MAGNETIC - Operation Takeover Nashville - a concept documented in real time
Welcome to the 43rd edition of my weekly newsletter, "The Other Side of Failure."
A quick thank you to two partners who make this newsletter happen.
The Maker Group is the negotiation partner for revenue, enablement and procurement professionals all around the globe. MAGNETIC (CONTENT-LED SALES) is 100% trained on negotiation and utilizes the Maker Connect platform to ensure all deals are good for us and the customer, while remaining profitable.
Sharpen your team's skills while having a Unified Framework, or as I call it, a playbook for negotiations.
Apollo.io is the Sales Engagement platform of choice for MAGNETIC and our clients. I have every SEP on the market and bar none, Apollo is a distant #1. ? Start for free today with this special offer from MAGNETIC.
I used to make a lot of marketing jokes.
I mean, I still do (ask my co-founder)...but I used to, too.
(RIP Mitch Hedberg for that gem)
But that’s just my bias. Despite my constant, constant jokes I’m not against marketing by any means.
I’ve got a sales background with a healthy respect for marketing. Bryan’s got a marketing background with a healthy respect for Sales.
That’s why we make such a powerful combination. But this isn’t about us.
The fact remains: many organizations and brands today are putting out plenty of information (read: noise) that is so far away from focusing on real, actual results (read: Revenue), that it makes me question why they even bother.
This issue, the 43rd weekly issue of From the Other Side of Failure, is about what “content” really means today.
It’s not:
When MAGNETIC was just getting off the ground, I had the same problems a lot of Founders and CEOs have:
How do I describe this trend and need I’ve identified in the market clearly, concisely, and in such a way that our potential customers say, with zero hesitation, “that’s exactly the people we need to help us”.
It’s not easy. It’s very not easy.
It’s so not easy that very few organizations are able to get this right and they’re the ones you can name off hand.
If it were easy everyone’s messaging would be super clear and you’d never guess at what they do.
And in that world we’d all eat cake and ice cream for breakfast and never get kidney stones.
But that’s not our world.
Think back for a minute: how many business websites you’ve gone to, taken a look at their homepage, their about us page and been like “cool…so what do they do?”.
To paraphrase Devin Reed of Clari, if your messaging sucks and you don’t have great content, you’re just a widget maker.
Nobody wants to be in that picture
That’s where I landed on Content-led Selling. But that’s still not all the way there because of one simple reason.
The market still questions the value of content
I’ve seen the value of content done properly. I’ve done it myself.
With my last organization, I drove $5 million + in revenue just by posting once a day.
That's it.
Content does more than capture “demand” or “awareness”.
Content drives revenue.
Content drives action.
Content keeps you top of mind so that when your buyers are in the market, you’re who they think of.
But explaining this in a clear way has taken work. A lot of trial and error.
We’ve heard a lot of:
One of the most important things that Bryan Grover and I have been working on is explaining that content isn’t just something pretty on the website.
It’s a way to drive revenue.
Caveat: Not just any content will do
Meet Skeptical Hippo. They are a well known meme about being, well, skeptical.
More importantly, Skeptical Hippo is exactly the look we get during a lot of our discovery calls.
“How exactly does this drive revenue?”
“How do you track it?”
“Why is this different than any other content we put out?”
And we get it. So many organizations have been burned by Check-box content in the past.
The sort of content that isn’t asking:
“Does this drive revenue?”
But rather asks:
“Did it appear on our website?”
Content that drives revenue is different in a few key ways:
It isn’t happy staying behind a zoom screen—it steps out into the real world
It isn’t just
It isn’t simply looking to get impressions. We’re looking for revenue.
Obviously this is all still really theoretical so let’s tell a real story with a real client and you can see what we mean.
How we do this for MAGNETIC clients: A Story
Welcome to Nashville.
One of our clients works in the HR/Payroll software space and is from this beautiful, beautiful city.
Unfortunately, our client’s business is one that’s highly commoditized. It’s heavily vended. It’s got tons of competition with brand recognition.
Few people are going to get really excited about the prospect of switching software. If they are, well they’re people that we might look at like Skeptical Hippo before we’re sure…
But this was the problem we were faced with.
When they signed on with Magnetic 4, we rolled out our outbound motion to drive conversations with their ICP.
The conversations that happened were mostly what you’d expect.
“Take me off your list.”
领英推荐
“We're set."
Then we even tried to offer 4-months of free payroll service.
Nada.
6-months?
Still, nothing.
We’d done all the things right according to predictable revenue. Tested this, tested that, tested some other thing, tested whether or not that worked and then tested it again.
We’ve tried being clever but without that extra layer of content, we were getting nowhere.
That’s when we decided to go to Nashville to meet our client in person (and our famed intern Conrad Zolman )
Our goal: create Magnetic??Moments with 10 different restaurants within a single day.
Our ideal scenario: interview an owner of a restaurant with 2+ locations about their business, edit the video and offer it to them as marketing material for their franchise to open a conversation with our client. Think of it as ABM with on-location filming and content to share in our messaging.
We had our goal, we knew the plan. Just was time to get after it and make sure our stomachs were empty enough
Take 2D to 3D and be resilient
What you see above isn’t Bryan being a Karen at a taco place in Nashville, I swear.
This was our first stop.
No, my cofounder was asking whether it was okay if we interviewed the managers/owner about the restaurant.
The managers answer was no. He was nice about it, but it was a definitive no.
It wasn’t because he didn’t want to. The company has strict instructions around filming and talking to staff in a commercial manner.
We didn’t let this first attempt stymie our enthusiasm. Instead we pivoted. After Bryan and I split a delicious Kobe beef taco and Conrad had a bad run-in with some mustard (he doesn’t like mustard. There was mustard), we came up with our backup plan.
Instead, we filmed a review outside on location and will use that in our outreach to this particular organization.
Anyone can send a cold email. Who else is showing up, filming on location, and offering marketing material they can use for free in order to start the conversation?
It’s content that provides value. It’s content that gives first without asking for anything.
The day unfolded in a similar way with lots of footage of us eating food at locations we’d like to get our client introduced to.
Finally, at the end of the day, our stomachs full, we made one last stop out in the suburbs.
The whole plan came together. We got an exceptional interview with the owner of an incredible spot in the suburbs of Nashville: Lola.
Dessert from Lola may have been the tastiest thing we ate the entire day and that’s with some stiff competition.
Below you’ll find a “cultured butter panna cotta with a cherry lime granita” or as Bryan aptly called it “Wicked !@(&Y^ing good”.
Okay so what did this look like cost-wise?
All told it was about $3000 in travel and food expenses. It was 36 person hours between the group of us to make this happen.
What we now have is a 10 account ABM play to get in with some local businesses for John. Each email that we send to these 10 organizations (who are precisely within his ICP) will come with a completely personalized email including footage taken on location.
Is this scalable? Not in its current state…but we’ve thought about ways of making that happen.
According to market rates, other things that $3000 will get you:
Instead we generated:
Which would you choose?
THE BOYS HIT THE STREETS OF NASHVILLE
There is no better feeling in business than turning relationships from 2D into 3D as well.
We’d talked with John Hageman so many times over the last 4 months, but it’s simply not the same.
Don’t get me wrong: MAGNETIC (CONTENT-LED SALES) is and will always be a distributed organization.
That’s partly because I’d probably have to have Bryan kidnapped out of the Boston area to get him to the midwest.
But what made this trip particularly special was taking the time to actually see a client in person.
We had a wonderful time having lunch together. We talked business, sure, but we also ate incredible Tennessee BBQ, talked about TV shows, and whatever else came to mind.
These moments simply can’t be replicated behind a screen.
Thank you John for taking the time to host us.
Oh, and Conrad, we’re so sorry to have demoted you so many times during the trip.
You’ve now been reinstated to your original position as Intern and thank you for everything you do.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT - WORK WITH ME 1:1 FOR 2024
6 spots left!
This is not about whether it works or not.
This is about whether or not you are willing to let go of what is not working and have a mindset that is ironclad.
This is why we are calling this exclusive community of strategy and execution for founders, "Founder Led."
For Founders today, and for the founders of tomorrow.
Here’s what that looks like:
- Complete CRM setup/optimization with our RevOps resources
- Fully managed outbound email with domain management
- 2 x ghostwritten posts per week for your LinkedIn channel
- 3 x micro videos for you to post
- 2 1-hour long strategy sessions with me and my team
This would usually run our clients $10-15k+ monthly program, we’ll be doing all of the above for a fraction of what we’d normally charge in exchange for a small commission on sales.
Apply below and we’ll follow up with you within 72 hours.
Animation Powerhouse To Level Up Your Storytelling | Collaborative Marketing Solutions for Animation Studios
1 年What an inspiring journey, truly turning content into a revenue-driving force!
Great post, Steve!
Building powerful personal brands for CEOs & Founders using AI + content systems → Attracting high-ticket clients by creating impactful content | Certified Storybrand guide
1 年Thanks for sharing your experience, Steve!