How can any company — large or small — own their competitive market, accuse more, and, at the same time, build a customer base that absolutely adores it?
This week on The Inbound Success Podcast, Theresa Lina, best-selling author of the book Be the Go-To: How to Own Your Competitive Market, Charge More, and Have Client Love You For It, talked about the Apollo method — the system that she says is the secret to standing out as a brand.
Theresa’s method is simple and actionable, and something that any company were applicable, and in this episode, she breaks down the details and talks about why so many companies get it wrong.
Resources from this incident 😛 TAGEND
Connect with Theresa on LinkedIn
Visit the Apollo Method website
Check out some of the other reserves Theresa mentioned:
Salesforce’s Trailblazers community
Theresa and Kathleen recording this episode
Transcript
Kathleen( 00:15 ): Welcome back to the Inbound Success Podcast. I’m your host, Kathleen Booth. And this week, my client is Theresa Lina, who is the author of the number one Amazon bestseller “Be the Go-To: How to Own Your Competitive Market, Charge More and Have Client Love You For It.” Welcome to the podcast Theresa.
Theresa( 00:35 ): Thank you, Kathleen. I’m so happy to be here.
Kathleen( 00:37 ): Yeah, I’m actually interested to speak with you. First of all, I adoration special topics of the book. I represent, who does not want to be the GoTo and also have their purchasers cherish them and be able to charge more and all the things that you mentioned in the title?
But too you have a really interesting background and desegregate of things that you do. You’re not only a journal writer, you’re a consultant. You are a teacher. You’re involved in Stanford university and informing parties about marketing. I wonder if maybe you could take a minute and talk a little bit about your background, how you got to where you are today and all of the different things that you’re involved in today.
Theresa( 01:13 ): Okay. Yes. So yeah, my, my primary emphasis throughout my vocation has been policy and commerce in the tech and mostly in the technology space and chiefly B2B. So I’ve studied market and new technologies at university. And then I got a job with Accenture coming out of college and spent many years with them and was in both the client on the client side. And then later cured start the industry marketing program there.
And I had a world industry commerce capacity for one of the business contingents that I cured start with the partner in charge at the time. And we germinated that to be over $ 850 million in a very short period of time with all organic growing, which was really incredible. It was an incredible razz. And now that business unit is a multibillion dollar business unit.
Theresa( 02:14 ): It’s big inside the company. And then I went off on my own. I, part of me, I had, I sort of wore two hats. I had one company that was an educational entertainment company for children, which was a personal project. And then I started a strategy and sell consulting conglomerate and worked with Accenture and other patrons with that.
And then over occasion, there is indeed numerous experiences when I went back inside to become chief marketing officer and director programme detective for a couple of different corporations, which continued me ground because as a consultant, it’s so easy to think you have all the answers and,
Oh, everything’s straight forward, just do this and you’ll replaced. And of course we all know, any of us who’ve spent term on the inside, life is very different when you’re, you are well aware, sidestepping the missiles every day inside a company.
Theresa( 03:08 ): And one of those periods was during the dot com rise and fall. And so I lived through all of the dot com bust and the 9-11 and all of that. And then another period was through the great recession.
o you know, I unquestionably know what it’s like to go through these hard times as somebody on the inside. And then I likewise have been involved at Stanford for a little over 15 years now in many faculties, both in encourage with their own outreach to their alumni and their communities and stakeholders.
And then likewise I help I’m on the teaching team for some courses and one of their director ed programs at the business school. So I wear quite a few hats and then I have, I still have my consulting firm.
Kathleen( 03:59 ): Now let’s talk a little bit about the book. Be the go-to. What does that planned?
Theresa( 04:03 ): Yeah, so, you are well aware, one of the, the, the great problem that I was running into with my own business and that I was running into with business that I was working for and with clients is that customers or clients started putting pricing distres on us because they weren’t identifying what realise us unique and different from anybody else they are unable to work with.
And it was really frustrating because this was happening like say in my occasion with purchasers that I had had for a very long time who knew me, who knew our design, they, they had they knew we were a fairly different and the method we could perform and that we fetched a lot of value.
And more they still would say, yeah, yeah, but, you are well aware, we could go over here and get the same work for less money.
Theresa( 04:51 ): And it was really frustrating. And meanwhile, I knew that there were fellowships out there, Accenture, the one I, the organization I have have helped start within Accenture. We were a high margin business getting paid are you all right for what we were doing.
And I was on the phone with one of my subcontractors one day who told me about a friend of hers who was billing $50,000 a date for what she was doing. And she had less know-how than we did. And we, you are well aware, it was, it was incredible. And so I really became fascinated by this. What is it that spawns some corporations able to charge so much more than everybody else?
And they can command these premium premiums. They hardly ever have to compete for work. They are there the first name that comes to mind when individual has a particular issue or problem.
Theresa( 05:41 ): And so I really wanted to understand what the recipe was. And a great deal of the conventional rebuttals weren’t in themselves fairly having the best product , not enough having great PR or great market visibility , not enough you know, the, the directory precisely get. So I did a, I did a lot of research and interviewed a lot of clients and executives and other people out there in the marketplace.
And I came up with what seems to be me to be the recipe for my own business. And then as I wrote it down on a plane, on to Chicago, one day, literally I was scribbling it down and I recognise, Oh my God, all of my patients need this. This is, this is it. “Its what you” do. And that became what I intent up dubbing as the Apollo method for market dominance.
Because later I came to realize that the latitudes between what the Apollo space program had done to framed a lover on the moon actually were very striking compared to what a company needed to do to achieve sustainable differentiation and grocery leadership in, you are well aware, a uttered market.
Theresa( 06:54 ): So that was the genesis of all of this. And the essence of what the book is about. I basically wrote down the methods used. I’ve said, I want this to be something anybody can go off and do. It’s unusually step by step and actionable so that you don’t need me to do it.
And it’s not a big pitch piece to get to the upsell. It’s you can go off, predicted the book, and if you do what it says, you are eligible to, you can have a, make a miraculous gap in your profit margins and your longterm sustainability in a, even in a very competitive space.
Kathleen( 07:33 ): I’m sure everybody who’s listening is thinking the same thing I am, which is, tell me more about this Apollo framework. What exactly does it imply?
Theresa( 07:45 ): On the surface it’s so simple, and it nearly voices slandering because it’s, it’s very straight. It’s very simple, but of course, when you dive into the details, it gets a little richer with some of the subtlety of what you need to do. But a great deal of it is bringing together parts that a lot of firms do go out and do.
There are some things that I, I see missing, which is why I did feel compelled to write the book, because I merely was not reading it discussed out in the market. So there are four phases or four slice, and I present them in a chronological order in the book, but you can do bits and pieces.
You can pluck from different parts depending on where you are with your business. So the four stagecoaches at the high level are launch, ignite, navigate, and accelerate. So propel is where you decide what it is you’re going to be known for.
Theresa( 08:35 ): You decide not just what product or offering are we going to put out into the market, but what, what do we are ready to own? What trouble do we are ready to make full possession for in the market where we are really the, the expect leads around that problem.
And we are the ones boosting progress in that area for world markets. We have a vision for what the market needs to do and what will solve this problem. And we find ourselves in it for the long haul to to guide the market along. So that’s, so during that chapter, you decide what marketplaces, what grocery or sells you’re going to focus on, what you want to be known for.
And then you develop your point of view on that problem. So what’s why is it a problem? Why is it a pressing difficulty and what needs to be done about it?
Theresa( 09:24 ): And then you characterize, or you hypothesize or define your distinct, what your unique approach to solving that question is soon to be. And then you put your stake in the foot and say, by golly, we own this. You might do it with a big launch event. You might do it with a press statement, with a, with an ebook, whatever it may be.
So that’s your launching. Then ignite is where you make that point of view and you go out and your, your goal is to lead a change in the markets around the above issues, around that point of view, around that difficulty and what needs to be done about it.
And of course your approach, but on a, at a higher level, it’s actually more about taking the market forward. So you assure Tesla doing this with electric cars, you are well aware. They have their, the government has their higher purposes.
Theresa( 10:16 ): We want to accelerate the adoption of electric car technology in the markets. We really belief profoundly that the world needs to move to electric car technology. And so when they talk about themselves, a great deal of what they talk about is electric car technology, what we need to do to take the industry forward.
You know, they, they talk about their gondolas to an extent, but it’s really that, that bigger sense and a key in the erupt stage is that you’re getting other power brokers in the market to embrace your, your your point of view and your purpose.
And so they become evangelists on behalf of the members of you as well, out in the marketplace on your behalf. So the goal is to get that force exiting and genuinely contribute the market forward. We participated Mark Benioff do this with salesforce.com.
Anybody who’s watched that narrative unfold over the last 20 times find him take a point of view, which said, we have got to get the world off of this expensive invested software that takes months, or if not, years, to install and millions of dollars, you know? We need to kill software.
Theresa( 11:24 ): He literally had a a logo, the Ghostbuster style logo that said, you know, get rid of software. And so when he would go out to consultations, he would not talk about the Salesforce technology. He has spoken about the it is necessary framed the world in the vapour. And at that time, this was incredibly controversial.
And a lot of people didn’t think it was going to be ever hugged. Because at that time you didn’t dare introduced patron, your most precious corporate data in the shadow , no way would anybody do that. So he was an example of somebody who really went out and started a whole new movement in the marketplace.
So that’s the goal with ignite. The third phase is navigate, and this is where you have to walk the talk you have to deliver on your hopes. So this is where you actually make your offers to market.
Theresa( 12:19 ): You sell and market your offering, you get your parties on board. This is what parties usually associate with the business. But the big difference is that you have a unique offering that is more than time a concoction. It’s a true-life mixture, so that you’re, you’re delivering a result.
You’re not just selling roles or pieces. You’re delivering outcomes for the customer that really change their business and actually solve their problem. And we can talk about more, talk more about that later, if you require, because it’s an important distinction between what, what a good deal of companies need to be doing to truly be of high value and justify those higher rates versus the room they do it today.
And then the fourth period is accelerate. You is therefore necessary to invariably, even no matter how peculiar you are in the beginning, parties are going to come out and start following you, especially as you are successful.
And the market is going to change. The world is going to change around you. So accelerate is all about remain ahead of the market and changing and changing with world markets. So those are the four key, the four phases.
Kathleen( 13:29 ): So I have a cluster of questions. You mentioned at the, well, let me back up. The first one is, in the world of sell, I feel like there’s a lot of sound right now about the concept that people was related to as list creation.
And and there’s, you know, the book “Play Bigger, ” which is on that. And there’s, there’s a entire multitude of other books in that infinite that this sounds a lot like that. Can you talk about like, is, is that really what this is? Are there differences?
Theresa( 14:01 ): There are differences. There are differences. Yeah, I actually don’t, I know, Christopher and I have had a conversation. He’s a peer in Silicon Valley and we have a lot of mutual friends.
And I is a well-known fact that, that I know that they have a very strong, the authors of that notebook have a very strong point of view around category formation. And a lot of people talk about it. I personally don’t believe that you have to go out and create a new list. In numerous directions, Salesforce did not create a new category.
They, they did it differently. They did the same thing that Siebel and other salesforce automation corporations were doing. They, they did the same thing, but in another, peculiar course that solved a very particular problem. So my, my perspective is that the key is focusing on the problem. What, what trouble are you solving for customers?
Theresa( 15:00 ): What, so it’s, and it’s more around coming up with a peculiar coming that solves that trouble in a highly, very high value way. So you do, I don’t believe you have to go. There are many, many companies that have huge success that don’t go out and create an entirely new category, and some reporters would even counsel you against trying to do that because it’s extremely expensive and you’re trying to really change, fundamentally vary the market.
And yes, it’s doable. And I know Blue Ocean talks about those as well, to a certain extent, but it’s, it’s not necessary. The one great difference with my work is that you can apply this to any business , no matter what period they’re in.
It could a solopreneur could go out and implement this for themselves, and a person trying to figure out their busines could, who could apply this, or any make make-up within a big company, or the company across the board. You know, it can really be applied at various mantles. So it’s not about category creation.
Kathleen( 16:10 ): I’m glad you’ve explained that because, and I’ll precisely share, it’s interesting. I have a point of view on this because, you know, I’m in a lot of different groups of CMOs and heads of marketing. And I feel like every single person I talk to says, they’re creating a brand-new category.
Kathleen( 16:27 ): And at the risk of violating my cleanse content rating on Apple podcasts. I just think that’s bullshit. Every single company can not be creating a new list because then every single company would be in a category of one. Like, it’s exactly, it’s roughly come laughable how common it is.
Kathleen( 16:46 ): And I do think there are business that are genuinely doing it, and I think there’s a lot of fervour behind that, but that, you know, I sort of like teed this up. I didn’t tell you I was going to ask you that question, but, but I wanted to have that discussion because I just, I certainly do think it’s become almost ridiculous that it’s like, if you’re today’s marketer, you have to create a category, right?
Theresa( 17:07 ): Yeah. It also kind of depends, you are well aware, you can define the word category and I approximate in a lot of different ways you know, I recall with Play Bigger, they have a great perspective and you can do that and have vast success. And with enough asset and fairly brace and resources behind you you can definitely implement their strategy.
They talk about some immense stuff in that book. I’m by no means denigrating what they talk about, or it’s merely that I don’t feel that’s the only way to go out and have amazing success and and have a tremendous impact.
And, you are well aware, my focus is more on how do you go and have you know, deliver outcomes to a place of patrons that are going to view you as, you know, the estimate manager and the torchbearer in their, in their world.
Kathleen( 18:04 ): Yeah. So I like that. I like that you have a focus on making this accessible, accessible, I should say, because I think that that’s one of such issues when people talk about category start-up is it feels like you need to be VC backed and, you are well aware, it’s, it’s a whole different play.
Theresa( 18:21 ): It’s expensive.
Kathleen( 18:21 ): It is. It’s very expensive. It’s a long game,
Theresa( 18:24 ): Right?
Kathleen( 18:26 ): You mentioned at the beginning that it’s, that this might seem like a big duh, but the reality is most companionships are not doing these things. And so can you just take a minute and speak to why you think that is?
Theresa( 18:38 ): Yeah. You know, it really baffles me. I developed this 20 years ago and I I’m stunned that nobody has already come out and come up with it. To me, it was, you know, it’s almost like writing down the chocolate chipping recipe, chocolate microchip cookie recipe that grandmothers have been making for eons.
But so when I firstly came up with it, I actually attained some fighting in the market. I guess I was a little early and talking to parties about this because it was pre-internet and they couldn’t see how similar they wished to other corporations. As a consultant, I’m traveling around, I’m is speaking to lots of different people.
It’s like Gartner, you are well aware, the working day long. They talk to companies and every company that walks in and sounds like the last one, but to the company themselves, they, you are well aware, they didn’t assure each other.
Theresa( 19:29 ): So they couldn’t tell. Now that , now that digital marketing in particular has kind of placed everything online business, I imagine executives even now more construe, they used to be very insulated from how much they inspected and sounded like everybody else. And that’s no longer the case.
So I actually recognized even last year, begin I’ve been trying to talk myself out of having to write this notebook for years, I’ve started and stopped belief, Oh, well, I don’t think we needed it. You know, I’ve heard about Play Bigger coming out.
And with the mode they talked about that diary before it was published, I meditated, I had a conversation with Christopher on the phone and after hearing him, I reputed, well, I imagine their volume might be the same as mine. Maybe I don’t need to write this. And it came out and I recognise , no, it’s still not quite the same.
Theresa( 20:18 ): And last year I envisaged, Oh my God, you know, we, we need it now more than ever. And so because corporations, they’re there, there are a lot of, they do some of the segments, but they don’t relatively set the parts together properly.
And then they’re truly missing the boat wholly in other areas like, like a point of view, you are well aware? Very few business have an overarching, true belief lead point of view about world markets and where world markets needs to go.
They have a point of view about themselves and their concoction and how their produce operates and why. But you should be able to make your product out of it completely and talk just about where the market is going, what the problem is and what they need to be doing about it, independent of your company.
That’s true-blue conceive lead. So that’s one of numerous examples of things that companies are, are missing the ship on.
Kathleen( 21:19 ): Yeah, I think that’s, to me that’s so important because I feel like it’s that first step where probably 90% of their own problems are. And I think you thumped the hammer on the front, which is that everybody thinks they are differentiated. Like, candidly, I mean, if you talk to any purveyor, they’re not going to say I’m doing a atrocious hassle and I’m copying everyone else. Like they’re going to give you their tone and their ethic prop, and they’re going to feel like they’ve done that.
Kathleen( 21:43 ): So I repute perhaps it would be helpful if you spoke a little bit more about certainly what it means to have that point of view, because I’m not assured that beings listening are going to understand, like, what does that look like when it comes to life?
Theresa( 22:02 ): Okay. Yeah. So in the book, I have a awfully prescribed theme framework that I feel companies should be using, especially if you are a solution to a problem. And what most technology companies, most B2B your audience has more of a B2B focus.
Kathleen( 22:19 ): No, it’s, it’s not, it is kind of all over the place, but I tend to talk a lot about B2B simply because that’s where my focus is.
Theresa( 22:28 ): And a lot of, I feel a lot of it, it used to be interesting. It was so consumer and B2B were such completely different swine in the past and they still are somewhat different, but it’s interesting how much more similar they are now than they, than they ever know, or in terms of how you do your commerce, but the point of view. So the content framework is this. It’s three patches. That’s why there’s a problem, what needs to be done about it and how you’ve uniquely solved the problem. So why, what, how. So the point of view is the first two. It’s why there’s a problem in the market. So it’s not just that there’s a problem. It’s why is it a problem? What’s the fallout from the problem? So for example, with me, I would say, you are well aware, the problem is most corporations don’t adequately differentiate themselves in a way that’s going to be sustainable over time.
Theresa( 23:20 ): And this was a problem because it leads to worsening margins over time. It leads to price based event. When your clients can’t ensure what forms you different. And over time, companies have to compete on toll. They have to lower their tolls. Perimeters descend. They have less and less dollars to invest back into the business and back into their future and in marketing.
And eventually they go out of business. I represent, “theyre saying”, assure with agencies all the time. I signify, there’s some of the worst offenders and failing to differentiate. So, so what should they be doing about it? They need to come up, you know, they need to have a unique approach to a number of problems that they own in the marketplace.
So that would be for me, my what. So I can talk all day long about those issues and all, all what business are facing and what they need to be doing, et cetera, and never formerly talk about me or my, my company’s works or, or even my book.
You know, I can go all day long exactly on that point of view about what needs to be happening. So every company ought to have that for themselves. They ought to have that very strong perspective.
Kathleen( 24:38 ): You mentioned Salesforce earlier, which is a great example, and I adore that narrative of Mark Benioff staging a tease rally with his signal. And are, are there any companionships, maybe some more recent examples of companies that you think are doing that really well, that, that first step in your four gradation process?
Theresa( 24:57 ): Well, I thoughts for sure you know, I like to use Tesla because I anticipate again, they’re kind of a textbook because they have taken such a unique approach to solving a problem that parties have been talking about for a long time, which is how do you get electric car technology to be adopted? I don’t think people realize that I have the year in my notebook, but electric car technology has been available since like the beginning of the 20 th century.
I mean, we’re talking over a hundred years of electric car and the, and you are well aware, gas and electrical were sort of developed at the same time. And then gas took off and electrical got left in the dust. So but you are well aware, Tesla has this, this very you know, Elon Musk. I want, he’s a great example for all of his businesses.
Theresa( 25:42 ): You know, his businesses start with a higher purpose. You know, SpaceX, you are well aware, is intending to establish cavity, circulate more accessible and more practical. The Boring Company, you know, he wants to solve the traffic problem. You know, he, the work requires easier, better ways to get autoes off, you know, to get across town.
So, you know, those are examples. You know, REI, well, that’s not a recent example that these, you know, I, I tended in the book, I tended to study companionships that have been around for awhile. The entire top is being sustainable. You know, I reckon, you know, I know you talk, talk about HubSpot a lot in your podcast and, you know, I think they’re a good one.
The, the new challenges with that companionship is that it’s a little broad the road they talk about what needs to be done, but if they just were to focus on the, and they talk, you are well aware, of course emphasis is on inbound, but you know, with them, I’d love to see a more focused message around, you know, what’s wrong with the action most companionships approach their inbound marketing and what needs to be done about it.
Theresa( 26:58 ): That would be an example of an opportunity, you know, for them to get more clear about contributing the charge, even though they have done a great job of resulting the charge in elevating the approaching to digital marketing, getting people to be more integrated in how they do it and being more sophisticated and make it, realise it more accessible to more companies.
Kathleen( 27:22 ): Yeah. Now I think it’s interesting that you have your second stair as ignite because it is, you know, it’s one thing to have your point of view, but if none are well aware of it, it’s the tree that find themselves in the forest. Right?
Kathleen( 27:35 ): So talk me through what that ignite stair looks a lot like or should look like, or how a company should approach it.
Theresa( 27:45 ): Yeah. So a key thing is is, is understanding the role of power brokers in an manufacture. So a good deal of business, a great deal of marketers, I feel don’t quite appreciate this, and they certainly don’t leverage this to their full advantage.
So every single industry or every sell has literally a handful of people who know everybody, are respected by everybody in that market. They, their tentacles reach, I, I nicknamed them tree trunks with immense spring systems, because that’s how you are eligible to be taken into consideration it.
You just see one person standing there, but subterranean unbeknownst, you know, because a great deal of goes you don’t even know how far reaching their network is, but there’s this vast network and they all talk to each other and interact with each other.
So one of the keys to get traction is getting those powerbrokers altered over to your point of view and to the point where they actually start evangelizing on your behalf and they help get the word out.
Theresa( 28:48 ): So it amplifies your content. So instead of having to reach 500 parties, one person at a time, you can, with one power broker can really because they have so much power and such a expression in world markets, they are unable to immediately alter thousands on your behalf. You know, relative, let’s say your market is, “youve had” 10 or 20,000 people you’re trying to reach.
They can literally reach a monstrous clump of it all at once. A good example of this in the technology space is Gartner. You know, if you get Gartner on board and behind what you’re doing, they start writing about you in their reports. They start talking about you even privately in conversations.
So and you are well aware, the, the media can play that capacity, but there are also individuals merely, you are well aware, most industries have maybe a dozen who they know everybody, and they have the tipping point.
Theresa( 29:50 ): Malcolm Gladwell talks about personality types, and one is the connector. And so these power brokers are connectors. They only proactively spread the word about other parties and other corporations they are aware and framed people in touch with each other.
So you’re looking for those types of people and that can spur you very quickly into a market in a highly credible way that you won’t be able to do on your own. So this is something that a lot of companionships don’t fully leverage. They do go after media. And you know, of course there are social media influencers and some, some social media influencers fall into this a lot.
Don’t, you are well aware, a good deal of them time have their 50,000 followers and they put out a tweet or whatever. That’s a flash in the pan that might give you some speedy response, but you’re trying to get enduring influence in the market.
You’re trying to become one of the powerbrokers yourself. And so you need these power brokers to help make you in that direction, but they can also make it happen a lot more quickly.
Kathleen( 30:55 ): So I considered that sounds great in principle, but in my experience, a great deal of the power brokers in any given grocery have a lot of people clamoring for their notice. And when we, you are well aware, we started out by talking about how this approach is a very accessible one. So it’s one thing if you’re Elon Musk going to try and like get in front of power brokers, and of course, they’re going to make your summon. It’s exclusively another. If “youre gonna”, you know, a first time founder who doesn’t have a big reputation or VC allies, or, you are well aware, that, that super powered system. So how does one go about brokering those relationships?
Theresa( 31:35 ): This is where the ability of the point of view comes in because when you have a very powerful, racy point of view on a really critical problem, and you have a perspective on what needs to be done about it, that’s indeed fresh and inventive. People will listen.
They’re, they’re hungry to know to understand what’s going on out there. You know, I think of, I symbolize , not everybody may be able to relate to this example, but I think of Jamie Oliver who is the chef out of the UK, who caught, captivated a lot of attention with a Ted talk he gave about nutrition and how it, how the usual person’s nutrition is literally killing them.
And he gave this powerful Ted talk. He was, he was a nobody at the time, just some chef, but he had this very powerful point of view and a very passionate devotion to his point of view.
Theresa( 32:27 ): And he got the ear of lots of people and got onto the Ted stage. And eventually he got a TV show and, you are well aware, he got a lot of notoriety, but it was because he had that point of view and Ted talks are actually a great example of points of view. They’re not up there to sell anything.
They have very powerful positions that are interesting enough for the rest of the world to listen. It’s what’s their motto. Oh now I’m , now I’m drawing a space on what it is. I’m sure somebody can keep it in the indicate mentions for us. Ideas importance sharing.
So your point of view needs to be an idea worth sharing, because if it’s suggestive, I have four criteria, actionable, daring, contentious, and distinctive. And so the ABCD that’s in the book, so you can have a remembrance. But it needs to be racy to get other people wanting to talk about it.
Kathleen( 33:28 ): I affection it. So we’re probably not going to go into detail on the, the last two stages because I make those are probably the ones that my public is much more familiar with, which is having to do with going to market and genuinely how you execute.
I think at least the first two stages are the ones that, that really trip parties up. And let’s be honest, you have to get through those to get to the second two. So I’m wondering if you, precisely, for people who are listening, who are thinking, I’m interested in maybe doing this, other than going out and buying the book, which they are able to absolutely do and we’ll talk about how they can find it.
What are some things like if they just want to get started, if they want to listen to this podcast and then go back to work, exactly what we, what are one or two things that they can immediately start doing that can set them down on the path to get started with this?
Theresa( 34:14 ): Yeah, I remember one thing is, first of all, it’s just like any, anything else acknowledge the problem. Acknowledge that you have a problem. What I have found even as a foreman commerce officer is sometimes having such a difficult time getting the rest of the executive heads team to acknowledge that we have a problem.
And purveyors are well aware often do you feel like you’re putting lipstick on a pig? You know, you inside, you are well aware, know this company really isn’t different. You know, I have to make it, I have to make it sound different, but in all honesty, it’s not different.
So if there’s any road to get the rest of the full team to acknowledge that there’s a strategic question and that the company, this is not a marketing problem, this is a fundamental tactical issue for a company that the marketer and others in the company need to play a role in solving.
Theresa( 35:07 ): So I’d say that’s one thing. It’s get the team. And even, even if you’re a product unit or a cell within the company, really to agree that this is an issue and that it is required to do something.
And then the next thing is actually get clearly defined what problem are we devoting ourselves to? What problem do we want to be known for in the market? What question are we dedicating ourselves to eradicating in the markets? And then, what is point of view about what it will take to solve that problem?
And then figuring out how to fix your coming. If you already have a product, how do we make it more distinct or how do we turn it into a more comprehensive solution? And instead of just some SaaS offering with our three levels of purchase option, you are well aware, a silver, gold platinum, or whatever you want to call it, you know, how do we turn this into a full mixture?
Theresa( 36:05 ): I am, I, I have a support website out for the book Apollomethod.com. And there are some implements that I have in the book that you can also get. Just go to the website to get that. It will likewise help you start taken any steps on some of these areas right away. For example, an provide idea formation can, it’s sort of same to the business model canvas, but it’s an render blueprint that will help you exactly characterize a portion of your offering. And you may picture where some of your loopholes are right now that, that keep it from has become a, a terminated solution.
Kathleen( 36:44 ): Awesome. Well, those are really good gratuities to get started. And I picture, you know, that’s, that’s the first step as we said. So for somebody who does want to really see this through you, you mentioned the URL for the book website. Can you say that one more time?
Theresa( 36:59 ): Yes. It’s www.apollomethod.com.
Kathleen( 37:02 ): And is that where they can get the book or will that take them to it?
Theresa( 37:05 ): They can, yeah, there’s a link to get the book, but they can also just go to Amazon and do a scour on, on Be the Go-To and set my refer in if they demand, if they have trouble finding it. So Theresa Lina. And they can get the book on Amazon. It’s also available on other stages both in hard coating and hard mask paperback and ebook on Barnes and Noble and some others, I think.
Kathleen( 37:31 ): Great. All liberty. Now altering paraphernaliums, I have two questions that I ever ask my patrons. So now it’s your turn. The first one is, of course this podcast “re talking about” inbound commerce and we’ve talked about a lot of companies in this conversation, but opening it up, you are well aware, when you think about inbound marketing is there a particular company or individual person that you think is really kind of setting the gold standard for what it means to do that right?
Theresa( 37:58 ): Well, right now, well, I’ve heard a lot of really good ones mentioned on your podcast. I listened to your podcast religiously. And so I won’t, I don’t contemplate I’ll duplicate that maybe they’ve been mentioned, but I truly feel salesforce.com still does. They’re gigantic, but they do a miraculous enterprise of inbound strategies.
Their trailblazer program is really exceptional. It goes beyond only typical lead-in generation where they’re genuinely was just trying to, this is part of a strategy and the book, they, they, I did not work with salesforce.com, but they are a textbook implementer of the Apollo method for market reign across the board.
So they have so many immense programs that are all about rendering, you know, going people to start using the product and then offsetting the product more and more a part of their business.
So I believed they do a prodigious place with all of their, the blogs and all their many blogs and materials and their free tests and the trailblazer program, the Dreamforce conference, et cetera.
Theresa( 39:09 ): And you can do everything they do. You can do it on a small scale. You can, you are well aware, Harley Davidson started the Harley proprietors radical with 50 parties back in the eighties, and now the government has, I mull, hundreds of thousands. But they started with merely 50 people.
So you can you can start these programs with, you know, on, at a very small scale and still know a good deal of success. And then, you know, it’s interesting. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Stu McLaren, but he, he’s a, he’s one of these internet creator, you are well aware, in the internet pioneer space.
And he specializes in building member-based communities. And I certainly think he’s doing some neat things around helping people and companies start membership platforms, membership, or community based, or member located parishes, members.
And for example, he has this wonderful founding member strategy, which I think is really clever that he talks about. If you Google him and listen to some of his podcast interrogations, you’ll, you’ll learn some little thing from him, I think.
Kathleen( 40:23 ): Oh, I’m so interested to check that one out.
Theresa( 40:25 ): Yeah. He’s one that’s caught my notice lately.
Kathleen( 40:28 ): Well, funny enough. Yeah, you’re right. I don’t meditate anybody has mentioned Salesforce, even though it seems like it’s obvious.
Theresa( 40:34 ): Is that claim?
Kathleen( 40:35 ): But I also don’t feel anyone’s mentioned Stu McLaren, so that’s awesome. I like to get brand-new ones. Second question, and you know the drill cause you listen, marketers always talk about how hard it is to keep up with everything. It’s all varying so quickly. How do I do it? So how do you get it on? How do you keep up?
Theresa( 40:50 ): Well, I certainly listen to a lot of podcasts. One of the things I been fucking loving your podcast is you get into the car-mechanics of things with people, especially when you’re talking to people who have specific tools. You know, I time cherish that you dive right into exactly how did you do this?
So I love listening to podcasts and reading articles and blog berths. And then I do monitor academic experiment because especially when it comes to analytics, because I find it useful to show me where things are going. One of the departments I’m involved with at Stanford is the management science and engineering department, which has a big analytics orientation.
And so I try to pay attention to what our module are doing in that space. And then there’s a great resource called ecorner.stanford.edu, which has castigates by different recollected chairwomen in Silicon Valley.
Theresa( 41:50 ): And while not all of it relates to marketing, it is another, a great deal of these are up and coming, for example. It’s likewise part of put on by one of the groups in our agency. And we had Mark Zuckerberg back when Facebook was just getting started.
We had the Google benefactors when Google was just getting started. So they have a real knack for encountering what’s coming down the pike. So I, again, I like to listen to that and look at what companies seem to be coming along and what they’re talking about, because they’re often on the front edge of things.
Kathleen( 42:25 ): That is a great suggestion. And yeah, and when I have not heard about before.
Theresa( 42:29 ): And then, you know, actually one more is political campaigns because they are, the stakes are so high. I like paying attention to what they’re doing and what tricks they’re using because a great deal of ages they borrow heavily from commerce, but they can also be acquired from. And then my students in the Stanford marketing group are often at the front edge of what’s going on out there. So I, I I like to watch what they’re doing as well.
Kathleen( 42:55 ): I adoration that. Well, that sounds like a lot of really gone suggestions. And of course, as always, I will make the links to all of those, into the show memoes. So head there, if you’re interested in checking any of those out this has been a lot of enjoyable and very interesting. Theresa, thank you so much.
Theresa( 43:11 ): Thank you. This has been fun for me too.
Kathleen( 43:15 ): Yeah. Now of course you’re going to want to go out and get the book. So I’ll kept the link to the website in there as well. And if you’re listening and you experienced this week’s episode, satisfy consider going to Apple Podcasts and I would desire it if you would leave the podcast a five wizard examine so that others can find it as well.
And in the meantime, if you think of somebody who would be a great guest, tweet me at @workmommywork. I genuinely do check out those recommendations. And a lot of people who come on the podcast come by word of mouth. So let me know if you think that there’s somebody who would make a good patron. That’s it for this week. Thank you so much better, Theresa.
Theresa( 43:53 ): Thank you. Thank you. This was really great. Thanks.
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