37.950 --> 00:13:41.539 don't want them to forget about the old medium. Right, mail still works, 184 00:13:43.139 --> 00:13:48.419 but putting the links of anything digital that they have on everything they do, 185 00:13:48.059 --> 00:13:52.379 on their emails, on their direct mail, on a post make sure 186 00:13:52.379 --> 00:13:56.809 your customers know how to engage with you, making easy for me to click 187 00:13:56.929 --> 00:14:01.250 on a link and send me to your linkedin page or your facebook page or 188 00:14:01.250 --> 00:14:05.250 what have you. So we're expanding their practices by using the tools that are 189 00:14:05.250 --> 00:14:13.360 relatively available, that are relatively inexpensive to use and teaching them that with several 190 00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:18.840 electronic applications, you can manage that whole process within minutes a day. It 191 00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:20.639 does not take a lot of time, and so that's kind of where we're 192 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:26.909 starting and adding and having them add on. So I'm asking our professionals to 193 00:14:26.029 --> 00:14:31.669 link to me so that they can see a very good idea of the content. 194 00:14:31.750 --> 00:14:35.789 I post probably five or six different postings a week, plus the videos, 195 00:14:35.509 --> 00:14:41.419 plus other interesting articles or tidbits that I find. And again, relatively 196 00:14:41.980 --> 00:14:46.740 inexpensive and doesn't take a lot of time either. Yeah, absolutely, one 197 00:14:46.820 --> 00:14:50.740 of the things that we've seen it work well for folks that I got really 198 00:14:50.779 --> 00:14:56.330 excited about it when I first learned about videos. Sending platforms that enable you 199 00:14:56.529 --> 00:15:01.529 to send a synchronous video not so we're not talking about like you and I 200 00:15:01.570 --> 00:15:05.009 are on zoom right now. We can see facetoface face the new facetoface and 201 00:15:05.090 --> 00:15:09.759 putting air quotes around facetoface there. But being able to get in person when 202 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:15.519 you weren't in person, because I came from ten years of selling office equipment 203 00:15:15.879 --> 00:15:18.440 business to business in a local region and a lot of that is like your 204 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:24.070 your agents that are used to going to those chamber of Commerce meetings, going 205 00:15:24.230 --> 00:15:30.470 to their clients offices and meeting facetoface, using tools like that to record videos 206 00:15:30.509 --> 00:15:33.990 and send those one to one to the folks that they're working with. Is 207 00:15:33.309 --> 00:15:37.779 that something that you guys have seen effective with your agents at all yet mark 208 00:15:37.259 --> 00:15:41.940 you better. One of the things that Linkedin does extremely well, and I'll 209 00:15:41.940 --> 00:15:45.139 plug linked in here for a minute, is there are lots of educational courses 210 00:15:45.179 --> 00:15:48.100 that are provided by linkedin about how to prospect on Linkedin. And one of 211 00:15:48.100 --> 00:15:52.049 the huge advantages of Linkedin, in my opinion, is if you are in 212 00:15:52.090 --> 00:15:56.210 a smaller city that is dominated by three or four or five very large manufacturers, 213 00:15:56.250 --> 00:16:00.009 for example Syracuse, New York, and carrier is a prime example. 214 00:16:00.129 --> 00:16:06.720 Carrier Air conditioning, very large plant. They're using linkedin and email addresses. 215 00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:11.679 You can actually prospect based on the email address of a company. Right. 216 00:16:11.799 --> 00:16:17.159 So I'll use BILTD, which is broker's international. Lots our email address. 217 00:16:17.559 --> 00:16:21.230 All of our employees have the same email address. Well, you can actually 218 00:16:21.309 --> 00:16:25.190 do a hunt on linkedin for email addresses that end in a certain way. 219 00:16:25.750 --> 00:16:29.389 But now I know you work for brokers and if I wanted to pinpoint a 220 00:16:29.629 --> 00:16:34.340 personalized video to a broker's international employee. I could do that now by targeting 221 00:16:34.419 --> 00:16:38.700 those employees and sending a personal message. Okay, I happen to work with 222 00:16:38.779 --> 00:16:42.700 a lot of employees or many employees at from broker's international. I understand your 223 00:16:42.779 --> 00:16:48.850 space. Now I've created a personalized or somewhat personalized message to someone who I 224 00:16:48.929 --> 00:16:52.889 don't know, based on the demographics that I have found within a linked in 225 00:16:52.929 --> 00:16:57.490 or facebook, and that's pretty fantastic. Facebook you can narrow a search and 226 00:16:57.610 --> 00:17:03.839 you can buy advertising based on likes, based on geography, based on demographics, 227 00:17:03.880 --> 00:17:10.079 based on past clicks. It's a pinpointed way to target consumers, as 228 00:17:10.119 --> 00:17:15.319 opposed to the old way of blasting email to an area code right where you 229 00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:18.150 don't know really what you're getting or who you're getting. It's by a zip 230 00:17:18.269 --> 00:17:23.470 code and so you really you're blanketing an area as a goose to pinpointing a 231 00:17:23.549 --> 00:17:30.339 demographic or something more specific that these digital tools allow you to do so absolutely 232 00:17:30.539 --> 00:17:33.460 how to prospect a little more pinpoint as yes, yeah, and I like 233 00:17:33.579 --> 00:17:37.660 what you said there. Even if you're not going fully personalized, you can 234 00:17:37.740 --> 00:17:42.779 still customize the message and go one step there without going to complete personalization, 235 00:17:44.259 --> 00:17:48.049 and you can do it at some scale, but increase your effectiveness. A 236 00:17:48.170 --> 00:17:51.769 few other tools that all plug there that we use on a regular basis, 237 00:17:52.089 --> 00:17:56.289 and I'll mention also with linkedin. For folks who are new to prospecting on 238 00:17:56.450 --> 00:18:00.039 Linkedin, I would recommend when you send those connection requests, I would use 239 00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:06.079 linkedin to get those email addresses. If you have a sales navigator account and 240 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:08.440 you pair that with a tool that we use called lead Iq, where you 241 00:18:08.519 --> 00:18:15.069 can pull up a list of potential customers. Open lead Iq will give you 242 00:18:15.109 --> 00:18:21.390 a sidebar where you can gather email addresses associated with those, with those individuals. 243 00:18:21.910 --> 00:18:25.869 I would do that and engage them with customize emails the way you're talking 244 00:18:25.869 --> 00:18:27.779 about mark. The other thing you can do is go ahead and send them 245 00:18:27.819 --> 00:18:33.619 a connection request personalize or at least customize is, as we said again, 246 00:18:33.660 --> 00:18:38.220 there's a difference there, that connection request and if they accept what linkedin allows 247 00:18:38.259 --> 00:18:42.609 you to do then with first degree connections is to send them a voice memo 248 00:18:44.049 --> 00:18:48.970 or a video right within the linkedin messaging APP. And so you have a 249 00:18:48.049 --> 00:18:52.849 way, as you as you mentioned mark, to get to you know a 250 00:18:52.930 --> 00:18:56.359 lot of these folks are used to. I sell myself then I sell the 251 00:18:56.440 --> 00:18:59.920 company behind me and then I sell the solution, in that order right, 252 00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:03.680 and so this is a way to sell yourself even when you can't be in 253 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:07.960 person, and those really stand out. Whenever I send a voice message or 254 00:19:07.160 --> 00:19:11.910 a video in Linkedin messaging in the in the one to one DM's, people 255 00:19:11.990 --> 00:19:17.029 usually comment, people usually reply at a higher rate. So I would recommend 256 00:19:17.029 --> 00:19:19.309 looking at a tool like lead Iq, full disclosure. They are a sponsor 257 00:19:19.430 --> 00:19:22.910 of the show, but we use the tool, so I recommend it highly. 258 00:19:22.950 --> 00:19:27.019 Using that strategy on Linkedin. And then another tool I'm a big fan 259 00:19:27.059 --> 00:19:30.140 of, again full disclosure. They are a customer of our so we like 260 00:19:30.339 --> 00:19:37.380 them a lot as a tool called bombomb. Bomb bomb allows you to record 261 00:19:37.420 --> 00:19:41.049 and send one to one videos from your phone or from your desktop and share 262 00:19:41.170 --> 00:19:45.890 those links on Linkedin or via text or via email, so that you can 263 00:19:47.049 --> 00:19:49.970 put yourself face to face in front of those folks and you pair that with 264 00:19:51.329 --> 00:19:55.640 the video that you're doing on social to introduce yourself as well. Man, 265 00:19:55.759 --> 00:20:00.599 you're able for your prospects to get to know you far before they ever meet 266 00:20:00.599 --> 00:20:03.680 you. FACETOFACE, and they may not meet you truly facetoface anytime soon. 267 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:07.910 The other thing I'll recommend. Dan Sanchez, our director of audience growth, 268 00:20:08.230 --> 00:20:14.630 has been recommending this strategy for brands with their podcast, putting the facebook pixel 269 00:20:15.029 --> 00:20:18.829 on your website so that visitors to your website, when they go to facebook, 270 00:20:18.150 --> 00:20:22.500 they see a retargeting add so it's another way to target. As you 271 00:20:22.579 --> 00:20:26.500 mentioned, facebook allows you to target based on geography and all these different criteria. 272 00:20:26.819 --> 00:20:30.140 You can also retarget folks who have been to your website and then you 273 00:20:30.299 --> 00:20:33.779 use one of your videos that you posted recently and put that in an ad 274 00:20:34.180 --> 00:20:37.930 that now people are seeing because if they've been researching you, okay, what's 275 00:20:37.970 --> 00:20:41.450 there? What's there? Now they're seeing you again. You're helping to warm 276 00:20:41.490 --> 00:20:45.450 up that relationship and warm them up to you. So a few additional strategies 277 00:20:45.529 --> 00:20:51.400 there. Mark any final advice for sellers who have are going through this transition 278 00:20:51.559 --> 00:20:56.039 from offline to online right now is we wrap up the conversation today, you 279 00:20:56.240 --> 00:21:00.319 met number one advice. Make sure that you've partnered with an organization that understand 280 00:21:00.359 --> 00:21:06.430 your business, that is providing real value and real tips, even as simple 281 00:21:06.470 --> 00:21:11.670 as facebook. The power of social media, I think even in my generation, 282 00:21:11.789 --> 00:21:15.789 and I'm fifty two, I slowly learned about the power of social media 283 00:21:15.230 --> 00:21:19.019 through trial and error. There are a lot of my peers and older than 284 00:21:19.059 --> 00:21:22.380 I that really don't understand. It's not the value, it's not the people 285 00:21:22.460 --> 00:21:27.420 that I know, it's the people that I know and who they know, 286 00:21:29.420 --> 00:21:33.690 and the simple tools of expanding your brand to the people that you know and 287 00:21:33.849 --> 00:21:38.849 to the people that they know really does work and it doesn't take a lot 288 00:21:38.930 --> 00:21:44.490 of efforts. So we're I would ask or invite those that are looking for 289 00:21:44.529 --> 00:21:48.759 a partner to investigate US and other financial services companies that can literally show them 290 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:52.960 how to use the tools to help them build the YEP. I love it, 291 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:56.000 Mark. For anybody listening to this that wants to do that, wants 292 00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:59.599 to reach out or stay connected with you or follow along with your content, 293 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:03.509 is linkedin. The best way for them to connect with you linkedin Mark Williams 294 00:22:03.589 --> 00:22:10.269 Bi. So linkedin for sure. My email address directly, m Williams at 295 00:22:10.349 --> 00:22:14.829 the biltdcom another great way, or just give us a phone call or look 296 00:22:14.829 --> 00:22:18.259 us up on the web. So you bet always open and more than willing 297 00:22:18.420 --> 00:22:22.259 and would love to have a conversation with anyone interested in the financial services space 298 00:22:22.980 --> 00:22:26.019 and what we do. Fantastic, mark, thank you so much for being 299 00:22:26.059 --> 00:22:27.940 our guest on the show today. I really appreciate the time. Thank you 300 00:22:27.940 --> 00:22:34.329 very much. Gary B says that all the time and we agree. Every 301 00:22:34.450 --> 00:22:40.450 company should think of themselves as a media company first, then whatever it is 302 00:22:40.569 --> 00:22:42.890 they actually do. If you know this is true, but your team is 303 00:22:42.970 --> 00:22:48.039 already maxed out and you can't produce any more content in house, we can 304 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:52.079 help. We produce podcasts for some of the most innovative bb brands in the 305 00:22:52.200 --> 00:22:55.960 world and we also help them turn the content from the podcast and the blog 306 00:22:56.039 --> 00:23:00.990 posts microvideos and slide decks that work really well on Linkedin. If you want 307 00:23:00.990 --> 00:23:06.869 to learn more, go to sweetphish Mediacom launch or email logan at sweetish Mediacom. 308 -->