Sales Sucks

I’m currently preparing a series of workshops to share my marketing ‘expertise’ on the last 7 years that I’ve gathered through working in marketing.  I don’t see myself as a cocky person, nor am I one to gloat about my accomplishments, so when someone asks my company what my credibility is, my first reaction is embarrassment – not about my ability but about sharing my ability.  I think that’s why I’m not super good at cold sales.  But unfortunately in sales you have to sell yourself.  And here I am trying to write a humble biography of all that I’ve done without sounding like a pompous ass.

Sales in general requires a lot of talking yourself up and talking about what it is that you do.  For one that likes to keep it on the low, it can feel like sales sucks.  But it’s necessary.  I read somewhere that you have to spend up to 70% of your business’ time working on sales.  I think that’s pretty ridiculous since when I started this business, I wanted to work on what I love to do.  Sales is not what I love to do.

What I love to do is to walk into a room and speak to a client one on one and talk about what we care about – they talk about their product and I talk about ways to market their product – Don Draper style. Unfortunately, in order to get into that room, you have to push your way to the front, especially for those with deep pockets.  It’s rarely like they depict it in Mad Men. The deeper the pocket the more effort it takes to walk in their door.  It’s taken me up to 6 months to get a client in the door.  Even the most recent grant application has taken me 8 months of hard work.  The greatest things about those projects are that they pay off and they pay off really well.  The only thing is, it takes a lot of hard work.

Sales nowadays is a full time job.  The ones I see are best at sales are the ones that embody their work and their vision.  The customer not only needs credibility to stand by your product, they also want a free sampling.  With tight budgets and an oversaturated market, it’s more and more about who you know in that business that gets the job first.

So I’m thinking about hiring a sales representative to just get me in the door.  But I know deep down inside, that’s my job.  I’m suppose to get myself in that door and rip the place apart.  But the reality is, I’m not good at doing sales and managing the 7 other projects on my plate because I end up wanting to do everything else but sales.

We’re currently undergoing rebranding for our site, which we really need.  Everyone who visits it is confused as to what we do.  It’s been something we’ve been pushing because we haven’t needed to look at it and we’ve been busy.  But now we’re paying our friends at Linetest to put something together for us (even though they’re moving away from design onto video production, they’re still doing it for us).  Hopefully that will be done by the end of this month if not, mid-September.  I have a feeling that if we had fixed that a while ago, we would have seen some sales develop from that or maybe not lost some sales that we had fishing around on our site.  That’s the thing with branding – the brand sells itself when you’re not infront of the client.  Can you tell I’ve been working on my rebranding curriculum for the workshops?

10 things I’ve learned about sales:

- Don’t be embarrassed to push your brand or talk about yourself and the product, people will listen

- Believe in what you do and it will show

- Always make your customers feel like their first priority

- Always always always follow-up

- Share your expertise as much as possible

- Provide a opportunity to taste what you have to offer with no strings attached

- Think of what they need and what is best for them – never what you want

- Be the first to ask a question, assess the situation and then talk about what they want to hear

- Clients are people – we are all different so treat everyone differently

- Be open to new opportunities

Message me if you have any questions – I’ll be happy to answer as best as I can.

MONTHLY UPDATE – AUGUST

Hello world!

Before we begin, I wanted to introduce some new additions to the My Loud Speaker family:

They are:

Christina Jung – Marketing and Promotions Assistant

Maxime Cyr-Morton – Jr. Video Production Assistant

Anastasia Chung – Recruitment Coordinator

These three have been amazing in helping us out for these past couple of weeks!

ON TO THE UPDATES…

1. PROJECTS

We’ve been working closely with Dazed and Confucius and Linetest Collective on the brand new website and logo of Miscellaneous Productions. Also, look out for two new completed videos for SFU Career Services by the end of this month!  Progress on the XYBOOM Conference has been very positive as well, and we’ve already secured our venue at the beautiful Roundhouse Community Centre!  Lastly, if you’re interested in subscribing our monthly e-newsletter, do it HERE

2. EVENTS

It’s that time of year again!  It’s nearing the end of summer and we’re squeezing in events that benefit charities and the local community

A) Sports Day 4 Grown-Ups
Our ever-popular annual is BACK and this time we’ve teamed up with Take a Hike – Youth at Risk Foundation.  Proceeds will go towards supporting this wonderful organization!  For more information, visit www.myloudspeaker.ca/sportsday

B) Workshops @1009 Vinegar Factory
We’ve banded together with Linetest Collective to create Workshops @1009 Vinegar Factory.  It’s a series of beginner and intermediate marketing workshops aimed to empower the Vancouver community, whether you’re a regular Joe schmoe looking to learn some new skills or an entrepreneur/company looking for help on your campaign.  For more information, visit www.1009vinegarfactory.eventbrite.com.  Detailed descriptions of the specific workshops at www.myloudspeaker.ca/workshops.pdf

C) OPENING PARTY

It’s been pretty crazy since moving into our new space, and we’ve yet to celebrate with a true opening party.  We’re definitely going to set one up soon though.  Stay tuned!

2. SPONSORED EVENTS

We’re proud sponsors of these upcoming local events:

A) Y57′s Battle of the Bands

B) Frock Swap 6.0


(Frock Swap 6.0 will actually be hosted at our space, which we’re officially calling 1009 Vinegar Factory)

3. USING OUR SPACE
The folks from FreshMedia hosted their 6th Remixology event at our space and it was a FULL-HOUSE!  We also recently shot a commercial…check out all the photos below!  If you’re interested in running an event here, give us a shout: rentals@myloudspeaker.ca

4. MARKETING PACKAGES

We’ve developed brand new Marketing Packages that consolidate our services into affordable campaigns.  Request one: learn_more@myloudspeaker.ca

5. RELAX TIME

A couple people from the team went to see BARE: A Pop Opera by Fighting Chance Productions.  They’ve been rehearsing at our space for the past couple of weeks and it was great to see all their hard work come to fruition!

Until next time.

Cheers from Mat, “The Office Insomniac”

MONTHLY UPDATE – JUNE/JULY

Hey everyone!

We’re going to combine this into a June/July monthly update.

Here are some of the highlights:

1) FINALLY, we have our new space!

We’ve teamed up with Linetest Collective to get a massive space to work in!

Here are some photos:

 

It’s approx. 2500sqft. with studio white walls and 12ft. high ceilings.  We have 3 rooms for office space and a big open space for production shoots, events, workshops, etc. We’re looking forward to throwing some pretty awesome events!

2. New Client: Miscellaneous Productions

We’ve been hired on to do some campaign work for this cause-based organization!  We’re excited to help out with strategy, social media, branding, and print work, and we’ll be working on this with Linetest Collective.  More on this project later.

3. SFU Career Services Commercials

We’re in the latter half of our two commercials with SFU Career Services.  Really looking forward to shooting these!  These aint your regular Career Services commercials, be prepared for costume changes, and unimaginable feats of ridiculousness.  Call for auditions will come in the following months!

4. XYBOOM/My Loud Lifestyle 

We’re about to start a real push for fundraising through My Loud Lifestyle in support of the XYBOOM Conference.  We’ve been talking extensively about this in previous updates so we’ll just leave it at that.  Press releases and other initiatives to come!

5. MLS Expansion

In the wake of the XYBOOM Conference really solidifying, we’ll soon be expanding our team here at My Loud Speaker.  We’re looking forward to meeting some new faces

That’s it for now. Until next time.

Cheers from Mat, “The Office Insomniac”

It never works out like you think it will.

You’ve probably heard it before.  I have.  But like all lessons, until you experience it you don’t really know.

It’s kind of like that scene in Good Will Hunting where Robin Williams tells Matt Damon off by calling him out on being well-read but not well-experienced.  He uses the example of the Sistine Chapel, how Matt Damon can only describe it and speak about the history, but he can never really understand it fully without being there.

What they don’t teach you in school is that this happens with every category in your life: education, family, friends, partner, vacation, plans, projects, careers, etc.  Furthermore, the more you resist, the more it persists.

What I’ve learned, is that the more you can go with the flow the better it works out.  Of course, still plan and still create goals and dream big, just make sure you’re okay when things don’t go exactly as planned.  If you can be okay with that and are ready to deal with those unexpected changes, than you’re golden.

I have still yet to learn this.  I think this is one of those lessons that can be unlearned and learned again.  I feel as though I had got this lesson down pact at one point, but clearly with the turnout of most recent events at My Loud Speaker, I’m clearly not a pro at it just yet.

The more I evaluate this overlooked talent, the more I’m wowed by people who are just so easy-going.  It’s true, the older you get, the more you appreciate your parents and all they went through.

That’s it for now.

MONTHLY UPDATE | MAY

Our long overdue May update!  We’ve been a bit overwhelmed lately, but as I always say, that’s a good thing.

Here are some highlights of this past month:

1) BMO Vancouver Marathon

Our physically fit friends at BMO Vancouver Marathon have asked us to do another project for them.  A big thanks to Newton for meeting with us!

2) SFU Career Services

We’re in the process of  confirming the final concept/idea for a commercial for our long-time friends at WIL for SFU Career Services.  We’re also starting in the concept a second WIL video, both to be released in the Fall.

3) XYBOOM Conference

We’ve been spending a lot of time on this conference.  We love it’s potential and we’ve tied up a lot of loose ends since our last update.  For one, we’ve soft-launched our fundraising campaign for the conference: My Loud Lifestyle.  And for two, we’re closing in on our goal of receiving grant money for our cause!

4) New Office Space

After countless viewings, offers, counter-offers, and realizations, we realize we’re only taking baby steps towards solidifying the new office we so desperately desire.  We’re constantly looking and are bound to find our diamond in the rough soon enough.

5) Film Equipment Rental Services

In case you didn’t realize, My Loud Speaker provides film equipment rental services as well!  We pride ourselves on being the most affordable in Vancouver, open for busi1ness 24/7, and overall, just really easy to rent from.  Our customers tend to agree with us!

6) Sponsoring Temporary Foreign Workers Documentary – Screening May 28th!

We are proud to be sponsors of a documentary made by our friend Devon Wong for the City of Vancouver: Check out the trailer/event at TFWvancouver.  Check out the event this weekend on May 28th!

(Forgot to mention in the last update that we were also proud sponsors the EVOLUTION: Fashion Music Vogue Ball at Performance works and the #NetCulture: Stories of Culture and Diversity in Social Media event at the Vancouver Public Library!)

7) Team building FUN!

As a team building exercise, we’ve been playing some softball in a rec league lately.  It’s safe to say we’re not very good at softball, but that doesn’t seem to stop us!

That’s it for now! We’ll talk in June!

Cheers from Mat, “The Office Insomniac”.

Pressure

It’s everywhere. It’s when you wake up in the morning, it’s when you walk into a pitch session, when you send in another RFP, it’s when you attempt to sign a lease for your new office space, it’s when you speak to your mom… and so on.

I usually look at examples around me to find answers as to why because it’s usually easier to judge others than it is yourself. The more I look the more I realize how natural it really is to have pressure. We’re in a pressure driven culture. I actually think it’s helpful – without pressure, you end up sitting in bed and watching TV for days. There are so many great shows, blogs, general entertainment to keep you busy for years.

We’re in a pressure driven culture.

Without pressure, there really isn’t much that moves us.

Three stories to give us insight:

EXAMPLE 1
My parents started a business before my father died shortly after. My mother, at that point had only been a housewife who did accountant work for the business occassionally. She had to take over the business to keep our family of five afloat. I always think about how much pressure that was – how that pressure revealed how amazing my mother really was and the extent of her capabilities. Without pressure, we would have never known that she could be a successful & reputable entrepreneur.

EXAMPLE 2
Than there’s someone else I know who just can’t stand the pressure. For most of their life, they’ve had opportunities handed to them. When it comes down to relying on themselves to reach the next milestones you’ll find them doing everything but. Tons of research. Tons of shows. Tons of distraction to keep them busy. Extremely smart at maintaining the current state by constructing a safe environment that never requires them to move. It’s been a lifetime now. How long is that going to last? At this state, most of the pressure has made them experts at staying stagnant, rather than experts at moving forward.

EXAMPLE 3
I was just at a ACJA event where I heard the founders of www.vancouverslop.com & www.highmaintenancewoman.blogspot.com speak. I asked where they see the future of their site going, seeing as though it hasn’t been a full time, full paying gig for them yet. They mentioned in not so many words that they would not be investing much more until there’s a larger return for them. They love it and they’re proud of their huge following & celebrity status, however, the moolah wasn’t coming in as they can’t seem to break the 30k followers mark.  It reminded me of the lack of pressure or need has led to less motivation and productivity. It’s steady but not necessarily growing.

So too much & not enough pressure keeps you static? So what’s the right amount?

For my mother – it was do or die for our family. For many of us, it isn’t that dramatic. For me, it’s just growing up. So now, we’re signing a lease so there’s another large hard cost. Even just talking about it has motivated myself and my team further.

So what did I learn:

1. Everyone needs pressure
2. Pressure is inevitable
3. It’s important to learn how to manage pressure in your life to manage your productivity

I’m assuming that by knowing how to regulate how much pressure is in your life, you’re more able to control your productivity.

So how do you control the amount of pressure so that it works for you?
1. Know that you can only control so much
2. Know that you have some control too
3. Know where you stand on pressure – too much too little right now? You can tell by how much movement forward you’re doing.

If you need more pressure:
- Take on a responsibility that you know will force you to commit cause you don’t control the expectation (for me – getting a lease)
- Owe someone something that isn’t someone who will let you off the hook
- Set punishments for your mistakes if the person you’re promising wont’ do it for you
- Set something that’s reasonable – small steps steps always get you farther than leaping and tripping

Once you’ve outlined the amount of pressure you need to get moving:
- Mental preparedness & planning helps
- Take one thing at a time. PRIORITIZE.  I cannot emphasize how that one word has helped me move forward more efficiently and successfully.  Not to mention, how many times it saved my ass.

People take pressure differently. So what gives you pressure, might not mean anything to your friend and vice versa. Most people can sense stress – and stress is usually a good indicator of how much pressure you’re feeling.

Compare your feelings of pressure with your feelings of accomplishment. If they balance themselves out then you’re at a good place. For example, do you feel pressure but it’s overwhelmed by a sense of accomplishment and a feeling of motivation to move forward?  If you say yes, that’s a good balance of pressure.  I believe that will fluctuate, so be patient, as time will tell and experience will make you an expert.

MONTHLY UPDATE | APRIL

Hey everybody!

Let’s GET PSYCHED!!! It’s our first ever monthly update post!!! THIS IS INSANE!!!!!!!! We understand that it’s a couple days early for April, but we were just too PSYCHED!!!!

Okay, chill out now.

As promised, here are some updates:

1. New office

We’ve been looking for awhile now, and it seems we’re pretty close to getting this gem of a place out in downtown. It’s about 3000 square feet and great for shooting videos and playing hockey. We might be doing a bit of both, who knows.

2. The XYBOOM Conference

We’ve been talking about and preparing for this conference for awhile now, and it’s finally becoming a reality. Loads of meetings and a full-on marketing campaign to come. For now, sit tight and maybe support us?

3. My Loud Lifestyle

Here’s a little project we’ve been working on here to a) create jobs for NewGens and b) fundraise for the aforementioned XYBOOM conference. Don’t be shy, check it out.

4. BMO Vancouver Marathon

Here’s a video we did the BMO Vancouver Marathon in hopes to get YOU PUMPED UP!! Enjoy.

5. SFU Career Services

Be prepared for some upcoming videos for our long-time friends. Yes, I’m looking at you two, Tony and Adam.

6. Other

Tammy had the opportunity to meet with Tara and Fiona of Gen Why Media Project. Check them out and support them however you can – they’ve done a great job penetrating the media and representing Gen Y!

That’s it for now. See you next month!

Cheers from Mat, “The Office Insomniac”.

Tags: updates

Site REVIVE!

Hey everybody!

Just letting you all know that we’re reviving this website and implementing monthly updates from MLS!

Stay tuned for our debut monthly update starting April 1st!

- Mat

“Do what you say & mean what you do.”

This will build a solid reputation for anyone. Within the business world and within your personal relationships. This is one of those things that we seem to know and we hear about a lot but many of us do not do.

I find that when I’m on top of those two things, I’m feeling on top of my game. I don’t always feel that way. I was asked recently if I always felt confident and sure of myself. I responded that no one does 100% of the time. And I definitely do not. I think it’s natural for people to want to be productive, therefore it’s natural for us not to feel satisfied with what we have. Especially when we’re also wired to be competitive. So, if we are periodically unsure of ourselves how do we find comfort in feeling unsatisfied?

By understanding that that is part of life. That everyone goes through it. And the only way to overcome it, is to see beyond your current hurdle, mourn a little and then move on. Take it step by step by doing what you say you’ll do and meaning the things that you do.

People judge integrity not failure.

“I was using the recent global economic downturn as the reason why no one is hiring…”

After our article came out on the WestEnder, we’ve had a few heartfelt emails and letters sent our way. It has definitely helped to motivate our work efforts. So thank you all!

We wanted to highlight one letter written to us by Neville from Toronto, ON. Thanks Neville!

I may have never read an article that has resonated more profoundly with me than “Working Toward the Future” in the Oct. 14-20, 2010 edition of The West Ender. Maybe it is because I feel like I am at a crisis-point in my life? Maybe it is because I usually ignore all the “self-help” and “education/workforce” sections in the newspapers? Maybe those two reasons go hand-in-hand? (Or maybe it is great marketing on The West Ender’s side of things?) I am stuck at a career crossroads without a compass or a map. I am willing and hungry (and educated), but deeply discouraged.

After completing my post-secondary program in the spring of 2009, I have been on the job hunt now for well over a year without any success, so I can relate to the hardships expressed in the article. For the longest time, I was using the recent global economic downturn as the reason why no one is hiring, yet, why am I still seeing new job postings? How come less and less people are attending these resume- and cover letter-writing workshops? Are they snatching up all these opportunities? My opportunities? It is not solely the recession that has been holding me back. It has to be ME.

Turning internally, I started worrying about all my faults: I never got the best grades in university, I am admittedly a lifelong underachiever, I am certainly under/over-confident etc. I started feeling like all my faults were overshadowing my better qualities. I have always been a hard worker and eager learner, and I have developed my creative thinking and writing skills through my training, but now all these positive traits and skills seem to be ambiguous. All my unique qualities that once set me apart are simply fading away as I struggle to swim amongst the school of post-grad NewGens.

The West Ender article brought up an interesting point that I have never considered before: My generation has an issue with their undeserved sense of entitlement. How come I never thought of that? During my entire university career I was surrounded with pompous silver-spoon-in mouth kids who coast through life catching all the breaks! It reminded me of the “Frank Grimes” episode of The Simpsons where Homer is juxtaposed against someone his opposite: A hard-knock personality who had to work desperately hard for everything he was able to achieve. I am Frank Grimes. All these little brats who are getting the jobs that I am entitled to are Homer Simpsons’.

Not long after I came to this sad realization, I knew that my envy and jealousy, and my own sense of self-entitlement, made me no better than “them”. I have to remain mentally sharp and strong willed in order to succeed. Whether my generation is being told subconsciously that we deserve the world or not, the fact is that this perception certainly does exists. It not only exists, but is also perpetuated among the NewGens themselves. My struggle entitles me to my dream job. This revelation came to me at the end of the article.

Now what? I guess I send a note to the people at My Loud Speaker commending them for their work and expressing my interest in what they do and what they offer. My feeling of discouragement has been replaced with a reinvigorated drive. I want to earn my place.