How to Become the Most Known and Trusted Brand in Your Market: A Roadmap to Endless Customers with Marcus Sheridan

0:01Light that spark fire nation JLD here and welcome to entrepreneurs on fire the only daily show interviewing the world's top entrepreneurs seven days a week. Today, we'll be breaking down how to become the most known and trusted brand in your market, a roadmap to endless customers. To drop these vibe bombs, I brought Marcus Sheridan into EO Fire Studios. Marcus is the author of They Ask, You Answer, and Endless Customers, a world-renowned communication expert and captivating keynote speaker. And I can tell you, I have experienced it. He is captivating in Fire Nation. Today, we'll be talking about how it's just getting harder to acquire new customers.

0:38We'll talk about why, what's contributing to these struggles, what to do about it, the four pillars of a known and trusted brand, and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Marcus and our sponsors. Over 41 ,000 businesses have future approved their business with NetSuite by Oracle, the number one cloud ERP, bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR into one platform. Download the CFO's guide to AI and machine learning for free at netsuite.com slash fire. Do you have the right mentor in your life right now? For the first time in seven years, I'm opening up a few mentorship slots for individuals who know they need the guidance and accountability to take their business and life to the next level.

1:22Email me at john at eofire.com with a subject line mentor and we'll schedule a 15-minute chat to go over the program and see if it's the right fit for you. Marcus, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. I don't think your success has much to do with your schooling at all. I think it's, at this point in time, it's almost irrelevant. My favorite quote is, never let your schooling get in the way of your education. That's Mark Twain. Yeah. And I think we're going to start to see that more and more and more. Fire Nation, it's going to be a fire episode because we're talking about how to become the most known and trusted brand in your market.

2:05We're going to literally give you a roadmap to endless customers. And Marcus, let's be honest, entrepreneurs across all industries, they're finding that the acquisition of new customers is harder than it ever has been before. What is the reason for this? Really, it started with November 2022, right? When AI started to shock the world. and I remember as soon as ChatGPT came out, JLD, I was like, okay, you can't build your house on Google anymore. And for 25 years, that's what a lot of companies, a lot of marketers have done. But the reality is, I don't know if most people realize this, but Google only owns 18 % of all search because you got things like Amazon, you got things like YouTube, you got things like social media.

2:50And so that piece of the pie is only going to get smaller. And the other side to this is not only is SEO getting harder because essentially what's happening, you could be ranked number one on Google, bro. And it doesn't really mean much because you're three quarters of the way down the screen because you've got AI answers there. You've got a bunch of sponsored searches there. You've got other questions there. You've got all these things there that are just burying you. And over 50 % of all Google searches now don't end in a click, which is pretty crazy. We're seeing these massive shifts. And then you look at a lot of organizations, they've been working with agencies for years and they're saying, what am I getting for my money?

3:33It's like, I just don't feel like I'm working with this SEO company, I'm working with this marketing agency, but I'm just not seeing the results. And that's because marketing was a lot easier 10 years ago, bro. And it's much harder today. You gotta be a lot more creative. And that's why the movement is going towards owning your marketing in-house. I mean, that's really the future. I mean, I've got to raise my hand here. And now that I have a 16 month old son that, you know, we talked briefly about in the pre interview chat that we had, I Google a lot of stuff. I really do. I'm going to Google a lot.

4:04I'm using chat GPT a lot, but I'm using Google a lot. But what always happens at the top, this AI generated answer just appears. And that's what I use. I'm not scrolling down. I'm not hoping that, you know, some great mom's blog, which I'm sure has great answers, but I'm not trying to verify it. Like I'm just, I'm, you know, for better, for worse. I'm usually trusting this AI generated response that Google serving me at the very, I'm not even scrolling down to the sponsored ads. You know, I'm just seeing that there. So you got to realize fire nation things have changed. I mean, Marcus, I've seen you speak from stage so many times.

4:35You're captivating is the word for sure. And I can remember back in the day, like you were just sharing these amazing ways to generate leads based off of things you just can't do today. Things are changing. Luckily you're an innovator. You're changing with those times. I hope you too, Fire Nation are as well. So something is contributing to these struggles. I mean, obviously we've talked a little bit about AI already, but what the heck is it? Yeah. You know, part of it is AI, right? And people are getting their answers directly there. Part of it is the fact that the buyer is changing. The buyer is, you know, certainly an info vore today.

5:09They want more information than they've ever received, but they're going to different places than they've, more places than they've ever gone. I mean, if you look at Gen Z, they're not going to Google. I mean, where they're going is they're going to YouTube or they're going to TikTok and, you know, businesses that are sitting there saying, I just don't want to be there because that's not my thing. They're being left behind. You know, one thing I learned a long time ago, JLD, is that you can't allow your personal opinions to screw up smart business decisions. And a lot of people do that. And, you know, they say things like, well, you know, video is not my thing.

5:38Well, it just doesn't really matter whatsoever because the market has never showed up to your website and said, man, I'd really love to see a video on this, but yeah, I'm sure they're just not very good on video. So I'm going to give them a pass. That's not the way that it works. They want to see the dang video. And everything that's happening is just based on this idea of, I want it and I want it now. And, you know, if you look at where search is heading, search is heading in the same direction. Oh, yeah. Is they're trying to give you the best, most specific, relevant answer to your question as quickly as possible.

6:06The only company that isn't doing this as well as Google, right? Because Google still has, you know, they still have a lot of sponsored searches and they're still not wanting to let go of a previous business model. and that business model could get them in trouble in the future. I mean, honestly, I'm not, you know, one thing I know for certain is the platforms are going to come and go, but there's principles that are going to remain true. And that's what businesses need to understand. Fire Nation, you need to understand that things are changing and that's opportunity as well. Because if you can be ahead of the curve, if you can be at that forefront, you're going to be the person that succeeds while the people that don't want to embrace change are going to start to fail.

6:47Now, let's talk about specifically what we can do about it. I mean, in a little bit, we're going to talk about the four pillars of a known and trusted brand. But before we get there, what can we do about this market? I mean, we've talked about it a little bit, but those people who have relied on this traditional inbound marketing and this Google search, what can we do? Well, I mean, I think what we can't do is we can say, oh gosh, we're we're all screwed. You have to start with a specific mindset though. And the mindset has to be we cannot continue to follow the rules we've always been given within our space and expect to get extraordinary results going forward.

7:26So much of my new book, Endless Customers, which obviously we're talking about today, is about this idea of really one word, which is disruption and the willingness to break the rules because over the history of time and certainly of business, and you've seen this over and over again, JLD, in a lot of ways you did this within podcasting, which is the rule breakers become the rule makers and everybody else becomes the rule followers, period. You see it over and over again, but you got to be willing to break the rules, right? Airbnb broke some rules. Tesla broke the rules. You definitely broke the rules, right?

8:01Because you were doing stuff within podcasting that folks just hadn't done before. and like you know and if you do if you're doing it right people will say you can't do that and i know you've heard that before right and so that's when you know you're on the right track and i would you know i would argue for those that are listening is how often are your competitors saying you can't do that because if they're not saying that then you're probably not pushing the envelope like you should and you're certainly not innovating like you should so foremost is you have to say to yourself, am I willing to break the rules?

8:34Am I willing to be a disruptor? Or do I want to get the same results everybody else has gotten? And that's where it starts. Fire Nation, you can see why I love talking to Marcus. He just brings the heat in a valuable, concise, and meaningful, and genuine manner. And we are just getting started talking about this. Of course, we're talking all about the awesome things that Marcus has going on with endless customers and more when we get back from thanking our sponsors. There's a lot to consider when starting your own business and protecting your identity and privacy are top concerns. With Northwest Registered Agent, you get more privacy, more guidance, and more freedom to run your business from anywhere in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes.

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11:08netsuite.com slash fire. Marcus, we're back and here's the reality. Companies want to become a known and trusted brand, but the other reality is they're clueless on how to do it. So you have these four pillars of a known and trusted brand. Let's start with number one. Say what others aren't willing to say. I love this. The whole book is built around these four pillars of a known and trusted brand because trust is the one thing that'll never go away, my friends. And so if you build around trust, it doesn't matter what happened to platforms. And so the first pillar is say what others aren't willing to say.

11:48So I would ask anybody guys listening to this right now, what are you saying that your competitors are not? Just the other day, JLD, I met with a bunch of attorneys at a mastermind, and these were personal injury attorneys. And I know in that space, the two most fundamental questions that people that have had an injury have is, number one, how much is my case worth? And number two, what happens if I lose my case? Those are the two most important questions that people want to know. And I looked at this room and I said, how many of you in this room have addressed those two questions with anything online that you've produced?

12:29Nobody raised their hand. This is what you see over and over again with businesses around the world. You've got to be willing to address the thing that buyers want to know. So what do buyers want to know? Well, here's what we know. There's five fundamental subjects that every buyer wants to know. We talked about these in my first book, they ask you answer. We talk about them even more deeply in endless customers. And that is, as buyers, consumers, we're obsessed with how much is it? We want to know cost and price. Okay. We want to know what are the problems with it? The negatives, the fears, right?

13:01The concerns. So we'll call that problems. We want to know comparisons. We constantly compare things online. We want to know reviews, but we don't just want the good reviews. We want the good, the bad, and the ugly reviews. And finally, number five, we want to know the best, the best, the most, the top, et cetera. So cost, problems, comparisons, reviews, and best. That's what we call the big five, John. And most people, most companies do not address these fundamental subjects that buyers want to know. And because of that, they never become that voice of trust. They don't stand out from a search perspective.

13:34They don't stand out from an AI recommendations perspective. If you want to become known, if you want to become trusted, again, you got to be willing to say what others aren't willing to say. It starts with those five subjects. Say what others aren't willing to say. Be that person, Fire Nation. Now we're moving on to number two. Show what others aren't willing to show. Yeah. At this point, we have to start to see ourselves as a media company. You saw this early on, GLD. You were like, okay, I am a brand, but I'm a media company. How many organizations truly see themselves as a media company. Most organizations and most industries are now video first, excuse me, most industries are video first, but most organizations haven't moved with these times.

14:18And so you need to be willing to produce video and show with video what others in your space aren't willing to show. Let me give you a super simple example. If one of the, we talk in the book about what's called the selling seven. These are the seven most important types of videos you could produce to generate more sales, more trust. One of them is a simple cost price video, which is for every major product or service that you have, you should create one video that thoroughly explains and shows visually what it costs, but here's how you address it. Number one, what drives costs up for that product or service?

14:51Number two, what drives costs down for that product or service? Number three, why are some companies more expensive than other companies? Number four, why are some companies less expensive than others? And five, roughly, where do you fall within this spectrum? Okay. So those five things, if you show in a video and like really show and help the market understand value, you've done something that the majority of your competitors will never do. If I was talking to your audience right now, and let's say there's, you know, 10 ,000 people listening to this right now of those 10 ,000, well over 9 ,900 plus have not produced any type of video that truly explains what value means in their industry and what drives costs.

15:32And every one of them should, if they want to become the trusted voice. Fire Nation, I know that you want to become the trusted voice. So follow in the footsteps of people who have seen results doing just that. Now we talked about the say, the show. Let's talk about sell. Sell in ways others aren't willing to sell. There's this great stat that recently came out by Gardner, which says that 75 % of all buyers would prefer to have a seller-free sales experience. So what does this mean? This doesn't mean that we hate salespeople. It just means we don't want to work with a salesperson until we're ready, until we're comfortable, until we feel like I am not going to make a mistake.

16:09I'm not going to get burned. So buyers want control. We can say, I'm not going to give it to them because that's bad. Or we can lean into it and say, okay, let's send it. Let's take advantage of the trend. The best way you can take advantage of the trends, and I talk a lot about this in the book, is through what's called self-service. And there's five fundamental self-service tools. All right. So these are tools that are like interactive experiences, let's say on your website that allows someone to get an answer that previously they would have had to have gotten through, in this case, a salesperson.

16:39Let me give you just a couple of quick examples, JLD, because these are just great. One of them is, would be a self-scheduling tool. This is when somebody can come to your site. Let's say that you've got like potentially multiple employees and you may or may not, but let's say somebody comes to your site that they can schedule time to speak with someone without talking to a human first. And here's the big catch. We've experimented with a bunch of companies on this, and it's crazy the results. When they can choose which salesperson they work with, closing rates double every single time. So imagine you want to find a new realtor.

17:15You go to a realtor's firm's website. There's eight realtors on the screen. You see the eight realtors. You see their images. You see a video about each one. You see their bio. and you get to choose which one you want to work with. That's powerful. You don't see companies doing that, but every single time we've done this with clients at my company Impact, we have seen closing rates double every single time. So that's wild, that's powerful. That's an example of something you should be doing. Let me give you one other example of a self-service tool that's changing the world as we know it. And I can tell you right now, every service-based business is gonna have this in the future, which are pricing estimators.

17:53So a self-pricing tool or a pricing estimator allows you to go on that person's website and quickly get a general price range by answering a series of questions just like you would if you were talking to a salesperson. The number one question people have, JLD, when they decide they have a product, a need, they say, okay, what roughly is this going to cost? I need new windows and doors. Well, what's that going to set me back? So before they do deep research, the buyer starts the journey with this question of roughly what am I going to spend? And then at the end of the buyer's journey, when they finally met with the salesperson, that final question is now exactly what am I going to spend?

18:39So twice this question of pricing comes up at the beginning and at the end. And the big mistake companies make is they don't address it at all because they say, I want to control the conversation. No, what you want is the lead. We've tested this now because I've got a software company called priceguide.ai and allows you to build estimators in seconds. Well, I shouldn't say seconds, in less than 30 minutes on your website. And it's this amazing piece of software and it's super powerful. And we've got a ton of data. And this is what we've seen, that if you put a pricing estimator on your website, then you will see almost every single time, if you show it well on the homepage, a 300 % increase in leads, literally 300 % increase if you're just willing to give a general price range for that product or service that you offer.

19:23It's crazy, but it works. That is absolutely nuts. And Fire Nation, this is all stuff that you can implement in your business as you go. Now, the fourth pillar is be more human than others are willing to be. But the reality is this, Fire Nation, we're only able to scratch the surface of endless customers, this amazing book that Marcus has written. And let me tell you, guys, an amazing speaker. He's an amazing writer. Every book that I've ever read of his is unbelievably actionable. So you're not going to want to miss this one. And so if you want to really get a deep dive on pillar number four, as well as the first three, you're going to have to do the following.

20:01We're going to talk to Marcus about the number one thing that he wants our listeners, that's you, Fire Nation, to walk away with today, knowledge bomb wise, and then how they can take the next steps. That's you, Fire Nation, taking the next step to acquiring this book. Marcus, take it away. Yeah, I just want to tell everyone that in the coming years, you're going to see technology and AI change everything. Platforms are going to come and go. What's not going to come and go is the need for you to become the most known and trusted brand in your space. that's going to be as relevant to you and important to you in five or 10 or 20 years as it is today.

20:41And Endless Customers will show you. It gives you a system to do exactly that. And you can learn more about it at endlesscustomers.com. That's where you can get the book. So make sure you get the book. You can connect with me on LinkedIn as well. But JLD, this was a lot of fun. And I hope folks will say, yep, I want to become the most known and trusted brand. And if you want to do that, you make sure you pick up Endless Customers. Fire Nation, you're going to do this because you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And you've been hanging out with MS and JLD today. So keep up that heat.

21:14For links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com, type of Marcus in the search bar. The show notes page will pop right up. And by the way, I've had this guy on a few times. So you're going to want to listen to those episodes as well because everyone was fire. But your direct call to action is endlesscustomers.com. Go there, read more about what's going on there, investing yourself by investing in this book. And Marcus, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For this, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Marcus for sponsoring today's episode.

21:48And Fire Nation, what can 4 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs teach you? How about how to achieve financial freedom and fulfillment? My first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, is a revolutionary 17-step roadmap that will lead you to the lifestyle that you've been dreaming about. This book took me 10 years of accumulating the genius of the world's top entrepreneurs, and you can get it all in one place when you visit UncommonSuccessBook.com. I'll catch you there or on the flip side. over 41 ,000 businesses have future-proofed their business with NetSuite by Oracle the number one cloud ERP bringing accounting financial management inventory and HR into one platform download the CFO's guide to AI and machine learning for free at netsuite.com slash fire do you have the right mentor in your life right now for the first time in seven years I'm opening up a few mentorship slots for individuals who know they need the guidance and accountability to take their business and life to the next level.

22:48Email me at john at eofire.com with a subject line mentor, and we'll schedule a 15 minute chat to go over the program and see if it's the right fit for you.