Zoho Franchise Software Sponsor

Tom DuFore 0:00

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Why B2B Matters In Franchising

Tom DuFore 1:14

Welcome to the Multiply Your Success podcast, where each week we help growth-minded entrepreneurs and franchise leaders take the next step in their expansion journey. I'm your host, Tom Dufour, CEO of Big Sky Franchise Team. And as we open today, I'm wondering, do you have a B2B offering in your business? And if not, have you thought about adding one? Well, if you're franchising your business or you're considering it, franchising, by the way, is a great B2B option for expanding and growing your company. And our guest today is Jermaine Chaytham, and he shares with us some insights into B2B selling. Now, after building a successful finance firm, Jermaine realized traditional growth models were broken and decided to focus on a simpler question. Why do high performers still feel boxed in by time, effort, and complexity? You're gonna love this interview, so let's go ahead and jump right into it.

Jermane Cheathem 2:08

So I'm Jermaine, my company's creators learn, and I guess I'm the chief creator.

Tom DuFore 2:13

Fantastic. Well, Jermaine, one of the reasons I was interested in having you on the show is really your specialty working specifically in a B2B sales type of environment. And it's one that I think very often goes either overlooked or not considered, especially in my world that I live in in the franchise space, because so many people, when they think of franchising, they think of, oh, you must be a restaurant or a hotel, is oftentimes what people think about as of the last 90 days of this recording. The number two category for the most leads generated is business services and services targeting and doing business-to-business types of transactions. I'd love for you maybe just from a high level to talk a little bit about this idea of B2B sales and how it might be different from a B2C type of environment.

B2B Vs B2C Sales Differences

Jermane Cheathem 3:09

Well, they're vastly different. I've worked in both. And once I tasted B2C, and then I tasted B2B, I never would go back to B2C for a couple of reasons. Number one is B2B is a way more sophisticated selling environment and business environment. However, the reason why I enjoy that more is because you're dealing with professionals. And professionals like to get things done. They don't like to get emotional, they don't like to waste time. They are about the X's and O's, the blocking and the tackling and moving things forward. So it's just cleaner, it's more professional. It's just my cup of tea because I've worked in the B2C realm and like the emotions run so much higher because I don't know if it's a financial constraints, mental constraints, scarcity thinking, but it's harder to close those deals and actually build traction. And so they're vastly different. And you have to use two separate strategies when you're trying to tackle a B2C client versus a B2B client. Because if you try to tackle a B2B client using B2C tactics, they're gonna sniff it out and say, this is BS, quit trying to sell me. You can't use those types of sales gimmicky guru type stuff. You can you can do that if you're selling a low-ticket B2C stuff because the the clients aren't as sophisticated. So they're totally different. I just love B2B because people have money, they care about the bottom line, and they get things executed as soon as possible because literally whatever I'm supplying should help me run their business and vice versa. So it's like a two-way street where two entrepreneurs or two business people are trying to help each other grow by helping each other with their unique special service or product.

Tom DuFore 4:59

What

Adding A B2B Offer To B2C

Tom DuFore 5:00

came to mind for me is thinking of this B2C and converting it to a B2B type of an environment. And it made me think of some B2C well-known types of brands. I was mentioning food and it made me think of ice cream and restaurants and things like that. And very often there are opportunities in these types of situations for a B2C, a restaurant. We'll just use that as an example to offer services to a B2B environment, maybe catering. And I find that many tend to struggle, many franchisees that are in that environment, they struggle with some of that conversion of what you're saying from that B2C to a B2B type of an environment. And for the franchise or that might be listening into this, maybe they have a B2C play, but it's time for them to add a B2B component. There's an opportunity for them to add this catering or some type of other services that expands their reach outside of their traditional market. How do you, I guess, help or work with some of your clients or advice you might share and maybe building a B2B environment? Is that something you've worked through?

Jermane Cheathem 6:07

Yeah, I always try to get people to shift from B2C to B2B. And so I think the people that struggle with that transition typically it's a mental block. They feel comfortable selling to a consumer because they feel like for whatever reason, they have the power, they have the upper hand. The consumer needs my thing. My if it's a restaurant, they want my dish, they want my recipe, right? They need this, they're hungry. When they try to reframe it into a B2B transaction where now I'm selling my stuff to a catering company that's doing corporate 500 events, they don't necessarily need me. They have optionality. They have more income. They have tiers of different decision making I have to deal with from corporate to you know different stakeholders. And so I think it's mostly a psychological block that makes them think B2C is easier than B2B. However, B2B is so much easier because there's leverage there. Instead of you selling something that costs 100 bucks, you can sell literally a package to a catering company that's 100,000, 200,000, 400,000 in a contractual basis. So I think it's 100% a mental block because they don't understand the power of leverage and simplicity in really like the B2B realm is a leveraged, simplistic model, assuming you're selling the right thing at the right margins to the right partners.

Tom DuFore 7:40

In the work that you do and training folks and supporting B2B sales efforts, you talked about some of these roadblocks. How do you help some of these maybe B2C customers that are converting or have moved into a B2B type of environment find success as they go through it? And I'll just share a quick anecdote. When I've worked with franchisees and franchise networks where the franchise or has a primary business that's a B2C, they also have a B2B option where it's a catering or something of that nature. And I found over the years of being in franchising that the franchisees that implement that catering piece or that B2B piece consistently outperform the franchisees that don't.

Jermane Cheathem 8:25

I think what it comes down to is helping them see from a strategic lens where is the lead domino as far as partnerships. Because

Find Leverage Through Strategic Partners

Jermane Cheathem 8:37

the only great partnerships work is when we're both rolling in the same direction. So whatever my product fulfills for them, it must help them fulfill their product. So my product must help them make money and vice versa. And they're in client too. So like if we're all rolling in the same direction, so that means all the incentive structure is completely aligned. That means that I win, they win, and their client wins. So you have to make sure whatever your offer, whatever your product or services aligns with that. For example, let me let me give you some insights on this. When I was trying to get into the commercial finance space, I wanted to tap into the healthcare industry. And so I was trying to figure out how to get in front of these doctors to talk to them about financial services and funding and capital loans and all these different things. But I couldn't get in front of the doctors because they're always busy. They're always with patients, they're not available, they're with you know drug reps. Like it's impossible. So I had to think strategically again, where is the leverage? Who has a network of my ideal doctors already in their network and has their trust? And my thing helps them sell their thing, which fulfills the doctor's thing, right? And so I went from the from me chasing doctors to the back door to partnering with capital equipment dealers, think MRI sellers, ultrasound sellers, right? Because they have the network of the doctors. My financial services help them sell their MRI, which is very expensive. And the MRI helps a doctor sell his product. So my point is when he brings me into the deal, it's already done. This is the ninth inning. He already decided he's gonna buy the MRI. He already knows what the financing is gonna be. He already trusts the equipment seller who brought me into the deal. So inherently, he trusts me. So 90% of the deal is done without me doing selling, marketing, or branding. So my point is you have to think strategically where is the people that have the trust and the network of my ideal client from the B2B lens that my thing helps them sell their thing, that helps them sell their thing.

Tom DuFore 10:52

Okay, that is very, very well said and really helps crystallize some thoughts in my mind. Listening to you talk, uh it made me think of some clients I've worked with recently that are in similar types of an environment of what you talked about. In some instances,

Use Your Network And Say Less

Tom DuFore 11:08

they're brokers selling some products to other businesses similar to what you described. You mentioned kind of thinking strategically to try and find these other partners that are involved. And so you're aligning strategically with them. Is there, I guess, I don't want to say a process, but questions you can ask or some steps someone might be able to take to help them begin to identify it because I'll speak for myself. I don't want to speak for most people, but for me, my mind oftentimes is very linear. It's like, no, that's my customer right there. I'm not always thinking who's adjacent to or next to or besides that I might be able to go to.

Jermane Cheathem 11:48

Here's one of the important things about business in general is the most successful business people have some type of background in the thing they're doing or they want to do. So, you know, if you're a chef at a restaurant, then you it might be smart to open your own restaurant because you understand the backworkings of it. And this is the point. You have a network of people you've met over the years that are in the restaurant business. So they have the ecosystem already. So if you look within your Rolodex, within your phone right now, within your LinkedIn right now, there could be hundreds of thousands of people in there in your current network or your extended network that know somebody or that know somebody that knows somebody that could put you into a perfect position. So the simple question is if you are, for example, if you're trying to, you know, the the restaurant is a good example, right? If you're trying to find B2B caterers that are catering to only Fortune 500 events, then you should ask your network, hey, this is the space I'm trying to get into. Do you know anybody in that space or know anybody that knows anybody in that space? I would love to just have a chat with them to see if there's some synergies there. That's it. I have always wondered why, you know, sales, marketing, even just normal conversations, people talk too much. Less is always more. Get to the point and just ask for an introduction or just a phone. Actually, don't ask for an introduction. Ask for a phone number and a name, an email, a name, ideally a phone number, a LinkedIn or in a name. Whatever you can get, the smallest amount of information, because then you can put in the AI, you can have a VA do some research for you, get you the actual person's LinkedIn, their phone number, their email, whatever. But you remember, you don't have to try hard because when you call that person, you're gonna say, Hey Mark, yeah, Todd give me your uh information. He's a he's a good friend of mine. So again, it's warm. Oh, oh, Todd, Todd gave you my number. Oh, cool, yeah, what's going on? So I understand you're in the B2B catering space, blah, blah, blah. I'm trying to get into it. Do you know, like what would be a good first step for me to try to develop a you know, headway in that market? So it's like it's not rocket science. I think most entrepreneurs and business people, we make things bigger than they really are, but really business is done with other people. That's it. Business is not done with other businesses, it's a people business. So just talk to people like you would your neighbor or people at church or your family members, be cordial, direct, and then get the information and then move on.

Tom DuFore 14:19

It's funny. I don't want to say it's funny, but it kind of is to hear what you say. It's like, yeah, that makes so much sense. And yet, and yet, so many of us, myself included, tend to overthink it, right? Finding ourselves not doing anything or blabbing on, like I am in this interview right now, as we're as we're talking through all of that. So some franchise or is listening into this, and they maybe are in a B2B space, or they're adding a B2B component into their program. Well, inevitably now they have franchisees that they have to train on this B2B sale, you know, how they go through it, what they do. How do you help someone figure this out? Because it is a bit of a different sale, it is a bit of a different structure than what probably most people are used to to develop this skill of this B2B sale or implementing it or getting comfortable with it.

Start Local And Build Trust

Jermane Cheathem 15:14

Well, actually, it's quite a bit easier than a B2C sale because you you gotta remember if you set it up correctly. So let's let's start with square one, let's start with the basics, let's start with the core of the foundation. If I'm in Arizona and I'm trying to set up a restaurant B2B catering situation with another caterer, right, in Fortune 500 space, why am I calling people in Texas or New York? Start with your backyard because there's no like and trust there. They're familiar with you. Oh, you're from Phoenix too. Oh, great. Did you see the Suns game? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Always start in your backyard, number one. And then you leverage your backyard to go to other jurisdictions. That's number one. Number two is if you set it up correctly where everyone's rowing in the same direction, you don't have to sell them on your restaurants because you have to remember they need your product to sell their product. Don't talk about your restaurant, don't talk about your recipes, don't talk about your unique selling proposition. Become friends with them. That's it. The restaurant, the product, the service is the last thing you talk about. Sales is never done on the front end, it's done on the back end. That's why golf is such a great medium for sales, because you don't even talk about transactions or business until the 13th or 14th hole. So you have to almost flip the frame upside down because on the B2C, you have to get right to the point and start selling immediately, right? But when you're doing the B2B frame, you're just trying to get to know this person and find out if there's any type of synergies, just even from like a personality standpoint. And then we can start talking about like the nuances of exactly what I sell, how I sell it, what the T's and C's are. That's later. But first, I need I need to see if I even like you and if you like me. So it's almost like you have to think about this if friends are dating or whatever. The one that cares least always wins. So you have to go into these situations as if you're just exploring the opportunity. That's it. There's no like, I have to win, I have to close, I have to prove that I'm the best restaurant to do the caring for you. No, don't talk about that. Just become friendly, become kind, maybe take them to happy hour to lunch because they are in your backyard in your same city. So they get to know, like, and trust you. Humans are, they build everything based on relationships. I don't care if it's employees, if it's your wife, it's your friends, your neighborhood, your church, people like people that like them. So keep it as simple as possible. Be cordial, be direct, be friendly, but don't on a B2B side, don't try to sell your thing hard because they're they're not looking for that. They're looking for, they're looking for trust. They're looking for credibility, they're looking for authority. On a B2C side, they're not looking for they might be looking for that, but it's like a totally different frame. So that's the clearest way I can articulate like the difference in how I would go about developing a B2B network. Jermaine, how can someone get in touch with you, learn more about what you're doing? Best place is LinkedIn. That's where I'm extremely active. So send me a DM. I do have a two-page leverage map. And so it shows you the nuances of leverage and simplicity in business, and it'll actually walk you through this. So DM me the word leverage or just say I saw you on Tom's podcast. I'd love to chat more and see if you can help me out. So uh yeah, LinkedIn's my spot.

Misses As Data And Redefining Freedom

Tom DuFore 18:43

Jermaine, this is a great time in the show. We like to ask every guest the same four questions before we go. And the first question we ask is have you had a miss or two on your journey and something you learned from it?

Jermane Cheathem 18:53

Yeah, I have a misses. I probably have like six to seven misses per day. I have amnesia when it comes to misses because I don't believe in failure. I just believe in data. And so every day there's missteps. There's every day there's something that didn't work, quote unquote didn't work. But really, when you again, it's about reframing all this. It's just data to know what to do tomorrow. I don't have any particular ones because, like, who's to say what's more important of a misstep? Because you don't know what the lead domino of the misstep was. You never know what was the thing that pushed it completely over. So I'm gonna I'm gonna take a pass on that one, Tom, and say I turned the page very quickly.

Tom DuFore 19:31

I love it. I love it. Well, let's talk about uh make or a highlight or two you'd like to share.

Jermane Cheathem 19:38

I think the cool thing about my life is I always wanted freedom. And so I realized, okay, how can I get to freedom? And and I thought sales would be my way, right? You know, I could make money, I could control my destiny. And that was beautiful until I realized I was an employee. And then I was like, okay, I'm still, I I can I had made good money, but I'm still trapped within this ecosystem, this comp plan that I can't get out of. And so then I became an entrepreneur and I realized, oh man, this is freedom. This is real freedom. I could travel around the world, I work a couple hours a day, I had all this leverage, all this simplicity, these recurring deals that would come my way without me working. It was this easy. But then I realized, what's the point of life if you don't help other people get freedom? We have to keep it a secret. And so I realized like the real fruit, the real fulfillment in life comes from helping other hungry entrepreneurs embody these philosophies and these actually tactics and these strategies and implement them in business and then build their own freedom vehicles. And now they're buying homes, buying their dream cars, you know, making 50 grand a month profit. And they're just like, I didn't know this was possible three years ago. And so that is really like what it's all about.

Tom DuFore 20:52

Well, and Jermaine, the name of the show is multiply your success. And so we like to ask have you used the multiplier to multiply yourself personally, professionally, or organizations you've run?

Multipliers And A Clear Success Definition

Jermane Cheathem 21:04

Yeah, I multiply myself by partnering with strategic people that can bring me deal after deal where they sell the deal for me and it helps them sell their thing. That is the ultimate leverage and multiplier.

Tom DuFore 21:15

Very, very good. Well, and the final question we ask every guest, Jermaine, is what does success mean to you?

Jermane Cheathem 21:20

Laying your head down at night and realize you gave it everything you could. And you made mistakes, but you learned from them. You you didn't back down from the chatter in your head, the fear, the apprehension. Maybe you had to take a five-minute, 10-minute walk to deal with whatever you had to deal with. But success is like whenever you face your fears, your demons, your apprehensions, and you try anyway, regardless of the outcome, that's success.

Tom DuFore 21:50

Very, very good. Well, as we bring this to a close, is there anything you're hoping to share or get across that you haven't had a chance to yet?

Jermane Cheathem 21:57

You know, one thing I love about entrepreneurs is. It's the loneliest, most dark place you can ever be in life. I mean, maybe besides war. But I have so much respect for entrepreneurs because they're in the arena. And so always remember, regardless of what the scoreboard looks like, as long as you're in the arena, you're winning. And as long as you never give up, you can't lose. You'll figure it out because the data will start to stack and compound. And like literally, it's impossible to lose as long as you don't stop fighting because you're going to start learning what works, what doesn't work. And over time, these little 1% improvements and changes change your trajectory. It might take six months, it might take six years. But if you don't stop, you cannot lose.

Tom DuFore 22:51

Jermaine, thank you so much for a fantastic interview.

Key Takeaways And Listener Action Steps

Tom DuFore 22:54

And let's go ahead and jump into today's three key takeaways. So takeaway number one is when he talked about having a B2B context for a product that you can sell or work with. And he said when you're thinking about selling a B2B, it needs to be focused on a win-win-win, a win for the client, a win for them, a win for you as a franchise. Or the way I think of this is it's the beauty of this triple win idea for franchising, right? When you're selling franchises as an example, it needs to win for you, for your franchisees, and for the customer. Or if you're producing something that's new for your franchisees to be offering as a new product offering or service offering, well, it needs to win for the customer, a win for the client or for your franchisee and for you. It's got to be a win across the board. Takeaway number two is when he talked about how you get started in these kinds of sales. He said, You get to look at your existing network. It's the perfect place to start. And he said, when you're selling or marketing in these areas, less is more. He said, you know, business is done with other people. He said, be cordial, be direct, ask questions. And the key here is to listen. And takeaway number three is he said, when you start a B2B business or start even selling franchises, he said, always ideally start in your backyard. Start in your backyard. Start with your friends, start with synergies, old colleagues, old contacts that you've had. It's important to start with people that you can build a working relationship with. And remember, it's not trying to get a quick win or manipulate or anything like that. It's really about leveraging relationships that you've built over time to help support you. You're just asking information and listening, and maybe they might refer you to someone who knows someone. And now it's time for today's win-win. So today's win-win is really this idea of finding a business-to-business play or a B2B play for your business, or if you already have one, being more effective with it. And by doing that, it will make your business better. It'll make it better for you, for your franchisees, for your network, for everyone involved. And so that's the episode today, folks. Please make sure you subscribe to the podcast and give us a review. And remember, if you or anyone you know might be ready to franchise your business or take their franchise company to the next level, please connect with us at BigSkyFranchise Team.com where you can schedule your free, no obligation consultation. Thanks for tuning in, and we look forward to having you back next week.