In the new Expert Insight Interview, our guest is Crista Grasso, a lean business consultant, and the creator of the ‘Lean Out Method.’ She believes that simplicity and focus are the keys to crafting a superior business. She is going to present her strategy for growing a business that doesn’t result in being overworked and overwhelmed.

In this interview we explore:

• Lean out method
• Targeting the right customers
• Finding the role in the business

Lean Out Method

The goal of this method is to make you smarter and more intentional with your time. It helps accelerate turning visions into reality in a way that avoids burnout. When starting a business, people often try and do as many things as they can, and it quickly gets overwhelming. If you want to grow, you can’t maintain that, and you also don’t want to continuously have to sacrifice other aspects of your life.

The first step in this process is called lean strategic planning. The focus is on getting very clear about your vision and what kind of future you want for yourself, your business, and your customers. Then, take that image and systematically break it down into smaller goals. All your day to day activities should be in support of it.

Who Is Your Ideal Customer?

In the beginning, people tend to take any customer they can get. It can be very dangerous since it can make you stray out of your vision and lose focus. In those early stages of business, every decision you make has to be directionally aligned. Determine whether the specific customer is the one you would want to work within the long run, or is it just a stepping stone to get to your ideal customer. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice the short-term for the long-term. That is how you build sustainable success in your business.

Role In The Business

Play to your strengths, and hire out to your weaknesses. Focusing on the things that are working and the ones you are good at will accelerate your success. Thanks to the gig economy, it is easier than ever to find resources to help you with the tasks that are not your strength. Get clear about the things that are most valuable to your customers and most profitable for the business, and eliminate the rest of them. Your vision will help you to know whether something is right for you. Setting goals in 90 days time block can help you to see if something is right at this moment.

Business is always about the short-term vs. the long-term. Pivots and shifts are sometimes necessary, but it’s about directional alignment. Make a short-term decision that won’t hurt you in the long-term. Make sure that all the things you are working on are bringing you closer to your goal, but also that the goal is realistic.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

How did the digital transformation impact financial services? In this Expert Insight Interview hosted by John Golden, Carter Wilcoxson discusses the digital transformation in estate planning.

This interview discusses:

• The Ever-changing plan
• How to Build Foundation

Ever-changing Plan

Estate is everything you own. Estate planning is basically creating an ever-changing plan for everything you own. There is a 90 and 90 formula. This formula means that 90 percent of your estate plan is done in less than 90 minutes. The other 10 percent is left for the only thing that is constant – a necessary change. Because of the rise in digital transformation, the clients can now make those necessary changes in real-time with the help of advisers they previously made the plan with. The important thing is that estate planning is not a one-person job. The multidisciplinary approach brings the whole team of different disciplines together and helps the advisers not to feel overwhelmed. That way the client is getting the best possible service and experience. Estate planning is not a one-time plan, it is as dynamic as life. Contrary to the traditional way of doing business which requires a bunch of paperwork and thick binders, the technology offers the software to transform the old traditional model to an online platform. So, it is a traditional model done in a new, more efficient, cost-effective digital way. The online network empowers the connectivity between the clients, advisers, and the rest of the team such as for example lawyers, but it keeps the client in control of everything. The online platform which is able to make changes in real-time really takes the pain out of the long paperwork process.

Build Foundation

The process must be done properly by a financial adviser first taking care of the foundational plan. Building a strong foundation at the beginning helps the client to feel that he or she can trust the organization in different specialties as well such as life insurances, annuities, assets, etc. The general assumption people have about financial advisers is that they just want access to people’s money so they can do whatever they want with it. Thus, creating a trustworthy relationship with the client is of the highest importance. There are three components that need to be done for a successful estate planning process. You need to elevate the client experience, create professional contrast, and competitor proof the clients that you want to work with in the future. The point is, not only in the financial services but in other industries as well, that you should not try to sell up all your services to the client right away, but to build trust by doing the foundational work and the rest will come by itself.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

John Golden’s guest for today is Jennifer Seeno Tucker, the real estate industry expert and the author of the ‘Become A Rock Star Real Estate Agent’ book. She will talk about how to establish the right systems that will help you make your business more prosperous and successful.

In this Expert Insight interview, we explore:

• Important factors of the systems
• Personality profiling

Important Factors

When creating a system, it is critical to bring your personality into it and adjust it to your habits and needs. Time management is one of its key elements, but few people know how to do it properly. To have enough time for both your personal life and your job, make a plan for everything, and determine how much time you need for doing each task. For this, it is crucial to understand who you are and how you do your best work. The other influential factor is prospecting in business and real estate itself. Networking with like-minded people who are also entrepreneurs and want to grow and be around other successful people, as well as trying to be a rock star within your community is hugely important on the road to prosperity. It’s not just about networking, but providing value to others so that they start seeing you as a trusted advisor. It takes focusing on building relationships and finding out how you can serve your clients, instead of thinking only about the profit, to see the growth.

Sometimes it is not easy to do multiple things well, so it’s better to concentrate on the ones with whom you are the most confident. For other tasks, the global gig economy allows you to find resources and experts all over the world to help you.

Personality Profiling

Understanding personality profiles are critical for understanding who your client is and how to speak their language. Different people need to be communicated in different ways. It will help you to find out with whom you function the best, but also to better understand yourself. To be truly professionally successful, you need to discover what is your purpose and why you do what you do. In that process, you may find that you actually don’t want to do that job, which is equally valuable.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Schools don’t teach us how to run a business, so most of the entrepreneurs don’t have any prior financial knowledge before launching their careers. Our expert for today is Tracey Bissett, a banker on a mission to redefine the world’s economic future by increasing the financial literacy of entrepreneurs.

In this interview, you can find out more about:

• Biggest entrepreneurial financial mistakes
• Making a business plan
• Proper positioning as a lender

Biggest Entrepreneurial Financial Mistakes

The first one is ignoring the issue, thinking that money is going to take care of itself. The second mistake is hiring a bookkeeper or an accountant, and then never looking at the reports yourself. You can only reach your goals if you understand your numbers. You may hire help, but the responsibility for those numbers is yours. Their job is not to provide financial advice. They only record your transactions as well as you explain your business to them.

Various tools can help you to understand your financial position. For someone who is just starting, there is no need for complicated accounting software, Excel is perfectly fine. When a business starts growing, QuickBooks is an excellent tool for seeing your numbers. Cash flow forecasting is also widely recommended. It’s all about how much money is coming in, what is going out, and timing when it happens.

The Business Plan

People often don’t analyze enough how much it will cost them to deliver a specific service or a product. When it starts impacting cash, they think that increasing sales is the key. However, if it’s done on a losing product or a service, it will only magnify the loss. Appropriate pricing and making sure that you are profitable before the sales process is critical. That is why making the business plan before launching the business or a new product/service is so important.

Especially in service-based industries, entrepreneurs often forget to give value to the time that they are spending to deliver their service, which results in the negative amount per hour that they are earning. There are several stages of calculating the real cost of delivering something. After adding up the costs that go into it and the often overseen additional costs, make sure that you are getting paid. Then, think about the reasonable profit you’d like to meet and compare it with the market.

Proper Positioning As A Lender

It is critical to establish credit for your company at the very beginning. Taking a small loan, even if you don’t need it, can be very helpful in establishing a credit history. It’s important to build a strong relationship with your bank, to be transparent and honest with your business plan, but to keep everything professional. You should be able to demonstrate your credibility as a financial manager to them.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

In today’s Expert Insight Interview, the guest is Jarod Spiewak, a lead strategist in ‘Blue Dog Media’ who helps service-based businesses to make more profit. He will discuss tracking sales and ROI for greater lifetime value with host John Golden.

The interview explores:

• Why is tracking important
• Fundamental elements for tracking
• Improving the close rates

The Importance Of Tracking

Small to mid-sized businesses rarely track from click to ROI, usually because the technology isn’t fully understood, and because people have a habit of basing things on a feeling rather than analytical data. When times are good, and business is doing well, this may not be a big issue. However, when crises hit, and companies need to make various budget cuts, it is critical to have full analyses and understanding of which channels are profitable for you. Tracking provides crucial information about what is and what isn’t working for your business.

Fundamental Elements For Tracking

When it comes to online marketing, the basics are already done for you. Google or Facebook Ads give you easy access to tracking things such as clicks, the number of people that went on your website, their activities, and from where did that traffic came. The next level is actual conversion tracking, which is a little more complicated for service-based businesses. Something that many people miss out on is tracking phone calls, which can help you see how many calls you get from a specific channel. The third step is to analyze lead to conversion, and value of the conversion. Every lead should have a lead source. When you track revenue, the critical part is determining how much of it has come in from each service.
In the beginning, a lot of people go for volume and try to get leads from everywhere, so they lose focus. Tracking allows you to see what channels bring you the best ones. There is a fine line between volume and ROI it is just a matter of finding out where you want to be with that.

Improving The Close Rates

People mostly concentrate on attracting leads and improving the ROI of marketing. However, the most critical part is the sales process. Leads don’t mean that much if there isn’t enough conversion into sale. You can identify the roots of those problems through tracking. They can be various, from attracting the wrong groups of people to taking too much time to respond to their inquiries. Investing in improving the skills of the sales team is one of the most efficient ways to increase close rates. Converting the lead has a lot of different stages. Tracking allows you to find in which stage of that process you have a weakness.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

J Massey is the author, speaker, and the podcast host who teaches other people to become better entrepreneurs. In the new Expert Insight Interview, he will talk about starting a short-term rentals business, as well as finding ways to reinvent and upgrade ourselves in the face of the changes the world is going through.

This Expert Insight interview explores:

• The advantages of short-term rentals
• Starting without capital
• Adapting to a new reality

The Advantages Of Short-Term Rentals

We all need a source of income, but that doesn’t necessarily mean having a traditional job. If you are prevented from doing it, it’s time to adapt, get creative, and find new ways to do familiar things. Real estate is a smart choice for getting income without physical work, and short-term rental is just a response to consumer demands. When you look at consumer trends, it is clear that it’s here to stay.
The pandemic is changing consumer behaviors, and that’s where the demand lies. It is a great opportunity for businesses such as Airbnb. People crave new places, but they will feel a lot safer in this type of housing, instead of in big, crowded hotels.

Starting Without Capital

The marketplace never cares about how much money you have, but about the value that you can create. Don’t lead with your need, but with what you can solve. Ask yourself what problem can you solve for someone who has capital. For example, real estate is excellent for solving tax problems. Even if you have resources, you will still need to find out how to use and access other people’s resources.
What is great about this business is that rentals don’t need to be close by, and you don’t even have to see them, but it’s still best to start with something near you. When you are building a system, it takes time to learn how to operate it. From that, it is all about growing. Find a way to have access to the system of somebody who can pull together all the resources you need to deliver the service. The goal is to create your own system that will allow you to add any number of new units without requiring any additional time out of your day to manage it.

Adapting To A New Reality

Job security isn’t something we can rely upon anymore. It is now critical more than ever to invest in yourself and find new ways to improve and grow. During this time, companies will keep only the ones who can produce the most value for them. It is about learning to adapt to new circumstances and accepting the fact that some things are permanently changed.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

How did micromarketing impact the evolution of sales? In this Expert Insight Interview hosted by John Golden, Angela Henderson discusses human to human marketing particularly as it pertains to sales.

This interview discusses:

• Personal Touch
• Opportunities

Personal Touch

Often, due to the high volume of customers and desire to do as much work as possible, the organizations forget to add personal feelings to their customer services. However, people do not like to be treated only as transactions. That is why treating people as humans and investing in customer interaction and experience will go a long way for an organization. Instead of following the traditional sales process, adding the human to human element might be more beneficial. Furthermore, people need to encourage themselves to sell even during recession time. The thought that nobody will spend money in a recession is wrong. People still buy, some buy low ticket items while some see this as a great opportunity to invest. For example, a woman launched a $197 product which helps people to learn how to start a podcast and she earned 300 thousand dollars profit in a month. The product was used mainly by business people who saw an opportunity to invest in a podcast thinking that people will have more time to listen to it during the pandemic lockdowns. Uncertain times call for more creativity, agility, and thinking outside of the box mindset. “Tiny Offer” is a great marketing strategy where customers are offered very low priced items such as seven days Instagram content for only seven dollars, but immediately followed by complementary and more expensive offers such as $17 graphics and $77 Instagram Mastery course for business owners. So, somebody will spend only seven dollars as planned, but somebody will buy these complementary products as well.

Opportunities

There is always opportunity when people choose to look for the opportunity. Organizations need to explore and adapt to the current situation. When the organization remembers that the customers are people whose needs should be served and fulfilled, then the organization is on a great way to become profitable. There is a saying “People will never forget how you made them feel” which applies to the business world as well. Conversations lead to connections, and connections lead to conversions. Thus, creating a personal relationship with the clients is of the highest importance. This is a great time for the business to reflect on its operations. There are no failures and mistakes, rather lessons for the future. Sometimes people are so obsessed with the current unfavorable situation that they forget to look at the bigger picture. And, looking at the bigger picture brings the benefits in the long run.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Our expert for today is Paul Ross, the speaker and the author of ”Subtle Words That Sell”, the book that is offering some new, revolutionary advice and tactics for becoming a better salesperson. In this interview, he speaks about how the world of sales has changed and also gives out some of the secrets from his book.

You can learn more about the concepts of:

• Subconscious languaging
• Implied relationship words
• Decision service technician

Subconscious Languaging

It’s not that traditional sales training is wrong, but prospects nowadays have a different psychology. They are distracted with a limited attention span. Because of it, Ross advises a different approach to selling by using subconscious languaging. It means appealing to the subconscious mind and bypassing the traditional conscious mind that uses facts, data, and figures. The studies have shown that most of our decisions are made on the unconscious level anyways. First, get the unconscious convinced and then present facts, data, and numbers.

Implied Relationship Words

Before you worry about the actions you want your prospect to take, think about what state of consciousness you want them to have. If your client is distracted or overwhelmed, how can you get them in a state of focus where they trust you?

The traditional sales training says that trust is critical, but it’s built over time. However, Ross argues that there is a technique that can help you create an unbreakable trust and rapport with your prospect within the first two minutes of the presentation. You can achieve this by using certain words and expressions that will establish a leader-follower relationship between you and your prospect. It will also take the stress and the tension away from your interaction, and make selling not only more efficient but also more fun.

Decision Service Technician

People want to engage with a salesperson who genuinely enjoys what they are doing. You are never selling the product, but decisions and good feelings about them. If you want to become a better salesperson, stop thinking about yourself as one. Instead, start thinking about yourself as a decision service technician.

Rapport can be overrated, and you may need to break it to make the sale. Once you get it back, you will strengthen it. Sometimes, you have to shock the client out of their objection. Champions of sales can make people like them, but also handle the moments when they don’t. They know how to be confrontational without being rude. The best ones are interested in the sale but invested in their skills. They have a competitive edge, they are insatiably curious, and always striving for more growth, improvement, and learning. In the end, it’s not about sales, but about self-discovery and self-work.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.