WEBVTT 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:11.880 Welcome to the Business Abundance Podcast, providing 00:00:11.880 --> 00:00:14.320 the tools and knowledge to help small business 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:17.660 owners succeed. For additional resources, visit 00:00:17.660 --> 00:00:23.980 www .businessabundance .online. Hello. Welcome 00:00:23.980 --> 00:00:26.800 back to the Business Abundance Podcast. I am 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:31.000 here with Rowan and Ian. I am Zee. And today 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:33.479 we're going to be chatting about small business 00:00:33.479 --> 00:00:36.679 owners and how to stand out despite the fact 00:00:36.679 --> 00:00:39.799 that you're doing a really good job. You know 00:00:39.799 --> 00:00:43.380 that you have a product or service that works, 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:45.880 people want it, but you've just got to take that 00:00:45.880 --> 00:00:49.200 next step in getting out and networking. And 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:51.679 I know networking is not everyone's favorite 00:00:51.679 --> 00:00:55.259 thing to do. Certainly, I used to view it as 00:00:55.259 --> 00:00:58.380 going to one of those lunches and sit down, share 00:00:58.380 --> 00:01:00.679 what you do. And I mean, that is what you can 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:03.240 do. But I think there's different ways that you 00:01:03.240 --> 00:01:05.659 can do it and get your name out and about. And 00:01:05.659 --> 00:01:08.819 it's just small things that come back to who 00:01:08.819 --> 00:01:11.799 you are as a person and getting out about and 00:01:11.799 --> 00:01:15.819 getting some grit, basically. But Ian, how do 00:01:15.819 --> 00:01:18.719 you reckon you without getting into gimmicks? 00:01:18.989 --> 00:01:21.290 How do you reckon you'd stand out within your 00:01:21.290 --> 00:01:25.209 industry or business? Oh, without gimmicks. Yeah. 00:01:25.290 --> 00:01:27.670 Yeah. Because you can pay people to like you. 00:01:27.989 --> 00:01:31.069 Just took a little fun clean out of that. Well, 00:01:31.170 --> 00:01:32.750 you're either networking or you're not working, 00:01:32.849 --> 00:01:38.609 was the old saying for us, old types. See? He 00:01:38.609 --> 00:01:43.859 didn't say that. No, not on microphone. Yeah, 00:01:44.040 --> 00:01:47.299 you talk to people. A lot of people I talk to 00:01:47.299 --> 00:01:49.219 when you come up with strategies for getting 00:01:49.219 --> 00:01:52.620 your business out there. A big popular one was 00:01:52.620 --> 00:01:55.519 social media a few years ago. X amount of posts 00:01:55.519 --> 00:01:58.780 per day. Ra, ra, ra, get it out there. And people 00:01:58.780 --> 00:02:00.219 would say, I don't want to bother people with 00:02:00.219 --> 00:02:03.060 that many posts. Well, you don't believe in your 00:02:03.060 --> 00:02:05.799 business. If you've got something you truly believe 00:02:05.799 --> 00:02:08.680 in, you'd want everyone to know about it. So 00:02:08.680 --> 00:02:11.199 maybe look in the mirror and go, do I believe 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:14.520 in what I'm doing? If so, tell everyone about 00:02:14.520 --> 00:02:18.500 it. No one's going to blow your horn for you. 00:02:19.020 --> 00:02:22.979 Exactly. Might have been Branson, getting me 00:02:22.979 --> 00:02:24.879 nearly said something like you could have the 00:02:24.879 --> 00:02:26.939 best product in the world, but if no one knows 00:02:26.939 --> 00:02:29.819 about it, you're going to be broke. It's true. 00:02:30.659 --> 00:02:34.400 I think social media is okay, but when we're 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:38.770 talking about getting Like you can post on social 00:02:38.770 --> 00:02:40.849 media and have like 200 views. No one really 00:02:40.849 --> 00:02:43.090 knows about it. So what are you doing to take 00:02:43.090 --> 00:02:47.110 that step from that to slowly developing your 00:02:47.110 --> 00:02:49.409 network over time? Cause I know unless something 00:02:49.409 --> 00:02:54.129 goes viral, you're not going to be that popular 00:02:54.129 --> 00:02:56.469 that quickly. Well, social media is definitely 00:02:56.469 --> 00:02:59.289 not your starting point. No, definitely not. 00:02:59.310 --> 00:03:02.150 So I'm thinking about something you can consistently 00:03:02.150 --> 00:03:06.330 do authentically. For example, thinking about 00:03:06.330 --> 00:03:09.150 a coffee shop, if you're the owner of that coffee 00:03:09.150 --> 00:03:11.310 shop, you could be simply providing the person 00:03:11.310 --> 00:03:14.270 with the coffee. But if you're creating a relationship 00:03:14.270 --> 00:03:16.090 with the people that come through your door every 00:03:16.090 --> 00:03:17.810 single time, and you start remembering their 00:03:17.810 --> 00:03:19.689 name, and then you start remembering their order, 00:03:19.729 --> 00:03:22.169 and then you start to get to know what they're 00:03:22.169 --> 00:03:26.449 doing that week, that effort - Huge. Will be 00:03:26.449 --> 00:03:27.990 so much more valuable than a social - It can 00:03:27.990 --> 00:03:30.789 be part of your daily routine. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. 00:03:31.330 --> 00:03:34.120 If they're - going into their coffee shop with 00:03:34.120 --> 00:03:36.379 their friend and then you get to know the friend's 00:03:36.379 --> 00:03:39.840 name and then that's how you can authentically 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:40.960 grow that. It's a completely different way of 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:42.979 looking at there, isn't it? So you have a coffee 00:03:42.979 --> 00:03:44.939 shop, make good coffee, let everyone know all 00:03:44.939 --> 00:03:46.759 those standard sort of things, good milk, good 00:03:46.759 --> 00:03:50.460 this, good that. Really what we're saying there 00:03:50.460 --> 00:03:52.520 is it's more important to become part of the 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:55.319 daily routine than have a good coffee. Well, 00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:57.180 who are they thinking of when they think of coffee? 00:03:58.099 --> 00:04:00.539 Your brand. So if they're thinking, I've got 00:04:00.539 --> 00:04:03.210 to go get a coffee. I know where I'm going for 00:04:03.210 --> 00:04:06.689 my coffee. Uh, it's the same place. We've talked 00:04:06.689 --> 00:04:08.069 about it in previous podcasts. They've got a 00:04:08.069 --> 00:04:09.949 little reward card, every, it's not so much even 00:04:09.949 --> 00:04:11.509 that it's not to get coffee. It's I've got to 00:04:11.509 --> 00:04:14.050 go to so and so. Yeah. So if I think of hardware, 00:04:14.050 --> 00:04:18.029 I think of a multinational chain here in Australia, 00:04:18.790 --> 00:04:20.649 that's kind of, I'm going to pop down there. 00:04:20.649 --> 00:04:22.110 Cause I know they're going to be the best prices 00:04:22.110 --> 00:04:25.129 guaranteed. If I'm thinking of fast food, you're 00:04:25.129 --> 00:04:26.350 probably going to think of the golden archers. 00:04:26.389 --> 00:04:28.250 If I'm thinking of this and that hasn't happened 00:04:28.250 --> 00:04:30.449 by accident, that's happened deliberately over 00:04:30.449 --> 00:04:34.980 time with Very, very intelligent and expensive 00:04:34.980 --> 00:04:37.339 branding and marketing strategies. And very good 00:04:37.339 --> 00:04:41.279 cheeseburgers. Apparently. Yes. My son likes 00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:45.819 the cheeseburgers. And disagree. One of us is 00:04:45.819 --> 00:04:53.000 healthy here. So yeah, we're, you just need to 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.180 know that you don't. It's hard because in the 00:04:56.180 --> 00:04:57.980 same sense, I'm literally reading a book right 00:04:57.980 --> 00:05:00.139 now that talks about mass marketing as opposed 00:05:00.139 --> 00:05:02.860 to target marketing. And it's not a right now 00:05:02.860 --> 00:05:07.480 as we speak, but it talks about how target marketing 00:05:07.480 --> 00:05:12.000 probably isn't as effective as what, um, it's 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:14.420 made out to be. I mean, in every marketing textbook, 00:05:14.420 --> 00:05:16.600 you, you read that you need to have a target 00:05:16.600 --> 00:05:19.339 market. You need to. I think any book though, 00:05:19.420 --> 00:05:21.920 it's got a. disprove or discredit the other things 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:23.420 because that's why you're buying that. That's 00:05:23.420 --> 00:05:24.920 what you're selling. Take it with a grain of 00:05:24.920 --> 00:05:29.740 salt. Yeah, 100%. But when I say this, yeah, 00:05:29.800 --> 00:05:32.139 I'm a bit torn because I'm yet to come to my 00:05:32.139 --> 00:05:36.240 conclusion about where I sit with that. But you 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:40.439 can be known and you can be famous, but I don't 00:05:40.439 --> 00:05:43.300 think that's necessarily going to help your business 00:05:43.300 --> 00:05:45.879 in the sense that it's not about being everywhere. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:49.199 It's being known by the right people. Fundamentally. 00:05:50.409 --> 00:05:56.149 nothing's changed in 50 years. Be seen. What 00:05:56.149 --> 00:05:58.910 we're doing right now in marketing and advertising 00:05:58.910 --> 00:06:01.569 hasn't changed. It's just that the method of 00:06:01.569 --> 00:06:03.870 delivering that information has changed. But 00:06:03.870 --> 00:06:05.629 you're still trying to get your message in front 00:06:05.629 --> 00:06:08.689 of as many eyeballs as you can and have them 00:06:08.689 --> 00:06:11.310 receive that message in a way that says, oh yeah, 00:06:11.310 --> 00:06:14.189 I can connect with them. That's who I want to 00:06:14.189 --> 00:06:17.290 buy from. All the new books that have come out 00:06:17.290 --> 00:06:19.899 over the last 20 years, are all saying the same 00:06:19.899 --> 00:06:21.740 thing just in a different way so that they can 00:06:21.740 --> 00:06:24.699 sell books. The fundamentals haven't changed 00:06:24.699 --> 00:06:27.639 since Procter and Gamble first opened their doors. 00:06:28.819 --> 00:06:33.959 Yeah. Yes. But then, so why would, well, again, 00:06:34.220 --> 00:06:36.819 that's the social media side of things. And I'm 00:06:36.819 --> 00:06:40.240 trying to move away from just social media being 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:43.899 your mode or method of networking. How do you 00:06:43.899 --> 00:06:48.329 do? What do you do for the recognition? You reverse 00:06:48.329 --> 00:06:51.750 engineer the numbers really. So if you're going, 00:06:51.889 --> 00:06:54.389 well, if we need a hundred clients, like how 00:06:54.389 --> 00:06:57.129 many proposals do we need to send? Or how many 00:06:57.129 --> 00:06:59.230 people do we need to go to our store, for example? 00:06:59.269 --> 00:07:01.310 What's your rate? And then, okay, to get those, 00:07:01.569 --> 00:07:03.569 how many times do we need to be in front of people? 00:07:05.089 --> 00:07:06.870 If we're in front of people, how many of those 00:07:06.870 --> 00:07:09.870 are going to convert? So like, for example, if 00:07:09.870 --> 00:07:12.029 it's targeted, you'd probably expect more people 00:07:12.029 --> 00:07:14.569 that you get in front of to convert into proposal 00:07:14.569 --> 00:07:17.509 or an opportunity. Whereas if it's mass marketing, 00:07:18.149 --> 00:07:20.269 it's no right or wrongs, right? You expect to 00:07:20.269 --> 00:07:22.370 be in front of more eyes to get the same. So, 00:07:22.470 --> 00:07:24.089 okay, what are the conversion rates at all those 00:07:24.089 --> 00:07:26.449 different stages? And then you go, okay, well, 00:07:26.449 --> 00:07:28.870 what's going to be the most cost -effective or 00:07:28.870 --> 00:07:33.310 what's going to be the best result overall? But 00:07:33.310 --> 00:07:35.509 work it out backwards. So there's no right or 00:07:35.509 --> 00:07:37.189 wrong with which way you do it, but you fundamentally 00:07:37.189 --> 00:07:44.000 need X number of clients. Not just social media. 00:07:44.120 --> 00:07:46.639 I mean social media is one tiny little arm of 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:49.860 your overall branding advertising marketing strategy 00:07:49.860 --> 00:07:53.459 Sometimes it's knocking on the door Sometimes 00:07:53.459 --> 00:07:55.899 it's you've got a happy customer. Here's a referral 00:07:55.899 --> 00:07:59.279 program Sometimes it's a good old -fashioned 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:01.639 billboard which gets a million people driving 00:08:01.639 --> 00:08:05.459 past it every day Yeah, I would probably break 00:08:05.459 --> 00:08:07.500 it down even further in the sense that you've 00:08:07.500 --> 00:08:11.350 got a Break it. You've got a no who you are and 00:08:11.350 --> 00:08:14.310 what you want to do and then, and what you want 00:08:14.310 --> 00:08:19.569 to be known for. And then align that as a small 00:08:19.569 --> 00:08:21.990 business. I know. I mean, we do. And we have 00:08:21.990 --> 00:08:24.149 talked about in previous podcast episodes about 00:08:24.149 --> 00:08:26.230 not becoming a business because that becomes 00:08:26.230 --> 00:08:29.389 quite overwhelming. But I do think it is easy. 00:08:29.970 --> 00:08:34.389 Uh, easier in the sense that you. Your your business 00:08:34.389 --> 00:08:38.389 takes on your behavior and branding of who you 00:08:38.389 --> 00:08:41.309 are as a person if you're a very professional 00:08:41.309 --> 00:08:44.090 Individual straight down the line very dry sense 00:08:44.090 --> 00:08:46.289 of humor. It's gonna be really difficult for 00:08:46.289 --> 00:08:49.309 you to have a small business that is Loose and 00:08:49.309 --> 00:08:52.250 fun. Yeah, exactly. And so if you align those 00:08:52.250 --> 00:08:54.190 two then that's everything you do is going to 00:08:54.190 --> 00:08:57.169 be a lot easier and people are going to perceive 00:08:57.169 --> 00:08:59.029 you with the business and you're going to be 00:08:59.029 --> 00:09:01.490 able to grow that network instead of walking 00:09:01.490 --> 00:09:04.370 through a door and trying to put on this attitude 00:09:04.370 --> 00:09:06.730 that you don't naturally have. One time it's 00:09:06.730 --> 00:09:10.309 going to break, but you need, you need to know 00:09:10.309 --> 00:09:13.509 how you're going to be able to do that. And then 00:09:13.509 --> 00:09:17.350 basically build trust with people. So what's 00:09:17.350 --> 00:09:20.029 trust building exercises? I guess circling back 00:09:20.029 --> 00:09:22.149 around a bit more to the point of the episode 00:09:22.149 --> 00:09:26.679 though, too. detailed how you standing out as 00:09:26.679 --> 00:09:28.980 a business. Like that's what we're talking about. 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:30.779 So you've got a, you've got a small business, 00:09:31.019 --> 00:09:32.539 you've got fundamentally, you're doing the same 00:09:32.539 --> 00:09:34.980 thing as other people. Not too many small businesses 00:09:34.980 --> 00:09:37.139 are completely unique as far as they've got a 00:09:37.139 --> 00:09:38.940 different product or a different service or, 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:41.720 you know, new invention. Most of the time we're, 00:09:41.720 --> 00:09:43.820 we're doing the same thing other people are doing 00:09:43.820 --> 00:09:46.799 for roughly the same price in the same area in 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:49.980 the same way. You know, how are we standing out? 00:09:50.019 --> 00:09:51.299 So we're talking about all the different ways 00:09:51.299 --> 00:09:53.919 to. to see the people, but how are we standing 00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:57.279 out to them? That's the interesting bit here. 00:09:57.539 --> 00:10:00.179 I think it's the branding. The thing on trust, 00:10:00.539 --> 00:10:02.360 well, just circle back to what you said there. 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:04.860 The easiest way to build trust is to do what 00:10:04.860 --> 00:10:06.379 you say you will do when you say you will do 00:10:06.379 --> 00:10:11.899 it. And everyone can do that. Don't over promise 00:10:11.899 --> 00:10:16.779 and under deliver. Flip that script under promise 00:10:16.779 --> 00:10:20.299 and then over deliver and have people go, wow. 00:10:21.259 --> 00:10:24.200 I paid X amount of dollars and I got two X worth 00:10:24.200 --> 00:10:27.320 of value. That was incredible. I'm going to tell 00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:32.019 people about that. Definitely one way. It's pretty 00:10:32.019 --> 00:10:35.000 simple. And it doesn't have to cost you time 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:37.159 and it doesn't have to cost you money. And I 00:10:37.159 --> 00:10:41.960 found it doesn't have to be huge to make people 00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:44.299 go wow, because there are a lot of people who 00:10:44.299 --> 00:10:47.960 start a small business and get busy and can't 00:10:47.960 --> 00:10:50.659 do the simple thing of doing what they say they 00:10:50.659 --> 00:10:52.559 will do. When they'll do it, if you can come 00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:55.080 into any space, whether it's coffee, whether 00:10:55.080 --> 00:10:57.620 it's fast food, whatever it is. And that person 00:10:57.620 --> 00:11:00.279 walks out of your premises or your online store 00:11:00.279 --> 00:11:02.899 or wherever you're selling and says, that was 00:11:02.899 --> 00:11:07.220 an awesome transaction. I'll do that again. You've 00:11:07.220 --> 00:11:09.600 you're one step forwards to winning the battle. 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:11.720 And then a few more of them. Now you've got a 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:14.039 marketing budget because you've got some profit. 00:11:15.320 --> 00:11:18.100 It's interesting. I see it differently in like 00:11:18.100 --> 00:11:23.659 the way to comment. Yeah. I just, I, you're talking 00:11:23.659 --> 00:11:26.220 about the business working and proving itself 00:11:26.220 --> 00:11:28.100 and that sort of thing. But you talk about a 00:11:28.100 --> 00:11:33.639 one man band. I'm, I'm thinking on the side of 00:11:33.639 --> 00:11:37.159 how did they then. build their network in order 00:11:37.159 --> 00:11:39.200 to support their business. Their business is 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:41.580 running and the results are speaking for themselves, 00:11:41.659 --> 00:11:43.340 but then how do you draw more people? So you're 00:11:43.340 --> 00:11:44.980 saying, assuming we're doing what we're saying 00:11:44.980 --> 00:11:46.320 we're going to do, we've got that up and running, 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:48.679 how do we draw more people into it? Yeah. And 00:11:48.679 --> 00:11:52.659 so I'm thinking more along the lines of getting 00:11:52.659 --> 00:11:56.909 out and doing things in the sense that let's 00:11:56.909 --> 00:12:03.029 just say I have a sewing business and I need 00:12:03.029 --> 00:12:05.789 to get to know people. And what I'll do is I'll 00:12:05.789 --> 00:12:08.730 go and join sewing groups because that's where 00:12:08.730 --> 00:12:11.830 the people are that I need to talk to. And I 00:12:11.830 --> 00:12:14.549 think that's a way better way of approaching 00:12:14.549 --> 00:12:16.929 people and networking because you're not sitting 00:12:16.929 --> 00:12:21.789 in this manufactured environment where you're 00:12:21.789 --> 00:12:24.129 doing a networking lunch and everyone feels really 00:12:24.129 --> 00:12:28.480 awkward. You're sitting, chatting, doing something 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:31.000 that everyone loves and you've got the opportunity 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:36.000 to meet 15 people and have a good conversation 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:37.879 with every single one of them. It doesn't mean 00:12:37.879 --> 00:12:39.659 they're necessarily going to turn into customers 00:12:39.659 --> 00:12:41.820 the next day, but if you have that touch point 00:12:41.820 --> 00:12:45.120 every single week, I think that's a better networking 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:51.000 approach. Yeah, exactly. And so I think those 00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:53.080 are the activities you should be doing instead 00:12:53.080 --> 00:12:55.309 of. Cause everyone says you need to go out and 00:12:55.309 --> 00:12:59.429 network. Well, personally, I don't see that as 00:12:59.429 --> 00:13:00.789 a nice word. You need to be, you need to be well 00:13:00.789 --> 00:13:03.750 known. So going back before, if we back calculate 00:13:03.750 --> 00:13:06.509 things that you can, depends on what you're doing 00:13:06.509 --> 00:13:08.629 to how many people need to know you. Do you need 00:13:08.629 --> 00:13:11.090 to be famous like Michael Jordan to do the numbers, 00:13:11.230 --> 00:13:14.389 to sell the shoes? Or do you need to be less 00:13:14.389 --> 00:13:16.970 famous, but more direct in your little group 00:13:16.970 --> 00:13:21.029 approach? Jordan's a good example. Cause he. 00:13:22.009 --> 00:13:23.990 went with the shoe company that he didn't want 00:13:23.990 --> 00:13:31.190 to go with based on their sales pitch. He wanted 00:13:31.190 --> 00:13:35.210 Converse and Nike come to him and said, we want 00:13:35.210 --> 00:13:38.830 to build the entire brand around you before you've 00:13:38.830 --> 00:13:41.049 won an MVP, before you've won Rookie of the Year. 00:13:41.450 --> 00:13:46.149 They believed in him and look at that now. I 00:13:46.149 --> 00:13:49.110 don't expect you to be a Michael Jordan. I like 00:13:49.110 --> 00:13:51.389 what you said with going to networking groups. 00:13:52.339 --> 00:13:56.179 and specific niche groups. But also don't forget 00:13:56.179 --> 00:13:58.340 that you are always networking as a business 00:13:58.340 --> 00:14:00.940 owner. So everyone you talk to, you meet new 00:14:00.940 --> 00:14:03.659 people out on the street or you play sport. You 00:14:03.659 --> 00:14:05.659 play sport, I play sport, Rowan plays sport. 00:14:06.980 --> 00:14:09.039 You meet new people having a beer after a game 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:12.840 or a soft drink or whatever. And one of the first 00:14:12.840 --> 00:14:14.960 questions people ever ask you is, oh, what do 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:18.120 you do? Be proud about that. Be proud of what 00:14:18.120 --> 00:14:21.100 you do and say, I run probably the best business 00:14:21.100 --> 00:14:23.690 in the world. And they're going to ask you a 00:14:23.690 --> 00:14:26.110 question like who, who the hell has a small business 00:14:26.110 --> 00:14:30.129 owner sits here and goes, I love my job, especially 00:14:30.129 --> 00:14:32.090 when you are trying to grow. It's, it's, it's 00:14:32.090 --> 00:14:35.649 hard. If you can put that, I guess it's a persona 00:14:35.649 --> 00:14:37.889 on if, if you don't truly believe it yourself, 00:14:38.070 --> 00:14:41.750 maybe find a way to believe it, but be enthusiastic 00:14:41.750 --> 00:14:44.750 passion sells. Even if you're in a sewing group 00:14:44.750 --> 00:14:48.610 once a week, your passion and enthusiasm for 00:14:48.610 --> 00:14:50.230 your business is going to make people go, I want 00:14:50.230 --> 00:14:54.500 to be a part of that. That makes sense. That's 00:14:54.500 --> 00:14:58.480 exactly why I said earlier about being authentic. 00:14:58.620 --> 00:15:01.799 It's just easier if you are. You love what you 00:15:01.799 --> 00:15:05.059 do. And your business, because it's going to 00:15:05.059 --> 00:15:08.539 show when, when you're doing your sport and you're 00:15:08.539 --> 00:15:11.960 feeling most doing whatever you, it is that you 00:15:11.960 --> 00:15:14.620 want to be doing, you are representing your business. 00:15:14.860 --> 00:15:17.000 And so it's just easy if you don't have to pretend 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:22.340 all the time. So talking about, um, those things. 00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:24.460 And then I'm thinking about the similarities 00:15:24.460 --> 00:15:28.159 between the different strategies, I guess we're 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:30.379 talking about or ways about going about things. 00:15:31.019 --> 00:15:33.480 Um, but fundamentally, fundamentally we're talking 00:15:33.480 --> 00:15:36.299 about coming back to word of mouth. Um, so whether 00:15:36.299 --> 00:15:38.600 we're talking to thousands of people, whether 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:40.639 we're talking to two or whether they're clients 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:43.539 or not, we're saying we need to generate word 00:15:43.539 --> 00:15:45.320 of mouth. So that might be us blowing our own 00:15:45.320 --> 00:15:48.259 horn. Um, there might be us being confident and 00:15:48.259 --> 00:15:51.639 might be us being not whatever it is. Um, but 00:15:51.639 --> 00:15:54.639 I was listening to a podcast from Alan Weiss, 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:58.720 um, a few days ago, but I actually heard it 10 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:01.159 years ago, which was interesting. Uh, it's good 00:16:01.159 --> 00:16:03.840 to see that we can reuse content or write that 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:05.720 one down. Um, but he was talking about one of 00:16:05.720 --> 00:16:07.480 his old clients from back in the day, which was 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:10.919 Northern America, Mercedes. And at the time, 00:16:11.159 --> 00:16:14.159 Alexis, um, which is the dear version of Toyota 00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:18.240 was, uh, smashing them on service. So the feedback 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:20.799 and reviews for the customer service was far 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:23.860 beyond Mercedes and they wanted to fix that. 00:16:25.860 --> 00:16:29.720 So they got him in to say, look, I want you to 00:16:29.720 --> 00:16:31.679 go around and figure out what Lexus are doing. 00:16:31.820 --> 00:16:35.240 And then we need to implement that in our dealerships. 00:16:36.059 --> 00:16:37.659 So he suggested that maybe that wasn't the best 00:16:37.659 --> 00:16:40.940 thing to do. um he knew the Mercedes had some 00:16:40.940 --> 00:16:42.960 things that reverse engineer the cars with the 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:44.860 problems try to you know continue improvement 00:16:44.860 --> 00:16:46.899 whereas Lexus weren't doing that they were fixing 00:16:46.899 --> 00:16:52.379 the problems um and he he um said well hang on 00:16:52.379 --> 00:16:54.960 let's not look at Lexus let's look at your best 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:58.639 dealerships so they said oh okay no worries and 00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:02.100 it turned out the the best customer service the 00:17:02.100 --> 00:17:04.720 best service dealership in the countries for 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:06.759 we're all Mercedes dealerships So they weren't 00:17:06.759 --> 00:17:08.440 actually Lexus. Their overall was Lexus, but 00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:11.039 the best ones were Mercedes. And the best one 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:13.740 was in Rhode Island where he lived. So he went 00:17:13.740 --> 00:17:16.200 down there and he knew the dealer, bought a car 00:17:16.200 --> 00:17:18.400 from them previously. And he said, oh, what's 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:20.640 happening? Why is your service so good? He said, 00:17:20.660 --> 00:17:24.279 we have problems. Something that's, that's an 00:17:24.279 --> 00:17:26.200 interesting one. Listen to that and see yourself. 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:27.799 What do you mean? You've got problems with customer 00:17:27.799 --> 00:17:29.480 service and problems here. We have problems. 00:17:29.619 --> 00:17:32.670 Problems are good. So what do you mean? So, okay, 00:17:32.690 --> 00:17:34.849 well, we have a client picks up the new car and 00:17:34.849 --> 00:17:36.269 then three days later and they call us, which 00:17:36.269 --> 00:17:38.130 is reasonably common. And they'll say, we've 00:17:38.130 --> 00:17:41.069 got a scratch and your car's got a scratch. So 00:17:41.069 --> 00:17:42.890 most dealerships would be like, okay, bring it 00:17:42.890 --> 00:17:44.910 in. We can fix it for you and give you a bill 00:17:44.910 --> 00:17:47.029 and whatever. Obviously the clients scratch their 00:17:47.029 --> 00:17:50.869 car within a few days. Now, what we do is we 00:17:50.869 --> 00:17:52.369 say, oh, I'm sorry to hear that. That's terrible. 00:17:52.430 --> 00:17:53.890 I don't know how that's happened. Bring it in 00:17:53.890 --> 00:17:55.250 and we'll give you a loan car and everything. 00:17:55.289 --> 00:17:58.690 We'll get it sorted for you. No charge. And then 00:17:58.690 --> 00:18:02.039 what do you think that client does? Tells a story 00:18:02.039 --> 00:18:04.940 Correct to their friends. So they're saying we 00:18:04.940 --> 00:18:07.299 actually like problems because then we can use 00:18:07.299 --> 00:18:10.940 as an opportunity To fix it and then what does 00:18:10.940 --> 00:18:13.740 that mean for us? and they use another example 00:18:13.740 --> 00:18:17.299 with a hotel and I'm trying to keep the reason 00:18:17.299 --> 00:18:19.619 be short, but it was fundamentally around the 00:18:19.619 --> 00:18:22.339 the room service being when it was bad They would 00:18:22.339 --> 00:18:25.119 replace it and then take off the bill and give 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:27.960 them a bit extra. So it was an expensive hotel 00:18:29.050 --> 00:18:31.690 And that was generating a whole lot of referrals. 00:18:31.730 --> 00:18:33.190 I'd tell everyone and they'd come back because 00:18:33.190 --> 00:18:36.089 they appreciated, they went to such a degree 00:18:36.089 --> 00:18:38.750 to fix the problem. For minimal cost. Yeah. So, 00:18:38.910 --> 00:18:40.549 if your food's terrible, no, we'll bring more. 00:18:40.650 --> 00:18:42.250 We'll do this. We'll take it off your bill. And, 00:18:42.269 --> 00:18:43.630 you know, blah, blah, blah, really went overboard. 00:18:43.730 --> 00:18:45.049 But they meant they told all their friends a 00:18:45.049 --> 00:18:46.650 story. Like, wow, we're at this place and da, 00:18:46.650 --> 00:18:49.450 da, da. But the funny thing was that he referenced 00:18:49.450 --> 00:18:52.789 to the food was always terrible there. And then 00:18:52.789 --> 00:18:55.309 he said to the hotel manager, why don't you make 00:18:55.309 --> 00:18:56.730 more problems? Why don't you serve them problems? 00:18:58.679 --> 00:19:00.519 And you think about it like that. So it's a good 00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:03.059 strategy. Put your best foot forward or under 00:19:03.059 --> 00:19:05.019 promise over deliver. But then it's okay. Well, 00:19:05.019 --> 00:19:06.700 when we actually have a problem that could be, 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:09.799 can we use as an opportunity to turn it into 00:19:09.799 --> 00:19:12.160 something else word of mouth? So going back to 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:13.759 while telling the stories, we're talking about 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:15.680 whether it's a small scale network or a mass 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:19.039 marketing, we need a story for people to tell 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:21.359 and a story for people to share to generate that 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:23.559 word of mouth. And everyone's going to say word 00:19:23.559 --> 00:19:25.799 of mouth is the best thing. and whether you leverage 00:19:25.799 --> 00:19:28.759 that with paid advertising or not. Um, okay. 00:19:28.859 --> 00:19:31.180 Well, as a business doing exactly the same thing 00:19:31.180 --> 00:19:32.859 as everyone else in the same area in the same 00:19:32.859 --> 00:19:36.900 way, well, how can we control a story that's 00:19:36.900 --> 00:19:40.059 something unrelated to what we do? I'm sure I've 00:19:40.059 --> 00:19:42.519 said it on the podcast before, but it's cliche 00:19:42.519 --> 00:19:45.900 as cliche, but facts tell and stories sell. Yeah. 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:49.420 Yep. Um, and I know that most businesses, they 00:19:49.420 --> 00:19:50.740 do a lot of really cool things. They have some 00:19:50.740 --> 00:19:52.039 cool stories, but they don't share that bit. 00:19:52.059 --> 00:19:55.150 They share what they did. Um, Oh, we did this 00:19:55.150 --> 00:19:57.869 really cool install. Um, you know, check out 00:19:57.869 --> 00:20:00.670 what this house looks like. Um, but really what 00:20:00.670 --> 00:20:02.349 the owners are going to say to other people, 00:20:02.569 --> 00:20:04.970 you know, the people that built our house back 00:20:04.970 --> 00:20:07.609 in the day. I don't say, Oh gee, the house was 00:20:07.609 --> 00:20:09.490 so good. And you know, the bill call is amazing. 00:20:09.609 --> 00:20:11.549 I'll be like, Oh yeah, we had the corners fall 00:20:11.549 --> 00:20:13.910 off twice. Once after a year and once after two 00:20:13.910 --> 00:20:15.289 years around the joinery and they came back and 00:20:15.289 --> 00:20:18.769 fixed it. Like that's great. Isn't it? That's 00:20:18.769 --> 00:20:20.569 what got other people to build with them. And 00:20:20.569 --> 00:20:24.180 remember the maths that most people. are gonna 00:20:24.180 --> 00:20:26.299 tell maybe three people if they have a good job 00:20:26.299 --> 00:20:28.480 done, they're gonna tell 10 people if a bad job's 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:30.839 done. Yep. And then we say, well, we don't want 00:20:30.839 --> 00:20:33.059 them to have that bad story to tell, but if they 00:20:33.059 --> 00:20:34.920 do, they're gonna tell the bad story, but they're 00:20:34.920 --> 00:20:36.960 gonna tell what we did to fix it. Exactly. It's 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:38.700 not the problem. Another cliche, it's not the 00:20:38.700 --> 00:20:40.200 mistakes you make, it's how you respond to them. 00:20:40.539 --> 00:20:42.480 Yeah. So the big learning there is when you come 00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:43.900 across a scenario, when you're talking to someone, 00:20:43.960 --> 00:20:45.819 it's how can we leverage this to the future work. 00:20:47.950 --> 00:20:51.410 And that's a interesting way of looking at it 00:20:51.410 --> 00:20:53.490 because you can't really compete against other 00:20:53.490 --> 00:20:55.109 people while other people can't take that from 00:20:55.109 --> 00:21:00.369 you. Yeah. Every story is unique. Yes, it certainly 00:21:00.369 --> 00:21:05.329 like reinforces credibility. And it is interesting, 00:21:05.509 --> 00:21:10.170 especially when you are having those very, what's 00:21:10.170 --> 00:21:13.390 the word for it? Just no, I can't think of the 00:21:13.390 --> 00:21:15.970 word. We'll just leave you hanging. Yeah. Yeah. 00:21:15.970 --> 00:21:19.200 We'll just, we'll pause and. It'll come. We're 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:21.559 just having a very like normal conversation with 00:21:21.559 --> 00:21:25.920 someone. Yeah. And it's yeah, you're just sitting 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:27.559 next to someone having a conversation. You've 00:21:27.559 --> 00:21:29.380 got this story about something that did or didn't 00:21:29.380 --> 00:21:32.839 happen or did happen as a small business owner. 00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:35.000 You're just telling them about, oh, well we had 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:37.220 this happen and this is how we fix it was interesting. 00:21:37.299 --> 00:21:39.180 The person's going to remember that as opposed 00:21:39.180 --> 00:21:42.599 to what your job title is. So that certainly 00:21:42.599 --> 00:21:45.339 helps. You've just got to give yourself the opportunity 00:21:45.339 --> 00:21:49.700 to have those conversations. Um, so what that 00:21:49.700 --> 00:21:53.279 might look like, I mean, local events going and 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:55.799 just having a conversation. You've got to not 00:21:55.799 --> 00:21:57.880 be an introvert. That's for sure. Well, how can 00:21:57.880 --> 00:21:59.480 you be in front of the thing? So, you know, volunteer 00:21:59.480 --> 00:22:01.460 a local event and let's do the, let's do the 00:22:01.460 --> 00:22:02.980 plumbing for the event. Okay. Yeah. Bring all 00:22:02.980 --> 00:22:04.440 the portaloos in, we'll set it all up and you 00:22:04.440 --> 00:22:06.819 just put big signs up, you know, sponsored by 00:22:06.819 --> 00:22:11.440 boom. Yeah. So it's, it's been known. So how 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:14.099 are you going to be known? Get a column in the 00:22:14.099 --> 00:22:16.039 newspaper. That's a bit weird, but you probably 00:22:16.039 --> 00:22:17.640 could do it. There's no journalists these days 00:22:17.640 --> 00:22:20.500 actually writing stories. So just do a press 00:22:20.500 --> 00:22:21.940 release and keep sending it in. You'll probably 00:22:21.940 --> 00:22:24.920 get printed. Especially if you make it easy for 00:22:24.920 --> 00:22:27.259 the pseudo journalists to be able to just print 00:22:27.259 --> 00:22:29.640 it as is. They don't want to actually work for 00:22:29.640 --> 00:22:33.559 their money. So that's even back when journalism 00:22:33.559 --> 00:22:36.000 had a bit of credibility. I'm not slagging off 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:40.240 journalists, I probably am. Ruthless. Yeah. Once 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:42.160 upon a time you needed a very high ATAR score 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:43.960 to become a journalist and now anyone with a 00:22:43.960 --> 00:22:47.559 TikTok account can be a journalist. But if you 00:22:47.559 --> 00:22:49.519 can make it easy for a journalist to look at 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:52.259 that headline and go, I want to read more on 00:22:52.259 --> 00:22:54.299 your press release and then have some actual 00:22:54.299 --> 00:22:56.940 content in there, that's a people interest story 00:22:56.940 --> 00:22:59.329 if ever I've seen one. you're getting printed. 00:22:59.849 --> 00:23:01.509 It's not even about being a good story, it's 00:23:01.509 --> 00:23:03.150 about being in the print and people see it. They 00:23:03.150 --> 00:23:05.089 might not read it, but they'll just sort of remember 00:23:05.089 --> 00:23:07.769 that that was there. And then seven points of 00:23:07.769 --> 00:23:09.769 contact. Yeah, a local business with a sport 00:23:09.769 --> 00:23:13.250 club, they'll approach to hire an excavator to 00:23:13.250 --> 00:23:14.910 help them with a project. And they just said, 00:23:14.910 --> 00:23:17.390 have it, you know, we'll sponsor you guys. So 00:23:17.390 --> 00:23:19.509 that's nice. Probably a lot of businesses do 00:23:19.509 --> 00:23:21.630 that, but they don't tell anyone. So yeah, no 00:23:21.630 --> 00:23:23.190 worries, we'll give it to you. Just give us a 00:23:23.190 --> 00:23:24.509 blast on Facebook that we're supporting you, 00:23:24.569 --> 00:23:26.920 it'd be great. And then that edification coming 00:23:26.920 --> 00:23:29.519 from a third party adds up. Absolutely. Yep. 00:23:29.660 --> 00:23:31.359 But even if it's not blasting out, then all the 00:23:31.359 --> 00:23:32.940 people in the clubs sort of know, oh, we use 00:23:32.940 --> 00:23:34.200 their digger they gave to us. That's great. You 00:23:34.200 --> 00:23:35.579 know, there's 30 people going, oh, that's really 00:23:35.579 --> 00:23:39.400 nice of them. And it adds up. It's again, it's 00:23:39.400 --> 00:23:41.299 not about rate. It's not about this or that, 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:43.180 the other, it's that who do you know the word 00:23:43.180 --> 00:23:45.640 of mouth that's getting that referral? Because 00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:47.880 most people aren't buying based on price or based 00:23:47.880 --> 00:23:49.720 on where they find it or which advertising method. 00:23:50.220 --> 00:23:52.220 Someone they know have told them that that's 00:23:52.190 --> 00:23:54.210 Hey, you should go there. I've just realised 00:23:54.210 --> 00:23:56.869 that my brain works mostly in cliches. It's not 00:23:56.869 --> 00:23:59.829 what you know, it's who you know. Yeah. Everything 00:23:59.829 --> 00:24:02.089 we say, I'm just like, there's a cliche for that. 00:24:02.849 --> 00:24:05.210 Yeah, that's a pretty common saying for a reason. 00:24:05.789 --> 00:24:08.009 Yeah. So, you know, people were worried about 00:24:08.009 --> 00:24:09.569 all these other things, price, product, blah, 00:24:09.670 --> 00:24:11.289 blah, blah. No, it's who you know. So how can 00:24:11.289 --> 00:24:12.970 we get in front of more people, all the right 00:24:12.970 --> 00:24:15.210 people? But again, back calculate. Do I need 00:24:15.210 --> 00:24:18.220 to have everyone in town know me? Yes, no, that's 00:24:18.220 --> 00:24:19.920 one strategy. Do we need the whole country to 00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:22.079 know me? That's one strategy. Do I need 10 people 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:25.480 to know me? That's another strategy. But give 00:24:25.480 --> 00:24:27.740 them a story, give them some things that you 00:24:27.740 --> 00:24:31.799 can deliver, maybe make some problems to fix, 00:24:33.539 --> 00:24:37.180 which is counterintuitive. I had a sales trainer 00:24:37.180 --> 00:24:41.119 many years ago. Classic. sales training, you 00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:42.440 talk about your pitch, you talk about closing, 00:24:42.539 --> 00:24:45.680 you talk about dealing with rejections and objections. 00:24:47.319 --> 00:24:50.180 But one of the things that he put up on the screen 00:24:50.180 --> 00:24:53.460 was the old scene from Glen Gary, Glen Ross, 00:24:54.920 --> 00:24:57.720 one of the Baldwin's, I think, many years ago. 00:24:57.819 --> 00:25:01.259 And it's always be closing. And people think 00:25:01.259 --> 00:25:03.460 that the end of the pitch and then you ask for 00:25:03.460 --> 00:25:06.460 the sale, that's the close. The moment you meet 00:25:06.460 --> 00:25:10.359 the person, you've already started closing. most 00:25:10.359 --> 00:25:12.200 people have decided whether they're going to 00:25:12.200 --> 00:25:15.119 buy from you in the first four seconds, believe 00:25:15.119 --> 00:25:19.680 it or not. It's a gut instinct, it's an Olympic 00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:22.799 brain thing. If you're positive about the way 00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:25.240 you introduce your business to somebody or even 00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:27.559 just talk about your business, people are going 00:25:27.559 --> 00:25:30.640 to pick up on that and they're going to go, if 00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:32.440 he's like that, his staff are probably going 00:25:32.440 --> 00:25:34.779 to be like that and the product's probably going 00:25:34.779 --> 00:25:38.740 to be pretty good. The psychology of sales behind 00:25:38.740 --> 00:25:44.119 it is is irrefutable that the evidence and and 00:25:44.119 --> 00:25:48.119 you watch people like you walk into Harvey Norman 00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:51.059 for instance and you walk in and you start looking 00:25:51.059 --> 00:25:52.700 at couches and you'll have the guy sort of hover 00:25:52.700 --> 00:25:55.400 around for a little bit and then sort of if he's 00:25:55.400 --> 00:25:57.099 a good salesman he'll kind of walk past this 00:25:57.470 --> 00:25:59.269 Oh yeah, I've just got to go do this. Um, you 00:25:59.269 --> 00:26:00.609 guys all right there for a second? I was about 00:26:00.609 --> 00:26:01.829 to say, if he's a good salesman, just come sit 00:26:01.829 --> 00:26:04.930 next to you. Yeah, I would. But generally, Hey 00:26:04.930 --> 00:26:07.109 guys, what are we doing today? Generally, like 00:26:07.109 --> 00:26:09.670 the real good ones will be doing something to 00:26:09.670 --> 00:26:13.009 make it look like they're too busy to, to, well, 00:26:13.009 --> 00:26:14.950 not too busy, but that they just got to finish 00:26:14.950 --> 00:26:16.470 this thing first and then they'll come back to 00:26:16.470 --> 00:26:17.829 you instead of just walking up to you and go, 00:26:17.849 --> 00:26:20.130 Oh, do you need any help with that? Your immediate 00:26:20.130 --> 00:26:22.349 response to do you need any help is no, just 00:26:22.349 --> 00:26:24.930 browsing, just having a look. Whereas if you 00:26:24.930 --> 00:26:27.380 just make yourself available in a moment, as 00:26:27.380 --> 00:26:31.140 a salesman. Now I've got to work for it a little 00:26:31.140 --> 00:26:34.259 bit and that's not the usual, not the usual script 00:26:34.259 --> 00:26:37.640 in one of those department type stores. It's 00:26:37.640 --> 00:26:39.160 kind of like yeah no I'm just browsing I'll come 00:26:39.160 --> 00:26:41.799 and find you when I need you and it just interrupts 00:26:41.799 --> 00:26:46.029 it. It's kind of like a circuit breaker. It's 00:26:46.029 --> 00:26:47.609 hard to be proud of what you do, I suppose, as 00:26:47.609 --> 00:26:49.589 a Harvey Norman salesman. It's hard to have that 00:26:49.589 --> 00:26:54.430 enthusiasm when you can only work weekends. I'm 00:26:54.430 --> 00:26:56.029 not caning the salespeople too much. No, I'm 00:26:56.029 --> 00:26:58.369 not caning the salespeople. It's a difficult 00:26:58.369 --> 00:27:02.190 job because they're on a low retainer and the 00:27:02.190 --> 00:27:05.690 commissions aren't fantastic, but you need to 00:27:05.690 --> 00:27:09.799 sell. I guess if we're talking about the other 00:27:09.799 --> 00:27:11.859 types of businesses or whatever we turn into 00:27:11.859 --> 00:27:14.460 some theory we can actually implement or work 00:27:14.460 --> 00:27:16.779 on aside from when we're talking to a client. 00:27:18.059 --> 00:27:20.599 It's putting some structure or some obstacles. 00:27:20.910 --> 00:27:24.390 in place so you know you've scarcity mindset 00:27:24.390 --> 00:27:26.470 of something curiosity something's limited edition 00:27:26.470 --> 00:27:28.470 there's only so many spots left we know that's 00:27:28.470 --> 00:27:31.490 a bit appealing for urgency but also having some 00:27:31.490 --> 00:27:33.829 standards for who do we work with so oh we've 00:27:33.829 --> 00:27:36.529 got these clients they're really demanding we've 00:27:36.529 --> 00:27:38.390 got to do all these things to do it and it's 00:27:38.390 --> 00:27:40.730 always the same okay well what can we change 00:27:40.730 --> 00:27:43.400 to make it so Instead of them being demanding 00:27:43.400 --> 00:27:45.779 of us, we're demanding of them. Yeah, well, we 00:27:45.779 --> 00:27:48.759 couldn't do that, but you probably can. So this 00:27:48.759 --> 00:27:50.539 is something that most businesses can do, which 00:27:50.539 --> 00:27:53.240 is client selection criteria. So for example, 00:27:53.539 --> 00:27:55.160 we could be a bar and you have to wear shoes 00:27:55.160 --> 00:27:59.500 to come in. Shirt and tie. Yep, correct. No jacket, 00:27:59.660 --> 00:28:01.799 no service. Yep. you can be an accounting firm 00:28:01.799 --> 00:28:03.700 saying if you don't have net assets over a million, 00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:06.759 you can't come in. Sounds pretty ruthless, but 00:28:06.759 --> 00:28:10.339 we can also have standards in return. So I remember 00:28:10.339 --> 00:28:13.039 a firm I used to work at, there was a list of 00:28:13.039 --> 00:28:17.140 10 different things and being reasonably new 00:28:17.140 --> 00:28:20.660 to taking on new... soliciting new clients, I'd 00:28:20.660 --> 00:28:22.279 be like, okay, well, let's go through the client 00:28:22.279 --> 00:28:24.039 selection criteria. I remember when I was inducted, 00:28:24.119 --> 00:28:25.640 I thought that's pretty interesting, you know. 00:28:26.019 --> 00:28:27.660 So we've actually got client selection criteria, 00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:30.200 let's go through it. And, you know, we'll go 00:28:30.200 --> 00:28:31.960 boom, boom, boom. So they must be willing to 00:28:31.960 --> 00:28:33.900 accept advice and keen to, you know, take on 00:28:33.900 --> 00:28:37.400 the world and a few other things. I'm keen to 00:28:37.400 --> 00:28:39.339 have them change their accounting file to be 00:28:39.339 --> 00:28:42.460 on the hosted version of NYB back in the day. 00:28:42.920 --> 00:28:44.279 And people would literally go down and like, 00:28:44.279 --> 00:28:46.000 oh yeah, we'll do that. Yeah, that's fine. Okay, 00:28:46.200 --> 00:28:48.269 we're actually. probably this one, we're not 00:28:48.269 --> 00:28:50.130 quite there yet. And they're like, oh, but we 00:28:50.130 --> 00:28:52.089 want to, you know, that really try to score and 00:28:52.089 --> 00:28:53.730 get it. And then by the time you go through the 00:28:53.730 --> 00:28:56.329 10th one, you're like, you said, um, the theory 00:28:56.329 --> 00:28:59.269 you were referring to before or studies or fact 00:28:59.269 --> 00:29:04.710 check those later, um, was that, uh, they would 00:29:04.710 --> 00:29:06.470 decide whether they're going to buy. And the 00:29:06.470 --> 00:29:07.829 fact that they had to tick themselves off against 00:29:07.829 --> 00:29:09.509 the client selection criteria meant that they 00:29:09.509 --> 00:29:11.829 were pretty much like, Oh, I'm not going to quite 00:29:11.829 --> 00:29:13.509 make it, but I want to make it like, this is 00:29:13.509 --> 00:29:15.470 good. You've got standards. This must mean that 00:29:15.470 --> 00:29:17.839 your quality is good. you've got standards for 00:29:17.839 --> 00:29:19.119 clients, that means you're going to have standards 00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:22.259 for your work. So there's things like that that 00:29:22.259 --> 00:29:24.660 we can introduce, you know, solving the problems, 00:29:24.779 --> 00:29:27.039 having some standards, we can control the conversation, 00:29:27.099 --> 00:29:30.079 how we deal with people to make our business 00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:33.200 different from what the other businesses are 00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:36.359 and have that way forward. So going back to what 00:29:36.359 --> 00:29:37.799 you were saying earlier, like how do we, yeah, 00:29:37.799 --> 00:29:39.480 we're going well, but how do we keep growing? 00:29:39.980 --> 00:29:42.619 We need to differentiate somewhat. We need to 00:29:42.619 --> 00:29:45.289 have some things that are easily... easy to replicate 00:29:45.289 --> 00:29:49.470 or a common story to tell, but that's the client 00:29:49.470 --> 00:29:53.269 service standards. You're almost talking about 00:29:53.269 --> 00:29:57.069 a script there. It's a very prescriptive process 00:29:57.069 --> 00:29:59.730 of having those standards in place and then saying, 00:29:59.869 --> 00:30:02.970 this is my ideal avatar of a customer. Now we've 00:30:02.970 --> 00:30:06.470 got 10 points that these people must or ideally 00:30:06.470 --> 00:30:09.109 will have, and you create that competitive mindset 00:30:09.109 --> 00:30:11.470 within your own clients or potential clients. 00:30:13.679 --> 00:30:15.359 I used to be one of those people that looked 00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:17.539 at scripts for salespeople and go, oh, geez, 00:30:17.539 --> 00:30:19.859 that could never work. But once you take on a 00:30:19.859 --> 00:30:23.559 script and make it your own and have it in your 00:30:23.559 --> 00:30:26.140 back pocket so that it's almost muscle memory, 00:30:26.440 --> 00:30:28.759 that there's certain parts of scripts that you 00:30:28.759 --> 00:30:30.960 can take and make your own when you're talking 00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:34.039 to people about your business, and they definitely 00:30:34.039 --> 00:30:38.539 work. It's just the way to sell your business. 00:30:39.880 --> 00:30:42.059 Networking is great. Building up a relationship 00:30:42.059 --> 00:30:44.119 and having rapport with people is fantastic, 00:30:44.140 --> 00:30:45.880 but at the end of the day, as a small business 00:30:45.880 --> 00:30:49.160 owner, you are a salesman. And you need to have 00:30:49.160 --> 00:30:51.819 a skill set to be able to sell your business 00:30:51.819 --> 00:30:55.519 or the idea of your product to people. So read 00:30:55.519 --> 00:30:58.779 a book, listen to a podcast. I mean, you're listening 00:30:58.779 --> 00:31:00.420 to this podcast right now, so you've taken the 00:31:00.420 --> 00:31:06.000 first step. Educate yourself. So he's got something 00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:12.710 to add here. I don't know. I just, not off the 00:31:12.710 --> 00:31:18.890 mark. I just think if I, when I have conversations 00:31:18.890 --> 00:31:27.170 with people who are potential clients and natural 00:31:27.170 --> 00:31:30.150 conversation, yes, the script is obviously important. 00:31:30.650 --> 00:31:33.950 The client criteria is important because I know. 00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:37.200 Having clients that don't meet that criteria 00:31:37.200 --> 00:31:39.259 does actually make your life more difficult So 00:31:39.259 --> 00:31:41.460 you have to have that and I think you can weed 00:31:41.460 --> 00:31:44.319 that out when you have those conversations But 00:31:44.319 --> 00:31:48.599 it's not at the forefront of my mind when I am 00:31:48.599 --> 00:31:51.920 Having those conversations like because I know 00:31:51.920 --> 00:31:55.059 what I do for work. I have stories to tell I'm 00:31:55.059 --> 00:31:59.779 excited to tell people it's very natural to me 00:31:59.779 --> 00:32:03.680 and and the clients I do get is because I've 00:32:03.680 --> 00:32:06.960 spent months and months and months, chatting 00:32:06.960 --> 00:32:10.259 to them, talking to them, doing the journey with 00:32:10.259 --> 00:32:14.019 them. Um, and then it gets to the point where 00:32:14.019 --> 00:32:18.019 I identify something, for example, your website 00:32:18.019 --> 00:32:20.180 needs improving. Like, did you know that? And 00:32:20.180 --> 00:32:23.500 they're like, oh yeah, far out. I like, I do, 00:32:23.579 --> 00:32:25.720 I does need, it's been on the top of my mind. 00:32:25.740 --> 00:32:28.140 I just haven't, I'm like, well, Hey, like let's 00:32:28.140 --> 00:32:29.980 have a chat. And you've, you've You're done. 00:32:30.500 --> 00:32:34.359 Like, yeah, exactly. And so yes, the client criteria 00:32:34.359 --> 00:32:36.559 is important. Yes, the sales script is important, 00:32:36.559 --> 00:32:42.619 but what I think to me personally is, is those 00:32:42.619 --> 00:32:46.619 relationships and building those. And I think 00:32:46.619 --> 00:32:49.420 that is something I did lack for a long time. 00:32:50.109 --> 00:32:54.210 in growing my own network, I needed to spend 00:32:54.210 --> 00:32:56.690 the time in different groups and getting to know 00:32:56.690 --> 00:33:00.170 people. Um, and it, and it's not a simple, like 00:33:00.170 --> 00:33:05.549 you cannot, in most circumstances expect someone 00:33:05.549 --> 00:33:08.950 to buy immediately. Like, what do you do? I'm 00:33:08.950 --> 00:33:10.869 a business consultant. Oh, a hundred percent. 00:33:11.109 --> 00:33:13.029 I need that. Let's catch up tomorrow and sign 00:33:13.029 --> 00:33:14.650 a proposal the next day. You've got to have some 00:33:14.650 --> 00:33:18.509 renown. Yeah, exactly. And so fake renown. Yeah. 00:33:18.569 --> 00:33:21.380 What if you, um, What if you change your answer 00:33:21.380 --> 00:33:23.579 from I'm a business consultant to I help small 00:33:23.579 --> 00:33:26.579 businesses who earn X amount of dollars create 00:33:26.579 --> 00:33:29.920 10 times that amount? Yeah, 100%. But you still 00:33:29.920 --> 00:33:31.759 need to build the trust. We're looking at something. 00:33:32.039 --> 00:33:33.880 So we're going back to the concept of, you know, 00:33:33.880 --> 00:33:37.200 we need to be known. Okay. And how do we stand 00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:39.240 out differently to other people? So you say your 00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:40.700 consultant, that's going to have conversations. 00:33:40.839 --> 00:33:43.000 We say we do X, Y, Z, and then that's going to 00:33:43.000 --> 00:33:44.460 flag in my head is, okay, well, you've gone to 00:33:44.460 --> 00:33:48.740 all the marketing courses. Then we can look at 00:33:48.740 --> 00:33:50.380 that a different way. So you spend a lot of time 00:33:50.380 --> 00:33:51.880 building a relationship with these people to 00:33:51.880 --> 00:33:54.720 then get one project out of, or, you know, for 00:33:54.720 --> 00:33:57.880 example, I forged some relationships with local 00:33:57.880 --> 00:34:01.079 bankers. Okay, so those bankers get access to 00:34:01.079 --> 00:34:02.920 some information for the clients that they bank 00:34:02.920 --> 00:34:05.039 with, they wouldn't normally get. They can say, 00:34:05.039 --> 00:34:07.059 oh, what'd you do here? You tell them exactly 00:34:07.059 --> 00:34:09.920 what you did. It's not an issue. You can also 00:34:09.920 --> 00:34:11.820 do some work for the clients with them. Those 00:34:11.820 --> 00:34:13.679 joint projects, we're not going to do any work 00:34:13.679 --> 00:34:15.599 for the banker, are we? But are they going to 00:34:15.599 --> 00:34:18.019 refer 10 people? Yeah. And then do we have to 00:34:18.019 --> 00:34:19.659 spend three months building a relationship with 00:34:19.659 --> 00:34:22.440 those people? Nope. Nope. Nope. Correct. They're 00:34:22.440 --> 00:34:25.340 going to roll in. I'm here to talk to you because 00:34:25.340 --> 00:34:26.960 you're this and I'm going to buy straight away. 00:34:28.019 --> 00:34:30.880 So I think we have the description, we have the 00:34:30.880 --> 00:34:32.400 stories and we have the problems. We have all 00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:34.260 those things, but it's not necessarily boom, 00:34:34.260 --> 00:34:36.019 boom, boom. We're building relationships. We're 00:34:36.019 --> 00:34:38.219 being known in the right places to get X amount 00:34:38.219 --> 00:34:41.219 of inquiries coming in. So, you know, the bank 00:34:41.219 --> 00:34:43.920 would be called a center of influence would be 00:34:43.920 --> 00:34:46.000 the theory there. So you don't have to necessarily 00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:47.960 be talking to your clients. It could be networking 00:34:47.960 --> 00:34:49.980 with people who know your clients that you can 00:34:49.980 --> 00:34:52.500 tell the story to. Yeah, exactly. And I think 00:34:52.500 --> 00:34:54.849 that's generally. look at the majority of clients 00:34:54.849 --> 00:34:58.489 we get, but from other clients have said, hey, 00:34:58.710 --> 00:35:00.489 you should be dealing with these guys. It's never 00:35:00.489 --> 00:35:03.030 from, hey, we've worked on you and we do get 00:35:03.030 --> 00:35:05.650 those ones, but they're hard and lower conversion 00:35:05.650 --> 00:35:08.389 rate. But again, how can you get that out there? 00:35:13.099 --> 00:35:16.559 Yeah, it just always goes back to the authenticity. 00:35:16.880 --> 00:35:19.460 You can't, and it is so much easier if you're 00:35:19.460 --> 00:35:22.219 doing things that you enjoy doing. Like networking 00:35:22.219 --> 00:35:24.940 on the golf course is easy to me because I enjoy 00:35:24.940 --> 00:35:32.440 doing it. But you're good at it. Yes. Well, we'll 00:35:32.440 --> 00:35:37.659 see. But it's just in places that is easy because, 00:35:37.679 --> 00:35:39.909 you know, We talk about burnout and those sort 00:35:39.909 --> 00:35:41.789 of things just in the grand scheme of things. 00:35:41.849 --> 00:35:44.429 If you're doing things consistently and it is 00:35:44.429 --> 00:35:48.230 not overnight, it is not effortless. It's not 00:35:48.230 --> 00:35:51.170 linear. You have to put effort in. If you're 00:35:51.170 --> 00:35:53.489 doing something that you're happy, the environment 00:35:53.489 --> 00:35:56.409 you're happy to be in and setting yourself little 00:35:56.409 --> 00:36:01.710 goals, then I think it is better for everyone 00:36:01.710 --> 00:36:04.329 involved. They see the real you. That's where 00:36:04.329 --> 00:36:06.389 trust is built. You're not putting on a weird. 00:36:07.199 --> 00:36:10.940 persona that doesn't feel natural. Your, your 00:36:10.940 --> 00:36:16.099 script for use of a better word is there, but 00:36:16.099 --> 00:36:18.679 it's coming naturally and it's coming through 00:36:18.679 --> 00:36:22.679 stories. You're not just taking a script from 00:36:22.679 --> 00:36:25.579 a book and reading it verbatim. You've, you've 00:36:25.579 --> 00:36:27.659 made it your own is, is kind of my point of the 00:36:27.659 --> 00:36:30.500 whole script, script thing. Cause that's based 00:36:30.500 --> 00:36:34.059 on a lot of psychology. But I think going back 00:36:34.059 --> 00:36:36.610 to again, the original. point of the episode 00:36:36.610 --> 00:36:39.489 was that how can you stand out as a small business? 00:36:39.789 --> 00:36:41.829 You're a small business owner now and things 00:36:41.829 --> 00:36:44.150 are going okay, but now what? How do we grow? 00:36:45.050 --> 00:36:49.170 So we need to have the criteria, we need to have 00:36:49.170 --> 00:36:51.010 the stories, we need to have the problems, we 00:36:51.010 --> 00:36:53.230 need to have something to talk about that other 00:36:53.230 --> 00:36:55.889 people are interested to talk about. Something 00:36:55.889 --> 00:37:00.250 cool. And then from there, we're trying to get 00:37:00.250 --> 00:37:03.559 people to talk about it. That's fundamentally 00:37:03.559 --> 00:37:05.199 what we're talking about here, isn't it? Generate 00:37:05.199 --> 00:37:07.800 word of mouth. What I like was what you said 00:37:07.800 --> 00:37:11.280 earlier, reverse engineering. So look at the 00:37:11.280 --> 00:37:13.159 multi -million dollar businesses around the world. 00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:16.219 They didn't start as multi -million dollar businesses. 00:37:16.380 --> 00:37:20.199 A lot of them, Amazon started in a garage. Microsoft 00:37:20.199 --> 00:37:22.659 started in a garage. One person had an idea. 00:37:23.420 --> 00:37:26.599 How? How did they become what they've become? 00:37:26.980 --> 00:37:29.539 Because if they can do it, you can do it. And 00:37:29.539 --> 00:37:34.519 find out, read, learn. Listen, find out how they 00:37:34.519 --> 00:37:38.260 did it because you can definitely do it. It just 00:37:38.260 --> 00:37:42.960 takes consistency of effort and a little bit 00:37:42.960 --> 00:37:46.400 of know -how. Become uncomfortable. That was 00:37:46.400 --> 00:37:48.920 my next point. It was like you were talking about 00:37:48.920 --> 00:37:50.900 do the things that are easy, which is great. 00:37:51.579 --> 00:37:53.500 You find it easy to talk on a golf course or 00:37:53.500 --> 00:37:56.079 you might find it at the moment sewing in a group, 00:37:57.500 --> 00:37:59.400 getting a thimble on and... threading a needle. 00:37:59.480 --> 00:38:01.199 That was the expert advice from Rowan earlier. 00:38:01.579 --> 00:38:04.019 This is the needle and this is the thread. These 00:38:04.019 --> 00:38:07.159 are the basics. But find that thing that makes 00:38:07.159 --> 00:38:10.340 you uncomfortable as well. Maybe once a week 00:38:10.340 --> 00:38:14.860 to start with, do the cold call. Pick a phone 00:38:14.860 --> 00:38:17.619 number at random and just go, G'day, my name's 00:38:17.619 --> 00:38:20.340 this. This is what I do. I notice you do this. 00:38:20.780 --> 00:38:23.400 Can you tell me about your business? And let 00:38:23.400 --> 00:38:25.840 them talk because everyone's favourite topic 00:38:25.840 --> 00:38:29.920 of conversation is themself. Yeah, even easier, 00:38:30.260 --> 00:38:32.699 I think, because I can't stay in cold calling. 00:38:32.840 --> 00:38:36.619 To me, that feels like picking teeth out. Most 00:38:36.619 --> 00:38:39.320 people. I would go and attend an event, find 00:38:39.320 --> 00:38:42.079 an event that is interesting, is a small group, 00:38:42.199 --> 00:38:45.500 and go join that for one afternoon. That would 00:38:45.500 --> 00:38:47.559 be easier to me than a cold call, personally. 00:38:48.079 --> 00:38:49.760 Other people might find it different. That's 00:38:49.760 --> 00:38:51.960 why I would suggest to you to do a cold call 00:38:51.960 --> 00:38:54.510 and get used to hearing no. No, I see an event 00:38:54.510 --> 00:38:58.409 is hard enough. And I prefer just to wait for 00:38:58.409 --> 00:38:59.610 someone to have a problem that knows someone 00:38:59.610 --> 00:39:01.369 else that I know that they say, you need Rowan. 00:39:01.590 --> 00:39:05.550 Yeah. So, you know, what's that summary? If we, 00:39:05.550 --> 00:39:07.969 if we're wrapping that up, you know, Ian saying, 00:39:08.150 --> 00:39:10.829 Hey, get out there, cold call, talk to people, 00:39:10.949 --> 00:39:12.630 have a story, have a script. Okay. That's one 00:39:12.630 --> 00:39:15.309 way. So you're saying like, go find somewhere 00:39:15.309 --> 00:39:17.960 you're comfortable. plant the seeds, work on 00:39:17.960 --> 00:39:20.300 it, work on it, work on it. And I'm saying, okay, 00:39:20.639 --> 00:39:22.860 I've probably done that for a long time. At times 00:39:22.860 --> 00:39:25.400 I've done what Ian's doing as well. And then 00:39:25.400 --> 00:39:27.500 we've got, I've got a bit more renown with other 00:39:27.500 --> 00:39:29.599 people and I can just sit there and wait for 00:39:29.599 --> 00:39:31.480 it to happen. Cause I know they're going to come, 00:39:32.460 --> 00:39:33.800 they're going to have a problem. They're going 00:39:33.800 --> 00:39:35.139 to be told to come to me, we're going to fix 00:39:35.139 --> 00:39:36.440 it. And they're going to tell their friends as 00:39:36.440 --> 00:39:38.559 well. And I'm already there. Are you about to 00:39:38.559 --> 00:39:40.739 say that the best idea is a mix of everything? 00:39:41.239 --> 00:39:43.019 Well, it doesn't matter how you get there. Yeah, 00:39:43.019 --> 00:39:45.380 exactly. But we need to sow the seeds, generate 00:39:45.380 --> 00:39:47.079 the word of mouth. We need to have stories. It 00:39:47.079 --> 00:39:48.840 doesn't matter how you do it. The fact is you 00:39:48.840 --> 00:39:50.420 need to get people talking about you in a good 00:39:50.420 --> 00:39:53.579 way. Yeah, that's the angle. Yeah. So I think 00:39:53.579 --> 00:39:55.579 we've talked about, hey, it's a different, different 00:39:55.579 --> 00:39:57.539 things and there's no necessarily right and wrong, 00:39:58.019 --> 00:40:00.420 but pick your way. You could be more well known 00:40:00.420 --> 00:40:02.719 for something and make sure that's different 00:40:02.719 --> 00:40:04.599 to your competitors. If you're doing that, you're 00:40:04.599 --> 00:40:07.880 going to have clients. Pretty easy. Pretty spot 00:40:07.880 --> 00:40:11.630 on. Wrapped it up better. Then I have a good, 00:40:11.630 --> 00:40:14.269 well done. Don't be like that. You should, you 00:40:14.269 --> 00:40:17.789 should do the clothes. This has been the business. 00:40:18.170 --> 00:40:19.409 To be honest, I don't actually know the words 00:40:19.409 --> 00:40:24.389 for the clothes. All right. Well on that note, 00:40:24.469 --> 00:40:26.949 I will actually close this up. So have a good 00:40:26.949 --> 00:40:29.190 week. Everyone will chat to you in the next podcast.