Introduction to RTB Limited Podcast: Ring The Bell to Success

Initial intro of RTB Limited’s Podcast: Ring The Bell to Success outling what we will discuss moving forward. helping people and companie succeed in three major areas People, Process, and Profit skills.

How to Sell the Invisible

I recently read the book Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith. It’s part of my Leaders learning series that I have been embarking on in 2018, and it was also a great suggestion by a friend.

Now I have been in sales basically my entire adult life. I started selling simply enough in retail as a sales associate at The Finish Line, selling sneakers a physical product. It was my freshman year in college, and quickly showed my acumen for sales. Having the highest multiple sales percentage or selling add ons when people only come in for sneakers in the store. Not long after I was training others to do the same then moved into assistant manager role and finally co-store manager.

Then after college I started working in B2B sales selling DHL Shipping service(both a physical product and service a hybrid model) for domestic and international customers. It was a war of attrition with outbound call volume being tracked by a CRM system and a sales quota based on dollars of new customers. I did really well in this position but it was a means to a goal to eventually enter into medical device sales. What I learned here was you were really selling yourself, and on price. People more than likely already had a shipping partner in Fed-ex or UPS, and DHL was aggressively going after the domestic market after years of being the international leader. DHL had a strong base and brand as international shipper. So once you had the business you had to keep it, and of course there were many issues early on.

Next I entered Medical Device sales selling Orthopedic disposables and capital equipment to hospitals and Ambulatory surgery centers. This was a product sale but with a strong relationship part of the sale as well. Adding technology like robotics to the sale makes it a four part sale, of product, clinical, technical and relationship I have done this for the last 12 years.

In the last two years a few friends and I started a consulting company focusing on Business Consulting, Training and Coaching. We are focusing on Medical Device Companies, Medical Practices and Small to Medium Sized business. We work with companies and analyze what we feel are the three main pillars of any business; People, Process and Profit. We then offer suggestions, training or coaching to help the company or individual improve in whichever of three vertical needs improvement.

So how does this tie into Harry Beckwith and Selling the Invisible, because consulting is basically invisible until you produce a product or service. We also have he challenge of building a brand name out of thin air.

Why would anyone know what RTB Limited means or stands for. So it is our job to create that brand name recognition, we are starting to use a skeleton of these tidbits and you can take what you like from it as well. I am aiming to share some value here with my friends. Just as a heads up RTB stands for Ring The Bell, more on that on a later post.

Here is a quick Synopsis of the book. It is kinda of dated with early 90’s references, but still offers great value.

Regarding Your Basic Service

• Assume your service is bad. It can't hurt, and it will force you to improve. (p.6)

• Let your clients set your standards. (p.8)

• Ignore your industry's benchmarks, and copy Disney's. (p.9)

• Big mistakes are big opportunities. (p.12)

• Don't just think better. Think different. (p.17)

• The first rule of marketing planning - always start at zero. (p.18)

• Create the possible service; don't just create what the market needs or wants. Create what it would love. (p.20)

Regarding Market Research

• Always have a third party conduct quality satisfaction surveys. (p.24)

• Survey, survey, survey. (p.25)

• Beware of written surveys; it's far better to conduct oral surveys, as you have a chance to clarify any misunderstandings. (p.27)

• Beware of focus groups - they often reveal more about group dynamics than about how individuals think. (p.31)

Regarding Marketing

• Every act is a marketing act. Make every employee a marketing employee. (p. 38)

• "In most professional services, you are not really selling expertise - because your expertise is assumed, and because your prospect cannot intelligently evaluate your expertise anyway. Instead you are selling a relationship." (p.42)

• Before you try to satisfy "the client", understand and satisfy the person. (p.43)

• Often, your client will face the choice of having you perform the service, or doing it themselves. Therefore, often your biggest competitors are your prospects. (p.45)

• Make technology a key part of every marketing plan. (p.50)

• Study each point of contact with your client - your receptionist, your business card, your building, your brochure, your website, your invoices. Then improve each one significantly. (p.51)

• Be professional - but, more importantly, be personable. (p.54)

Regarding Planning

• You'll never know the future, so don't assume that you should. Plan for several possible futures. (p.59)

• In successful companies, tactics drive strategy as much or more than strategy drives tactics. Do anything. (p.62)

• Execute passionately. Marginal tactics executed passionately almost always outperform brilliant tactics executed marginally. (p.63)

• Do it now. The business obituary pages are filled with planners who waited. (p. 65)

• Have a healthy distrust of what experience has taught you. (p.73)

• Don't let perfect ruin good. (p.76)

How Prospects Think

• Appeal only to a prospect's reason and you may have no appeal at all. (p. 88)

• Familiarity breeds business. Spread your word however you can. (p.90)

• Take advantage of the Recency Effect. Follow up brilliantly. (p.91)

• The best thing you can do for a prospect is eliminate their fear. Offer a trial period or test project. (p.98)

Positioning and Focus

• Stand for one distinctive thing that will give you a competitive advantage. (p.103)

• To broaden your appeal, narrow your position. (p.105)

• In your service, what's the hardest task? Position yourself as the expert in this task and you'll have lesser logic (the idea that if you can do the hardest thing well, you must be able to do everything well) in your corner. (p. 107)

• Don't start by positioning your service. Instead, leverage the position you have. (p.112)

• Positioning statements should address the following six points:

  1. who

  2. what

  3. for whom

  4. against whom

  5. what's different

  6. so...? (p. 114)

• Choose a position that will reposition your competitors; then move a step back toward the middle that will cinch the sale. (p.119)

• In positioning, don't try to hide your small size. Make it work by stressing its advantages such as responsiveness and individual attention. (p. 120)

Pricing

• Setting your price is like setting a screw: a little resistance is a good sign. (p. 133)

• Beware the deadly middle. If you price in the middle, what you are saying is "We're not the best, and neither is our price, but both our service and price are pretty good." Not a very compelling message. (p.134)

• Don't charge by the hour. Charge by the years (of experience). (p.138)

• In services, value is a given. And givens are not viable competitive positions. If good value is your best position, improve your service. (p.139)

Naming

• Give your service a name, not a monogram. (p.143)

• Generic names encourage generic business. (p. 145)

• Never choose a name that describes something that everyone expects from the service. The name will be generic, forgettable and meaningless. (p. 145)

• Be distinctive - and sound it. (p.146)

• In service marketing, almost nothing beats a brand. (p. 151)

• A service is a promise, and building a brand builds a promise. (p.154)

• Invest in and religiously build, integrity. It is the heart of your brand. (p.155)

• A brand is money. (p.160)

• Give your prospects a shortcut. Give them a brand. (p.161)

Communicating and Selling

• Your first competitor is indifference. (p.171)

• Say one thing. (p.171)

• After you say one thing, repeat it again and again. (p.175)

• Don't use adjectives. Use stories. (p.176)

• Attack your first weakness: the stereotype the prospect has about you. (p.176)

• Create the evidence of your service quality. Then communicate it. (p. 178)

• Seeing is believing. Example: even when people know the tricks used by the grocery industry to make ripe oranges appear orange, they still are buy fruit with the most orange-looking peel exterior. Check your peel. (p.188)

• If you are selling something complex, simplify it with a metaphor. (p.194)

• You don't listen to clichés. Your clients won't either. (p.197)

• In presentations, get to the point or you will never get to the close. (p.198)

• Tell people - in a single compelling sentence - why they should buy from you instead of someone else. (p.199)

• You cannot bore someone into buying your product. (p.201)

• If you want publicity, advertise. (p.203)

• Make your service easy to buy. (p. 209)

• Above all, sell hope. (p.214)

Nurturing and Keeping Clients

• Watch your relationship balance sheet; assume it is worse than it is, and fix it. (p.219)

• Don't raise expectations you cannot meet. (p.220)

• To manage satisfaction, you must carefully manage your customer's expectations. (p.222)

• Keep thanking your clients. (p. 223)

• Out of sight is out of mind. (p.229)

What does this all of this tell us, that sales is an evolving practice that changes everyday with the way people buy. Most people research online quite a bit before making a purchase or commitment of any kind. Consider the last time you bought a car? This also include the brand they buy, so building a brand is just as important as having an amazing product and service. I hope this helps some people when reading this review. If you need additional help with People training in Sales and Leadership skill. Please feel free to contact RTB limited for a free initial consult.

Leaders are Learning Book 8/26 The Go-Giver by Bob Burg, and John David Mann

How much do you give?

Here is a Video blog of my review of "The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann". This is a great adjunct to other books about giving like "Adam Grants Give and Take". My notes on the book are below for you to review. How can this help you as a leader? Giving back to your team in knowledge, life skills and connections can help your whole network.

How are you giving back? That is the question. Time, Money, resources, connections.

1. JUST GIVE!

2. People do business with people they know, like, trust.

   1. Your true worth is determined by how much you give in value than you take in payment

3. First Law: the Law of value; you’re a true worth is determined by how much you give in value than you take in payment

4. The Second Law: The Law compensation your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.

   1. How many lives do you touch?

   2. Give and serve and you will receive

   3. Why work? Survive, save, and serve to grow from nothing.

5. The third law: Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other peoples interest first.

6. The fourth law: the most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself

7. the fifth law: The Law of receptivity: the Key to effective giving is the stay open to receiving

   1. Being open and perceptive is the best way to receive from others, you never know when it will come.

If you would like to learn more about what RTB Limited does and how we can help you click to schedule a free and quick 15min call here.

Coaching to be a Better Leader

Recently my 6-year-old son started wrestling for our school club team. He has been involved in a few sports as we are trying to introduce him to as many as possible while he is young. He is moving towards liking a few of them and is asking for exposure to more. This has been great but I have a hard time staying out of the coaching realm. I played and coached Men's Rugby for a few years and enjoy transferring my skills to other players. I never wrestled, I played football, ran track, and I boxed until I started playing Rugby. My wife would like me to be more involved in my son's sports, but the timing has always been difficult.

In 2018 I have made the move to be an Entrepreneur starting and working fulltime on a few ventures at the same time. My business partners and I started www.RTBlimited.com a Training and Business consultancy company last year, and this year another friend approached me about starting www.DermRT.com a radiation therapy solution for skin cancer. I also help my mother with her business Magnolia House Honey This has given me a greater appreciation of time-management skills which I feel like I have gained over the last few years. It has also given me more time to spend with my son as he took on wrestling. Wrestling has a lot of the same body position and control as Rugby so it was difficult for me to stay on the sideline. Needless to say, I did get involved early and helped coach my son and his friends this season. They did great but I also learned a great deal about leading and coaching.

As a leader, it is important to always coach your team to be better than you are or to transfer the info you have to them so they can evolve as members of your team. Being involved with my son's team help reinforce that perspective as we learned the basics of wrestling and I added what I learned to from rugby to help them grow. It also showed me that when coaching whether as a technical expert or seasoned professional it's important to teach or coach your team like its the first time they are hearing this info and to break it down to simple terms and grow onto it as they become more proficient.

The overall message here is to be a better leader it's important to coach and teach on a regular basis. This helps you with not only operational efficiency as you grow and it gives you the ability to set up a decentralized command structure within your team. You are creating the next set of leaders on your team, not the replacement for your job. This has been reinforced in an HBR article stating that delegation and leading require coaching as well.

Learn more from our RTB LImited Team by scheudling a quick call here

Reading is Fundamental

If you grew up in the lates 70's to early 80's like I did you grew up on Saturday morning cartoons and TV Shows and of Course PBS. Sesame Street and in 1983 PBS launched Reading Rainbow starring Lavar Burton. Most remember him from Reading Rainbow and Star Trek. However what we learn from Reading Rainbow is that Reading is Fundamental for growth in your field as it is explained in this HBR Article.

In the article, the author changed his lifestyle by removing his TV from the main living area and it took the temptation away to watch TV and read more. So he has read 50 books last year and this year is on track for 100. My goal is 26 in 2018. This is a minor goal but I am determined to read more and broaden my horizons and find a new way to inspire people to take a deeper look at themselves and how they can live and lead a better life.

In my journey so far, I have compiled a scattered list of books to read, and truthfully many are recommendations by others who have had great experiences with the books. Many are military books, or books about leadership, entrepreneurship and sales and marketing. All these subjects I am passionate about and looking to grow further in. Then there are a few that help me grow as a Human Being if your interested take a look at what is left on my list for 2018. Be on the lookout for my thoughts on the books and how they can help you as a leader, Teammate, and person! www.Rtblimited.com/blog

Past

1. The Starbucks experience - Joseph Michelli 
2. Moving up to medical sales - Michael a Carroll
3. Give and take - Adam grant 
4. To sell is human - Daniel pink
5. Grit - Angela Duckworth
6. Art of war - sun tzu 
7. Closing techniques - Stephan Schiffman
8. Boost your interview IQ- Carole Martin 
9. Business writing and communicating - Kenneth Davis
10. Mind manipulation- Dr. Haha Lung
11. The first 90 days - Michael Watkins 
12. Legacy - James Kerr 
13. . Leadership and 1 min manager - Ken Blanchard 
14. The happiness advantage - Shawn anchor 
15. Social selling- Tim Hughes
16. Extreme ownership - Jocko Willink
17. Beyond return on investment- Pam arlotto 
18. The trusted advisor - David Maister 
19. . Freakonomics - Stephen dinner 
20. Lone survivor - Marcus Luttrell
21. Supervisors portable handbook - George fuller

Rest of year

1. Rise and grind - Daymond John
2. Book of five rings - Miyamoto Musashi
3. Go-Giver - Bob Burg
4. The leadership challenge - James kouzes, Barry posner
5. Creating the high-performance team- steve buck holtz
6. Soar with your strengths - Donald Clifton 
7. Cash flow quadrant - Robert Kiyosaki 
8. Winning when outgunned and outmanned - Gen. Hal Moore 
9. Selling the invisible - Harry Beckwith
10. Mastery - Robert green
11. The book of joy- Dali Lama 
12. About face - Col. Hackworth
13. Thinking fast and slow - Daniel Kahneman 
14. The four tendencies- Gretchen Rubin
15. 10% better- dan Harris
16. money- Tony Robbins
17. Flawless Consulting - Peter Block
18. Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
19. The tax and legal playbook - Marc Kohler
20. Crushing It - Gary Vanderchuck
21. The CEO Next Door - Elena L. Botelho, Kim R. Powell
22. Alive at Work - Daniel M. Cable
23. In Defense of Troublemakers - Charlan Nemeth
24. That's what she Said - Joanne Lipman
25. Big Potential - Shawn Achor
26. Great at Work - Morten Hansen
27. The Culture Code - Daniel Coyle
28. Lean Startup - Eric Ries
29. Principles - Ray Dalio
30. Exactly What to Say - Phil M. Jones
31. 12 Rules for Life - Jordan Peterson
32. The Four Tendencies - Gretchen Rubin
33. Blue Ocean Strategy - W. Kim Chan

Leaders are Learning Book 7/26 Hal Moore on Leadership: Winning when outgunned and OutManned

We can always learn something from past leaders, look inside yourself and see what can be worked on!

Leaders are learning series book 7/26 Hal Moore in Leadership, winning when outgunned and outmanned

Four basic principles of leadership

1. Principle #1 three strikes and you are not out, There is always a way to help someone improve until there is not.

   1. Leaders have a positive mindset

2. Principle #2 there’s always one more thing you can do to influence any situation in your favor. And after that, there’s one more thing

   1. A leader is paid to do three things

      1. Get the job done and get it done well

      2. Plan ahead- be proactive, not reactive

      3. Exercise good sound judgment in doing all of the above.

3.  Principle #3 - when nothing is wrong, there’s nothing wrong-Except there’s nothing wrong. That’s when a leader has to be the most alert.

4. Don’t let your guard down

5. Principle #4 - trust your instincts

   1. If you know in your heart an action is wrong don’t do it!

   2. Rule of doubts- never try and deceive your people they will smell it out quickly.

   3. No job is ever beneath you. In whatever you do, do it to the best of your abilities

6. The best leaders strive to create a family environment within their Org.

7. Loyalty up and down the chain of command

8. The first person you need to discipline is yourself

9. To be a leader, you must be willing to be a lifelong learner!

10. Good listeners- when you listen you know twice as much as the other guy

11. Always have a dream- accomplish it and find another

12. Create your future

13. Never say no to yourself, make the other guy say no

14. Never Quit

15. Find a way to turn a minus into a plus

16. Do more with less

17. Types of bad leaders

    1. Bully

    2. Narcissistic

    3. Divisive

    4. Insular

    5. Hypocritical

    6. Enforcement

    7. Callous

    8. Seniority preference

    9. Credit hog leaders

    10. Blame shifting leaders

18. If you can’t justify the rationale of order to yourself don’t make subordinates do it. Re-evaluate your reasons and find another method.

19. Duty is selfless devotion

20. Leaders stay informed of current events and they should anticipate challenges based on those events

21. A good leader never discriminates or alienates based on race color or genetic factors

What is Soft Skills Training?

Soft skills are a combination of people skills, social skills, communication skills, character traits, attitudes, career attributes, social intelligence and emotional intelligence quotients among others that enable people to navigate their environment, work well with others, perform well, and achieve their goals with complementing hard skills. 

Many times companies neglect these skills in there employees growth. These soft skills can be developing new leaders through executive coaching or leadership and development training. It could also be investing in Sales and Presentation skills training or just giving your team a better grasp of the financials they are responsible for. Knowing how to work and build relationships and network internally and external to the company. Some companies are caught between a rock and hard place where they do not have the internal departments to spend time on these tasks or expertise. This is where companies like RTB Limited come in. Outsourcing of these training and coaching services enables companies to invest time and money into the growth and development of their most valuable assets their employees. 

Recent data shows the benefits of investing in soft skills training and executive coaching. This investment whether from the top down, middle or bottom-up leads to better results. From The Executive coaching level, you will see better teamwork and potentially better sales results. If you invest in the middle of your company you can see future leaders flourish and grow and be the next team that takes your company to higher results. If you invest in the bottom half or your company even in manufacturing employees feel more engaged and output increases. https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/how-to-measure-the-impact-of-soft-skills-training/

Talk to your HR department to see if they are ready to help invest in your professional growth. We can help you Ring The Bell to a successful career.

Soft Skills training at an Engineering company in Philadelphia 

4 of 26+ books for 2018 “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius

I decided to add this to my blog as well. My 2018 goal to read 26 books has hit book number 4 into 2018. Even though it’s only 100 pages it takes a lot longer than I thought. Mostly because of the amount of depth in each entry. Marcus Aurelius whom most people know from the movie Gladiator is widely known as the philosopher king of Rome. His studies of Stoicism has influenced many people. Recently many business leader have found much symbolism in his words and how they relate to business. My simple take is to keep a simple life, have a good work life balance, we can only control what we can control, and don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone.  I invite you to add this great book to your list as a must read for leaders.

I discuss the broad strokes of the Philosopher Emperor of Rome - Marcus Aurelius  and his personal journal

Do you have an elevator pitch for your business or yourself?

You walk into a building where you have been trying to get a meeting for months. You step into the elevator with a plan to get more info from the gatekeeper. As the Elevator door closes In walks the contact you have been trying to meet with. Your research before your call is finally paying off and you know its the correct person. What will you say to help you get a meeting?

These short interactions are just as important as closing your deal. Have your prepared for this interaction? Having a 30 second or elevator pitch is an important part of your sales training. Here are some key things to incorporate.

1. Who are you?

2. What do you do?

3. How do you do it?

4. What product or service you deliver?

5. Who you work with?

6. Can we schedule the next meeting to give you more details and value?