The Manage Your Message Podcast

In this episode of The Manage Your Message Podcast host Jim Karrh begins a brief “solo” series of practical takeaways from his new book The Science of Customer Connections: Manage Your Message to Grow Your Business.

The first chapter of the book gets its own episode. It is titled “Your Message can be Your Business Advantage—If It Isn’t Hiding Somewhere.”

The potential growth engine for your business might be hiding...in plain sight. It is lurking in the everyday, real-time conversations in and around your business. In order to turn that engine on, you likely need to do some uncovering, organizing, and getting to work!

Offline conversations are far more common for word-of-mouth than are the online ones (even in this digital age). They also have more impact; people tend to place more importance and value in those conversations.

So, how can a business professional or leader take advantage of these everyday opportunities?

Jim recommends...

• Simplify what business messaging entails (using the Message Management Model), and where you might need to focus your efforts
• Consider the type of approach to use (hint: playbooks tend to work well)
• Identify the business outcomes and growth metrics most important to you

Links:

Learn more about Jim Karrh:

https://jimkarrh.com/

Check out a sample of Jim’s new book, The Science of Customer Connections: Manage Your Message to Grow Your Business:

https://en.calameo.com/read/005570974156e126cc29e

Follow Jim on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/jimkarrh?lang=en

Connect with Jim on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimkarrh

Sign up for the Message Manager Memo weekly email https://jimkarrh.com/

or email [email protected]

Listen and subscribe to The Manage Your Message podcast: iTunes and jimkarrh.com/podcast/

In this episode of The Manage Your Message Podcast host Jim Karrh continues a four-part “solo” series of practical takeaways from his new book The Science of Customer Connections: Manage Your Message to Grow Your Business.

The first section of the book, including Chapters 2-4, is titled “A Message for Growth.” It’s important to note how words have great business value. As just one example, research showed how using one phrase versus another would equate to an $8,100 difference in the sales price of an average home in the U.S.! Yet the irony is that often the people who know the most, and who have the most they could potentially say, get tripped up on the message.

Among the topics that Jim covers in this episode:

• The specific words that have proven popular in promotion and sales during the past 40 years
• Why your vision or mission statement is not a great foundation for your external message
• How professionals within an industry begin to sound similar over time
• Why effective conversations are critical for demonstrating empathy – which in turn builds your professional trustworthiness

Links:

Learn more about Jim Karrh:

https://jimkarrh.com/

Check out a sample of Jim’s new book, The Science of Customer Connections: Manage Your Message to Grow Your Business:

https://en.calameo.com/read/005570974156e126cc29e

Follow Jim on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/jimkarrh?lang=en

Connect with Jim on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimkarrh

Sign up for the Message Manager Memo weekly email https://jimkarrh.com/

or email [email protected]

Listen and subscribe to The Manage Your Message podcast: iTunes and jimkarrh.com/podcast/

Sales and marketing are in a constant state of change—driven by technology, talent, customers’ expectations, digital disruption, and more.

In this episode of the Manage Your Message Podcast host Jim Karrh welcomes one of today’s clearest voices for understanding those changes in the context of selling. Brent Adamson is best known as the co-author of the best-selling (and trend-setting) books The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer.

Brent is also the “Chief Storyteller” at Gartner, and hosts Gartner’s influential podcast “Lessons in Sales Leadership.” His academic credentials include the MBA from the University of Michigan and a PhD from the University of Texas. Much of his work for Gartner involves understanding what world-class business-to-business (B2B) sales and marketing practices look like today. As Brent relates, “Marketing and sales are becoming less synchronized with how buying is happening.”

Jim and Brent discuss a number of sales topics including...

• Why customers are feeling overwhelmed—not just by the volume of information, but the volume of high-quality information
• The state of sales and marketing evolution today
• The types of disruption that B2B organizations are dealing with—and how they are doing
• Brent’s assessment of the impact of The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer
• The profound differences among sales reps who adopt “giving,” “telling,” or “sense-making” approaches with customers

Links:

Learn about Gartner and what they do:

https://www.gartner.com/en

See Brent’s LinkedIn profile and connect with him:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentadamson/

See Brent’s author page on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Brent-Adamson/e/B005TYSQTY

Learn more about Jim Karrh’s speaking topics and testimonials:

https://jimkarrh.com/speaking

Check out a sample of Jim’s new book, The Science of Customer Connections: Manage Your Message to Grow Your Business:

https://jimkarrh.com/books

Follow Jim on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/jimkarrh?lang=en

Connect with Jim on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimkarrh

Sign up for the Message Manager Memo weekly email https://jimkarrh.com/

or email [email protected]

In this episode of the Manage Your Message Podcast host Jim Karrh welcomes Mack Collier, recently recognized by Forbes as one of the Top 25 Social Media Marketers in the world. Mack is a speaker, consultant, and the author of Think Like a Rock Star: How to Create Social Media and Marketing Strategies that Turn Customers Into Fans.

Among the topics Jim and Mack talk about...

• The practical differences among “customers,” “fans,” and “influencers”
• How stars such as Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga have been intentional in building massive followings – and the lessons that apply for almost any company
• How and why major brands like Dell invest in brand ambassador programs or customer advisory panels
• Why your marketing message, when transferred through fans, carries much more influence
• What separates the companies who are very effective through social media versus everyone else (including the ways they gain feedback on product design and marketing)
• The links among customer engagement, customer service, and overall customer experience
• A great example from Maker’s Mark

Links:

Learn about Mack and his insights:

https://mackcollier.com

Check out Mack’s book Think Like a Rock Star: How to Create Social Media and Marketing Strategies that Turn Customers into Fans:

https://thinklikearockstar.com

Connect with Mack on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mackcollier/

Follow Mack on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/MackCollier

Learn more about Jim Karrh’s speaking topics and testimonials:

https://jimkarrh.com/speaking

Check out a sample of Jim’s new book, The Science of Customer Connections: Manage Your Message to Grow Your Business:

https://jimkarrh.com/books

Follow Jim on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/jimkarrh?lang=en

Connect with Jim on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimkarrh

Sign up for the Message Manager Memo weekly email https://jimkarrh.com/

or email [email protected]

In this episode of The Manage Your Message Podcast host Jim Karrh continues a four-part “solo” series of practical takeaways from his new book The Science of Customer Connections: Manage Your Message to Grow Your Business.

The second section of the book, including Chapters 5-7, is titled “A Lot More Great Messengers.” Both research and practical experience tell us that business leaders tend to underestimate the opportunity they have to enlist other people to share their message.

There are likely many people in and around your organization who care about it – and what others say about it. They might not know everything you do, or consider themselves to be great communicators, or even be comfortable in knowing exactly what to say themselves. They might need a nudge, some encouragement, and some tools in order to join more customer conversations. But they also probably have more inherent abilities than you—or they—realize.

Sure, company leaders are fond of saying things like, “We are all in customer service” or “Everyone is in sales.” Those statements are true! However, they also run headfirst into common assumptions and practices. Typically only a small percentage of people behave as if they are in sales or customer service (or are just a friend or advocate).

There is a lot of surprisingly good news that can move your team closer to that stated ideal. When that happens, growth follows.

Among the topics that Jim covers in this episode:

• The differing strengths of introverts, extraverts, and ambiverts (who Jim calls the Nimble Majority)
• How human intervention from the seller leads to better decisions by consumers
• The surprising ways that Millennials are similar to members of older generations
• Ways you can build the knowledge, skill, and confidence of others to talk about your business

Links:

Learn more about Jim Karrh:

https://jimkarrh.com/

Check out a sample of Jim’s new book, The Science of Customer Connections: Manage Your Message to Grow Your Business:

https://en.calameo.com/read/005570974156e126cc29e

Follow Jim on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/jimkarrh?lang=en

Connect with Jim on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimkarrh

Sign up for the Message Manager Memo weekly email https://jimkarrh.com/

or email [email protected]

Listen and subscribe to The Manage Your Message podcast: iTunes and jimkarrh.com/podcast/