Max Perilstein Of Sole Source Consultants: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Product is what it is — making sure it is the best it can be is crucial. Great products can exist without a great brand, but no one will know about them. A great brand cannot exist without great products.
As part of our series about how to create a trusted, believable, and beloved brand, I had the pleasure to interview Max Perilstein, Managing Partner of Sole Source Consultants. Since its inception, Max and his team at Sole Source have helped companies build their brands and business by providing invaluable business assistance and insights.
Max’s background in communications dates back to his time at Ohio University where he graduated with a bachelor’s in Communications in 1990. Max spent time in the television industry before making his way into the glass and glazing world, holding titles of Vice President of Marketing, and Chief Marketing Officer before founding Sole Source in 2011.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I have always been in the communication world, heavy in TV and Radio, so growing into a marketing/comms strategy play was pretty natural given I was moving into an industry (Glass, Windows, Doors etc.) that had very little high-end effort into promoting themselves at the time.
In fact, early on I had a company owner say to me “Who needs marketing?” and walked out of the room dismissively. So it was a long road ahead!
Since that time, my goal has been to bring the communication skills I have and integrate that into an old-school industry. It’s rewarding to be a part of this wave as our industry moves forward and evolves.
The major trends now are pushing communication through all the social outlets but with messages that are tailored for those audiences. Educating our clients about these audience behaviors, knowing that those who visit Instagram consume information in different ways than those who are solely on Facebook, setting up a communications plan that addresses these changing behaviors is important and an evolving process. Also trending in our space, podcasts. They’ve become so easy to launch, that they are everywhere and it’s a great way to get information out in a totally different way.
Can you share a story about the funniest marketing mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
It was an internal marketing piece for 30+ warehouses and it was going to be in English and Spanish.
Our HR Director at the time spoke Spanish and offered to translate the piece. We had all the pieces produced, nice big billboards for the plant walls. When the batch arrived at our HQ, I was so proud. As I am looking them over one of purchasing folks walks in and starts reading the Spanish signs. He then starts pointing and saying “this is wrong, this is wrong, and this is wrong” I was mortified, I asked him what was wrong and he said the translation was a mess.
I learned a valuable lesson that day. I had asked someone to provide a service outside of their wheelhouse.
The HR director was embarrassed that his translations were incorrect, and I was crushed that my large project had to be scrapped and redone.
When you are working in a professional space, hire professionals to get the job done. Don’t cut corners to save money, you many times end up spending more to fix your shortcut.
Oh, and always double-check your translations.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
I have now personally been in business for 10+ years as Managing Partner at Sole Source Consultants and have been able to be a part of so many great innovations and advancements in the glass and glazing industry.
My proudest is being associated with the National Glass Association (NGA). They have been a client since day one and they continue to make a massive impact on the industry with regards to advocacy and education.
I have been a part of NGA’s growth and expansion into codes and guidelines which are crucial to everyone who works in this industry. Spreading this message, promoting industry events, and supporting the association’s growth efforts brings me great joy and helps everyone in this industry through access to knowledge, training, and cutting-edge innovations.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I have a few that will make a difference in the living space, keeping people more comfortable and safer. Covid has taught us all that the spaces where we live and work now have much more meaning than ever, so working with companies focused on improving that experience is extremely exciting.
There is a glass product that you can see through that has transparent solar cells attached! Your windows could generate energy for your home or business. That’s a technology that’s been in development for years that is now a reality.
Also, there are glass products that are performing energy-wise at levels never seen before, truly difference makers in our environment and world. And on the safety side between new coatings that keep things anti-bacterial and safety attachments that keep things safe- I can say I am in the middle of so many innovations that just have me extremely excited.
Ok, let’s now jump to the core part of our interview. In a nutshell, how would you define the difference between brand marketing (branding) and product marketing (advertising)? Can you explain?
I keep a tattered handmade sign by my desk that says “A brand is not something you buy- it is something you buy into” and I live that every day.
So first and foremost on either side, a brand experience has to journey all the way through the chain and everyone must buy in.
As for the differences, brand marketing is how I position the company and how I want them to be known and understood, and that includes their positive qualities, reputation, and values. On the product side, it’s a drive to be more specific and solution-oriented while making sure that the mission of the brand and those positive qualities are always in play.
Can you explain to our readers why it is important to invest resources and energy into building a brand, in addition to the general marketing and advertising efforts?
Customers want to have trust and comfort with the company they are dealing with. There is so much value to that which is lost when the focus is only on the products. There can be a major pride factor in buying from a certain organization when they are good, positioned well, and you know you are smarter (or feeling smarter) for dealing with them over a competitor.
Can you share 5 strategies that a company should be doing to build a trusted and believable brand? Please tell us a story or example for each.
There are 5 key terms that make this go for me. Culture, Communication, Product, Performance, and last but certainly not least, People.
- Culture more than ever means so much. Are you doing right by the environment, by DEI, by the way you operate overall? What does this look like in your company, beyond your talking points?
- Communication is key in times like now where the supply chain is a mess, how are you making sure that your customer knows what you have or don’t, the hours you are on or not, and how your goods and services work. Communication with strong social media that is part technical/help and part fun/promotional helps put that messaging out the way in a way your audience can consume it.
- Product is what it is — making sure it is the best it can be is crucial. Great products can exist without a great brand, but no one will know about them. A great brand cannot exist without great products.
- Performance is a major factor. People tend to remember when you or your product DON’T perform vs. the 1000 times that it did. No days off on the performance side, you have to always be working that approach.
- And finally people. Without people that get it, that trust in the plan and process, and without people who are invested in the success of the program, you are sunk. Collaborate with them, develop them, grow with the insight of all and make them a positive part of the process.
In your opinion, what is an example of a company that has done a fantastic job building a believable and beloved brand? What specifically impresses you? What can one do to replicate that?
The obvious answer for me is Apple. The loyalty that they get is beyond anything else out there because they have amazing products, they perform, their people always seemed engaged, their culture at least from view looks to be quite inclusive and inviting, and their communication is top-notch. They have set the bar extremely high there. And obviously, their branding is legendary and every spot they develop is better than the last.
I think though that’s the easy pick. A tougher and maybe more controversial one for me would be Delta Airlines. I fly a ton on them, so I have a bias there, but my experience in the last 10 years has been exceptional. When there is an issue they deal with it- and that is a very tough world to be in when issues like weather can pop up at any time.
Using my 5 factors, Delta has a great product, clean planes that are usually on time and without much hassle at all (especially compared to others), they communicate well and have the best app user experience of any travel-related entity I have used, and again from my view, the culture looks to be something better than the norm.
As for advertising/branding, their apps and website are top-notch and their external messaging is good, clear, smart communication that matches the approach they take daily. I may be the only person in the world to ever give props to an airline, but here we are.
In advertising, one generally measures success by the number of sales. How does one measure the success of a brand-building campaign? Is it similar, is it different?
It’s brutal. Especially in niche industries and especially with startups. It is so hard to measure your success and it’s my biggest challenge as a consultant. Obviously, I can point to sales, but in the architectural industry where I do most of my work, the lag time between a campaign and order could be up to 2 years or more. A lot of what I do is laying the groundwork and building the brand’s reputation. Success metrics come from things like social media and action at trade shows and webinars. Not the best of metrics and a lot is based on feel, so this one is a rough one for marketers like me in very specific industries.
What role does social media play in your branding efforts?
Massive. Especially LinkedIn. Love LinkedIn now. Five years ago, it was a mess, very unorganized and over-run with groups that served little purpose. Now the timelines are loaded with great interaction and collaboration and the attitude on there is 98% positive. It’s the exact opposite of Twitter in that way and more meaningful than Facebook or Instagram. YouTube is a hidden gem too, not enough organizations are taking advantage of video.
What advice would you give to other marketers or business leaders to thrive and avoid burnout?
Day by day is the way. Make a “ta-da” list and cross things out. Credit to an amazing business coach that I used who made the to-do list a “ta-da” list and helped me keep things in perspective. Unplug completely once in a while too. Every few months or so I’ll go off-grid for a day or two. Very refreshing.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Could we get term limits for Senators and Congress? I know this isn’t slated to be political, but the lack of limits there drives me crazy and I do think a more consistent changing of the leadership there would help our world. Fresh people, fresh ideas, better debates, and more urgency. All of that is needed. It would also allow more growth in the lack of diversity at all levels in those bodies too.
We all are always looking for those new perspectives and fresh ideas in business. We need to be open and proactively inviting consistent fresh dialogue coming into our organizations. What does that look like? That’s something that I think I need to add to my list to work on!
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I have 2 of them:
- Patience — That was my dad’s favorite word and I think it’s perfect because we all want things faster and quite frankly nothing in life ever moves as fast as you want it to. Stay patient, work hard and it will come.
- Don’t look back — This was something I struggled with for years. I held grudges and always looked back. I don’t anymore, what is done is done, I’ve learned and moved on — forward is the only way to look and to go.
We are blessed that very prominent leaders in business and entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world with whom you would like to have a lunch or breakfast with? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
At Apple, their former Marketing head Phil Schiller would be an amazing person to connect with just to talk about how he and the team continued to develop and build such incredible customer loyalty. Steve Jobs gets a ton of credit, but Phil and his team executed and built so much of the success there over the years.
At Delta, I’d love to break bread with Ed Bastian. He has a tough job, to hear what motivates him and his team every day would be fascinating for me and also appreciated because it cannot be easy.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Follow Max on LinkedIn and solesourceconsultants.com
You can also read his industry insights at From The Fabricator, Glass Magazine and listen in as he hosts industry leaders on his Podcast.
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
Max Perilstein Of Sole Source Consultants: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
