The Human Touch: Building Trust in Modern Sales and Branding

In the latest episode of "Love Your Sales Podcast," Beatrice Gutknecht explores the importance of team integration in building lasting businesses. She emphasizes that companies engaging their teams effectively are more likely to thrive, especially as Gen Alpha and Gen Z emphasize trust and human presence in brands over logos and names. Beatrice discusses how relatability to a brand is crucial, highlighting that businesses fostering genuine human connections will stand out and endure over time.

Contact Beatrice

Email - beatrice@badasserybyb.com

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/beatricegutknecht

Website - https://www.badasserybyb.com

 

Special Thank you to our Sponsors – Genhead – www.genhead.com and Accelerategrowth45 – www.accelerategrowth45.com

 

Robb Conlon – Intro and outro – Westport Studio - https://www.westportstudiosllc.com/

 

The Brave Ones – Instrumental Version Song by Jan Sanejko - https://artlist.io/royalty-free-music/song/the-brave-ones/119489

 

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 Channel Subscribe link - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-O7W9DzaRv4waodQKCprIg?sub_confirmation=1

 

Leighann Lovely: Welcome to another episode of Love Your Sales. I am joined today by Beatrice Gutknecht She is the Founder of Badassery by Bee . She's About taking seamlessly boring business and shaking up how they're seen inside out through practical strategies and actions to stand out, not 69 page documents, pretty design or templates. Beatrice, I'm so excited to have you join me [00:02:00] today.

Welcome to the show.

Beatrice Gutknecht: Thanks so much for having me on, Leighann, I appreciate it. I'm so excited about the conversation we're about to have.

Leighann Lovely: Yeah. So tell me a little bit more about your business and what you and how you, um, help people.

Beatrice Gutknecht: So basically I'm all about perception and breaking those unwritten rules in industries where we're just so used to following and looking to everybody else.

In the industry, especially when we get going, it's like, there's so much to do. You're like, Oh, you know, actually, what, what, what are they already doing? Let's just follow that. Like, we'll make it easier, but in a way that kind of makes you follow and be a little bit behind. So where I come in is to reposition you in a way where you're kind of leading your own way.

And often our way [00:03:00] that's it's earlier in the process. So you stand out and you're actually sticky in minds and you're proud about your brand.

Leighann Lovely: That's awesome. And in today's world, you have to, you have to be able to define your brand and yourself as something that is unique and different. Otherwise people, they're not paying attention.

Or, and I shouldn't say not paying attention because let me, let me rephrase that today's world we are bombarded with so much information and so many, um, loops and bings and so many things are happening that it's hard to grab somebody's attention in a way the information is retained. Exactly.

Beatrice Gutknecht: Exactly.

And even more so, the idea of a rebrand has just been [00:04:00] so. commercialized. It's like Valentine's Day and people like, you know, businesses are just like, Hey, so let's, we're going to rebrand, but it's basically just change up the colors, change up the logo, change up maybe some wording, but the real rebrands is what happens from inside out, right?

Like you're making sure that the entire team has the buy in because otherwise it's not. Going to work. It's not going to stick. It's a, you know, if we're talking about the Twitter to X shifts, right? I see you there going, yes. There is no alternative for tweeting, right? They didn't do it. They didn't think of it.

It's just, they put that surface, but using. Using the platform, using the software, it's still exactly the same. Maybe even you're dealing with customer service, it's [00:05:00] still going to be the exact same. So what's the point?

Leighann Lovely: Other than that, it's broken now.

Beatrice Gutknecht: Exactly. It's like surface level and. Real, like if you're going to rebrand, I would recommend more like, Hey, let's have a look at a refresh,

Leighann Lovely: you know, let's, let's talk about that because this, this is wildly, I find it really interesting because yes, I could very easily put, you know, stamp a new logo on my brand.

I could, you know. And companies do this all the time where they're like, Hey, it's, and stamping a new logo, let's make something crystal clear. Rebranding is not just simply putting a new picture on. old logo was. I mean, yes, that is, yeah, technically you're rebranding,

 but when I [00:06:00] think of that, , , that's not, you're not, that's, there's so much more to it.

So let's get into the, , the meat and potatoes of what you are talking about. You're, you're talking about almost a mind. A shift, a mindset change. And you're talking about bringing in the team. You're talking about bringing in other people's buy in in order to do that. So how do you begin this process?

Why do you begin this process? And what does it look like on the back end? And I guess let's start with the why. Why do we do this?

Beatrice Gutknecht: I was just about to start on the why because You know, everyone talks about there's, there's the sales and marketing silos, right? That that's quite frequently talked about that there is a friction which leads to a lot of issues, but I would almost [00:07:00] push on that more that there are business silos within all the departments.

So say, for example, if you, you have someone on customer service, They have someone walk into the showroom and they're like, Oh, you know, how did you find us? What are your, like, what's been going on? They will get a hell of a lot of information, which they'll just say like, okay, this is part of my job. Like I've noticed 10 other people like this over the past week that have had similar problems, but they won't pass that information on to the marketing, to the sales.

To anyone else, because that's just part of like, Hey, you know, I'm just employed to get people to be here for this nine hours. That's it.

Leighann Lovely: Right.

Beatrice Gutknecht: So the, how I do it is going deep in terms of [00:08:00] understanding what you've done thus far as a business, where you want to be going that direction and really pulling on all of those strings to like, Understand, you know, what you want to stand for, what, say, for example, from your team's perspective, how, how do they see you represented?

Like what, what are the values, how are you positioned to them? Right? Because if you're involving them in their, in that process, you're also going to get ideas from them, right? Of how things could be worded, Hey, like I could be saying this in my sales calls. Or like, if marketing is listening to that, they're like, Oh, like that would go really well with this campaign and have everyone on board.

And it is really building out that strategy from that internal space, like, okay, directly [00:09:00] with the founder, the owner and CEO, et cetera. And here's our vision, finding that position about you're doing something already in your business, which is different to everyone else. So it's honing in on that

Leighann Lovely: and it, this goes to, you know, the same thing that good, marketing companies do that they that they're attempting to do.

But again, you know, I see marketing companies come in and they're like, okay, we're going to do your marketing, but they're not, they're not always grabbing all of the information from, , and it's not necessarily that they're not trying. Sometimes they run up against, you know, okay. XYZ company and working with you and they are only working with maybe three contacts at that company and at that company, those three contacts are the owner, the marketing director, or if it's a large company, they may have a marketing director.

And if not, then it's [00:10:00] the, you know, the owner, the salesperson, the, . The second in command, whatever it might be , and they're only getting the information from those three people, which means they're going to build their marketing strategy based on how those people see the business, which means that they're missing out on the people who are actually boots on the ground, who are living in and breathing the real world of what the clients, the customers, the prospects are all saying.

Yeah. About the business, the experience, the customer experience, the customer journey, the prospect journey, all of that information is truly what drives interest, what drives business. And that's where I see businesses go wrong because. Those are the people who are actually the ones determining whether or not they're going to buy, they're going to refer [00:11:00] somebody, they're going to buy more and blah, blah, blah.

And you know, you're shaking your head like, yep, I get it. And yet I see this repeated over and over and it's like, okay, yes, owner. Or CEO or CFO, I know that you know what your business does, but you're not in it every day talking to, and if the flow of information starting with the janitor and the receptionist who will be cleaning the floor while customers are walking through and overhearing what they're saying.

Very well could have the most crucial information about your business, but you're not opening the door to hear what they have to say about it. And that right there is probably one of the most. Valuable insights that you could, that you could get, [00:12:00] you know, and here's something that I, you know, as a sales professional, as somebody who has sold, I can't even remember, I don't even know the number of, of different types of products that I have sold now.

I regularly go out and still allow random people to pitch me on their product. And it still, to this day, drives my husband crazy. He's like, don't don't walk over to that person. They're just going to pitch you. And I'm like, yeah, that's the point. I do that because I want to see what's still happening in the real world.

If I isolate myself from being pitched, from being sold, I'm losing that education piece. I'm losing what tips and tricks and hacks are now all happening in the real world, and I'm, I'm not educating myself to what's really going on. And I'm [00:13:00] becoming one of those owners that doesn't know what's happening in my own business.

It's the same. Yeah. And it's the same thing with now the rise of, of AI, , the rise of all of these new tools. If you're not constantly educating yourself, you're, you're going to fall behind. And to your point, you want to put these businesses in front of the competition. You want to try to get them doing something that's going to be sticky to you know, to the new possible buyer

Beatrice Gutknecht: or even be considered earlier in that buying process.

Right. Sometimes I see a lot of businesses because everybody else in the industry is so used to like, okay, we've been, we've always been doing this. Perhaps there's [00:14:00] something that you can give, you know, okay, there, everybody else is doing this, let's give up that part so we can lean into this part that they're maybe have a weak weakness in, or maybe this, an aspect earlier on in that process that we can lean in on and be considered even before they're, they're working with everybody else, you know, so say, for example, with one of my clients.

Their architectural hardware, where usually the industry only contacts them after the house is built, after the door frames are there, right? But say, for example, if the end client, one of these amazing, fancy openings, you know, just to come into the house and the house has already been [00:15:00] built, they might not have had that.

So what we did was position them way earlier in that process to talk to the designers to be help

Leighann Lovely: to

Beatrice Gutknecht: them.

Leighann Lovely: Interesting. Right. And, and now they're, you're opening up the door for them to be able to offer so much more and have a larger market share of business to be seen

Beatrice Gutknecht: differently. You know, it's almost like you're creating your own category, but what I encourage is Both, both elements, you know, if you're creating your own category, it needs to be grounded in the known, right?

Like the same thing as we go back to the going from horse carriages to cars, right? They didn't go, Hey, buy our car, buy our horseless couch, the no one. So stick with the [00:16:00] known and then adjust interesting

Leighann Lovely: I love that. And that goes to

 I'm trying to rephrase this right, that, that is creating. A path for people to fully understand the value that you offer because now you're following that path of, Oh, okay, I, I, I know exactly what the horse and carriage does. So now you're telling me that, Oh, Oh, I don't need the horse anymore.

But if you were to just jump and I'm following your example, just jump to the car. People are like, I don't know what that does.

Beatrice Gutknecht: Yeah. A lot of the inventions failed the first time they came out. Because it's like, I don't know what this is. Like, it was too much of a jump. Right. And that's why I really, like, I put it in my headline.

It's not about having a knee [00:17:00] jerk reaction. It's not about a sudden virality. And that's why I have such a big issue with the Jaguar Ray brand. Because It's, it's not the fact that they didn't include the car. It's, it's not about the colors. It's the fact that they lost everything that they stand for, that they built over decades, building that trust that in itself is gone.

They could have, you know, had a sub brand for that, you know, another generation or reached out to like, okay, how can we make this relevant? So you're staying in the known, you have the existing brand, people know that, but okay. How do we make that relevant for now? Let's work with, um, millennials, Gen Zers who align with that.

Leighann Lovely: That's really [00:18:00] interesting. And you use the word relevant, and I like that because a lot of companies don't,

they don't realize that, especially in the manufacturing space, that if they don't shift, that they are not going to remain relevant, and I'm not talking about their product necessary, I'm , I'm talking about The way that they do business, the way that they market business, the way that they sell business is that if you don't make those shifts on a regular basis, that they will not be, they will not be seen, they will not be, and let me give an example.

I walked into a manufacturing company that, this is years ago, that I was helping staff. And I said, you know, I was really having trouble finding your website. And she said, that's because we don't have one. And this was probably seven, eight years ago. And I said, you, you don't have probably [00:19:00] 10 years ago, actually.

I said, you don't have a website. And she goes, yeah, we don't, we don't need one. I said, well, well, you, what do you mean you don't need one? And she goes, all of our, all of our buyers, everybody that we sell our product to, they were, we only sell two items and. We're pretty much a niche, like we're one of two companies in the country that sell this product.

And I went, okay, that's great, but a website is not designed only to sell product. It is also to sell people on coming to work for you. It is also to create a legacy business that one day when you retire and somebody else takes over, or when somebody else gets smart to how to create [00:20:00] your product better.

And I went down a long list of all of these things. And she was like, Yeah, I don't, I don't think we need one. Business will not be relevant in a couple of reasons. They're not going to be able to continue to recruit people to work for them because in today's world, everybody, before they do anything with the business.

They want to know that they're a real boy and I use this term all the time, you know, are you a real boy? Let me go look. Oh, you're not online. You're probably not a real boy. I mean, that's, that is in today's world. That's what creates the beginning of being relevant and If we don't lean into, you know, and now it's, it's even further than that.

Oh, you have a website. Great. Okay. Where are you on LinkedIn? Where are you on Tik TOK? Where are you on Twitter? Where are you on [00:21:00] X? Where are you on? That's where everybody wants to gather their information about who they are. And I'm not saying that, Oh, unless you have an online presence, you don't

exist. But it, it matters. It absolutely matters for multiple different things. And in some industries, you, it can be just a simple, like, yep, here's who we are. Here's what we do. Doesn't, you don't sell online. Great. But at least having some, explanation because the younger generation, that's their security of, yep, this company exists.

I'll go interview there. Great. But that's our security blanket to know that that is a real, that company or that place or that person is a real person. I mean, let me ask you, Beatrice, when was the last time that you met somebody or that you talked to somebody that you didn't immediately go and look them up somewhere [00:22:00] online?

Beatrice Gutknecht: Never. I, before every call, I will go and like stalk them and try to find out, like I even started it. And this has been. Such a time saver. I've gotten AI. I'm using perplexity. I don't know if it like helps with pro, but I'll be like, okay, what can you tell me about XYZ person from XYZ company? And it'll just drop from everywhere.

And I'm like, yes. Obviously you need to check, but

Leighann Lovely: right, right. Oh, AI is, is wildly amazing when it comes to gathering of information and ridiculously, confident, but very, some very often, you know, inaccurate in its confidence, depending on the inaccurate information that exists on the web.

Beatrice Gutknecht: I mean, that being said, it will look through anything that mentions you.

It doesn't matter [00:23:00] how long it's been. So that's another thing that you need to be careful of. Right? Yes.

Leighann Lovely: Put a naked picture of yourself online and expect that it's going to disappear in 10 years. You

Beatrice Gutknecht: know, it will pick up those things. Like if you write up articles, and that's why I do kind of. Be like, uh, cautious or aware of how much you, how big of pivots that you make.

I always say , okay, do some pivots instead of completely rebranding into something fresh. Cause that way it's like mini moves, mini moves, mini moves.

Leighann Lovely: So let's, let's refocus here. I went off on kind of a tangent about the whole real boy and you know, so let's, when you engage in. [00:24:00] You know, working with a company, you start with working with, and typically who, who is the first person that you start working with at that company?

Beatrice Gutknecht: So usually it's the, the business owner or principal because you know about what you built.

Leighann Lovely: And then how long typically does that process take in order to pull in? You know, these, you know, everybody and gather that information. And then, you know, what does that buy in look like at the end?

Marker

Beatrice Gutknecht: So it is ongoing, you know, at every step we try to make sure that we're implementing, how can we say, for example, at the beginning where we're talking about, okay.

What's, what's your vision, mission, et cetera. How can we, what does that look like in play? So that they, they can start putting that, be it in social media or start talking to [00:25:00] their sales and marketing team. So it's not about like waiting to kind of put it all out. Like, Hey, you know, this is, this is our road, Brad.

Um, it is, there's little changes. And yeah, it does take time and it is a lot of work. So I often am working with people seven months plus to get it a not only just that strategy clear, but the implementation and then the accountability because. We have so much going on and I see a lot of strategists who are just like, Hey, so here is our, uh, 69 page document.

Have fun with that, which we both know nobody's going to read that, right? It's about making sure, like, how, [00:26:00] how does this look like with your sales and marketing? Probably let's, let's bring them together on like a zoom meeting, have like everyone talk about it. Get rid of those silos, increase, like, people being able to put forward their thoughts without like some kind of backlash.

Right?

Leighann Lovely: Right.

Beatrice Gutknecht: And it is understanding, like, the dynamics. Maybe some people are shy. So what if we, we put it as like a anonymous, like, Hey, let's, let's put Some thoughts in, in a jar to start off with, or maybe like start off with one on one. Hey, what do you think about this? Then go to the next person. Like,

Leighann Lovely: and that's sad, like, and I hope, I think that some of this is starting to slowly go away in, in certain industries.

You know, I was talking to a woman the other night where I asked her, I said, would you, would you do this video? Like thing and she goes, I can't. And I said, what do you mean? She goes, well, I work in the nursing industry and they get really weird about us [00:27:00] putting our faces out there. I'm like, what? Like, that's terrible.

Right. I'm like, you're, you're just doing a review for something that you do. And she's like, yeah. And if we're on social media, they don't want us representing, you know, anything that's, you know, personal to her. Cause it might look bad. And I'm like, that's horrible that you still are in a. in a discipline or working in a job where they're saying, no, you can't do a, a refer or like a review or a reference, and this is for a pool league.

And I'm like, you, you can't go and say, Hey, this is like a really awesome thing that I do. I really enjoy it. But I think that more and more companies are being more accepting of feedback from all levels. Especially the smaller ones. Some of the bigger, huge ones are just like, you know what, just do what I tell you.

I don't want to hear it. Like, we already [00:28:00] have the plan in place. And that's sad. Um, some of the, like those smaller to midsize businesses are like, yeah, I'd like to hear if we can improve, I want to hear what, and, and we'll take it into consideration. I'm not saying that they're going to take, they, they can't, they can't take everybody's suggestion, but you know, there are some really great ideas out there and more and more systems in place for them to take feedback.

Marker

Beatrice Gutknecht: And I would say those companies who are actually bringing the team into the play. Are going to be the ones that outlast the companies who don't because if we're looking at Gen Alpha, Gen Z, what we were talking about before is the brands that have that human presence that build the trust through that, that will be the ones that they choose, [00:29:00] not the logo or the name, et cetera.

It's like, Hey, you know, can I relate to this brand? And it's those businesses that are going to stand out and last,

Leighann Lovely: right? And those businesses that people are going to want to work at, I think that we're going to see a shift in, younger generations looking to work at small to midsize businesses that meet their goals because they're being treated better and they're willing to give up these big bloated salaries.

For the work life balance and the treatment like yeah, I could go work at Nike and make a maybe 80, 000 salary, or I could work at this small to midsize business and make a 70, 000 salary, but also be treated better, have more of a work life balance, be heard, and those are important things, really important things.

, [00:30:00] and I think that the younger generation is seeing that. Like, hey, I'm willing to give up a little bit right now. So that I can leave every day and not feel like I'm doing something wrong by leaving and have vacation. Be respected, be heard, be seen. I mean, I left corporate with a big bloated salary to start my own business because I wanted all of those things, which is funny because now I work three times as much and I'm working towards having the work life balance back.

But that being said, I regularly ask the people who work for me, like, what can I do better to support you? What do you think that we can do better to support our clients? And I hear them, I listen to them and then we implement because I want them to be a part of it. I don't want them to just do what I [00:31:00] say.

Beatrice Gutknecht: Exactly. And leaning into that, that's, that's another big part that I see missing is HR bringing in that brand strategy. Most people like most businesses don't even think about that. It's like, Hey, are we hiring people that align with these base values? I don't need people copying and saying the same thing, but the values need to align, right?

So that that way when you're having these conversations, and when you're getting everyone in board on board, they're like, Oh, you know, I get that. But, and then they're also thinking their own like direct like, Hey, maybe I can say it like this, and having that group of people. That's cool. And then they're kind of.

Bouncy off each other. And this idea is growing. And like you said, maybe you're not taking all of these ideas, but there'll be a hell of a lot of good ideas there.

Leighann Lovely: Yeah, [00:32:00] absolutely. So we are coming to time. Um, and I could continue to have this conversation for the next two hours, but, this is where you get your 32nd shameless pitch.

So go for it.

Beatrice Gutknecht: Yay. So, I mean, we've, we've covered a lot, but. Basically, when you're spending a lot of money on your advertising, on your SEO, marketing sales, et cetera, and it isn't producing any results, perhaps it is time to look at your brand strategy and go from inside out to reposition your brand and have it stand out and have it be sticky in minds, in which case, You can reach out to me on the show notes.

I believe the details will be,

Leighann Lovely: yep, absolutely. We will have your contact information on the show notes. , but, , if somebody does want to reach out to you, where is the best place that they can do that? [00:33:00]

Beatrice Gutknecht: There's a couple of places. If you want weekly tips, I highly recommend the badass mob newsletter, which is on my website.

You can sign up there. Every week, I go into a lot more detail than I do in regular content. Otherwise, I am very active on LinkedIn and the Art of Branding podcast.

Leighann Lovely: Awesome. Again, Beatrice, thank you so very much for joining me today. It's been an awesome conversation.

Beatrice Gutknecht: Likewise. Thank you for having me.