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Lesson Info

Connecting Sales and Marketing

This section is kind of in a way gonna have a different quality of energy to it uh seth put together ah little visual representation of sales and marketing it's like those other two darts in the background they didn't those were prospects but they didn't. So the idea of approaching our offering which is where we started from a very creative space and not connecting with the marketplace in the same way and I think that's why we were sort of trying to put these things but together the idea of can we do this and be saying at the same time but can we work with our creative offering what our hearts desire is expression self expression can we format that into something that's actually interesting for other people and then can we conclude the transaction of extending our offering to other people and then the final part of the transaction is actually value coming back to us for that effort and exertion that we put out. So I think to talk about sales and marketing here um first we saying that s...

ales and marketing is the lifeblood of business maybe not the heart of business. You know um heart of business is the offering but the sales and marketing if it becomes the heart of the business I think we're dealing with a different problem that's kind of like materials and gone wild but if there is a heart and then if that heart is going to connect out and radiate out and connect to our limbs you know in the rest of us the rest of our body that sales and marketing is that energy of communication of connecting with with others and getting our our stuff to them and their stuff to us so um I wanted to start by looking at business in a in a way that's cohesive if you will the sort of mandala of business the arrangement of it has always thes five elements and this doesn't really matter what business that you're in particularly or where you're uh what you're offering is but somehow the business has to start with you having something to offer that's some if you get busy without having something to offer it's called busi ness not business, you know, so we have to have something to offer that is you know, either as we've talked about before a product service or some kind of intellectual property and once we have that though, the process and we've really talked quite a lot about honing that the process is how do we let people know that we have that we have that offering how do they know it's amazing how often people haven't offering and it's a good one but the right people don't know about it or enough people don't know about or nobody knows about it so marketing is simply as it says the process of taking your offering to the marketplace what the marketplace the rest of the world um in a way if we visualize a farmer's market it's kind of a perfect metaphor for this you bring your crops there you set up a stand, you let people know that you have it and uh and you've brought the offering to the market of course, if this process is maura service or talent or intellectual property there's a different you can't just physically show it so you have to have another way of presenting but marketing simply means the capacity to make other people aware of your offering um, sales and this is something we don't talk about it at length difference between marketing sales is so intriguing in a way and marketing people in sales people have really different personalities. If we were running a small business, we need to be both you need to understand marketing and need to understand sales so sales is very simply what it says did the person by it or not period over an out end of story um I ran a sales department for a company called new england digital which made the sort of at the time the absolute breakthrough product for the music and entertainment industry a digital music system before such things actually existed uh now you have one and, um you know, on your on your ipad when it was what it's called it's uh what's the music software called that comes on every garage band but garageband is thirty years later back in that time there was no such thing as as audible program will sound sequencing software so new england digital invented this thing called the sinclair here and at the time it was completely revolutionary technology which is a very exciting thing that's the offering we have the future we had the future there was no doubt about it generally acknowledged a such it was the cutting edge in fact sometimes you talk about in business there's a cutting edge and there's the bleeding edge there's a leading edge on the bleeding edge the bleeding edge is you're out past where anybody's thinking about what this could be and so it's sometimes hard to monetize the bleeding edge because the amount of r and d that's happening in that situation is so out of proportion to the normal ratio in a company s so it has to be monetized with, you know sort of very high price for the for the technology but if you want to be out ahead that's the bleeding edge and then that turns into the leading edge and then that turns into the mainstream so technologically speaking that's kind of how it works there's always going to be the the kind of front edge of innovation, so um that offering was created by some very brilliant technical people who in some sense had an idea of what they had but some sense had no idea and I came in from a very active career in the music business I said you guys have no this is this is going to change everything this is a very major piece of invention here. So then the next job is how do we let people know what we have and you know, there are things like for that kind of thing trade shows trade shows is a great marketing tool advertising, you know, targeted advertising media. Now we have maybe one of the most innovative marketing tools would say are you mentioned in the internet there's a you know, very wild west kind of marketing tool and we have all these options. A good marketing person is going to just think, what is the offering who's the market for it? Who wants that you should know about this and how do we let them know about it? And then of course, um we may have a budget that ranges from zero to what's what's the budget off uh, pepsi cola company you know, billions of dollars so we use the tools at our disposal we make a plan for how to let people know about it and don't worry about them buying it yet they just need to know how cool it is right? What what you have to offer now sales is if there's no marketing work done sales is going to be really hard that sales person is going to be really in a tough place because now I'm selling you something you don't even know it exists like you're you're intentional design services or whatever you have they really didn't know she does that you know who is she? You know they don't know who you are what you do um if you're in the music business which is you know what I've been and for a lot there's a whole way to generate buzz and you know, some awareness and if that energy gets going sales get very easy so if there's a great marketing push and you have the sales coming up right behind it that's a tremendous like that sort of the four before play if you will for sales sales I won't continue with that analogy of his point we'll leave that behind but sales is closing the deal right? What is the sale actually mean give me show me the money that's when you actually have somebody putting money in your hand so if you're embarrassed at that point about money and the exchange of money you got some work to do as a sales person if you if you go and we call this in in the area of sales all kinds of things not not going for the ask and the most famous one is going past the clothes probably everybody's heard about that and what the person is ready to buy the thing you've sold it to them, they're aware of it and you keep talking, you know? And I would see people do that, you know, we in that company that made the single beer we had very, very well to do successful clients, they had the money, so you had to not be at all embarrassed about asking for three hundred thousand dollars check if that seems like all golly, you know, I don't think we can afford that I couldn't afford it for sure there has to be kind of thes with the level of exchange that's going on, there has to be a comfort with him, they have to feel like you're comfortable with them on dh they're comfortable with sales is, um, a tremendously potent energy because the thing is coming to full manifestation is coming completely out of the heaven realm at that point it's pure earth okay, there's a transfer of goods, how much you want for this bell, you know, now I'm handing it to you and you're handing me the money and that's it, we're done, we're done so there are people who love this energy you know honestly you can spot a sales person a mile away right? This people have really love it and they're sort of charming in a certain way and obnoxious good salespeople have this amazing amazing combination of being charming like you and then you go like when you're goingto stop you know so that we're going to talk a lot more about that process those two processes but to complete our view of the full range of the business distribution is an important element now in the tangible world for example we you know in the record business distribution used to be a huge issue and their big companies that handle the distribution separate revenue sources some of the big record labels then would own their own distribution channels they buy them out so they have mohr revenue streams coming in but the processes of getting the thing from here to there you know and it's um can be anywhere along the line the business can break down like let's say I mean really in a way manufacturing and distribution should be what that what that is there um let's say you have you know something and you actually successful let's say I don't think we have any sort of crafts people here but what would you do for example if you all of a sudden you designed hearing so let's say on and or jewelry now all of a sudden macy's likes what you have and they're asking for, uh, twenty thousand units you've been doing it out of the garage of your house if you see the movie about steve jobs there's that moment where they have to deliver like he sells it he said it was a great sales great salesman and he sells it this little hand milkmaid unit the guy says okay, I'll take five hundred of them I remember that from the movie did you see that? And all of a sudden the distribution the manufacturing becomes a tremendous issue um the fifth piece of a business is administration, which is integrating all those elements together, right? And the company that gets to be this size has separate and men people they don't really they're not really attached to the content they're not attached in the marketing they need to track the sails. What they need to do is integrate all the operations payroll and medical insurance supply and demand you know, cash flow um taxes, you know, so if you have the tiniest little business and it's just you in your house, you're still doing all five of these things that's the point as the business grows and you're old, I think everybody here is sort of an entrepreneurial kind of person in a way that's what we're really that's the energy I'm getting in, I think a lot of you out there entrepreneurial as your business grows you wear all five of these hats you might as well put five hats on your head and one says content hovering marketing you could do it sort of hip hop style off the side sales but this one's backwards distribution and administration and you're doing all of that whether you even if you're just a violin player right you're you're generating that offering you letting people know about it you're getting gigs you have to get yourself and if you're selling cds or something like that you have to distribute those and then you have to you know do all your taxes and things it's daunting every one of us in this day and age who's got a small entrepreneurial operation is wearing five hats so as the business grows you start taking off the hats and you put them on the head of people who are trained in that area and that's when you as you grow a business you choose wisely who you put that hat uh whose head you put that hat on because those people are going to come in there and say I'm on ly about marketing here they protect their area and all of a sudden you're looking at a company and you cooked everything up yourself and it's all your little baby and stuff and I've seen this many many times with entrepreneurial adventures and all of a sudden you're dealing with a marketing person not there saying hey there's all kinds of possibilities here if we just shift this we just change that if we present it I'll give you an idea meditation marketing meditation right so there's something there's an offering there that we think meditation might be good for people you could just take strictly word of mouth approach but you could also say how could we let people know about meditation in the west not many people do that practice right? So um all of us on the mark a marketing personal come and say hey why is everybody so uptight? Er this is a good thing why don't we just let people know about it and share it with them and the mocking person is going to just want to do there they're thing sale's president just goes like I don't care about all this how many people did we get on the cushions this week? Pure results oriented how much money did we make? So these are all energies that a part of us you know the means make up a complete expression of our interaction with the world if we're fluffing off on some of these and going I don't like administration I don't like doing my taxes I don't like you know, figuring out um my cash flow well it's like having a body and that limits like this now, right? So um if we don't engage all five dimensions of the business our business won't really prosper so that's why we laying out this map here so they can have a look at the big picture there of how to put it out put it uh company your project together so the next issue there that's a lot there there's obviously a lot to deal with there next issues no your market do your homework and um we're saying if there is no need or desire for your offering that you can identify and quantify your expedition will be off to a shaky start so um what is our offering now we're looking at who is who cares you know and we can't just sit alone in a room and say you know I'm so great and this is such a great thing and nobody's calling me so you know when we get into sales and marketing time for self pity is over you know it's just nobody who's interested in these aspects ofthe business who wants to hear that at that point and you know it's okay you can say you know that some of people have been writing in and saying you know, I don't really like that aspect of things that's okay? You're just not gonna make much money if you don't do sales and market you will not make much money unless there's just a phenomenal natural groundswell of interest in what you do happens in once and it's not the rule it's the exception so um even within the art world, if we look at that uh you can look at some artists, contemporary artists, photographers, musicians are enormously talented, skillful at marketing themselves even though it looks like they're just being eccentric and creative and wild and kind of not interested in that at all. So, um, what is your market? I think probably this wouldn't see opportunity to have a little chat how well do you know your market and have you done your homework? Have you, for example, if you're interested in I think the conversation we had with sierra earlier was perfect she's looking around who could, who could who's interested my services? And then she actually wrote emails she found the people who are interested in mark, she did her research, she did her homework, and then she attempted to contact those people. I wish I could tell you how many times I've seen somebody shy away from this area, so in a way, you know, it makes me want to talk faster, push harder and get you off your butts and out getting out there it's that kind of energy that we're talking about here, so first I want to get you on your butt meditating and then get off your butt and go out and market you're offering never sat on your butt off your butt, you know, but that's what makes the whole thing fun to contemplate it all in one piece? So let's look around a little bit and invite our online audience to participate at this point. If there's, what is your market for your offering? Who are they? Have you done done your research identified who they might be, what the depth of the market is, what the volume of that market is and, um, how's that process going for you? You know, when you engage that energy of marketing research look again we're talking about where where have you had trouble? This doesn't have to be this. Look, let me tell you my story. I'm so great at this. We're not really that interested in that. We don't need a workshop if you if you're hitting every point on our workshop here gun no problem, no problem, no problem. You know, you might want to just go do something else that way. Do you actually have a challenge? That's already come in that's where you sure? Okay, sure. L s peace says I have done my homework and it became my downfall. I became so obsessed with looking at competition that it broke me down that's the next point, actually, l s p d quite okay, so l s p where hope you're still watching but the next thing we're going to talk about his competition so what I'm going to do is ask you to just hold that comment and remind me of that when we get to the next the next piece um market research is not necessarily the same as analyzing competition yeah, we're looking at just the market who's there the buyers not who else is approaching those buyers were going look at that in a minute is laura and she's from the uk uk so she's one of your peeps yes all right, how about it in the group here? What level of homework could be done to assess the market now just to frame this if it's a service your market maybe like for example, the cb if if you're sort of market yourself as a director is a narrative film director which is what you've expressed your market for those services is production companies right? You're not we're not talking about how do I get to the audience? You got somebody between you and the audience so you're actually marketing directly to those two producers? Would you say so? Um how does that prospect have you sort of figure out who might be doing the kind of work that you want to be doing and supporting you in that effort? It's a great question I think a big part for me something that happened for me last year was realizing that I didn't want to be the production company, I didn't want to be the producer didn't want to be the writer I kind of I mean the american independent film thing is very much about like the tour kind of a fantasy I don't mean that cruelly but I mean like we have to do everything ourselves and what I realized for me is that what I love to do is directing and I don't necessarily love or don't have the same strength otherwise so for a long time I was researching the audience and trying to figure out where the audience for the product wass and so once I started focusing on like I really want to be directing I mean frankly that's when I got this job because I was like, I'm a director im looking for companies that need directors and this literally like fell from the sky, which is why I'm so grateful for this job and I love it I think, for producing for production companies for other stuff I haven't even started looking yet because it's it's almost like it's this new idea of like, wow, I don't need to find the entire product myself deliver it right it's really in the service that I'm interested in not the product well so it's interesting as you look at this five stages of business we also have to figure out which ones we want engage in all right for example um when I had my record labels the offering is obviously the music that's on labels but and a times had in house and record levels of in house marketing teams but they also confirm it out to marketing companies project by project so if you want a small company sometimes you outsource uh different dimensions of this sales we might have a sales manager but again you can you khun basically for example you're selling the record to change like you know amazon or or whatever record stores there were changed the stores but you have a sales rep in the company that's selling tow their buyer you're not ever selling to the public so you don't need to really you know engage that process um distribution there's companies that that specialize in distribution so um an administration you can either farm out or do you or do yourself he might have an in house bookkeeper and then you have an accountant who was separate separate entity so when we look at that you should figure out which parts you really want to take on if you're like a solo entrepreneur you gotta do all five you gotta wear those hats until you can pass one off so um with your offering um david that the you offering a service would you say okay and your marketing it at this point two producers who could who could you know otherwise if you uh are your own production company then then your market you step it leapfrogging over that your marketing directly to distributors right? Ok there's a chain of command there the sails for you is like convincing producers that you got the goods that's a really project you know and it's it's frustrating I think for creative people sometimes because you'd like to just be doing your work I'd like to just people you know playing guitar producing a record of some like that but that makes it a hobby unless you engage these other processes and it's just it's just the way it is um so um do you feel like there's so a market for it your service that you want offer yeah yeah although I haven't done the research well enough to know that any more than the fact that there are several exquisite films that come out every year in emits the many many you know, fun popular films they're they're always our quality films and their audiences that like quality films and film has really made very carefully so I think that I'm probably pretty naive at this point about what the full market right need is in the market research for just a director approaching approaching producers in this context and then you know one of the good ways to do your research is just follow trails like I used to say the artist on my label whose career do you want you want justin bieber's career or do you want alanis morris that's career and you want cash shade? You want popularity? Do you want esoteric following that's okay there's range there a lot of different options but having a clear idea maybe to model it on like a director that you see how did they get where they're going and and and really engage the process of doing that kind of homework? We have online comments coming in we have people sort of asking that they're really having a conversation right now about their own different nations except her and giving each other advice so we're not having it I think that that's how it works is you do the chat room? Absolutely we've always encouraged that teo to talk with a fellow viewers and to get their thoughts on inspiration as well, but you know, when we get some comments will definitely come back to me. Oh, and by the way, this is like advanced form of networking what the exact thing we're talking about making a buck could be happening as part of this workshop that's two people out there could be saying I'm a director, I'm a producer and they make the connection that way so um, you know, things like linked in uh other online sort of connecting services um should not be underestimated necessarily in terms of people looking for, you know, situations, you connect a like minded people, so that could be that's a business. Somebody made a business out of connecting people linked in or a company like that. Their whole business is just hooking people up, you know, professionally, and they're making money doing that, yeah, I have a resource, maybe for you, trans trans media stuff about, you know about them. No, okay, tell you more about it later, but it's really, about their, uh, founded by two friends and it's really, about integrating if they've got storytellers, graphic designers, they've got filmmakers and it's all about changing the paradigm around filmmaking, so you might really like some of their panel discussion, and you can network teo, great. There you go.