IAM2419 – Founder Helps Businesses Transform Their Client Engagement with Innovative Gifts

Dean Stanzel

00:00 - 00:23

have such short attention spans now that if somebody asks for a referral or a name, if you're not literally top of mind and on the tip of their tongue, they're not going to go home and look for you. Sadly enough, you know, it's the scratching your head. Oh, yeah, I know guy, but I can't remember his name. And that's what I'm trying to help with is just having that name there so that they can make those referrals because there's huge opportunities that I think a lot of people don't realize they're missing out on.

Intro

00:24 - 00:49

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Grush values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the

Gresham Harkless

00:49 - 00:58

IMCEO podcast. Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the IMCEO podcast and I have an awesome guest on the show today. I have Dean Stanzl. Dean, excited to have you on the show.

Dean Stanzel

00:59 - 01:04

Thanks. I'm excited to be here and always like talking to a new group of people. So really appreciate the opportunity.

Gresham Harkless

01:05 - 01:37

Yes, absolutely. And we're super excited for this opportunity as well, too, because Dean's doing so many phenomenal things. I think we're going to have a phenomenal conversation. And of course, before we jump into that conversation, I want to read a little bit more about Dean so you can hear about some of those awesome things he's been working on. And Dean, AKA Giftmaster and owner of Top of Mind Gifts and Strategic 3D Cards, Dean has fantastic products that have a great wow factor and are memorable, last a lifetime, and generate conversations about your business and helps you stand out from your competition and never be forgotten by your clients.

Gresham Harkless

01:38 - 02:14

It's a product that really has to be seen to get the full impact. And one of the things that I love when I was preparing for this before we jumped in is that Dean has a background in engineering, as we were kind of talking around before we hit record, is that definitely our problem solvers, you know, see things in a very unique way. I feel like there's so many successful entrepreneurs that have that engineering background and are able to kind of figure out how to make those things happen. So I absolutely love that. And one of the things when we connected I absolutely love was like all those creative gifts and some of the things that were, quote unquote, outside of the box that do truly help you stand out, which is at the end of the day what I think at least all of us and not most of us are trying to do.

Gresham Harkless

02:14 - 02:27

So, Dean, excited to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the IMCO community? I am ready. Awesome. Well, let's get it started then. So to kind of kick everything off, let's rewind the clock a little bit, hear a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

Dean Stanzel

02:28 - 03:20

Yeah, for sure. Well, as you mentioned, I have an engineering physics degree and that has nothing to do with what I'm doing now, other than it was an interesting start, you know, good at math, physics, going to engineering. I was recruited in engineering in my last year to sell knives. A lot of people probably can relate to the Petco story and Getting into direct sales. It was neat and different for me. They were just new in Canada So I did that did really well at sales went in ran an office for a few years And then my number guy came out and I broke off and started my own financial services company ran that for about a decade and then left took some time off with my youngest when he was at home and And ironically, full circle, 20 years later, 25 years later, my middle daughter was recruited by Vector to sell Cutco knives.

Dean Stanzel

03:21 - 04:01

So got me back in touch. And in the meantime, the company had kind of developed or expanded from a direct B2C program, they'd offered now a B2B program, which really interested me because I love Cutco, used it my whole life and that's the main product I focus on. But the idea of as a business gift, something that everybody uses, I know they use it every day, everybody loves it. The ability to have top of mind awareness generated from that kind of a gift and product really made sense. So I slipped fairly quickly from being mildly interested to the casual, part-time, full-time within about six months.

Dean Stanzel

04:01 - 04:03

And I've been doing it ever since.

Gresham Harkless

04:03 - 04:12

Nice. I absolutely love that. Especially you have the DNA in your bloodline, it sounds like, and having your daughter be able to kind of adopt that and to be able to do that on a deep level.

Dean Stanzel

04:13 - 04:35

Yeah, no, she loves it too and is very good, probably better than I am. And it's, it's funny, we have stories going back about Katko, you know, when she was little, she, she kind of is synonymous with Kleenex and facial tissue, you know, everybody knows that. Her world. There weren't knives, there was cocktail. So it's always fun experience, but yeah, kids are great.

Gresham Harkless

04:35 - 04:44

Yeah, absolutely. And so I wanted to drill down a little bit more, hear a little bit more on how you're working with and serving your clients. Could you take us through a little bit more on what that looks like and how you're making an impact there?

Dean Stanzel

04:45 - 05:25

Well, my goal, my mission, the idea of the business itself as per the name is Top of Mind Gifts, Top of Mind Awareness. It's strategically, how can you use gifts to stay top of mind with your clientele? And I think the interesting and maybe biggest misnomer about Top of Mind Awareness is that being a business, having happy clients who say they would refer you, very much, most people are probably listening to this, does not translate into being referred. And the reason for that is we have such short attention spans now that if somebody asks for a referral or a name, if you're not literally top of mind and on the tip of their tongue, They're not going to go home and look for you.

Dean Stanzel

05:26 - 05:55

Sadly enough, you know, it's the scratching your head. Oh, yeah, I know guy, but I can't remember his name. And that's what I'm trying to help with is just having that name there so that they can make those referrals. Because there's huge opportunities that I think a lot of people don't realize they're missing out on. But if you want to strategically look at where are you investing and I'll say investing in your client relationships and how to try and develop those, what are you spending your budget on and what is the impact long term? And again, I'm really passionate and enthusiastic about Cutco.

Dean Stanzel

05:56 - 06:28

But if you think about it, what better product that is widely usable? Everybody can use it. They do use it on a daily basis. And in that sense, they're seeing getting that exposure. It's like having an ad on the radio every single day to the favorite station you're listening to or whatever. And so that's where it came about. Top of mind gifts. I like to tell people I don't I don't think of myself as being a Cutco salesperson. I want to create that top of mind awareness. And it's not the only product I use, but it is extremely effective.

Dean Stanzel

06:28 - 07:04

And there's about seven different points kind of on my checklist of things, products that need to have in order to be able to deliver what I want to deliver. And Cutco just checks off all those boxes and is one of the best things I found to do that with. And then that's the mainstay of where the business has come from. The other recent thing, product that I've brought on is really little fun. I think I've showed you some of the pop-up cards. Everybody, somebody was saying on a meeting the other day, like, oh yeah, everybody's got a little kid in them that remembers those pop-up storybooks and the princess and all that kind of stuff.

Dean Stanzel

07:04 - 07:40

And even the most, I don't know, conservative of people can remember that. And when they see it open, there's the smile. But again, on the business strategic side of things, pop-up cards are actually getting more popular. Physical mail, for that matter, is getting to be more popular. Anything other than a bill that comes and you actually are tangibly interacting with. So much stuff is lost in the social media and the digital world. But the pop-up cards that we work with, we actually custom design the 3D model, the pop-up itself. And we're the only company in North America that does that.

Dean Stanzel

07:41 - 08:11

So I love working with great unique products, niche markets, and so on, and that certainly fits the bill as well. It goes along with gratitude, staying top of mind, being aware, and breaking through the noise somewhat. I think we're inundated by so much stuff nowadays that how do you even get that five-second pause of somebody's attention? And having something that springs up with them, for one, but is also thematically tied to the business or tied to them, it just does, even

Gresham Harkless

08:11 - 08:32

better. I think, and I wonder if this is part of what sets you apart and makes you unique, your secret sauce is being able to kind of understand that. Understand that it's not just about, hey, creating something that's a wow, but actually having it be strategic to help further the brand and keep you top of mind so that they know, like, this is how you help solve that problem. Do you feel like that's part of your secret sauce?

Dean Stanzel

08:33 - 09:03

Absolutely. Again, I kind of go with the two different business models, but a lot of people, when they see that I work with Cutco, they immediately go to, oh, you know, chefs and restaurants, people like to cook. And I always pause and back up a step and say, you know, they love Cutco too, but they probably have good knives. If you think about the mass amount of your clientele that probably don't, who's going to have a bigger impact by having a really good knife given to them, right? Who's going to be using it every day.

Dean Stanzel

09:03 - 09:36

It's, it's not the sexy side of it, but the benefit and the effect is almost bigger long-term in that case than, than the short term. And the same thing happens with the cards. It's like, oh, it's fun, it's pop-up, unique, but then you start looking at the, if you give a business card, and we have business card size pop-ups, which is crazy, but A, they're not gonna get thrown out, right? Sadly, we all know where most of those business cards end up. If you're doing a Christmas card or something, people will not only open it, see it, it'll get to the right people, but they will keep it and they will open it up and display it.

Dean Stanzel

09:36 - 09:55

So yes, it's a cool Christmas card, but if it's on your customer's counter, and they're now interacting and it's a conversation piece between them and their clients, you can't really achieve that with very many other things where you've got an organic conversation starting about your company without you even being there. And that's powerful.

Gresham Harkless

09:55 - 10:06

Yeah, absolutely. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an Apple book or even a habit that you have. But what's something you lean on that makes you more effective and efficient?

Dean Stanzel

10:07 - 10:42

Unfortunately, it's not necessarily something that can be developed. But maybe along the same lines as my business, empathy is a big thing. If you can truly step back and align kind of along the lines of what we were talking about, put yourself in somebody else's position. And that can be anything from, you know, the emotional people having a bad day when you connect with them. It can be understanding the frustrations they're going through, but the ability to really empathize with somebody is, I think, very important in relationship building and being a successful CEO, you know, right from the top to the bottom.

Dean Stanzel

10:43 - 11:48

If you can't understand what your lowliest employee is doing or what your receptionist is doing for you, what they may be feeling, you can't, I guess you can't deal with them in the best way possible and therefore get the best results. One of the things, kind of shameless plug here, my mentor or kind of ideal models from the past, his name is John Rulon and he wrote a book called Giftology. It's a short little book, it's good read, but I've read it a number of times and to me it really kind of embodied the idea of true generosity, you know, unconditional giving and again it's funny the more you give the more you get all these cliches everybody's heard it before but embracing that philosophy and that spirit um i think that book has done the best job of that of anyone's i've seen before so there's all kinds of sales books out there but this one is a little bit of a different twist and And I'd highly recommend anybody reading that.

Gresham Harkless

11:49 - 12:03

Yeah, absolutely. So what would you consider to be your answer for what I would like to call one of my favorite questions, the CEO nugget. A little bit more word of wisdom or piece of advice. I like to say it might be something you would tell your favorite client, or if you hopped into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

Dean Stanzel

12:03 - 12:21

Well, the fact that I've gotten here means I kind of got it in the first place, but I would say perseverance is maybe one of the biggest things. I laugh in a direct sale role. I'm very diligent about, maybe it's my engineering side, if I say I'm going to do something, I do it. And

Intro

12:21 - 12:21

if I'm going to

Dean Stanzel

12:21 - 12:52

follow up, I follow up. And I've had a number of people that, you know, they ghost you, they do other things, and a lot of people get discouraged and stop contacting. And I I had one person tell me, and it's maybe one of the biggest compliments, or at least that's how I took it, is, you are the most positively persistent person I know. And I was like, you know what, that's awesome. I don't wanna annoy you, but if you understand that I'm just gonna keep being there, you know, that speaks to other things as well.

Dean Stanzel

12:52 - 13:21

So, perseverance, and I think in any business, but also in sales in general, there's a lot of tough times out there. emotionally, mentally, you know, the ability to say, it's going to be okay. Tomorrow's another day. And I'm going to get through this. And again, I hate the cliches, but they're there for a reason. So you know, that 90% push yourself over the hill, don't give up. They're all true.

Gresham Harkless

13:22 - 13:33

Yeah, absolutely. And so I wanted to ask you now one of my absolute favorite questions, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And our goal is to have different quote unquote CEOs on the show. So Dean, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Dean Stanzel

13:33 - 14:07

Ultimately, I guess I think I try and emulate and it should be leading by example. You know, a lot of times I think people think of the CEO on a top-down view, and there's a lot of CEOs out there, no offense, that are like that. But I think the best CEOs are the ones who can take that empathy and, you know, kind of try and set the example for everyone underneath them and do the reverse pyramid. You know, if I expect you to do it, I better be able to do it too. And that trickles through either way on an organization.

Dean Stanzel

14:07 - 14:40

And you get pride and other things where, you know, people are, If they can see you as a real person and they can respect and look at you in a positive light that way, it's funny how much people will do, how far they'll go, how much effort they'll put in just for that recognition and pride in what they're doing. The flip side of that is without that there, that's why there's a lot of transition, a lot of people moving around because they're just not happy, maybe not recognized enough and not appreciated.

Gresham Harkless

14:40 - 14:54

Well, Dean, truly appreciate that definition. Of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I wanted to do now was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best people can get out of you, find out about all the awesome things that you're working on.

Dean Stanzel

14:55 - 15:33

Yeah, for sure. Well, it sounds like the information will be in the podcast and whatnot. But I would say, have some fun, enjoy what you do. You know, it's I kind of like Santa in some respects, having the pop up cards where my job is to make people smile and, you know, enjoy things. That's a pretty neat position to be in. So I love sharing that information and however it may be applicable or used, I'm happy to share that with people too. And my websites, you know, topofmindgifts.ca and strategic3dcards.com, those are, you know, the data, the places to go to look.

Dean Stanzel

15:34 - 15:46

but I love to talk to people individually. I'm still one of those people that my cell phone's out there and people can reach me so they can do that directly and happy to help out any way that I can.

Gresham Harkless

15:48 - 16:12

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I truly appreciate you, Dean. Of course, we're going to have the links and information in the show notes as well, too, so everybody can follow up with you, can connect with you and find out about all the awesome things that you're doing. But I truly love that last kind of tidbit that you left us with. It's such a powerful thing. I think so many times as you get older and we grow up and we start adulting, we forget that we can actually have quote-unquote fun in the things that we're doing. We can be quote-unquote Santa in many ways in our businesses.

Gresham Harkless

16:12 - 16:27

So I love that you're able to do that. It kind of reminds us how important that is. But frankly, I believe truly that's where a lot of the creativity, the innovation and the opportunity lie as well too. So thank you so much for doing that. Of course, taking the time you did today and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Dean Stanzel

16:27 - 16:30

Thank you so much for having me here and I enjoyed it.

Intro

16:30 - 16:59

Thank you for listening to the IMCEO podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at imceo.co. IMCEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Don't forget to schedule your complimentary digital marketing consultation at bluesixtymedia.com. This has been the IMCEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.