BRAND SECRETS AND STRATEGIES

PODCAST #188

Hello and thank you for joining us today. This is the Brand Secrets and Strategies Podcast #188

Welcome to the Brand Secrets and Strategies podcast where the focus is on empowering brands and raising the bar.

I’m your host Dan Lohman. This weekly show is dedicated to getting your brand on the shelf and keeping it there.

Get ready to learn actionable insights and strategic solutions to grow your brand and save you valuable time and money.

LETS ROLL UP OUR SLEEVES AND GET STARTED!

Hello and thank you for being here today. This is the brand secrets and strategies podcast session 188.

Welcome. I’m always looking for ways to raise the bar and help you get your brand onto more store shelves and into the hands of more shoppers - including on-line. Like you, we were all devastated when Expo was cancelled.

After catching my breath, I decided to lean in realizing that the best thing I can do is to help you navigate through these uncertain times. I took two huge leaps of faith as a result. First, I launched a free weekly webinar series. It’s been well received and it’s even attracted the interest of industry leaders wanting to partner with me on your behalf.

The second thing I did was join the C-Suite network to bring more resources to help you grow and scale. Today’s podcast episode is your introduction to C-Suite and how they are helping me support and better meet your needs.

Let me back up and frame this. Jeffrey Hayzlett reached out to me and invited me to lunch. He liked the podcast and it’s mission. I had to decline because I was speaking at the Canadian Organic Trade Association breakfast at Expo West. Luckily, he reached back out after the show was cancelled and we connected.

Jeffrey has an impressive resume and his deep roots in CPG. He has built an amazing network of industry experts all on a huge platform working together to solve your most pressing problems. He calls us “business first responders”. You’ll hear more about that in a moment. He, and the C-suite network, have also partnered with me to help support the free weekly webinar series. We talked briefly about this weeks free webinar featuring ECRM and RangeMe on the podcast.

As always, I want to thank you for listening. This show is about you and it's for you. In appreciation for your time, there’s a free downloadable guide for you at the end of every episode. I always include one, easy to download, quick to digest strategy that you can instantly adopt and make your own. One you can use to grow sustainable sales and compete more effectively with. Todays free download is new and it’s C-Suite inspired. You’ll definitely want to check it out!

Don't forget to go back and listen to previous episodes and YouTube videos where I may answer some of your most pressing questions - you know, the things that keep you up at night. If you liked this episode, share with your friends and subscribe so you’ll be the first to get new brand-building content as soon as it becomes available. Remember the goal here is to get your products onto more store shelves and into the hands of more shoppers - including online.

Now here’s Jeffrey Hayzlett with C-suite

Dan: Jeffrey, hi. Thanks for coming on today. Could you please start by telling us a little bit about yourself and how you got to where you're at? The reason I wanted to frame it this way is you have real-world CPG brand-building experience that is so valuable for these brands. So put yourself in their shoes please and help us understand your background as far as that's concerned and how you were able to transition and pivot to where you're at today.

Jeffrey: Well, I've bought and sold over 250 companies in my career, about $25 billion in transactions. The last company that I was at, I was the chief marketing officer of Eastman Kodak. So when you think about consumer branding and branding, that's one of the best companies in the world.

Dan: Sure.

Jeffrey: Of course, I left that company 10 years ago. But at that time, I was leading a budget of $17 billion on marketing spend and about $182 billion in sales, so with about 7,500 marketing people in the company, not including sales because I also worked with the sales departments as well, the sales side of it. Since then, I'm now in 14 corporate boards, bought and sold some more companies. Prior to that experience, I was in sales and marketing as well, so working mostly B2B, but then got in, of course, with Kodak on the consumer side and still work with consumer brands, a number of them.

Jeffrey: I've brought up a number of markets or companies to market in consumer brands here in the US, multi-billions of dollars' worth of brands. Things like King's Hawaiian Bread and others that I've worked with or say, DocuSign, which is a business tool, but also a consumer tool. I'm formally on the board for that company and as I said a minute ago, on the boards of 14 different companies. Three or four of those companies at a time public, so I'm doing a lot of that. I'm doing a lot of that kind of work. Now, I went on and was a judge on Celebrity Apprentice for years with Donald Trump and then got my own television show on the Bloomberg Network. Then, that led me to create my own television and my own podcasting network, which you're on, which is C-Suite Radio. So we're doing all that. So that's my experience.

Dan: Well, I appreciate you sharing that, and that's why I wanted to use this opportunity, perfect timing, to talk about what is C-Suite and how this is going to help the natural community, how this is going to help brands. Where I wanted to go with this is, first of all, thank you for reaching out to me. The week that we were supposed to meet, I was actually supposed to speak at Expo West, which is canceled. Thank you again for reaching out again. So I had the privilege of listening to you speak at an event, and that's where I got connected, and I started learning more about C-Suite and what you offer. So the question now is, what is C-Suite? Why does it matter, and how can brands leverage the resources that we're now providing to them to help them grow and thrive, especially during these uncertain times?

Jeffrey: Well, that's a great, great... That's a mouthful and a great question as well because we're in the trust marketing business. That's what we are.

Dan: Love it.

Jeffrey: All that you do with the natural market and everything there, that's about trust. Being able to trust the products that they are what they are the way they are, of course, certification is everything. But for a lot of it, it's more than just a label on the back of the package. It's really truly about understanding the nature of the brand. A brand is nothing but a promise delivered. So our C-Suite Network is very much like a giant sequoia tree, and underneath that sequoia tree is this lush ecosystem. Under that canopy, this all evolves. That's the same thing in the natural market, the same thing in the C-suite market, except ours is four C-suite leaders. People who are VPs or higher of companies, owners, CEOs, entrepreneurs.

Jeffrey: Then, what we do is we provide them the tools to go out and market the company, market themselves because now it's a content game, a trusted content game, and I think that's important. They say that content is the king. Context of that, use of that content, boy that's the kingdom, and that's really what we try to do is we're trying to help businesses understand the nature of sell the business, sell yourself, sell you, sell the business. All about trust, and that's a big part of what we're doing.

Dan: Thank you for sharing that, and thank you for bringing me into this ecosystem. One of the reasons that I was so compelled to do that is because of your authenticity and your transparency, the way that you communicate with all of us. We've had a lot of calls. You spent a lot of your time and invested time into helping us make the most of this in the resources that are available. I just talked to Greg about launching that in one of your video channels or on a TV channel. So I've got the podcast and put together articles for you, et cetera. Long story short, this is going to help me help more brands, so thank you for being a part of that. Again, thank you for welcoming me into this, this network. So as you're looking at the future, what's going on, the brand, what strategies would you... Let me put it this way. When we have our calls, we talk about leaning into what's going on right now where a lot of people are pulling back.

Jeffrey: True. No.

Dan: So I leaned in, which is... Yeah, I think that's the wrong strategy. So one of the things that I did, Jeffrey, and I'll talk to you a little bit about it, this is why I launched a free webinar series. The free webinar series is designed to help brands go thrive, et cetera, and so what suggestions would you offer to a brand during this uncertain times where these brands are trying to figure out how do they stay alive from one to the next. Let me frame this way. These are the brands that help consumers with healthy trends, et cetera. These are the ones leading those trends. We put it that way. In other words, we still need to eat, and these brands are the brands that people need more than anything, and more importantly, the best way, the best defense against a virus, any virus is a healthy lifestyle. So what advice would you have for those brands?

Jeffrey: Lean into it. Jump in. Go to the fire. Listen. If you're running a business right now, listen, you can't save people's lives. Let's be clear. For the most part, right?

Dan: Right.

Jeffrey: I say that because we're not healthcare professionals. All right? I can't do that. I'm not a doctor. I'm not a nurse. I can't even sew a mask. Okay? Let's be clear, but I am a business first responder. You're a business first responder.

Dan: Yeah.

Jeffrey: Every business in this country and around the world should be going, "We have to save our economy. We have to keep the world moving. We have to not restart a business. We have to be open for business." To be open for business, you're going to have to do that and get your head in the game to understand that's what you need to do, and that's what I want people to do. If we get in the mindset, people say, "Oh, I can't do that." No. What can your business do to solve the basic needs of other businesses or other people? You just said it earlier. We have to eat. We have to have shelter. Let's appeal to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. That's what we should be doing. That's what we should be focusing on, and how can we help?

Jeffrey: I'm not asking anyone to go out there and sell right now because I think that's the stupidest thing you can do, but what you can do is help. Helping is selling. Helping makes the economy move. Helping makes people's lives better. It makes them healthier. It does all these things. That's what we want. By the way, don't do it with a bunch of slogans and sayings, and a bunch of bullshit. Tell me the real stuff. I'm a smart consumer. Other people are smart consumers.

Jeffrey: Look, you got me riled up now, man. You put the quarter in, you're going to go for the full ride, but that's what I want businesses to do. Stop doing all these other stuff. We hid behind brands for years. We hid behind 800 numbers. We hid behind... I mean, what sadistic bastard put together the 800 number with a telephone tree, "Press one for this, two for this." How about a real person, real people, authentic stuff, things we want? None of us want to go through Home Depot searching or Menards searching for people. Just give us a person. I'll pay more for it. Please, just give me service, right? Again, that's what we want to go back to, so solve my basic needs.

Jeffrey: If you're a business right now, you should be thinking, "I've got a product or a service. How can I help people with that? How can I get them back in the game?" If you just think around that rather than thinking about, "Oh, woe is me. I'm not going to make my $1K this year in the flights. I'm not going to have my vacation, and I'm not going to do..." Shut up. Of course, not. Get over it. Move on. But now, you're closer to your family. There's a lot of good things that are coming out of all this stuff. Okay. Let's take that and use that. At the same time, okay, figure out how you can rethink it.

Jeffrey: I was talking to somebody about a virtual seminar today. They were complaining all their events were canceled, and they said, "Well, I'm thinking about doing these big events, and I make a lot of money from the events, but can I sell subscriptions, stuff like that?" They said, "Well, I can't do that virtually." I said, "The heck you can." I said, "It's just in your mindset that you can't." So if it's in your mindset that I have to go and sell my natural products at the trade show or at this event or this event, you just got to think differently. That's what you got to do.

Dan: Thank you for sharing that, and on that note, virtual events is actually where I wanted to go with this. This is one of the things that I'm leaning into.

Jeffrey: Yeah.

Dan: So next Friday, a week from tomorrow, we've got a weekly free webinar series I mentioned a minute ago. We're going to be talking about how brands can leverage technology to get in front of a retailer virtually, and part of that network series, and thank you again for being a part of that and a partner in this webinar series that I'm doing because that's so critically important. One of the things that we talked about on the call, which I think is also so very important in this time where we're pulling back and rethinking about the new normal is this as an opportunity to elevate our leadership skills. This is an opportunity to help brands compete more effectively, learn what they don't know, and that's one of the things I love about being a part of the C-Suite Network is being able to tap into resources like you and other experts, other C-suite experts. Can you talk a little bit about that, and then how can people leverage what I'm doing, what you're doing, et cetera, to really scale and grow your business tomorrow and beyond?

Jeffrey: Well, it's exponentially the more people you get to know of the kind of quality that you want to have, well, wow, the zeros start to grow.

Dan: Yeah.

Jeffrey: I mean, that's just the nature of it. I can only do so much on my own, but if I can do that with 20, 30, or maybe 10,000 of my other friends, which we happen to have. We built a network that's now 350,000 people, 90 million views, over a million podcast listeners this month. Awesome, unbelievable, and it continues to grow. Right now, you've seen those hockey sticks of growth and it has that big hockey stick there. I'm in the hockey stick. I love it. I've never been in a hockey stick before. I've projected a hockey stick, but we're actually in it, and we're in it because of the power of the network.

Dan: Right.

Jeffrey: It's the connections that we make in those trusted environments that lead us to other businesses and to other breakthroughs and other learnings because the more we share, the more we learn, the more we cheer. Of course, now, I'm adding the care because now we have a real network that cares for other people. How can we help each other? I'm watching people. Today, I put up a site called C-Suite Supplies, C-Suite, S-U-I-T-E, Supplies.com to help people with a mask, and gloves, and gowns, and goggles, and face shields.

Dan: Thank you for doing that.

Jeffrey: Well, absolutely because I wanted to have a trusted place to get this stuff for myself, and it was just full of fraud, and not only that, price gouging and everything else because of the situation we find ourselves. I said, "This isn't right." So I went into my friends, into my network, and I found other manufacturers that we happen to know. Guess what? We set it up direct, minimal profit because people got to eat, people got to make money. But when people are charging $7, $8, $10, $20, $30 for a mask, we're charging a couple of bucks. What it should be, the way it was before the virus, and now the way it is.

Jeffrey: I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't had a trusted network, right? Now, we're able to help other businesses open for business, and remain open for business, and keep their most trusted assets protected, which are their people and their customers, and so that I just think is great... That's a great outcome of the kind of caring that comes out of that. So that's what we're about. In that work itself, the more you give, the more you get. So the more I can help you do what you do, I get you involved in your podcast, get your podcast in a platform that now has millions of downloads as opposed to tens, or twenties, or hundreds, or thousands. Now, we can start to have other people have exposure. That's a benefit. That's a give and then get. Of course, I get. What do I get out of that? As the CEO of the network, I get a great talent like yourself and others who come and be on the network with great information.

Dan: Thank you.

Jeffrey: Wow, wow, wow. Then, of course, you're educating all of our executives about natural ways to do things, natural products, things that are good for you instead of the crap that we eat and all the other stuff that's out there.

Dan: So well said. Thank you for saying that. Well, and I appreciate this. Again, I cannot thank you enough for reaching out to me, making this opportunity available, and like I said, I wanted to use this, this short podcast episode to introduce C-Suite Network to my network, and then help my network understand why this matters and how we can all help together. One of the things that I say all the time, Jeffrey, is that what makes natural natural is our community, a community of people that work together and support each other. You don't see that a lot in mainstream, but you're developing that at the C-suite level, and there are so many great resources that I now have the ability to tap into. By the way, the podcast episode that you did is our most recent with Nathan Kelvin with LinkedIn.

Jeffrey: Kievman.

Dan: Kievman?

Jeffrey: Nathan Kievman from Linked Strategies [crosstalk 00:14:10].

Dan: Yeah. Great, great information. I've been following him, connected with him for quite a while. Again, those are just phenomenal insights that a brand could leverage to grow and scale their brand, to grow themselves, to get better talent, et cetera. So anyhow, thank you for all you do. I really appreciate it, and thank you for inviting me to be a part of your group, and I look forward to great things this year and beyond.

Jeffrey: Well, we're glad to have you on C-Suite Radio where business listened to every single day.

Dan: Well done.

Jeffrey: We're giving a loud voice for business, and you're part of that. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to have you.

Dan: Thanks. I appreciate it.

I want to thank Jeffrey for coming on the podcast and for inviting me to be a part of such a impressive organization. I’ll be certain to include links to Jeffrey Hayzlett and the amazing resources available on the C-Suite Networks platform on the show notes and on the podcast webpage.

This weeks free download guide is my new Brand First Responder Checklist. The key things you need to have in place to make it easy for your loyal shoppers to find and buy your products. Remember that the best defense against any virus is a healthy lifestyle and that begins with your brand. Shoppers want and need your products now more than ever. You’ve heard me say that natural products are the growth engine in CPG across every categories and every channel.

Get the best practice strategies to ensure that your brand is well positioned to meet the needs of shoppers in this new normal.

You can download it instantly on the podcast show notes and on the podcast webpage by going to brandsecretsandstrategie.com/session188

The question of the day is what are you doing during these trying times to make a lasting impact. Send me a note and share your comments on YouTube.

Thank you for listening and I look forward to seeing you on the next show.

C-suite: https://c-suitenetwork.com

Thanks again for joining us today. Make sure to stop over at brandsecretsandstrategies.com for the show notes along with more great brand building articles and resources. Check out my free course Turnkey Sales Story Strategies, your roadmap to success. You can find that on my website or at TurnkeySalesStoryStrategies.com/growsales. Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and recommend it to your friends and colleagues.

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Until next time, this is Dan Lohman with Brand Secrets and Strategies where the focus is on empowering brands and raising the bar.