Ep. 31 - Designing for Sales with James Lanyon

Hi there folks!

Creatives Meet Business is an event and podcast series based out of Austin, Texas for artists and creatives to learn the ropes of entrepreneurship.

This episode features James Lanyon, Vice President of Strategy and Innovation at T3, who joined us in June during our roundtable event on Branding. As you'll soon find out, he is a fount of knowledge on all things sales AND designing products for your audience. Because there's so much magic in this episode - let's hop in and hear what James has to say!

• 0:00 to 3:46 - Ashland Opening Remarks and Intro of James Lanyon
• 3:51 to 6:53 - Introduction of Self and Topic (Designing for Sales)
  • Despite all the case studies and business books you read, the truth in product and service creation that generates more demand is really more fundamental and gets down to two key realities.
  • Personal story about graduate program
  • Background in sales over 18 years
    • Opportunity to control your own destiny from sales
• 6:54 to 7:48 - Where You Need to Focus
  1. Pitch
  2. Product - does the product speak for itself and have value
     • Tendency is to err more toward one than the other
     • Spend too much time noodling what you'll put out there
• 7:49 to 8:53 - CustomerCentric Selling
  • CustomerCentric Selling 
    • Sales isn't a sin
    • Most really great salespeople are more like therapists and consultants
      • Innate ability to get people to lower their guard and talk about real issues
• 8:54 to 9:32 - Three (3) Need States Someone Will Transact With You For
  • Ultimately a person or company is going to give you money for one of three reasons:
    1. I need to achieve a goal, get from Point A to Point B
    2. Solve a problem, got stuck somewhere along the way
    3. Satisfy a need, I have a feeling Point B is out there, but I don't know how to get there
• 9:33 to 12:37 - Don't Stop at the Sale, Create the Product
  • Sales and product creation are co-conspirators
  • Create a feedback loop with the honest conversations you have with clients and customers to create opportunities for business
  • You wear all of the hats as a business owner, but the two that should be worn at the same time are sales person and product creator
  • Don't just use it to hone your pitch, use it to hone and create your product
• 12:38 to 14:07 - Pain Scale
  • Pain scale like you'd see at the doctor's office with a series of faces from 1 to 10 to showcase pain
  • Solution in search of a problem - when something is created that isn't a pain point for people
  • Most issues on the far right side of the scale (where they're hurting) aren't being addressed and that's what people need and will pay for
• 14:08 to 15:00 - Test and Learn Processes
  • Instead of responding immediately to a good idea and shifting your business model and overhauling your website, send a test email to say 25 of the 500 people in your database with the new idea you have.
    • Keep repeating until you get 25 "no, I have no interest in this" and then check it off and move on.
• 15:01 to 17:16 - Lean Business Model Canvas
  • Most start-ups are forced to do the exercise (if they get any funding)
  • Several options for the Lean Business Model Canvas: Link to Lean Business Model Canvas on Canvanizer , Link to LEANSTACK site, or do a google image search
  • Important for any business owner or entrepreneur to complete, not just start-ups seeking funding
  • The problem doesn't have to be profound, but it has to be problematic in some sense for it to be a solution 
  • You can write it over and over again, that's how businesses change over time
  • One of the greatest assets you can have is to create a metaphor: I'm the this of that
• 17:20 to 19:07 - Ashland Closing Remarks
  • Stay in touch, email us ([email protected]) or connect with us on social (@createmeetbiz on Instagram and Twitter // Creatives Meet Business on Facebook)
  • Big thanks to Jamal Knox (audio engineer) and Chris James (composer)!

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Get ready for one more on Branding then we move to Fundraising, stay tuned!

Thanks!

Ashland, Creatives Meet Business