(888) 815-0802Serving Up Sales Wisdom, with Mary Laudati [Episode 1144]
Serve, dig, set, spike, block! In this week’s episode, Howard and Alastair are joined by Mary Laudati, a coach and seasoned expert in B2C sales consulting, to serve up her valuable insights on the art of customer engagement and effective sales strategies. They talk about the significance of building trust by respecting consumer preferences and acquiring good data. Mary also underscores the importance of personalization, quick responses, and passionate interactions to succeed in the dynamic world of B2C sales.
Podcast Transcript:
00:00:00:09 – 00:00:36:17
Speaker
That’s a perfect set, spike, serve. No serve, set, spike…right? It’s actually serve, dig, set, spike, kill, block. Well, clearly we have an expert here. Welcome back everybody to this week’s Sales Strategy and Enablement podcast. I’m Alastair Woolcock, CSRO here at Revenue.io. We’re joined by my co-host and king of all things revenue science and pioneer, Howard Brown.
00:00:36:22 – 00:01:05:19
Speaker
How are you doing today, Howard? King? Boy, Well, I keep getting bigger and bigger titles here. I got it. I feel overwhelmed. I’m excited to be with Mary. Mary, it’s great to see you. Oh, thank you, Mary. We are thrilled to have you with us today for the audience. Mary Laudati is an expert in sales consulting in the BBC space and we are keen to dive into some of the trends, the changes you’re seeing and best practices and KPIs that should be happening in B2C sales.
00:01:05:19 – 00:01:26:04
Speaker
Mary So, you know, happy to have you with us. Thank you so much. It’s a passion of mine and back in my day I was called Mary membership, so it was all about hand sell or memberships and we just had fun with that. Well, let’s have some fun today. And we’d love to start off with a news bite on the week and just get your perspective.
00:01:26:06 – 00:01:57:08
Speaker
And you know, one of them in there really struck me this past week was some latest data on B2C trends and that 86% of consumers now trust companies with their personal information is quite high, higher than it’s been in a while. But there’s one thing they require, and that is that they want to improve the quality of service they get with the trade off of that information.
00:01:57:10 – 00:02:21:09
Speaker
So yeah, then think of capturing data. We think of using information sales today. It’s not just to connect, it’s literally now if you want to have trust and efficacy with the buyer, the consumer, you better have a good understanding of how to link that all together, the tooling, the data and improve the actual sales process and services itself.
00:02:21:11 – 00:02:40:21
Speaker
Do you agree that’s the trend? Is that what you’re seeing? Does that all jive with what what what’s going on in your neck of the woods? Well, the main objective for all companies is to get good data. We spend a lot of money on digital marketing and we really want to get great data so that we can reach out, communicate with individuals.
00:02:40:23 – 00:03:08:13
Speaker
But I will tell you from my experience and what other companies have experienced is that when people say opt out, you better respect the opt out requests. Number one. Remember, two, they’re going to know we can take their data and give it to other companies because within 30 seconds they’re receiving emails and phone numbers from various companies. And obviously you don’t want your brand associated with that.
00:03:08:18 – 00:03:38:06
Speaker
And by getting great data, it also builds a brand of trust and people communicate that people will obviously through social media, either celebrate your brand or they will bring your brand down. So I absolutely agree that I find if it’s a company, if you’ve got good brand recognition and if your customers and clients senior praises, you will get great data in order for you to acquire new customers.
00:03:38:07 – 00:04:13:17
Speaker
Very, very true. Hey, Mary, one thing I’m really excited about, I mentioned it on the pre call. When you go to your website, it says it all begins with meaningful conversations. And I want to dig in to that for a moment because I think what we’re finding in the B2B world is there’s so much to learn from the B2C experience and the buyers today are getting more and more educated on purchase decisions and they expect the sales process to be as seamless as they get from a B2C experience.
00:04:13:17 – 00:04:47:02
Speaker
Right. And you’re focused a lot of your career on membership, which is a commitment which is delivering value, which is retaining that customer and making sure you get referrals from that customer. These are all things that are highly valuable to every B2B organization. So what I’m excited about is learning from you, and I know our listeners who in a lot of ways are B2B, but what can we gain from this B2C experience and apply that to the to B world that is ever changing?
00:04:47:04 – 00:05:18:01
Speaker
I would say the key component there is to know your audience whenever you’re representing your product or service. It’s so important to know who you’re speaking to. It’s so important to ask well worded questions so you know exactly where your potential new client sits at that time. What are their pain points? What are they looking for as far as enhancement, whatever that experience is, It starts with asking the right questions.
00:05:18:03 – 00:05:49:21
Speaker
So really learn about your potential new clients. So knowing your audience, understanding where they’re coming from, and then gaining the information to present something that will actually be custom designed to what it is that they’re looking for. And then from that point, the actual acquisition of that customer is somewhat seamless because they trust and they believe that you have the answer to either their problems or to enhance their current situation.
00:05:49:23 – 00:06:17:23
Speaker
And that is what differentiates you from your competitors as well. I think that answer like personalization is is so important, Mary. And I think, you know, for a lot of people right now, if we take that a step further in the sector and with the BDC, there’s a lot of people that will cancel subscription services. Right now they’re cancel membership services and B2B churn rates are a challenge for a lot of companies these days, especially in SAS companies.
00:06:18:01 – 00:06:55:13
Speaker
But how do you guide the companies you work with on what I’ll call better cancel conversation options at this point of the conversation? So the personalization with a better cancel conversation, like how do we how do we arm these sellers to, to mitigate that? So it’s really interesting if you really talk to all the companies that are doing really well right now with not only hitting their new sale goals but retaining, I mean, I have clients that retain 80% of their clients and that’s a huge number.
00:06:55:14 – 00:07:19:00
Speaker
And it all comes down to the customer experience every single day. They reach out, they walk in, they need something. It is that relationship they have with your team. You are an extension of your team and your team has to feel the love for the clients and the fact that they’re there to serve them in a way which will keep them.
00:07:19:05 – 00:07:45:22
Speaker
Clients remember members for many, many years plus obviously refer their friends and family all day long. So that customer relationship has everything to do with your staff. They’re not buying a piece of equipment, they’re not buying an exercise class or even a result. They really are there for the experience and feeling that they can trust and that they know they’re being well taken care of.
00:07:46:02 – 00:08:14:21
Speaker
And if there is a situation that you’re going to be there to talk to them. That’s the key thing, is talking to your customers and clients when they really need you. Sounds like you’re really highlighting communication and partnership and a deep understanding of the individual. It’s absolutely crucial. One of the things I happen to do with my clients is they listen to recorded sales calls, which are also customer service calls.
00:08:14:22 – 00:08:42:03
Speaker
I listen to probably, I don’t know, 20 hours a week, five different clients. And, you know, the thing that pains me and we actually work on this immediately is the one that says, I’ve emailed you guys three times. I called two times. Nobody has responded. When you get people to that point of frustration, that’s when they’re going to hit social media and say, Don’t buy from these people because they won’t let you out will help.
00:08:42:03 – 00:09:06:16
Speaker
And it’s not that that’s their intention. Everybody’s so busy and they have consolidated their staff that we always have to go back and remember, the number one priority is to take care of our people in times of need. So we’re there for the whole prospect and buying journey and do that really well. But along the lines, we got to make sure when they reach out to us that we’re there immediately.
00:09:06:19 – 00:09:39:19
Speaker
Well, first of all, I love the fact that you’re listening to 20 hours a week of recordings. It is about those conversations. Right. And to get the voice of the customer as well as the brand. Wow. How valuable. And I love that you’re providing coaching and training around at number two. And you know, on PA responsiveness, if we’re not responsive to the needs of our customers, whether it’s through the buying process or the retention process or if they’re deciding to leave, it is critical to be responsive.
00:09:39:21 – 00:10:04:10
Speaker
Yes. And it’s the old saying, the early bird catches the worm and I can’t say this enough. Speed’s lead is the most crucial. And number one criteria to attract and retain and convert, you know, prospects to be your members, your clients, your customers. And when I hear people say, oh, you know, we got your inquiry yesterday, that’s a flag for me.
00:10:04:11 – 00:10:28:13
Speaker
No, you’ve got to contact these people within 5 to 15 minutes. So that’s why so much of what I dive into is are all your leads going into your CRM immediately real time? Are your sales team jumping on them as soon as they go into the queues? Are they picking up the phone and try to communicate on a human level first before they start sending out emails and texts?
00:10:28:15 – 00:10:57:21
Speaker
So speed to lead, getting that conversation going before your competitor does is the number one way to acquire more new customers. Yeah, and I think you know speed to lead you we also your average handle times to say that Hail Mary is is hugely important right that is gone down to you used to be able to react to digital footprints or consumer engagement you know and you got it within the hour you were bad 5 to 8 years ago.
00:10:57:23 – 00:11:27:18
Speaker
It then got down to 10 minutes is now down to a minute level response times that. So the hot lead routing all of that other stuff is really important but I think you hit on something really key and I be curious on your advice to the B to C world here. CRM is part of that, but the automation of capturing of information with the Sierra, the bidirectional sync, like the the way in which we actually surface that action to say, hey, you need to act on this person.
00:11:27:18 – 00:11:51:00
Speaker
They’re at this stage, they’re experiencing X is that correct? Are you seeing it in that way? And how do you help coach these companies to set that up? Yeah, I mean, it’s all all hands on deck. And, you know, the bells and whistles of your CRM are key, you know. So once again, people are multitasking. But I always believe in email notifications, bells and whistles.
00:11:51:00 – 00:12:16:02
Speaker
Anything that’s going to say that there’s somebody sitting in your queue that needs you now and that’s leadership to my number one little sign. I had on everybody’s computer was check your queue. If I had four screens up, one screen was just the queue. It was just so crucial to make sure that that you was empty at all times and that people were touched immediately.
00:12:16:08 – 00:12:39:03
Speaker
And believe it or not, people are blown away by that because nobody really reacts quickly enough for the consumer on in almost in any industry. So when you do something that’s so unique and different, which is pick up the phone and call them while they’re looking at your website, people are like, Holy cow, I just hit the submit button and they’re blown away with that.
00:12:39:05 – 00:13:24:09
Speaker
So those are all the things that we’ve seen and heard that make a difference. So those are those are great actions. So now I’m on that conversation. So I’ve got the person, they’re there, you know, we’re personalized, we’re doing all the great things you’re recommending. What’s some of your secret sauce behaviors that you think really drive better B2C conversations in a short period of time to understand what the point of pain is or what people are looking for on the other side of the spectrum, and to be able to make love connections where at that moment in time that individual absolutely believes and trusts that you have the answers for them or you’ll be able
00:13:24:09 – 00:13:54:01
Speaker
to help them. And that’s a skill set is probably one of the biggest things I teach, is to understand your product so well that you can dig in and ask questions. Identify what this consumer needs, and then, in so many words, reassure them that you are absolutely the answer. You are who they should basically work with and trust that you’ll get them the desired results that they’re looking for.
00:13:54:03 – 00:14:32:06
Speaker
And I got to put Howard in here, Mary, because you said the love peace and he’s our resident love doctor. So the British army doesn’t quite connect with the love component. But I know that I know that Howard’s of open a debate on that. He let me translate it for you. The idea that you genuinely care about some that, that they feel like you’re not just in it for you but supporting their needs and their interests critically important, whether it’s team building or customer retention or partnerships.
00:14:32:08 – 00:14:54:02
Speaker
I think what Mary’s talking about is that love and I know you joke, you are empathic, you are emotional, IQ off the charts. You like to lean on your stiff upper lip British background. But don’t worry, don’t let him for you. He’s filled with love. He just wants that heart outward here. I did share a tear once when my dog passed.
00:14:54:04 – 00:15:15:19
Speaker
Oh, it’s anything possible, Mary? Anything’s possible. You just got to get it right? Yeah, I mean, it’s. It’s. It’s number one. I’ve learned this from other people, but like Tony Robbins said, it the best. You got to love people. If you love people, that’s going to resonate. People will pick up on your vibe. They’ll pick up on your energy, your enthusiasm.
00:15:15:21 – 00:15:44:04
Speaker
You know, if you’re truly a product of your product and you believe in it so much, it will resonate just based on making those connections with people quickly and assuring them that they need to give you a try. Yeah. No, allow me to take this one step further, but I truly believe, based on the 510 minutes we’ve been conversing, that I’m going to be able to either enhance your current situation or solve your problem.
00:15:44:06 – 00:16:12:03
Speaker
So it’s really, like I said, getting in with that organic way of communicating with people through asking those well worded questions and knowing your audience and then those questions graduate from who your audience is in an intelligent way, which makes the consumer saying, This person really understands me. This person I feel like already knows me. And it’s key to success in growing your client.
00:16:12:04 – 00:16:42:10
Speaker
Well, I love and I’m going to use love again. Go ahead. We’re all about the love. Absolutely. The passion that need to have for your product, the belief you need to have, because that is in factious, right? If you don’t believe in what you’re selling, nobody’s going to believe in it. So if you work for an organization and you don’t believe in what it is they’re producing, either have to find that belief or you have to move to somewhere where you can find that passion and belief.
00:16:42:10 – 00:17:03:09
Speaker
Because, look, if you’re in sales, if you care about your customers, you got to believe in what it is you’re providing them. Otherwise you’re in the wrong role. Yeah, and that’s the beauty of listening to recovery calls. And, you know, I know transcripts are great and everything that’s out there to help expedite the process, but I’m still fashion.
00:17:03:09 – 00:17:41:02
Speaker
I want to feel the vibe of the sales conversation. I want to feel the vibe of the prospect. Are we winning them over? Are we engaging them? And it’s very difficult. You know, to have a conversation with a perfect stranger, but with practice and training and coaching, you know, by listening to calls and coaching your people up, you know, and them hearing themselves and correcting certain behaviors is how eventually they become so articulate and so passionate and through their energy and confidence of being an advocate or for the product or service, it just comes right on through.
00:17:41:04 – 00:18:26:21
Speaker
So energy people are looking for vibe and energy. So that’s the key thing. Does your team sound like they are full of vigor and energy or does it sound like they just lost their best friend? So once again, the vibe, the conversation, the content and product knowledge, all really key factors. You know, Mary, you said something that’s really critical and it’s something that I believe for a long time since my early days of recording my sessions as a therapist for training purposes, I think a lot of people talk about listening to recordings and yes, incredibly valuable to have your sales manager, your sales trainer leader listening to your conversations.
00:18:27:03 – 00:18:50:06
Speaker
But if we listen to our own conversations, it becomes painfully obvious what was working and what wasn’t. And if we get feedback from a manager, a leader or a trainer and they provide us some basic feedback, it becomes painfully obvious when you’re listening to those conversations where you’re doing it right and where you need to change the behavior now.
00:18:50:06 – 00:19:17:10
Speaker
Correct. And and I will tell you that when you’re training is really educating your team, what you expect within that conversation. And they know you’re randomly listening, they’re on point. They’re making sure that everything is going the way it should go. And then through experience, it’s then getting wins from these things. Do they understand that we know what we’re talking about?
00:19:17:10 – 00:19:35:10
Speaker
So, you know, they take it to heart. So it once again, it’s inspect what we expect. So people know that we’re going to listen to these calls for training and development. And a lot of rookies love it. My rookies are like, please send me calls. Semi my colleagues calls. I want to hear. I want to hear what the consumers are asking.
00:19:35:12 – 00:20:00:14
Speaker
And it’s a great way to learn. But like I said, once they get that conversation flow down for their particular industry and they ask those intelligent questions, does all the sudden all the light bulbs go off and they’re like, this really works really well. But the tone and the excitement and enthusiasm to say hello in a way that people are excited to actually listen to you is where it all starts.
00:20:00:16 – 00:20:30:10
Speaker
You know, the power of conversation at the end of the day. And I think, you know, you’ve said it so well, Mary, I love your language and the vibe just that conversation itself. Is it is it engaging? Is that good usage of inflection? Right. And you can give a script to make that happen, but you can absolutely coach people when you’re inspecting, you’re going to expect a higher result and that always improves sales effectiveness.
00:20:30:12 – 00:21:08:16
Speaker
And it’s been amazing. I get a I got a great vibe from this phone call, so I appreciate you bringing. Thank you. Thank you. Listen, Mary, we unfortunately are nearing the bottom of the episode here, so we always love to finish up with the largest self-reflection. And one of the things is, you know, we’re we’re big on looking back and reliving moments that we’ve all had in life and whether a personal moment or one you’ve observed, what is a moment that you would love to relive or love to redo, loved to relive or love to redo?
00:21:08:18 – 00:21:36:19
Speaker
There’s been so many great moments. I’m very blessed. I work really super hard and I am a student every day all day long. So I’ve learned so many valuable things by so many mentors in my life. But I’ll say that no matter what I have experience or have lived, I live with the mantra of I want to live a happy, healthy and energized life.
00:21:36:23 – 00:22:04:07
Speaker
Well, so I believe in having fun and the way that you’re able to live that kind of life so that you have so many great memories or so many things that you want to relive is keep moving, keep moving, Keep those endorphins coming. Keep yourself healthy. Exercise. Eat more green than white. You know, just the basic philosophies of life.
00:22:04:07 – 00:22:26:19
Speaker
But, you know, you know, whether it was back in my college volleyball days and winning regionals or, you know, having an aha moment with a with a brand new rookie teaching them and coaching them the art of the sales conversation. I live by that mantra and I try to teach it to all of my students and clients and just live a happy, healthy life.
00:22:26:19 – 00:22:54:22
Speaker
And it starts with moving your body and staying active. Well, that’s a perfect set. Spike. Serve healthy weight. That’s what they serve, said Spike. Right. Like that’s the you know, it’s surroundings, said Spike. I feel like clearly we have an expert here. Yeah yeah. Don’t even get me started about volleyball, man. I got a lot of my a lot of my drive from being on the court for so many years.
00:22:54:22 – 00:23:20:09
Speaker
So another one of my passions. But that’s another chat. Well, Mary, it’s been phenomenal. I just will, I will have a a reference to volleyball here. My P.E. coach in sixth through eighth grade was a gentleman by the name of Al Skates. Al Skates was a ledge on in the volleyball world. I know the name. That is a gentleman.
00:23:20:09 – 00:23:53:20
Speaker
He So I think he won more NCAA championships than any other volleyball coach ever. He was at UCLA. Yes. That man absolutely would have you stop when you made a mistake and talk about the mistake openly so that you would not repeat the mistake. So, I mean, that’s going way back to sixth grade. He literally when you did something wrong, he’d have you pause, fully articulate the mistake and believe that that would help you improve.
00:23:53:20 – 00:24:18:03
Speaker
So, Oh, Persia, Well said. And as I always said, just to get in the game, get the ball over the net. Amen. Well, very loudly. It has been amazing to have you on this. They do you. My pleasure. Insights here today and again the impassioned energetic conversation www.marylaudati.com is the best place I believe for people to get a hold of you.
00:24:18:03 – 00:24:43:02
Speaker
Correct? Correct. Correct. Thank you. Awesome and everyone look if you want to help on sales coaching and B2C dry fact as I look at ten may shifts listener of all conversations to try behavior change get a hold of Mary Mary thanks so much. Thanks Mary Thank you. Have a great day everybody else please remember to like and subscribe and send in your questions to Howard and I will get to them on the next podcast episode.
00:24:43:06 – 00:30:37:12
Speaker
Thanks, everyone. Thanks, Alister. Bye, guys. So on the B2C side, you have the opportunity to really get to know the individual and where I come from, the world of either health clubs sales, which is obviously membership based, the Health and wellness. When you are talking about something so personal, it really gives you the unity. And I say this all day long is to know your audience, to be able to tap in, ask a couple of really great qualified questions, to engage the client, to really open up and talk to you, because your questions make sense to learn more about them.
00:30:37:12 – 00:31:07:02
Speaker
So the whole process of them speaking to you and giving you valuable information actually makes sense. So knowing your audience is key. Asking great questions based on the answers that you receive to take you to that next question is crucial. And then the path in the journey. A conversation is seamless, which makes everything else about becoming a customer as seamless because that’s what we worked so hard to do.
In this engaging podcast episode, Mary Laudati, a seasoned expert in B2C sales consulting, shares valuable insights on the art of customer engagement and effective sales strategies. Listeners will discover the significance of building trust by respecting consumer preferences and acquiring good data. Mary also underscores the importance of personalization, quick responses, and passionate interactions to succeed in the dynamic world of B2C sales, leaving audiences with practical tips for enhancing their sales efforts.
