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This podcast is brought to you by Label Sessions, the global platform that connects you to the
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00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:08,840
best advice from the most interesting people.
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00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:12,600
And this exclusive series, entrepreneur and creative leader Andy Millman takes us through
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00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:16,380
his views on creativity, curiosity and guts.
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To find out more about Andy, listen to the Q&A listed in the show notes.
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To find out more about Label Sessions, visit Labelsessions.com.
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Hello.
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Hello.
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Can you hear me?
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Okay, this is quite the dopey intro for this episode of the CCNG Podcast, but you'll understand
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it's relevant soon thanks to yes, yes, yes, yes, yet another story.
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So here we go.
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On the surface, this is a story of a pair of earplugs.
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But once we go deeper, and believe me, we will, you'll discover it's really about something
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more profound and important.
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Ultimately, this story is about a word rarely discussed in business, even more rarely discussed
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in the MBA classroom, which is where I first uttered said word in a business context.
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We'll get to the word itself around the midpoint of this podcast.
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But for now, back to the earplugs.
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These earplugs are from a British company called Flare Audio.
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Flare Audio makes high-end listening devices, you know, speakers, headphones, earbuds and
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the like, sound delivering devices.
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The company jumped into the sound blockage space with its earplugs as a related side
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project.
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I found these earplugs, or perhaps they found me, via a Facebook ad.
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So I started this adventure somewhat skeptical.
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From background, the year was 2017 and I had two dogs at home.
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I'm a light sleeper and my Beagle Spaniel mix named Shady was a big snorer and thus
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kept me up at night.
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I had tried all sorts of other noise reduction products like white noise machines, those
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awful orange foam earplugs you buy in pharmacies and more, all to no avail.
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So I decided to take a chance on a pair of $87 Flare Audio sponge rubber tipped titanium
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earplugs that, because of titanium's purported density, promised to block out all sleep disturbing
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sounds.
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And lo and behold, ha ha, the vividly branded Flare Isolate Pro Titaniums delivered the
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goods.
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If indeed silence is golden, then titanium silence is a whole other level of peace and
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quiet.
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I once jokingly called them the next best thing to be death.
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Over the years I must have sold, I don't know, 75 pairs of these Flare Isolates as well as
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their smaller offspring named Sleep, that's with three E's.
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I sold them to friends whose better halves were snorers and probably saved some marriages
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in the process.
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I sold them to musician friends and concert goers who were worried about having their
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eardrums blown out by band volume.
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I once sold 25 pairs in one sitting to a boutique hotel owner in Cambodia who was losing guests
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due to raucous late night merriment at the nearby village.
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So why did I do it?
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Was I a traveling salesperson for Flare Audio's earplugs?
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No, there were no rewards, nor bonuses, nor affiliate marketing plans, nor loyalty points,
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nor free swag of any kind.
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Nope, I never got a commission or even an acknowledgement from the company thanking
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me for being an unofficial spokesperson.
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Other than my multiple orders from them, they still have no idea how devoted I am to them.
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So why did I do it?
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Why did I do it?
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Well, I did it partially, partially, please note, because the product was great.
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Unlike so many other products that disappoint or drown in their own hype, Flare Audio's
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earplugs delivered on their promise.
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But still, many products do the same, right?
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Many products actually work.
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So why the personal fervor over the Flare Audio's?
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Because I fell in love with them.
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Flares that somewhat businessly awkward word for you, love.
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The Flares were a combination of truth in marketing, sleek design and clever packaging.
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I loved using them.
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I loved the benefit they delivered.
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I loved the way the replacement foam tips came off with a little pop and slid on with
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that gorgeous little click.
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I loved the way they fit in their lustrous metal tube case and the way the top screwed
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tight so snugly.
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I didn't just like the earplugs.
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Once again, I fell in love with them.
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The difference is crucial.
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Love makes you do crazy things like shill for an overseas brand of earplugs every time
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you hear someone remotely mention they have a problem sleeping or with excessive noise
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or with a mate that snores.
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Love means that you're committed.
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Love means you want to spend inordinate amounts of time together.
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Love gets you to even wear the ring or in business terms, the brand in so many different
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ways.
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Love also expands your extremes.
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In other words, it makes the highs higher and makes you more forgiving of the lows to
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the point of often just ignoring them.
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Hence the well-known expression, love is blind.
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And although this sounds somewhat obtuse in a business slash marketing context, but love
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is the answer to all business woes.
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When I would bring up this concept in my McGill class, my students would either snicker or
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look at me befuddlingly.
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They weren't buying it at all.
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But then I would ask them, okay, who here has been in love?
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Better still, I would ask, who's in love now?
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Then I would ask whoever raised their hands to describe the feeling.
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Well, whatever they said was kind of irrelevant because what really, really mattered was their
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smiles, their body language, the change in tone of their voices, the warmth they exuded
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and passed on to those sitting close to them.
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And after letting the students bathe in this tsunami of positivity and comfort, I would
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ask one more question.
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So why would you not want to make your customers and clients feel this way about you?
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So how do you do it?
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How do you get people to love you?
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Like in any relationship, and that's what we're trying to build here with all this love,
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don't you think?
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Like in any relationship, a good start is to listen attentively.
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These days, your customer has so many ways to make themselves heard, to not be attuned
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to what they're saying about you and to what they're saying about your competition would
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be a crime of ignorance of the greatest magnitude.
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So start by listening.
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And when it's your turn to talk, do so authentically.
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If he wants to hear corporate jargon or obviously legally pre-scrubbed bullshit anymore, it's
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a major turnoff.
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Here's an example of authentic talk from another company I've come to love, namely Wild Gym.
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I'm obsessive with my workout regime and over the years I've ordered some great gear from
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these guys.
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During the COVID lockdown, I wanted to order some equipment upgrades, but I found that
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their shipping costs were excessive, costing just about as much as the stuff I wanted to
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buy.
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So I wrote a brief email complaint about the costs on a Tuesday at 7.07 PM.
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The very next day at 9.31 AM, I received this email from Kim Breemeyer, an actual real person.
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Hi Andy, so sorry for the high costs.
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All of the couriers have basically raised their fees to recoup some of their COVID costs
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and manage the super high volume that continues.
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We don't charge any extra handling fees or anything like that, it's just the cost of
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what the couriers charge us to ship stuff at this point, unfortunately.
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It's gotten pretty crazy.
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I am only 10 miles across the Canadian border, and it costs me $35 to send something that
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weighs a few ounces.
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It used to be $15 a year ago.
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The weight and dimensions also impact the shipping cost.
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The barefoot mat is the one that tends to be the most costly, that is because it is
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an odd shaped box, the mat ships rolled up, and because of that, they can't pallet it
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like a normal cube shaped box, so they charge extra to ship it.
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Can you believe it?
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An informative personable explanation that told it like it is, in the most human manner.
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Compare this to the standard brush-offs or chat GPT robo scripts you've gotten, that
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is if companies you reach out to even actually respond to you.
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Is it any wonder I keep ordering from Wild Gym and keep talking about them, even now?
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Another way to inspire love is to be so visually appealing that other people will want to wear
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your brand out loud.
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One of the credos I use when it comes to consulting companies on how to choose a visual identity
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is the following three-pronged test.
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You know you've got a love-inspiring logo when people would 1.
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Wear it on a t-shirt or a cap, 2.
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Have it inked on them as a tattoo or 3. have it painted as a mural.
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Hit all those three targets and watch out for flying hearts.
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Again, like in any relationship, gift-giving can also spark, or at least enhance, love.
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Think back to any really cool free sample, worthy coupon, flight upgrade or surprise
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bonus you were the recipient of, and you'll get my point on this.
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Finally, and almost in contrast with the gifting example, love thrives on scarcity.
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An overabundance of emotive outpouring will actually leave customers cold and you out
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in it.
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I always like the analogy comparing love to nitroglycerin.
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A little bit can jumpstart a heart, too much will blow up a city block.
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So spread the love, but not too much.
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Always leave them wanting more.
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Perhaps the best part of love is that it's an exponential magnet.
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Love attracts other love.
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If you love what you do or who you work for or the project you're working on, it will
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make it easier for others to love you back.
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I can still recall the telltale words of Mark Zuckerberg about the problems he was having
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getting his Horizons and Metaverse project off the ground.
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Apparently, people working on the project hated it, and in an article in the Financial
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Times Mark bemoaned, If we don't love it, how can we expect our users to love it?
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All this said, love should be the objective of every marketing director of every product
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and service around, be it some sexy consumer item, a sleepy component part or roughest
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of raw materials.
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No matter what the product or service, if someone loves it, they will do your marketing
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work for you.
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No sum of money available will be as powerful or as efficient a sales tool as someone who
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loves what you make or do so much that they are willing to shout it from the rooftops
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with gusto.
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Not merely to tell others about it, but to convince them to climb aboard and join them
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on the love train.
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So forget the concept of word of mouth marketing.
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This is a stronger, more effective form called word of heart marketing.
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This is not just talking to people about a product or service, but dragging them to the
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altar where a clergy person is waiting to bond them to the product or service for life.
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This is why we strive for change.
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This is why we gather up the courage to take risks, big risks.
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In fact, the biggest risk you can take in business is not trying to make them love you.
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Love is the answer.
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The word is love.
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Love is all you need.
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And if you get sick of hearing me say it over and over and over, well, you can always buy
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a pair of Flair audios and drown me out.
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Before I go, if you've dug what you heard or if you hated it, let me know at label sessions
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on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or LinkedIn.
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And although I know I shouldn't, I will read every comment and promise to respond to those
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without spelling, grammar punctuation or other such nagging errors.
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So until next episode, see see a G you later.
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This podcast is brought to you by label sessions, the global platform that connects you to the
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best advice from the most interesting people around the world.
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00:13:03,660 --> 00:13:07,120
We work with brands to connect their people to true leaders, just like the people you
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hear on this podcast for live sessions of advice, mentorship, or sometimes to collaborate
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on ideas.
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To find out more, visit labelsessions.com and book in for a demo with our team.
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,240
This podcast is brought to you by Label Sessions, the global platform that connects you to the
2
00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:08,840
best advice from the most interesting people.
3
00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:12,600
And this exclusive series, entrepreneur and creative leader Andy Millman takes us through
4
00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:16,380
his views on creativity, curiosity and guts.
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00:00:16,380 --> 00:00:19,660
To find out more about Andy, listen to the Q&A listed in the show notes.
6
00:00:19,660 --> 00:00:30,520
To find out more about Label Sessions, visit Labelsessions.com.
7
00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:33,520
Hello.
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00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:34,520
Hello.
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00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:35,880
Can you hear me?
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00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:41,480
Okay, this is quite the dopey intro for this episode of the CCNG Podcast, but you'll understand
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00:00:41,480 --> 00:00:47,760
it's relevant soon thanks to yes, yes, yes, yes, yet another story.
12
00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:49,320
So here we go.
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00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:53,080
On the surface, this is a story of a pair of earplugs.
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00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:58,340
But once we go deeper, and believe me, we will, you'll discover it's really about something
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00:00:58,340 --> 00:01:00,600
more profound and important.
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00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:06,480
Ultimately, this story is about a word rarely discussed in business, even more rarely discussed
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in the MBA classroom, which is where I first uttered said word in a business context.
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We'll get to the word itself around the midpoint of this podcast.
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But for now, back to the earplugs.
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These earplugs are from a British company called Flare Audio.
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Flare Audio makes high-end listening devices, you know, speakers, headphones, earbuds and
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the like, sound delivering devices.
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The company jumped into the sound blockage space with its earplugs as a related side
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project.
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I found these earplugs, or perhaps they found me, via a Facebook ad.
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So I started this adventure somewhat skeptical.
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From background, the year was 2017 and I had two dogs at home.
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I'm a light sleeper and my Beagle Spaniel mix named Shady was a big snorer and thus
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00:01:56,820 --> 00:02:00,000
kept me up at night.
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00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:05,560
I had tried all sorts of other noise reduction products like white noise machines, those
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awful orange foam earplugs you buy in pharmacies and more, all to no avail.
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So I decided to take a chance on a pair of $87 Flare Audio sponge rubber tipped titanium
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earplugs that, because of titanium's purported density, promised to block out all sleep disturbing
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sounds.
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And lo and behold, ha ha, the vividly branded Flare Isolate Pro Titaniums delivered the
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goods.
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If indeed silence is golden, then titanium silence is a whole other level of peace and
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quiet.
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I once jokingly called them the next best thing to be death.
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Over the years I must have sold, I don't know, 75 pairs of these Flare Isolates as well as
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their smaller offspring named Sleep, that's with three E's.
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I sold them to friends whose better halves were snorers and probably saved some marriages
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in the process.
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I sold them to musician friends and concert goers who were worried about having their
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eardrums blown out by band volume.
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I once sold 25 pairs in one sitting to a boutique hotel owner in Cambodia who was losing guests
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due to raucous late night merriment at the nearby village.
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So why did I do it?
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Was I a traveling salesperson for Flare Audio's earplugs?
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No, there were no rewards, nor bonuses, nor affiliate marketing plans, nor loyalty points,
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nor free swag of any kind.
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Nope, I never got a commission or even an acknowledgement from the company thanking
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me for being an unofficial spokesperson.
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Other than my multiple orders from them, they still have no idea how devoted I am to them.
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So why did I do it?
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Why did I do it?
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Well, I did it partially, partially, please note, because the product was great.
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Unlike so many other products that disappoint or drown in their own hype, Flare Audio's
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earplugs delivered on their promise.
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But still, many products do the same, right?
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Many products actually work.
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So why the personal fervor over the Flare Audio's?
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Because I fell in love with them.
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Flares that somewhat businessly awkward word for you, love.
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The Flares were a combination of truth in marketing, sleek design and clever packaging.
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I loved using them.
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I loved the benefit they delivered.
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I loved the way the replacement foam tips came off with a little pop and slid on with
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that gorgeous little click.
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I loved the way they fit in their lustrous metal tube case and the way the top screwed
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tight so snugly.
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I didn't just like the earplugs.
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Once again, I fell in love with them.
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The difference is crucial.
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Love makes you do crazy things like shill for an overseas brand of earplugs every time
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you hear someone remotely mention they have a problem sleeping or with excessive noise
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or with a mate that snores.
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Love means that you're committed.
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Love means you want to spend inordinate amounts of time together.
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Love gets you to even wear the ring or in business terms, the brand in so many different
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ways.
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Love also expands your extremes.
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In other words, it makes the highs higher and makes you more forgiving of the lows to
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the point of often just ignoring them.
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Hence the well-known expression, love is blind.
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And although this sounds somewhat obtuse in a business slash marketing context, but love
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is the answer to all business woes.
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When I would bring up this concept in my McGill class, my students would either snicker or
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look at me befuddlingly.
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They weren't buying it at all.
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But then I would ask them, okay, who here has been in love?
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Better still, I would ask, who's in love now?
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Then I would ask whoever raised their hands to describe the feeling.
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Well, whatever they said was kind of irrelevant because what really, really mattered was their
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smiles, their body language, the change in tone of their voices, the warmth they exuded
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and passed on to those sitting close to them.
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And after letting the students bathe in this tsunami of positivity and comfort, I would
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ask one more question.
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So why would you not want to make your customers and clients feel this way about you?
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So how do you do it?
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How do you get people to love you?
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Like in any relationship, and that's what we're trying to build here with all this love,
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don't you think?
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Like in any relationship, a good start is to listen attentively.
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These days, your customer has so many ways to make themselves heard, to not be attuned
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to what they're saying about you and to what they're saying about your competition would
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be a crime of ignorance of the greatest magnitude.
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So start by listening.
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And when it's your turn to talk, do so authentically.
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If he wants to hear corporate jargon or obviously legally pre-scrubbed bullshit anymore, it's
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a major turnoff.
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Here's an example of authentic talk from another company I've come to love, namely Wild Gym.
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I'm obsessive with my workout regime and over the years I've ordered some great gear from
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these guys.
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During the COVID lockdown, I wanted to order some equipment upgrades, but I found that
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their shipping costs were excessive, costing just about as much as the stuff I wanted to
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buy.
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So I wrote a brief email complaint about the costs on a Tuesday at 7.07 PM.
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The very next day at 9.31 AM, I received this email from Kim Breemeyer, an actual real person.
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Hi Andy, so sorry for the high costs.
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All of the couriers have basically raised their fees to recoup some of their COVID costs
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and manage the super high volume that continues.
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We don't charge any extra handling fees or anything like that, it's just the cost of
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what the couriers charge us to ship stuff at this point, unfortunately.
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It's gotten pretty crazy.
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I am only 10 miles across the Canadian border, and it costs me $35 to send something that
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weighs a few ounces.
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It used to be $15 a year ago.
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The weight and dimensions also impact the shipping cost.
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The barefoot mat is the one that tends to be the most costly, that is because it is
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an odd shaped box, the mat ships rolled up, and because of that, they can't pallet it
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like a normal cube shaped box, so they charge extra to ship it.
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Can you believe it?
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An informative personable explanation that told it like it is, in the most human manner.
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Compare this to the standard brush-offs or chat GPT robo scripts you've gotten, that
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is if companies you reach out to even actually respond to you.
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Is it any wonder I keep ordering from Wild Gym and keep talking about them, even now?
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Another way to inspire love is to be so visually appealing that other people will want to wear
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your brand out loud.
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One of the credos I use when it comes to consulting companies on how to choose a visual identity
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is the following three-pronged test.
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You know you've got a love-inspiring logo when people would 1.
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Wear it on a t-shirt or a cap, 2.
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Have it inked on them as a tattoo or 3. have it painted as a mural.
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Hit all those three targets and watch out for flying hearts.
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Again, like in any relationship, gift-giving can also spark, or at least enhance, love.
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Think back to any really cool free sample, worthy coupon, flight upgrade or surprise
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bonus you were the recipient of, and you'll get my point on this.
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Finally, and almost in contrast with the gifting example, love thrives on scarcity.
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An overabundance of emotive outpouring will actually leave customers cold and you out
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in it.
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I always like the analogy comparing love to nitroglycerin.
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A little bit can jumpstart a heart, too much will blow up a city block.
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So spread the love, but not too much.
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Always leave them wanting more.
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Perhaps the best part of love is that it's an exponential magnet.
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Love attracts other love.
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If you love what you do or who you work for or the project you're working on, it will
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make it easier for others to love you back.
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I can still recall the telltale words of Mark Zuckerberg about the problems he was having
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getting his Horizons and Metaverse project off the ground.
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Apparently, people working on the project hated it, and in an article in the Financial
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Times Mark bemoaned, If we don't love it, how can we expect our users to love it?
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All this said, love should be the objective of every marketing director of every product
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and service around, be it some sexy consumer item, a sleepy component part or roughest
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of raw materials.
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No matter what the product or service, if someone loves it, they will do your marketing
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work for you.
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No sum of money available will be as powerful or as efficient a sales tool as someone who
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loves what you make or do so much that they are willing to shout it from the rooftops
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with gusto.
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Not merely to tell others about it, but to convince them to climb aboard and join them
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on the love train.
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So forget the concept of word of mouth marketing.
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This is a stronger, more effective form called word of heart marketing.
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This is not just talking to people about a product or service, but dragging them to the
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altar where a clergy person is waiting to bond them to the product or service for life.
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This is why we strive for change.
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This is why we gather up the courage to take risks, big risks.
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In fact, the biggest risk you can take in business is not trying to make them love you.
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Love is the answer.
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The word is love.
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Love is all you need.
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And if you get sick of hearing me say it over and over and over, well, you can always buy
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a pair of Flair audios and drown me out.
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Before I go, if you've dug what you heard or if you hated it, let me know at label sessions
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on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or LinkedIn.
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And although I know I shouldn't, I will read every comment and promise to respond to those
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without spelling, grammar punctuation or other such nagging errors.
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So until next episode, see see a G you later.
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This podcast is brought to you by label sessions, the global platform that connects you to the
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best advice from the most interesting people around the world.
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We work with brands to connect their people to true leaders, just like the people you
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hear on this podcast for live sessions of advice, mentorship, or sometimes to collaborate
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on ideas.
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To find out more, visit labelsessions.com and book in for a demo with our team.
