How to Leverage Storytelling for B2B Marketing Success 

We hear it time and time again in the B2B marketing world: You must differentiate your brand and specialize in order to stand out in a highly competitive business environment. B2B companies should master the art of storytelling, craft a unique message, and sell authentically without pressure, cringeworthy small talk, or competing solely on price. So how can B2B companies achieve this, and what role can the marketing team play?

That’s why we’re talking to Matthew Pollard (Founder, Rapid Growth®), who shares expert insights and proven strategies on how to leverage storytelling for B2B marketing success. During our conversation, Matthew discussed the significance of storytelling and specialization in B2B marketing. He also emphasized the need for differentiation in B2B companies by focusing on a specific niche rather than targeting everyone. Matthew highlighted the importance of creating a unified brand message that appeals to the target audience, and advised companies to remove generic content from their websites. He elaborated on how B2B companies can leverage their unique skills and insights, shared common pitfalls to avoid, and how marketers can help define their business’s specialty and value proposition to improve their B2B marketing strategy.

https://youtu.be/W-G4-SvFRyg

[2:35] Why specialization is the key to success in B2B marketing

– Tendency to focus on one’s own interests rather than the client’s needs

– Trying to appeal to everyone

• Matthew Pollard on LinkedIn

• Rapid Growth®

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We hear it time and time again. In B2B you need to differentiate your brand and specialize in order to stand out in a highly competitive business environment, B2B companies need to master the art of storytelling, craft a unique message and sell authentically without pressure, cringe worthy small talk industry jargon or competing on price. So how do B2B companies do this, and what role can the marketing team play? Welcome to this episode of the B2B Marketer in the Mission podcast, and I’m your host, Christian Klepp. Today, I’ll be talking to Matthew Pollard, who will be answering this question. He’s a recognized growth expert, author and an award winning speaker who’s out to prove that storytelling will sell more than facts ever will tune in to find out more about what the speed to be marketers mission is.

Okay. I’m gonna say. Matthew Pollard, welcome to the show, sir. 

Mate. I’m excited to be here. Thanks for having me on. 

I mean, you know, we’ve been on a pre interview call a couple of weeks ago, and we got on like a house on fire. I kind of feel like I’ve known you for like, 30 years or something like that.

No, I’m glad. I’m glad we got a chance to meet when I was 11. It was a big defining moment for me.

Fair enough, fair enough.

I guess if, if you didn’t have a Canadian accent, I didn’t have an Australian accent, right? 

Yes, yes. There is that too. There is that too. But Matthew, really excited to have you on the show. I’m really looking forward to this conversation, because we’re going to dive into stuff that you are clearly very passionate about. But that aside, I think we’re going to discuss a topic that I think is highly relevant in the world of B2B marketing. So I’m going to keep the audience in suspense just a couple of seconds longer as we dive into the first question. All right. Okay, fantastic. So Matthew, you’re known as the Rapid Growth Guy, and you’re on a mission to transform 1000s of struggling or plateaued businesses into momentum and growth. So for this conversation, let’s zero in on the topic of how B2B companies can create differentiation and specialization. It sounds like such a pedestrian thing, but it’s amazing. And I’m sure you’re going to talk about this at length in a second. It’s amazing how many companies are still getting this wrong. So I’m going to kick off the conversation with the following question, so if memory serves me well, in our previous conversation, you mentioned that if B2B, companies and their marketing teams can specialize, they can generate more clients. So can you elaborate on that a little bit more please?

Yeah, absolutely. I think that the reason I use the word specialized rather than niching is a lot of people have in their mind that niching is this thing that everybody knows that they should do but doesn’t work for them. And while, of course, they’re wrong, they’ve created a bunch of really great excuses in their mind for why that is. And so that the best example I can give you is I worked with an insurance guy who also dabbled in wealth management, and he would go to networking events all the time, and he would talk to them, and he learned how to be interested before being interesting, which is heavily important when it comes to networking. And he did his research as well. I mean, he read my books and other people’s books, and really mastered that piece. But what he said when people reached out to him was also when, when people asked him what it was that he did, he would respond that he was in insurance. And it was like their eyes almost exploded. It was like, How do I get away from this person? They knew that they were, they were going to get this massive sales pitch. And I said, Look, Nick we’ve got to step away from you commoditizing yourself like that. As soon as you say insurance. People know what that is. They put it in a bucket. It’s like me saying I’m a sales trainer. They put me in a bucket. They’re like, most people think that sales training, you know, a lot of people feel like sales people are scam artists. So they’re like, You know what? I don’t have anything to do with you. But they’re but then the opposite is, if I say I’m in marketing, people go, Oh, I need marketing. How much do you cost? Right? Neither are positive. But when you say you’re an insurance salesman, or you’re an insurance people know that the word salesman was the next thing that was supposed to come out. So because of that, they’re trying to work out how to get away from you. And so we need to look at how you can sidestep what people think they know about your industry. 

And so I said to do that, what we need to look at is how you can specialize, how you can speak to a different group of people that see you as the only logical choice. I said. So help me understand, like I believe that in today’s world, especially, the fact of the matter is, you can create rapid growth out of anything. So there’s nothing worse than rapid growth business with customers you don’t like, in a business you can’t stand so let’s focus on a group you absolutely are passionate about helping. And secondly, let’s focus on a group that you can actually serve more effectively, because if you’re in a space where you feel that you. You don’t have a great product, well, then go sell something else. Right? In today’s world, there’s always something great to sell, but think about the space that you want to work in. He goes, Well, Matt, I’m really passionate about insurance, but I really just want to help everyone. And I said, Okay, well, if we’re going to lean into passion, because I know the word passion now we’re using two words, right? Passion, which everyone’s like, well, I’d love to focus on my passion, but that’s not realistic or niche in which people think that don’t work for them. And I said, if we focus on who you’re passionate about, and we leaned into that for just a second, tell me who you would think about working and he’s like, No, seriously, Matt, everybody. I said, truthfully, everybody, what about somebody that earns 50,000 versus somebody that earns 250 he said, Well, no, the person that earns 250 why? Well, they make more money. They can buy more insurance, not what I’m talking about, Nick. 

So let’s take a step back and say, let’s pick two people at random that make 250,000 the first person is maybe somebody that grew up poor study, got into Harvard through scholarship, maybe now works for a C level executive, or they’re a C level executive, C level executive that works for a big corporation, versus a person that maybe even dropped out of school. But now they’ve started up their own business and makes 250,000 a year. One has 10 staff, the other one has 10 employees. Which one of those do you want to work with most? And his response was interesting. He said, obviously the small business owner. And I said, why? Obviously the small business owner? I mean, I grew up with the reading speed of a sick grader until I was diagnosed with Irwin syndrome. There was no way I would have been able to break through some of those barriers. But I definitely wasn’t getting a scholarship to Harvard, like and getting into a C level executive job, you know, good for him or her. And he said, Well, no, I just feel like the small business owner deserves it more like, Okay, explain that for and he said, Well, you know, I had this grandfather, and my grandfather actually did save up some money and started a business. He started, he owned a farm, and he said that that farm had to have a huge amount of cash flow on hand because of the seasonal variations and things like that, Said, but he always prioritized his team making sure he had cash flow, he said. But then later in life, he got sick and he had to sell the business because he couldn’t afford to support it. He couldn’t work as hard in it anymore. And he said, I just watched my grandfather spend the last years of his life in his tiny apartment fading away in front of a TV. I just felt like he deserved more than that. And I said, you sell insurance. What could you have done to help him? And he said, Well, there’s these insurance products that you can stuff cash in when, and that give you a high yield return, but give you access to it really easily, and that he could have used the returns of that to spin into actual property in a portfolio, and if he hadn’t just done that, he would have had a really happy retirement. And I said, so it’s like, why do you know so much about this? I was blown away at how much he knew. And of course, it was because his grandfather, he saw it could help, could have helped him. I said, well, then how would it feel to wake up every morning helping these high cash flow businesses not end up in second class, like, you know, retirements, like your grandfather, he said, I mean, that would be amazing. So I said, Well, okay, then why would when somebody asks you what it is that you do instead of saying, I’m in insurance, why would you not call yourself? This is what I call a unified message. Why would you not call yourself something like the hustle lifeguard. And then when somebody asks you what that is, you can then respond with something to do with how you don’t want people to end up in second class retirements like your grandfather, that have high cash flow businesses. And then all of a sudden, you’re having a totally different conversation with them, and that changes everything. 

But it comes from a place of specialty, like when I moved from to, you know, from the US, from Australia to the United States, I made the decision that I wanted to help introverted, service based business owners, predominantly highly complex businesses. And because I decided I wanted to do that, because I felt like there was something heroic about a person with enough talent, skill and belief in themselves to start a business to their own. But the moment that I started talking about sales training, they saw me as a sales trainer. The moment I started talking about marketing, they thought I was talking about marketing, general stuff, and because of that, they said, Oh, do you do digital advertising? How much do you cost? And so what I realized is I needed a hook at the beginning, and so I call myself the Rapid Growth Guy. And then when somebody said, what exactly is that? Because that’s powerful. For the first time, you’ve actually got an opportunity to respond because they genuinely interested, as opposed to the elevator pitch. I do this for this group of people, even if which sounds so transactional. So it gets people to lean in and ask. And then I would say something as simple as, one of the things I love to see more than anything in the world, is an amazing, introverted service provider with enough talent, skill and belief in themselves to start a business of their own. What I find, and I just hate seeing this, is they get stuck in this endless hamster wheel, struggling to find interest to people, trying to set themselves apart, trying to make the sale, really, feeling like people only care about one thing, price. Do you know? Want anyone like that, and when they respond in the affirmative, I said, Well, I’m on a mission to help people like yourself realize you really can have a rapid growth business doing what you love, just not by getting better at your functional skill. You’re probably amazing at that. Instead, by just three things outside the scope of that, they really allow you to build a business that revolves around you, your family and your life, not the other way around. 

Actually, let me give you an example. Then I would tell a story. The difference you’ll notice is there’s not transaction. Transactional. I’m not talking about myself. I’m talking about the change I want to see in the world, the difference that I want to make. It’s all about helping others. You just can’t do that without having a specialty. Otherwise, I really want to help people with everything that they could possibly hire me for. And really it comes down to well, I just want to work with people that treat me well that let me help them with what I want to help them with, and get paid really well for doing it. I mean, that should be a starting point, but it shouldn’t be the end. And so that’s why I get people to lean into a specialty, because as soon as you focus on a specialty, all of a sudden everyone’s like, Oh, I’m like that. Can you help me? The biggest fear people have is, oh, but what if they’re not like that. And here’s the truth. When you say you specialize, if you go to a doctor, they’re a general practitioner, you’re like, oh, they can help me with everything. When you go to a specialist, you assume they have a specialty in that thing, but you also assume that they have a better general knowledge than everyone else. So you’re used to paying a specialist a premium, but you also see them as the best generalist. So it actually doesn’t exclude you from working with anyone else. Since I started working with introverted service providers, I have more extroverted clients than I ever had because they understand the benefits of sales systemization. Because you’ve got a business you’re trying to sell, there’s no way you’re going to sell it if you’re the primary sales person. I work with some of the biggest billion dollar product based companies in the world, but yet introverted service based business owners and my specialty, and because of that group, it’s opened up so many doors to all of those other groups. So a lot of people say, Well, I want to work with lots of different people. Well, you get to but only by speaking to a smaller few at the beginning. And I know it sounds counterintuitive, it’s just the fact, though.

Absolutely, absolutely and what a way to kick off this conversation. Thanks so much for sharing that anecdote. I would say the next question would be around the key pitfalls for these marketers and these individuals, like business owners, of these key pitfalls that they should be avoiding when it comes to specialization and what should they be doing instead? 

Yeah. So I think that the key pitfalls is people start saying, What am I passionate about, rather than the difference that they can make? Right? So especially if you’re on the introverted side, you kind of feel uncomfortable thinking about who you want to work with. So if you make it about others and say, Well, who do I make the biggest impact for? Who can I make the biggest change for? What change do I want to see in the world? How can I make the biggest effect on the world? The other thing that I see is people get stuck on that. As I said, I just, you know, I just love helping all people, and that’s never true. You can’t possibly have genuine care equally for every person, and you personally can’t have equal amounts of experience helping everybody. So, you know, for someone like myself, I grew up really introverted. I fell into door to door sales. So I specialize in helping introverted service providers, because I created a methodology for myself to help introverted service providers, because I was selling introverted services, and before that, I was selling products as an introvert. But the truth is that, can I still help extrovert? Yes, but I can help introverted, service based business owners more. So why would I not want to focus on that? And people say, Oh, but I don’t want to give up the opportunity to get any customer, especially if you’re struggling, if you’re listening well, any customers, a good customer. Why would I turn down someone? Well, the truth is, most of you get most of your customers from repeat business or referrals, and they’re not checking out your website anywhere near as much as you think, if at all. Right, the fact is, no one’s going like Christian. If you put I am now a dentist, on my website, your current clients would not stop working with you. And if I referred you to somebody like they might say, look, I checked out your website and says you’re a dentist, but Matt said, you’re really good at, you know, my bookkeeping and accounting services. Could you still help me with that? Of course, they’re trusting a referral. So nobody cares what you put on a website. What you’ve got to realize is, from the outside, it’s a, you know, specializing is a new customer acquisition strategy, so if you focus just on that, and don’t worry so much about losing referrals and repeat customers because they don’t care, you’ll be fine. 

And the third thing is, people tend to focus on their functional skill, and everybody’s had the same training on the functional skill, and that’s where things go wrong. So what I mean by that is this, actually, let me give you another quick example. I worked with a client, Wendy. She was a language coach. She taught kids and adults Mandarin, and she’s like, so how I’ve got this big issue? There are people moving into California charging 30 to $40 an hour for private consultation. There are people on Craigslist offering to do it from China for $12 an hour. And now there’s even technology. I’ll teach you Mandarin and you teach me English. We just won’t charge anyone anything she’s competing against free. So she said, Well, how do I compete this crowded marketplace? And of course, I could have said specialty, but first I had to look at the unique skills she had. So I said, Look, if I help you with sales, yes, absolutely, we’ll be able to close more deals. But instead, let’s look at how we can avoid the battle altogether. So what I did is I looked at all the customers she worked with over the years, and what I realized is that for a small number of them, really it was only two. She helped them with far more. She really helped them understand the difference between E commerce in China in the Western world, these are executives being relocated to China. She helped them understand that the difference between the importance of respect, like how to handle a business card, why to reduce your accent, not just learn the language. And she also helped them understand the difference of rapport. Like, Christian, if I was trying to sell you something in the Western world, I’m really bad at sales, I might say something horrible at the end of 45 minutes, like, do you want to move forward? If you say you want to think about it now and next week, my chances of getting that sale are pretty slim. In China, they want to see me five or six times before they discuss business. They’re probably going to want to see me drunk over karaoke once or twice. And it’s just the character of the person that they sorry. They want to understand the character of the person they’re doing business with, because they’re talking about 20 to 50 year deals, not transactional contracts. And she helped understand all of this. 

Fantastic. That’s one heck of a story. And you know, coming from somebody like me who has spent time out in China, I can definitely attest to the fact that business deals aren’t being done with alcohol and karaoke, right? Like not all of them, but many of them are. I did have one follow up question for you, Matthew, and it’s really just for I guess. Let’s just say I want to play the devil’s advocate here, just a little bit. Right? Everything that you’ve said to me makes a lot of sense, but there’s people out there, without question, that are like doubting this approach, right? Like, and what I mean by that is like you’re calling yourself the growth consultant, when, in fact, you’re an insurance salesperson. She’s calling herself the China Success gal when she’s actually a mandarin teacher. What do you say to people that challenge the way that you’ve packaged this approach?

And like, when you for these two people, you’re doing far more than just language tuition. What are you doing? And she’s like, well, there’s just a few things I’m just trying to help. And this is where people get stuck. They actually focus on their speciality based on their functional skill, as opposed to what they do great. And I said, Look, Wendy, is it fair to assume as a result of decisions you’re giving these two people, they’re going to be more successful in China? I mean, yeah. I mean, that’s the point, right? I said, Great. Then let’s call you the China Success Coach. Forget about Mandarin education for a second. Let’s create what we ended up calling the China Success intensive. So we leaned into a skill set that she had beyond her functional skill, that complemented her functional skill. Well, now she’s like, well, you know, I’m, I’m ecstatic about this. Like, who do I sell it to? What she’s asking is, who do I get networking to me, what’s, you know, what niche am I supposed to go and talk to? And I said, Well, who do you think it is? And then she went with something broad, like executives. And I said, Well, I mean, that makes sense. I mean, executives going to China. I mean, I moved from Australia, the United States. I was United States. I was terrified. Imagine going to China. I just don’t think it’s your ideal client. It’s not what, obviously, the companies are paying. So let’s go with something broad. Like, everyone goes broad. I don’t know why. Like, when you’ve got less economies of scale, less proof of concept, especially, why would you want to go like for like against somebody that’s faster, quicker, better and got more testimonials. But even when, even when you’re bigger, why would you want to do that? 

I said, companies don’t go broad, firstly, but secondly, they might have millions of dollars riding on an executive being successful. I just don’t think it’s the right fit for you. And she said, Okay, now she’s frustrated with me. Oh, who? Then I said, I think it’s the immigration attorney. Then she looks at me like I’m speaking a foreign language. I said, think about it. These people have they may make five to $7,000 for doing the visa or the paperwork that comes with it, all the bureaucracy that comes with that. They’d be lucky to make $3,000 for any successful visa. I said, why not offer them $3,000 to match it for any successful introduction to the China Success Coach? They love the idea. They’re like double my profit for a simple introduction. Sure. What have I got to say? She just had them say, congratulations, you’ve now got your visa. I just want to double check you’re as ready as possible to be relocated to China. They’d always think they had their visa. They’ve learned the language. Kids are getting pretty good at two. They’ve got their place sorted. They’re set that she would just have them respond with, there’s a lot more to it than that, and tell them that they think that they should speak to the China Success Coach. She got on the phone with the easiest sale in the world. They were terrified to go. The organization was motivated to pay, and that’s why she was able to charge $30,000 instead of $50 to $80 an hour, minus a $3,000 commission, she made $27,000 for the easiest sale in the world, all by leaning in to her actual skill set outside the scope of a functional skill, leading into a specialty and then creating what I call a unified message on top of it to help her be seen as the only logical choice. 

Absolutely, and I believe that everybody should challenge everything they hear for the first time. They should try it on if it fits them. But absolutely, you need to validate first. And so for me, I look at if you’ve got a vanilla message, just like everybody else’s, then you have to be the loudest in the room, not because you can’t be the clearest. So how do we actually be the clearest? Well, if we talk about our functional skill, are we? Are we actually being clear? Because who here can possibly define themselves by their just their functional skill that doesn’t make any sense. Like you are a lifetime of experience, a lifetime of past customers and up. You’ve had different upbringings, different education because of that, you are a byproduct of all of these things. So what was interesting is the language coach actually became the China Success Coach because that’s who she was to these two people, and then we fixated on getting more clients. Yes, she taught the Mandarin, but she taught them other ways to be successful. Help the kids be ready, so the whole family unit could be successful. Because, truthfully, if the kids aren’t successful, good luck. 

Now, if you think about me, I mean, I’m a master in neuro linguistic programming, I’m a business coach, I’m a branding expert, I’m a Sales systemization expert. I specialize in helping introverts. I mean, I’m too many things. The only thing I know for sure is nobody cares. They don’t care how hard it was for me to learn these things or how long I spent learning them. So the Rapid Growth Guy simplifies it for them, but it’s also a better, definitive explanation of what I do. I’m far more aligned. Like I don’t like a lot of sales training. I feel like it forces people to focus on more dogmatic and Bulldog techniques, and that’s just not me. I also know my ideal avatar, the introvert, hates sales so it’s not in their best interest to hear that I’m a sales trainer either. 

Now, from a marketing perspective, I know that most marketers these days, unfortunately, see marketing as Facebook ads, and they see the bro economy of a bunch of people with jets they rented for the hour, saying, You can be like me too, and I don’t want to be in that bucket, so I want to be in a category of my own. Now, a lot of people struggle with that. They’re like a category of my own, but that means I have to explain to everybody what I do. Well, wouldn’t that be amazing to not be in a category that’s full of other people that are destroying the industry or fight on price, but actually be in a category of my own, but that means I’ve actually got to explain what I do. Now think about the science behind this. If I’m interested before I try to be interesting, people feel like they have to be interested in me as well, right? It’s about being reciprocal. Then I say I’m the Rapid Growth Guy, and people’s brains explode, because our brains are programmed to understand who what something is, to work out, what box to put it in, whether to exclude it or include it. And because of that, that then leads to a massive issue for them, because they’re like, I don’t know where to put this person. So because of that, they have to ask, because they’re interested, because our brain wants to solve issues with what exactly is that they’ll ask. And then I say, Well, I love to see this. I hate to see this. I’m on mission to do this. But notice I didn’t even tell you what I did. I just conveyed who I care about. So now I’m like, Wow, I’ve never heard anything before like this. Usually I hear this self gratification elevator pitch, or somebody say, Well, my day job is this. Nobody wants to hear that. Now, smart people say, Well, I don’t tell them what I do. I just ask questions. I’m like, Oh, great. Everybody loves to be interrogated the moment that they ask somebody what they do. So none of those things are helpful. So by sharing who I care about, even if it doesn’t fit them, they’re starting to think, Wow, I like this person. Who can I introduce them to? And then I say, which is why I’m on a mission to do this. Let me give you an example, and when I move into the example, I’m then giving them the exact framework of what I do. I might tell them the Wendy story, and I explained the Wendy story, and at the end they say, does that make sense? And they’re all now I get it, because here’s the thing 

If I try to educate you on what I do or why I’m different, first thing is, it comes across as I’m bragging. Second thing is, they won’t remember it. The statistics say if I embed it into a story. First thing is, it doesn’t come across as bragging. Secondly, people remember 22 times more information when embedded into a story. And thirdly, it activates the reticular activating system of the brain, which actually causes our brains to synchronize, and that actually creates artificial rapport. And because of that, people feel like they have an uncanny connection with me. It’s a total advantage. Everyone feels like, even when you’re in the sale, my job is to explain all the options so they can make a decision. No, you’re up. You did if your product or service benefits them. Your focus should be about getting them out of their own way to make a decision. You’re the expert. Tell them a story of someone just like them that wanted what they wanted and how you got them to an amazing outcome. The goal isn’t about talking about variables or educating the customer or. Hitting them with all these functional skill piece jargon. Your first job is to explain why you care and who you care about, then convey a story that educates and inspires people to act in their best interest, even if they don’t hire you. Because the truth is, if you can be the clearest in networking room, you don’t need to be the loudest, and it’s the same online, if you don’t want to be that person taking a photo of a dog or donut for something to say online, you can’t be as vanilla as everyone else. You have to be unique. You have to be different. And that’s what my goal is for everyone listening today.

Mic drop. That was a bit early in the conversation, though, for the mic drop, but like, I’ll take it well, fantastic. Fantastic. Fantastic. And I do absolutely see your point. I do absolutely see your point in terms of, like, how do you stand out in that, you know, use whatever analogy you want, right? I’m in that sea of sameness. How do you become that signal amidst the noise? And, you know, for those people, because I’ve gotten that as well, like, you know, but you’re just packaging it up with all this fluff, and you’re using fancy words, but then, if you scratch beneath the surface, what you’re actually selling is a genuine area of expertise where you help, to your point, transform the client, right? Whether it’s their business, whether it’s in your case, whether, whether it’s their skills, and so on, right? 

Well, one of the things that’s always interested me is people want to explain what they do. 

Yeah.

I don’t know anybody that doesn’t prioritize their own interests over somebody else’s. 

Yeah. 

And I know there’s a lot of people that say, well, that’s not true. You know, I prioritize my kids that that’s different. I’m talking about in a business situation. People always prioritize their own business future over somebody else’s. And so if I said, Hey, here’s all the stuff I do, my expectation is that they have to figure out how that applies to them. That’s laziness. If you sit there and go, Well, how does what I do change them help them. What outcome do they even want? Like, if I start with, if I want to specialize in this group, what outcome can I deliver them? And then all you want to do is articulate to that outcome. Because when you explain the outcome that you get someone or the pain you remove someone from people are far more likely to go, you know what? Matt, that sounds amazing. I want to do that because now they’ve tried on the outcome. They don’t care what you do. I could then say, You know what? All that it takes for you to get this outcome is to put this stapler on your desk. They don’t care if that gets the outcome. I’m putting the stapler on my desk. They just want to know that you’ve worked with someone in the past to get the outcome that they want, and you’ve got a system to do it. That’s it. They don’t actually want to know what the system is.

Well, the procurement team might, but, like…

It’s been really interesting. I do a lot of sales kick off events, and when you’re looking at a group of people that are on board. They’ve heard the story, and they want the outcome. So the procurement team wants a statement of work, and they want the statement of work to be really simple, right? They want we’re going to focus on these are the number of days. These are the number of hours, and these are going to be the outcomes in each one of these things, they actually don’t want to know what you’re going to do in each one of those things. They want to know what they get, because a computer, a procurement team’s job is to say we have a budget for x. Now, if you’ve marketed yourself correctly, if you’ve articulated your value in the networking room correctly, they’re creating a budget for you. You’re not going into a tender, like, for like, against everyone else. So because of that, you’re the only person going through the amount of times I have worked with procurement that they have said to me, we have been told that we have to push this through. So what we’re missing inside your Statement of Work is these things. Can you fill this out for us, because we need to check these couple of extra boxes, or you’re working collaborate with someone and say, Okay, help me understand your KPIs (Key Performance Indicator) so I can match this exactly. But they’ve already said we’re hiring you. You’ve agreed on budget, and now we’re turning it into something functional, if we need to through the statement of work to get procurement to agree. But what you’ll find is the decision is already made. Procurements job is to either find a vendor once a decision for what is needed is already found, is already decided, in which case you got to the sale too late, you didn’t convince them of your value and create a category. If you’re just going into a tender process, you can use story to highlight why you deserve to be a little bit more expensive, but you’re already into a category, so you’ve already lost that’s okay. You can use other techniques and highlight your specialty to still get the business. But if you can sidestep that and be seen as the only logical choice, people reach out to me and say, Matt, we want you to do this initiative that we heard about. We want you to do what Wendy, what you did for Wendy, for us, or we want you to speak on storytelling, because we heard about this amazing thing that you do. Tell us, tell us how you can help. And at the end they’ll say, Okay, so now we’ve got to work together to get you through procurement. And here are the changes with what we’ve got to do, because we’ve got to tick these boxes in procurement, but the customer is working with me to get it through procurement. That’s a much better situation to be in.

Absolutely, absolutely, all right, my friend, we get to the point in the conversation where we’re talking about actionable tips, and man, you’ve given us so much already, like my hands getting a little sore from all the note taking, but yeah, thank you, Otter. But if there’s somebody out there in particular, like either a B2B marketer or a team within a B2B company that is responsible for putting the brand out there, for lead generation, for all these marketing initiatives. What are like based on everything that you’ve said, just think of this like a recap, question, right? What are three to five things that B2B companies and their teams can do right now to create that differentiation and specialization that will truly set them apart right, that will pull them out of this. What’s that term that you kept using? Vanilla? Right? The vanilla landscape, the vanilla content, that vanilla, that vanilla set of assets, and so forth.

Absolutely, I think the first thing is, if you look at your website, and I tell everybody, especially in digital marketing, to look at their website, because usually when I look at especially somebody in digital marketing, to the point that you just made their website looks like a Cheesecake Factory menu of services, and it’s, oh, we provide SEO (Search Engine Optimization). We pay digital marketing. We do this, we do this, we do this. It’s you just tell me what you want to buy, and I will sell it to you. It also says, Hey, we do everything, which means there’s no way you can do everything well. And it also is just a list of industry jargon, of the functional skills that you’ve got certifications on, none of that helps the customer. That’s you saying, This is what we do. Tell me what you need. And that’s lazy sales. It’s lazy marketing. 

So for me, the first thing I always suggest to most marketers is to rip their list of services that the customer won’t understand off their website, then highlight what you specialize in. Pick an industry group and then say, what are the unique skills that we have above and beyond our functional skill? Outside all the jargon words for helping this demographic, it’s going to be unique care, unique insight, unique understanding, unique experience. There’s a template that I can give you that will help with that, because you don’t need to hire me for this. What you need, you know, actually, funnily enough, I did this template at the National freelance Association nearly 200 people in the room a few years ago, and at the end, I said, Look, do me a favor. Put your hand up if you believe that now that we finished this, you have a group or a specialty that you know that will pay you a premium. They’ll be excited to work with you. And you’ve created your version of the rapid growth guide, the China Success Coach. You know, the unified message that looks and inspire people to want to know more about you. Like 97% of the room put their hands up. The sad part was when I said, Look, do me a favor. Just keep your hands up. If this is the most time you’ve actively spent working on your marketing since you started your business, like 85% of the room kept their hands up. I mean, the whole session was less than 90 minutes long. So the key is that this will work if you spend the time doing it. So if you go to https://matthewpollard.com/growth, then you will see a you’ll be able to download a template, and that template will take you through the five step process to do this. 

Now, I would suggest, heavily, recommend, that you do not do this in isolation. Get a friend of yours that is doesn’t have your same functional skill to listen to this podcast as well, and then you help them and get them to help you, so they get you out of your functional skill, and you can do the same for them, because what happens is we get into our own industry jargon, so a business coach will get another business coach to help them. The next thing you know, they’re both just as bad as each other, because they’re both inside their box. Now, I’ve spent so long getting this certification, I want people to know that I’ve got it. Nobody cares that you’ve got it, except for you. And the truth is that because you’ve done that certification, you’re so into the industry jargon, especially if you were just certified, that all that you want to talk about is that, but you’re far more than that, and that’s what you need somebody external for. So go to https://matthewpollard.com/growth, download that template, and then work with someone, spend about an hour on them, and then swap over and get them to spend an hour on you. You’ll be miles different just by doing that. 

And remember, just because you can help everyone doesn’t mean you should, and that’s a really important thing to learn, to know doesn’t mean you don’t get to you might get referred to someone, and you don’t need to turn down the referral. But when you’re talking about reaching out to the people that you specialize in, I would much prefer to have 10 of my absolute right clients come to me and I can charge them a higher premium because they appreciate my specialty. And they want to move forward straight away. Then get 30 people to show up, where my closure rate is 30% it’s the same number of customers, but much higher profit, because there’s less money wasted in customer acquisition, because I haven’t spent my time on the phone with 20 people that didn’t buy plus, I can charge more, which means I make more profit. And then thirdly, most people refer me to other people that are the exact right fit, and a whole bunch of other people that aren’t, but don’t question me because they were referred by somebody that they know, like and trust.

I love it. I love it like I think one of the things that really stood out to me was, let me see if I can quote you accurately here. Just because you can help everyone doesn’t mean you should. Amen of that. Amen of that. Because, like, you know, as tempting as it is, like you said that, as tempting as it is to try to, like, say, everybody’s my customer. I mean, going back to the insurance guy anecdote, I can help everybody, right? Um, it’s, it’s, it’s just, just think about all that time that has been burnt, that has been consumed, that has been spent focusing on the wrong clients or focusing on the wrong prospects. And it’s going back to your point, right? Hence, the reason for needing to specialize.

I think what’s really interesting is when you ask someone to specialize, the first thing is, oh, I want to specialize in people that can afford me and to treat me well, I’m like, that’s not a special that’s about you. Number one rule of marketing is it’s not about you. Number one rule of sales is it’s not about you. And once you’re being on a podcast, right? It’s not about you, right? It’s the sooner, like, the amount of times I’ve seen people that get on a podcast interview and a question is asked, and then they answer it with all this functional information, and they haven’t, for once, said, are people actually going to be able to consume that like the truth is, I could have shared a whole bunch more on this podcast, and if we had more time, maybe I would, but the truth is, I probably wouldn’t. I would probably go deeper into these primary topics, because the fact is, I know that I can teach you a lot more, but I also know that you won’t apply any of it, because you’ll be overwhelmed at that point. So you really have to make it about the other person. And I think that what happens is mainly because it’s we’re fear of not having enough clients, or our want to help everyone else, depending on whether we talk about it, from a move towards or move away from either way. It’s all about working with everybody we can to make money, because we’re in business to make money, of course, but the truth is that we get to help our clients more, and we get to help more people, while it sounds counterintuitive, by focus focusing on helping less people, at least in our initial messaging, as I said, I get to help more product based companies than I ever did, and more extroverts that I ever did by focusing on introverted service providers, because they open so many doors for me because the results I get them and now you know, I’ve got some of the biggest tech companies in the world that sell hardware as clients of mine, where they learn my introverted sales system, or my total sales system, and I’ve got whole bunch of extroverts that are learning my sales systems too, because they know they can’t sell their business unless they’re not the primary sales person. And the best person to hire and train is an introvert, because once they’ve learned your sales system, they ain’t going anywhere else, because they hold on to the sales system for dear life, right? So the focus is, for me, is helping people understand that if they stop focusing on themselves and start focusing on others, and not everybody but the groups, they actually can provide the best impacts for it’s like the world all of a sudden realizes and opportunities to show up. And the reason they show up is because, when you talk about things in a bland way, how could opportunities ever present themselves? You’re not even asking for them.

Absolutely, absolutely. Okay, Matthew, two more questions before I let you go. All right, so here comes the bonus question. You. This was probably the understatement of the week, but here we go. You’ve traveled all over the world to provide training and deliver keynotes and conduct workshops. And I think on your LinkedIn profile, it said, from Thailand to Las Vegas. So the question is, what was that one place that you’ve gone to for any of these right that has left a lasting impression on you? And why?

So it’s an interesting question, because I don’t particularly love Las Vegas, especially as a speaker. You find yourself in Las Vegas, way too much. And Thailand also, I have, I have different opinions on there. There’s a couple of places that I absolutely love, but one of them got me out to Iguazu fall. So I spent some time in South America and Iguazu. I’m hoping for the South Americans listening, I apologize if I’m pronouncing it wrong, but hopefully it you’ll forgive me when I say it’s the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s about 320 waterfalls that converge in one place, and it is extraordinary to experience. And I say experience not see, because it really that you feel the water when you’re there. It’s just, it’s phenomenal.

Wow, wow. Yes, yeah, I have heard of those waterfalls, and it is, it is a sight to behold, right?

Yes, and I know that I’m probably saying the wrong thing, promoting a different waterfall to somebody in Toronto. So I hope you forgive me.

That’s all right, the Niagara Falls are nice too. But, like, I got what you mean.

Yeah, why I see Niagara Falls from both sides? I’ve spoken in Buffalo, saw it from that side, and then got to see it from the Toronto side. And I mean, it’s definitely extraordinary. I think it’s definitely grand Iguazu Falls is it’s in absolute nature. It’s actually a trek to get there, and it’s so I wouldn’t it’s just different, it’s unique, and it is a lot easier to visit Niagara Falls.

Yes, yes. I mean, I suppose Iguazu it was more like, it’s, it’s, it’s a bit untouched by civilization, if I can put it that way, right?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I, yeah, I, and I feel like one of the other differences, and maybe that’s just a me thing. I’m definitely I love water, but the Brazilian side is what won the one of the most beautiful places on earth top 10 list. Maybe they were just better at marketing, but I loved the Argentinian side a lot more. And now I’m going to get hate mail for a bunch of people from Brazil. I love Brazil too. But the Argentinian side, you get to sit or stand in the mouth of the waterfall like the largest waterfall, and it’s such an extraordinary experience. And I’m going to get the science wrong, but this thing, I think it’s ionization or whatever that happens at that point. But you lose, you can’t not agree to anything. Like, if I feel like, if I wanted to close a really big deal and somebody hadn’t said yes to me for the last 10 years, I would fly them to the mouth of that waterfall and ask them the question there, because there’s no way you can say no to anything in the mouth of that waterfall.

Fair enough. Fair enough. All right. Well, Matthew, this has been such an incredible conversation. And yes, you’re right. We probably could have been chatting for another five hours. But in the interest of time, I want to thank you for coming on the show, for sharing your experience and expertise and those incredible anecdotes with the listeners. So please. Quick introduction to yourself and how folks are thinking in touch with you?

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I appreciate that. So firstly, for those people that want to get in touch. I mean, go and check  https://matthewpollard.com/growth. That templates what’s going to help you most. But I’m known as the Rapid Growth Guy. As I mentioned, I’ve the author of the best selling book series, the introverts edge, which is now sold, I’m delighted to say over 120,000 copies. It’s in 16 languages, and I it just, it’s predominantly focused, and my publisher is going to hate me when I say this, but you don’t need to buy the books if, for instance, if you’re interested in sales, just go to the introvertsedge.com. Download the first chapter, and there I’ll give you overwhelming evidence to help you believe that introverts make not just great sales people, but I believe, beat the extroverts hands down. And then it will give you a methodical process that if you just grab the chapter head, like the chapter headings I talk about in the introduction, and put what you currently say into it, you’ll quickly realize that there’s a bunch of things that don’t fit. Stop saying that to customers. Then you’ll realize there’s some things out of order, and then there’s some gaping holes. If you fix that, you’ll double your sales, no problem in the next 60 days. And the introverts edge to networking. You can download the first chapter there as well for my networking book. But, you know, I spend my life, you know, helping introverted, service based business owners rapidly grow. And then I also do a whole bunch of sales kick off events. And I, you know, I saw, I spend a lot of time speaking at big corporations, helping them use storytelling. Because the truth is, I believe, especially if you’re doing technical sales, which a lot of introverted service providers are selling in a technical way as well, honestly, you’re one story away from the rapid growth business or career that you deserve. The problem is, most people think their job is to educate a customer. Think about the Wendy story that I told you earlier, if you instead, just motivate, inspire action. My story educates and inspires, but it also kind of embeds me as the only logical choice to do something with right now, my goal is to help, because I personally couldn’t help everybody anyway, is to inspire lots of people to try and do it on their own, and do it on their own. But of course, there’s always people that are going to want you to do to want you to do it for them, or if you sell a product or service to go, Okay, I now know I need this type of product or service, why wouldn’t I use the person that changed my thinking to do it with, you know, to do it for me? And so storytelling is a really powerful resource, and I feature, I go deeper into the storytelling topic in both of my books.

Okay, fantastic, fantastic. And we’ll be sure to put those links in the show notes for this episode. So Matthew, once again, thank you so much for your time. Take care, stay safe and talk to you soon.

My pleasure mate, thank you so much, and it was I was excited to be here.

Thanks bye for now.