Interview: Relationships over Transactions

For me, it’s always been about how can I maximize my impact on the world? When I was in university, I used to do this thing called case competitions. Think of it as being on a sports team but for nerds. So whenever you wanted to be a football player, you would practice every week. But in case competitions, you would do the same drills but in presentations. So every week, we’d present maybe 2-3-4 times, it suffices to say I presented hundreds of times almost five hundred times in the last three years, and through that, I developed a gift in communication. And a lot of the people I was coaching, we’re asking me: how did you learn public speaking, and I just went: well I just kept doing it. They were like what do you mean? Did you watch videos on YouTube? How did you figure this out? So I spent two days watching all of the videos… and I noticed there wasn’t any good advice available on Youtube. Because the top speech coaches in the world don’t provide free content, for example, let’s say you’re one of my clients and I’m charging you hundreds of dollars an hour, all I need is 10 to 15 clients who pay me let’s say $300 an hour.

So, at the end I don’t need to make free content because you’ll always want my services even when you become a master, you’re still going to message and tell me: “Hey Brendon can you help me with my speech, I’ll just pay for a couple of hours”. So because of this, the best speech coaches in the world, I believe, are not incentivized to share free content, because they already make a living. This leaves a huge gap in the market because everyone who does share information about public speaking isn’t in that percentage, and the people who are in that percentage don’t do it. So I felt that gap. What about people who want to make a big difference?

Whether your a CEO of a non-profit that can’t afford those rates or if you are an entrepreneur, that’s just getting started and doesn’t know how to master communication. I wanted to make those videos for the people after me because I couldn’t afford my services when I started.

I would say the commonality that bridges all those things is what I call “trust and authenticity.” I believe in an age where everything is fake, and we don’t really know who to trust, and from that base, the level of knowing somebody’s name, where they shop, or what they do depends on the type of transaction. So let’s say, for example, what I like about Starbucks, in this specific scenario, is that they do an excellent job of micromanaging that “trust and authenticity” at scale.

I would say the biggest challenge is probably staying consistent. Because, in personal branding, especially when you’re at the beginning, and it’s just you, which is still the case of me. You have to find a very strong reason why you want to do it, and a solid communication strategy or else you’ll fall off the rails.

Especially in the context of Youtube, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be initially to keep up a video every single week. So when I started on Youtube, I would do one or two videos at once and then realized that I have to create another video on Sunday so I can’t hang out with my friends this day. It’s a commitment! And you realize very quickly if you want to do that or not because after the 10th or 15th video; you realize if Youtube is made for you or not. So I think being consistent is the biggest challenge, not for me personally, but for brands in general. As you build that consistency over time, you start to see the results and the impact of what you’re doing, and you get better at it. For me, the most interesting brands are always the ones that are the hardest to build. I’ll give you an example, the CEO of Charity Water, Scott Harrison; he runs this non-profit that helps the world to come over the lack of water access. 10% of humanity doesn’t have access to drinkable water. The way he built Charity Water as a brand is very interesting because, as a non-profit you don’t have the same resources as Nike or Apple.

But he was still able to create a very powerful brand. So, I always admire people who have it harder than me. That’s usually my framework. There’s a transition from saying something versus demonstrating it. And I find you caught on that wave early on with Youtube, instead of saying what we do, we show them and then they’re convinced they want to buy from us. It’s one thing for a speech coach to say I coach public speaking… Well, show us, are you actually good at what you’re doing? That’s what I found really annoying in my profession. Some people say they’re speaking coaches but don’t speak well; it’s just odd! How can you coach other people and not be a master at your craft? I think the best way is always to communicate in the channel your customers want you to communicate.

So in my case, in speaking engagements, it’s always email. So let’s say I’m sending a bunch of cold emails because I don’t have relationships right now. I send a hundred emails; there are always 5 emails that I get back saying we’d love to have you for this event, which is shockingly effective because I don’t know any of these people.

So you would include your videos in your emails? Exactly, that’s usually my strategy, but nothing beats an in-person connection. Talking over Instagram is very different from meeting in person because then you embody exactly what you’re saying, you buy into the person a lot faster when they meet you in person and then after they help you with relationships.

I would say that I found that there’s a big misconception over what a sales professional is. It’s not about transactions; it’s about building long sustainable relationships with people and thinking about it on a 10-15 years game rather than 10-15 seconds game. If I started MasterTalk with the mentality of “I need to make a million bucks in six months,” there’s no way it would have been successful. I’ve been doing this for almost a year and a half, and I haven’t monetized my channel yet. But I know the long term game, 10-15 years of doing these interviews and different engagements that my brand will slowly build up. As a sales professional, you need to think of yourself as a brand. It’s not just “I need to make my quotas,” it’s “Do I trust Brenden with the work that I have,” and if I trust him, who cares what he charges. If we trust you and we will get the value from what you’re selling, who cares what the price is? That’s secondary.