March 3, 2025 • 39 mins
Unlock the secrets to making your brand truly stand out with insights from Steve Miller, the marketing gunslinger himself. Discover how to be uncopyable and gain an unfair advantage in your market.
- The key functions of a business according to Peter Drucker: marketing and innovation.
- Why being different, not just better, is crucial for success.
- How to avoid commoditization and offer an uncopyable experience.
- The value of getting out of your industry box and stealing genius from other domains.
- Strategies for creating a unique customer experience that becomes your marketing.
00:00 "Steve's Uncopyable Sales Secrets"
03:21 "Peter Drucker: Marketing and Innovation"
07:18 Indistinguishable Competitors in Digital Security
09:57 Key to Brand Differentiation
13:29 AI-Enhanced Delivery Innovation
17:26 Truck Industry Competitive Dynamics
20:20 American Girl Store Marketing Insights
23:46 Marketing: Creating and Delivering Value
27:43 Velcro's Nature-Inspired Invention
30:21 Defining Customer Value Perceptions
35:02 "Uncopyable: Gaining Unfair Business Advantage"
38:14 "Stand Out: Be Uncopyable"
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Welcome to the ValuePro Show, where value pros get value
ready.
Hi. My name is Bruce Scheer, the host of the ValuePro Show. In this episode,
we're talking with Steve Miller, the marketing gunslinger,
and you won't unhear that. Steve is the author of the best selling
book uncopyable, how to create an unfair advantage over your
(00:24):
competition. And he's delivered over 1,600
national and international presentations, and he's even been on the TED
conference made in state. Not TEDx, but TED.
He's worked with businesses of all sizes to help them stand out in a
world of sameness, creating innovative strategies that make them the
only choice for their customers. Lean into this one.
(00:45):
He's gonna share a depth of wisdom
that comes from a place of fundamentals for how do you truly
stand apart from the pack. Let's dig in. So
welcome to the ValuePro Show. Today, we've got with us Steve Miller,
and I am so excited about this. I had the
opportunity to, read Steve's book,
(01:08):
and I've been, if you've seen the cartoon Pepe Le
Pew, I've been chasing I've been chasing Steve for
about two years trying to get him to join the National Speakers Association
Northwest chapter. And then I find out he freaking started
the whole thing. I I just found that out. And, you know, of
course, he he knows what he'd be getting into if he joined us. But I
(01:30):
and I invited him onto the show because he's got
some magic pixie dust on how to help us be uncopyable
in a way that's gonna help sellers in this brutally tough
market, stand apart from the pack and
and and close more deals at the end of the day. And it's it's a
rough world out there, and it's really needed. But, Steve,
(01:52):
before we jump in, can I get an honest answer from you?
Could I get your commitment to give me the truth? I cannot guarantee that,
but go ahead. Alright. Well, let me test it. This morning, I was on my
exercise bike getting ready for this episode,
and I watched a Katy Perry video here.
And this is Katy Perry on stage singing California
(02:15):
Girl, one of their most popular songs. Yeah.
In order If you zoom in, I just
is this you in in that photo? Because he's wearing green
orange, and you're wearing orange. Let's
just I'm just curious. I I did it, and I need an honest
answer. Alright. So how are we doing? So it was
(02:38):
you? Alright. Alright. Well, hey. Hey. Back to the
story line, Steve. Just just getting into a summary for the honest
answer. She's one of our groupies.
Awesome. Well, Steve, kick us off here. You could talk
about you know, just tell us about the the book a little bit, why you
wrote it, and then we'll kinda unpack from there. Okay.
(03:00):
Yeah. I don't wanna get into a lot of my background. Let's get going because
you, you know, you brought me on. Of course. You know? Yeah. You can let's
assume that that that I'm here for a reason. Alright? The the book
uncopyable is about it it boils down to,
and and I'm I'm going to give Peter Drucker a big
(03:21):
shout out here. Peter Drucker, for those of you who don't know, you should
know, first of all. Probably known as the
godfather of corporate management philosophy and stuff like
that. And and, the guy was unbelievable.
And one of the things that he said and he
reinforced for many, many years now I I know that Bruce
(03:44):
has a lot of visuals that we have already
kinda fixed up and stuff like that. But, you know, I figured, you know, I'm
gonna I'm gonna create my own very, high-tech
visuals for this. Okay? But Peter Peter Drucker said,
he said business has only
two functions. Only two
(04:10):
functions, marketing and innovation. Here's
my here's my high-tech visuals.
Alright. Nice work. Okay. They're they're all
So for the listening for the listening audience for us, what
Steve did is he held up a card and and go ahead and explain that.
Yeah. Alright. You know, I held up a card. It said it says marketing and
(04:31):
innovation. He said, Drucker Drucker said there are the only two
functions of, of a business, and they're and
these are the only he he key he reinforces this this the
statement. He said, they are marketing and innovation.
Mhmm. And then and then as he goes on, he goes on
to say, and if, if
(04:54):
marketing is done correctly and here's here's here's the
controversial statement for you guys. If marketing is done correctly,
it makes selling superfluous.
So when I first started studying
Drucker and I heard him talk about that, and talk about
marketing innovation. Okay. So what I started to ask myself, well, what are those?
(05:16):
And that's the it's see, in my book on copyable
talks basically about the those two things. What is
marketing? Marketing is creating a new customer.
I mean, Drucker does say the purpose of business is to
create a customer. That's the purpose of business. Alright?
So that's so marketing is creating the
(05:37):
customer. Now the question is, why
does a customer choose you?
And and that comes down to, you know, the the comment
of, you know, where I say that,
nobody buys from you because you are
(05:57):
similar to the competition. Mhmm. Mhmm.
And and in fact, people don't even wanna buy from you
if you are better than the competition. They don't want
to. They wanna buy from you
because you are not similar to the competition.
Or another way of saying is that you are different. Mhmm. Mhmm. You
(06:20):
are delivering something different to them that they cannot get
anywhere else. And yet, most
companies, especially I say I say not not
especially. But most companies, most marketplaces
you you know, I have spent my life working in the b to b world.
Okay? Yes. And and most companies
(06:42):
simply look watch their competition.
Mhmm. Mhmm. They study their competition day
in and day out, and they and and when they sit down and they
say, hey. How can we be better than the competition?
What can we do that's better than the competition? Oh, oh, they've got a,
(07:02):
a a flywheel that is, doing it and doing 5,000
RPM. You know, you know well, you know what? We can make
one that's 10,000 RPM. That's that's it. We win. We're
better than the competition. But you see after a while, somebody else gets
better. Yeah. And right now, I'm showing for people that can't see
the our our session here for people listening. I'm
(07:24):
showing, three people on the Olympic podium, and and
one's raising the flag, but they all look exactly the
same. And, Steve, that reminds me of a a project I
was on, for a company in the security space, digital
security and and preventing credit, credit card
fraud. And it was so wild. Within two
(07:46):
years, you know, I there were probably about 25 different players in
the same space. And and I did this messaging,
analysis, and all of them literally were
saying the same thing when I looked went to website website to website.
They had all Picking up. Copied one another. Picking
up. Unbelievable. Uh-huh. Yeah. Like like, let me ask you, Bruce. Okay?
(08:10):
Have you ever heard of the heavenly bed? No. I
haven't. Okay.
One of the hotel chains, an a number of years ago,
decided that one way they were going to separate themselves from the competition was they
were gonna have a better bed, and they
called it the heavenly bed. Mhmm. Mhmm. Okay?
(08:32):
Now I ask people all the time. You what who who made the
heavenly bed? They still do. The the company still does, and it's Westin
hotels. Okay? Oh, okay. Uh-huh. It was it was it
was it didn't take I it probably didn't take but
a a a couple of months or somebody to come up with, oh, we have
a Sleep Number bed. Oh, we have a slumber bed. Oh, we have a
(08:54):
blood up bed. You know? It's exactly what you're talking about, Bruce. See, when
somebody does come up with some kite some
type of new idea, if it can
be copied, it will be copied. Yes.
Uh-huh. Uh-huh. That's the bottom line. And so and and
so my philosophy about be about
(09:16):
uncopyable is is that marketing we're gonna
we want to help mark companies market themselves,
you know, to the exact right target market. You
know? But we also wanna help companies be able to show
that they are different. And and
(09:36):
if you do different right, different can become
uncopyable. And and and in most
cases, it has nothing to do with the product or service.
Okay. Okay. Because in most cases you you know,
today, technology, commoditizes
everything. Yes. Uh-huh. It it it it
(09:59):
commoditizes everything. And and, again, if it can be copied, it
will be copied. So so what you wanna be able to do is
is then you are now going to look for something
else that is part of the
deliver part of the deliverable, part of the experience, part
of part of the relationship that you are delivering
(10:21):
to people, nobody else can copy.
Mhmm. Mhmm. Nobody else can copy. So,
and and and so I get in in your,
philosophy, you know, with values,
IO, you you've got in there you know, you talk about that
your go to market narrative you talk about
(10:44):
that, it's a key it's a key to differentiating
a brand. See, the the keyword there is differentiating.
Yeah. And engaging buyers effectively.
That's marketing. Yeah. Steve, I was,
interacting with a guy for he was a former Gong executive. He's got his
own firm now called PC Club dot
(11:06):
IO. And, oh, it was so interesting.
When he was at Gong, Gong Labs did a huge study,
thousands reviewing thousands and thousands of sales calls.
But what they found when sellers were
enabled with a a narrative, in my case, with
valuepros.io, we build value narratives. We
(11:30):
believe very strongly in leading the buyer with value.
When when you have a a narrative for that seller,
the win rate goes up 30% for those
sellers that are enabled with a narrative. You know, again,
based on thousands of calls and data from Gong Labs.
Really powerful. Because you're you're talking you know, when you say,
(11:53):
the narrative, the you you know, what what what they're what you're
delivering. You're you're not saying the word, oh, our product.
You're not say you're not even say you're not even saying, oh, our
service. No. Mhmm. It's the it's a bigger picture than
that. And, and if you are not
(12:14):
see, I mean, again, the the fact is is that
technology commoditizes everything. So so
if it can be copied, it will be copied. So so
don't just make sure. Yes. Of course. You wanna make
sure that what you are delivering to them has the
(12:35):
same type of of valid from a from a
product or service perspective right there. Okay? It's the same
and at least equal to the competition. Yeah. But then Mhmm.
But then what you wrap around it Right here. You
wrap around it, you know, goes goes so much
farther. Again, you know, like you say in in here, and for those of you
(12:57):
who can't can't see it, okay, you know, he's posted another saying of mine that
is that the experience is the marketing.
The the experience that people have dealing with
you is the marketing. I have a client, and
and they build fleets
or fleet work trucks. You know? So you think about the
(13:20):
delivery delivery trucks, landscapers,
rentals, things like that. These are fleets. Alright? And they build
these fleets. Okay? And their and their their,
the quality of the the fleets, the, you know, the the,
everything that's that's, inside of one of those
trucks is as good as
(13:43):
anybody else's. Okay? But then we make a big
promise. We make a promise that says we will do what no one
else will do. So now we
start looking for ways to provide education
for the for their, you know, for the staffers,
for for, better, and
(14:06):
nowadays, you know, education on things
like AI. So, like, in delivery trucks,
it's how do they deliver more efficiently, you know, if the
routes are updated regularly, constantly. Every
single time they're done with the they're done with one of their their stops,
the AI updates. Right? And so now so these
(14:28):
are all but they now include that in the
in the truck. Mhmm. That's part that's part of the
experience that my client,
you you know, it puts into the product. And
and that's what separates, everybody else. I
cannot believe this. Yeah. I like this, Steve, or this
(14:51):
example, you know, get out of the box your your
quote. You know, getting out of the box means nothing. Build your
own box. I've got a story for you on this fleet topic. A
buddy of mine was working with a a company that,
didn't have the fleet of trucks. It was providing, the
service areas for the trucks. And, but
(15:13):
again, back to this notion of leading with value, they
didn't talk about, hey. Your your truck driver should come to our truck stops because,
hey. We got a, b, c, d, and e, and f, and g for them,
and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. All all the details around these truck
stops. Instead, they led with the problem domain of,
hey. You know, what's bothering you? Well, you know, hey. We got truck
(15:36):
drivers that are tired. They're, they're they turn
over often. It's hard to keep these guys working working for us. You
know, the fleet fleet you know, like your client, those fleet guys, you know, hey.
Right. It's kinda hard dealing with these drivers. And,
then they would, you know, talk about, well, hey. What if we were able to
improve retention? What if we were able to keep those trucks on the road a
(15:58):
little bit better, a little bit longer? What's that mean for you? What's the money
side of that? And then we're, like, going, well, that's compelling. How the hell do
you do that? And and and then we're, like, oh, well, guess what?
Our we've strategically located these truck
stops where, you know, one of the reasons truckers don't get to
sleep, they they they don't have a good experience. They're kinda scared. You
(16:19):
know? Typically, truck stops are out in the woods and scary places. There could
be witches and goblins and stuff. And, you know, but ours,
no. They're great locations, and the truck drivers love them.
They, you know, they get a good grasp. They They're they're yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They're
safe. They've got a a fast food or or a you know?
I love that. See, I love that. And
(16:42):
and and so you're not selling trucks,
but you are but you are, you're delivering
a value that they can't that they that they can't get
anywhere else. Yeah. Back to your point, you know, the experience is that
marketing that they're selling, and you're building your own
box back to your wisdom. Let me clarify what I mean by with
(17:05):
this. Is is that, you know, the phrase, you know, oh, you
gotta get out of the box. Gotta get out of the box. That is such
a common phrase. But here's the problem with it. Who tells
you what the box is? And and who tells you what
what getting out what happens when you get out of the box? Nobody ever says
anything about it. So let me explain it to you real quick. Alright? Imagine that
(17:27):
you and let's let's use the truck, an app you know, truck
truck industry. Alright? And, you know, the truck
industry is a box. Okay? The the the
truck industry the the it is the box. Inside that truck
industry are all of the manufacturers of
anything that has to do with those trucks. Inside that
(17:49):
inside that box are all the trade shows that they might be
going to, all of the conferences they might be going
to, anything they might read about,
all the buyers that, buy stuff like
that, they anything that has to do with the truck
world is in the box, and you're in the box. Now you are
(18:12):
part of the supplier circle in that box.
Now what happens typically is that the suppliers are
all just staring at each other in the circle.
K? And and and they're going, what are they doing? What are they doing? What
are they doing? What are they doing? What are they doing? What are they doing?
You know? And and they go, oh, oh, I see what they're oh, we can
do that better. We can do that better. Right? Mhmm. But
(18:35):
but, if you sit down in your in your office and you say, hey. Let's
have a brainstorming session. Let's get a big FIP chart, and we're gonna have
a brainstorming sessions. How can we separate ourselves from the competition?
Well, what are they doing? What are they doing? What are they doing? Right? Yeah.
And and we always it just gets into we just wanna be
better. Okay? Better is not different. Mhmm.
(18:57):
Mhmm. Better is not different. And and and,
improvement is not innovation. Let's make sure we understand that.
Alright? So now how do you find out? How do you
learn about this stuff? Well, okay. The phrase get out of the box is
correct, except it doesn't it it it needs to be finished.
And the finish is because if you get out of the box, it's just there's
(19:18):
nothing there. Not okay. Yeah. So so what you
do what what you need to do is you need to say, okay. Where do
I get new ideas? And you get new ideas by
getting out of your go and climb into somebody else's box
in a box that has nothing to do with
you. Mhmm. You know? And I think I told you, but the
(19:40):
Caterpillar story. Right? You know? That, I was
consulting for Caterpillar, you know, kind of a big
company. Right? Mhmm. You know? Kinda well known in the construction
world and stuff. And I don't know if you've heard of them, but, the One
of my old colleagues was head of global enablement for those guys, Steve.
Yeah. You can probably find them. But so, anyway, so we were and they
(20:02):
they they kept saying, oh, we wanna really learn how to, innovate. That's
what we wanna do. And I said, okay. I'm fine. So their offices are outside
of Chicago. I got a big truck big truck a big
bus. Put everybody on the bus, the
all all the top management on the bus. We drove into
Downtown Chicago. Now this was many years ago, and
(20:24):
and I drove them to what, at that time, was the only
American Girl doll store in the
world, and it was in Downtown Chicago.
We pulled up, and they go, what are we doing here? And I said, well,
we're gonna go inside the American Girl store.
And, I mean, you talk I mean, you talk about dragging people,
(20:48):
kicking and screaming into the store. I said I said, I want
you to go in, and I want you to tell I want you to study
how do they market. How do they sell their products?
Who is their customer, and what are the things
that they are doing Yeah. You know,
to get customers to spend more money. Right? Mhmm.
(21:11):
So I I I sent them in there. They kicking and screaming.
Two, three hours later, I had to drag them out
of the store because they were taking so many
notes. They were comparing ideas. Because you go into the
it's a doll store for gosh sakes, people. You go in
(21:32):
there. There's a bookstore with that that puts,
has historical books about
American Revolution, and they've got an American Girl doll who's an
American Revolution doll. They've got a magazine
that they do for and they do cover stories, and then you go
around the store. They've got a, you know, a beauty
(21:55):
salon. They've got and and and another thing
really important. You go to the you you you take your doll to the
American Girl's Girl Store, and what what what if and
I hate to say the world the word what if your doll is broken? Because
you take it to you take your doll to the American Girl Store. It's not
broken. It's thick.
(22:17):
And they have a hospital, the American
Girl Hospital. Mhmm. You you check
your doll in. They get a wheelchair
to take the doll back into
the infirmary to take care of take care of the doll. Now why do I
point that out? Well, number one, because think about think about how
(22:40):
different that is. Yeah. Right? Yeah. From, like, a normal America.
Okay. But let me ask you this question. Alright? You know, how many places do
you go to where,
you you know, something's broken? What do they call it?
Customer service. Right? It's called customer
service. That's what it's called. What's it called at an Apple store?
(23:04):
Yeah. Genius Bar. Yeah. Genius Bar. Yeah.
It's just customer service. And now I know where
this phrase came from. Yes. Nice.
See? Steal g see. That's why I say don't
don't copy competitors. Go into another box
(23:24):
Yeah. And steal what what's
common in another box and bring it back. And if you if you
if you steal something that's common and and and used a lot and
stuff like that, now in your box, it's it's
genius. Nobody's ever used it before. But now you see you're talking
about an experiential thing. Right? Yes. Absolutely.
(23:46):
And and so and so now you're delivering something to your
customer. So imagine the types of
changes that a Caterpillar could use
from stealing Genius at the American Girl store
and going out and and teaching drivers,
sharing, you know, the presentation materials,
(24:10):
the books that they have. Yeah. They don't have they they
don't have a customer service department now. You know? It's it's
I don't even remember what it's called or or anything. You know? But but, see,
that's that's what I'm talking about here is that,
Peter Drucker said marketing
(24:31):
is number one. Marketing is creating a
customer. Number two is the customer re
you are delivering something to the customer that is different than the
competition. But if you if if all you do is copy everybody, you gotta go
find somewhere else. Oh, I got a quick one to to
anchor, with you on this. See, I just my own understanding. And,
(24:52):
there's a guy in the NSA National Speakers Association named Mark
Levy, and, he's really
brilliant. He helped Simon Sinek, one of his most famous,
clients, finds the the maxim start
with why, you know, that big idea. And,
he was telling us a story that, about David Meerman
(25:15):
Scott. He wrote this, you know, wildly successful book.
Didn't he read it? Oh, you know him personally? Yeah. Yeah.
His new rules of PR. But, David was stuck. He
called Mark and said, hey. I need a new bestseller. And, when
David wants a a new bestseller, he means a Wall Street Journal bestseller,
a New York Times bestseller. Not like us. It's not Amazon bestsellers.
(25:37):
Guilty as charged. But, so he goes to Martin saying, hey. I need a a
new bestseller. And, so they brainstorm, brainstorm,
brainstorm, brainstorm, and and like you say, they were kinda just
stuck in the box. You know, they they just weren't breaking out
until Mark said, hey. Are you gonna be around this weekend, you
know, where where you live? And he goes, yeah. Yeah. Why? And he's, like, going,
(26:00):
you know, if you just hike it up the road, there's this
big, huge event called Comic Con. I'd like to you to
attend it. Mark's, like, going, why the hell would I
wanna attend Comic Con? I don't I don't get it. He goes, just go
and and trust me on this. We need some new thinking
just like what you did with caterpillars, Steve. And so he
(26:22):
goes and then comes back and he's, like, going, oh, damn. I loved
it. It was great. You know? I learned so much, took notes and everything.
And because Mark's, like, going, okay. Give me the juice, man. What'd you get out
of it? And together, they worked to formulate a new
big idea and a new best Wall Street Journal. How to do that.
You have to learn how to do that. New Wall Street Journal bestseller Fanocracy.
(26:45):
And, but, yeah, it's just a plain you know, I, I don't know if
you've ever met, or or seen the work of Edward de Bono.
Sadly, even I I know Edward too. I'm a TED guy.
I'm a TEDster. So, see, I get to hang I get to go hang out
at TED with with all those guys. And and, Ed
Debono is one of the very few, people who actually
(27:08):
got kicked off the TED stage. Most people don't know. Most people
don't know that. Well, he's he he does have a strong opinion.
Yeah. He got kicked off the stage. That was that was one of the best
I've ever seen on TED. I I I learned a, principle from him,
Steve, that I think helps in this concept. He calls it lateral
thinking, you know, where you gotta get out of your box. You know, you you
(27:30):
go find something that's maybe completely
unrelated. It's supposed to be But then you you can tie the two
together somehow to come up with a new
thing, a bigger idea. Simple. It's so it it is
it see, this is but this has happened for for many, many,
many, many, many, many, many, many years. Right? Even,
(27:53):
the the concept of, studying nature
and learning from nature and stealing nature. Velcro came from
nature. Uh-huh. Velcro, a a German
scientist was walking through the woods with his dog, got a whole bunch
of burrs stuck to his socks. And and when he
took his socks off, he took a look at them and
(28:17):
started a company called Velcro. And,
so it it's yeah. You you you know,
ideas are everywhere, but here's our problem.
Our our our natural inclination
is to own is our heuristics. Let's put it that way.
Our heuristics are that we
(28:40):
see who we see what we are.
Okay? We hang out with the same people. We talk the
same language. We we, you know, you know,
we go, we wear the same clothes.
You know? That's what we do. And and for
even Steve Jobs recognized this. He when he used to have
(29:03):
conferences, brainstorming conferences in his
office, he would hire painters,
architects, engineers, from,
farming. Yeah. I mean, he would bring people in who
had nothing to do with high-tech. Mhmm.
(29:23):
Mhmm. And and they would sit, and and that's where the design
ideas came from. That's where the the concepts of some of the things that that
they and and Jobs was very famous. He, you know, he
he he was, just as famous about saying, you
know, great art artists, you know, don't copy.
They steal. Yes. Yes. Okay.
(29:45):
Yep. Well, hey. I'd I wanted to get one more concept
across that came from you, Steve, on you know? So you you know, just to
recap, you're talking about, you know, you wanna be uncopyable. You know? That
Steve's just a master in thinking about that. But,
so so you need to get out of your own box. You need to steal,
genius because competition breeds conformity.
(30:08):
But could you, end this our episode with this big
idea around value? And because I think that really brings it
home. Once you've you're outside of that box, you've stole, genius.
Now what do you do? Well, the point the point of value, which
which you guys are are very well known for, you know, with
your, you know, with the value propositions, with your go to market narrative,
(30:30):
and things like that. The the bottom line see, value is this
big, and for lack of a better word,
nebulous thing. Alright?
That that people receive
when they write you a check. Okay?
Now everybody everybody has a picture in their own mind. The moment they write you
(30:54):
a check, they have a picture in in their mind of
what they expect that what they're expecting from you. And what
and and whatever that picture is is what their picture of value
is. And it might be, oh, you you
know, yeah, you got a great product. You you you know? Yeah. And, oh, yeah,
you're gonna deliver it on time. You know? The it's it's
(31:16):
that whole package that they perceive.
Okay? Now what what we want to
do when it comes to value is we also want to create
a value that they go, holy crap. That's a value that nobody else can give
me. There other people and and
it comes from things like let let me share things like,
(31:40):
like language. Okay?
If you use the exact same terminology
as your as your competition,
then you're not different. Mhmm. Okay?
The you you realize that none of us had
(32:01):
any idea how to order coffee until Starbucks came.
All of a sudden, it became an Italian discussion.
Right? You know, you know, how to order coffee.
Right? Because Starbucks created a new
language of of ordering coffee.
Completely different from all the other coffee shops on the planet.
(32:24):
Right? But it was Starbucks who created that. And and and everybody
knows it. Everybody knows that it was Starbucks who created
that. That's part of the deal is that when you create something
new like that, like a terminology, You
know? I mean, here, a color. Okay? My color is orange. Our
colors our brand color is orange. And when we we tell people, when you see
(32:46):
the color orange, you should automatically ask yourself the question,
what am I looking at that's uncopyable that I can steal
right now? Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. What can
I steal right now? Right? Well, you know,
be because I want them to think about me
and think about us. A a couple of
(33:09):
years ago, there was a guy, in Houston,
a guy named Jim McIngvale, known as Mattress Mac.
He has three furniture stores in Houston. He is he is
a rock star in Houston. Because when
hurricane Katrina came and hit hit the town and people were
displaced from their homes, he put out a a
(33:32):
a a message to everybody in the city. He said, look. If you have been
displaced from your home, you can come to my store. I will you
can sleep on our beds. You can sleep on our couches. I will
pull the mattresses out. If you need food, we will feed
you. If you need clothing, we will find clothing for you. Alright? He was
a rock star. Okay? The guy read my book.
(33:56):
And and opening game
of the baseball season, he's at a Houston Astros
baseball game, and they all come running out in their
orange jerseys. And he turned
to his son, and he said, Steve Miller, I gotta
call him tomorrow morning. Nice. Nice. Okay. He called me
(34:20):
the next morning, hired me on the spot.
He he just he said he said, hey. If if if you can impact
me to think of you at that moment, he said, I wanna I
want you to help us get better too. I want some of that. Yeah. That's
an that's that's that's an example of what I'm talking about. So you see, you
learn you you you start to look for ways
(34:42):
to, create these anchors and these triggers
for your marketplace that are different from what
your your your competition does. I absolutely love that.
Yeah. When you do that, you now own.
You own that relationship. Perfect. So
(35:02):
Perfect. Well, Steve, we've, wanna, just do a
wrap up with this now on, and just mention to everybody,
Steve's book, Uncopyable, is fantastic, you know,
where you wanna create your, you know, an unfair advantage. I
love that term. And, you yeah. To you know, if you think smart
and work smart and sell smart, oh my god, you're gonna improve your win rate,
(35:25):
you know, and and that's what we're talking about today. Just some brilliant
ideas and great thinking about how you can stand apart from the back and
win more business for yourself. So I do encourage everybody, you know,
grab a copy of Steve's book. You know, we we just scratched the surface. There's
so much more there, a richness and distinctions that'll that'll
help you think differently, get out of your box, and build a new
(35:48):
box, by by reading this book. And then, Steve, they can,
look for your beautiful face, on on LinkedIn.
You know, we Yeah. They can find me on LinkedIn, Steve a Miller.
Absolutely. And they can, yeah, they can go,
track me down at
@buncopiable.com. You can track track me
(36:10):
down there. And I believe that's where they can go. You and you and
Kaye, you know, coauthored another book, but you guys
have a a five series email, right, that they can get in terms
of helping them along the their path. And and and, again,
using my very high-tech,
(36:30):
and for those of you who cannot see this, alright, I'm holding up
a a very high-tech, personalized, visual
that says be uncopyable.com slash
the number five dash emails. Awesome.
Okay. And and if you go there, you you can, you know, Kaye put
together a a series for you guys, and, and
(36:53):
we're there to help. You know? And and let me tell you something.
Bruce, you know, he he teaches this
stuff. He just doesn't he he doesn't he he's not as,
nuts. Okay. So,
versus much more professional than I
am. Right? I don't ever wanna be be, You don't wanna be
(37:16):
like me. Oh my god. I don't wanna be no. But I don't wanna be
accused of being professional because I'm not. You know? I'm just
you know? I'm I'm orange is what I am. And,
and I love your, you know, your book. Even I love short
books like that. In fact, I'm writing more short books. Yeah.
You know, that that are easy easy to digest and easy and
(37:38):
a ton of information. So I learned that from my mentor who
you know quite well, Janelle Barlow. But she said book write write
write your book, Bruce, to be read on a flight, and that's what I did.
And and it's funny. Such a good advice. I've had executives send
me copies of them, you know, with the book in their hand on a
flight. Such a good advice. And you know what? You know what? And you should
(37:59):
you should teach your these clients of your write your own
book, people. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That that's a new
box. Well, Steve, on that note, thank you so much for
joining the show. Really appreciate it. Thank you, buddy. Good to see you,
man. What a fantastic conversation with Steve Miller. We
covered so many powerful ideas today from the importance of
(38:21):
true differentiation to the art of stealing genius
from unexpected places. One of my biggest takeaways,
if you wanna win more deals, you can't just be better. You
have to be different in a way that your competition can't copy.
If you found today's episode valuable, be sure to check out
Steve's book, Uncopyable, and visit
(38:43):
himbeuncopyable.com for more resources.
And of course, if you enjoyed the episode, please like and subscribe to the
Value Pro Show. If you're feeling kind, leave a review too
so others can find it. Until next time, keep leading with
value and standing out in your market.
Welcome to the ValuePro Show, where value pros get value
ready.
Hi. My name is Bruce Scheer, the host of the ValuePro Show. In this episode,
we're talking with Steve Miller, the marketing gunslinger,
and you won't unhear that. Steve is the author of the best selling
book uncopyable, how to create an unfair advantage over your
(00:24):
competition. And he's delivered over 1,600
national and international presentations, and he's even been on the TED
conference made in state. Not TEDx, but TED.
He's worked with businesses of all sizes to help them stand out in a
world of sameness, creating innovative strategies that make them the
only choice for their customers. Lean into this one.
(00:45):
He's gonna share a depth of wisdom
that comes from a place of fundamentals for how do you truly
stand apart from the pack. Let's dig in. So
welcome to the ValuePro Show. Today, we've got with us Steve Miller,
and I am so excited about this. I had the
opportunity to, read Steve's book,
(01:08):
and I've been, if you've seen the cartoon Pepe Le
Pew, I've been chasing I've been chasing Steve for
about two years trying to get him to join the National Speakers Association
Northwest chapter. And then I find out he freaking started
the whole thing. I I just found that out. And, you know, of
course, he he knows what he'd be getting into if he joined us. But I
(01:30):
and I invited him onto the show because he's got
some magic pixie dust on how to help us be uncopyable
in a way that's gonna help sellers in this brutally tough
market, stand apart from the pack and
and and close more deals at the end of the day. And it's it's a
rough world out there, and it's really needed. But, Steve,
(01:52):
before we jump in, can I get an honest answer from you?
Could I get your commitment to give me the truth? I cannot guarantee that,
but go ahead. Alright. Well, let me test it. This morning, I was on my
exercise bike getting ready for this episode,
and I watched a Katy Perry video here.
And this is Katy Perry on stage singing California
(02:15):
Girl, one of their most popular songs. Yeah.
In order If you zoom in, I just
is this you in in that photo? Because he's wearing green
orange, and you're wearing orange. Let's
just I'm just curious. I I did it, and I need an honest
answer. Alright. So how are we doing? So it was
(02:38):
you? Alright. Alright. Well, hey. Hey. Back to the
story line, Steve. Just just getting into a summary for the honest
answer. She's one of our groupies.
Awesome. Well, Steve, kick us off here. You could talk
about you know, just tell us about the the book a little bit, why you
wrote it, and then we'll kinda unpack from there. Okay.
(03:00):
Yeah. I don't wanna get into a lot of my background. Let's get going because
you, you know, you brought me on. Of course. You know? Yeah. You can let's
assume that that that I'm here for a reason. Alright? The the book
uncopyable is about it it boils down to,
and and I'm I'm going to give Peter Drucker a big
(03:21):
shout out here. Peter Drucker, for those of you who don't know, you should
know, first of all. Probably known as the
godfather of corporate management philosophy and stuff like
that. And and, the guy was unbelievable.
And one of the things that he said and he
reinforced for many, many years now I I know that Bruce
(03:44):
has a lot of visuals that we have already
kinda fixed up and stuff like that. But, you know, I figured, you know, I'm
gonna I'm gonna create my own very, high-tech
visuals for this. Okay? But Peter Peter Drucker said,
he said business has only
two functions. Only two
(04:10):
functions, marketing and innovation. Here's
my here's my high-tech visuals.
Alright. Nice work. Okay. They're they're all
So for the listening for the listening audience for us, what
Steve did is he held up a card and and go ahead and explain that.
Yeah. Alright. You know, I held up a card. It said it says marketing and
(04:31):
innovation. He said, Drucker Drucker said there are the only two
functions of, of a business, and they're and
these are the only he he key he reinforces this this the
statement. He said, they are marketing and innovation.
Mhmm. And then and then as he goes on, he goes on
to say, and if, if
(04:54):
marketing is done correctly and here's here's here's the
controversial statement for you guys. If marketing is done correctly,
it makes selling superfluous.
So when I first started studying
Drucker and I heard him talk about that, and talk about
marketing innovation. Okay. So what I started to ask myself, well, what are those?
(05:16):
And that's the it's see, in my book on copyable
talks basically about the those two things. What is
marketing? Marketing is creating a new customer.
I mean, Drucker does say the purpose of business is to
create a customer. That's the purpose of business. Alright?
So that's so marketing is creating the
(05:37):
customer. Now the question is, why
does a customer choose you?
And and that comes down to, you know, the the comment
of, you know, where I say that,
nobody buys from you because you are
(05:57):
similar to the competition. Mhmm. Mhmm.
And and in fact, people don't even wanna buy from you
if you are better than the competition. They don't want
to. They wanna buy from you
because you are not similar to the competition.
Or another way of saying is that you are different. Mhmm. Mhmm. You
(06:20):
are delivering something different to them that they cannot get
anywhere else. And yet, most
companies, especially I say I say not not
especially. But most companies, most marketplaces
you you know, I have spent my life working in the b to b world.
Okay? Yes. And and most companies
(06:42):
simply look watch their competition.
Mhmm. Mhmm. They study their competition day
in and day out, and they and and when they sit down and they
say, hey. How can we be better than the competition?
What can we do that's better than the competition? Oh, oh, they've got a,
(07:02):
a a flywheel that is, doing it and doing 5,000
RPM. You know, you know well, you know what? We can make
one that's 10,000 RPM. That's that's it. We win. We're
better than the competition. But you see after a while, somebody else gets
better. Yeah. And right now, I'm showing for people that can't see
the our our session here for people listening. I'm
(07:24):
showing, three people on the Olympic podium, and and
one's raising the flag, but they all look exactly the
same. And, Steve, that reminds me of a a project I
was on, for a company in the security space, digital
security and and preventing credit, credit card
fraud. And it was so wild. Within two
(07:46):
years, you know, I there were probably about 25 different players in
the same space. And and I did this messaging,
analysis, and all of them literally were
saying the same thing when I looked went to website website to website.
They had all Picking up. Copied one another. Picking
up. Unbelievable. Uh-huh. Yeah. Like like, let me ask you, Bruce. Okay?
(08:10):
Have you ever heard of the heavenly bed? No. I
haven't. Okay.
One of the hotel chains, an a number of years ago,
decided that one way they were going to separate themselves from the competition was they
were gonna have a better bed, and they
called it the heavenly bed. Mhmm. Mhmm. Okay?
(08:32):
Now I ask people all the time. You what who who made the
heavenly bed? They still do. The the company still does, and it's Westin
hotels. Okay? Oh, okay. Uh-huh. It was it was it
was it didn't take I it probably didn't take but
a a a couple of months or somebody to come up with, oh, we have
a Sleep Number bed. Oh, we have a slumber bed. Oh, we have a
(08:54):
blood up bed. You know? It's exactly what you're talking about, Bruce. See, when
somebody does come up with some kite some
type of new idea, if it can
be copied, it will be copied. Yes.
Uh-huh. Uh-huh. That's the bottom line. And so and and
so my philosophy about be about
(09:16):
uncopyable is is that marketing we're gonna
we want to help mark companies market themselves,
you know, to the exact right target market. You
know? But we also wanna help companies be able to show
that they are different. And and
(09:36):
if you do different right, different can become
uncopyable. And and and in most
cases, it has nothing to do with the product or service.
Okay. Okay. Because in most cases you you know,
today, technology, commoditizes
everything. Yes. Uh-huh. It it it it
(09:59):
commoditizes everything. And and, again, if it can be copied, it
will be copied. So so what you wanna be able to do is
is then you are now going to look for something
else that is part of the
deliver part of the deliverable, part of the experience, part
of part of the relationship that you are delivering
(10:21):
to people, nobody else can copy.
Mhmm. Mhmm. Nobody else can copy. So,
and and and so I get in in your,
philosophy, you know, with values,
IO, you you've got in there you know, you talk about that
your go to market narrative you talk about
(10:44):
that, it's a key it's a key to differentiating
a brand. See, the the keyword there is differentiating.
Yeah. And engaging buyers effectively.
That's marketing. Yeah. Steve, I was,
interacting with a guy for he was a former Gong executive. He's got his
own firm now called PC Club dot
(11:06):
IO. And, oh, it was so interesting.
When he was at Gong, Gong Labs did a huge study,
thousands reviewing thousands and thousands of sales calls.
But what they found when sellers were
enabled with a a narrative, in my case, with
valuepros.io, we build value narratives. We
(11:30):
believe very strongly in leading the buyer with value.
When when you have a a narrative for that seller,
the win rate goes up 30% for those
sellers that are enabled with a narrative. You know, again,
based on thousands of calls and data from Gong Labs.
Really powerful. Because you're you're talking you know, when you say,
(11:53):
the narrative, the you you know, what what what they're what you're
delivering. You're you're not saying the word, oh, our product.
You're not say you're not even say you're not even saying, oh, our
service. No. Mhmm. It's the it's a bigger picture than
that. And, and if you are not
(12:14):
see, I mean, again, the the fact is is that
technology commoditizes everything. So so
if it can be copied, it will be copied. So so
don't just make sure. Yes. Of course. You wanna make
sure that what you are delivering to them has the
(12:35):
same type of of valid from a from a
product or service perspective right there. Okay? It's the same
and at least equal to the competition. Yeah. But then Mhmm.
But then what you wrap around it Right here. You
wrap around it, you know, goes goes so much
farther. Again, you know, like you say in in here, and for those of you
(12:57):
who can't can't see it, okay, you know, he's posted another saying of mine that
is that the experience is the marketing.
The the experience that people have dealing with
you is the marketing. I have a client, and
and they build fleets
or fleet work trucks. You know? So you think about the
(13:20):
delivery delivery trucks, landscapers,
rentals, things like that. These are fleets. Alright? And they build
these fleets. Okay? And their and their their,
the quality of the the fleets, the, you know, the the,
everything that's that's, inside of one of those
trucks is as good as
(13:43):
anybody else's. Okay? But then we make a big
promise. We make a promise that says we will do what no one
else will do. So now we
start looking for ways to provide education
for the for their, you know, for the staffers,
for for, better, and
(14:06):
nowadays, you know, education on things
like AI. So, like, in delivery trucks,
it's how do they deliver more efficiently, you know, if the
routes are updated regularly, constantly. Every
single time they're done with the they're done with one of their their stops,
the AI updates. Right? And so now so these
(14:28):
are all but they now include that in the
in the truck. Mhmm. That's part that's part of the
experience that my client,
you you know, it puts into the product. And
and that's what separates, everybody else. I
cannot believe this. Yeah. I like this, Steve, or this
(14:51):
example, you know, get out of the box your your
quote. You know, getting out of the box means nothing. Build your
own box. I've got a story for you on this fleet topic. A
buddy of mine was working with a a company that,
didn't have the fleet of trucks. It was providing, the
service areas for the trucks. And, but
(15:13):
again, back to this notion of leading with value, they
didn't talk about, hey. Your your truck driver should come to our truck stops because,
hey. We got a, b, c, d, and e, and f, and g for them,
and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. All all the details around these truck
stops. Instead, they led with the problem domain of,
hey. You know, what's bothering you? Well, you know, hey. We got truck
(15:36):
drivers that are tired. They're, they're they turn
over often. It's hard to keep these guys working working for us. You
know, the fleet fleet you know, like your client, those fleet guys, you know, hey.
Right. It's kinda hard dealing with these drivers. And,
then they would, you know, talk about, well, hey. What if we were able to
improve retention? What if we were able to keep those trucks on the road a
(15:58):
little bit better, a little bit longer? What's that mean for you? What's the money
side of that? And then we're, like, going, well, that's compelling. How the hell do
you do that? And and and then we're, like, oh, well, guess what?
Our we've strategically located these truck
stops where, you know, one of the reasons truckers don't get to
sleep, they they they don't have a good experience. They're kinda scared. You
(16:19):
know? Typically, truck stops are out in the woods and scary places. There could
be witches and goblins and stuff. And, you know, but ours,
no. They're great locations, and the truck drivers love them.
They, you know, they get a good grasp. They They're they're yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They're
safe. They've got a a fast food or or a you know?
I love that. See, I love that. And
(16:42):
and and so you're not selling trucks,
but you are but you are, you're delivering
a value that they can't that they that they can't get
anywhere else. Yeah. Back to your point, you know, the experience is that
marketing that they're selling, and you're building your own
box back to your wisdom. Let me clarify what I mean by with
(17:05):
this. Is is that, you know, the phrase, you know, oh, you
gotta get out of the box. Gotta get out of the box. That is such
a common phrase. But here's the problem with it. Who tells
you what the box is? And and who tells you what
what getting out what happens when you get out of the box? Nobody ever says
anything about it. So let me explain it to you real quick. Alright? Imagine that
(17:27):
you and let's let's use the truck, an app you know, truck
truck industry. Alright? And, you know, the truck
industry is a box. Okay? The the the
truck industry the the it is the box. Inside that truck
industry are all of the manufacturers of
anything that has to do with those trucks. Inside that
(17:49):
inside that box are all the trade shows that they might be
going to, all of the conferences they might be going
to, anything they might read about,
all the buyers that, buy stuff like
that, they anything that has to do with the truck
world is in the box, and you're in the box. Now you are
(18:12):
part of the supplier circle in that box.
Now what happens typically is that the suppliers are
all just staring at each other in the circle.
K? And and and they're going, what are they doing? What are they doing? What
are they doing? What are they doing? What are they doing? What are they doing?
You know? And and they go, oh, oh, I see what they're oh, we can
do that better. We can do that better. Right? Mhmm. But
(18:35):
but, if you sit down in your in your office and you say, hey. Let's
have a brainstorming session. Let's get a big FIP chart, and we're gonna have
a brainstorming sessions. How can we separate ourselves from the competition?
Well, what are they doing? What are they doing? What are they doing? Right? Yeah.
And and we always it just gets into we just wanna be
better. Okay? Better is not different. Mhmm.
(18:57):
Mhmm. Better is not different. And and and,
improvement is not innovation. Let's make sure we understand that.
Alright? So now how do you find out? How do you
learn about this stuff? Well, okay. The phrase get out of the box is
correct, except it doesn't it it it needs to be finished.
And the finish is because if you get out of the box, it's just there's
(19:18):
nothing there. Not okay. Yeah. So so what you
do what what you need to do is you need to say, okay. Where do
I get new ideas? And you get new ideas by
getting out of your go and climb into somebody else's box
in a box that has nothing to do with
you. Mhmm. You know? And I think I told you, but the
(19:40):
Caterpillar story. Right? You know? That, I was
consulting for Caterpillar, you know, kind of a big
company. Right? Mhmm. You know? Kinda well known in the construction
world and stuff. And I don't know if you've heard of them, but, the One
of my old colleagues was head of global enablement for those guys, Steve.
Yeah. You can probably find them. But so, anyway, so we were and they
(20:02):
they they kept saying, oh, we wanna really learn how to, innovate. That's
what we wanna do. And I said, okay. I'm fine. So their offices are outside
of Chicago. I got a big truck big truck a big
bus. Put everybody on the bus, the
all all the top management on the bus. We drove into
Downtown Chicago. Now this was many years ago, and
(20:24):
and I drove them to what, at that time, was the only
American Girl doll store in the
world, and it was in Downtown Chicago.
We pulled up, and they go, what are we doing here? And I said, well,
we're gonna go inside the American Girl store.
And, I mean, you talk I mean, you talk about dragging people,
(20:48):
kicking and screaming into the store. I said I said, I want
you to go in, and I want you to tell I want you to study
how do they market. How do they sell their products?
Who is their customer, and what are the things
that they are doing Yeah. You know,
to get customers to spend more money. Right? Mhmm.
(21:11):
So I I I sent them in there. They kicking and screaming.
Two, three hours later, I had to drag them out
of the store because they were taking so many
notes. They were comparing ideas. Because you go into the
it's a doll store for gosh sakes, people. You go in
(21:32):
there. There's a bookstore with that that puts,
has historical books about
American Revolution, and they've got an American Girl doll who's an
American Revolution doll. They've got a magazine
that they do for and they do cover stories, and then you go
around the store. They've got a, you know, a beauty
(21:55):
salon. They've got and and and another thing
really important. You go to the you you you take your doll to the
American Girl's Girl Store, and what what what if and
I hate to say the world the word what if your doll is broken? Because
you take it to you take your doll to the American Girl Store. It's not
broken. It's thick.
(22:17):
And they have a hospital, the American
Girl Hospital. Mhmm. You you check
your doll in. They get a wheelchair
to take the doll back into
the infirmary to take care of take care of the doll. Now why do I
point that out? Well, number one, because think about think about how
(22:40):
different that is. Yeah. Right? Yeah. From, like, a normal America.
Okay. But let me ask you this question. Alright? You know, how many places do
you go to where,
you you know, something's broken? What do they call it?
Customer service. Right? It's called customer
service. That's what it's called. What's it called at an Apple store?
(23:04):
Yeah. Genius Bar. Yeah. Genius Bar. Yeah.
It's just customer service. And now I know where
this phrase came from. Yes. Nice.
See? Steal g see. That's why I say don't
don't copy competitors. Go into another box
(23:24):
Yeah. And steal what what's
common in another box and bring it back. And if you if you
if you steal something that's common and and and used a lot and
stuff like that, now in your box, it's it's
genius. Nobody's ever used it before. But now you see you're talking
about an experiential thing. Right? Yes. Absolutely.
(23:46):
And and so and so now you're delivering something to your
customer. So imagine the types of
changes that a Caterpillar could use
from stealing Genius at the American Girl store
and going out and and teaching drivers,
sharing, you know, the presentation materials,
(24:10):
the books that they have. Yeah. They don't have they they
don't have a customer service department now. You know? It's it's
I don't even remember what it's called or or anything. You know? But but, see,
that's that's what I'm talking about here is that,
Peter Drucker said marketing
(24:31):
is number one. Marketing is creating a
customer. Number two is the customer re
you are delivering something to the customer that is different than the
competition. But if you if if all you do is copy everybody, you gotta go
find somewhere else. Oh, I got a quick one to to
anchor, with you on this. See, I just my own understanding. And,
(24:52):
there's a guy in the NSA National Speakers Association named Mark
Levy, and, he's really
brilliant. He helped Simon Sinek, one of his most famous,
clients, finds the the maxim start
with why, you know, that big idea. And,
he was telling us a story that, about David Meerman
(25:15):
Scott. He wrote this, you know, wildly successful book.
Didn't he read it? Oh, you know him personally? Yeah. Yeah.
His new rules of PR. But, David was stuck. He
called Mark and said, hey. I need a new bestseller. And, when
David wants a a new bestseller, he means a Wall Street Journal bestseller,
a New York Times bestseller. Not like us. It's not Amazon bestsellers.
(25:37):
Guilty as charged. But, so he goes to Martin saying, hey. I need a a
new bestseller. And, so they brainstorm, brainstorm,
brainstorm, brainstorm, and and like you say, they were kinda just
stuck in the box. You know, they they just weren't breaking out
until Mark said, hey. Are you gonna be around this weekend, you
know, where where you live? And he goes, yeah. Yeah. Why? And he's, like, going,
(26:00):
you know, if you just hike it up the road, there's this
big, huge event called Comic Con. I'd like to you to
attend it. Mark's, like, going, why the hell would I
wanna attend Comic Con? I don't I don't get it. He goes, just go
and and trust me on this. We need some new thinking
just like what you did with caterpillars, Steve. And so he
(26:22):
goes and then comes back and he's, like, going, oh, damn. I loved
it. It was great. You know? I learned so much, took notes and everything.
And because Mark's, like, going, okay. Give me the juice, man. What'd you get out
of it? And together, they worked to formulate a new
big idea and a new best Wall Street Journal. How to do that.
You have to learn how to do that. New Wall Street Journal bestseller Fanocracy.
(26:45):
And, but, yeah, it's just a plain you know, I, I don't know if
you've ever met, or or seen the work of Edward de Bono.
Sadly, even I I know Edward too. I'm a TED guy.
I'm a TEDster. So, see, I get to hang I get to go hang out
at TED with with all those guys. And and, Ed
Debono is one of the very few, people who actually
(27:08):
got kicked off the TED stage. Most people don't know. Most people
don't know that. Well, he's he he does have a strong opinion.
Yeah. He got kicked off the stage. That was that was one of the best
I've ever seen on TED. I I I learned a, principle from him,
Steve, that I think helps in this concept. He calls it lateral
thinking, you know, where you gotta get out of your box. You know, you you
(27:30):
go find something that's maybe completely
unrelated. It's supposed to be But then you you can tie the two
together somehow to come up with a new
thing, a bigger idea. Simple. It's so it it is
it see, this is but this has happened for for many, many,
many, many, many, many, many, many years. Right? Even,
(27:53):
the the concept of, studying nature
and learning from nature and stealing nature. Velcro came from
nature. Uh-huh. Velcro, a a German
scientist was walking through the woods with his dog, got a whole bunch
of burrs stuck to his socks. And and when he
took his socks off, he took a look at them and
(28:17):
started a company called Velcro. And,
so it it's yeah. You you you know,
ideas are everywhere, but here's our problem.
Our our our natural inclination
is to own is our heuristics. Let's put it that way.
Our heuristics are that we
(28:40):
see who we see what we are.
Okay? We hang out with the same people. We talk the
same language. We we, you know, you know,
we go, we wear the same clothes.
You know? That's what we do. And and for
even Steve Jobs recognized this. He when he used to have
(29:03):
conferences, brainstorming conferences in his
office, he would hire painters,
architects, engineers, from,
farming. Yeah. I mean, he would bring people in who
had nothing to do with high-tech. Mhmm.
(29:23):
Mhmm. And and they would sit, and and that's where the design
ideas came from. That's where the the concepts of some of the things that that
they and and Jobs was very famous. He, you know, he
he he was, just as famous about saying, you
know, great art artists, you know, don't copy.
They steal. Yes. Yes. Okay.
(29:45):
Yep. Well, hey. I'd I wanted to get one more concept
across that came from you, Steve, on you know? So you you know, just to
recap, you're talking about, you know, you wanna be uncopyable. You know? That
Steve's just a master in thinking about that. But,
so so you need to get out of your own box. You need to steal,
genius because competition breeds conformity.
(30:08):
But could you, end this our episode with this big
idea around value? And because I think that really brings it
home. Once you've you're outside of that box, you've stole, genius.
Now what do you do? Well, the point the point of value, which
which you guys are are very well known for, you know, with
your, you know, with the value propositions, with your go to market narrative,
(30:30):
and things like that. The the bottom line see, value is this
big, and for lack of a better word,
nebulous thing. Alright?
That that people receive
when they write you a check. Okay?
Now everybody everybody has a picture in their own mind. The moment they write you
(30:54):
a check, they have a picture in in their mind of
what they expect that what they're expecting from you. And what
and and whatever that picture is is what their picture of value
is. And it might be, oh, you you
know, yeah, you got a great product. You you you know? Yeah. And, oh, yeah,
you're gonna deliver it on time. You know? The it's it's
(31:16):
that whole package that they perceive.
Okay? Now what what we want to
do when it comes to value is we also want to create
a value that they go, holy crap. That's a value that nobody else can give
me. There other people and and
it comes from things like let let me share things like,
(31:40):
like language. Okay?
If you use the exact same terminology
as your as your competition,
then you're not different. Mhmm. Okay?
The you you realize that none of us had
(32:01):
any idea how to order coffee until Starbucks came.
All of a sudden, it became an Italian discussion.
Right? You know, you know, how to order coffee.
Right? Because Starbucks created a new
language of of ordering coffee.
Completely different from all the other coffee shops on the planet.
(32:24):
Right? But it was Starbucks who created that. And and and everybody
knows it. Everybody knows that it was Starbucks who created
that. That's part of the deal is that when you create something
new like that, like a terminology, You
know? I mean, here, a color. Okay? My color is orange. Our
colors our brand color is orange. And when we we tell people, when you see
(32:46):
the color orange, you should automatically ask yourself the question,
what am I looking at that's uncopyable that I can steal
right now? Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. What can
I steal right now? Right? Well, you know,
be because I want them to think about me
and think about us. A a couple of
(33:09):
years ago, there was a guy, in Houston,
a guy named Jim McIngvale, known as Mattress Mac.
He has three furniture stores in Houston. He is he is
a rock star in Houston. Because when
hurricane Katrina came and hit hit the town and people were
displaced from their homes, he put out a a
(33:32):
a a message to everybody in the city. He said, look. If you have been
displaced from your home, you can come to my store. I will you
can sleep on our beds. You can sleep on our couches. I will
pull the mattresses out. If you need food, we will feed
you. If you need clothing, we will find clothing for you. Alright? He was
a rock star. Okay? The guy read my book.
(33:56):
And and opening game
of the baseball season, he's at a Houston Astros
baseball game, and they all come running out in their
orange jerseys. And he turned
to his son, and he said, Steve Miller, I gotta
call him tomorrow morning. Nice. Nice. Okay. He called me
(34:20):
the next morning, hired me on the spot.
He he just he said he said, hey. If if if you can impact
me to think of you at that moment, he said, I wanna I
want you to help us get better too. I want some of that. Yeah. That's
an that's that's that's an example of what I'm talking about. So you see, you
learn you you you start to look for ways
(34:42):
to, create these anchors and these triggers
for your marketplace that are different from what
your your your competition does. I absolutely love that.
Yeah. When you do that, you now own.
You own that relationship. Perfect. So
(35:02):
Perfect. Well, Steve, we've, wanna, just do a
wrap up with this now on, and just mention to everybody,
Steve's book, Uncopyable, is fantastic, you know,
where you wanna create your, you know, an unfair advantage. I
love that term. And, you yeah. To you know, if you think smart
and work smart and sell smart, oh my god, you're gonna improve your win rate,
(35:25):
you know, and and that's what we're talking about today. Just some brilliant
ideas and great thinking about how you can stand apart from the back and
win more business for yourself. So I do encourage everybody, you know,
grab a copy of Steve's book. You know, we we just scratched the surface. There's
so much more there, a richness and distinctions that'll that'll
help you think differently, get out of your box, and build a new
(35:48):
box, by by reading this book. And then, Steve, they can,
look for your beautiful face, on on LinkedIn.
You know, we Yeah. They can find me on LinkedIn, Steve a Miller.
Absolutely. And they can, yeah, they can go,
track me down at
@buncopiable.com. You can track track me
(36:10):
down there. And I believe that's where they can go. You and you and
Kaye, you know, coauthored another book, but you guys
have a a five series email, right, that they can get in terms
of helping them along the their path. And and and, again,
using my very high-tech,
(36:30):
and for those of you who cannot see this, alright, I'm holding up
a a very high-tech, personalized, visual
that says be uncopyable.com slash
the number five dash emails. Awesome.
Okay. And and if you go there, you you can, you know, Kaye put
together a a series for you guys, and, and
(36:53):
we're there to help. You know? And and let me tell you something.
Bruce, you know, he he teaches this
stuff. He just doesn't he he doesn't he he's not as,
nuts. Okay. So,
versus much more professional than I
am. Right? I don't ever wanna be be, You don't wanna be
(37:16):
like me. Oh my god. I don't wanna be no. But I don't wanna be
accused of being professional because I'm not. You know? I'm just
you know? I'm I'm orange is what I am. And,
and I love your, you know, your book. Even I love short
books like that. In fact, I'm writing more short books. Yeah.
You know, that that are easy easy to digest and easy and
(37:38):
a ton of information. So I learned that from my mentor who
you know quite well, Janelle Barlow. But she said book write write
write your book, Bruce, to be read on a flight, and that's what I did.
And and it's funny. Such a good advice. I've had executives send
me copies of them, you know, with the book in their hand on a
flight. Such a good advice. And you know what? You know what? And you should
(37:59):
you should teach your these clients of your write your own
book, people. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That that's a new
box. Well, Steve, on that note, thank you so much for
joining the show. Really appreciate it. Thank you, buddy. Good to see you,
man. What a fantastic conversation with Steve Miller. We
covered so many powerful ideas today from the importance of
(38:21):
true differentiation to the art of stealing genius
from unexpected places. One of my biggest takeaways,
if you wanna win more deals, you can't just be better. You
have to be different in a way that your competition can't copy.
If you found today's episode valuable, be sure to check out
Steve's book, Uncopyable, and visit
(38:43):
himbeuncopyable.com for more resources.
And of course, if you enjoyed the episode, please like and subscribe to the
Value Pro Show. If you're feeling kind, leave a review too
so others can find it. Until next time, keep leading with
value and standing out in your market.
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