299 episodes

The Top Secrets of Marketing & Sales podcast provides tips on how to increase sales, improve profit margins and grow your business. Each week, we address issues related to important topics like targeting your ideal prospects, fine-tuning your messaging, attracting the clients you need, monetizing social media, the MVPs of Marketing and Sales and much more. From mindset to marketing and prospecting to podcasting, the Top Secrets podcast helps B2B and B2C entrepreneurs, professionals and salespeople get more of the customers and clients they need so they can do more of the work they love.

Top Secrets of Marketing & Sales David Blaise

    • Business
    • 4.4 • 11 Ratings

The Top Secrets of Marketing & Sales podcast provides tips on how to increase sales, improve profit margins and grow your business. Each week, we address issues related to important topics like targeting your ideal prospects, fine-tuning your messaging, attracting the clients you need, monetizing social media, the MVPs of Marketing and Sales and much more. From mindset to marketing and prospecting to podcasting, the Top Secrets podcast helps B2B and B2C entrepreneurs, professionals and salespeople get more of the customers and clients they need so they can do more of the work they love.

    First Contact Does Not Mean Cold Calling

    First Contact Does Not Mean Cold Calling

    Just the idea of initiating first contact versus cold calling is a lot more exciting. It's a lot less intimidating in most cases. I started using that phrase after I saw an old Star Trek movie where they referred to first contact as being your first contact with an alien species. And I just thought, wow, that has a lot of correlations with sales. Where you're approaching somebody and you really don't know what you're getting into. Strange new worlds and all that sort of thing....







    David: Hi and welcome to the podcast. In today's episode, cohost Jay McFarland and I will be discussing the idea of initiating first contact with a new prospect. Welcome back, Jay.







    Jay: I'm so glad to be here, David, and I'm excited to talk about this issue because to me, personally, this is one of the hardest things to do.



    I'm fine once that first contact has been made. I feel like I'm really good at building relationships and closing.



    David: Mm-hmm.



    Jay: But I'm terrified about making that first contact and I'm not really sure how to do it. So I find myself shooting in the dark all the time trying to figure it out.



    David: Yeah, well, you're certainly not alone.



    I've certainly felt that way myself, and nearly everybody I've ever met in sales has had issues with it. And we talked about this in a previous podcast. We were talking about cold calling and the idea that cold calling is really just one form of first contact. And so the reason I thought it would be good to have a discussion on the topic of First Contact itself is to first of all, recognize that, yeah, it's more than just cold calling.



    There are lots of different aspects to it. And if you realize that, then you also realize that you can get comfortable with first contact, generally by engaging in a first contact method that is more comfortable for you. So if cold calling is not your primary thing, you have other alternatives and that should maybe give you a little bit of hope.



    Jay: Yeah, that does give me hope and I think the key is to know what the possibilities are. Because like I said, sometimes I'm like, okay, my only option is to cold call, and that's not working. So really understanding what are the other options available.



    And the other thing I found is, lately I'm better at cold calling because you force yourself to do it enough and you can build a skill and you can get over the hump at least I'm finding that.



    David: Yeah, absolutely. And when you are good at cold calling, and there are a lot of people who are very good at it, there are a lot of people who actually really like it. They don't even struggle with the call reluctance and that sort of thing, but for those who do struggle with it, I think just discussing this idea of first contact is going to be helpful.



    And if we think about why first contact is really so important, in my mind at least, it's because it really helps to set the stage for the entire relationship. Whatever it is that they're going to learn about us or think about us down the road, it's all going to come from what that first contact is.



    If it's a great experience, they're going to have good feelings about us. If it's less than a great experience, then they're not going to feel as great about it. Since it sets the tone, it's really important that people become comfortable with it, or at least come up with a form of first contact that they can be reasonably comfortable with.



    Jay: Yeah. It's such a great line of thinking.



    I hadn't really thought about it that, that first moment, maybe the first five minutes,



    David: Right.



    Jay: That could determine the whole lifespan of the relationship. How they view you. How they respond to your sales pitch. Everything.

    • 16 min
    5 Elements of a Compelling Marketing Voice

    5 Elements of a Compelling Marketing Voice

    Most marketing messages and business communications are bland, directionless, and dull as dishwater. They lack a clear marketing voice.



    If you're sending out emails that don't get a response or leaving voicemail messages that are largely ignored, take a look at what you're putting out. I can virtually guarantee it's missing one or more of the Five Elements of a Compelling Marketing Voice.









    If you've ever wondered what's missing from your marketing -- what causes it to be ignored rather than acted upon, It may very well be one of the 5 things we're about to discuss.



    First is a clear target: Knowing exactly who you're reaching out to and why.

    Every communication you put out should be written as if it's to one person, even if it's going out to dozens, hundreds or even thousands of people.

    Think of one particular prospect or client you know well. Pick someone you communicate with most authentically, who could be representative of this group, and then write as if you're writing to that person. Go back over it before you send it, of course, and make sure it applies to the entire group, but if you write as if you're writing to just one person, it will be far more effective.



    This leads right into the second thing which may be missing, which is "you" centered communication.



    Have a look at the messages you're putting out -- the emails and texts you're sending. Listen to yourself as you're leaving a voicemail message and see how many of your sentences start with or contain the the word "I" vs. the word "you."



    "Hi, I was just calling because I'd like to set up a time to get together and go over some ideas I had for you."



    You may not realize it, but that simple sentence had 3 I's before it ever got to a "you."



    That ratio, 3:1, is completely off. Whenever possible, your communication should lead with them, be centered around them, and refer to them... a lot. That means using the word "you," more than "I" or "me."



    A third thing that might be missing is good, old fashioned, conversational English. Many marketers and salespeople, for some reason, slip into formal "corporate speak" the moment they start writing a letter or email.



    Dear Mr. Phillips, pursuant to our conversation of Thursday, March 1st, I herewith enclose a detailed proposal incorporating my primary, secondary and tertiary suggestions, recommendations and guidance for your impending client promotion of April 15th.



    That's one side of the coin. The other is those who are too informal. If you've ever received an email with no punctuation, no sentence structure or capitalization -- either all lower case or even worse, all upper case (which is seen by most as shouting) -- you know what I'm talking about.



    In both cases, the solution is the same: conversational English. While some clients prefer a more formal approach and some a less formal approach, you can always adapt your conversational English to their preferences without taking it to either of the two extremes we just discussed.



    Fourth is a personality or point of view. Each of us is unique, so whenever possible, it's good to convey the most positive aspects of our personality in our communication. This further humanizes our message and creates a better bond with the person who's receiving it.



    The Fifth element which may be missing is interest or passion. How can you make what you're saying as interesting as possible to the recipient?

    Are you excited or passionate about your ability to help your client?

    If so, be sure to allow some of that excitement to show through in your choice of words in a written communication and your tone of voice in spoken communication.



    This element is very compatible with the previous points,

    • 4 min
    Improve Results by Sequencing Your Communication

    Improve Results by Sequencing Your Communication

    In today's episode in our professional profile series, David Blaise and Bianca Istvan discuss business growth strategies designed to improve results, including sequencing your communication with Carlos Mestas, CEO of Thrivebox, which specializes in helping entrepreneurs establish business credit to access funding solutions, Alan Watts, known as the Love Engineer, who offers dating and relationship coaching services, and Paul Loubao, owner of PCL Housing Commerce, who focuses on investments, sales, and education in the real estate industry.









    After sharing what's working well and what's creating challenges, the focus turned to the importance of sequencing communication as part of your sales and marketing strategies.



    Reaching and impacting potential clients has evolved over the years, making it necessary to engage with prospects differently than before, using the communication channels they prefer.



    Some of the topics discussed include:



    The effectiveness of marketing strategies in connecting with the right clientele

    The importance of a multi-faceted approach, utilizing social media, face-to-face, and online networking to engage with clients

    The difficulty of gaining trust with new prospects

    Changing the mindset of people who may have previously been burned in other transactions



    We also discussed adaptation, trust-building, and proactive engagement as pivotal factors when navigating the challenges of business growth.

    Ready to Communicate More Effectively and Improve Your Sales Results?

    If so, go to TopSecrets.com/call or check out some of the other ways we can help:



    Just Getting Started? If you (or someone on your team) is just getting started in promotional products sales, learn how we can help.

    Need Clients Now? If you’re already grounded in the essentials of promotional product sales and just need to get clients now, click here.

    Want EQP/Preferential Pricing? Are you an established industry veteran doing a significant volume of sales? If so, click here to get End Quantity Pricing from many of the top supplier lines in the promo industry.

    Time to Hire Salespeople? If you want to hire others to grow your promo sales, click here.

    Ready to Dominate Your Market? If you’re serious about creating top-of-mind-awareness with the very best prospects in your market, schedule a one-on-one Strategy Session here.

    • 25 min
    How to Get Your Desired Results Fast

    How to Get Your Desired Results Fast

    Most people I know in business want to get results. But how do you get your desired results fast?









    They’re always thinking about new things, focusing on new ideas, determined to get the results they’re looking for, and sometimes it takes a lot longer than they’d like.



    When you consider the business people you know, it’s likely that some of them might have achieved amazing results since you last spoke with them, while others seem stuck or unable to move forward.



    In each of these situations, their results probably have a lot less to do with their goals, mindset, plans, or ever their determination than you might think.



    Instead, it’s largely about their speed of implementation. How quickly are they making things happen?



    Speed of implementation is about how quickly we can iterate, reiterate, try things, fail and then try more things so we can get to the actions that work.



    How fast can you get from an idea to an action to a result that can be measured? The faster we do these things, the faster we find out what works and what doesn’t.



    In a previous podcast, we talked about the three primary stages of this. Starting with the idea, moving to the action which then generates the result.



    Each time we generate a new idea, we either go through that process to take an action and get a result, or we kill it off in the idea stage. We fail to take action on it, and then our results are determined by the actions we didn’t take. The FTDs. The things we failed to do.



    Of course our speed of implementation applies to our activities, but it’s also dependent on outside factors, like the response of others.



    In sales, we can provide someone with a quote today, but we can’t control when or even if they’ll respond. But even in these cases, we’re far better off doing our part now, rather than later, because we’re getting the wheels of action in motion.



    And the sooner we take action on our ideas, the sooner we see the results of that action, so we can determine our next steps.



    Also, when I talk about speed of implementation, I’m not talking about rushing through things. Instead, I’m just talking about tightening up the time between the idea and the action. Reducing the gaps between ideas and implementation.



    And even with this, we have to be careful. I’m not suggesting we should be impulsive and just act on every idea that pops into our heads.



    Of course, we need time to evaluate those ideas, determine which are worthy of action and which aren’t, and prioritize them, so we’re acting on what we believe are the best ideas first. But very often, this can happen a lot faster than we think.



    We each have a certain tempo, a speed at which we do things.



    I grew up on the east coast of the United States. We have a bit of a reputation for speaking fast and acting fast.



    When I’m excited about an idea, I tend to speak even faster.



    It’s not always an advantage.



    So once again, I’m not suggesting we rush through things.



    We still need to take time to listen, think, and deliberate.



    But once we’ve made that decision to move forward on something, our speed of implementation will be a huge determining factor in our results.



    Sometimes procrastination plays a role, sometimes it’s fear, or dread, or indecision, and each of these things can significantly delay the amount of time it takes to get to the things we want.



    Have you ever put off doing something for a week or a month that literally ended up taking maybe 45 minutes to an hour to complete?



    Sometimes we spend more time dreading something than it takes to complete it.



    Of course, just taking action doesn’t mean we’ll get the desired res...

    • 5 min
    3 Likely Points of Failure in Your Sales Process

    3 Likely Points of Failure in Your Sales Process

    Today I'd like to talk to you about the three most likely points of failure in a sales process.





    First is Almost Always Targeting.

    This means trying to go too big, or too wide, or too deep, too fast. If you think the world is your market, okay, but the problem is it's very unlikely that you have enough money to market to everyone.

    For that reason, you have to get your targeting dialed in. It's like what Benjamin Martin said in the movie The Patriot. Aim small, miss small, because when you think you're targeting everyone, it's really more likely that you're not targeting anyone. Like the old proverb said, he who chases two rabbits catches none.

    Another issue with targeting everyone is that not everyone is a good prospect for you. Many people have no need, no desire, no money, no budget, no willingness to spend. So if you're targeting everyone, or you're targeting poorly, you'll have to kiss a lot of frogs, as the saying goes, to find your prince or princess.



    But that's qualification. We'll discuss that another time.

    The Second Most Likely Point of Failure in Your Sales Process is Your First Contact with a Prospect.

    And a lot of people confuse their first contact with their actual sales process. For example, in live seminars, I'll often ask an audience, What's your sales process?



    How do you get new customers through the door like clockwork? They'll often shout out things like, Networking, Cold Calling, Facebook, LinkedIn. But the ones who are almost always more proud of their answers than anyone else are those who shout out the word, Referrals. They often look with disdain on those who offer other answers.



    And yes, referrals are fantastic, but referrals, just like all the others, are just a method of lead generation for your first contact with a prospect. Like networking, cold calling, social media, and all the other forms of first contact, none of them are a sales process. At best, they're all just the first step in a sales process.



    Now, since your first contact will very likely set the stage as the basis of your relationship with the prospect going forward, you have to make it count. You only get one chance to make a first impression, right? Because so little time, effort, and training are ever focused on it, first contact remains one of the biggest points of failure in the sales process.

    The Third Point of Failure in the Sales Process is The Path.

    What happens after you initiate first contact with a new prospect? What's step two? What's step three? What's step four? Do you just wing it? Because many salespeople just wing it. They refer to their winging it as following up, and it's usually about as rudderless and nondescript as it sounds.



    Often, it just means staying in touch.



    Naturally, staying in touch is necessary in business. But how much more effective is it when you have a plan, when you actually have a path, when you have objectives, benchmarks, or a process to follow along the way?



    Of course, every prospect is different. Every single conversation you have is different.



    So it's not like you're going to be able to control every aspect of the sales process.



    But if you have a path, at least you know what you need to accomplish and you have something to return to if and when your prospects start wandering off in another direction -- which they inevitably will.



    Without a clear path, without those benchmarks that you know you need to hit to complete the sale, you can end up lost and walking in circles for a really long time.



    That's why a clear path is so critical to your success. And it's why not having one is often a critical point of failure.



    These are just the first three, but they're big. So if you need help fixing any or all of these in your business,

    • 4 min
    How to Get and Qualify Leads in Your Business

    How to Get and Qualify Leads in Your Business

    Ready to get and qualify leads in your business? If so, be sure to check out this episode in the Professional Profile series.









    In today's episode, David Blaise and co-host Bianca Istvan discuss business growth and qualification strategies with real estate developer Daniel Wick, financial services provider Joseph Lombardi, and content creator Sufian Malik.



    Topics include effective strategies for building a personal brand, nurturing client relationships, and streamlining the qualification process in sales. The panel also make the following recommendations:



    Utilize short-length content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels to effectively build a personal brand and connect with audiences.

    Implement a strong qualification process in sales to quickly identify qualified leads and avoid wasting time with unqualified prospects.

    Leverage CRM systems and nurturing processes to expedite sales processes and build long-term client relationships.

    Focus on creating value-driven communication and automating follow-up sequences to maintain persistence without being perceived as overly aggressive.

    Prioritize building personal connections with clients in order to foster trust and loyalty, especially in industries like real estate where relationships are paramount.

    Embrace technology and automation tools such as AI chatbots to streamline business operations and enhance customer engagement.



    In addition, the panelists shared valuable insights and practical tips for managing client relationships, handling difficult clients, and maintaining persistence without being perceived as overly aggressive. They underscored the importance of creating value-driven communication, automating follow-up sequences, and focusing on long-term client relationships.

    Need to Get and Qualify More Leads in Your Business?

    If so, go to TopSecrets.com/call or check out some of the other ways we can help:



    Just Getting Started? If you (or someone on your team) is just getting started in promotional products sales, learn how we can help.

    Need Clients Now? If you’re already grounded in the essentials of promotional product sales and just need to get clients now, click here.

    Want EQP/Preferential Pricing? Are you an established industry veteran doing a significant volume of sales? If so, click here to get End Quantity Pricing from many of the top supplier lines in the promo industry.

    Time to Hire Salespeople? If you want to hire others to grow your promo sales, click here.

    Ready to Dominate Your Market? If you’re serious about creating top-of-mind-awareness with the very best prospects in your market, schedule a one-on-one Strategy Session here.

    • 41 min

Customer Reviews

4.4 out of 5
11 Ratings

11 Ratings

Mxsandy12 ,

Amazing sales and marketing pod!

Really helpful and super interesting!

Andieisme ,

Change is good

Thank you for adding a second voice/perspective to your podcast. I love the mini q&a and that some of the questions I have are asked and answered.

fxdii ,

Great ideas

Listen and you will get some great ideas for selling promotional products. Theses short messages help me to stay on track.

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