sales

051 - Alexa, How Can Brands Can Sell and Engage More? Bob Stolzberg, Voice XP

Plot twist: how could Alexa hurt Amazon sales?

Guest Bob Stolzberg, Founder of Voice XP, and Emily dug into a key question about where e-commerce is headed: can brands stand as independent ecommerce channels while reaching customers through Amazon Alexa? 

Furthermore, will branding really matter in an increasingly AI assisted future? (Bob and Emily disagree here. And we’d love to hear Brian Roemmele’s take!)

Bob Stolzberg, Founder Voice XP, Alexa Champion

Bob Stolzberg, Founder Voice XP, Alexa Champion

The convenience factor of a single voice command could reinforce brand loyalty. If you can have a company call you back or send you a car or a pizza hands-free, you might just go direct to them and never shop around (and that could be through their Alexa skill). Or maybe the voice assistant of the future does the research for us and we don’t bother remembering brands anymore.

Personal assistants will help us buy things and it doesn’t have to be direct from Amazon. Ecommerce businesses can build voice experiences directing users to buy direct from them (e.g., via text message or multimodal touch screen that opens a separate page). Think about this for DTC (direct to consumer) like a Casper or M Gemi.

Topics in this episode:

  • What you can do today to improve customer experiences for shopping and getting information

  • How voice will impact the future of advertising

  • How you can create a custom skill which lets your customers request a call-back from you through Alexa

  • How to engage people with your voice experiences - omnichannel marketing and voice as part of the funnel

Get in touch with Bob Stolzberg:

Twitter: @BobStolzberg

voicexp.com

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046 - How NLP Improves Your Communication and Marketing - Corina Frankie

NLP skills enhance your communication, performance, and relationships. How can we apply these principles to designing voice applications and marketing?

#Voicefirst terminology note: when we say “NLP skills” in this episode, we are not referring to natural language processing or Alexa skills, unless specified.

Corina and Emily discuss Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) in relation to two applications:

  1. From an introspective or self improvement lens, NLP can help you update the operating system of the mind to be more effective in communicating especially in business and sales.

  2. From a marketing and voice technology perspective, a deep dive into language processing is paramount to build effective voice experiences for consumers. As we design more experiences based on voice with assistants like Alexa, Google, Siri, and Bixby, marketers and designers have to harness the power of language more effectively than ever.

Corina Frankie, CEO & Founder of Brand Besties and Certified NLP Coach

Corina Frankie, CEO & Founder of Brand Besties and Certified NLP Coach

Show notes and timestamps:

  • 02:25 “NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) is collection of practical techniques, skills, and strategies that lead to excellence.” -Corina

  • NLP helps businesses align their values and organization to build rapport with clients and staff and better understand needs and motivations of their customers

  • 03:45 Effective questions lead someone to the answer they may already have

  • 04:10 Language matters - how we communicate and interact with ourselves and others

  • 04:30 NLP helps us understand how the brain works: how do we process information on the inside that comes to us from outside events or experiences? The internal representations we make about an outside event are not the event itself.

  • 05:00 What does it mean if your boss gives you more work than your coworkers? The internal representation (processing) is not necessarily the reality of the event.

  • 06:00 How do we create the thinking we have? Where are customers, clients, and staff coming from in specific situations?

  • 06:20 How do we get someone to want to buy something?

Corina Frankie is a speaker and coach based in Austin, Texas. She specializes in NLP training.

Corina Frankie is a speaker and coach based in Austin, Texas. She specializes in NLP training.

  • 06:40 Everyone has a pain or need. A business tries to solve it. But everyone sees their pain differently.

  • 07:00 Car buying example: do you see, hear, or learn about the car by grasping it?

  • 07:20 Visual, auditory, or kinesthetic apply to a buying decision - are you applying these across messaging to align with your customer?

  • 08:00 Mismatch of enthusiasm and energy (current model of someone’s world) is jarring and can ruin a sale or negotiation

  • 08:40 We are hardwired to mirror each other - this helps

  • 10:00 With Alexa skills or Google actions and other voice apps brands need a consistent, holistic sonic identity to match the rest of their positioning

  • 11:00 NLP 4-Mat System:

    The basic premise of the 4-Mat system is that we all have different learning styles. Some people are motivated by Why? questions. They want to know why they are listening to this talk. Others by What? questions; they want information…and probably lots of it! The How? people want to get on and do an exercise, get their hands on it and try it. Then there are the What if? people who want to know how this material applies to their life, workplace or environment.

  • 12:10 The Charisma Pattern plays on kinesthetic, visual, and auditory pattern) - with a voice skill, how do you create a feeling or experience with the way you speak?

  • 13:20 Corina demonstrates slowing down and dropping her voice- like the recommendation for the late night FM radio DJ voice from Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss (highly recommend this book! Click here to order on Amazon.)

  • 14:02 People will tell you their primary representational system if you just listen to their language - pay attention to predicates and verbs people use

  • 14:45-16:04 Corina asks clients their vision for an experience she will create with Brand Besties - she listens for their predicates to find out if they are visual or kinesthetic so she can close the sale by speaking their language, e.g. “Picture this…” vs “How does this feel?…”

  • 16:20 Feeling predicates sheet (PDF)

corina-frankie-speaking-NLP-austin-flashpool.jpg

Connect with Corina Frankie:

 

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043 - Mics and Podcasting - Ben Thompkins, Blue Microphones

Guest: Ben Thompkins, National Sales Manager- Pro Sales, Blue Microphones

Topics:

  • Ben runs professional sales for Blue in North and South America, has been with Blue ten years

  • He handles B2B business, distribution, and educational sales

  • How does Blue differentiate in the microphone industry?

  • Blue’s unique history (very music focused, podcasting has been recent)

  • Started as a high end microphone company (many of their mics are still $6,000-$10,000)

  • Took premium sound and made it affordable (see their podcasting mics)

  • Blue’s marketing stands out - fun names like Yeti and Snowball <— please use my link if you want to buy a snowball, this helps support the show!

  • 4:34 Story: Snowball was originally called Softball - founder story

  • Softball (Snowball) was built for GarageBand, per Apple’s request- a simple USB mic

  • Founder Skipper turned them down

  • Emily used Snowball on her first podcast (throwback: The Digital Dive Podcast)

blue-snowball-microphone

  • Hear about podfading (half of podcasts fade after 6 episodes) in Emily’s episode with Phoebe Mroczek

  • 8:10 Emily asks: are people ready for a more passive media experience (e.g. podcasting and voice - audio content) due to social media overload?

  • "Half the picture is sound" - George Lucas on the importance of audio in film

  • High quality audio is paramount for communication and marketing

  • Bad audio on YouTube is worse than bad visuals

  • Blue was acquired by Logitech for $117 million

  • Ben is seeing a trend of XLR mics, not just USB mics (XLR is used at major music recording studios)

  • If you’re paying for an expensive computer and Alienware, it makes sense to upgrade your audio too

  • Video games are part of his market - gamers are buying nicer mics

  • Joe Rogan uses a broadcast mic

  • People are spending more money on higher quality mics

  • Ben is seeing a consumer purchasing trend with XLR mics, not just USB mics (XLR is used at major music recording studios)

  • If you’re paying for an expensive computer and Alienware, it makes sense to upgrade your audio too (gaming)

  • Video games are part of his market - gamers are buying nicer mics and willing to pay

  • Example- Joe Rogan uses a broadcast mic

Ben with Chino Moreno, Deftones singer. “We all had the same music manager for a bit. Alice in Chains and Deftones are still with them but I’m a mic guy now.” - Ben Thompkins

Ben with Chino Moreno, Deftones singer. “We all had the same music manager for a bit. Alice in Chains and Deftones are still with them but I’m a mic guy now.” - Ben Thompkins