Ladies Kickin' Ass

#132 Mastering the Unique Voice of Your Brand with Candice Jackson Long

• Tanya Wilson • Episode 132

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Ever wondered how to transform your marketing from mere selling to relationship-building? Join me, Tanya Wilson, and my guest Candice Jackson-Long, CEO of CJL Consulting Group, as we uncover the secrets to mastering the "know, like, and trust" factor that turns casual browsers into loyal customers. Candice shares actionable insights on the importance of maintaining a strong, multi-channel presence, from social media to podcasts, and how consistent visibility can keep your brand top of mind. We also dive into the pivotal role of stellar customer service and how leveraging reviews can set you apart in the competitive service business landscape.

Are you struggling to get meaningful engagement on social media? We tackle this head-on with Candice, who emphasizes the power of genuine interactions over chasing follower counts. Discover practical advice on overcoming content creation challenges and how researching your competitors can reveal untapped opportunities. We highlight the importance of collaboration, offering value before hard-selling, and the game-changing impact of direct messaging for relationship-building. By maintaining a repository of high-quality content, you can educate potential clients and enhance internal communication within your team.

Ready to elevate your brand's message and empower your entrepreneurial journey? Tune in as Candice and I discuss the nuances of branding, from identifying your target audience to aligning your brand's voice and imagery. We delve into the benefits of positioning your business as unique rather than just better, focusing on delivering premium value to your ideal clients. Plus, we celebrate the resilience and community support essential for women entrepreneurs. This episode is a treasure trove of inspiration and practical advice, perfect for anyone looking to make a significant impact in the service industry. Don't miss out—join our community, leave a review, and let's keep empowering each other!

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Ladies Kickin' Ass Podcast, where we help you ignite your inner badass and create the service business of your dreams. I'm your host, tanya Wilson, and together we'll dive into inspiring stories and expert coaching to set your journey on fire. Hey badasses, welcome back to another episode of the podcast. Today is going to be explosive. I can tell already from the pre-conversation, before we even hit record on this mic today. Today, I have candace jackson with us here, and we are going to be talking about y'all's favorite topic. Not finances, that is one of them too but the fun part of the business well, at least for us anyways is marketing and branding. Candice, thank you so much for being here. Why don't you give us a little bit of your backstory? Tell us why you chose to land in marketing and branding and why you love it?

Speaker 2:

so much. Hi everyone. I am Candice Jackson-Long, ceo of CJL Consulting Group, where we help businesses become household names with clear brand messaging. Why I'm in marketing I've been in marketing for the past over 10 years and the reason why I love it so much? Because, for me, marketing is about exposure, and I think that exposure is just a powerful, powerful thing. It's important to grow businesses, but it's also important for humanity. It's important because when we are exposed to different cultures, different perspectives, different viewpoints, it allows us to not only expand our minds but also forge deeper connections, and I think that marketing is a powerful tool to share stories you know, exchange information and also give insights into our products and services, because every business really is designed to solve a problem, and you can't do that if people don't know you're available. So that's where marketing comes in.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. And people I think too, sometimes think I just got to be selling, selling, selling, selling, selling, selling all the time. And then they get exhausted and they're like nobody's buying or nobody sees me because I'm just selling all the time. What is it that you describe as marketing? Like, what are the things that people are doing to market their business? It's not just always asking somebody to buy your service or your product. What else is included with marketing?

Speaker 2:

I think first you have to really consider the journey of your customer right. So in marketing world and I'll keep it very layman's, but essentially you have to go through the no like and trust factor. People have to trust you enough to spend money with you, and the first is them getting to know you. There's very little instances where you initially buy something that you first come across, and even if you think you do, I guarantee you that you've been subtly marketed to already when you made that impulse purchase. It's really not an impulse purchase, it's just marketing done very, very well. You know what I mean. So when you are marketing your business, what you are actually doing is building relationship with your market, and how that comes about is you are introducing yourself to the market and you're helping your customers to get to know you, get to like you and then trust you enough to want to do business with you, ie purchase your product or service. And in order to do that, especially in this day and age, you have to show up across many different touch points, and what I mean by touch points is channels. So that's social media, that's email, that's ads, that's podcasts, any areas where you can be highly visible. What I always say is you are only as relevant as you are recent, and people receive thousands of marketing messages per day, which means that if you are not top of mind, you are quickly forgotten.

Speaker 2:

The whole premise behind selling is this, and where marketing comes to play, the whole purpose really of marketing is to be top of mind. When the customer is ready to buy, not to force a sale. You want them to think of you. When they are ready to buy, when they have a need or when a appliance breaks down or whatever. You want them to think of you. So for me, I have a couple of go-tos when it's time for me to get my hair done, I know exactly who I'm calling. You know what I mean.

Speaker 2:

When it's time for me to get my hair done, I know exactly who I'm calling. You know what I mean. When it's time for me to get my nails done, I know exactly who I'm calling. That's the kind of stock that you want to have in your customer's mind. When that need arises, they know exactly who they're calling, and that only happens with consistent marketing. That's on the front end. Then the transaction happens, which is sales. But another key part that people actually miss that is a really big part, and this is when we're getting into the brand conversation, which we will is the customer service piece. I think that a lot of businesses miss the mark on how important customer service is to customer retention and your marketing, because the form of marketing that you cannot buy is that word of mouth and that will make or break you.

Speaker 1:

Oh, so huge, especially in service-based businesses, that customer service turns into a review, which is an evergreen piece of marketing content that I just like that is my biggest thing. For home service companies, when they're like, oh, I don't really ask for reviews, what if they give me a bad one? I'm like, oh, you're going to get those, because none of us are perfect. However, everyone is searching for reviews. Even if Joe across the street said, hey, I know an electrician call, you know busy bees electrician Call Busy B's electrician they're going to go back in and still look them up online before they end up calling them in the first place.

Speaker 1:

Like that, reviews and that customer service like that's one of the biggest things that makes my personal company stand out more than anybody else, and it's literally just because we're consistent in asking for reviews. We have great service too. However, the other people in our industry, they don't ask. They don't ask If you don't ask. A lot of times that's not top of mind for people and a lot of them are more than happy to write you reviews, which comes back to that whole customer servicing. I love that. That's a big part of it.

Speaker 2:

I love exactly what you said because, especially for smaller service-based businesses, marketing can be an expense, but getting reviews and posting that that's free Especially when you delivered on great customer service, that customer will be happy to write a review that you can then use and put in your marketing efforts. Because you're exactly right, I mean, amazon is a really good example of that. Before I buy any product, I go straight to the reviews. I barely even read the product description, I go straight to the reviews because we need that social proof to help us build trust. And what reviews do is it helps you to accelerate, pass through the no like and trust factor. It helps you to get to the trust factor faster and that is the thing that helps to accelerate your sales. The faster that you can cut the time your customer moves from no like and trust to quickly trust, that will help you to increase and accelerate your sales. And that's where reviews are a big part of that, for sure.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. So many people will call you and it literally tell you on the phone we get it in our office all the time. I read your reviews. You guys sound great Like you've pretty much. They need some info and they need to give you their house address. Other than that, these complete strangers have completely marketed your business for you because you asked.

Speaker 2:

Social proof is a powerful, powerful tool. It is a powerful tool and I was just reading I'm in the midst of reading Influence by Dr Robert Cialdini Really great book. I really highly recommend every business owner to read that book because it helps you to understand the psychology of how people think and respond through the acts of persuasion, and social proof plays a huge part in that. So definitely check out that book.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely, I wrote that one down. I love book suggestions, so does everybody on here, so thank you for that. I think there's so much when you talk social proof. We'll just stay here for a second.

Speaker 1:

There's a lot reviews Fantastic. But tying social media together in that gives you great social proof as the point that you are an expert in your field If you are willing to share education with your audience. I think a lot of times people are like I don't know what to post, or they think they have to be selling every time they post something or every time they send an email out to their email list. Give us some examples of great ways to use social media to further that social proof for your business.

Speaker 2:

So the thing about it people want to connect. People do not buy products, they buy people. So when you're selling your service, they're buying you, they're buying what you stand for, they're buying your values. And social media is a really powerful tool for you to share more about who you are and what your business is about. So personal, you know how, the day-to-day personal stories, why you started your business those are all powerful tools that will help to bring people closer to you and feel more connected to you.

Speaker 2:

Think about this when you are always selling back in the day, when you used to watch live TV after a certain time is when it would just be infomercials and it made it very unpleasant to watch TV because no one wanted to just have all of these large infomercials, long infomercials, going right. So the thing about it is that's when you're constantly selling on your social media, it's like an infomercial for your audience and they tune out, they pretty much tune out. So your ads constantly popping up is going to turn them off. It's going to turn them off and they'll tune out and you won't capture attention. But if you share something personal, like your pet or your team or a job that you're working on, or even featuring a client. That will be powerful in letting your audience know what you do and also how you run your business. You know what I mean. So social media can be used for that aspect. That's how you want to use social media Because, remember, the point of social media is to be social. It's to be socially networked, it's to be social. No one wants to be sold. People want to connect.

Speaker 2:

Now, how you show up in your social media, you want to silently sell, and what I mean by that is if you are on a job right, maybe you're a contractor or something like that you want to show, like a before and after of a renovation that you have done. You want to show that transformation and tell the story of how that job came about. Talk about what the client wanted when you first started walking with them, how they came to you and they were nervous about working with the contractor and doing that renovation. And then you talked about how you kind of contractor and doing that renovation. And then you talked about how you kind of shepherd them through that process. You made them feel calm, you made them feel comforted. You know what I mean. And then you did this amazing work. You delivered an amazing product and now they're happy.

Speaker 2:

That's the stories that people want to see, not 15% off or book this service or do that. No one wants that and there are certain things that you can do to sell that information, but you have to be cognizant on how much selling you're actually doing on social media. There actually is a formula. When you're posting on social media and I think they said I think the breakdown was like 40% of your content should be just like either educational information percentage is you actually making an offer? So that's how you want to look at it.

Speaker 1:

I think educating is that's something that we really really, really focus on in our social media that we put out is education. Like there's so much that people don't know about stuff. How can we help them better understand this? And making kind of like making light of an industry too, like owning a septic business is not usually glamorous stuff. No one wants to see inside of that tank and what all the stuff is. But the funny thing about it can kind of be like what is this, you know? Like random, weird things we find inside of the tanks, or like root math that comes out. One time my guy sucked up a dead bird. Like how did that even get in here? Just random things.

Speaker 1:

But stuff like that gets so much engagement Anytime I post about my team huge engagement on that and just funny little things like funny little jokes or you know kind of reposts or things like that, a funny little jokes about the industry. People love that stuff. But I think it comes down to like we looking at your audience with social media, to what are you trying to achieve with posting all of this? Because it can be for multiple factors. Before we hit record on this, I was explaining to you how it has actually become really awesome for us in hiring people.

Speaker 1:

When you say that you have this really close knit team and culture is very important to you. Yet your social media doesn't, or web presence or anything doesn't reflect your people. People kind of think you're full of shit.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So you have to show them that you really do mean what you're saying, and it's become an incredible hiring tool. It's actually been a tool where I have. I'm working with companies outside of my state now in developing other septic programs, because I consistently posted on LinkedIn about educational content and they were like nobody in your industry is doing stuff like this. Do you want to partner with us on these things? We've been looking for someone like you. You're like I've been posting for seven years with zero return on anything, but that consistency has paid off in the long run. Now it's a great opportunity for my business to be involved in this.

Speaker 1:

So you just never really know how you're going to show up, but what you want to do is make sure you're putting an incredible face to this brand or this business that you're building, so that people can connect with you. It is so important. And the biggest thing, too, I think that we got to talk about is that you don't just talk at people. You have to talk with people on social media. It's not about the number of followers, it's the number of people that you're engaging with. I'd rather have a hundred people that love to engage with me than a hundred thousand people and nobody likes or comments or does anything with your posts.

Speaker 1:

How do you feel about that?

Speaker 2:

I 100% agree. You know there's a principle when you're faithful in the small things, then you'll be blessed with the big things. And I think that's the part that people do not understand when it comes to growth and I'm using air quotes on social media is the majority of it is based on engagement, not even so much posting. It's engagement. So you know, if someone makes a comment on your post, you have to make responding to that comment a priority more than you do posting. You have to make people feel seen. You have to make people feel heard. You have to make people feel like again, they want that connection. So you have to make sure that you are engaging. Social media provides a powerful, powerful platform for you to show up as an authority, to show you know what you are talking about, because the reality is as many people that is out there making content there really isn't a lot of people making content, especially if you're in a specialized niche, you know what I mean. So you can easily start to increase your visibility, differentiate yourself from others in your space, just by sharing information based on what you know. And education is a key part, because the reality, too, is how people buy, especially these days. They research before they buy. People buy, especially these days they research before they buy. They've done their research before they've come to you. By the time they come to you, nine times out of 10, they've already researched you. So if you can help them with that research by having a large body of work and content that they can just quickly absorb, not only does it help them in the education process, but it also helps for you to build your know like and trust factor. You start building trust with them as an authority because you're helping them to learn something.

Speaker 2:

And you spoke about something which we all struggle with is consistency Consistency. So one approach that I like to take with people that I work with when building their marketing plans is the three questions that I always ask is what is the time that you have to market your business, what is your capacity to market your business, what do you have the capacity to do and what is your budget? And the reason why I ask these questions is because I need to build a plan in which you can be consistent in delivering on, because it doesn't matter how big your marketing budget is. If you are not consistent, you're not going to reap the rewards and marketing. What people have to realize is marketing is a compound effect. It is a compound effect that happens over time and the way that we receive messages now, the way that people buy it's very fragmented. Even more and more it's becoming even more personalized.

Speaker 2:

You want to make sure that content actually is a huge part in marketing your business. It really, really is. So if you're not already using your social media platforms, they're free. You're not technically paying for it, but you are investing in it, and that does take an investment in time. It may take some money if you hire someone to help you with it, but it is part it's a key part of your marketing efforts that can yield returns, but you're only going to see the returns if you are consistent with it for sure, oh, yes, oh my gosh.

Speaker 1:

yes, well, thank you for that. That's a big one for everybody. If you do some research too like I always challenge people in my community when they're like I don't know what to post, I don't know what to do, I'm like do some research and just pull out like five people that are around you that are providing the same kind of service as you. I don't like to use the word competitors, cause I like if we'd all collaborate with each other, we'd all be a hell of a lot better off here.

Speaker 1:

So let's just look at the other people that do the same kind of service that you do and see what they're doing. Most of the time you're like holy shit, they're not doing anything. This is like a wide, open freeway and I can drive as fast as I want right here, which is something that we totally capitalized on. We do tons of stuff on social media and we don't pay a dime for it, because we're the only company in the whole Phoenix metro area that uses social media for anything in our industry, which is so crazy. But they just don't pay attention to that stuff. So that already sets you apart from so many others. What are they doing? What do you feel like you're doing better? How do you show people that?

Speaker 1:

Because it's a great resource, even for your team internally, to be able to say oh yeah, you have, for example, my business. Oh, there's roots in the tank. Let me send you a picture of what this looks like. You can instantly pull it up. We talk about it with our entire team, so we have an ax like a huge vault of assets that we can actually use when describing work to people. Oh, we have a post about this, we can send them directly to our things. We get followers from people. Just sending them information like this is what it looks like. There's so many different ways that you can utilize it. You can reach out. You can prospect even potential new customers or clients to come into your business, because DMs are also free. That's something you don't have to pay for, unlike SMS marketing or email marketing. If you work with real estate agents or home inspectors or people that are on social media, reach out to them, introduce yourself. How can I help you? Offer to help, don't offer to sell them something.

Speaker 2:

I think that's a huge part of showing up. That is a huge part of showing up. It's adding value. Adding value before you're asking for something, and the more that you can show that you are providing value, you're contributing value. There's this reciprocity. That happens is that people start. They start coming to you because you've built equity as the trusted authority you know what I mean and so now they're trusting you. You're building that equity, and then they also want to help you in return.

Speaker 2:

So you know, like you talked about going into the DM, social media is not just a marketing tool. It is part of your selling strategy, you know. So when you're bidding for a contract, when you're trying to get that sale and you're able to say, hey, I know that you have this problem and send them a free social media post that you posted that speaks on that topic, that could be a game changer in you landing that contract, because you've done something different that your competitor didn't. And the thing about it is the quicker that you can shortcut for people their processing time and make it easy for them to get the information, read it, look at it whatever, digest it and make a decision-making process that will give you the advantage. And that's what posting to social media definitely has you to do, for sure.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, if you're working with particular people, like when we work with real estate agents, my guys always take a picture of like the truck and the sign in the same picture and then we post that to our story and just say, hey, thanks so much for the business, everybody that follows them they've probably got other real estate friends.

Speaker 2:

Exactly.

Speaker 1:

Oh, who's these people? Everybody's. You're getting exposure by tapping into other people's networks. Yeah, and it's crazy you can do it in your PJs, if you want Exactly.

Speaker 2:

You just gotta be you. You just have to be strategic and and smart about it. And it all comes down to having a strategy, because it can feel like a time suck and you're not getting the returns on it, especially when you have your day-to-day. But you also have to think about it. You have to carve out time each day to market and create sales in your business. It's the only way your business is going to grow.

Speaker 2:

So the way to do that social media opens you up. You can target people. That's the beauty about it. You can find people in your area, in your network. You can find those people to cross collaborate with you know what I mean and just start building those relationships. And I think a lot of times we forget these are social networking sites. You have to go on there to network. It's just networking virtually now, but same thing that you do in person. So if you're part of a chamber of commerce and you're going to the events, it's the same premise, except you're just doing it online, which means you have to carve out time to do it and prioritize it for sure.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely Showing up, showing up again. You got to show up Visibility. Visibility is a theme. Mindset is everything. When you start with this. Hey, I want to switch gears just a little tiny bit here, because I really want to talk about the branding part of this too, because I think what often happens in small business is marketing and branding are they're stuck together. They're the same thing. When we talk about branding, you're talking about marketing and vice versa. There is an incredible post on Candice's Instagram. If y'all want to go check it out, we'll put the links in the show notes. But you have a great infographic on here that's talking about. Marketing is about. Branding is about. Tell me what you would phrase as marketing and what you would phrase branding to be, and why do they differentiate from each other?

Speaker 2:

So there is a quote. It's by unknown so I can't attribute it to anyone, but it says marketing is like asking someone out on a date. Branding is why they say yes, and I think it's the best explanation of the difference between the two. So, continuing with that analogy, you have someone and we've all dated right. So you have someone that asks you on a date. You have several people that have asked you out on a date several guys, girls, whatever your preference is but the person that you said yes to you said yes to them for a reason. You connected to them on a deeper level. There was something about them that drew you in, that made you feel seen, something that they said made you connect to them, something that they did made you trust them. That is branding. And what branding does is it speaks for you before you even walk into the room. So when you are marketing your business, it is solidifying that space in the customer's mind. So we in marketing speak. We call it brand equity.

Speaker 2:

So what I was saying earlier is you want to be top of mind when your customers have a need. That is what branding is. So it's like okay, I need XYZ company to do my taxes or whatever. That's who I'm going to, because they built that trust in your mind. So it's why we have our favorite brands. So, like my favorite brand, apple, I only buy Apple products. I'm a brand loyalist and the reason why I'm drawn to that brand is because they've created a story that I feel I'm a part of, their identity I feel I'm a part of, so when I buy their products, it reinforces a certain identity that I have about myself. And that is the deeper level of brand loyalty that you ultimately want to have with your customers, because it costs more money to acquire a new one than it does to retain your customers and you actually make more money off of the customers that you retain versus the ones you newly acquire. So the goal is to have repeat customers.

Speaker 2:

So we always think more and, yes, you want to increase your customer base, but you actually want to go deep, so you want to go deep. So if you replace my septic tank, then that means you want to be the go-to for everyone in my family who owns a home that has a septic tank. So I'm not just one customer, I'm actually could be representing five customers for you, and that's how you have to look at it and it's like why do we have these culture wars iPhone, android there's a reason for that. These brands don't pay us to advocate for them, but yet we get into arguments on social media. Like my husband, he's an avid Android, so we're always back and forth about who has the best features. They're not paying me. I don't get it. Yeah, you know what I mean, but here I am promoting this brand. They're not paying me for that. You know what I mean.

Speaker 2:

So that is the power. That is the power of branding, and I think that many businesses make the mistake that, oh, I have my logo, website, pretty color. I'm a brand. No, you're not. No, a brand is actually. It's solidified over time.

Speaker 2:

When you start your business, branding is actually a powerful tool to communicate how you market your business and it streamlines things, because many times, people become very overwhelmed at the thought of marketing or they think you know, I'm posting on social media, I'm marketing my business, and social media in itself can feel very, very daunting, but when you go through a process of brand strategy, coming up with your brand strategy, it helps to streamline things and help you to develop the message that will be so crystal clear for your customers and they're going to be like yes, you are the one for me, you're who I need, and that's part of the problem.

Speaker 2:

When businesses are promoting themselves, they sound and look like everyone else or they're only talking about their prices and the things that people don't readily. I don't want to say, care about, but they're not ready to hear yet. So there's nothing about you that's going to make me choose you because you sound like everyone else. Okay, your logo means nothing to me because I don't know what your logo stands for, and then I haven't gotten to know you. So what marketing does? It reinforces your branding and it starts to build up that relevancy and do the consistency in the customer's mind. So, like we talked about with your podcast, your authority, and so now what's tied to that is your authority is solidifying your brand. So now you've talked about all of this educational content, you've been very consistent throughout the years and you're telling me that you have this amazing business where you service based on that, I'm in. Your brand is solidified.

Speaker 1:

I'm in Because now you've taken me through your know, like and trust factor and you expedited my process through that no-transcript people get convoluted to is that they try to be everything to everybody and in the process of that they get washed out. Because I truly believe if you don't stand for something, we all know how that ends. You know, and it's okay to say these are my ideal clients, these are my ideal customers. Something I refuse to use ever in my marketing is free, discounted, cheap, affordable. Even that one. It's like that little walk, a line thing and I'm like I don't want them to be thinking about money when they call me, because I know for a fact I'm not the cheapest person in town, so if I advertise that I'm losing. Those aren't my people I want to appeal to. I have value in this business and I'm going to show you value by making you feel heard.

Speaker 1:

Having a professional person on the phone reviews good-looking trucks that don't leak shit all over the place, the littlest tiny things they all tie together. What are you making them feel? When somebody pulls up in an unmarked van at your house and a plumber's coming, you're like, well shit, am I getting kidnapped or is this the actual plumber coming to my house? And I've had several of them do that, and as a business owner that is very, very particular about brands. I'm like why don't you have a sticker on it? First of all, I'm like what a huge marketing opportunity you're missing out on. But second of all, like you're making me feel nervous to answer the door to get my nervous problem fixed You're a nervous wreck the entire time they're there because you didn't think about the presentation of what that looks like. Branding is so much more than just your website and what's on your business cards how do you look?

Speaker 2:

Everything that you said and I love how you started. How do you want them to feel? And then you made clear what you stand for and you also made clear what customers you're targeting. If you are talking to everyone, you are talking to no one and it can feel that you are missing out on a large market by making a choice in a smaller segment. But it's actually the opposite. When you make a decision on your target audience, you are setting yourself up to be profitable for a couple of reasons. A, unless you have unlimited funds to market specifically to everyone, then you are doing yourself a disservice trying to appeal to everyone. Secondly, you're appealing to no one because no one's values. No one likes someone that rides the fence. No one likes someone who doesn't take a stand. However you want to look at it, you know what I mean. You have to stand for something, because then I don't know how to receive you. And if I don't know how to receive you, then that means I can't get to know you, which means I won't get to like you and I'm damn sure not going to trust you and I'm not going to spend any money with you. And even when you said about being conscious about the words that you use. All of these things play into your brand. Your pricing plays a part of your brand because it's how you are perceived and now that drives how you show up. There is a reason why your trucks are outfitted and well-branded. There's a reason why your team shows up in uniforms and well-branded. There's a reason why your team shows up in uniforms. There's consistency there because you're showing up ready to deliver value.

Speaker 2:

I always say that you don't want to start focus on being better. I tell my clients no, we're going to position you differently. We're going to position you differently. You want to be different in the marketplace, not better, because when you are better, you quickly go down the rabbit hole of competing on things like costs, features and benefits, things that people can easily compete with you on, and then you end up competing on price. You can't make money.

Speaker 2:

If you're a discount store you know what I mean, and the reality is a small business. You do have a fiduciary responsibility to be profitable and if you decide to be premium, absolutely you can do that, but you also have to make sure that you show up as premium and you are very clear on the target audience that you're going to go after. That will see the value in what you're offering and willing to pay premium. So there has to be an alignment in who you want to serve, but also who can pay you and what you are prepared to deliver on. That's the other thing too. Don't come out here premium pricing and you looking janky and expecting people to pay you. That's not going to work.

Speaker 1:

It's not going to work. Oh my God, that was so good. Oh my gosh, that was a masterclass right there for people to just pay attention to that little spot right there is so huge. How can you be different, not better, oh my gosh.

Speaker 1:

That is so huge in this industry I can't even. I've been doing CSR training with my team this week and so many people in this training when they're like we were talking about how to handle objections and they were talking about instantly what's your, what's the number one thing you get objections on? Pricing, pricing, pricing, pricing, pricing, pricing. Everybody thinks in this industry that the problem is you have to be competitive on pricing. What do you think you have to be most competitive with in order to stand out in a market?

Speaker 2:

So usually when you are met with a price objection, it's because the customer has not seen enough value, you have not communicated enough value to them, and which means that the gap has not been widened enough for them to want to pay the premium pricing. So usually it's not a question of and that's. We automatically think. Well, if I reduce the price, then they're going to buy. But I always tell people it costs to give something someone for free, free costs.

Speaker 2:

So it takes listen, it takes the same amount of effort to sell something low ticket that it does high ticket. It literally takes the same amount of effort to sell something low ticket that it does high ticket. It literally takes the same amount of marketing effort like legit. So cheaper and free is not necessarily does not equate to lucrative or desirable by the customer, because in some instances, if you are too cheap, I'm questioning your quality. Yeah, so you know, and we've all been in those situations where you you went cheaper and it ended up costing you more in the long run. So, yeah, there's usually cost objections is definitely tied to value. That's what people are looking for. What is the value and how can you over deliver on the value?

Speaker 1:

Yes, oh, so good. So so good, oh my gosh. Well, this has been one incredible conversation. I could sit here and chat with you for hours about this stuff, and everybody in this community is always looking for different kinds of ways to increase visibility, different ways to show up for their business. They really do have, like, the service heart of like, how do I build a great business that is doing good things? And I think today, if you are struggling with any kind of marketing or branding or understanding the difference of those, definitely go follow Candice on her Instagram. She also has a little freebie for you guys that can help you out with some of this stuff too. Why don't you tell us what you've got up?

Speaker 2:

for these guys. So we talked a lot today about visibility and communicating value, and usually I love what you said about your audience, like heart-centered people who want to do good work, and what I've noticed a common trend around heart-centered people is we don't know how to talk about the value that we bring. We over-deliver on it, but we don't know how to talk about it, and so when we get into business, it becomes even a bigger barrier to do that. So I have a quick little guide that I would love to give your audience, and it's going to walk you through how to communicate your unique value so that you show up, stand out and sell more in your industry.

Speaker 1:

Oh, so huge, so so huge. We'll definitely put the link to that in the show notes. Take advantage of this, ladies, because there is so many people that want to help. Candice obviously has that service heart herself, that's how I know.

Speaker 1:

Bring good stuff, things like this that you can utilize inside of your business. I know a lot of the women in this community. They're doing the marketing by themselves. They don't have a team of people that are doing this, and if they do, it's a very small team, so they've probably trained them coming in to help them anyways. So anything you can do for resource stuff, I'm going to download this and give it to my social media person that works here on my team, because I send her stuff all the time. There's so many great resources out there. Plug into and follow people like Candice on Instagram, on whatever platform you are on and you enjoy visiting.

Speaker 1:

Quite often those little things that pop up like this marketing versus brand. Like marketing is about, branding is about. I was like, oh my gosh, this is a podcast episode in itself. There's so many things that just really make it super simple for you to understand. Don't be afraid to say I don't really understand what y'all are talking about. Like can you help me with this? Because the reason why we exist, the reason this community exists, the reason Candice's business exists, is because we really, truly want to help you stand out. We want you to build your unique value in the market that you're working in, so that you aren't going back to competing on price, that you're actually competing on what you are delivering every single day when you go out and work your little hearts out. So let's maximize the hell out of that and thank you for providing resources where we can do that.

Speaker 1:

I appreciate it so much. Candice, if someone wants to follow you, obviously they know you're on Instagram, FM Raving, but where else can they find you?

Speaker 2:

You can find me on Instagram at Candice Jackson Long, linkedin Candice Jackson Long and my website CandiceJacksonLongcom, so just my name, candicejacksonlong and my website, candicejacksonlongcom.

Speaker 1:

So just my name. Excellent, so so wonderful. So at the end of every podcast, I'd love to ask this question because I find it fascinating in growing this ladies kick and ass community. The reason behind that really was, like I need more women around me that are moms, that are working, that are building businesses, that are in the service industry. You know, I would go to networking events and I'll be it. Like there's the doTERRA lady and the Mary Kay lady and someone selling supplements and I'm like, yeah, but you don't know how to. Like I'm struggling with hiring construction workers. Like I want to talk to somebody about this, like how do you do this? And I just really wanted to find people.

Speaker 1:

As you're starting and bootstrapping a business, sometimes you need to just ask for some help and maybe you don't have the money to do it. And where do you find people that are willing to mentor you and coach you and help you? So that is the whole purpose behind building this community is I felt like I've got 15 years of experience in this. How can I bring more ladies to this table like you? So thank you so much for your time to help these women that are building these budding businesses, but you have obviously built your own business too, and in that I'm sure you had to like really reach down into the depths of your soul. In, entrepreneurship is for not the faint at heart, that's for freaking sure and just be able to rally. Some days that looks like I'm just going to get up and do what I got to do. Some days you're like charging full steam ahead. Some days you're like I need to learn how to relax because I don't know how to do that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So when you hear the phrase ladies kicking ass to you, what does that mean in your life?

Speaker 2:

That phrase. It's so powerful and it I'm kind of losing words because it's hitting my heart. But okay, you know women are. So we're dynamic, we're powerful, we're multi-dimensional and we can do a lot. We can definitely do a lot and I think what you said, the way you encapsulated it, was perfect, because entrepreneurship is a journey of self-discovery. Entrepreneurship is a journey of self-discovery.

Speaker 2:

In this journey, I have had to face childhood traumas. I didn't know was there mindset issues, like all the issues, and I was like I'm just trying to start a business. I didn't know I had to deal with all of these things, but I had to because they were stunting my growth. And being around women who are on the same path as me and being able to be vulnerable and being able to share is in creating a space for me to gain strength so that I can go out and kick ass. There's a force behind that. But I also think that there is a permission in that to also sit down, take your cape off and just be okay. You know what I mean. It's okay to have a day where you're I don't, you just don't know, and you're crying, but then the next day you get it out. You get it out. You take a shower, you put your makeup on and you're crying, but then the next day you get it out. You get it out, you take a shower, you put your makeup on and you're like okay, I'm ready.

Speaker 2:

So for me, it's about resilience. It's about the simplest phrase. I just saw it on something I was watching and I don't know. It just hit me differently this time and it just was keep going. I don't know, it just hit me differently this time and it just was keep going. That's what Lady Kicking Ass for me signifies. It's just keep going, just keep going.

Speaker 2:

You may not know what it looks like today or tomorrow. You may not know where the next sale is coming from. You may not know what you're going to do or maybe you do, and maybe the other side of that is you have a huge opportunity in front of you and you're trying to do, or maybe you do, and maybe the other side of that is you have a huge opportunity in front of you and you're trying to make decisions. Right, keep going, Keep going. One thing that keeps me going is I am planting seeds for the me of tomorrow. I want to meet the version of me tomorrow that I have envisioned today, and if I don't get up and kick ass today, I'm not going to meet her. I'm not going to meet her. So I may run and stumble and fall, but it's the getting up. That's what kicking ass is. Kicking ass is literally the getting up. It's the getting up.

Speaker 1:

So that is beautiful. You're going to make me start crying. I'm such a baby. I cry on here all the time. I love these so much. I, I. I don't even remember who I was talking to this week, but somebody had said failure is like failure tried to kill me but it didn't know what, or failure tried to bury me, but it didn't know I was a seed, oh I love that and I was like, oh my gosh, if you can embrace that just in itself there of like, it's not if you fail at something, it's when.

Speaker 1:

It's not when you need to slow like if you need to slow down you will need to slow down at some point and you know, like keep going, keep going, take the damn day off. You're not going to blow anything up in a day, Take it off.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I love that Put your cake down for the day, enjoy who you are, because we are so much more than just these businesses we've created. We're so much more than a mom, a wife, a friend or anything else. Returning back to ourselves, I think, is one of the most beautiful things that we could possibly do in this huge journey of entrepreneurship, because, like you said it's not just about building a business, you're building yourself in the process. Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

They need to tell you that when yourself in the process, absolutely. They need to tell you that when you decide to make this, leap If they told us that we probably wouldn't have started.

Speaker 1:

So I didn't know. To be fair. Thank you so much, candice. This has been a pleasure, and thank you so much. I truly feel like I have met a new friend today, so thank you so much.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for being part of the ladies kick and ask community Cheers to all you badass women out there. Keep rocking your power, igniting your fire and making waves in the service industry. If you love today's episode, please do me a quick favor. Take a screenshot, post it and tag us at Ladies Kicking Ass. Be sure to include the link to your favorite episode. Your support in spreading the word means the world to us as we aim to empower even more women. Hit that subscribe button to stay tuned for more Kick-Ass episodes. And don't forget a five-star review is the ultimate high five. Connect with us on social media. All the links are in the show notes. Thank you for being part of our tribe. Now go kick some serious ass, lady.

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Tanya Wilson

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