Barry LaBov with LaBov

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

barry, scott, differentiation, industrial, mcallen, talk, customers, company, great, change, manufacturer, client, unique, process, step, leader, distributors, conversation, employees, technology

00:00

Scott. Welcome to the Industrial Talk Podcast with Scott. MacKenzie Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting edge industry focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hard hat, grab your work boots, and let's give it a hello.

00:21

There you industrial pro out there. Thank you very much for joining Industrial Talk, and thank you for your continued support of this platform that celebrates industry professionals all around the world. We truly appreciate that there's a lot happening in industry, and we're thankful that we are a part of that, that Renaissance that's taking place within industry. All right. Great conversation, paper and pencil time. Barry LaBov, we'll be talking about differentiation, that sort of that unique component to your business that you need to highlight for greater success, because that's what we're all about. We want you to succeed. So let's get on with the show. Yeah, I love it. There's so much we can do, and we want to we want you to be successful. You have to be successful. Please be successful. I will that on you, and the opportunity to be able to collaborate, because we talk about education, collaboration and innovation right here. Barry has it all. So his contact information is out on Industrial Talk. So, you know, reach out. I guarantee you, he has a book too. That's pretty cool. Has a book out there talking about differentiation, but very cool stuff. All right, before we get in that conversation, you have a podcast. Let's say you have a podcast. Yes, I have a podcast, Scott, and it's about industry, or some part of industry, and you want greater attention, you want greater amplification. You want your message to get out. You need to talk to me, put it out on Industrial Talk. We have companies that are doing that as we speak, and it's, it's a great community. So if you have a podcast, make it happen. If you have or have a desire to do a podcast, and you don't know where to begin, well, just FYI, you need to talk to me. I'll tell you, and I'll show you, and guide you in a way that it says, Do this, don't do that. I did that. Didn't turn out well, that's how I can I can definitely remove the frustration with no problem. And then finally, if you have some innovation, you have some sort of technology that you want to highlight, put it out on Industrial Talk. We have a platform that is really focused in on helping companies succeed, and that is this ever changing landscape that we have in the world of industry. It is a must. So put that technology out on Industrial Talk, and I'll help you with that. It's okay. I'm an open book. You know that I am? Go out to Industrial Talk, reach out to me. All right, into the conversation. Barry's his name, Barry LaBov. That's L, A, B, O, V, and we're talking about differentiation. It's important. It's important. We need to diff. We need to think differently, and Barry cutting edge on that. So enjoy the conversation. Barry, welcome to Industrial Talk. Thank you very much for joining. How are you doing today? I

03:30

am great, Scott. I love your energy, and I do follow you, and I love that you focus on the industrial world. I love it. There

03:40

it is. Listener. There it is. He loves me, loved all right? Well, before we get into the conversation about communications, yes, you need to listen to it. Yes, you need to grab your pen and paper, because it is going to be one of those conversations. And yes, it's going to be good. All right, before we get into that conversation, Barry, give us a little background. Give all the listeners a background on who you are.

04:06

I'm the founder and CEO of a company called Labov, marketing, training and communications. I am the author of a book called The Power of differentiation. My company focuses on one word differentiation. That's what we do all day, every day. Have done it for decades. We work with companies all over the world, small, not so small, very, large. And some of those would be familiar, including Harley Davidson, Audi, Volkswagen McAllen, scotch. They're a manufacturer, by the way. And, oh yes, they are. And BRP, which is Sea Doo ski, doo Can Am, and very, very many smaller companies that we love every bit as much. So it's a pleasure to be able to work with them. We find the magic and what they do. Scott. And we help them promote it internally and externally.

05:05

Do you have any bottles of McAllen?

05:06

I certainly do.

05:09

Hey, I digress. There's a McAllen room in Barcelona, and it's, it's a small little bar, a little it, it's, it's exciting. It's a beautiful bar with McAllen, right?

05:23

And that is part of what we talk about in my book. That's the experience. So think about it. McAllen supports those bars and those experiences worldwide. They're brilliant, and they want you to go in there and experience the magnificent taste of the McAllen, there you go. Man,

05:42

all right. Well, very good. Let's, let's dive into differentiation. Define that for us. What do you mean by that? Differentiation

05:49

is something that you or your brand produce or make that is unique, not necessarily superior, but unique to the competition, something that you do, some feature technology, something could be your design that is meaningful and can be explained to not only your customer, but also your employees to buy in the customer as well as the employee's hearts and minds. So almost every product or brand has something most of the time we're so close we don't see it.

06:31

It's interesting because it doesn't please say it doesn't smack of a mission statement.

06:37

It is not even close to a mission statement. Very good, because that's pablum. A lot of times

06:44

it is big time. Pablum, big time. So if I was a manufacturer, and I hear what you're saying, and I want to be able to differentiate myself, does it have bottom line value to my why? Why I need to focus on that tremendous

06:59

bottom line value? So here's what it is. When our company does our process, we call it brand re engineering, because we don't come in to change what's going on. We may tweak it. We're trying to discover what you are already doing. So translation to the manufacturer, you should not have to start a brand new process and buy new machinery to be different. You're already doing it. So number one, we come in, we discover what is unique, we identify it. We find out that you have a six step process, and nobody else in the industry goes more than three steps, or you use a certain type of metallurgy, whatever it is, all right. So number one, that makes it very profitable for you, because you're not trying to completely retool what you are. So that's number one. Number two, once you decide what you really are different at and what makes you just that little bit more unique, and you can communicate it. Scott, you can sell it for a little more. You can sell it at a premium because you have it, and the person down the street does not have it, all right? And now here's the third reason. It is highly profitable, and that is in our process. The fifth step is launching this differentiation. But you launch it first to the most important people, your employees, and you give them a reason to understand that what they're doing is meaningful. See, people need significance. So you not only tell them about it, you celebrate it. So now all of a sudden, whether you have three people or you have 400,000 people, they are your ambassadors. Okay, what's that mean? I'll translate it to this, it means probably higher quality, because they're all of a sudden caring about what they do, because it means something probably better retention as well.

08:51

Okay, a couple of thoughts that come to mind. You're talking about real change management within an organization. If you're sitting there and you need to celebrate the new look, the new feel, the new company, in a sense, how do you sustain that? How do you just take the naysayers who say it's just another thing? I got to go back to my salt mine, and I can do it the way I normally do it. How do you how do you ensure that that it's sustained?

09:25

That's a great question, and it's not easy to because the once a year picnic or party or annual get together is not enough. It's every day, and that's one thing I put in the book. I go. Look as a leader. Your job is to identify, your differentiation and constantly, almost ad nauseam, let your people know what it is. Let them know they just did something really great. And that's what our our company's all about. That's what it's all about. Look how you're helping to save lives. Look how. Helping to have your clients look like heroes. Look what you've done. This is great. So it's every single day, and that's what the leader is supposed to do. So your point is great. It's not a one off where you go, Okay, everybody you know, get back to the salt mines. We're done with this celebration. It's every day. We're repeating it. We're talking about it. We're identifying. Hey, Scott, you did this. Okay, you did this. This is great. You go, Yeah, but it's not that big of a deal, boss. Oh, yeah, yeah, it is, because, remember, we're all about blank and blank. What you did allows us to be able to do blank and blank. That makes you a hero in this. So thank you for doing it. Everybody has to feel significant.

10:39

Yeah, here, how do you deal with the fact that I'm Scott manufacturer, and I'm in my business, I'm trying to make quotas and doing what I need to do, to back off and be on my business and be sort of that leadership, that it's not a negative, but a cheerleader to in to encourage this and sustain this change,

11:04

the leader is very often pretty lonely, because you're the one trying to figure things out, you're the one working late, you're the one that's under great pressure to perform. What this does is it helps the leader also to understand that he or she has something that's unique. And it also helps the leader as a human when he or she is rallying their people to realize, Now, wait a minute, I I'm making a difference in their lives. So the leader cannot do it on his or her own. They need this team behind them, and this also goes with the along with uh, dealers or distributors. Scott, many of your industrial companies have dealers and distributors. So once you get past the employees, you've got to get these distributors to buy in. They've got to feel like, okay, wait a minute, this is actually a meaningful product.

11:59

Yeah, see that that you bring up a very interesting point. It's there's internal and then there's the external effort to to begin to share with with not prospective clients, of course, right? But also existing clients. And say, this is why we're doing it, and we believe that it will benefit you in the long run. So stick with us, that type of thing, and we want to show our appreciation for you too, as well, right?

12:24

Right? Our appreciation also. We want to train you on what we're doing and why, so that you can share it with the customer. And here's a step further we want to go if it's going to be Scott manufacturing, what I want to make sure is we are delivering the right kind of experience to our customers. Our customers expect blank, blank, blank and blank. You, as my distributor, I want you to make sure that's what they want. Let's make sure we have a process that we follow. It doesn't have to be robotic, but let's make sure every customer knows this, this and that, because that is very important to them. If I have 800 distributors, Scott, I don't want 800 or 800 times five. If they have five sales people, experiences, I don't want 800 experiences out there. I want, in general, one experience for your company that okay, customers can depend on. So

13:21

you paint a picture, the picture is pretty clear. Take me through the process. You come into my business. Scott manufacturing, how are you how are you looking at my business? Are you looking at the technology I use? What? What? How? How extensive is your vision?

13:39

16:17

in the wrong business, right? I'll pay for 100,000

16:22

well. But the thing is, I'm not just talking about what they would pay us. I'm saying now you got to repaint your trucks, you repaint your factory, you repaint everything, you get everything, you change your web. I mean, it's expensive, all right. So what we do look at is, what are those unique differentiators? Let's name them. So we all have kids. People my age definitely have kids. Normally we don't name them. Child one, two and three. They have names. They have a personality. Let's give those unique differentiators a personality so we have all that together. That's our fourth step. Then we launch it to the world. But first it's launched to the most important people, the employees. We celebrate with them. We let them know what they're doing is important and meaningful. We then, if they have a distributor, dealer network, cascade it to them. Let them know they're important. Let them know what's important about this product. Let them know how to sell it. Then we launch it to the world. Well, we've got so many people that are excited. It's incredible. If we don't do it, we launch that great product, and your frontline employee goes, Yeah, I don't know what's going on. Nobody tells me anything. Your dealers go, I don't know. The powers that be, don't tell me what's going on. I don't know what this thing is. And all of your brilliant engineering is wasted. So that's our process. It's highly inspirational and usually is a highlight of a client's career when we work with them.

17:49

Do you come back? Do let me? Let me do this from an execution perspective, there's big bang, then there's incremental what? What do you prefer?

18:00

I like, Big Bang.

18:01

Big Bang.

18:02

Yep.

18:03

How do you then, you know, there's a, there's this, I guess, honeymoon stage, where you're rolling it out, you're doing the execution. You're you're making it happen. How often do you come back and sort of level set? Do you do that for a year? What? What? How do you ensure that it it gains some stickiness?

18:25

That's a great point. The ideal answer is you come back frequently, every few months, and you're examining what is changing. Sometimes competitors all of a sudden start imitating you, and all of a sudden your differentiation may not be that different, so you have to stay on top of it. You do, but remember, you have a foundation of what makes you different and what is your brand differentiation. So you're starting from a stronger foundation now. And if the competitor comes in and tries to really copy you, if it's not some infringement, a legal infringement, then you can always, you know, update or upgrade what you're doing, but, yeah, we come back in. But the thing you got to do is you got to start as best as possible with this is what we stand for, and this is what we do. One other thing I'll add, Scott is when our clients will then launch brand new products after it, and this will answer your question in a different way. We make sure that even though there's this brand new product coming out a year later, let's say that we still point back to this is what makes this brand unique. So this new product is high tech. It's got great ease of serviceability features, whatever it is, okay, great. That's what our brand is about that's why you turn to us. So we make sure we keep it connected.

19:46

Yeah, I Okay. So I, what I see is, uh, me as Scott manufacturer. I'm going to have to step up the plate. I'm the leader. I'm going to have to embrace this. Because I want, I want to improve my bottom line. I want to, I. Want to adapt with what is happening out in the marketplace, and be able to be fresh and new and and relevant for my market. So I see all of that that's great. I I'm just going to have to put my big boy pants on, and I'm going to have to do it. So I hear you. What are some of the pushbacks? What are some of the roadblocks? Why would something like this not succeed?

20:23

The only reasons this would not succeed, and it's happened, is if the client thinks I've got it all figured out, and some people do, they think, Hey, I already know what I'm doing. I already have it figured out and in so that does happen, and we just say we're just probably not a good fit. Or if the client is not willing to be vulnerable, roll up his or her sleeves and say, Look, I want to hear if we're falling short in one spot, because I want to do something about it. And sometimes they don't want that. Sometimes it's like, I've I've got my differentiation. I want you to go out there and find it. And one time, actually two times, I've had clients do that. Both times, luckily, I said, Well, I'm not going to go find what you're telling me. I'm going to come back and let you know what I found. And in both of those cases, it was 180 degrees different. And by the way, it helped both companies dramatically. But the client's got to be willing to be vulnerable and open to new ideas.

21:26

Yeah, I I can see that is this is this is not a solution that is just solved by throwing more technology, more stuff at it, and saying, we're going to collect this data and we're going to do this, and it there has to be that whole change in culture in a big way, and an analysis and and a reasonable expectation, as well as understand what you're trying to accomplish. I just, where do you see it going I mean, what you've been in the business for many years, and I'm sure that you've seen tremendous change. What do you see the market landscape look like today? I

22:11

think that you must be vulnerable as a leader today. You must be willing and hungry to roll up your sleeves, and you have to realize that everything you're doing, producing, creating, has to have that differentiation, not just for your customers. And this is the big thing. It must prove to be something of significance for your employees, because if not with today's current work situation where you have a lot of people that are going, I don't know if I want to work. I mean, I don't want to put extra hours in, etc. I understand all that. I don't blame anybody for it. Okay, well, let's give some employees of ours a reason to care. So if we don't realize that we need that today, we're crazy. In the old days, Scott, I would come in and recognize recommend this. And some of these CEOs would say, I do not want to waste a minute on trying to motivate my people. I'm paying them $5 an hour today. I do not hear that from leaders. They are far more evolved, and they tear up when I say, we want to launch this to your people first. They love the idea. So you've got to get that message. And if you don't have that message, don't worry about you. Just keep toiling away.

23:29

It'll, it'll reveal itself, right, right? But, but you need to be in it. You need to be doing it. You need to be actively, uh, seeking differentiation. You have to be, yeah. And that gets found in that vulnerability. You

23:43

do, and you've got to fight the commodity monster, as I call it in my book, it's so easy to be a commodity, and you think, oh, we'll make more money. Make it up with volume. No, you don't. You kill the morale, you kill your future, and you have to work harder. So to me, if I have a choice, I'd rather be vulnerable. Roll my sleeves up, and let's find something unique, then kill myself, slowly but surely as a commodity.

24:09

Yeah, see, I don't like I agree with you hundreds percent. I worked one of my businesses was very commoditized. It's a miserable world to be in. It's just miserable, and it just happens. And to try to dig yourself out of it is hard, so don't even go there. Don't listen to me. All right, Barry, how do people get a hold of you? If they say they like what they hear, what's the best way

24:35

I'd say for them to go to my company's website, labov.com go to my personal site, barrylabov.com, go to LinkedIn, link in with me. In each of those cases I mentioned, you can set up a discussion with me on my website or on my personal website, and then look at purchasing my book on Amazon and leaving a review. It's a very reasonably priced book, but it can really help people. It's stories, just like we just talked about Scott 50 different companies that have done this and rallied their people around

25:11

perfect. Love it. All right. Listener, his name's Barry. You need to reach out. That's your to do list. Put that on your to do list, number one topic, but and we're going to have all the contact information for Barry out on Industrial Talk. So fear not. You will have everything that you need to make that happen. All right, listeners, we're going to wrap it up on the other side, Barry. Thank you very much,

25:31

Scott. I have to thank you. I know it takes about three more seconds to say this, but you are a champion for the industrial manufacturer, and I love it. Thank you. Thank you very much.

25:43

That's really good. All right, listeners are gonna wrap it up. Stay tuned. We will be right back.

25:47

You're listening to the Industrial Talk Podcast Network.

25:58

What did I tell you? Barry delivered the lumber. Excellent conversation, and we just scratched the surface. It's just little scratchy, scratchy of the surface, tip of the iceberg, that type of thing. There's a lot that can happen. And you know what? What's so great about it? Here's Barry open book. No problem. Reach out to him. Have a conversation. What do you got to lose? Nothing. You have nothing to lose. I like that. I like that a lot. So reach out to bear contact information, his stat card, everything out on Industrial Talk. So reach out to him and you will not be disappointed. All right, we have a platform. You have a podcast, put it out on Industrial Talk. You desire a podcast, have a conversation with me. I'll reduce the frustration. And then finally, if you have technology that you want to get in the hands of individuals, put it out on Industrial Talk. That's what we're here for. People. Be brave there greatly. Hang out with Barry. Change the world. We're going to have another great conversation shortly. So stay tuned. You.