Social Media for Direct Sales – Interview with Bernie Birch
With the change in technology and demographic has presented a new set of challenges to the Direct Sales industry. In this interview with industry veteran, Reliv’s Asia Pacific Sale Manager, Bernie Birch, he reveals how they changed their direction and strategy to overcome these challenges, which created a direct impact to their bottom-line.
In this interview:
00:29 โ Introduction
01:56 โ Who is Bernie Birch?
02:49 โ Being on both sides of the fence
04:27 โ Major changes to the industry in the last five years
04:52 โ How the baby boomers, Gen X and Gen Y approach the major changes to the industry
06:54 โ Challenges that companies are experiencing in acquiring new distributors
07:44 โ How does the challenges change with each generation?
11:01 โ The importance of speaking a message that is relevant to specific groups
12:58 โ Is there a difference in approach to acquiring customers compared to distributors?
14:10 โ Relevance of the Pareto principle
16:13 โ Role evolution for direct sales company
19:00 โ Major challenges when it comes to customer retention and what are the solutions for it
20:54 โ Major challenges when it comes to distributor retention and what are the solutions for it 23:49 โ US companies who have business internationally versus International companies that are based in the US
25:56 โ Importance of localisation, especially in social media and content marketing
27:55 โ Are the companies in Australia leveraging the Internet and multimedia to its full potential? 29:58 โ What Bernie thinks could be the trends in the direct sales industry for the next few years 35:20 โ Where you can connect with Bernie
35:54 โ Todayโs action
Transcription:ย Liza Choa: Hi, this is Liza Choa. Founder of Content Maximiser. And welcome to another episode of the Content Maximiser podcast. Iโm so glad youโve decided to invest some of your time with me. Today our special guest is Bernie Birch. Bernie has over 20 years experience in the direct sales industry. Heโs currently the sales manager for a nutritional company called Reliv, and heโs in charge of the overall growth of the company throughout the whole of Asia-Pacific. Heโs instrumental in the implementation of the companyโs content marketing and social media strategy. Which has resulted in over a 15% growth within the first year. So now let us jump straight into it.
Liza Choa: Good afternoon Bernie!
Bernie Birch: Well hi Liza, how are you?
Liza Choa: Very well. How are you going?
Bernie Birch: Couldnโt be better. I just got back from doing some training around Southeast Asia. And things are hopping along and Iโm feeling very energised.
Liza Choa: I know, you have been travelling all around the place. I can see you are checking in in Facebook on all these different places.
Bernie Birch: At least with Facebook my family knows where I am.
Liza Choa: Yes, well I really appreciate your time that youโve taken out to join us for this podcast.
Bernie Birch: Youโre welcome.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself, especially relating to the Direct Sales industry?
Liza Choa: So letโs go straight into it. Maybe before we get started you can tell us a bit about your background. Especially in relations to the direct sales industry.
Bernie Birch: Sure. Iโve been involved in sales throughout my entire adult life. And Iโve been in the direct sales industry directly since 2001. So thatโs 13 years now in one continuous bite. And I was involved back in the 90s, mid 90s for a further four years. So itโs coming up really around 17 years that Iโve been involved in direct sales. And specifically with network marketing. Iโve worked for one of the very large companies, and Iโve worked for small ones and Iโve worked for medium sized ones. Iโve also been a distributor in the field. And Iโve worked on my own businesses. Iโve always been rather entrepreneurial throughout my career. So Iโve experienced a lot of different things.
Iโve experienced what itโs like to not get paid unless you sell something as a commission only sales person. Iโve actually learnt what itโs like to be running a small business and the staff depend on you to make sure that they get paid. And Iโve also experienced the large corporate side of it. The other thing is what I think has been very beneficial to me in my role within the industry is that having been a distributor and successfully built a distributorship. Itโs actually given me a real understanding of what itโs like on the other side of the fence. So to speak. Which I think is something a lot of corporate people donโt understand fully.
Liza Choa: What youโve said is spot on. I mean, 17 years in the industry and being on both sides of the fence really gives you a lot of insights on what is required. And now being in the corporate side, it will really help you to know what needs to be done and implemented. And really fight for it, isnโt it?
Bernie Birch: Yeah, very much so. And I think that it is true there are times when I see decisions that are being made from a corporate sense and Iโm able to put up my hand and say well, if we take this and look at this from a distributorโs point of view, I donโt know if thatโs the way they would like us to go. But itโs also mainly very aware to consult the leaders consistently. Keep in touch with them. And whenever any major decisions are being made or any changes, to ensure that theyโre consulted and thereโs a complete buy in on all stakeholders.
What do you see are some of the major changes to the industry in the last five years?
Liza Choa: Thatโs brilliant. So Bernie, being in the industry for so long, what do you see are some of the major changes to the industry, say, in the last five years?
Bernie Birch: Very simple question to answer. Itโs all about online. Itโs online strategies. And specifically social media. I think that a company thatโs not heavily involved in social media, and have a very clear social media strategy, is literally going to left in the dark. Because the challenge that the industry in general is that of course, the baby boomers have been driving this industry for the last 20 years. But the baby boomers are getting older. The baby boomers donโt have the same reasons to drive their businesses anymore. So you donโt get that same dynamic energy happening from the baby boomers that you did before.
So consequently that leaves Gen X and Gen Y to needing to drive the business. So with social media doing what it is itโs allowing companies to reach out to other demographics and other generations. Because our business truly is global it makes that much easier.
And one of the big trends that Iโve seen is that itโs much harder to get bums on seats at live meetings these days than it used to be. People are much more inclined to be sitting at home. And maybe sitting in their pyjamas watching a business presentation on a webinar. Because they donโt have to get up after being at work all day. And having to fight with the traffic. And get themselves something to eat. And get to a meeting. Whereas people are much more inclined to sit in the company of their own home and go online, than actually go to a meeting.
I see that as a really critical factor on whatโs changed and whether companyโs can adjust to that. But not only the company but the distributors can adjust to that. And thatโs why itโs the whole thing about the baby boomers and Gen X and Gen Y.
Liza Choa: Yeah and what you said is spot on. Because the baby boomers tend to be less tech savvy. Even though thereโs the 80-20 rule. Whereas Gen Y with my understanding now, in some companies, like 50% of the distributors are now Gen Y. And so to communicate to them and to reach them is very different to how you would reach and communicate to the baby boomers compared to to reaching Gen Y and Gen X. So what do you see to be some of the challenges that companies are experiencing in acquiring new customers in this current climate?
What do you see to be some of the challenges that companies are experiencing in acquiring new distributors
Bernie Birch: You mean new customers or new distributors?
Liza Choa: New distributors.
Bernie Birch: Okay well I would say that it really does come down to about, because one of the things is that today you need to be online savvy. You need to be involved in social media. You donโt have to be a social media whiz to benefit from it. But you do have to become comfortable with it. And baby boomers really are much more customer orientated these days. Theyโre more likely to find them as your customers, or youโre preferred customers, whereas youโre right, Gen Y, Gen X as your distributors.
And some of those challenges, itโs interesting because the challenges change obviously with each generation. And each demographic. Gen Y in particular, if itโs not fun, theyโre not interested. And what it comes down to in many ways is the corporate leadership in a company. Now that corporate leadership are in their 70s. That corporate leadership are in their 60s even. Itโs going to actually change the way that company, what it does is it dictates whether that company chases, and the strategies that are put into place. And the tactics that are used. And I think that there are companies that are obviously out there doing it right. And the companies to get smarter, they need to employ Gen Yers in the relevant marketing positions and they need to embrace the ideas that Gen Yโs come up with. And I know from experience, and weโve done that really. We have had a Gen Y person and their role is our social media coordinator. And they come up with ideas that I look at sometimes and think I donโt know if that is something that I would do. But respect the fact when Iโm talking to a Gen Y who is communicating to Gen Yers, and will get the results.
So the challenges are changing. The paradigm of the corporate leadership to embrace whatโs required and be willing to break down the barriers and risen to people who are only 21 and 22 years old. As opposed as to someone whoโs got 30 years experience.
Liza Choa: Yeah what youโve bought up is a really good point. Because now itโs kind of whatโs beyond just experience, itโs about relevance. And when having, like you said with Reliv, having a 21 year old who looks after social media, they know what is relevant to the target market. Rather than having all the experience and disregarding some of the ideas because people think, the leadership might think that thatโs something I would do. So Iโm not going to implement that. And recognising that okay, I might not, but our target market might and because this idea comes from someone who is from the same market, and recognising and implementing that. Thatโs a really, really good point. And I think the other aspect also is the content on whatโs being put out. Like you said, Gen Y and Gen X like to have fun. And so therefore the content that you put out there need to have that energy in that to attract them in the first place.
Bernie Birch: Thatโs very true. And also something that weโve discovered in the last 12 months in particular is that what appeals to Gen Y doesnโt necessarily appeal to Gen X either. And Gen X have a whole different outlook on life to what Gen Y have. And Gen X now predominantly are having children and having families. So their priorities change. And so we canโt assume that just because this is going to work for someone under 28 for instance, that itโs the same, itโs going to work for someone over 34.
Liza Choa: Yeah, and what you talk about is a really good point. And that also then goes back to segmenting different communications for different groups. So that youโre always speaking a message that is relevant to that specific group. Isnโt it?
Bernie Birch: Absolutely. And youโre right to use the word โrelevantโ. And the other thing is of course if weโre using, for example, that if youโre doing a program or a strategy, campaign is the word Iโm looking for. Youโre doing a campaign and youโre using Facebook and Twitter and Pinterest and blogs. And youโre coordinating all of your social media so that youโre getting the best bang for your buck to drive people through all the different types of media and to bring them back into your website for instance. And you try and engage these people. While the challenge is the same message that youโre sending out is not going to work for everybody. And so youโve got to come up with multiple messages to make sure you reach everybody, with the same campaign that we want to use basically.
Liza Choa: Yeah. And that itself presents some challenges isnโt it? Because then it goes to how much resources do companies have available. To be able to have, say, the same campaign but multiple messages for each of the groups so that it is relevant. And then therefore it will have a higher conversion rate.
Bernie Birch: Yup. Thatโs very true. And weโve literally just had a meeting about that today. And rejigging our social media strategy to make sure that we are staying relevant. So good timing for our interview.
Liza Choa: Ah, there you go. So understanding the industry, really there are two aspects for this company. Number one is acquiring new customers so therefore theyโre just a purchaser of the products. And then the other aspect is acquiring distributors. So people who want to get involved in the business side. So do you think thereโs a difference in approach to acquiring these two different groups of people?
Do you think thereโs a difference in approach to acquiring customers compared to distributors?
Bernie Birch: Thatโs an interesting question because the answer I think is yes and no. And I think it goes back to what weโve just been talking about because a lot of the philosophy around this industry was built and developed thirty years ago. And itโs rarely changed. Thatโs because the main drivers of this industry have been baby boomers. And now that itโs not baby boomers who are driving the industry from a distributor business building point of view. But Gen X and Gen Y. Things have changed.
I donโt think that every company has actually kept up with that. And I think that a lot of people still assume that they can go about trying to build a business the same way. And I donโt think that you can. For example one thing that weโve experienced is that thereโs no difference in the percentage of people who will build a business. Bottom line in this industry youโre looking at 80% of people, around about, who only want to buy a product at wholesale price. So theyโre not distributors. They will never sponsor. So they should be treated as such. And because of that weโve created a program.
We did some major overhauling and changes in Reliv, some year ago. And we really changed the focus in Asia-Pacific on how weโre running the business and how we would go out to the general public. And how we would treat people and try to encourage them to engage with us in our business. So we created a third customer status. And most new companies heading into the market are doing exactly that. So the preferred customer is exactly that. They get a discount, that theyโre a customer. And we treat them as such. And we promote to them from a product point of view. And with the other 20%, they want to be distributors. But only 10% will really work hard and commit enough to build a really good business to generate an income or a full time income or further. The other 10% in the middle theyโll do some sponsoring and theyโll create some volume. Theyโre very important to a business. But itโs the 10%, who I call the 10%ers, theyโre the ones who are really going to drive your business. Theyโre the ones who are going to become leaders.
But this 20% of people who want to be distributors, in my experience with four different companies. Thatโs never changed. Thatโs really the 80-20 rule. We always come back to the old Pareto principle. And so having said that, we understand that.
So we very much lead with our products and our breakthrough in science that we have in our company. And we use that to attract people. And attracting people through very much the science side, the science behind the product. And from that then we qualify people for the business. And having said that the small percentage of leaders and distributors who go out there and they lead with a business. But with most people, because theyโre untrained when they come into the industry, most people canโt deal with that. They donโt know how to deal with it and theyโre much more comfortable leading with the science and the products. And we support that and thatโs the way that weโve been going and itโs working very well for us.
Liza Choa: Yeah what youโre actually talking about there is two terms for it, either content marketing or education marketing. And really about educating the market with the science, in your case with Reliv, is educating them about the science of the products and the benefits of the products. And when people understand that then number one, they will continue taking it, but number two, is that when they come across other people that they feel the products can benefit, they will also tell other people. Not because they want to sell, but itโs like, when something is so good you will tell your family and friends about it so that they can benefit from it as well.
So it sounds like one of the roles for a direct sales company has to evolve over time now, is become a lot more educational focused. And produce a lot of content that educate the customer or the distributors on the different products and the different ingredients. And so that they can learn and therefore they share.
Bernie Birch: Yeah thatโs very true. And itโs very interesting because that is something that weโre working towards with the amount of resources that we have to actually give our people exactly what they need in that way. In training and in education is so important. And that we can only move at a pace that weโre capable of moving because of our resources, but thatโs the way that weโre going, and again, it brings you back to social media. And things like YouTube. Which generally speaking if you want to learn how to do something thereโs a video on YouTube to show you. And of course weโre moving on from just using YouTube to having things embedded in our website. Because the key factor for any business is to bring people back to your website. Bring people back to engage them. And hopefully buy your products, join up and become fully engaged.
Liza Choa: Yeah, and I can see with Reliv that you guys are definitely very much ahead in this space and working together with you I know that you are very big on the technology and social media. And in a lot of other companies they will have people just stay on YouTube or just on the social media platform. But you mentioned a really key point which is bringing people back to your site. Because thatโs where you can have side banners to promote the latest product, or the latest event. And your website is the place that you can control. So itโs really, really important.
The other thing that I was going to ask you is within the industry, the other aspects. Once youโve acquired customers or youโve acquired distributors, whatโs really important for the long term is actually retention. What do you see are some of the major challenges when it comes to distributor or customer retention? And what do you think are some good solutions for that?
What do you see are some of the major challenges when it comes to distributor or customer retention? And what do you think are some good solutions for that?
Bernie Birch: I think again on why itโs so important is because in the bad old days so to speak, or the good old days if thatโs who youโre talking to, customer retention is much harder because the company didnโt necessarily have direct access to the customer. A lot of business was done in peopleโs homes where distributors would buy out inventory. And then they would take it and they would sell it. Or theyโd been prepaid and they distribute the products out. Whereas now everybody, or if the companyโs smart, every single customer distributor they have is dealing directly with the company. So the company has direct access through multimedia to these customers and these distributors.
Now itโs different. Because the customerโs not interested in the business. And of course we have a responsibility as a company, as a network marketing company to let everybody know about the opportunity thatโs there. But we have to be very careful how we communicate that to people. We donโt want to annoy customers and lose them. So retention comes down to case of the fact that weโve got direct contact with customers. We can promote to customers. We can promote product specials. We can promote campaigns and things like that to actually help us in that situation to keep our customer engaged with us directly in the company.
The other thing is of course the products. If your products are good and they work and people get results. Then youโre going to get people to stay on board. Weโve all seen companies that come on board, they get all the marketing in the world, theyโre all fantastic, itโs all whizz bang, they like to sizzle. But that only lasts for so long if the products donโt stand up to the test of people using them and getting results. And Iโm happy to say that we have a huge retention rate on customer. Because people are getting results.
Distributor retention is a different type of fish. We still have a good retention with distributors at Reliv. And I have to say itโs probably higher than most companies that Iโve worked with before. But the bottom line is the distributors. Of course now weโre separating it out. To us a distributor is someone whoโs building a business and theyโre not just consuming products. It theyโre not sponsoring, theyโre not a distributor, theyโre a preferred customer.
Around distributors we engage directly with them. We are encouraging people to get into social media. Everything we do is linked with social media. And this is a major change for our company. And as I said, we started 12 months ago, but itโs really benefiting us now, weโre seeing the benefits. And weโre attracting a younger demographic, which we want. And our older distributors who have been around for quite a while, are realizing that they need to get on bandwagon and are becoming engaged in it as well. The social media has a big part to do with distributor retention. Because one other thing is that weโve known over the years, is that studies have shown one of the main reasons that people stay in the network marketing is a sense of belonging. The fellowship that people get from it. And so social media really helps with that in this day and age where itโs harder to people to get outside and go to a meeting. And of course the other thing is money. If the compensation plan is designed in such a way that you can just, people can keep earning money, it doesnโt have to be a lot mostly. Just as long as theyโre earning some money on a regular basis. Then itโs enough to keep people in. Iโm not talking about the 10%, the big leaders. Theyโre the ones driving to increase their income, create a fulltime income or beyond. But the other distributors as well, itโs just a matter of making sure that theyโre earning money on a regular basis.
Liza Choa: Yeah. And in a lot of instance I know that people get involved even at a distributor level just so that they can get their own products paid for. So for a lot of people that could just be a starting point.
Bernie Birch: Thatโs the first thing that we teach people.
Liza Choa: Brilliant. And what you said is so true. And the beauty now is now with technology and in addition to social media, is with emails and being able to automate email and create what we call nurturing sequence, you can even set it up so that when customers come on board this is the first email they get. This is the second one they get. This is the third one they get. And itโs all automated and all working together. And the whole point is to communicate with them and to educate them about the different products and the benefits and how to take it and so forth. It just makes the retention aspect a lot more easier. Because of the ability and the technology available to automate the process.
Bernie Birch: Yep. I couldnโt have put it better myself.
Is the a lack of resources an issue for Australian companies compared to the mother company in the US in terms of content creation and social media management?
Liza Choa: Okay so now I want to ask you a question. With us being in Australia. You touched on this briefly. Is there a lack of resources, an issue for Australian companies compared to the mother company in the US from your experience?
Bernie Birch: The short answer to that is yes. And most companies in this industry come out of the US. Thatโs where their headquarters are. And so consequently theyโre going to have more resources there. And thereโs two different types of companies Iโve learnt that are coming out of the US.
You have US companies who have business internationally, and you have international companies that are based in the US. And itโs a really significant difference because the challenge in our industry in particular, but Iโve seen it in other industries as well. The challenge for the subsidiaries that are in the other countries, is when you work for a company thatโs a US company that does business internationally, their focus is on the US. They think they developed this for the US and everything else is an afterthought. So no matter how well designed they are to roll things down internationally, if their focus is US and then everyone else, itโs a much harder situation to be in.
Whereas if your company is an international company thatโs based in the US, their focus and their strategy is to develop what needs to developed on a global platform. They might kick it off in the US, but they roll it out because theyโve developed it from day one to be actually an international campaign or an international philosophy. And that makes a huge difference. And I have to say that weโve been lucky here because weโre given a lot of autonomy, with really the amount with the headquarters in St. Louis. Because they do things that we have a choice of whether we actually want to adapt that to our market or not. And if we do want to adapt it, they work with us to make sure that itโs exactly what we want. And a lot of companies arenโt that fortunate.
Liza Choa: And that also comes back down to social media and content marketing as well. Because if you got content that comes out of, for example, the US, and the language is very US centric. Like they talk about pounds instead of kilos, etc. Or even sometimes to the point of the accent that is being used. It might have an adverse effect in local markets like Australia. So that is another consideration for the direct sales industry. Where head office is in the US. Isnโt it?
Bernie Birch: Yeah very much so. And a good example with that from us is that about a year ago or so the US head office developed a series of three different short three minute videos. And one was on product. One was on the business opportunity. And one was on the science of the product. And theyโre all done with American voiceovers. And what they did was when I see them, to see if we wanted to use them, which we did. And we went out and sourced our own local voiceover talent to do work with our US marketing department. And then they just basically did the voiceover on the same video. And we were able to use each one of those three videos in our own market. And we did the same thing for New Zealand by using a New Zealand voiceover. So in each market we used the local voiceover and that does make a difference. Even though weโre in a global economy, weโre in a global world, a global expanding, not philosophy, but mentality in many ways. Our mindset. People are still colloquial in many ways and they want to hear their own accent. When listening to something.
Liza Choa: Yeah, because it gives them a sense of belonging. And even though social media is global, the localisation is still really, really important. Because then it gives people the sense of belonging and is closer to home, isnโt it?
Bernie Birch: Very much so.
Do you think companies in Australia are leveraging the Internet and multimedia to its full potential?
Liza Choa: Bernie do you think companies in Australia are leveraging the Internet and multimedia to its full potential? Compared to say, the head office in US?
Bernie Birch: Well I think in some ways itโs almost too general a question because some companies in Australia are leveraging the Internet multimedia really well when their head offices arenโt. And vice versa. Some people, some companies have their head office doing it well and theyโre not doing it so well commonly so to speak. And I think in Australia thereโs a really wide variety of companies. If you have a look in our industry some of the really big companies obviously have the resources to throw at it, and theyโre doing a much better job.
And then some of the smaller companies, because they are smaller, can be more responsive. And while they may not have as big a multimedia and internet presence, are able to react faster and change what theyโre doing and have different campaigns. And just be a lot more responsive to the field. So it is a yes and no answer. There are some companies that are utilising it well. And there are other companies that arenโt doing it so well.
Liza Choa: Yeah, I agree. If Australia does really well, then the US head office might adopt what has been done out of Australia and actually then roll it out globally. So itโs really just watching the KPI and the results. And then responding accordingly, isnโt it?
Bernie Birch: Very much so. And weโve experienced that here. We rolled out our initial strategy for Asia-Pacific a year ago, actually on the first of May last year. First in Australia and New Zealand, then rolled it out in October to the rest of Asia-Pacific. And some of what weโve done here has been so successful that our US head office and counterparts have already rolled out some of what weโve already done here into the US. So thatโs exactly right.
What are some of the trends and opportunities you see that is happening in the direct sales industry in the next few years?
Liza Choa: Wow thatโs brilliant. So last question, what are some of the trends you see that is happening in the direct sales industry in the next few years. Things such as Facebook, and Facebook marketing and so forth. Can you see some of the trends that you see is coming to the direct sales industry?
Bernie Birch: I think again it will revolve around social media. And who knows where social media is going to go in the future. I think what you look at now with the myriad of different social media. But obviously the big ones being Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, things like that, Pinterest.
In some ways I think in 20 years time, it will look so different we canโt even see today what itโs going to be like. And if we consider that fax machines back in the early 80s or the late 70s, or whenever when fax machines really were the main way of doing business and communicating between businesses. You couldnโt conceive of sitting in front of a computer and skyping somebody and have a video conversation. That was, you had to buy hardware and set up an almost video studio in your office to talk to the other opposite in another video studio. As opposed to literally downloading a software and having an onboard camera in your laptop or your tablet, and away you go.
So I donโt think any of us really know where things are going to go. But I do feel that the whole social media aspect is exactly the right way weโre going. Because itโs becoming a global community. And therefore global sponsoring is becoming more prevalent. Itโs always been there to a certain degree, but weโre seeing it a lot more within our business now, because of how much easier it is.
With training for instance, video training, webinars, people can be anywhere in the world. And their sponsor can talk to them on Skype, just as easy as they can talk to someone who lives a block away from them. That makes a big difference. And in Asia-Pacific, the big trend without a doubt is through smartphones and through Wi-Fi and wireless technology.
Where thereโs a high percentage of computers in a home in Australia, New Zealand, USA and other developed countries, thereโs much less penetration in Asia of computers in home. And the way people are online is through their smartphone. And I look at countries like the Philippines, which in Southeast Asia, according to a study I read recently, is the fastest growing sales of smartphones in Southeast Asia. With a year on year growth of over 300% of smartphone sales. So wireless technology and being able to communicate with people, to be able to go up to someone and talk to them about the business, and go have a look at this, turn your phone around and show them a two or three minute video. Thatโs powerful.
And I really think that video, and audioโs always been important because people can listen to it in their cars like what weโre doing now, the power of video is just amazing. Being face to face with somebody. Or even when youโre just sitting in front of your computer you can do that. I really think that we are trending towards using online, using social media. And if everyone says if this is a face to face business, and you know what, it is. You cannot avoid the fact that more and more people are getting involved in this business through social media, through online, through prospecting in different ways, you canโt possibly go face to face with everybody.
And I really see that itโs just trending more and more and more towards social media. Which by the way is one of the things that is differentiating our baby boomer leaders away from our emerging Gen Y and Gen X leaders who are embracing this completely. While the baby boomers, some of whom embrace it, but most of them are just tolerating it and are using them as the best they can instead of engaging in it and emotionally understanding what it means to their business.
Liza Choa: Yeah, and the speed too, when you go digital. Like you know, once upon a time it was books, tapes and meetings. Now itโs blogs, podcasts and webinars. And with all of this you donโt need to go anywhere, and it is so much cheaper as well. Compared to someone buying a tape, compared to downloading for free on iTunes and having it available now. With the Gen X, Gen Y, they want everything yesterday. And digital enables that. And therefore for people who really want to embrace this industry and build it fast, they can because now the tools are available so long as the company can keep up in producing this type of content for the organisation, isnโt it?
Bernie Birch: Yeah, producing content is the biggest challenge, it is for us.
Liza Choa: Well Bernie, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciated it. Youโve shared some awesome information, as well as sharing your practical experience and application and what youโre doing in this industry is phenomenal. So for people who want to get to know you and want to connect with you whatโs the best way for them to connect with you?
Bernie Birch: People are more than welcome to find me on Skype, at Bernie Birch. Or come onto Facebook, and my Facebook page for work is Bernie RAP Sales. So they can find me anywhere there.
Liza Choa: Brilliant. Well we include that in our show notes. And thank you once again Bernie, you have a good afternoon.
Bernie Birch: Thank you so much Liza.
Liza Choa: Well I hope you got some ideas from this interview with Bernie. If you like this episode, we would love to get a review or some shares from you.
By the way, are you looking for ways to maximise your sales from the internet? But not sure where to start? Why not go to our website contentmaximiser.com, and fill in the website review form. We will give you three actionable steps that you can take that can help you to engage, attract and convert more buyers for your products or services.
Well thanks for listening, and I look forward to seeing you at the next episode.
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