TheInquisitor Podcast with Marcus Cauchi

Prof Ben Guttman: Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication: Embrace Minimalism and Unleash Your True Brilliance

Discover how simplicity can be the key to unlocking your inner sophistication and brilliance.

In this episode of TheInquisitor Podcast, join Marcus Cauchi as he interviews Ben Guttmann, a marketing executive and professor at Baruch College. They dive into the topic of clear communication and its importance in messaging and design.

Ben shares insights from his book, "Simply Put: Why Clear Communication Matters and How to Achieve It," where he outlines five principles:

• beneficial
• focused
• salient
• empathetic
• minimal

Do you waffle? Is your communication confusing?

The meaning of your communication means nothing if the other person cannot receive it or understand it. YOU are responsible for making sure your message is fit for purpose.

 

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If you want to raise your performance to the role you are in or prepare for your next role, take a few minutes to complete this Selling Strategy Audit, then book your free 30 minute consult with me.

If YOU want to talk about working with as your coach we can discuss that but I won't be selling you coaching.

You'll learn something you didn't know about yourself, something you can act on and improve within 30 days and how you affect your buyer's perception of risk and how they perceive you - you know the stalls you can't explain - the buyers who ghost you - deals that drift.

https://mailchi.mp/laughs-last.com/satp

Happy selling.

 

Dan Pfister: Winbacks Deliver 200% Higher LTV, 5x Win Rate

Dan Pfister says "When you winback a customer, their lifetime value more than doubles."

Dan is my guest on ep.508 of #TheInquisitor podcast

• Higher ROI due to significantly lower marketing and sales costs required. This improves overall profitability.

• More predictable and stable revenue stream from reactivating known customers versus unpredictable new prospects.

• Increased customer retention and lifetime value as #winbacks are more likely to reorder than one-time buyers. This cultivates a more durable customer base over time.

• Ability to highly target winback campaigns using past customer data and insights, improving conversion rates versus unfocused prospecting.

• Lower risk profile since value has already been proven with past customers, unlike acquiring unknown prospects.

Contact Dan via linkedin.com/in/danmpfister

Website: winbacklabs.com (Company)

Email: dan@winbacklabs.com

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Looking to gain an outside perspective on your sales approach? Take my quick 10-minute Sales Strategy Audit to receive personalised insights and recommendations. You can grab a free 30 minutes in my calendar for a detailed debrief once you complete it.

I'll give you my analysis and we'll look at the unintended effects of your current sales strategies through an unbiased lens. You'll discover new opportunities and blindspots.

• Increase conversion rates now
• Grow pipeline faster
• Land bigger deals
• Shorten the sales cycle
• Beat quotas sustainably

https://mailchi.mp/laughs-last.com/satp. 

 

Nicky Parker: Listening Your Way to Higher Profits, Improved Retention and Expansion

In this episode, Nicky Parker immerses us in the world of customer interviews, unveiling their significance for executives seeking genuine insights. Beyond relying on metrics like Net Promoter Score, Nicky emphasises the need for structured conversations, cautioning against the limitations of digital surveys that often capture only extreme sentiments.

Discovering the real meaning behind customer data is an art, and Nicky underscores the transformative power of third-party agencies in turning disgruntled customers into raving fans. Third-party involvement takes emotion out of the equation and fosters objective discussions, ensuring a more nuanced understanding.

For those opting to conduct interviews themselves, Nicky advises keen observation for unspoken cues, highlighting the importance of what customers don't say.

Buyer and customer interviews have the potential to break down internal barriers and unveil unexpected product uses, providing invaluable insights for business growth.

Nicky advocates letting customers take the lead in conversations. Post interview, sharing findings becomes a crucial step, making customers feel heard and valued.

Offboarding interviews are a key opportunity for learning and improvement.

Customer understanding, Nicky asserts, is a collective responsibility, urging board members to take an active role. True customer-centric success involves empathy, walking in your customer’s shoes to really understand their struggles.  Nicky explains how focus groups can really help refine your message.

The episode concludes with a thought-provoking question.

 

Nicky can be contacted at LinkedIn

or via email: info@bangconsulting.co.uk

 

Test your Sales Strategy: https://bit.ly/SalesStrategyTest

Dr Raymona Lawrence: A Conversation About Diversity, Profitability and Leadership

Leaders, listen up! An inclusive culture is your shortcut to success. Nothing fluffy about it, but it does mean you're going to want become OK with difference because of the incomparable value delivered by teams of diverse thinkers with range, and breadth of life experience. Your job and the job of your managers will be harder to begin with as you adapt.

When you surrender to the idea that the right mix of people looking at a problem, working on projects, selling, buying, running operations, leading and managing works so much better if your team can think AS your customer. A fraction are genuinely aligned around the customer and the outcomes they intend to rent. Fewer still play nicely with others to ensure the customer gets the best possible outcome and their risk is reduced to zero or as close to. A smaller fraction would be willing to recommend a competitor if it was better for the customer. And their leadership will probably not be happy if the experience of my clients is anything to go by! But the results are well worth it ...

Too many companies leave talent and treasure on the table by ignoring diversity. Just like top teams scout far and wide for recruits, you need all hands on deck to win consistently, repeatedly, predictably in today's uncertain, fast paced, ultra competitive market. A diverse team often sees what a homogenous group misses - they connect with a wider customer base and bring in more revenue - but the best thing is they catch the negative consequences one department's success inflict elsewhere in the value chain. This can give you back 1-4 days PER MANAGER and PER SALESPERSON per week. How?

Listen to Raymona and me discuss:

• The importance of understanding different perspectives and backgrounds
• Common challenges with D&I, such as lack of focus on culture change and middle management training
• Recruiting for culture add vs culture fit and screening in vs screening out
• The importance of identity and the previously confusing world of pronouns while maintaining civility in discussions
• Overcoming fear and bias through self-awareness, interaction and difficult conversations
• Aligning D&I with business goals like maximising talent and customer connections

The business case for diversity is a no-brainer, but most pay lip service to it or miss it entirely by confusing a better future for everyone with political squabbling. Forget labels, focus on our shared humanity. Make understanding each other a priority. Diverse perspectives lead to better decisions and more innovation - talents you can't afford to leave on the bench!

For those facing glass ceilings, developing self-awareness is your game-changer. Know thyself and seek out of uncomfortable but important conversations to strengthen crucial skills. Emphasise common goals over perceived differences. With the right coaching, middle managers can remove  barriers facing most of their peers in the competition. 

In today's marketplace, diversity dictates your fate.

Will you be victims of your own blindspots or victors with vision? The choice is yours - but choosing inclusion unlocks unlimited potential for your people and profits. The winning team has a place for everyone's talents. Will you build one?

Connect with Raymona via linkedin.com/in/drraymonahlawrence.

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If you'd like to learn what you can do to improve your results in the next 30 days

• growing your pipeline
• raising your prices with confidence and no reduction in close rate, accelerating deal velocity
• maximise your close rate

Click here to complete the Sales Gap Audit. If you want the detailed report and some cold hard truths we need to talk it through so you don't misinterpret what it tells you No charge, 30 minutes.

Obviously, I make my living through coaching so it'll come up once. If you want to talk about working with me as your coach, that's your call. I won't pressure you. If you ask me, I'll happily discuss it.

We'll spend the last 5-10 minutes discussing next steps - what you can do on your own, and what's possible with my help. Then you can decide "No thanks", "Not now" (I will ask what needs to change or happen for us to reengage and when to avoid hope, assumption or guessing), or "Yes" please and we discuss what you would consider an excellent win within 30 days of us starting to work together for our trial engagement of 3 sessions (£1500+VAT if applicable).

And you can say no at any time if you don't think we're a good fit. I'll do the same so as not to waste either your time or mine. Is that reasonable?

Sales Gap Audit - https://mailchi.mp/laughs-last.com/satp

Al McBride: Why Good Negotiation Rarely Happens At The End of the Sale?

Listen to #negotiationcoach Al McBride on ep 503 of #TheInquisitorPodcast with Marcus Cauchi.

Join Al and Marcus as their fascinating discussion finds connections between hard-earned lessons. Al shares how dealing art taught him the power of emotion in sales and the quirky characters that schooled him. "Sell hope, not objects," one eccentric advised.

Building on decades of experience, Al explains how truly internalizing your value is key to confidently assuaging customers' every concern. "If they sense doubt in your pitch, the deal is doomed," he explains. Listen closely as Marcus draws out priceless insights, like how to make prospects feel fully understood without coming off as disingenuous.

Hear Al's best practices for establishing trust and meeting both sides' needs from the start. Discover how to understand your counterpart fully so cooperation can create value for all. As one client said, "With Al's help, agreements feel effortless - he has a gift for joint problem-solving."

Absorb Al's wisdom on keeping discussions solution-focused, not positional or simply transactional. Learn to see beyond initial demands to hidden interests, find value that transcends cost, unlocking innovative options where compromise is unnecessary. He trusts that serving mutual interests consistently creates common ground and dry land upon which to build bridges for the long-term.

Contact Al via linkedin.com/in/alistairmcbride

Websites:

• almcbride.com/category/podcast/ (Dealing With Goliath Podcast)
• almcbride.com (Coaching & Consulting)
• almcbride.com/one-to-one-coaching/ (Schedule a Call With Me)

Email: al@almcbride.com

Twitter: AlMcBride

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If you want to grab time in my calendar for a coaching call complete the Selling Aptitude Test. You'll probably learn something you didn't know about yourself and at least one way you can improve your performance in the next 30 days.

https://mailchi.mp/laughs-last.com/satp

Happy selling!

The AI Wild West: Can Laws and Ethics Tame the Frontier? with Mark Consigli

Mark Consigli is a coprorate lawyer with decades of experience and a particular interest in the Law and AI. Listen to the implications and opportunities presented by this fab new tech we don't understand!

This isn't our first rodeo with potentially dangerous new tech. The printing press, industrial revolution - all sparked alarm about instruments that might unbridle an underclass.

But stifling innovation is rarely the wisest solution. Curbing AI may numb humanity's progress - which ethically speaking, seems questionable.

Still, some control is prudent. Without reins, AI could become a raging bull bearing down on civilisation. Regulations should focus on nefarious applications, not neutering the tech itself. If you've used AI of late and ask it anything that might offend, you will have a hell of a time getting the answers you want if it triggers the "I'm offended" switch. I write to offend, challenge, provoke and it's a pain in the ask not questions!

Banning deepfakes? Reasonable. Demanding open-source models? Dodgy. Transparency welcomingly weeds out biases. Opaqueness rightly raises eyebrows. But a model's IP has pecuniary value. Are transparency demands ethical? Are the LLM creators ripping off creators?

Give people agency over data-privacy, sure. But don't be daft - zero risk means zero innovation. Trial and error is innovation's bosom buddy. Any of you Web 3.0 or crypto folks got anythng to say about this?

Education counteracts blind AI faith. Remember - garbage in, garbage out. AI isn't a soothsaying sage - it's a data-crunching calculator. A very obedient 8 year old who does what you tell it. If you responses aren't good THAT's ON YOU and your terrible questions!

Involve all stakeholders when hatching regulations - technocrats, academics, ethicists, lawmakers. Deliberately balance. Reactiveness is reasoning's Achilles heel.

Uphold ethics and principles, don't throttle progress. Freedom of expression needn't foster mayhem. This is a technical tightrope, not a legislative see-saw.

Walk wisely. AI could either augur our ascent or trigger our downfall. The choice is ours. Choose judiciously. And wait for Quantum and Ai to go together! BOOOM!

Contact Mark via linkedin.com/in/mark-consigli

Website: calendly.com/mark_consigli/30min (Company)

Twitter: ConsigliMark

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Are you curious to learn whether your strengths are your strengths and how you stack up? For 4 listeners who take the NEW Sales Aptitude Test, you will get a chance to guest on the show on 31 October for our Hallowe'en Raise Your Dead Deal Fest 2023. Click now to secure your spot on the show.

Are You Committing Marketing Malpractice? Diagnose the Problem and Discover the Cure with Aaron Hassen

Ep. 501: Today's Big Idea is  ... Effective, sustainable marketing requires strategic thinking, customer focus, and adapting to changing contexts. Marketers should align with sales, build trust, and provide timely, relevant value. No shit Sherlock ... but how many of you are doing anything even resembling what Aaron talks about.

Aaron Hassen has been at the sharp end of marketing for the past 19 years since he left the military.

He advocates taking the hard path:

Align your marketing strategy tightly with sales to deliver an exceptional unified customer experience.

Listen intently to identify your own blindspots. Perhaps an over-reliance on metrics versus strategy or you have a feature you love so much you have to tell them about it, even if it means talking your way out of the sale?

Aaron reminds you that buyers change, their stage in their business lifecycle differs and unless you adapt, you will become irrelevant and be dropped. Embrace new contexts and buyer behaviours. Imagine the customer's emotional perspective.

Nurture personal branding and networks to boost leadership. Engage frontline staff for insights.

Determine the brand purpose that resonates emotionally. Diagnose the problems to address through organisational alignment.

We dig into these blindspots:

• Not realizing how specialized and metrics-driven marketing has become, losing strategic value
• Focusing too much on short-term results vs long-term brand building
• Not aligning marketing initiatives tightly with sales and the rest of the organization
• Not adapting strategies and messaging to fit changing economic contexts
• Over-relying on technology like AI without a human focus

Contact Aaron on LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/aaronhassen

Websites

• aaronhassen.com (Company)
• aaronhassen.com/expert-interviews (Portfolio)

Twitter

• reviewsbyaaron

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Are you curious to learn whether your strengths are your strengths and how you stack up? For 4 listeners who take the NEW Sales Aptitude Test, you will get a chance to guest on the show on Hallowe'en 2023. Click now. 

Ep 500: Ask, Listen, Outclass your Competition - a Masterclass in Empathic Questioning

Ep 500:A Question of

Ask, Listen, Outclass Your Competition.

Ep 500: The Art of Asking Questions - A Masterclass in Curiosity 

In this special 500th episode, Marcus Cauchi shares his a few of his best insights and techniques for asking powerful questions. Through coaching real sellers and founders live, he demonstrates how carefully crafted questions can uncover obstacles, open minds, and drive conversations forward.  

What You'll Learn From This Episode

- Observe how Marcus listens intently and focuses on understanding the other person's real problem before jumping to solutions. 
- Notice how he peels back layers of confusion by asking simple but thoughtful follow-up questions. 
- See how he builds trust and credibility by not applying pressure or giving unsolicited advice.
- Learn several of Marcus' frameworks for crafting open-ended, imaginative questions that provoke creative thinking.
- Discover how patience and curiosity are key to guiding people to their own breakthroughs and decisions.

"I've carried my sales team's quota the last 2 months by applying tactics I learned from this podcast. I recently closed two of my biggest deals ever ($400k and $300k) thanks to insights from The Inquisitor." Ed, Account Executive, Fintech, Mid-Market Sales

Thank You!

Thank you to you, our loyal listener for supporting the growth of #TheInquisitor over 500 episodes and rapidly over 180,000 downloads! Suzanne and I ask a favour, that you share this episode with others who could benefit from improving their questioning skills.

And please give the show a review, good or bad, witty or serious. We depend on you sharing the show. We don't charge, we don't carry advertising - please support us by telling others. And talking to us about what you learn, what you want to learn. This is a great adventure we share - have your say and tell us what you need, how we can make the show even better, more useful. And recommend great guests, please.

Also check out Marcus' coaching for more in-depth learning on powerful strategies to immediately improve your sales conversations and remove friction from your buyer's decision to buy from you.

P.S. Want to know something about yourself and your selling that you don't know now? Complete the new and vastly improved Modern Selling Aptitude Test v3.0 - Click here to get your SATv3.0: 

Book a free 30 minute results review and I will share your #BuyerSafetyScore and your #PipelineCertaintyScore, and help you pinpoint one obstacle over which you have control that is holding you back.

Tired of Hustling? How to Do Less and Earn More Using Clever Systems with Simon Severino

Simon Severino lives by the ethos, "Fast as a cheetah, Happy as a dog!". He has been transforming companies with StrategySprints(TM) and elegantly simple tools to remove your risk and uncertainty, and to drive momentum. 

Simon Severino as a specialist in helping entrepreneurs succeed by getting to the core of what makes their business work. He explains that they will discuss topics like using weekly sprints to rapidly test what's working, strategies to simplify sales and marketing, tools for better financial management, and avoiding common blindspots.

For 21 years, Simon has helped entrepreneurs crush it in the market. He loves solving the big questions and intellectual challenges of building a business. After working with big brands and agencies, he now runs a super lean company coaching solo- and micropreneurs to get their lives back and work just 6 focused hours per day.

Key Conversation Points:

• Using weekly sprints to identify what's working vs. not working helps focus time on high-value activities. Refining your offer also simplifies marketing and sales.You never waste longer than a week before adjusting if it isn't working

• Smart cost-cutting and the entrepreneur's budget provide visibility into money flows to inform decisions and reduce expenses.

• Defining your strategic value around helping clients prepare for the future sets you apart as a niche expert.

• Increasing sales through frequency, conversion rates, and pricing is achievable through small optimisations.

• Building a lean team with systems, software and freelancers allows scaling without more people.

• Creating clear sales pipeline stages, from engaged prospect to proposal (remember your proposals are STATEMENTS OF WORK, never works of fiction penned by you, the author. Your buy, streamlines the process.

• Blind spots like lack of self-awareness and financial literacy hold entrepreneurs back from success.

• Happiness comes from focusing on what you control daily, weekly, and monthly. Excuses like lack of time are lies we tell ourselves.

Contact Simon via linkedin.com/in/simonseverino

Websites

• strategysprints.com (Company)
• strategysprints.com/love (Portfolio)
• calendly.com/strategysprint/discovery-call (Personal)

Email

severino@strategysprints.com

Twitter

• simonseverino

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Are you curious to learn whether your strengths are your strengths and how you stack up? For 4 listeners who take the NEW Sales Aptitude Test, you will get a chance to guest on the show on Hallowe'en 2023. Click now.

Unleashing the Power of Mental Toughness with Anthony Taylor

Discover the transformative potential of mental toughness in leadership and team building. Tune in to his insightful podcast with Anthony Taylor, a recognised expert in mental toughness and author, to delve into the art of cultivating resilient leaders and high-performing teams.

Understand the power of mental toughness, the balance of sensitivity and toughness, and the tools to build mental fitness. Dive deep into the world of empathetic leadership, mental fitness, and innovative recruitment strategies.

Take your leadership skills to the next level and meet the challenges of the modern work environment head-on. Ready to start your journey? [Book a coaching session with Marcus](https://calendly.com/marcuscauchi).

Mental toughness is more than just a buzzword; it's a critical personality trait that dictates how we respond to stress, pressure, and challenges. It's not about being macho; it's about the power of the mind. This podcast will guide you through the complexity of mental toughness, its benefits, and its impact on performance.

The MTQ+ test offers a glimpse into people's mental responses in varying situations, can be an invaluable tool in recruitment, leadership development, and team building. Cultivating mental fitness requires understanding one's mental toughness profile, developing emotional intelligence, and fostering good mental health through exercise, healthy eating, and volunteering.

Being a good leader is not about controlling but about influencing others with praise, empowerment, and delegation. Remember, setbacks should not affect one's self-concept or self-worth. Instead, they should be seen as opportunities for growth and learning.

Contact Anthony via LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/ant-taylor-mentaltoughness

Mobile 07771 892479

Web www.threefifty9.com 

Email anthony@threefifty9.com

Twitter: AntTaylor72

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Ready to transform your leadership skills and create high-performing teams that thrive in the face of pressure? [Book your coaching session with Marcus Cauchi today](https://calendly.com/marcuscauchi).