Luis Báez: The New Way of Selling Online

There's a shift happening in the online business space as consumers are becoming increasingly turned off by overt selling tactics. So how can entrepreneurs adapt to the new way of selling online? This is a question that today's guest and Sales Enablement Strategist, Luis Báez will answer (plus a whole lot more).

We focus much of our conversation on the innovative tool (and my new obsession), VideoAsk, where you can “interact face-to-face with your audience & build stronger business relationships”.

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Transcript

Luis Báez  0:00  
Yeah, the work is not easy and isn't easier for the rest of us that don't have that kind of influence to make those decisions and do it intentionally, right? So, whatever weirdness people feel, just know that the next person in your crew feels that weirdness at a level of one thousand each and every day. Your weirdness is temporary because you're having that conversation in that moment but the rest of us live with this every single day and the work needs to be done.

Heather Sager  0:34  
Well, Hey, friend, welcome to another episode of the Heather Sager show. It's me, Heather Sager and I'm honored to be your speaking coach here today in this episode. I've spent the last 15 years studying and building my communication skills to inspire and teach business owners and their teams from stages around the world. I've had the honor of speaking on more than 1000 stages on topics of leadership, premium brand positioning, sales, and of course communication. And now my focus is helping fellow online entrepreneurs become magnetic speakers, so they can make a bigger impact in the world while growing their income. This show right here was designed to give you a dedicated space each and every week to grow your skills, and keep your big goals front and center. And if you liked today's episode, be sure to grab a screenshot and share it to Instagram and @theheathersager so I can get you a shout-out and celebrate the work you're doing. All right, let's dive in, friend. It's gonna be a good one. 

Well, friends, welcome back to another episode. I have to tell you I start every episode by saying oh my gosh, this one is so freaking good. I kind of feel like the little girl who cried wolf but no, I can't be like that because hello, I mean, I'm always right with that. This show just keeps getting better and better and here's why I could say that with confidence. I'm getting my groove down where I really have decided that I just enjoy having interesting conversations with entrepreneurs doing really interesting things. And what I have done over the last couple of weeks is I have thrown away the questions and just started having really interesting conversations and hopefully you've seen that my interview with Jill Stanton. My interview a couple weeks ago with Zach Spuchler. My interview today with the incredible, Luis Baez. If you haven't met him before, I'm going to tell you all about him, but man, I am loving this. So every other week, you're going to get a guest of someone I admire. I love what they're doing. We're here for interesting conversations around online marketing and you showing up in a more authentic way and then every other week you get from me a specific solo episode dedicated to helping you become a more dynamic and charismatic and magnetic entrepreneur to attract your dream clients. That's what this show is all about and oh my goodness, just today's conversation, my mind is still turning. I'm recording this a couple hours after the interview and I am just raffling through my notes and I just learned so much today. Grab a notebook pad. You're gonna like, you're talking about in the episode I see somebody like how the lightbulb happens when you have ideas like the sparks that happened when somebody says something that you get an idea. Get ready for fireworks and the best kind, where I think you're just going to be so lit up around what we talked about because here's the deal. There's a shift happening in the online business space. You know what we've been talking about it. It's just this idea that we're done with the classic online marketing ways of selling. We're increasingly turned off by these overselling tactics but we still have to sell. We have programs, we have products, we were businesses, we have to make money. Selling is a necessity and it doesn't have to be a dirty word but how do entrepreneurs adapt to the new way of selling online? This is the question that today's guest, sales enablement strategist, Louise Baez will answer plus a whole lot more. 

Now I first heard of Luis inside another program we're in together months ago, maybe almost a year ago. I can't recall but I remember when I saw some of his content, I was like, oh, yes, this guy totally gets it. And let me tell you this, I'm pretty, I'll be bold. I'm pretty choosy and skeptical of other people who teach sales because I've taught sales training for over a decade and I have a really nuanced way of around how I treat sales and how we lead with heart and we focus on the customer and we ask for questions and have it be a conversation-led, obviously by us but guided by the other person. They're at the heart of everything and that's the beef I have with a lot of selling tactics. it's so pushy. So Luis, totally, that's what he's here for his way and approach for selling with heart is so freakin good. 

Here's the beef on him. With over 14 years in sales and marketing, Luis brings a breadth of knowledge and experience that spans across digital advertising software as a service and sustainability with revenue impact over a 500 million to date. Now, I'll tell you I said this is one of the most practical and inspiring interviews I've had on the show but here's one of the big reasons of why. Not only did he share practical techniques, we hone in on a specific tool today called Video Ask. It's according to their website, an interactive face-to-face with your audience and builds stronger business relationships. It is a perfect tool. Luis gives us exact strategies that you can implement at the top of your marketing funnel, at the bottom of your marketing funnel on the operations and program management side. Oh, my gosh, buckle up. It is so good. But the thing that I really, really loved and was inspired today was Luis talking from his heart. He's extremely authentic. He's also extremely articulate and warm and just really great to listen to. But he talked about one of his truths from living in poverty to being an out gay Latino sales executive, what that experience was like, and how it shaped how he teaches others now today in this business to show up, serve well and stand out. He's dedicated his work to empowering and enabling underrepresented entrepreneurs and online businesses through his signature program, the Sales Huddle. He's going to tell you about all the things. I am so thrilled to introduce you to my new friend, Luis Báez. I'll see on the other side.

Alright, friends, well, let's jump to it. I have a fun guest with me here. Today, we're going to talk about all the things around being yourself online. We're going to talk about some cool tools that you can use to show up more authentically, with your audience. Luis, welcome to the show. 

Luis Báez  7:10  
Thank you so much, Heather! Happy, Happy Wednesday!

Heather Sager  7:13  
It's Wednesday and when this releases, this one's coming out pretty quickly. I think this is coming out in two weeks on a Monday. We're gonna be like happen up starting Monday strong for entrepreneurs listening. For those who aren't familiar with you, I've already got to do like the formal bio in the intro, but what's the real version that people got to know about who you are and what you do?

Luis Báez  7:36  
Yeah, the real version is that I am someone who grew up in poverty, has had to advocate for everything that I've ever wanted in life and that landed me a career in sales. That was after exploring all the things for myself. I've had success and being the counterintuitive version of what a salesperson is. I'm not a shark, I'm not pushy and I'm not sleazy. So by being my authentic self and showing up and being consultative and loving and compassionate, I've had some real major success as an entrepreneur having been recruited at companies like Tesla, Google, LinkedIn, and Uber, having a revenue impact of over 500 million and now as an entrepreneur, serving specifically folks that are female-identified by BIPOC and LGBTQIA.

Heather Sager  8:25  
Oh my gosh. Okay, talk about that just right off the cuff. We're here for it. This is gonna be a conversation today. 

Luis Báez  8:31  
Yes, let's get in.

Heather Sager  8:34  
Alright, so talking about sales, I just want to go here for a moment. You use a term that I love to use which is like non-sleazy and doing things just a different way. There is a persona that people have in their mind when they think of sales and you and I both know that it doesn't have to be that. But what is it that makes people feel that selling and I don't know, promoting your services has to be so schmucky?

Luis Báez  9:02  
I think that is part of the culture around capitalism and just the examples that we do see. We often, when I asked people in consultations, like, what's the image that comes to mind when you think about sales? Is that car salesperson, right? It's that like, pushy, you know, you don't know what you're getting under the hood, they're trying to rip you off, they're talking fast, you know, sitting crooked, right? And that's the experience that people associate with sales, just someone that's very pushy. Another sort of association I get is the best by a salesperson was like, on you, on you, on you, trying to push a product that you don't need, trying to sell an upgrade that you just, you know, aren't looking into, right? And so those are the images that come to mind and we haven't really personified sales or sales people as guides, as people that help you in the process of being the hero of your story and making really smart decisions for yourself. Part of the work that I do is to really flip the script for people in thinking about how showing up as your whole self as not being all the way buttoned up, not having all the answers or being a show-off is actually going to be a huge advantage to you.

Heather Sager  10:09  
I love, I love that piece. Just that idea like, don't be a show-off. Oh my gosh, I think that's hard for especially entrepreneurs who they love serving, right, but they love talking about themselves in saying, here's how awesome I am and why you should invest with me. You talk about this idea of like the new way of selling. Why don't you introduce that topic to us a little bit and then I want to brought this idea around people kind of checking their ego but confidently talking about themselves?

Luis Báez  10:43  
Yeah, I think you need to shift the spotlight, right? That's part of the reason that people get tripped up, like talking about themselves is that you really shouldn't. You shouldn't be highlighting the results that your customers and students have driven, right? You should be telling stories about how they went from zero to hero and in doing so you are organically and naturally introducing the ways that you serve and show up and produce results, right? Take that spotlight off of yourself. Don't talk about yourself, talk about the results, right? That's one of the things that I can tell you right off the bat will shift the way that you know, things flow energetically during conversations. 

Now relative to the notion of a new way of selling, right? I just want to set the context and let's just get all the way real here, Heather, because I think that this is a conversation we're not having really in the industry is that we as humans, as a species on a global level are all the way traumatized, right? And we have to really think about the fact that people are tired of brands and people pushing things on them. People now more than ever just want to be seen, heard, and understood. When you can create a process where they are the center of the experience, as opposed to just another number that completely revolutionizes things for your business. But for them, it starts to create that loyalty and that trust that you've been looking for and that's what smooths over the sales, right? When you do the loving up on the customer, when you focus on that personalization and you pepper it with your authenticity, then you're not actually in a position to sell, you don't need to show off, you don't need to be pushy in any way. Things just really smooth over. And part of the way that we can start to do that is let's get away from email and let's get in front of our customers and invite them to a conversation with us. One of the tools that you mentioned, I have a whole kind of toolbox around sales enablement. I am a huge fan of VideoAsk. There are a number of video solutions that allow you to do screen recordings and personalized messages that you can then drop into emails and things but the thing that I like about VideoAsk is that the video is interactive, then the person receiving the message once you introduce yourself, spoken to them directly, said their name, you can invite them to a conversation or invite them to ask a question and they have the option of right on that screen clicking record and record a video right back to you or an audio message. It just does wonders for relationship building and it really breaks up and interrupts that process of what the customer expects from sales.

Heather Sager  13:22  
Yeah, okay, so I'm so curious about this because I've seen people talking about VideoAsk. It's like anything, right, in the online space. Somebody talks about a tool and then it's like, oh, do I need the tool? And then we all go down rabbit holes and we acquire probably more tools than we need but how does like VideoAsk, we're gonna do like a size up compared to others. How this work compared to tools like I'm thinking and what comes to my mind like Loom, BombBomb or Bonjoro? Well, I don't know.

Luis Báez  13:52  
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. VideoAsk allows for asynchronous communication, meaning when you send like a Bonjoro or any of these other solutions, you're recording a video clip or a screen share doing, you know, sort of like a tutorial or walkthrough and then you're submitting that via, you know, email or DM, and then the person on the other end doesn't have the capacity to respond back to you other than writing back to you or going in and using whatever tool they might be using to then record a message back to you. It's just as a cumbersome process in terms of creating a two-way dialogue that's fluid. With VideoAsk, you have that opportunity to just put that same messaging video in front of that person and then inviting them back into a conversation with you. It takes the pressure off of like immediate you know, sort of responding, sort of like with direct messaging, you know, you're expecting than when you're DM-ing with someone they're getting back to you right away. Any delays interrupt the customer experience, right? But with VideoAsk, it's understood that it's asynchronous and it makes things just a lot smoother for everyone on both ends.

Heather Sager  14:54  
Okay, I love that comparison  because I think one of the things that I've been really successful with is DMs like voice chats on Instagram. The people who join Speak up to Level up, they come into my DMs to ask the tried and true question, is this for me? Is this the right time? Does my situation right for this? But y'all keep sending me those questions because I'll totally chat back with you. But yeah, there is something about, I love that being able to talk it through back and forth. I love the fact that this creates an avenue for you to do that with video and it's off social media like that is really, really awesome. Let's talk about how you use and how some of your clients use VideoAsk in the sales process. What would be the applications of this?

Luis Báez  15:43  
I have several. I am all the way integrated with VideoAsk after having, 

Heather Sager  15:48  
I'm so excited. I'm taking notes because I like want to do this in my program.

Luis Báez  15:53  
And so there are a couple of use cases, we can talk about use cases for the sales process and then I'm happy to talk about some backend operational use cases as well.

Heather Sager  16:03  
Let's start since we talked about the new way of selling and this idea of pulling people in and helping them feel, heard, and seen, and understood. Let's talk about sales process and then later, let's talk about program development.

Luis Báez  16:15  
Absolutely. As far as the nature of the work that I do, I'm a sales enablement specialist. I look at you know, people's businesses and I help them draw those connections between sales, marketing, and operations. I have a group coaching program as well. A lot of my focus is developing these relationships in these communities on LinkedIn and Instagram. Those are my poisons of choice. And then, of course, inviting people to conversations because that's the only way that I move business along based on my model which is very high touch. And so I have sort of three ways that I look at the sales process, top of the funnel, when you're generating leads and nurturing those leads, middle of the funnel, when you're engaging in conversations with people actively, and then bottom of the funnel, when there's consideration for a purchase or a transaction. So when I think about top of the funnel, three use cases. Number one, a quiz. So think about how awesome it would be rather than like a multiple choice boring static quiz, if people have an opportunity to hear you and see you asking the questions and then they can click multiple choice options on the screen, and then taken to the next video with the next question, the next set of choices. So one of the ways that I use this in my business is when you land on my homepage, you immediately get served face. I am there, I'm smiling and waving, hello, my name is Luis. My pronouns are and then I invite people to go ahead and engage and so I have this sort of interactive quiz. And in that quiz, based on the people's responses, I then serve up recommendations for very specific freebies, or content, or programs that I offer that are aligned with what it is that they're looking for. And I specifically say in the intro video, you could lose yourself down the rabbit hole of looking all over my website or you can just go ahead and click here and I will get you specifically what you need. 

Heather Sager  18:05  
My brain is swirling because everyone's talking about quizzes. I love this idea of it being like video. It's almost like me and my clipboard at a mall stopping to ask you questions, to actually care about the experience and not just this crazy lady with the clipboard.

Luis Báez  18:23  
Yeah, absolutely. Just to give you some backend intel as far as like the effectiveness of this right now, 11% of all the traffic I get to my homepage engages with this video widget. And that's a significant number when you think about drop-off rates and you're looking at Google Analytics for people to be pulled into that funnel immediately is amazing. On the backend, I enjoyed that steady trickle of growth in my email list and the opportunity to respond via video, engaging conversations, and then start to introduce my products and offers. So I take just to give a hand because I'm all about like, how do we replicate success and how do we put all of our tentacles out there? I created this widget one time. It lives on my homepage. It also lives on all my social media links. So I have links for LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram and when you click that link in my bio, the first thing you're going to see is that VideoAsk widget inviting you to click through and then I start to serve up recommendations for content. On the backend, I'm able to track where my audience is coming from based on which widget they interacted with. So I created one asset one time, that has had you know all this effect and impact across my business and marketing efforts. So I invite people not to reinvent the wheel, if not necessary.

Heather Sager  19:42  
So the question do you help people build those for their website?

Luis Báez  19:46  
Yeah, I do. That's part of the work that I do with my students and on the consultancy side of my business as well.

Heather Sager  19:52  
That's incredible. So side note, for everyone's going like oh my gosh, do I need this? Let's do a quick timeout and say shiny object syndrome. Make sure you are clear on your goals and what you're trying to accomplish, right. But we're also gonna, obviously link all of Luis' stuff into the show notes because I'm like, do I need one of this?

Luis Báez  20:12  
I've got two more use cases for you at the top of the funnel. 

Heather Sager  20:14  
So what else you got? 

Luis Báez  20:19  
Yes, yes. Another example I want to share is I worked with someone who was a physical therapist and in the pandemic and needed a way to continue to operate their business and their practice. They couldn't take clients in person, but there was still an opportunity to serve people virtually. So how do we start to, you know, in their process, sort of replace that intake process of watching the patient hold certain positions and stretches to better analyze the kind of work that they need in PT. What we did was a VideoAsk intake process. And so this PT asked their clients as part of the intake process to hold a series of different poses that help us assess, you know, shoulder pain versus back pain, etc, and it was incredibly effective. So I would say, think about leveraging VideoAsk as part of your intake process. I use it as part of my application process for my group coaching program. I make people actually respond to me via video because, for me, it's just a really highly qualified lead. If they're willing to get on camera and talk it out with me. Same thing with my client. That was the feedback. I got, like, you know, the people who were willing to do this, were the most committed to PT and results in the end.

Heather Sager  21:30  
Yes, okay. I love this. And I'm realizing, I'm in a program right now that's using this. I didn't realize it's probably VideoAsk. People are gonna laugh because I've talked about this multiple times on the show. I have recently discovered that I have ab separation from, you're going to be like, oh, whatever lady with your children. But I've had two babies and my abs separated and my youngest is three years old, so I didn't realize that it was a thing. But I'm going through this rehab program online right now that's 12 weeks. And inside the training, like everyday, there are exercises to do. But every week, there's a spot where it's a video of the gal on there where you send a video back with your posture, with your breathing, with other things to get feedback from the coaches. And I keep going I'm like, what is this wonder where we're talking back and forth and how do I put it in my program? This is more like the program side but I think it's what you're talking about. I think it's using VideoAsk and I love this idea of being able to actually give people feedback or qualify who applied. This is genius. I love it.

Luis Báez  22:42  
Yes, absolutely. It's really important. You know, right now my acceptance rate is less than 30% for my program, I am very, very particular, about holding down a very inclusive and safe space in my group coaching program. You know, just to keep it all the way real, I'm an out gay man. I used to get a lot of homophobic messages coming in through my forms, right? Now that people have to get on camera or like show face and voice, I don't get those messages anymore. It's suddenly they really up-level the safety of the way that I operate my business, so I really implore folks to think about the quality of the leads that you'll get by using a tool like this. Well, you exclude people because maybe they're shy about getting on camera or, you know, recording voice messages or something like that too. Yeah, but do you ultimately based on your program and your promise and the things that you do. Would you really want to work with someone that says shy? You want someone delivering and showing up, right? It is about uploading the quality of people in the funnel.

Heather Sager  23:41  
I love that, I love that you obviously you're really intentional with everything you do. We talked about having purpose and making sure that the things you're doing are aligned with your goals and your values on the show. Now, that idea like I love that you brought up the idea of maintaining an environment that's safe, is a safe space, not only for you, but also for your clients. I think that's huge, especially when people are doing things like getting on camera and getting more comfortable talking about things in business. We have to determine how do we get out of that scarcity mentality where it's like, we need clients, we need more people, like get more leads. It really is about the quality of those leads and making sure that the right fit and I love the fact that you are so clear around who you want to serve and the kind of space that you want to create. Was that somebody in your programs? Was there a moment where you had to make that decision and say I have to figure out a different way to make sure we're getting the right people because it wasn't?

Luis Báez  24:37  
It wasn't that I had the wrong people in the program. It was that at the beta when I announced that I was starting this program, the people that signed up were really beautiful crew of people. And it was just a moment of like, you know what, I have to do my very best to create this experience for everyone else that comes into this program where they can feel comfortable like coming, learning, ugly crying and being transparent and screen sharing and doing all the things that it takes, so then get at the end of that and come back and say Luis, I had a five-figure day in sales, like, thank you so much for holding that space, right? That kind of magic can't happen if you just like adulterated and oversaturated with the wrong energy. And yeah, it was a decision I had to make, you know, implementing an interactive application process instead of the usual static form. But it's worked, you know, like gangbusters. We've got folks in our program. We're moving on to doing big things because they've had really safe space to just like, rock out with their entrepreneurial training wheels and now they're going off and doing TEDx talks and getting featured in Forbes and Huffington Post and all kinds of things that, you know, they tell me would not have happened if they were just lost in this big group, you know, out in a Facebook group to go fend for themselves, right? So yeah, it is important for me and I do think about creating very intentional customer experiences because I'm someone who grew up in poverty in the South Bronx during the 80s and 90s. And so for me to spend money in the place and get good customer service, man, I had to step all the way out of that space and ride the subway into Manhattan into some other areas to get good customer service, right. It wasn't that my dollars were different in the Bronx versus Manhattan, right? It was about that customer experience center. Some bigger structural things going on that I don't want to oversimplify because it's very complicated. But, you know, for me, I'm very keen on, everyone deserves an amazing experience. Period. No matter where your dollars are coming from or where you sit, and the opportunity of doing business online is standardizing that quality of that experience.

Heather Sager  26:42  
I love that you're bringing this part of the conversation up because I think this is something that is I think overlooked and it's this idea that in this space the conversations that people are having about marketing are about how do we scale? How we grow faster? How do we make more sales? How do we get more leads? How do we increase the conversion rates and all these are metrics, right? And they're all important metrics if you're a business owner. You got to know your dashboard. You got to know your numbers. You have to know what you're hitting on. But I think a lot of times these, people might feel like they're fluffier metrics, right? Like experience and talking about impact, and talking about being inclusive and creating safe spaces, and thinking about how we want people to experience our programs and feel as they go through and graduate for our programs. These are softer things that we should own. So people don't talk about them because they don't get the big business results. What I find the more and more of these conversations I have on the show with people that I admire and are doing really incredible things is, yeah, the numbers are there but that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about experience, we're talking about impact. I love the fact that you're bringing it to kind of a different flavor around how we come up with, like fangirling, and this is a very good thing to talk about. But experience, like, it's just huge and I feel like it's just been made a word that's like a check the box around, what's the experience of our community or our people? And it's like a, just a, let's have a conversation real quick but let's get back to the big kid talk which is to that? Is that something that you see a lot, that struggle between the numbers versus the feelings and the impact?

Luis Báez  28:29  
Absolutely. I think that the thing is that we need to understand that all these like could feel and they can also be measured, right? I think that I'm going to challenge people to look at themselves and question their true innovation and the way that they approach this. For example, you can have diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative that is heartfelt and also metric-driven. I just spoke on a podcast recently where the host admitted to me like, you know, the co-hosts admitted to me. We were two white men and the majority of the people that end up on our show are also white men. They usually refer to us I'm like, great. How about you actively pursue guests and commit to making sure that 30% of your guests for the rest of the year are not white men. And think about that, that kind of approach to doing impactful work but still having measured impact to satisfy whoever is caught in the weeds with the numbers instead of looking at the real value, right? And so I think that there are ways to kind of marry those intentions.

Heather Sager  29:32  
The thing that comes to mind for me that I know a lot of people have resistance, especially white business owners in this space with the conversation around diversity and inclusion. I think people feel and I saw this with myself too, like, oh my gosh, if we put a number on it, it's gonna make it feel weird. There's something weird about that. I think we have to own that if it feels weird, like, question it and be like, but why is it feeling weird? I just make the decision that you're going to do something different and put your eye behind it?  

Luis Báez  30:08  
Yeah, the work is not easy and it isn't easier for the rest of us that don't have that kind of influence to make those decisions and do it intentionally, right. So, whatever weirdness people feel, just know that the next person in your crew feels that weirdness at a level of one thousand each and every day. Your weirdness is temporary because you're having that conversation in that moment, but the rest of us live with this every single day and the work needs to be done, right? And we can talk about all the ways, you know, to think about, you know, measuring impact in business. And this is, again, why I love tools like VideoAsk and thinking about, you know, the sort of personalization of your process of connecting and collaborating with people because having that video engagement gives you so much more intelligence to work with versus just reading an email and making inferences about a person's intention. When you can see someone face to face, you can read a lot more. We can't take that for granted. You know, this is why I, you know, in sort of like the sales training bit in the way that I teach is the Zoom calls. You know, get with the customer if you're selling high ticket. Get on a line with them and just read what's going on how they're digesting the information, how they're valuing what it is that you're bringing to the table, right? That also gives you an opportunity to make sure that you're not collaborating with someone that just really isn't down with the way that you do business. 

Heather Sager  31:31  
Oh, that's a really, really good point piece. We're really quick to jump into collaborations or affiliate whatever because the opportunity, right, for the money, but I love this idea of around having conversations, especially on video, whether it's on zoom or using a tool like VideoAsk to talk through with people. You really can get a vibe whether or not this is a brand that you would want to fully stand behind. I think that's an interesting way to do it. We don't have to go through the full funnel thing with ideas for VideoAsk. But is there I'm thinking kind of further down the funnel, right? If somebody kind of your maybe on a sales call or something else? And what are some other ways that you see video play out in a, like a highly authentic and effective way in the sales process?

Luis Báez  32:18  
Yeah, what I like to do is part of my onboarding process for my group coaching experience is I invite people to an information session. So I'm not one of those people that acts like they're too busy or too above to talk to customers, right? I want to talk to people.

Heather Sager  32:32  
And I laugh on that, like oh my god. I'm not one of those people that pretends that we're so busy. Yes. Like, that's the thing that happens. Okay, I love that. Be available, talk to people. It is not a chore to have those conversations, what a gift we get to talk to other people about something that we're both excited about.

Luis Báez  32:52  
100%, just a quick tangent, I recently connected with a business coach who in DMs acted like they were too busy to connect about a collaboration that was proposed. And then when I went into their scheduling tool on Acuity, the calendar was wide open, right? So I'm like, I know that you are not that busy, right? So anyway, I digress. So part of my process is I invite people to a conversation. They find me on social media, they hear podcasts that I've been speaking on like the Heather Sager show, right, and they go hmm, let me see what this dude is about, right? And then once they start asking questions, and when the timing is right, I dropped that VideoAsk. And in that VideoAsk I dropped my Calendly link and I say, hey, so and so like, it sounds like you're really interested in what's going on behind the scenes and I'd love to invite you to a conversation so you can ask me everything you need to about myself, my background, the students, the work that we're doing so you can make the best decision for yourself but whether or not this is the right community for you, right? They go ahead in that VideoAsk, grab a time on my Calendly. They go ahead and book on my calendar. I jump on Zoom and then I take them through behind the scenes of the program. I actually do screen share, right? This is one of the things that I don't often see programs do. But I'll do screen share and I show people here the resources you get, if you had a question about this, this is specifically where you're going to find that answer, that resource, that checklist, that template, right? And then I wrap up, I pull back the screen share. I answer any questions that they have. If they're not ready to enroll in that moment, no harm, no foul. I'm gonna love you anyway, right? And if you tell me like oh man, I gotta get back to my spouse or I gotta think about this. Cool. The conversation doesn't end there. I follow up with the VideoAsk, so and so, thank you so much for your time, for your consideration. You know and I've been to storytelling. You remind me of a client who had this very same problem. They started off right where you are, this is what we did. This is how they use the program and the resources. This is how long it took them to get results and why. If this sounds still like the right kind of vibe for you, don't be shy to hit reply. Let me know any other questions you have, right? So I continue that engagement over VideoAsk instead of email so nothing is lost in translation and so again, I have that opportunity to read. Are they really interested or were they just a competitor trying to hack my home?

Heather Sager  33:02  
That's totally a thing. I don't know who has time for that, but I'm sure they're all. Okay, I love this. Thank you for being so detailed with that. My mind is like popping with so many ideas around my sales process. I hope anyone listening is thinking through. Okay, how do we improve that process? I think there's kind of two things that I want to write this down so I don't forget. There's comfort in a script. My brain goes in a bunch of different places and if I don't write it down and then I forget my tangents. So no one, I think going back to what you said is there is this tendency in the online space to like, sip a margarita on the beach and work as less as possible and that we're too busy for the people that we actually serve. You hit that on the head around, if you really want to make an impact, if you want to build really dynamic communities with people who are freaking, raving, excited in getting results from your program, it requires presence. I mean, granted, it doesn't require it. You can build your business in a different way but for those who want to do the high touch, those who really want to be involved, we have to stop going, how do we get ourselves out of it and actually get ourselves into the right interaction.  So that's just one thing I want to point out that we said, like, we have to be willing to have the conversations, and the more we have these kinds of conversations, it takes the pressure off of like the one sale or the one webinar. It's like, collection of touchpoint so that's like, super powerful. 

The other thing that I want you to speak to this. I find a lot of times with my clients is they've been trained on sales by following scripts and they get a little uncomfortable when they are like, oh, that doesn't sound right. It sounds schmucky. And when you started saying like, okay, get on the VideoAsk after and share, oh, I have this client who reminds me just like you, insert here was their scenario and here's what happened and you wrap it up and I can tell you say this all the time. What I want to point out here is, what we have to determine are the scripts that work for us which is like a template of like, go-to phrasing. Y'all know, I call them golden fragments of things we use but be very careful that what we don't do is an insert fill in the blank that's just like a generic thing. We actually fill in the blank with something that we truly believe and we stand behind and that's why scripts like that work. So can you talk a little bit about because I would imagine you have scripts in your business, whether or not you have written down? How do you approach that piece and help people get over that idea that scripts are bad?

Luis Báez  37:56  
Yeah, I don't call them scripts. I call them flows, right? 

Heather Sager  37:59  
Oh, I love that.

Luis Báez  37:59  
Right, I am very prescriptive about like, how the call should go or how the conversation should flow but I really leave it up to the moment, and the energy and the fluidity to you know how which story you tell, or you know, how vigorously you tell it or whatever, right? Like, it's entirely up to the connection that you're making to drive the energy that's left on the table. But I mean, like anything, you know, there's an introduction, right? There's a series of questions or assessments of some sort. You realign with the person, like, hey, you know, this is what I heard. Am I on the right track? And then you start being prescriptive. Based on what you told me, I think, you know, LMNOP, you know, you thought it was ABC, but I think it's LMNOP that you're looking for and let me tell you why. And then you wrap up the call with like, does it worth your while to continue this conversation, right? That's a very permission sort of based approach. And, and again, it's a flow. It's a flow, right? I'm not tripping on like, I forgot to say this, or I forgot to say that. But I think you get more confident in that flow when you take on more calls. There's no way around that, right? Like, you don't show up at the gym and magically drop 100 pounds, you got to keep at it. You got to sweat it out and do the things that are required. You just do what needs to be done.

Heather Sager  39:16  
Yes. Damn, right? I love that. I want to talk briefly around I'm using a tool like VideoAsk to strengthen like the operations side and the service side of our business. Talk a little bit about that piece, right? So somebody enrolls in your program or enrolls in someone's program, right? How could they use the video features to improve that experience?

Luis Báez  39:42  
Yeah, the first thing I do is I drop like a welcome video with very specific next steps. I'm so excited. I'm proud like you've made this investment. This is the first thing I need you to do. Click here, log in here, do that. And once you've done that, let me know and I'll have the next thing ready for you so that's step one. It's like the minute that you are enrolled in my program you're going to see face. You're going to see this face. I'm going to pop in, right. Then when you log into the student area where the content is hosted, there's a pop-up widget. You click on that widget. You hear a message from me saying, don't be stuck longer than you need to be. Don't be shy to reply, hit the button on the screen now to record a question, record whatever feedback you have for me and I will respond to you as soon as possible in the next business day. And I get people all the time as they're going through the content, like I really appreciate the opportunity to just talk this out when this is top of mind because yes, it is two in the morning and I just put the little one back to bed and I can't get back to bed myself so I decided to sit with this right? I'm meeting the customer exactly where they are and giving them what they need to space to just talk and screen share and show me what they need. 

The other thing is that I also on a monthly basis, shoot out an email, requesting soliciting feedback about the content or about any of the office hours or the other things that I offer. And then of course, testimonial collection, right? So thinking about like, you know, as people see results, dropping the congratulations video, and just inviting them if they you know, would be timed and willing to just share their experience with other folks, right? And one last tidbit, thinking about cross-functionally as a team. I use VideoAsk with my social media manager. We don't email. We just don't bother like, nothing gets lost in translation. We look at each other, you know, face to face via video asking. We talk about the things that are in progress and the things that need to be done. The things that we need for one another.

Heather Sager  41:39  
Okay, I love this, you just dropped like a bajillion ideas. This is why I love interviewing people who are doing amazing things just because you just dropped down all these little tidbits, right? And like, lights up the brains of someone listening like the fourth of July in terms of all these different ideas. This is why I love podcasts so much, right? It's not that you have to take everything that you hear and go apply it but it gets us thinking around how do we improve our experience? How do we improve just a little nuance things in the program? So whether or not you're sitting here like with a notepad like me ferociously taking notes or you're just now stewing on, oh, man, how can I make this work for me? That's the goal of these conversations is for us to continually push the envelope to say, how can we serve better? How can we have more fun running our businesses, and how can we grow so we can make a bigger impact? That's what this is all about. So oh, my God, I love this. I want to address, follow-up question on this because I can imagine some questions around this that could be used as like, men, that won't work for me so let's get those out of the way. 

So one, one that I hear is, well, what happens if people are, we will use my expression. Word vomiting on us like these super long videos, how do you have time to handle every single question that comes in? How do you navigate that one?

Luis Báez  43:02  
Yeah, so I set up time blocks on my calendar specifically to sit in the inbox and respond to messages. I also have time limits on responses so you can control. 

Heather Sager  43:12  
Oh, I love that.

Luis Báez  43:14  
Yes, so I limit it to two minutes for responses for my general sort of like inquiry lines. For the student sort of lines, I limited to four minutes, right? Like, get what you need to get off your chest and then let me know exactly what you need and that's how I'm able to control it protect some of my time and energy for sure.

Heather Sager  43:32  
Yes. Okay. I love I love, love, love that. You know, one of the other things that is a big, hot topic in this space is repurpose, repurpose, and scale so I can hear the question coming up. Well, man, if everybody in my program keeps sending me these private messages, it's the same question that everyone is asking, how do you handle the one-on-one versus questions that you should be bringing through the group?

Luis Báez  44:00  
Yeah, absolutely. I, in my program, meet with my group three times a week and I have two hours that are just dedicated office hours like, come in, ask your questions, screen share, talk it out. And once a week I teach and that's when I typically address these common questions that are coming up and I say great, everyone had a question about this template, this formula was a little off and you know, completely, you know, threw everyone off. I refreshed it and this is how you know, you should be moving forward. I give folks the training that they need. And then of course, like within the area, I include replays of everything. I include notes of what's included in the content, so it's very searchable. That also helps and then of course, within the program like thinking about, you know, FAQs, right, thinking about any sort of ways that you can capture some of these recurring things and turn them into, I always think of things from a sales enablement standpoint. So if I get the same question over and over, is this a checklist, worksheet, you know, quick copy and paste template? What can, turning this into so it's actionable right away for the next person that needs it? Yeah.

Heather Sager  45:05  
I freaking love this. I love this so much. And I hope those of you listening like anytime you hear somebody giving like a tip or technique and instantly you're going like, oh, that won't work because it's going to create these flood problems asking that follow up question like, how could this work for me? How can I create a container so this could be successful? I think this is what we continually have to do as entrepreneurs is figure out, how do we find ways to not sacrifice the quality, coming back to what you said earlier, at the end of the day, consumers want to feel heard, and seen, and understood. And that needs to be the center of us figuring out how we create these experiences not only in our sales process in our marketing process, but also in our delivery of our programs processes. So Oh, my gosh, you've covered so many good. 

Luis Báez  45:50  
One tool, many applications. 

Heather Sager  45:55  
Let's come back from the application. Let's put that on the table. Side note, I will tell everyone how they can connect more with you and learn more about this because I'm sure now you've done such a great job creating demand for what you teach in this episode. I want to talk about just a couple of things in closing around your pathway with entrepreneurship, and just some parting words for people who are listening. One of the things you mentioned earlier of your experience being an out gay Latino in this space, but also you kind of briefly mentioned earlier on your experience working in other organizations. So you and I kind of chatted on this around like, what's one thing that you would really love to talk about? The experience of being now gay, Latino executive, I want to talk a little bit about how going through things that are obviously not a traditional environment for where that's well accepted? How was that experience for you and how has that related to your work now as an entrepreneur?

Luis Báez  46:57  
That's an excellent question. Thank you for asking that. You know, when I think about what my experience was working in these organizations, I was often the only person at the table that had my lived experience or perspective. And I know that in the business world, we often talk about IQ, your intellectual quotient, EQ, your emotional intelligence, but we often forget to talk about cultural intelligence, and then the value that adds in an organization. Someone who is capable of connecting with all the people across the table and being able to translate customer, executive, tech talk across the board, right? And so I think about the experiences that I had, I was often the only person that had that kind of perspective. And, you know, my way of standing out was speaking up, but I was often not an aggressive, sharky sort of person and I only spoke when absolutely necessary so I was able to command the room differently. And because I wasn't pushing an agenda but instead inviting someone to a conversation, it really allowed me to influence in ways that, otherwise, I don't think I would have been able to succeed because I'm just not a shark. I'm not that person and I don't think it's necessary. I've connected with people who don't have my kind of experience, who haven't driven the kind of revenue that I have. This is the time to let all that go and lead with compassion, and understanding, and humility with customers, right? 

And I think the other thing that's really as far as the business and the work that I do, when I was not finding what I needed pursuing the traditional corporate path in terms of the intellectual and financial needs, right, I started pursuing my business on the side. I started taking everything I learned working in Silicon Valley and applying that to my own business and then getting tapped on by other business owners that went, wait, how do I use these tools to do the thing things you're doing? And that led me down this path of like, you know what, there's an entire massive audience of people that aren't included, or represented or respected, really, and we need to start creating paths for people to contribute in our industry. And that's what really drives my work now is knowing that I know what it's like to be discriminated against at some of the happiest places to work on Earth. I know what it's like to be diminished and disrespected publicly. I know what it's like to have someone questioned your intellect and your capabilities. And if I didn't have the knowledge and if I didn't know better about what was going on structurally, I don't know that I would have continued pushing the way that I have. And so for me, it's really important to cultivate is I think about entrepreneurship in a really innovative industry by including all perspectives, all opportunities to uplevel the way that people are served, and thinking about the power of creating micro-economies as well. You know, when I think about what's going on in the online business space, we see people circling and swarming with each other and, you know, they can't cross collaborate, cross-promote, and then all of a sudden everyone's making a ton of revenue, right? And so how do we create these opportunities for people that don't have those networks yet? How do we create those opportunities and bring that talent to the pipeline for the industry? So no one can refute that we deserve to be here.

Heather Sager  50:11  
Yes, this is the conversation. I think so many people are ready to have and I love the fact that you speak about it boldly and thank you so much for sharing your story and perspective. I think when you talk about this idea that you spoke up even when it was uncomfortable and when it was hard, and I love that you said that you're not a shark. I mean, my audience resonates with this a lot. This idea that most of the people who are listening have something to talk about that is bigger than three tips to show up on Instagram even like if we're teaching business services, right? There's I think that the through-line within a lot of people who are in this audience is they have a bigger message. And with what you just shared, we have to remember to speak up even when our voice shakes even when it's uncomfortable. It doesn't mean we have to be the loudest but what it's important, we have to use our voices. 

So do you have any words as we wrap up here, words of encouragement for anyone listening who has something really important on their heart that they know they want to start speaking up and sharing their message and get more visible, but they are freaking terrified for whatever reason, whether it's fear of other people thinking that they're, I don't know, too self-serving, or people are gonna make fun of them, or get those hate messages that you were mentioning earlier? What would you say to someone in that position is really toeing the line on not showing up or they're not showing up fully in fear that if they do, they're going to get like hate back?

Luis Báez  51:47  
Yeah. Oh, that is really important. Thank you so much for asking that question. I can say, with certainty, as someone who has sat at the table with some of the founders of the most influential companies around this world. Can I use like, my favorite four-letter words on this show? Yeah, I can tell you that these people ain't shit. Okay, these people just don't get it together, imposter syndrome all the way, egos all the way. The people that you are afraid of are nobodies at their core. They are just as afraid as you are feeling right now that they're going to get found out and they have been. If you seen everything that's gone down in the last year, a lot of people got found out. So I think that if you're really on the fence about speaking up and standing out and you're worried about retaliation and all those things, the first thing you got to do is find your squad. Find your squad of people that are going to hold you down that understand the experience that you're going through and I've also seen success, and they're out there. You know, we exist, we absolutely exist. And so definitely, lean into messages and DMs and all the ways you can network and find that community and that space for yourself so that you feel safe and supported and seen. And the thing that I have learned in this life as someone who grew up in poverty out gay, bullied, abused, and all the things in between and has manifested a life that I didn't even imagine for myself, right? What I can tell you with certainty is that you never lose when you bet on yourself, when you bet on the things that you're capable of and you don't actually realize your potential until you just jump into the deep end of the pool and you'd be magically surprised how well you could swim. And then think about all the people that are going to be there with you know, life rafts if you need. That's what the squad comes in.

Heather Sager  53:36  
They'll also have the tray of margaritas for you to be like we made it. Gosh, it's so good. Man, I could talk to you all day long, Luis. It's such a fun conversation. 

Luis Báez  53:48  
Thank you so much, Heather. I have enjoyed this so much.

Heather Sager  53:50  
Where can people connect with you online and find more about your group program and all this good stuff? Take that quiz you were talking about.

Luis Báez  53:58  
Yeah, absolutely. So I am someone that all the way breaks the mold and so I'm gonna invite y'all to text me. Head on over to textluis.com, enter Heather, when you text me so I know that you listen to this show and I will be sure to hook you up from there and give you all the examples of all the things that I shared with you today, all the ways that I use VideoAsk. I'll give you that behind the scenes.

Heather Sager  54:21  
I love it. Oh my gosh. All right, you guys get your text on, get your text on right now. We'll be linking into the show notes. You are just such a joy. I can't wait for people to learn more about you.

Luis Báez  54:34  
Thank you, my friend. Thank you for having me.

Heather Sager  54:36  
All right. We will see you next week for another in-depth training here on the show on a solo episode. Talk to you real soon!