Jeffrey Shaw, business coach, keynote speaker, host of the Creative Warriors podcast, and author of Lingo: Discover Your Ideal Customer’s Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible, joins me on this episode.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Jeffrey talks about his book, Lingo. As he interviews and revisits the content of this marketing and branding book and finds more to add, he plans to make the audiobook an expanded version that includes the lingo of sales.
• Lingo is the secret language of a group. Learn the value system, the essence, the lifestyle and behavior of your ideal customers so that you can learn to speak their lingo, create a bond of community, and join their clan.
• Jeffrey maintains that 99% of businesses are built backward. They try to fit customers into their business. Instead, try to understand the lingo of the people you serve and build your business aligned with their lingo.
• Jeffrey gives a glimpse into his background and how he learned the importance of the lifestyle and values systems of his ideal customer for his photography business, which led him to learn their lingo.
• Speaking your customer’s lingo minimizes the impact of price and competition. Jeffrey never had a problem charging what his work is worth. He provides high-end service and charges commensurately.
• Jeffrey reframes selling as moving. He moves people from indecision to a point of decision, from seeing their problem to investing in the solution, or from confusion to transformation.
• To really move people, cater to what they don’t know to ask for but you know would serve them best. As the expert in your field, you know what they really need.
• Andy relates this to The Challenger Sale for changing the customer’s buying paradigm by asking questions on things they should know about their business but don’t.
• Jeffrey sees lingo as the evolution of buyer personas and avatars. A much deeper level of prospect individualization is needed. Individualization is possible for big companies as well as small. The company has to do the research.
• Jeffrey talks about lingo and accents. Jeffrey gives a case study of a dog walker who believed she was providing exceptional service while Jeffrey saw it only as frustration. Learn what is exceptional service to your customer.
• Jeffrey talks about the Brand to Blend exercise he uses with clients to give them an idea about their own brand essence leading to the lingo of their ideal customer.
• Jeffrey says to ignore the Pareto principle (20% of your customers produce 80% of your income). Your brand may be too broad, which would draw in less profitable clients. Bergdorf Goodman is not for everybody. No company is.