Ep. 8 Kevin Lawson - Build a network of influence

OUTBOUND

In this episode, sales consultant Kevin Lawson shares his approach to building meaningful relationships with ideal customers. Listeners can expect to learn practical strategies for connecting with influential people in their target customer's world in order to establish trust and rapport.

Main Discussion Points:

- The importance of building relationships with people who can introduce you to ideal clients rather than cold outreach (00:01:43)

- Creating an "ecosystem" of influencers around your ideal customer, like their trusted advisors in various functions - IT, marketing, finance, etc. (00:03:10)

- Framing sales relationships as "collecting friends" rather than transactional sales (00:06:01)

- Practical relationship-building tactics like quarterly check-ins (00:11:11) and understanding how your contacts measure value (00:16:21)

Guest Bio:

Kevin Lawson is the owner of Lighthouse Sales Advisors, where he works with small B2B companies on building sales infrastructure and processes. He hosts the "Two Tall Guys Talking Sales" podcast and writes frequently about sales excellence and leadership.

Key Quotes:

"Nobody cares how much we sell at the end of our careers. They care about what kind of person we were." (00:05:28)

"Stop thinking about it that way. Instead, replace those thoughts and conditional what you've been conditioned to view as sales. Think about it like collecting friends, people you want to do business with." (00:06:01)