Centricity Introduction 0:04

Welcome to the Best Kept Secret videocast and podcast from Centricity. If you're a B2B service professional, use our five step process to go from the grind of chasing every sale. to keeping your pipeline full with prospects knocking on your door to buy from you. We give you the freedom of time and a life outside of your business. Each episode features an executive from a B2B services company sharing their provocative perspective on an opportunity that many of their clients are missing out on. It's how we teach our clients to get executive decision makers to buy without being salesy or spammy. Here's our host, the co founder and CEO of Centricity, Jay Kingley.

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Jay Kingley 0:43

Jay Kingley co founder and CEO of Centricity. Welcome to another episode of our Best Kept Secret show where I am happy to welcome Lisa Perry of Perry Consulting. Perry Consulting helps startups and entrepreneurs build leadership brands that consumers love. She's based in Westlake Village, California, in Los Altos, Los Angeles County, the moment you apologize to my listeners right out of the gate, I'm dealing with a bit of a sore throat, maybe on the verge of losing my voice, I'm going to sound a little bit funny today. But hang with me, because I am here for you. Now, Lisa, I've worked with lots of small businesses, lots of entrepreneurs in my career, and when it comes to marketing, what I see time and time again, is a bunch of tactics. So they need leads, they will look at all the lead generation programs that are out there. They'll do what the experts tell them to do. But it's all in this execution tiny little box. And whether it's LinkedIn outreach, or Facebook ads, or Instagram post or let's do some Tik Tok video, hope it goes viral, let's do the old EDDM postcards through the post office or Billboards, radio TV doesn't matter. It's tactic after tactic after tactic, and is so rare that any of these tactics in isolation, disconnected from each other, that they work. And what I see is the business owner saying spending all this money, I'm doing everything that the quote unquote experts are telling me to do, and yet I get no results. And that is creating hardship in their businesses only. So you're an expert in this space. In in branding, so tell me, what is it that these companies, what are they what are they thinking about incorrectly? What is it that they're they need to change their point of view on?

Lisa Perry 2:46

Well, I see with small startups and small companies, they've gotten a great deal of success. And they've moved along in the business. Now all of a sudden, their business is stalling or they're seeing declines. And unfortunately, they haven't done the branding up front, they've just gone right into the marketing tactics and strategy and tactics. And unfortunately, a lot of companies don't have a personal relationship with their, their customers, they haven't built that they haven't defined their uniqueness of their brand, they'll say that they you know, for example, quality, you know, they're they define themselves as quality, but so has many other companies out there. Or they'll define their uniqueness based on their features. And that's not a value, that's not uniqueness that's not defining them as differently. You know, one of the things I encourage a lot of companies out there to think about is what makes a customer want to choose you over your competitors. You know, and that's that's what companies need to start thinking about in order to look at how they need to be hyper focused, to go after a target audience. And that's some of the challenges that start breaking down where customers or companies start losing customers and losing profits and losing conversions when they don't look at the branding side of it first.

Jay Kingley 4:29

So Lisa, what I'm hearing you say is that you have to start with an integrated plan that defines what you're going to focus on. When issues and I like to call them pain points are going to resolve how you resolve them. What makes you unique and different and better from your competitors. What it is that you stand for? How is it that you understand that if you will, the emotional side of all of this before you start leaping into tactic after tactic after tactic like that, right?

Lisa Perry 5:07

Yeah, definitely, I think one of the things that I've learned about from my years of working with brands is telling their stories of is in order for them to be successful. And in order to, to thrive and survive, is they've got to have a strong branding strategy. And that includes a market segmentation, target audience, a unique selling proposition and a value proposition. Those have to be in place for companies to thrive and strive. Right. And, and that's the key element, I mean, that there's a lot that goes into a branding strategy. But those are really the four key elements that have to be in place.

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Jay Kingley 5:51

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Lisa, let me ask a very basic and simple question. But from your perspective, what is a brand?

Lisa Perry 5:59

Well, a brand is perception of what consumers think it's the value that they place on it. And it can be, you know, a premium price that people place on it, it can, you know, investors can place a value on that. So you could be leaving money on the table. From the pricing point of view, if you don't have a clear vision or purpose, or understand your target or your audience, investors won't invest in you, it can provide increased spending. If you don't have a clear focus on your brand, you could be spending spraying and spending your money without an increased focus on your target audience. You could have lackluster spell spending, sales, because you don't know who your brand is. So understanding your audience, understanding your product, and the value that it places on your consumer sets your brand,

Jay Kingley 7:02

You know spray and pray is probably one of the least effective marketing tactics. But it is used by so many hits, it's always struck me as thoroughly crazy. So let's move on. So you've I think, articulated with the problem and challenges quite clearly. So how should these small business owners be thinking about this issue?

Lisa Perry 7:27

The four key areas that they need to focus in on are the market segmentation, what is their segment that they're going after? The target audience, everyone is not their target audience, they need to be hyper focused in today's market. And that's really hard for a lot of companies in today's day and age, because I get it, you know, trying to go after everybody is, is it's ideal, but people want to do that. But again, as you mentioned, it's very inefficient, right, as we talked about was bending, and the unique selling proposition, you're really understanding what brings your uniqueness to the table, as I mentioned, quality, I bring quality the table, so does everybody else, you really got to hone in to that uniqueness that you bring to the table that can't be duplicated. Because once you you identify that that's the sweet spot, that's a competitive edge, that that you're gonna own right. And then the unique value proposition that you have, that you can really hone in on that can make you stand head and shoulders above the competition out there.

Jay Kingley 8:54

One of my favorite sayings, that really illustrates the power of focus is on you are all things to all people, you are nothing to nobody. So focus really is a almost a zero type of activity, because it is so foundational. As we all know, if you have a poor foundation, any structure that you attempt to build on top of it is just going to collapse. So I'm 100% with you on that. So you've I think, given us a pretty clear way that we need to be changing our thinking leads me to want to ask the question about, you know, how is this going to benefit? And let's first talk about that decision maker, that business owner. So if they do what you're suggesting, what's in it for them?

Lisa Perry 9:46

Well, first, it's just customer recognition, right? When you implement this, this branding strategy, whether it needs to be developed, or you need to go back and refine it because it's important Once you develop and a year later or a couple years later, you do need to go back and refine, right. But one of the key benefits is, is customer recognition. Because it's critical to make sure customers don't have time, they don't have time to go in and get to know your brand. And it usually takes five to seven impressions for people to remember your brand. And that's a lot. So if they're going to go in, they're far more likely to choose your brand, even if they don't know about your brand, or they don't know about your company, they're going to choose your brand, if they recognize your brand. So that's one. The second thing is, is customer loyalty. And brand loyalty is just a natural effect of continuous positive remembrance, and a strong brand recognition. And this is interesting, right? Brand loyalty last a lifetime. And it's generational. So I worked at Pepperdine University. And generational loyalty was huge. And think about this, right? You, your parents went to Harvard, Stanford, USC, whatever you want, you want to go or you want your kids to go. It's a generational loyalty. And it makes sense. And you want to leverage that. It's amazing 90%, almost 90% of consumers have a strong brand loyalty. You want to leverage that as much as you can out there. The third thing is competitive advantage, right? Once you define your unique skillset, and you want to leverage that, and when it's done, right, it can't be duplicated. And I think I mentioned that, right. And that's where you get your competitive advantage. And the fourth thing is connecting with consumers emotionally. So think about the brands that you love out there. For me, it's Diet Coke, I drink water all the time. And I love my my weakness of Diet Coke. I know it's not right. I know, it's bad for me. But I love the bubbles. I love the taste. I love my moment of just indulging that Diet Coke, right. And that's what, what brands need. They need that emotional meaning for people. That's the strong brand love respects it respected that brands need to connect with, right. And this is what's crazy 90% of consumers don't feel an emotional connection with brands. So talk about an opportunity, right. And consumers who have an emotional connection with with brands are three times higher, they have a three times higher LTV. So there's a huge opportunity for for companies to think, Hey, I got to do the work up front, for the branding so that I can get the payoff and turn around my sales turn around my profits turn around my my consumer engagement. So I can execute everything on the back end.

Jay Kingley 13:32

And we see the expression LTV, want to spell that one out?

Lisa Perry 13:36

Sorry, lifetime value.

Jay Kingley 13:40

Lifetime value of a client. Right, three times higher, if I recall, so very, very compelling. So Lisa, that brings me into our next question, last question of this section. So I think you've made a compelling argument for the importance of brand strategy before you get too caught up in doing all the tactics that are available to you. So if I wanted to implement what it is that you're telling me that all small businesses and entrepreneurs should be doing, what would be the key things that I would have to focus on to get done?

Lisa Perry 14:19

And clearly it's it's taking a step back? And understanding what what do I what am I done on the branding side? What does that look like? What have I done? And do I need to develop a branding strategy first of all, or do I need to refine that branding strategy? And where are my gaps in that branding strategy? i There's a lot of lot to be done in branding strategy. But again, I want to reiterate the four things that you really at least should do at a minimum, which is your market segmentation, your target audience, your unique selling proposition your value proposition that at a minimum you should do, there's a lot more definitely, that needs to be done. But, but the goal really is to increase your market value, to attract the right customers to drive brand loyalty and have a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Jay Kingley 15:18

A lot to think about. You've laid out a roadmap by which we can achieve this. So I'm sure everyone's wheels are cogitating, I will let those continue to turn over as we take a short break. And we'll come right back to learn more about Lisa.

Centricity Introduction 15:39

Wondering how much longer you have to grind and chase after every lead conversation and client, would you like clients to knock on your door so you no longer have to pitch follow up and spam decision makers. Well Centricity's The Tipping Point program uses a proven five step process that will help you get in front of the decision makers you need by spending less time on doing all of the things you hate. It's not cold, calling cold email, cold outreach on LinkedIn or any other social media platform, or spending money on ads. But it has a 35 times higher ROI than any of those things, leveraging your expertise and insights that your prospects and network value. The best part even though you'll see results in 90 days, you get to work with the Centricity team for an entire year to make sure you have all the pieces in place and working. So you can start having freedom of time and a life outside of your business. So email time@Centricityb2b.com to schedule an 18 minute call to learn more.

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Jay Kingley 16:38

Welcome back, everyone. Let's take this opportunity to find out a bit more about Lisa, what is it that you do for your target market? What pain points do you solve for them? And why do I need you to get rid of that pain?

Lisa Perry 16:53

Well, I help companies who are struggling with not knowing who they are, what they do, why they exist, or even as simple as who their target audiences and how they connect with them. And I come in and help them with their branding. And when they are seeing signs of decline in their business, which could be losing customers, their competitors are killing them in the marketplace, their profits are declining. They're seeing high churn rate. And my goal is to come in and help them turn that around with a with a branding strategy.

Jay Kingley 17:32

So that leads me to my next question for you, which is when people choose a company to work with, they're not really so focused on what it is that you do, because so many of your competitors answer that question the same way. So to the buyer, it all seems very much the same. But what all of us want to do when we're on the buy side, is we want to work with the best that our budget allows us to work with. So I like to understand, Lisa, what is it about you that makes you great at what you do?

Lisa Perry 18:10

Well, I've worked with Fortune 100 companies, to startups. And that kind of itself doesn't make me unique. But I've worked across a variety of different industries. So I've worked in highly regulated industries, technology, consumer packaged goods, emergent growth, entertainment, I can go on and on. But what that does is that provides me with a unique skill set to be able to quickly come in and understand a company's business model, and then be able to connect the dots to consumers behaviors, wants and needs in order to be able to drive, brand loyalty and bottom line profitability. That's the skill set there that makes me unique because of the variety and depth and breadth that I bring to the table

Jay Kingley 19:02

Perfectly. I encourage everybody to go to LinkedIn and connect to Lisa, and you'll get a chance to see her career to date. And it's been a good one. That's not really a spoiler alert there. But I think you'll be impressed. But at least so what I want to understand is more about the why. So can you share with us? What has happened whether it's in your personal life, in your professional life that would explain why you set up your own branding strategy consulting firm.

Lisa Perry 19:36

Well, I think I started out my career in kind of working for top consumer packaged goods companies just so I could get my training wheels, right and the classically trained branding, that's my career foundation. And once I got that I kind of pivoted my career into leveraging that experience to help seeing companies build their leadership brands, but then also expanding my knowledge and of new industries and new ways to engage and connect with consumers, as their wants and needs are continually changing in this ever changing marketplace. And so my goal now is really to help companies deal with this unpredictability that we're continually faced with and the market and the consumers and helping them develop, monetize and grow their business.

Jay Kingley 20:34

We say you've given I think everybody's listening, a lot to think about, and really articulating the importance of coming up with this integrated brand strategy. before we just jump and dive off the deep end into all the tactics that everybody likes to tout. Now, a number of our listeners are going to want to reach out to you to continue the conversation. What is the best way for people to get in touch with you?

Lisa Perry 21:02

I'm on LinkedIn, Lisa Perry marketing. I'm also have a website. And I have some great resources that I could provide to your listeners that are kind of how to in terms of marketing that they can utilize as well.

Jay Kingley 21:19

That is fantastic. I will put your contact information in the show notes and encourage everybody to take Lisa up on our offer, send her an email or connect with her through LinkedIn. Tell her you heard her on the Best Kept Secret show and asked for those resources. I am sure you will find them of great value. Lisa, I want to thank you for being a guest on our show today and to our listeners. Let's keep at it and crush it out there. Until next time.