Speaker 1: 0:19

Thank you, evan Poland, the president of Poland Performance Group. A master in sales coaching with over two decades of experience, evan is not just a consultant. He's a force in sales, focusing on mindset planning and skill development. He's also the co-author of Selling Professional Services, the Sandler Way. Joining him is Craig Andrews, partner and CEO of Beholder Agency. An expert in growth marketing With 20 years under his belt, craig blends marketing creativity with strategy to propel businesses forward, making Beholder Agency a leader in effective marketing solutions. Together, evan and Craig are here to share their wisdom on winning strategies, best practices and transformative insights that will fuel your growth. Get ready to revolutionize your sales and marketing approach right here on the Sales and Marketing Playbook Unleashed.

Speaker 2: 1:11

And welcome to the Sales and Marketing Playbook Unleashed. I'm Craig Andrews and that's my partner in crime, evan Polin. Hi, evan, how are you today? I'm doing great today. How are you doing, craig? I'm doing awesome. So I know you're a big baseball fan Because I'm a basketball fan. I'm afraid of making a mistake in this, but in baseball they have a series, right A series. They play a series of the same team, X number of games in a row.

Speaker 3: 1:34

Yep no. And fortunately our home team, the Phillies, have been in the playoffs the last couple of years. So you know, best of three in the wild card, best of five, best of seven in the World Series.

Speaker 2: 1:45

Well, I'm going to give us today, today we're going to do the final best of three. So you have won, I have won, and now today, the decision-making game of the elevator pitch. So we're going to cover some real best practices, or actual real-world examples of some bad elevator pitches that you're going to instruct us on in terms of what could have been better or how it is used.

Speaker 3: 2:06

Sure and Craig, not to be cheesy, but we're one one. The audience is the real winners. The fact that we're doing a third episode on the elevator pitch Where's?

Speaker 2: 2:15

my drum set. Here we go, here we go.

Speaker 3: 2:19

So, like I said, I'm going to mention some elevator pitches here, as if we were at a cocktail or Phillies game or wherever you want to be, and these are some of the elevator pitches that I kind of put together, and I want you to kind of give me your feedback on Sure and I think that the other thing that's going to be really important that I think we should cover before the end of today, is how we can take the spoken elevator pitch and really help any of our clients that may be using email to do outreach sending cold outreach out and how to turn that spoken elevator pitch into a really good, really impactful email that you can send to a prospect that may actually get your response.

Speaker 2: 2:56

That's brilliant. That's brilliant and I agree with that 100%. So here's the first one. We're leveraging cutting edge AI driven SaaS solutions to optimize synergy and drive scalability for enterprises of all sizes. Do you need a?

Speaker 3: 3:11

coffee? Yeah Well, what was that English? I reckon I recognized a bunch of the words.

Speaker 3: 3:21

OK but, but I'm not sure that I could come up with a coherent message. So one thing if you are using a lot of jargon in your elevator pitch, take the jargon out. If it's not conversational, people are going to tune out. The assumption that I like to make, unless I absolutely know otherwise, is that the audience I'm talking to is on like a seventh or eighth grade comprehension level. I want to be straight, easy, to the point. It should not be difficult for somebody to follow along with what you're saying, and if you are not 150% certain that people know what the industry jargon is, drop the jargon and talk in layman's terms so that anybody can understand.

Speaker 2: 4:10

That makes perfect sense, and so let's talk real briefly in terms of the impact that this might have on sales reps who are doing that.

Speaker 3: 4:18

So sales reps who are doing it, what I like to say the person that you're talking to. Their eyes are going on screensaver. Physically they still may be looking at you, but mentally they're thinking about what are they having for dinner, what's going on this weekend, the ball game going on tonight, or if you are at a networking event, or if you're a trade show for for people who are watching this on youtube, you, you can see what I'm doing. The other person that you're talking to has their head on a swivel, looking over your head, next to you, maybe behind them, to try to find anybody else to talk to. Yeah, because you just haven't captured their attention, because you're using a lot of jargon and it's going to be difficult for the other person to follow along.

Speaker 2: 5:07

So that's a sign. When people are doing neck exercises while you're trying to explain what you do, you have a bad elevator pitch.

Speaker 3: 5:15

That is correct, and it may be time to try to change it up a little bit.

Speaker 2: 5:19

That's right, that's right. So I'm going to go to the next one here. Be prepared. I know you're a little tired after the last one, right? So I'm gonna go to the next one here. Be prepared, I know you're a little tired after the last one. Well, we started about five years ago with the idea that businesses need a better way to manage their workflow. Over time, we've developed those sale a suite of tools, from CRM to automation that integrates seamlessly with existing systems, offering cloud based solutions. That, if you ever seen Spongebob. And five minutes later, and that's what we do Evan.

Speaker 3: 5:51

So you know, occasionally when I work with folks, they don't fully listen and they thought I said 30-minute elevator pitch, when I really said 30 second elevator pitch. But for all of you in the audience, think about yourself. When you're talking to somebody, you don't know how much time are you giving them before determining whether we're going to stick with this conversation or again mentally move on. We really need to hit it hard within that first 20 to 40 seconds in terms of capturing somebody else's attention, or they are going to move on. Unless they are being paid to listen to you. They are not going to sit there and listen as you go on and on, and on, and on, and on, and on and on, so they don't need to know what's on page 37 of your brochure. Yeah, in the initial conversation where we're just trying to start a relationship.

Speaker 2: 6:51

So this is a good example of us to kind of interlude with the email conversation Right now. When we introduced this and they started this episode, we didn't say read the email that you might send them Right From start to finish. So let's talk about how something so long-winded make sure your emails are not long-winded. What would your feedback be on that?

Speaker 3: 7:13

Absolutely Along those lines. My guess is a large majority of the people listening to us their prospects are reading their email on their phone. If they open up your email and it looks like it's going through multiple screens and they've got to keep scrolling, they're going to hit delete before they get to that second paragraph. So when we're sending emails, it needs to be short, sweet to the point. For me personally, in my email I am doing a very quick one to two sentence introduction. I am taking my elevator pitch and I am turning it into two or three bullet points. In my bullet points I'm talking about problems that I solve, things that are costing your prospect money, things that could help them make money, things that are going to help them save time, make their job easier, limit their liability.

Speaker 3: 8:16

But I want to, within the email, punch them in the face with two or three things that I might be able to help them with. And then a quick call to action at the end. How are we going to connect? Is it a link to your calendar at the bottom? Is it suggesting a couple of times to talk? Is it sharing with them what else you're going to follow up with? But a real quick one to two line call to action. Maybe if you've worked with other clients in the same industry, other names that they would know, maybe name dropping the names of one or two companies that may give you credibility and then signing off. But if somebody needs to keep scrolling through, they ain't reading the email, so just keep that in mind.

Speaker 2: 9:00

So to add to that, I want you guys to think about this from a marketing perspective and the channel it took to get to that email to those people. Generally it's definitely cold, but just answer real quick, evan. In terms of the email, how would you have gotten that email? Maybe from a referral, maybe from somebody in your network? So the chances of them opening that email is slightly better if it's through that portal. You were going to say something.

Speaker 3: 9:25

Right? No, I absolutely. So I'm getting it through there. Or you're seeing who's liked, commented something that maybe you posted on a LinkedIn to let you know that at least your name should ring a bell. Yeah, the other thing I will say in this will tie into things that we've talked about in other episodes, things that we'll talk about in future episodes. But I am also trying to copy my CRM when I'm sending that email out so that I can actually go back and look and see was the email opened. If there were any links in the email then anybody click through so that again I can quickly see whether or not somebody is engaging with that email I'm sending out and I've got a one repository, one true source of truth, to see how many emails went out, what were in those messages and, again, whether or not anybody's paying attention to what's being said.

Speaker 2: 10:19

So what I loved about your answer is I'm taking you to the dark side of the marketing parts a little bit. You get the two buzzwords for me data and engagement. That's my side of the fence, remember that's right. So those both side of the fence, remember that's important, right? So those parts of the things are important which, again back on the episode of what I won in terms of the marketing piece and the elevator pitch, the engagement and the marketing becomes very important because it's the center line for elevator pitches in terms of keeping it simple If they understand you once with a simple message, they should understand you twice.

Speaker 2: 10:50

Keeping it simple If they understand you once with a simple message, they should understand you twice. Last point to the to the emails is that if you have an email combined with a phone call with the same elevator pitch, there's a greater chance that they understand the second message more than the first, which is why it's important to make sure you combine them. We might suggest to a client to be in a position that either you email them, get the interaction or the engagement, then follow up with a call or flip it.

Speaker 3: 11:18

Right now there are three or four different clients that I'm helping them with their kind of multi-touch outreach campaign. What I love to do after the first outreach is call the 98 percent of the time when I'm going to get their voicemail in their voice, leave a message in the voicemail in the voicemail, let them know that they're getting an email and then immediately send that follow-up email. So there's that one, two punch that is going to help to make you more memorable and maybe catch them a little bit more, because you're hitting them in a couple of different modalities, a couple of different medias.

Speaker 2: 11:53

And so you give a little tell that you're from Philadelphia. You know that right how? So that's twice. You've said punching somebody in the face. That's kind of a Philadelphia thing.

Speaker 3: 12:04

But anyway, I won't go into that, and I'm feeling particularly peaceful today.

Speaker 2: 12:07

so so so, moving on, we're gonna go into our third and final, because I think you guys are kind of getting the point. We're gonna go into our third and final elevator pitch here, which is wonderful to the sales director, the sales directors ears, and it reads like this we have a powerful CRM with real time analytics, automated features, lead lead scoring, pipeline tracking, ai-driven forecasting, customizable dashboard and integrations with over 100 platforms. Why is this bad?

Speaker 3: 12:40

Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me me. Let me just list out everything that's on the website, everything that's in our catalog. There is no value that we're sharing Right In terms of why the other person should care. We're just telling them all of the stuff we've got. We're not telling them anything about why they might care about it or how that stuff may have a positive impact on their business or them personally. And if I don't care, then I'm not paying attention and I'm probably not engaging.

Speaker 2: 13:13

And the first thing that usually and again from a marketing side the first thing that usually comes up in something like this which we all know is software, which is a marketing tool as well as a sales development tool is sell me the features and benefits, which instantly means it must be incredibly expensive, right? So that's already a turnoff. That means I'm not trying to pay tons of money, I'll never use all those features, so never mind. Bye, click, hang up Next, right? So that's the type of effect that this elevator pitch can have if it's not delivered appropriately. Just for the case, as we kind of settle off on these, these examples, what would be a better way I'm going to pull your brain here a little bit what would be a better way to sell a CRM that they're trying to pitch across here?

Speaker 3: 13:57

The better way. And first I want to give a more concrete example. Then I'll get back to the CRM. Craig, again, for those of you watching on YouTube, do you have one of these? Do you have a cell phone iPhone, android, something like that? Absolutely.

Speaker 3: 14:14

If your phone were to break right now, not be usable, how long would it take you to go get that phone fixed or go get a new phone? If you couldn't get emails, you couldn't use it as a phone, you couldn't look at your calendar, how long would it take you to get a new phone? We wouldn't even be on this podcast. Yeah, you would start violently shaking and you would be at the store as quickly as possible. That's right, that is a problem. I've got a phone that doesn't work, that I can't use. My entire life is on there. That's a problem. I've got to fix that problem right now. Good example New phone comes out, brand new phone. Can't get any discount. Get it at full price. Ai is a little bit better. Maybe the camera is a little bit better. Maybe the camera's a little bit better, more memory.

Speaker 3: 14:58

Are you going out and getting that phone day one?

Speaker 2: 15:01

uh, maybe I have. I have a software, I have a hardware and a software rule, but not everybody does.

Speaker 3: 15:06

Most people do, most people do okay, so, so most people aren't running out the day that it drops to be the first one in line to get it. Yeah, most people. Okay, well, I'll wait till yo my phone plans up so I can, you know, yeah, you for free get a new phone, or? But most people aren't. But when we try to sell on all the features and benefits, the, the crm system, yeah, it's a little bit easier to you know, to put the data in. It interacts a little bit better with what you've got. That's not going to prompt somebody to take action. But if you say, hey, we help companies who are sick and tired of leads falling through the cracks, feels like they're working five times harder for their outreach and they can't quite measure what's working, what's not working, you know, if we get to something that's costing somebody money, they think that there's real opportunity.

Speaker 3: 16:03

Now that, well, geez, yeah, no, what, we're having two or three of those problems. You know how can you help us with that? That's when people are going to want to be interested in learning more. We talked about it in the previous two episodes the purpose of the elevator pitch. Not very many people listening to this podcast are going to close a piece of business in the first 30 seconds. We want to get somebody interested enough to want to talk to us for the next five to 10 minutes. If you talk about problems that the other person may be running into, they're going to want to learn a little bit more about how you might be able to help them fix those problems. That's right. If you're just hey, we do this and this and this, yeah, yeah, that that's nice and they're probably going to move on to the next.

Speaker 2: 16:43

And what I'll tell you is that, as you're speaking there, it also jarred me to sit back and think about a moment. Even if the person you're speaking to that problem doesn't solve, we all know people who might have that problem doesn't solve. We all know people who might have that problem in another space. They might be a referral partner for you, and so again, we're demonstrating to everyone here the power of the elevator pitch and the simplicity that it may not be your problem, but they may know somebody who has a problem that you can help, and thus you are tying together the people between their network and your network and themselves, and just from a good, simple, clear elevator pitch so they can understand it. Listen, we just signed a new contract with said provider but we can't help you. But I know a guy who actually has somebody who has that problem. Right, how valuable is that from your perspective?

Speaker 3: 17:34

That is incredibly valuable. You and I were at an event together yesterday. I spoke with somebody as they walked in the door. I asked how things were going. The person said oh, we are having this kind of challenge. Hey, you know, I'm commuting to this one market. I'd really like more customers and yell in my home market. Yeah, I was like oh well, you know, sometimes I find that people want it, and I mentioned three or four of them and in the response, the next words out of this person's mouth were when can we talk? Golden words, that's what you want to be able to elicit from that real quick. I couldn't have spoken for more than 20, 25 seconds when that person said I need to talk to you. When can we talk? When can we jump on a call? By the way, can I pull in this other person from my company into the conversation? That's in an ideal world. That's the kind of response that we want and also keep in mind and, craig, you kind of alluded to this a little bit before we talked about this in the first episode of the elevator pitch Our job is to separate people into one of two piles suspect or prospect.

Speaker 3: 18:47

If I can also very quickly get somebody to say, hey, I've never had this problem. I can't foresee a situation where I would run into this issue. Okay, great, next I can't foresee a situation where I would run into this issue. Okay, great, next I can disqualify that person. I can put that person into the suspect category. One of our joint clients right now is at a conference where there's over 100,000 people. I'm quite sure they're not going to be able to talk to all 100,000 people in that three and a half day conference. If I can quickly disqualify someone and move on to the next conversation, that's a win as well.

Speaker 2: 19:21

Absolutely there's nothing. You cannot get time back. I think that's one of the phrases you told me. You cannot get time back, and if you're in a position where you're wasting time on suspects, they're not sure what's the word you use. In terms of price shopping, what was the term you used? Tire kickers, tire kickers, scope, something with a scope, price scoping. Yep, I think it is right. Waste of time. Waste of time, and actually this is a good little interlude into the guests we have coming up. We're going to have a lot of guests for you guys coming up here soon and I want you to understand one of the missions that Evan and I have in our year of experience of doing podcasts together is that we want to bring people that's going to give you actionable insights in terms of how you can improve your business. Evan, why don't you give everybody just a brief idea of the kind of people that we have coming through the next few episodes?

Speaker 3: 20:18

So we've got a lot of great guests coming up in the next couple of episodes. We've got one who is a LinkedIn guru, who's going to share with you a number of actionable things that you can do Absolutely To increase your effectiveness through LinkedIn. We have a scaling up coach Let me try to get that out Coming up in a couple of weeks, really talk about how to really drive value in conversations, how to really get your business from where it currently is to that next level. We're going to have somebody else coming on board who is a wellness expert in terms of helping to get everybody on the same page and kind of optimizing everybody so that they can then have their full attention into moving objectives forward for the company. So we've got a number of really, really good guests that are going to be coming up in the next couple of weeks, and so we are dedicated.

Speaker 2: 21:17

We are dedicated to giving you action, giving you information, giving you the playbook we are telling you to play that you should be running to help grow your business. Is this the best tips we have for you guys? No, If you want the best tips, you got to hire us. Right, If you want the best tips, you got to hire us. But we're giving you some ideas of the type of things that we could touch upon for you.

Speaker 2: 21:37

And so, again, understand, if you want more information, you can ask us questions, talk in the comments, you can comment and write us and get an idea. Or you can subscribe and hear more and more and more details. That will help you guys get a little better. So again, like subscribe, comment. That's what we're asking you for. I don't think it's complicated better. So again, like subscribe comment. That's what we're asking you for. I don't think it's complicated. So again, you can find us on Apple, you can find us on Amazon. You can find us on all the major platforms and podcasting. You can go to YouTube and see our wonderful face here and understand that we're only going to get looking better. We're only going to be looking better as time goes on. There's more you look at us.

Speaker 3: 22:12

I was going to say, craig, people are going to go on and go. Well, if guys like this you know guys who look like this can be successful, then anybody's got to be able to do it. We have a chance.

Speaker 2: 22:25

So, again, I want to conclude. I'm Craig Andrews. This is Evan Poland. We've been giving you guys the playbook on the series of the elevator pitch and we're going to have some other stuff coming up the vision boards we talked about. That's right. What else did we talk about? We talked about trade show prep, which is starting to come up in the springtime, right, and more and more trade show. So we're going to try and deliver a lot of stuff to you guys. I hope you're listening, I hope you're watching, I hope you're learning and I hope you subscribe, because we're going to have a lot of information that you guys can really adapt to and we'll go from there. Whether you like us or not, we're going to be here. So take it and love it. That's my Philadelphia side. I'm coming with it and we'll talk to you guys. We won't punch anybody in the face. We will not punch you in the face, maybe, anyway. So, evan, do you have any final words before we?

Speaker 3: 23:09

go Just like, subscribe and keep up with us.

Speaker 2: 23:14

There you go. Craig Andrews, Evan Poling Got it the right way and we'll talk to you guys next time. Bye-bye now. Now we're going to go. Bye-bye.

Speaker 1: 23:35

Thank you for joining us on this exhilarating journey through the world of sales and marketing. Remember, the playbook is in your hands and the possibilities are limitless. Keep exploring, experimenting and innovating, and watch as your business reaches unprecedented levels of success. Don't forget to subscribe to the Sales and marketing playbook unleashed on all major podcast platforms and follow us on YouTube, facebook and LinkedIn for even more exclusive content. Until next time, keep hustling and keep winning.