Five Things E23: Developing Your Brand with Scott Rutter and Steven David Elliot https://brandascentmedia.com/?page_id=1269 00:02 [Music] 00:06 the truth is adding value will never go 00:08 out of style 00:14 hello and thanks for joining us for 00:16 another five things podcasting here with 00:18 a couple rockstars no pun intended 00:21 stiva David Elliot and Scott rudder 00:23 thanks for joining us this morning guys 00:25 thanks for having us and it great to be 00:27 here and really excited to cover this 00:29 topic today you know a lot of businesses 00:32 fail in the first year and the SBA has 00:35 basically shown that 50% of the 00:37 businesses fail in the first two years 00:39 and there's a lot of reasons for that 00:41 but I can honestly say one of the 00:43 toughest things early on even being a 00:46 sales guy is generating leads so we want 00:49 to talk today about how to generate 00:51 leads in 2020 if you're a small business 00:54 owner if your sales guy your realtor 00:56 your an insurance professional there's a 00:58 lot of different ways to generate leads 01:01 you got to figure out who is a prospect 01:04 and who is a suspect and figure that out 01:06 not waste your time but we've got a 01:09 couple awesome professionals that are 01:11 awesome to doing that so thanks for 01:13 joining us and Scott you're in the 01:16 insurance business that's right you 01:18 talked a little bit about that 01:19 yeah so really really excited obviously 01:20 just transition from banking now to to 01:23 insurance and checked all the boxes for 01:26 me so it's you know working with people 01:28 educating people and just delivering 01:32 high-quality service okay and I know 01:35 Stephen obviously real estate background 01:38 and founder of North Hills networking 01:41 and rockstar and several things so tell 01:45 us a little bit about that in your 01:46 background well I mean I've I've been 01:49 around a long time done a lot of things 01:50 like everyone else here in the room but 01:52 I've always been a people person I care 01:54 about the person before the product I 01:57 care about their needs and their goals 01:59 prior to me selling to them I feel that 02:04 we need to sort of back off from 02:06 necessarily the word leads and start 02:08 talking about meaningful connections 02:10 I've always found by establishing 02:12 meaningful connections and giving a 02:14 value at a preposition to that 02:17 connection the business will follow we 02:20 are actually in an era if we are going 02:22 to use the word 02:23 the first time in my life of unlimited 02:26 leads because of that people will fail 02:31 to develop business because they don't 02:34 value the the people that they're 02:36 meeting unfortunately yeah and there's 02:39 definitely and I think you bring up a 02:41 great point that you you got to go into 02:43 it with the right mindset because people 02:44 can pick up on if you're just a 02:47 commission to them people can definitely 02:50 pick up on that and I think you give off 02:52 a lot of bad vibes when you're thinking 02:54 like that so I'm glad you brought that 02:57 up because that's a real important and 02:59 it's a it's a minor distinction but I 03:01 think it's really important that when 03:03 you're out there trying to add value and 03:04 be a positive to others it's a it's a 03:08 big difference between the guy that's 03:10 out there just looking to write up a 03:11 contract that night well you know we all 03:14 have to eat 03:14 of course but if you're diligent and 03:17 doing some of the processes that we're 03:18 going to share in this conversation the 03:21 business will come to you and you will 03:23 be able to close that business but in 03:26 the interim you have to see yourself as 03:28 a servant if you give give give give 03:31 give give and you know I'm saying a lot 03:33 of gifts are then you deserve to ask 03:35 right then remember you can ask because 03:38 you've earned that right right but to go 03:40 in immediately for an ask is gauche 03:43 inappropriate and will definitely repel 03:46 a potential business I agree hundred 03:48 percent and just kind of a little tip 03:51 from you know I guess from the title 03:54 that I have on LinkedIn for example you 03:56 know will connect with people in this 03:58 and that and the first thing they do is 04:00 to ask so the first message I get from 04:02 that individual is hey I'd love to come 04:05 in and look over your insurance or look 04:07 over this or this and that and I'm 04:09 always like thank you have a great day 04:11 you know because to your point they 04:13 didn't establish any rapport 04:15 they didn't establish it they went right 04:16 for them now I have a sort of different 04:20 look and I flipped that paradigm okay 04:22 because someone who comes into me with a 04:24 ask for anyway I don't care that's 04:26 actually a real opportunity because 04:28 they're going to tell me everything that 04:30 they want in it 04:32 thing that they need and then I can 04:34 listen to them I canna value what 04:36 they're saying and turn it around so I 04:38 can have a quicker ask because then I 04:40 can know whether they're telling me hey 04:43 I don't want to have a date with you I 04:44 don't want to have coffee with you I 04:45 just want to get to the point right then 04:48 I could determine whether if there is 04:50 actually going to be a business 04:51 relationship and we're not going to have 04:53 that six month dating process mmm too 04:56 close to do business okay yeah that's a 04:59 different take on it I said never 05:01 thought of I have spoke with one of my 05:03 clients down to South Florida whose 05:05 client of rock star connect his first 05:07 three months he made over three million 05:09 dollars in commission selling life 05:11 insurance in our program and he makes an 05:15 appointment with every single person 05:17 that comes to is networking about and 05:19 you have to recognize I'm talking about 05:20 an event that you know 50 to 70 people 05:23 come through every month he sets ten 05:25 appointments at the event he knows if 05:27 those ten people that he can set at the 05:29 event they are definitely going to try 05:31 to sell him something mm-hmm well he at 05:34 that point when he has that conversation 05:36 and they're trying to sell he knows how 05:37 hungry they are and he knows what he has 05:39 in his arsenal that'll help them reach 05:42 their goals more quickly is most likely 05:44 their product is going to help them for 05:47 example you sell security systems you 05:51 want to sell me a secure sell me a 05:52 security system I want to put you in my 05:55 referral bank so we've just now had a 05:57 one-on-one you came in right away to 05:59 sell security let me say that's what's 06:01 gonna make me happy 06:02 I don't want hurricanes tickets right I 06:05 don't want to be invited out to the lake 06:06 I want to sell with social security 06:09 systems well that's a very easy want for 06:14 me to satisfy them because I know people 06:16 that want security systems so once I can 06:19 satisfy your wants and your needs you're 06:22 gonna want to reward me in some way you 06:24 see me as an altruistic person who's 06:26 giving you business with no requests for 06:28 return business you're gonna go out of 06:30 your way to get me business mm-hmm I 06:32 could definitely see that and it 06:35 definitely comes back to one of our five 06:36 things which is adding value 06:38 you know you can build up that emotional 06:40 bank account with deposits so I can see 06:43 that point of view for sure what are 06:46 your thoughts on that Scott yes I mean 06:50 there's always about you it's about you 06:52 know meeting the clients needs and then 06:54 you know again peeling back the onion 06:57 and finding additional ways to add value 07:00 so very important always add value 07:04 awesome we read from originally Steven 07:07 I'm from Miami Florida okay and you've 07:10 been on the Raleigh North Carolina area 07:11 that we're in 2006 okay so and it was 07:15 very strategic I didn't have to move to 07:17 Raleigh I just had to move out of Miami 07:19 okay children getting to that age I I 07:22 felt the real estate market was going to 07:25 crash in South Florida I wanted to get 07:26 my equity out I was a good call good 07:28 call 07:28 yeah a very good call right out right 07:30 before the crash yeah and I looked all 07:33 over the United States for opportunity 07:36 area you know as a person who's written 07:38 every paycheck to myself since I'm you 07:40 know 21 and I'm 51 now mm-hmm and 07:43 Raleigh just ticked off all the boxes 07:46 2006 it was really a small pond here 07:49 there weren't a lot of professional 07:52 salesman you had a lot of scientists and 07:55 tech people it was funny when I first 07:57 moved up here people who come up to me 07:59 and say they were an IT and I didn't 08:02 even know what IT was I just thought it 08:03 was a cult you know it but you know this 08:07 is a great area there's a semi 08:11 recession-proof mm-hmm it's a good place 08:13 to sit out a storm and it was a hard 08:16 time for a lot of people between 2008 08:19 and pretty much now ya know I mean we 08:22 weren't in a recession we were in a 08:23 depression right yeah I think Raleigh in 08:26 a lot of ways we didn't feel it like a 08:28 lot of other people did I was dealing 08:30 with a lot of builders back then so I 08:32 definitely felt it but you know at the 08:34 end of the day it probably wasn't 08:35 anywhere near as bad as Miami 08:37 you know yeah we didn't have people 08:39 taking the keys and you know landed 08:40 under the mat sure the bank 08:42 here it wasn't wasn't as bad that's for 08:45 certain 08:47 so you built up your real-estate 08:48 business and then you started North 08:50 Hills networking probably what a decade 08:52 actually it's sort of interesting I 08:53 didn't get into real estate because I 08:55 wanted to be a real estate agent I've 08:56 been a business for myself for many 08:58 years and people ask me how are you able 09:00 to write a check to yourself how are you 09:03 able to create something that no one did 09:04 before and that other people are not 09:07 making money how are you able to do that 09:09 mm-hmm and what I would do in business 09:11 is I would do things for the community 09:16 because whenever I felt I would try to 09:18 promote my own business directly it 09:20 would fail miserably I would waste a lot 09:22 of money print advertising radio TV we 09:26 had phone books back then mm-hmm stuff 09:28 like that but if I did something if I 09:30 did something for the community like an 09:33 art festival or music series or a party 09:36 started farmers markets or people say 09:39 this is a great guy right I guess I 09:42 could reward him by shopping in his 09:43 business or referring him etc and but 09:48 not everybody can do those things 09:50 they're very logistical intense little 09:53 words to be something that I'm good at 09:55 but I did have a networking event that I 09:57 had started here in the Raleigh area in 10:00 2000 I guess 8 mm-hmm or so that I did 10:04 for two years and it was called 10:05 successes contagious and we may get to 10:07 that later in the conversation and this 10:10 was in the recession people were doing 10:12 really badly the shopping center where I 10:14 had my business it was only 15 percent 10:18 occupied it was brand-new my and the 10:20 developers came to me and they said you 10:22 know you're the only one paying your 10:24 rent you're you're not calling and 10:26 complaining about us in any way and 10:28 there's cars coming in people spending 10:30 money with you how are you doing that 10:32 and can you do it for us we're 10:34 developers were not marketing people we 10:36 never intended to hold onto this 10:37 property but it looks like we're gonna 10:39 have it right and I said well you know 10:43 if you give me the latitude to do what I 10:45 want to do here we'll be successful so I 10:48 have them put signs in like that in 10:50 Disneyworld with arrows so you know 10:53 because there's one business here on the 10:54 other one 10:54 ten doors down that way you could find 10:56 other businesses made it look like it 10:58 was packed I started a farmers market a 11:01 music series 11:02 I brought the North Raleigh farmers 11:04 market up to North Raleigh and ran that 11:06 market break by my door and I did this 11:08 networking event and I said you know 11:11 I've been doing what I've been doing at 11:13 that point was in the book business I am 11:15 for book stores I'd done it for 15 years 11:17 I was only working 20 hours a month 11:19 getting a little bored with it it phones 11:21 a little bit small and I went to my 11:25 brother who was a marketing guru in his 11:28 own right in the culinary field and I 11:30 said you know I think if someone had 11:31 their own networking event that was 11:33 consistently done over a period of time 11:35 and they helped other people achieve 11:37 their goals they would be able to write 11:40 a big check for themselves he said I 11:42 don't believe that's true it's 11:44 ridiculous the bad idea 11:46 well we're 22 months apart you've 11:48 siblings I do have some half-brothers 11:51 and half-sisters right so your brothers 11:53 you're pretty competitive with for 11:54 everything and we are like I don't know 11:56 them but thanks for bringing that up I 11:58 hit a rough spot I'm just kidding now 12:00 it's I'm just Joe I mean it's true I 12:01 don't know but it's not that big a deal 12:03 but you know my brother and I'm very 12:04 competitive oh goodness 12:06 imagine and a real estate agent came in 12:09 to one of my businesses the next day and 12:11 asked me for my business it's a kid I 12:14 make referrals to her I said wow I've 12:16 been here 15 years and you're the first 12:19 real estate agent that's ever asked me 12:20 for referrals and I'm a captive audience 12:24 I have a brick-and-mortar store you come 12:25 up to me sure can't run away from you 12:27 you don't need our appointment to see me 12:29 I'm right there she said yeah that's 12:32 what the best way to build your business 12:33 and I said I gave her a brief overview 12:35 of my idea mm-hmm 12:37 that wasn't quite formed and I got a 12:39 call from her the next day and she said 12:41 my broker owner wants to meet with you 12:43 to hear about your idea and I presented 12:46 to him and he opened up a big checkbook 12:48 his big business checkbook and said how 12:50 much would it take to get that started I 12:52 was like well Eureka this is a good idea 12:54 right I don't want to write it off for a 12:56 small check that's actually pilot it so 12:59 I sold my book stores in Florida and in 13:03 North Carolina and I became a real 13:05 estate agent I start 13:06 my own networking about you come and the 13:08 networking and really just killed it 13:10 within a few months I was in the top you 13:13 know 1% of my brokerage for the entire 13:15 country yes I did know other former 13:17 prospecting no paid marketing just a 13:20 networking of that and then I created a 13:23 course to teach people how to do it and 13:25 they said this is a fantastic course I 13:29 can it's very comprehensive I would 13:32 never do this because it's too much work 13:34 mm-hmm I can't believe you do this much 13:37 to put on an event can you do it for me 13:40 and that's what I ended up doing 13:43 creating Rockstar connects that we could 13:45 do basically networking events for a box 13:47 so a busy professional a rockstar could 13:50 just show up and greet create an 13:52 enormous network and audience is I come 13:55 from a sales background and I look at 13:56 network your network to be similar to 13:59 sales you want it's a numbers game in 14:02 sales right more phone calls you can 14:04 answer the more people you can speak to 14:06 the more likely you're going to have 14:08 business it's the same thing with 14:09 networking you're trying to you know 14:11 establish these relationships with 14:13 people do good things for the community 14:15 but you're also trying to create 14:16 business so the bigger your network is 14:18 the more business you'll have the 14:20 problem was in the past we didn't have 14:22 the technology to utilize that larger 14:26 network you couldn't touch on them you 14:28 couldn't clean up with them and in any 14:31 reasonable way you basically had your 14:34 rolodex when you go through each 14:36 scheduling on a calendar now with social 14:39 media you can be touching your audience 14:41 constantly right so in fact my first 14:44 course was called how to develop a 14:48 sphere of thousands from your sofa 14:52 digital media is a tool it's a fantastic 14:55 tool and if you can be putting people 14:57 into that funnel of your social media 14:59 where they can learn to trust you and 15:02 like you and do business with you that's 15:03 a great way to do it and I know we're 15:05 gonna be talking a little bit more about 15:06 social media I'll get into it then sure 15:09 well I'm real quickly just on the rock 15:11 star and success is contagious and 15:13 everything else 15:13 obviously I'm living proof of that so I 15:16 had a fire myself for my job and was 15:18 given multiple opportunities and now 15:20 back in the entrepreneur space well some 15:23 things to the event yeah it's you know 15:25 we're there where the you know for him 15:27 he's a client he also works with us now 15:29 and developing the state of North 15:30 Carolina but were the best employees 15:33 that that our clients will never meet 15:36 because we're just there behind behind 15:39 the scenes booking venues doing the 15:41 marketing video production the follow-up 15:44 and everything associated with an event 15:46 yeah and I'll tell you it's a one a 15:49 saying that I love is you know it's all 15:52 about who you know and it's to me it's 15:55 really not about who you know it's who 15:56 knows you and that's coming back to your 15:59 point that's the relationship it's the 16:01 rapport that you have with people it's 16:03 very interesting that you say that 16:04 because when I first married my wife who 16:06 I happened to meet at one of my 16:07 networking events or at least was 16:09 reintroduced to she went into my home 16:12 and she said what are all these like 16:14 boxes I said those are just filled with 16:16 business cards she said what do you do 16:19 with these business cards so I'm an old 16:20 fashioned salesperson as long as the 16:22 phone is ringing I'm happy so yeah well 16:25 you know I have those are all the people 16:27 that came to my advantage store they 16:29 have a CRM I'm like what's the CRN you 16:32 know old-fashioned we can have a Sierra 16:34 cata rolodex you need business you have 16:36 good friends you're having a bad month 16:38 you dial for dollars at that point she 16:40 said well if you can take this and put 16:41 into a system you have gold and I was 16:44 going on that philosophy I want as many 16:46 people to know me as possible sure I'm 16:48 gonna treat everyone well unless they're 16:50 an evil person sure anyone who asked me 16:53 for a favor I'm gonna fulfill that right 16:56 do whatever you came yeah 16:57 so lots of great content and I have a 17:00 feeling we could talk about this kind of 17:02 stuff for hours you know it'd be easy to 17:03 do but we've unfortunately got a limited 17:06 time here so we'll work our way into the 17:09 you know if we had to break it down into 17:10 five things if you were a business 17:13 person if you're self-employed your 17:15 sales guys sales woman sales 17:19 gender-neutral 17:20 you know this is 2020 coming up so you 17:23 know if you're out there looking for 17:24 or business essentially we kind of broke 17:28 it down into five things that if you get 17:30 really good at these five areas you're 17:32 gonna do really well so we'll jump into 17:35 number one and you were talking about it 17:37 mastering social media Scott what's your 17:40 thoughts on developing business by 17:43 mastering social media what does that 17:45 mean to you yeah I mean it's very 17:46 important to stay relevant and you know 17:49 to keep up with a daily post and just be 17:52 as engaged as you can with your audience 17:54 and you know again give value content 17:57 whether it's a great podcast you listen 17:59 to or you know somebody you know would 18:01 find the event to be attractive or you 18:05 know just straight conversation with 18:06 them and everything so now social media 18:07 is very important to what stay engaged 18:09 yeah for sure yeah I mean with social 18:12 media it's the most amazing tool so when 18:15 previously I have a telephone I'd have a 18:17 phone book I'd have a Rolodex and I go 18:19 dialing for $4 if I can make my phone 18:22 ring or vice versa I prefer the phone to 18:24 ring but if I don't have to I know 18:26 there's major potential out there social 18:29 media I don't have to put my foot in my 18:31 door put the foot in the door of 18:33 someone's house to get it they are 18:35 inviting me into their house they are 18:37 reading what I am posting while they are 18:39 wearing their underwear maybe they're 18:40 not wearing underwear I am in their 18:42 house I see the major events in their 18:45 life I know when they're getting a 18:48 divorce I know when they're getting a 18:49 girlfriend I know when they're having 18:50 children these are all life events that 18:52 are important real estate and any 18:53 business and I have the opportunity to 18:56 it's as if no mentally in my mind when I 19:00 want social media I am physically 19:02 prospecting it's as if I am on the 19:05 street knocking on doors so I will spend 19:08 an hour two hours every day just going 19:12 through the timelines reading what's 19:14 going on in people's life in their 19:16 business and their family and see where 19:19 I can inject myself in to make that 19:21 experience better for them that may be 19:24 you know offering my services or 19:26 connecting them with the people that can 19:28 assist them hmm 19:29 for example this week someone had posted 19:33 on a page about a woman whose home burn 19:35 now 19:36 in Franklinton the person who made the 19:39 post I knew her because she was in my 19:42 program or I list teachers homes for 19:44 free so I reached out to her and I said 19:46 you know publicly and a private message 19:48 reach out to me if you need any 19:50 assistance I spoke with the woman at her 19:53 home damage assess her wants and needs 19:56 connected her with the connection that I 19:58 had at CBS news got her on the news got 20:02 her GoFundMe page going and that initial 20:04 person who made the post did a big THANK 20:06 to me on social media unexpected you 20:09 know it's not certain you can expect 20:11 because you that's not the way it works 20:13 but she thanked me for putting all that 20:15 into motion right well that's fantastic 20:17 for my social media cloud sure so people 20:20 know he can get things done he's going 20:23 to help me achieve my goals and in real 20:25 estate and what we do in Rockstar 20:27 connect that's absolutely essential so 20:31 social media is a tool to save you from 20:35 driving in your car for making phone 20:37 calls from doing direct mail and buying 20:40 radio and TV and all strings we used to 20:43 do yeah and you know I can vouch for you 20:47 personally that you've sent me business 20:49 from being at your events in the past 20:51 and so that's obviously a great way to 20:54 brand yourself and and I think there's a 20:56 distinction here you do those things 20:59 with the right intention in the right 21:01 heart knowing you it's theirs when you 21:05 do it when you do something I guess 21:08 there's a fine balance here when you 21:10 give with the expectation of receiving 21:12 that's not giving that's manipulating 21:14 and you actually give to give and serve 21:18 and the byproduct is the good things 21:21 that come with I think that no one is 21:24 truly altruistic not even mother Teresa 21:26 was truly out for astok she got 21:28 something got something true so for me 21:30 they give in and of itself I've already 21:33 won I have a return on investment 21:34 because I feel really good that I could 21:37 do that right and you know of course 21:38 like everyone else I wanted to be the 21:40 popular kid and turn and well-liked we 21:42 want to be that and you know if you 21:45 become self-aware when you hit your you 21:47 know 30s and 40s 21:49 you realize hey maybe people don't like 21:51 me because I'm a jerk mm-hm and I need 21:53 to tone it down and see what I can do to 21:56 offer to the community to earn their 21:58 respect and and really get them to like 22:00 you for real things and that's 22:02 superficial rice and there's you know 22:05 there is a fine line and I think if if 22:07 you're out there trying to implement 22:09 what we're talking about you're giving 22:11 but you're getting frustrated with that 22:13 person because they didn't come back 22:14 with a post telling you what a great 22:16 year you are that's a mistake that's the 22:18 that's the wrong way I've seen people on 22:20 social media you know coaches he'll say 22:22 well I've never got a return on my 22:26 investment making that referral mm-hmm 22:28 well it's so short-sighted and you know 22:31 people that are networkers and people in 22:33 general and they have a good experience 22:34 they talk about that experience so if 22:37 someone makes a referral to me I thank 22:40 them it may have never created business 22:42 for me but I'm going to talk about them 22:44 to 40 people mm-hmm about what a great 22:46 experience I had getting a referral for 22:48 sure so you're having people that are 22:50 going out there and you and I know that 22:52 you're very interested in brand you're a 22:54 scholar of this and an educator and then 22:56 branding your all those people you're 23:00 helping or becoming your brand 23:01 evangelists they're spreading the word 23:03 about you before you even meet people 23:05 right I guess cheerleaders there are 23:07 your cheerleaders they're your fans I 23:09 mean if you're a rock star you need an 23:11 audience right now that's true and that 23:13 audience is going to propel you you have 23:16 to give a good performance right and 23:17 offer them what they need mm-hmm and I 23:20 started off as a social worker you think 23:22 it's very different from sales it's not 23:24 in social work what you're doing is 23:27 you're assessing all of the best options 23:31 for your client and then you're you're 23:32 limiting it to the ones that are going 23:34 to be best for them and then you're 23:36 assisting them and choosing among those 23:38 options that sounds like a really good 23:40 salesperson to me I 23:42 I mean I in my business I know you do 23:45 this in your business as well they say 23:46 what I have I know you want to buy it 23:48 but what I have is not going to be a 23:51 good fit for you let me make a referral 23:53 to someone else that can solve that 23:55 problem for you mm-hmm yeah I mean 23:58 ultimately you just treat people like 23:59 you want to be treated 24:01 the best you can I mean we're all human 24:02 we're all imperfect but I think when you 24:05 really strive for that and then own it 24:08 if you come up short you know that's all 24:10 we can do yeah back to the social media 24:12 and technology in general I mean this 24:13 cellphone that sit over here on the 24:15 table it's such a powerful tool this is 24:17 your your computer it allows you to be a 24:20 better person it allows you to be a 24:22 better salesperson so when your clients 24:25 reach out to you and they have a concern 24:27 and it's on the weekend you can send 24:29 them a text and calm them down and tell 24:32 them that you're on the job and you're 24:34 looking out for them 24:35 mm-hm or the same thing with you know 24:37 colleagues and associates they have the 24:41 ability to reach out to you without it 24:43 being entirely intrusive in your life 24:44 take advantage of that now I remember I 24:48 used to pay you know for for physical 24:50 stores can you imagine what my phonebook 24:52 phone mills were per month sure I mean 24:54 there were more than my wrap and I was 24:57 paying to have that phone ring so I 24:59 trained all my employees when they 25:00 answer that phone that was a sales call 25:02 it wasn't like someone saying do you 25:04 have this book this is your opportunity 25:05 to get people into the store you need to 25:08 pitch it and sell it now today people 25:11 are calling us and we're not answering 25:13 the phone people are saying I'm not 25:16 getting opportunity what do you think 25:18 that phone put that phone ringing every 25:20 time is an opportunity even if you have 25:22 a client that calls you up that's a 25:24 dissatisfied upset client mmm-hmm you 25:27 have an opportunity to make them a very 25:29 happy client and a referral partner and 25:31 a referral source so I would say you 25:34 know use these tools and get on the 25:36 phone and and and take advantage of the 25:39 fact that this is the best time in 25:40 history to be a salesperson it really is 25:44 and a couple notes I want to throw in 25:45 there is that this this phone that we 25:47 have is more powerful than than the 25:50 thing that you know the computing 25:52 technology that put people on the moon 25:53 it really is it's crazy it's 25:55 transforming the world right that's why 25:57 I'm able to you know have my employees 25:58 overseas in the Philippines and I can do 26:01 business in Europe and in the Middle 26:03 East because of my phone I have 26:05 appliance all over the world I've 26:06 clients at Israel and how 26:08 call and in Europe because they can 26:11 reach out to me they can go on social 26:12 media and get my phone number and call 26:15 me right I can't tell you how many 26:16 professionals I go on their Facebook 26:18 page and their LinkedIn and they don't 26:19 have their phone number there are you 26:22 absolutely nuts because people will only 26:24 make so much of an effort to refer you 26:28 if it becomes a lot of work they have 26:29 work to do themselves so don't be a 26:31 secret agent don't be a secret financial 26:34 service person but if people know that 26:36 you're ready to accept their referrals 26:39 on business thank you have to be 26:40 accessible yeah a hundred percent and 26:42 the internet works 24 hours a day 26:44 mm-hm you know that's the other thing is 26:46 is that you will never be able to have 26:48 work the internet which is why it's 26:50 important to build your brand on the 26:51 Internet 26:52 your business needs to be out there your 26:54 information needs to be out there 26:55 content needs to be out there 26:57 and the last thing I'll touch on with 26:59 that is that the content should benefit 27:01 them you know nobody wants to hear 27:04 somebody that's always you know buy my 27:07 security system by it's the best Baba 27:09 you know you rarely talk about security 27:12 so yeah and there's nothing wrong with 27:13 asking and putting some content out 27:16 there that shows why it's bad I can go 27:18 into any community group in the Triangle 27:21 and I know if someone's gonna ask for a 27:24 security system that they're going to 27:26 mention your name it's guaranteed it's 27:29 it's a lock up but what's even better is 27:32 it's being mentioned by multiple people 27:34 right in those threads you didn't get 27:37 that by pushing it down their throats 27:40 sure to buy a security system those 27:42 people may have never utilized you for a 27:44 security system they don't have one they 27:45 don't want one that being said they want 27:48 to reward Brian for what you've done in 27:50 networking and community and community 27:52 and you know that's that's what it's all 27:55 about I mean we work to make them make 27:58 money to support our lives because your 28:00 money is essential yeah but the 28:02 community portion is far more rewarding 28:05 right and that's always awesome to get 28:07 that so we're back we took a little 28:09 quick little break there we're actually 28:11 running out of time here a little bit so 28:14 we've covered number one and number two 28:16 number three I'm just gonna whiz through 28:18 this because I think we've you know 28:20 really mentioned this a lot adding value 28:22 to other people when you're you're given 28:25 to other people they're gonna naturally 28:26 want to respond back so that was number 28:28 three will whiz through that one number 28:30 four is going to be working on yourself 28:33 and I'm gonna let Scott talk about that 28:35 because obviously we want to develop the 28:38 type of personality that attracts 28:40 instead of repels and Scott what do you 28:43 think about that sure so I mean again 28:45 working on yourself I mean for me I'm 28:47 very you know motivated self-motivated 28:49 but listening to podcast you know 28:53 surrounding yourself with people via da 28:56 players you know surrounding yourself 28:57 with somebody like Brian Smith or Steven 28:59 David Elliot you know so I'm always 29:02 looking for Mentors 29:03 right and you're something about a 50-50 29:06 we'd talk to yes so it's Steven I 29:08 mention the 50/50 rules so it's you know 29:10 focusing on the fifty percent of the 29:12 people that love you and like you and 29:14 then you know trying to find out how to 29:16 work on the fifty percent of the people 29:18 that perhaps don't like you mm-hmm you 29:21 know I can tell you this speaking 29:23 personally you're just not gonna get 29:24 along with everybody and that's okay 29:25 well though chances are that you're not 29:27 getting along with them because they 29:28 don't know who you are and we have the 29:30 tools available to us with social media 29:33 with networking events with one-on-ones 29:36 to change people's opinions there's a 29:38 lot of times our opinions of people 29:40 don't come from direct experience with 29:41 them it comes from what other people say 29:43 mm-hmm so if you make yourself open to 29:46 other people you're going to vote for me 29:49 for example yeah everybody in the school 29:52 probably was a bully and had a bully for 29:55 me as an adult you know connecting with 29:58 my friends from high school and people 29:59 that weren't friends and now they're my 30:01 friends to me that's a big win it should 30:04 be the same thing in business so you 30:05 know they're the people that you like 30:07 you because they like your type of 30:08 personality there's other people that 30:10 may find you very abrasive but if you 30:13 are giving to them even though they 30:15 don't like you imagine what type of 30:17 referral partner you can create with 30:19 that mm-hmm that's true that's true you 30:22 can always be the bigger giver that's 30:23 for sure 30:24 and out give the problem 30:27 so we'll wrap up with networking number 30:31 five and I couldn't have two better guys 30:34 talking about this other than maybe 30:36 Steve hand in here but other than that 30:38 we'll we'll wrap up with that let's talk 30:40 about networking well for for me I feel 30:44 that there's probably about nine or ten 30:46 things you should be doing in your 30:47 business and prospecting that are 30:49 powerful to get you business networking 30:51 is probably the number one thing you can 30:53 do and the most difficult thing to do 30:55 because once you are successful and you 30:58 are doing well and you are busy you 31:00 don't have as much time to go out to 31:02 groom your sphere of influence not only 31:04 grow your sphere of influence but reward 31:06 your existing sphere of influence by 31:08 growing your network because that's one 31:10 of your value ads right I know a lot of 31:12 people I can introduce you to so one of 31:14 the ways you can quickly do that is you 31:16 can go to networking events can be very 31:18 cumbersome once you're successful to go 31:20 to every single that I know you go to 31:21 less events today than I have now yeah 31:24 really yeah that being said if you host 31:27 your own networking on that or your own 31:29 activity where you're gonna meet you 31:31 know multiple people you really have the 31:34 ability to be more efficient get your 31:37 name out in front of people help more 31:39 people all at once and continue to do 31:41 the number one most important thing to 31:43 your business which is networking so in 31:46 our company we have our evening events 31:48 which are you know the mix and mingle 31:50 it's the antidote or the complement to a 31:53 Chamber event except instead of you 31:56 going to be a meta meeting the five same 31:57 people over and over again because 31:59 you're comfortable and you're clicked 32:00 everyone is researching you beforehand 32:02 and they know who you are 32:03 we now have a morning event which is the 32:06 antidote to BMI for people that can't go 32:09 to four weeks of BNI where they can help 32:13 other people they can give a value-add 32:15 they can teach them about networking or 32:17 marketing in a workshop but basically 32:20 just show up and be there and create 32:22 something about you so anything that you 32:25 do in business you want to do more 32:27 efficiently networking is so important 32:30 so you can't say hey you know I'm booked 32:32 out for six months I can't take a phone 32:34 call it's essential for you to come 32:38 absolutely and it's uh you know what on 32:41 one of my other favorite sayings is uh 32:43 I'm gonna ask ask my man right here 32:45 what do you clean yours with q-tips 32:48 everybody says q-tips but we don't clean 32:50 our ears with q-tips we use cotton swabs 32:52 q-tip is my brand Kleenex 32:54 Kleenex coke you know there's a lot of 32:57 things we can say so everybody says 32:58 q-tips and that's one of the things that 33:01 I love about networking is you can 33:03 become the q-tip with what you do when 33:06 you're out there but you can lose that 33:07 brand too so when I was a kid mouthwash 33:10 was Listerine no matter what it waters 33:13 Listerine doesn't market themselves 33:15 anymore right no you know no kitten is 33:17 with Listerine is na that's true we were 33:19 growing up everyone knew who Listerine 33:21 was someone there dropped the ball by 33:23 keeping that brand out in front of 33:24 people top of mind got to be tap and 33:26 riding so you can never give up and 33:28 doing what you're doing absolutely 100% 33:30 so we've got a little bit of a time 33:33 crunch here so we were talking and we'd 33:36 love to do if there's a request for it 33:38 if you want more information on the 33:40 topic obviously there's Rockstar events 33:43 you can run into these guys all over the 33:44 place and certainly get out I get out as 33:47 well but we would consider doing a 33:50 Facebook live if anybody wants more 33:52 information on some of these topics will 33:54 actually be willing to answer direct 33:56 questions that you might have so I think 33:59 that'd be fun I think we all think it'd 34:00 be fun and ultimately we're just trying 34:01 to to help you know help that business 34:04 that's struggling or that sales rep 34:05 that's trying to develop their brand and 34:08 develop business but we'd certainly 34:10 enjoy doing that yeah that'll be 34:12 fantastic what I would love to talk 34:14 about what I call like that is why 34:16 everyone is valuable and and not to 34:19 discount people because they're not the 34:22 the gatekeeper that you want to me is 34:24 you really don't know who the gatekeeper 34:25 is to bring you to the next level of 34:27 your business I guarantee you that you 34:29 know that's a great point you bring up I 34:31 love all these little fine things you 34:32 learn over the years that I remember 34:35 someone being nasty to one of my 34:38 co-workers who's like answering phones 34:41 for me at the time and they were selling 34:43 something something that I was actually 34:45 interested in 34:46 but they were kind of short and kind of 34:48 a jerk to the person that was answering 34:49 the phone but they then they wanted to 34:51 be nice to me and they were disqualified 34:53 right out of the gate you know because 34:55 if you're gonna be like that tomorrow my 34:57 coworker you know I mean we've had 35:00 people that you know signed up and paid 35:02 for events and they've been you know 35:06 inconsiderate to our staff members and 35:08 they get that we mailed them their check 35:10 back for animal blaming and they said 35:12 well why and I said because you know you 35:15 were a lying on the phone with them and 35:17 a pussycat with me mm-hmm right they 35:20 don't get paid enough for that sure yeah 35:22 and so those are those are all great 35:25 points and again thanks for joining us 35:28 today and squeegee Janice I know how 35:29 thank you video and thanks for joining 35:32 us again on another five things podcast 35:34 see you next time 35:36 [Applause] 35:36 [Music] 35:43 hello this is Brian Smith and thank you 35:45 for watching please subscribe for more 35:47 valuable content