#004 Crafting Talk Triggers with Jay Baer

KAMCast - Key Account Management Strategies for Business Leaders

IN THIS EPISODE:

How many of your Key Account contacts have a story to tell about their (customer) experience of you?

I am not talking about a prompted testimonial packed with marketing quotes, engineered to pitch your products and services to a new audience.

I am also not meaning a review of the features and benefits they enjoy from using your solution or engaging in your service.

I am rather referring to the kind of story that arises only from a truly REMARKABLE customer experience.

One that… ensures that you stand out from your competition, and differentiates you from the overwhelming noise in your crowded market

And, more importantly, one that your contacts are delighted to spontaneously tell their network of peers, colleagues and friends...ultimately giving you the very best form of advertising (FOR FREE) - enabling you to win more business and influence wider stakeholders.

My guest on this episode is a Hall of Fame Keynote speaker and the author of SIX best-selling books which all point to the importance of the customer experience. If you haven’t heard Jay Baer speak yet, you are in for a treat.

We deep dive into his Talk Triggers concept. He shares his proven method of implementing a system (“Talk Triggers”) to help you to engineer your ability to provide your customers with the kind experiences that create spontaneous conversations and ultimately make your customers your volunteer marketers.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE:

Firstly, just know that we had quite a conversation on this topic, so this episode is only the first part to our really animated chat. In this part, I talk to Jay about:

• what a Talk Trigger is;
• what are the defining criteria that separate a Talk Trigger from accidental, and often average, customer service moment; and lastly
• why having a Word Of Mouth (WOM) strategy is so important (for B2B and not just B2C businesses).

It’s clear to me after this conversation with Jay that the real opportunity here is to look at this as an operational choice to engineer and orchestrate intentional experiences that are different to create conversations.

The kind of conversations that will support you in influencing wider stakeholders and winning new business.

Consider this: If 91% of B2B purchase decisions are influenced by word of mouth in some way, is your business in the 99% of businesses that DOES NOT currently have a word-of-mouth strategy? Wow. Pause on that for a second.

After you listen to this episode, I’d invite you take 10minutes to reflect on your own business (maybe invite your team to do the same) before you dive into the second part of this conversation (goes live on 4 Feb 2021).

Ask yourself: Do you have a WOM strategy?

If so, what is it? Is it documented and shared as an actual process in your business?

What does your business do for customers within the experience that isn’t just GOOD – it’s DIFFERENT (and would instantly delight and spur spontaneous story sharing?)

What stories do your customers tell about you, your team and your brand?

What ideas are you having, and where you can see the opportunity for creating an intentional Talk Trigger that is:

Remarkable,

Reasonable,

Relevant, and

Repeatable

Those are the four criteria for a Talk Trigger – listen to the episode to get the real insight direct from Jay. (It is also handled in-depth in Section 2 in his Talk Triggers book – a must read!)

SPOTLIGHT ON 'TALK TRIGGERS', THE BOOK:

Jay has created a lot of resources to help you on this journey – so be sure to buy the Book and take advantage of his and his co-author Daniel Lewin’s excellent insight into creating these remarkable moments.

The Book contains: ​

• Proprietary research into why and how customers talk
• 30+ detailed case studies of extraordinary results from big hitters like Doubletree Hotels by Hilton, The Cheesecake Factory, Penn & Teller and also dozens of delightful small and medium-sized businesses
• The 4-5-6 learning system for creating and activating talk triggers in your business

It is available on Amazon.

If you get stuck and need help in really looking at the touch points in your customer journey in order to identify the opportunity for a Talk Trigger – we do this customer touch point work during our KAM Excel Programme, so do reach out and ask me more about this.

FIND OUT ABOUT MY GUEST: JAY BAER

Jay Baer, CSP, CPAE has spent 27 years in digital marketing and customer experience, consulting for more than 700 companies during that period, including 36 of the FORTUNE 500. His current firm – Convince & Convert – provides content marketing, social media, and customer experience advice and counsel to some of the world’s most important brands.

Jay is best described as one of the world’s most inspirational marketing, customer experience, and customer service keynote speakers. He is a Hall of Fame speaker and emcee, a New York Times best-selling author of six books and an Internet pioneer. As a 7th-generation entrepreneur, he has founded five, multi-million-dollar companies and today runs his digital strategy consulting and media firm, Convince and Convert. Jay has two College-age children and lives in the idyllic college town of Bloomington, Indiana with his wife and travels from Indianapolis to speaking opportunities world-wide.

You can find out more about him on his speaking website, connect with him on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter. You can find out about his Talk Triggers Podcast, as well as his digital strategic consultancy, Convince and Convert.