Podcasts about hug your customers

Here's a short, easy video on how to block emails on Gmail and Outlook.And here are a few options for quietly removing someone from your Mailchimp list.To learn more about the value of customer astonishment read Customer Astonishment and Hug Your Customers.If you want to offer payment plans take a half-hour to set up the ability to invoice students and clients through PayPal.Then take another fifteen minutes to get familiar with Paypal's PayLater and PayIn 4 options for your buyers.If they're trolling you read my post on O'Keefe's Way To Tromp Art Trolls here.Check out Udell's Getting People Out of Your Booth series.Please comment on the post and add your own red flags here:https://thecharmedstudio.com/7-red-flags-from-problem-art-buyers-artists-shouldnt-ignore/I'd love to learn from you. To be charming and subscribe to the blog and get free access to my writing toolkit for artists click here.For info on one-on-one writing coaching with Thea go here. This blog is produced by The Charmed Studio Blog and Podcast™, LLC. And when you get scared about writing and want to relax, remember what Anne Lamott says."100 years, all new people."You can do this. Occasionally my show notes contain Amazon or other affiliate links. This means if you buy books or stuff via my podcast link I may receive a tiny commission and do a happy dance. There is no extra fee for you. I only link to items I personally use and love: products I feel help heart-centered artists and writers. Thank you. :)

Olivia Fuller: Hi and welcome to Book Club, a Sales Enablement PRO podcast. I'm Olivia Fuller. Sales enablement is a constantly evolving space and we're here to help professionals stay up to date on the latest trends and best practices so they can be more effective in their jobs. If you’ve ever worked in B2C industries, you’ve likely heard some variation of the mantra that the customer is always right, and really the core meaning behind this phrase is that the needs of the customer should be the top priority for the employee. Really setting that expectation that the customer is at the center of the business model. In today’s economic landscape, these expectations continue to trickle even more so into the B2B world. Having this customer-centric mentality is a place where sales enablement can really play a crucial role in helping revenue teams understand the importance of customer-centricity to drive loyalty. I’m so excited to have Jim Tincher, the author of Do B2B Better, here to tell us a little bit more about this concept that he outlines in his book. Jim, I’d love it if you could just take a second to introduce yourself, your background, and a little bit about your book to our audience. Jim Tincher: Thanks, I’ve always been a customer-focused kind of guy. My first job out of college, I remember that first summer going to my boss and saying, Hey, I’m visiting my girlfriend, my now wife, in Connecticut. I asked my boss if I could visit a customer while I’m there. He gave me this look like, why would you wanna do that? In fact, he asked me, why don’t you just go on vacation? I thought that’s what people did. Just go and visit customers, find out what they want, how they use your products, and how you can serve them better. I have since learned that’s not what most people do, but that’s what I want to do from the very beginning. Since then, I’ve been with lead customer trade programs at Best Buy, and UnitedHealth Group, and nine years ago I started the company Heart of the Customer, where we really help, especially B2B and B2C firms understand more about their customers and how to create an outcome where customers want to spend more, stay longer, and interact in ways less expensive to serve clearly from your group. Spending more is probably the one area of most concern, but all three are important. About three years ago now, my team and I were sitting around and we noticed something that nearly every company we work with says. They’re customer focused, but some are much more customer-focused than others, and some organizations are able to really build everything they do around the customer, but most can. Everybody has customers as a top priority on the wall or some variation of that, but in some organizations, they actually make decisions around understanding what customers want and need, whereas most don’t, they operate internally, and we wanted to understand what separated those two types of customers. We ended up identifying what we call change makers versus hopefuls. The hopefuls might be doing good work and they hope it helps their customers to want to buy more, stay longer, and interact in ways less expensive to serve. The changemakers could prove it. They could show they were growing through the customer experience. We did over 200 hours of interviews, surveyed hundreds more to get to the bottom of what it is that great companies are doing, and that’s all in the book, the four actions of a change maker. It’s called Do B2B Better and it’s the four actions that change-makers take to ensure that they really are solving customer needs. OF: That’s fantastic. Thanks so much for that background and context too. That’s so helpful to hear about how the book came to fruition. Something that I love that you talked about in your book is really how customer loyalty is the key to a thriving business. I think that is so critical, especially today with the economic climate that we’re in. I’d love to hear your perspective about why this is so important, especially for B2B organizations, and especially given the times that we’re in today with the economic landscape. JT: Both of those are critical and customer loyalty is the foundation of organic acquired growth and is important for many company strategies. I’m not knocking that, but every organization wants organic growth as well, and that comes from building your decisions around what customers need. Customer loyalty isn’t about programs to reward customers. It isn’t about throwing money there. It’s not about customers being happy. Well, that’s part of it, but it’s about understanding what is it that motivates your customers to want to work with you more. Why should they call your company first when they have a need? That’s what the great companies do, is they build it around. They understand what customer values most and so that’s what it takes to build a thriving company in any economy, but even more so now. Now is the time when it does seem like we are in a down economy, or at least entering one, that’s when customers are likely to bolt. It’s even more important now to understand what motivates your customers so you can build programs to get them to want to stay with you. OF: Absolutely. I love that perspective. You mentioned how B2B companies can often lag behind B2C companies in terms of prioritizing and really providing exceptional customer experiences. You mentioned that a little bit in your intro as well. I’m curious to learn about why that is and maybe what some of the unique challenges that B2B organizations face are. JT: You bet. Now a part of it certainly is, but it’s a lot more than that. If we go back to my time at Best Buy, if you wanted to go visit customers at a store, it was easy. I did it all the time. It drove my wife crazy, by the way, but I’d always go to the store when we were visiting a new town. I’d go check out Best Buy. It’s easy to see the customer experience at a B2C company. It is not so easy in B2B. I led the nation’s largest line of health savings, and that was fun. I came in as a product manager and the first thing I realized is that nobody in our marketing or product development group had ever met a client because it’s a lot harder. You can’t just knock on your client’s HR group and come in and say, can I watch you for a day? That’s kind of creepy, and so it’s not so easy to exceed the experience firsthand in B2B. It takes deliberate effort, and I put together a program called Hug Your Customers to take our employees out, to hear from customers firsthand. Olivia, two big learnings about why you don’t want to call it that. So first of all, one of the sales reps used ‘hug your customers' while talking to a customer, and that was just weird, and second of all, Minnesotans, we don’t hug. It was just a bad name. We changed it to collecting best practices, which was not as memorable but didn’t get us to those weird problems. We went out there and I took people out to hear from customers. One of the things we learned was fascinating and painful. We looked at our clients that were the most successful with our product, that when people were eligible for a health savings account, they opened it, they had bigger balances versus those that were less successful. What we have found out is that really successful companies were the ones who ignored all of our advice and who didn’t use our marketing materials. That’s a hard lesson to learn, but the reason was that we were building the materials and the advice that we wanted, but we knew too much, and that’s the problem, especially in B2B organizations, is that you know too much about your products and your processes. One of the things we learned was that the number one thing that was frustrating customers was, how do I log into the website? We didn’t have that problem. We logged into the website every day. We didn’t forget our password. Our clients logged in twice a year, and if they forgot their password, they had to enter the 14-digit number that we sent them when they first got their health savings account. Because we weren’t spending time with our customers, we didn’t understand what they really needed. I see the same thing with software companies, for example, that they know too much about their software and they’re really good at it. In one of our clients, if you forgot your password, you had to send an email and they responded with an automated message saying, we’ll get back to you within 24 to 48. Well, you can’t be locked out of your operational software for one to two days, but they never had that problem, so it wasn’t a priority. It’s a lot harder in B2B to really understand what it is that your customers do and how they really use your software. OF: Absolutely. With some of those in mind that you mentioned in the customer experience, specific to B2B companies, I’m curious if you can maybe walk us through just a couple of those that you recommend on how B2B organizations can really overcome some of those common challenges to customers. JT: It starts with clearly getting a better feel for your customers. This is going to surprise your B2B listeners, which is probably all of them, we found that one of the most important things to understand is your customer’s emotions. Now, you try asking somebody to understand the emotions of the procurement manager, hey, that’s hard, but you know what? Procurement managers have emotions too. It might be hard to understand that because we get in this habit of thinking it’s only about dollars and cents and what rate you give them and those matter, no question about it. What we find is that if you can understand the emotions driving their decision, you might be able to gain a few points. You can increase your order velocity. For example, UKG is one of the case studies in my book. They are a provider of payroll and other HR benefits-type software. They’ve learned that their emotional North Star is confidence. If they can create confidence in their clients, and again, they’re a software company, then those clients will stay longer. They’re more likely to purchase additional modules. They also have a reduced cost to serve. Now, they also measure frustration and six other emotions as well. As you would have guessed, if a client is frustrated, well then they’re far more likely to be and have a high cost to serve because what we followed is a frustrated customer will call your support center, get an answer, and then they’ll call a second time to make sure they got the right answer the first time. Well, that’s, that’s horrible. I mean, it’s annoying for the client, but it’s also expensive for you. And then what happens? They get a different answer the second time. Oh, confidence is shot and they are angry. So by measuring their emotions and designing for the right emotions, UKG was able to drive loyalty because they were designing it with the emotions customers want. Gartner just came out with some research about a year ago that showed when they looked at, if you want to create a high-value B2B deal, what you need to do. One of the challenges in most B2B purchasing processes is that there’s not a lot of great data. There’s lots of data, but it contradicts each other. If you want to buy a widget manufacturing or software management platform, you can find all kinds of information from all the providers who are all trying to spin it their way, and it’s hard to figure out who’s the best. What they found are the two factors that best predicted a high-quality deal from both the vendor and the customer side was, first of all, confidence in the information of that client. If the client was not confident in the information they were given, then they offered to do a lower-value deal and they wouldn’t give all the resources necessary to make it successful. The second factor was trust in the person giving the information, so you need to have great information from your client’s perspective. You need to be presenting that with somebody who they can trust a high-quality sales rep, for example. Again, it’s coming back to those emotions clients feel, which is weird in the B2B space. My favorite example here would be Dow, the chemical manufacturing company. We were with them on understanding the complaints journey and how to. Now, when I first met their Chief Commercial Officer, and he wrote the forward to my book, he told me, Jim, my goal is to create a complaints journey that’s enjoyable. So wait a minute, let me see if I have that right. It’s not easy, not effective. Enjoyable. He said, yeah, that is exactly my goal. Now, Dow doesn’t use the net promoter score. They don’t use customer satisfaction. They measure three things, how easy is it to work with Dow? How effective is it to work with Dow, and how enjoyable is it to work with Dow? Their research shows pretty clearly that if you say it’s effective to work with Dow, you don’t really change your ordering behavior, even if you say it’s easy there’s a lot of focus on creating effortless experiences. It doesn’t change the client’s behavior, but if a client says that it’s enjoyable to work with you, then their behavior changes, they order more often, order velocity increases, they order more products, and they’re far more likely to hit the home run, which is they work with Dow to create new to the world products. They do joint innovation, so understanding the client’s emotions is one of the big opportunities in B2B, and I’m starting to hear more and more from it starting with B2C. Fidelity is measuring if you have a transaction with them, they ask you about eight emotions. Delta is asking how comfortable you are on your flight. We’re starting to see B2C change and if you want to get ahead of the curve, it’s time to start measuring your client’s emotions. OF: I love that advice, and that focus on emotion, as you mentioned, is maybe something that’s a little bit unnatural for B2B business leaders. I’m curious, how do you coach leaders to start to take that customer-centric approach to their business strategies, especially in focusing maybe a little bit more on emotion? JT: The first thing is you can’t come to your finance team and say, we want to create enjoyable experiences for our clients because they will look at you cross-eyed. What you have to say is that when we’ve done the analysis, we see that when clients say it’s enjoyable, their order velocity improves by 5%, or they are ordering 1 to 2 more products per quarter than those who say it’s not enjoyable of similar size. You can’t just decide this is the emotion you want to create. You actually have to measure those emotions and tie them into financials. Now I know it might seem weird to say, how do we turn enjoyability into a financial metric? It’s doable. Dow does it. We do it with clients, but you have to do that or when you try to engage a broader organization, they’re not going to buy them. You have to show why it helps your team accomplish its goals. To create an enjoyable experience, and that ties from one of the other findings from the book, which is that great programs use deliberate change management. They help engage the entire organization around emotions. We’re about to understand, again, confidence. In the case of Hagerty, a B2C company, theirs was happiness. Dow's was enjoyment. I was at a conference last week and I was talking to somebody from manufacturing and she said, I’m still trying to get my head around emotions in the B2B experience. It just doesn’t make sense to me. I told her, in your personal life, let’s say it’s time to buy a cell phone and you choose a bad one, it’s always breaking down, okay, you’re annoyed, but if you’re buying, let’s say software or you’re selecting a provider of mission-critical product, and you make the wrong choice, you could be fired. Emotions are a big deal to B2B experiences. We just don’t think of it that way, but those same people who are deciding to get the extra big ice cream at home are also deciding on how to, whether your soccer is the right one. They don’t shut off their emotions. They come to work. It’s more complex. Emotions are just a part of it, but there are parts of it your competitors aren’t considering. To me, the big marketplace in B2B is getting ahead of your competitors, understanding your customer’s emotions, and deliberately designing programs to help create the right emotional outcomes. OF: I love that advice on the deliberate design of your programs. For our listeners, many of them are sales enablement leaders and sales enablement practitioners, that is really, where their role can come into play here in helping to design those programs and helping to also guide that change. I’d love to hear your perspective. What do you envision as sales enablement’s role that they can really play in helping to improve customer loyalty and also how they can help reinforce a customer-centric mindset among revenue teams? JT: What we do with our clients is we take them out to interview clients to start collecting what they are saying now. They don’t say, I felt confident. I enjoyed working with Dow. They don’t use that language, but they do talk about their emotions indirectly. Start with that information as you talk to your clients. Record that and use that as a way of training showing how this outcome over here is that this is one of our better clients. Notice how they describe it. Notice how they describe working with their sales rep. Get that as sales enablement. Get that content so you can coach your teams around this is what it looks like, this is the emotion we create. Similarly, interview clients that are not having a great experience so you can hear their emotions and what’s driving them. For example, I’m working with a company right now that got their job 98% done and did give me the last few pieces of information a month and a half ago. I now have to follow up with them on a weekly basis trying to get them done. That’s frustrating. I’m never going to use them again. I’m going to give them negative recommendations and they don’t know it because they’ve never asked me. Make sure you are asking your best and your worst clients. Worst clients is a bad term, but your best and your not-so-best clients about what it’s like working with you. Use surveys, but also use interviews and then get that information in. It’s raw, unedited, well cut short, but show those emotions your clients are feeling about you and use that to get your teams to really understand that yes, that VP of Procurement actually does have emotions and that you as the rep can create either positive, negative, or neutral emotions. What’s it going to be? OF: That is fantastic advice. I love that. To close, Jim, I’d really love to hear about your predictions for the future of the B2B business landscape and the next year or even beyond. How do you think sales enablement professionals can help organizations keep pace as things are changing in the next year and beyond? JT: Well, the XM Institute has shown the maturity of organizations in understanding the customers acting against those results and it’s starting to improve. Two years ago, about 65% of companies were at the lowest level. Now that’s down to 40 percent as most companies have moved up to the second level of maturity. What that means to your listeners is that your competitors are getting better at understanding customer needs and acting against them, but I guarantee they haven’t figured out the emotions yet, and that’s your opportunity to leapfrog. Start to work with your customer experience team, your customer success teams with customer excellence teams, and your customer something teams who are measuring your client experience and get them to think about the emotions and how we measure that and then distribute that results to all of your sales teams. They understand that when we create confidence in our clients, that’s when they buy more from us. That’s when they stay longer, and as well as they actually interact with the way it’s less expensive to serve because they don’t feel annoyed and frustrated, which drives those outcomes. By getting ahead and helping your whole organization think about the emotions your customers feel, you can leapfrog the competitors, drive up sales, and drive up that organic growth that we’re all looking for. OF: Fantastic. Jim, thank you so much for sharing all of this insight with our audience. I know I learned so much from this conversation and I can’t wait for our listeners to hear it and check out your book as well. So thank you again for joining us. JT: Thanks, Olivia. I’ve been glad to be here. OF: To our audience, thanks for listening. For more insights, tips, and expertise from sales enablement leaders, visit sales enablement.pro. And if there’s something you’d like to share or a topic that you’d like to learn more about, please let us know. We’d love to hear from you.

Olivia Fuller: Hi and welcome to Book Club, a Sales Enablement PRO podcast. I'm Olivia Fuller. Sales enablement is a constantly evolving space and we're here to help professionals stay up to date on the latest trends and best practices so they can be more effective in their jobs. If you’ve ever worked in B2C industries, you’ve likely heard some variation of the mantra that the customer is always right, and really the core meaning behind this phrase is that the needs of the customer should be the top priority for the employee. Really setting that expectation that the customer is at the center of the business model. In today’s economic landscape, these expectations continue to trickle even more so into the B2B world. Having this customer-centric mentality is a place where sales enablement can really play a crucial role in helping revenue teams understand the importance of customer-centricity to drive loyalty. I’m so excited to have Jim Tincher, the author of Do B2B Better, here to tell us a little bit more about this concept that he outlines in his book. Jim, I’d love it if you could just take a second to introduce yourself, your background, and a little bit about your book to our audience. Jim Tincher: Thanks, I’ve always been a customer-focused kind of guy. My first job out of college, I remember that first summer going to my boss and saying, Hey, I’m visiting my girlfriend, my now wife, in Connecticut. I asked my boss if I could visit a customer while I’m there. He gave me this look like, why would you wanna do that? In fact, he asked me, why don’t you just go on vacation? I thought that’s what people did. Just go and visit customers, find out what they want, how they use your products, and how you can serve them better. I have since learned that’s not what most people do, but that’s what I want to do from the very beginning. Since then, I’ve been with lead customer trade programs at Best Buy, and UnitedHealth Group, and nine years ago I started the company Heart of the Customer, where we really help, especially B2B and B2C firms understand more about their customers and how to create an outcome where customers want to spend more, stay longer, and interact in ways less expensive to serve clearly from your group. Spending more is probably the one area of most concern, but all three are important. About three years ago now, my team and I were sitting around and we noticed something that nearly every company we work with says. They’re customer focused, but some are much more customer-focused than others, and some organizations are able to really build everything they do around the customer, but most can. Everybody has customers as a top priority on the wall or some variation of that, but in some organizations, they actually make decisions around understanding what customers want and need, whereas most don’t, they operate internally, and we wanted to understand what separated those two types of customers. We ended up identifying what we call change makers versus hopefuls. The hopefuls might be doing good work and they hope it helps their customers to want to buy more, stay longer, and interact in ways less expensive to serve. The changemakers could prove it. They could show they were growing through the customer experience. We did over 200 hours of interviews, surveyed hundreds more to get to the bottom of what it is that great companies are doing, and that’s all in the book, the four actions of a change maker. It’s called Do B2B Better and it’s the four actions that change-makers take to ensure that they really are solving customer needs. OF: That’s fantastic. Thanks so much for that background and context too. That’s so helpful to hear about how the book came to fruition. Something that I love that you talked about in your book is really how customer loyalty is the key to a thriving business. I think that is so critical, especially today with the economic climate that we’re in. I’d love to hear your perspective about why this is so important, especially for B2B organizations, and especially given the times that we’re in today with the economic landscape. JT: Both of those are critical and customer loyalty is the foundation of organic acquired growth and is important for many company strategies. I’m not knocking that, but every organization wants organic growth as well, and that comes from building your decisions around what customers need. Customer loyalty isn’t about programs to reward customers. It isn’t about throwing money there. It’s not about customers being happy. Well, that’s part of it, but it’s about understanding what is it that motivates your customers to want to work with you more. Why should they call your company first when they have a need? That’s what the great companies do, is they build it around. They understand what customer values most and so that’s what it takes to build a thriving company in any economy, but even more so now. Now is the time when it does seem like we are in a down economy, or at least entering one, that’s when customers are likely to bolt. It’s even more important now to understand what motivates your customers so you can build programs to get them to want to stay with you. OF: Absolutely. I love that perspective. You mentioned how B2B companies can often lag behind B2C companies in terms of prioritizing and really providing exceptional customer experiences. You mentioned that a little bit in your intro as well. I’m curious to learn about why that is and maybe what some of the unique challenges that B2B organizations face are. JT: You bet. Now a part of it certainly is, but it’s a lot more than that. If we go back to my time at Best Buy, if you wanted to go visit customers at a store, it was easy. I did it all the time. It drove my wife crazy, by the way, but I’d always go to the store when we were visiting a new town. I’d go check out Best Buy. It’s easy to see the customer experience at a B2C company. It is not so easy in B2B. I led the nation’s largest line of health savings, and that was fun. I came in as a product manager and the first thing I realized is that nobody in our marketing or product development group had ever met a client because it’s a lot harder. You can’t just knock on your client’s HR group and come in and say, can I watch you for a day? That’s kind of creepy, and so it’s not so easy to exceed the experience firsthand in B2B. It takes deliberate effort, and I put together a program called Hug Your Customers to take our employees out, to hear from customers firsthand. Olivia, two big learnings about why you don’t want to call it that. So first of all, one of the sales reps used ‘hug your customers' while talking to a customer, and that was just weird, and second of all, Minnesotans, we don’t hug. It was just a bad name. We changed it to collecting best practices, which was not as memorable but didn’t get us to those weird problems. We went out there and I took people out to hear from customers. One of the things we learned was fascinating and painful. We looked at our clients that were the most successful with our product, that when people were eligible for a health savings account, they opened it, they had bigger balances versus those that were less successful. What we have found out is that really successful companies were the ones who ignored all of our advice and who didn’t use our marketing materials. That’s a hard lesson to learn, but the reason was that we were building the materials and the advice that we wanted, but we knew too much, and that’s the problem, especially in B2B organizations, is that you know too much about your products and your processes. One of the things we learned was that the number one thing that was frustrating customers was, how do I log into the website? We didn’t have that problem. We logged into the website every day. We didn’t forget our password. Our clients logged in twice a year, and if they forgot their password, they had to enter the 14-digit number that we sent them when they first got their health savings account. Because we weren’t spending time with our customers, we didn’t understand what they really needed. I see the same thing with software companies, for example, that they know too much about their software and they’re really good at it. In one of our clients, if you forgot your password, you had to send an email and they responded with an automated message saying, we’ll get back to you within 24 to 48. Well, you can’t be locked out of your operational software for one to two days, but they never had that problem, so it wasn’t a priority. It’s a lot harder in B2B to really understand what it is that your customers do and how they really use your software. OF: Absolutely. With some of those in mind that you mentioned in the customer experience, specific to B2B companies, I’m curious if you can maybe walk us through just a couple of those that you recommend on how B2B organizations can really overcome some of those common challenges to customers. JT: It starts with clearly getting a better feel for your customers. This is going to surprise your B2B listeners, which is probably all of them, we found that one of the most important things to understand is your customer’s emotions. Now, you try asking somebody to understand the emotions of the procurement manager, hey, that’s hard, but you know what? Procurement managers have emotions too. It might be hard to understand that because we get in this habit of thinking it’s only about dollars and cents and what rate you give them and those matter, no question about it. What we find is that if you can understand the emotions driving their decision, you might be able to gain a few points. You can increase your order velocity. For example, UKG is one of the case studies in my book. They are a provider of payroll and other HR benefits-type software. They’ve learned that their emotional North Star is confidence. If they can create confidence in their clients, and again, they’re a software company, then those clients will stay longer. They’re more likely to purchase additional modules. They also have a reduced cost to serve. Now, they also measure frustration and six other emotions as well. As you would have guessed, if a client is frustrated, well then they’re far more likely to be and have a high cost to serve because what we followed is a frustrated customer will call your support center, get an answer, and then they’ll call a second time to make sure they got the right answer the first time. Well, that’s, that’s horrible. I mean, it’s annoying for the client, but it’s also expensive for you. And then what happens? They get a different answer the second time. Oh, confidence is shot and they are angry. So by measuring their emotions and designing for the right emotions, UKG was able to drive loyalty because they were designing it with the emotions customers want. Gartner just came out with some research about a year ago that showed when they looked at, if you want to create a high-value B2B deal, what you need to do. One of the challenges in most B2B purchasing processes is that there’s not a lot of great data. There’s lots of data, but it contradicts each other. If you want to buy a widget manufacturing or software management platform, you can find all kinds of information from all the providers who are all trying to spin it their way, and it’s hard to figure out who’s the best. What they found are the two factors that best predicted a high-quality deal from both the vendor and the customer side was, first of all, confidence in the information of that client. If the client was not confident in the information they were given, then they offered to do a lower-value deal and they wouldn’t give all the resources necessary to make it successful. The second factor was trust in the person giving the information, so you need to have great information from your client’s perspective. You need to be presenting that with somebody who they can trust a high-quality sales rep, for example. Again, it’s coming back to those emotions clients feel, which is weird in the B2B space. My favorite example here would be Dow, the chemical manufacturing company. We were with them on understanding the complaints journey and how to. Now, when I first met their Chief Commercial Officer, and he wrote the forward to my book, he told me, Jim, my goal is to create a complaints journey that’s enjoyable. So wait a minute, let me see if I have that right. It’s not easy, not effective. Enjoyable. He said, yeah, that is exactly my goal. Now, Dow doesn’t use the net promoter score. They don’t use customer satisfaction. They measure three things, how easy is it to work with Dow? How effective is it to work with Dow, and how enjoyable is it to work with Dow? Their research shows pretty clearly that if you say it’s effective to work with Dow, you don’t really change your ordering behavior, even if you say it’s easy there’s a lot of focus on creating effortless experiences. It doesn’t change the client’s behavior, but if a client says that it’s enjoyable to work with you, then their behavior changes, they order more often, order velocity increases, they order more products, and they’re far more likely to hit the home run, which is they work with Dow to create new to the world products. They do joint innovation, so understanding the client’s emotions is one of the big opportunities in B2B, and I’m starting to hear more and more from it starting with B2C. Fidelity is measuring if you have a transaction with them, they ask you about eight emotions. Delta is asking how comfortable you are on your flight. We’re starting to see B2C change and if you want to get ahead of the curve, it’s time to start measuring your client’s emotions. OF: I love that advice, and that focus on emotion, as you mentioned, is maybe something that’s a little bit unnatural for B2B business leaders. I’m curious, how do you coach leaders to start to take that customer-centric approach to their business strategies, especially in focusing maybe a little bit more on emotion? JT: The first thing is you can’t come to your finance team and say, we want to create enjoyable experiences for our clients because they will look at you cross-eyed. What you have to say is that when we’ve done the analysis, we see that when clients say it’s enjoyable, their order velocity improves by 5%, or they are ordering 1 to 2 more products per quarter than those who say it’s not enjoyable of similar size. You can’t just decide this is the emotion you want to create. You actually have to measure those emotions and tie them into financials. Now I know it might seem weird to say, how do we turn enjoyability into a financial metric? It’s doable. Dow does it. We do it with clients, but you have to do that or when you try to engage a broader organization, they’re not going to buy them. You have to show why it helps your team accomplish its goals. To create an enjoyable experience, and that ties from one of the other findings from the book, which is that great programs use deliberate change management. They help engage the entire organization around emotions. We’re about to understand, again, confidence. In the case of Hagerty, a B2C company, theirs was happiness. Dow's was enjoyment. I was at a conference last week and I was talking to somebody from manufacturing and she said, I’m still trying to get my head around emotions in the B2B experience. It just doesn’t make sense to me. I told her, in your personal life, let’s say it’s time to buy a cell phone and you choose a bad one, it’s always breaking down, okay, you’re annoyed, but if you’re buying, let’s say software or you’re selecting a provider of mission-critical product, and you make the wrong choice, you could be fired. Emotions are a big deal to B2B experiences. We just don’t think of it that way, but those same people who are deciding to get the extra big ice cream at home are also deciding on how to, whether your soccer is the right one. They don’t shut off their emotions. They come to work. It’s more complex. Emotions are just a part of it, but there are parts of it your competitors aren’t considering. To me, the big marketplace in B2B is getting ahead of your competitors, understanding your customer’s emotions, and deliberately designing programs to help create the right emotional outcomes. OF: I love that advice on the deliberate design of your programs. For our listeners, many of them are sales enablement leaders and sales enablement practitioners, that is really, where their role can come into play here in helping to design those programs and helping to also guide that change. I’d love to hear your perspective. What do you envision as sales enablement’s role that they can really play in helping to improve customer loyalty and also how they can help reinforce a customer-centric mindset among revenue teams? JT: What we do with our clients is we take them out to interview clients to start collecting what they are saying now. They don’t say, I felt confident. I enjoyed working with Dow. They don’t use that language, but they do talk about their emotions indirectly. Start with that information as you talk to your clients. Record that and use that as a way of training showing how this outcome over here is that this is one of our better clients. Notice how they describe it. Notice how they describe working with their sales rep. Get that as sales enablement. Get that content so you can coach your teams around this is what it looks like, this is the emotion we create. Similarly, interview clients that are not having a great experience so you can hear their emotions and what’s driving them. For example, I’m working with a company right now that got their job 98% done and did give me the last few pieces of information a month and a half ago. I now have to follow up with them on a weekly basis trying to get them done. That’s frustrating. I’m never going to use them again. I’m going to give them negative recommendations and they don’t know it because they’ve never asked me. Make sure you are asking your best and your worst clients. Worst clients is a bad term, but your best and your not-so-best clients about what it’s like working with you. Use surveys, but also use interviews and then get that information in. It’s raw, unedited, well cut short, but show those emotions your clients are feeling about you and use that to get your teams to really understand that yes, that VP of Procurement actually does have emotions and that you as the rep can create either positive, negative, or neutral emotions. What’s it going to be? OF: That is fantastic advice. I love that. To close, Jim, I’d really love to hear about your predictions for the future of the B2B business landscape and the next year or even beyond. How do you think sales enablement professionals can help organizations keep pace as things are changing in the next year and beyond? JT: Well, the XM Institute has shown the maturity of organizations in understanding the customers acting against those results and it’s starting to improve. Two years ago, about 65% of companies were at the lowest level. Now that’s down to 40 percent as most companies have moved up to the second level of maturity. What that means to your listeners is that your competitors are getting better at understanding customer needs and acting against them, but I guarantee they haven’t figured out the emotions yet, and that’s your opportunity to leapfrog. Start to work with your customer experience team, your customer success teams with customer excellence teams, and your customer something teams who are measuring your client experience and get them to think about the emotions and how we measure that and then distribute that results to all of your sales teams. They understand that when we create confidence in our clients, that’s when they buy more from us. That’s when they stay longer, and as well as they actually interact with the way it’s less expensive to serve because they don’t feel annoyed and frustrated, which drives those outcomes. By getting ahead and helping your whole organization think about the emotions your customers feel, you can leapfrog the competitors, drive up sales, and drive up that organic growth that we’re all looking for. OF: Fantastic. Jim, thank you so much for sharing all of this insight with our audience. I know I learned so much from this conversation and I can’t wait for our listeners to hear it and check out your book as well. So thank you again for joining us. JT: Thanks, Olivia. I’ve been glad to be here. OF: To our audience, thanks for listening. For more insights, tips, and expertise from sales enablement leaders, visit sales enablement.pro. And if there’s something you’d like to share or a topic that you’d like to learn more about, please let us know. We’d love to hear from you.

Your customers are one of the most important people not just in your business but in your life as well. Learn how to know them and make them feel their value not just in a simple relationship but in a deeper connection.

"I think you can strive to be the best and still do it in a loving and caring way." // Haswell "Has" Franklin Jr. '79 is a father, proud Gilman alum, financial advisor, former three-sport athlete at Johns Hopkins, and racket sport wizard. // Mac Franklin '14 is a proud Gilman alum, Dickinson graduate, and group benefits advisor. // On a very special Episode #50 of the Path to Follow Podcast, the Franklins and I discuss the Gilman/McDonogh football rivalry, Has's favorite football memories, Gilman pep rallies, impactful Gilman teachers and coaches, George Chandlee, how Gilman School has evolved over the years, playing multiple sports, chicken tenders, Gilman's commitment to excellence, lifelong bonds, playing three sports at Johns Hopkins, and Mac and Has's book recommendations: "The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told" (2020) by Mark Paul and "Hug Your Customers" (2003) by Jack Mitchell. // Enjoy the episode? Please follow @pathtofollowpod on all platforms. More to come! // Many thanks to the all-powerful Cesare Ciccanti for all of his efforts on podcast production. //

Before catering to the one St. Lucia listener, Will expresses his opinions about Iowa, which is barely a state. (1:00). Later, Armaan finds a way to torture Will by bringing up the Nebraska Cornhuskers. In the end, no one wins. After another thrilling edition of What's Going On (5:00), the boys have an enjoyable interview with Tyler Franz (11:45). Nothing else happens in this episode. Guest's Book Recommendation: Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller & Hug Your Customers by Jack Mitchell

EP-11: In a world of social media, it is so important to humanize your brand and connect with your customers on a deeper level. But how do you do this?  Well friends, in this episode Cat and Renee share simple ways you can create an amazing experience with your customer, whether it’s a follow up email, amazing packaging, or going the extra mile to make a memorable impression. Book mentioned in this episode- Superfans by Pat Flynn and Hug Your Customers by Jack Mitchell   www.dreamstoplanspodcast.com www.instagram.com/dreamstoplanspodcast www.facebook.com/groups/dreamstoplanspodcast www.mygirlfriendrenee.com www.kittymeowboutique.com

The economic impact of Coronavirus is as fearsome as the medical danger. But fear makes the economy worse - so here's what your company can do.

The economic impact of Coronavirus is as fearsome as the medical danger. But fear makes the economy worse - so here's what your company can do.

Jim Tincher, CCXP, is a nationally recognized customer experience thought leader, journey mapping expert, keynote speaker and author. Jim led customer experience programs at Best Buy and United Health Group before launching his innovative CX consultancy, Heart of the Customer, which helps start-ups to Fortune 50 organizations use voice of the customer research to improve loyalty and boost revenue. His book, How Hard Is It to Be Your Customer?, is considered a must-read for CX-focused leaders, and Live Help Now, Support Be Influencer Marketing, CustomerThink, Feedspot, and LitmusWorld have all named Jim a customer experience influencer to follow.   Questions   Can you tell us a little bit about your journey, how it is that you got to where you are? How is it that you as an expert in this area, could maybe give us some tips as to how an organization can digital look at digitally transforming but ensuring that their team members are also on board with digital transformation? Now, as a customer journey map expert. Could you tell us if you are an organization and you've never done journey mapping before or let's say you did it 5 years ago, what's the recommended time for you to revisit it, to make sure that all the touch points are operating the way they should? What are your thoughts on embracing the power of being digital to the core to enhance customer experience and improving personalization in the process? What are your thoughts on companies that do have different channels? So they operate on multichannels, but they're not operating on an omnichannel perspective where everything is integrated, how can they go about doing that and do you think that's the best approach? How do you get employees motivated? What if they're like, “They're bringing in all of these systems, you have to learn all of these new things, and I’m not getting any new pay for it. I don't feel motivated.” How do you get them engaged, motivated, feel like they're a part of the process? Do they need to be included in the decision making or is it a case where you just roll it out and say, listen, this is a new path we're taking? Could you share with us how do you stay motivated every day? Could you share with us maybe an app, website or tool that you use in your business that you absolutely can't live without? Could you share with us maybe one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you? It could have been a book that you read many years ago or maybe about that you read recently that has read had a great impact on you. Can you share with us maybe something that you're working on now - it could be something that you're working on to develop yourself or something that you're working on to develop your people. Where can they find you online? Do you have a quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge that you will typically revert to this quote - it kind of helps you to refocus, get you back on track? Do you have one of those? Highlights Jim’s Journey Jim shared that he doesn't know why he has always been focused on the customer. He remembered his very first job out of school; he was in technical support and on vacation he wanted to go visit a customer where he was visiting his now wife at her home in Connecticut. And he wanted to go visit a customer while he was there and people said, “Why? Go on vacation.” But it's just the way he has always thought. He went from there to small business and went to Best Buy. If you're in small business, you have to be customer obsessed or you don't survive. Similarly, Best Buy very much focus on that.   And then he went to a new organization and he naively thought everybody was customer focused and found out there were other methods, literally nobody in a marketing or product development group had ever met a client and he was amazed by that. And as a result, they had the most complex products in the marketplace because they were building the products they wanted to buy. And their customers were giving them feedback that this is way too complex, people don't want all this all these features, that they want it nice and simple.   But again, because they didn't have customer feedback, they were building really complex products. And it really came to light when they went out and talked to their customers. So, they divided them into customers who are really successful with their products and those who are struggling. And he created a program called Hug Your Customers, which, by the way, sounds really good until you have a sales rep call a customer to say, “Hey, we want to do a Hug Your Customers meeting with you.” They're Minnesotan's, they don't normally hug, it gets a little awkward.   So, they changed to collecting best practices. But he started taking their executives out to meet the clients and what they realized was that the clients that were struggling were the ones who were using their materials and following their advice and the ones who are most successful, the ones who are ignoring our advice and making their own materials. Now, that's a hard lesson, but luckily, because he was bringing the leadership out to hear firsthand, he didn't have to beat them over the head with that and they learned on their own. And that really has been the foundation of their work today.   Now, what really led for him to start the company is the fact that he got fired a lot because he remembered one VP saying, “Jim, you make a lot of noise.” He does make a lot of noise because they were just so inward focused and he was trying to change the culture.   And one of the things he learned as he was trying to change the culture from the bottom up, and that does not work. You need those pieces, but you have to start with the top and that was one of the lessons that really informed them at Heart of the Customer is that they help an organization think about their customers. They have to engage in leadership from the beginning and that was a lesson he learned the hard way by trying to start with a bottoms up approach.   Me: It's almost like your experiences have literally helped to mold who you are, drive the different aspects that you've envisioned for customer experience, especially with helping your clients to realize their own customer journeys. One of the biggest things that a lot of organizations have been focused on, especially since the pandemic, is their customer journey. They've been looking at their customer journey from end to end and they've also been looking at how it is that because of the pandemic and we're literally forced.   A lot of organizations had I think some companies had been proactive enough to look and see that their customer behaviours were changing and they were adapting pretty well. But some companies were still back operating as if it were in 1995, early 2000. And they fully had not transformed a lot of their customer behaviours into how their business functions.   Digital Transformation Tips Jim shared that's huge and we should break those into a couple of different pieces. The digital part is accelerating. They had a customer experience event earlier in the week and a speaker from Target who was saying that they're 2030 goals now have to be realized this year. There was such a move towards digital now with a Coronavirus that's had causd them to have to pivot very quickly. And they're seeing that across the board.   What's beneficial, their clients have already taken the time to learn what their customer needs and what are the moments of truth in the journey so they can build digital platforms that allow customers to be more successful by understanding those moments of truth as well as those friction points. And they find that's really critical, that if you take a broken process and digitize it, all you get is a broken digitized process and you're not helping anybody.   So, it's really critical back there to understand what are those key needs of my customers first? And so, what they've been doing is during this time, even if the output is to be digital, which it often is, what's more important is to understand what are those customers needs in any online or offline environment?   What are their challenges? What are the points of friction today? And to use that to design the digital. We are people first, digital second, and leaders tend to forget that, they seem to think that we're all digital people and we just need digital tools. No, we need to solve the human need first and use a digital platform to do that.   Me: Ok, so we have to solve the human need first. So, I'd like some practical examples. I see in your just from your bio that retail and healthcare are areas that you have a lot of experience with. So maybe you could give us one from each. Maybe just how it is that you could put the human need first, what does that look like in a real life business example?   Jim shared that although it's been interesting because their customer base, the Heart of the Customer, has not been so much retail, they do a lot of healthcare work, a lot of B2B and B2C work. So, with business customers or as an intermediary to the customer. But one of the things they are finding across the board in almost any industry is the need for operational transparency. And he’s going to back that up, what does he mean by that?   And it's really the world's humankind's second most awesome invention after fire is the Domino's Pizza Tracker. It's amazing how many people they talked to want a Domino's Pizza Tracker for everything, and they find most organizations are not providing that operational transparency.   So, they're to go back 5 or 6 years in time, he doesn't remember when exactly the pizza tracker came out. He can come up with an app that could show you when your dough is put down and who is putting down the dough, and when somebody puts on sauce, somebody puts on ingredients, toss it in the oven. You just said, “Why would I want that? That’s daft.”   But when it showed up, people say, “Oh, I love that, in fact, I want to know if I'm applying for life insurance, I want to know what's happening.” They call it Operational Transparency and there's a great Harvard Business Review article on this, very influential to our thinking. But when organizations provide operational transparency to their customers, the customers feel the organization treats them more fairly, even if the outcome is bad, let's an use example of life insurance. Even if they're declined, they feel better about the process because they had visibility into it. And it removes a lot of anxiety.   They find that's true in almost every industry. They work with distributors who are providing materials to their clients, when they can provide operational transparency to when the order is placed, when products are shipped. Amazon clearly does this quite well, in the business environment; it's not often done as well.   They started to see it coming through a little bit more through some transparency in health insurance. If he submits a claim, he wants to know where that claim is, he wants to be able to see where it's working its way through, and he wants that transparency. So that's what they're finding across the board.   He mentioned that he didn't answer another part of the question going back, so he wants to circle back. And Yanique asked about the digital piece, but also asked, how do they get people to actually implement and understand customer needs and to actually put in place the processes needed.   And this is critical to their entire practice. They build everything they do around change management. And with that, they have a chapter in the book specifically about how to apply change management principles to journey mapping. Now, a number of years ago, it's been like 4 years. They did a survey on companies regarding their success in Journey Mapping, and he’s a journey mapping geek, his license plate is literally, “JRNY MAP”   So, last week they drove down to Texas and dropped off the car to his youngest, that would be the fastest plates you have ever seen swapped out because there's no way Jared wants to have journey map on that car. So, he’s a geek and they did a survey, he thought that everybody, when they asked how successful you were, would give you a 4 or 5, which clearly journey mapping works.   Everybody is going to say it's successful, not what they found. What they found is that only about 1 out of 3 did that. Another 1 out of 3 gave it a 1 to 3 and another one third said it's too soon to tell. Now, they just updated the data. They did another survey coming out here, more about journey management and the numbers are even worse. They're finding that only about 15% are saying that they are really successful. Most, 45%, so that’s literally most are saying it's too soon to tell which is not suggesting it's trending well.   If you spend US $125,000, US $150,000 which is what it takes to do Journey Mapping right, and you tell your boss, if your boss asks you, “Hey, did that work?” And you say, “Oh, I don’t know, it's too soon to tell.” That's not a good conversation.   They find that most organizations are doing the mapping and they're not being successful because they haven't thought about change management. What change management means and they did this research. They found the most important factors in being successful are first of all, knowing what it is you're trying to map, going after an actual business problem. They've had people tell them their business problem is they don't have a journey map.   That's not a business problem; they’ve had other people say their biggest problem is their survey scores are low, although that's not a business problem. We are losing customers, customers are not using us for this one type of product, we have a lot of people calling in, which is costly to them and to us, and those are business problems. So, it starts with going after a business problem because that's how you engage executives.   Second of all, then is involving customers in the process, which they should not have to talk about it, it's called customer journey mapping for a reason. They ran across all these consultants and as well as practitioners who think that if you take a bunch of employees, you put them in a room and give them post-it notes, we got a customer journey map. Not true. Well, they found when they do that because that is part of their process early on is that they get really good answers that are wrong.   Everybody thinks they know the customer journey but when they match that up against what customers actually tell them, there is a huge mismatch between the two. Because you are just reacting to part of the journey you see and very few employees can actually articulate the entire journey and are actually missing what's most important to customers.   So, second part is involving customers. But the third one, which is actually the most important, is who's on the team. If we go back to this, they don't involve their digital team and they mapped the journey and they come up with all these new digital items they need, you go to them and say, “Hey, we have this beautiful journey map.” Telling you all these things you need to do differently.   Well, they're not going to listen to you. Why should they? They've got their own list of things. But if you involve them in the process, you get them as part of it, that's when the magic happens and even more importantly, is involving leadership, getting the leaders to be part of the project, getting them to talk to customers, that's when you start to embed it inside of a culture.   Me: That makes sense. Would you suggest everybody should be involved, at least all of the different touch points that could possibly impact the customer?   Jim agreed and shared that they usually have about 30 people involved in their projects, sometimes more across the organization.   Me: And let's say for an organization with that size of maybe 2500 employees, let’s say they are a financial institution, they have a bank, they have an insurance arm, they have an investment arm. In a case like that, if they're really trying to do a transformational journey it would be recommended that all the leaders from the different business units are involved.   Mike mentioned that it sounds like Yanique has a particular customer or company in mind.   Me: No, not necessarily. But I just want to use a specific example, because I do have some of the persons that listen to this podcast that are in that line of business. So it would be good for them to specifically hear, because sometimes you read books, Jim, and the books speak at a very high level, but they're not bringing it down on a granular level to where you are in the organization.   “I am the marketing associate in the marketing department and I think if we do this in a digital way it will help to influence our marketing efforts.” But how does that transcend into the entire journey from end to end? And is it connected with the other departments on how it is that they are feeding information to the customers from their units? That's where I'm trying to get at so that everybody listening understands that it's not just a responsibility of one department.   Jim agreed and shared that first of all, it comes back to what's the business problem you're trying to solve, and likely you're actually not going to involve all three of those groups because the business problem typically doesn't go across the bank, the investments and the insurance area, it's probably more granular. And so, let's say for example, the business problem. They worked with one bank; let's use that as an example where their business problem was that always the secondary bank.   So, some other bank was the primary purpose, they were secondary and they isolated it because in the onboarding process, that first 90 days, clients weren’t really learning all they could do with the bank, and so they kept it as a secondary kind of a fund money bank, but they weren't using it for their primary checking account, their savings account, the credit card.   They typically came in because they needed a separate bank account for some reason, and they stayed with that. So, they wanted to learn how could they create an amazing onboarding process that got customers to learn that they could use this bank for way more than banking?   In that case, they needed to involve clearly the front line; you need to involve representatives from the individual branches because that's where a lot of the rubber hits the road. You also need marketing, going back to your point about marketing, you have to have marketing there because marketing should be creating a lot of these materials that you're using for the onboarding. Product, because product can learn what they're doing and come up with new products that fit that. The contact centre because they need to match as well what’s happening as well as the digital team. So minimum of these 5 teams, all need to be involved.   Me: So, that's really, really good information. Now, in terms of customer journey mapping, I did a webinar recently and I think one of the questions I asked was how often do they revisit their customer journey map.     Using Journey Mapping In Your Organization Me: Now as a customer journey map expert. Could you tell us if you are an organization and you've never done journey mapping before or let's say you did it 5 years ago, what's the recommended time for you to revisit it, to make sure that all the touch points are operating the way they should? Just to give people an idea, because I think a lot of companies think they built this journey map and that's it, it's almost like a policy or a procedure that was created in 1970 and it stays there forever.   Jim stated that Yanique was right and shared that the journey does change. They just did this survey, which they’re right now on the analysis of and they found that 90% of the respondents basically stopped there with the mapping. They create two different kinds of maps, they create one which is a change management map, highly graphically, the research is pretty clear, and it’s called The Visual Superiority Effect. If you create a highly visual artifact, people understand it more and they remember it, so they have that one.   Then for some of their clients, they go beyond that where they create a data oriented map which is bringing in the feeds of the operational data, as well as the sentiment data, the surveys, to show how that journey is as a baseline and how it changes over time.   If you do that, that largely answers your question, because as long as the journey is working the same and by bringing the operational data and he should say financial as well, you're going to start to see is that journey still healthy or are we seeing more cancellations? Are we seeing lower additional products added on? Are we finding business problems are happening because typically the business problems come/originated by a customer problem.   And so, the sentiments part of that, so you're able to track sentiment over time, hopefully have a journey survey, and have some touch point surveys so you bring that into the living journey map. But you also bring in that operational data so you can see while they're seeing a lot of calls at this phase of the journey or they're seeing that their average basket size going back to retail is dropping significantly or increasing. That's when you need to go back out to your customers, because the working the live journey map is telling you that things have changed and you need to go back and figure out why.   Using Digital to Enhance Customer Experience Me: Ok, so that definitely does answer some of those questions. Now, in terms of personalization, personalizing the experience for the customer. I know artificial intelligence and augmented reality are some things that companies are incorporating into their experience to make it more personalized. I was watching a video recently where IKEA literally has the augmented reality, you just hold your phone or your iPad up and you can just position the furniture in your house to see what it looks like. So you're actually almost choosing it without physically going to the IKEA location. What are your thoughts on embracing the power of being digital to the core to enhance customer experience and improving personalization in the process?   Jim shared that in terms of enhancing customer experience and improving personalization in the process is absolutely critical and not far enough along yet. Amazon has spoiled us all; every area we work in, we tell them Amazon is your competitor. If you're a bank, if you're a distributor as he mentioned earlier, you’re a health insurance organization, you're a non-profit, Amazon is your competitor. Not literally, if you're non-profit, it's pretty hard to argue that Amazon is taking your funds away.   But the mindset, all of our mindsets are changed by Amazon and that expectation. Amazon gives him a personal experience, therefore, when he’s engaging with another retailer, but also when he’s engaged with his health insurance organization, he expects them to personalize things for him. He expects everybody he interacts with, every organization to give him an Amazon like experience and so as a result, he’s frequently disappointed.   AI (Artificial Intelligence) is opening that up for the rest of us that we find the machine learning specifically allows you to understand patterns of behaviour and build and orchestrate a journey as a result.   They have a partner of theirs that does orchestration where you can actually set up individual responses based on needs. And that's a machine learning platform, although you can incorporate machine learning into it. But what they're finding in their research is that a handful of companies are doing an excellent job of really personalizing and building the journey on an individual basis even, or at least in a mass customized level. But most are not there today. There's a huge opportunity.   Me: So there's opportunity for organizations to improve personalization. Another big thing I found also, Jim, in the whole process of customer experience and enhancing it is having more integration across their channels. I use this webinar platform called Demio and so one of my business channels has expanded as a result of the pandemic. So, I never used to do webinars before, but because of the pandemic and I'm not physically going out to the training anymore.   Of course, I'm using webinars as a platform to reach more people and in doing my research, because I'm a customer service trainer. I wanted to use a platform that was customer friendly, meaning if I had an issue technically or there was an issue with just how to use a platform or what to do. I could message them on their response time would be like instantaneously. And of course, after doing research on speaking to other trainers both here in Jamaica and overseas, I was able to pick Demio. They're fairly new in the game and there are some features that they don't have that Zoom has, but one of the things I liked about them was that they were omnichannel and they were integrated.   So it didn't matter which platform I spoke to them on, what it was, Facebook Messenger, Instagram DM or it was the little chatbot that was directly on their website, that conversation continued on each platform and each person I spoke to was a continuation of the conversation from before, and it just made things so seamless and easy to transact business with them.   Operating an on Omnichannel Where Everything Is Integrated Jim shared that clearly it's the best approach, as Yanique just said right there and she’s right. You don't want to have to think about, “Did I start this with chat, did I start with the bot, where I started?” You don't care. One of their sayings is, “Thinking is bad. The more you make your customers think, the more at risk you are for losing their loyalty.”   That comes back to the need to be multichannel. He does not want to have a different experience or more importantly, to get different answers if he calls you, than if he chat, than if he uses other methods of interaction. He wants to know he’s getting that same experience across the board.   They find it's hard because they tend to have a siloed approach to improvement, and that comes back to earlier, that if you don't engage the leadership and don't engage the overall organization around this area and again, the parts of the organization that can be part of the solution, then you end up with siloed solutions. If you're building siloed solutions, you're going to be in trouble. But if instead you're taking the time to integrate across them, that's when you can make a huge difference in not just keeping your current customers are bringing in more because you're going to keep your base because they like the experience and they're going to talk to others.   Getting Employees Motivated Me: So, one of the things that we have to also do, and I know you mentioned it earlier in terms of involving the people, involving the people on the ground, the ones who are in the grassroots every day dealing with the customers, they know some of the challenges that the customers are actually experiencing. But how do you get them motivated? What if they're like, “They're bringing in all of these systems, you have to learn all of these new things, and I’m not getting any new pay for it. I don't feel motivated.” How do you get them engaged, motivated, feel like they're a part of the process? Do they need to be included in the decision making or is it a case where you just roll it out and say, listen, this is a new path we're taking?   Jim stated, well, so let's go back to the change management comment earlier. And again, they're big believers in involving change management. They find that customer experience, when they involve a change management approach, they have way more impact.   On a business to business level, Jen Zamora from Dow, they’re a client of Jim’s, they have a great approach. She's been posting every month on LinkedIn, their journey to customer experience and last week's was about how they incorporate change management into their approach, it's a great read. Follow Jen Zamora and look at her posts of what they've been doing.   Now, in Jim’s case, he likes John Kotter’s approach, which is on structure, but they talk a lot about the ADKAR (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement) change model from Prosci. And he likes it because it's simple but not simplistic. And ADKAR is an acronym. If you want somebody to change, they need to be aware of the need to change. They need to desire to change. They need to know what to change. They need to be able to change. And that has to be reinforced.   He mentioned that he’s going to try to convince Yanique to move away from Jamaica to Minnesota. First of all, you need to be aware of your need to move to Minnesota about how it's so beautiful there, it's fantastic, you’ve got to move up there. You need to desire to come up there. You've got to say yes, I don't have any snow boots, I need snow boots, he needs to get you desire that. You have to know how to move there and he'll work with you to get a moving agency. You have to be able to; you've got to be able to find something to move you from Jamaica to up there and you need to continually reinforce why this living in snow is a good thing. So, he has got an uphill battle.   What they find is that most organizations focus on the first A and the K and maybe the second A. So they say, “Yanique, are you aware that you can move to Minnesota, here's how you can do it and let me give you some training on how to live as a Minnesotan.” But he never took the time to help you understand why Minnesota is a beautiful state and why you'd want to leave Jamaica to come there.   It's a high bar. But now let's turn it back to your marketing person. And if you want your employees to use new systems, a lot of groups start with awareness, “Hey, we have a new system.” And then jump right to training. And here's the training. They didn't take the time to say, “And this is why this is going to help you. This is why you should want to do that.” Love the ADKAR model because it helps us remember how I built against the desire component and if your changes are not taking place, that's where he'd look.   How Jim Stays Motivated When asked how he stays motivated, Jim shared that he'll tell you; it's really hard the first few months of the Coronavirus, because even though he’s an introvert, he’s very introverted. He gets a lot of energy off of one to one conversations. A number of years ago like 8, 10 years ago when he was fired from a company, trying to find my new job; he had 133 coffees. Now that doesn’t count lunch, that doesn’t count dinner just strictly 133 just on the coffees and everything else.   And now we bring it to today in March and April was hard because nobody wanted coffee. It’s very easy for us all to pull inside. He gets his energy out of one on one conversations. He loves talking with other customer experience leaders to find out what they're doing.   And so, one of the things he did this year, it actually started before the Coronavirus, you may have seen Forrester’s prediction that 1 out of 4 customer experience people would lose their jobs this year because they're not showing business value.   A year earlier, Customer Think came out with the research that showed that only 1 out of 4 programs can show business value. So in January, he got really interested in that and said, well, what is it that separates that 1 out of 4 who are going to be fired from the 1 out of 4 that are who we all want to be, the ones that are really showing impact?   And so this year, they've interviewed so far 86 people in customer experience roles. They've added a few as well in finance and CEOs to understand what does excellence look like in customer experience. And when he leaves one of those conversations with somebody who's truly expert, he’s motivated, he’s inspired.     App, Website or Tool that Jim Absolutely Can’t Live Without in His Business Jim shared that there are two he'll mention. First of all, they use Microsoft Teams, there’s a way to connect and to use visual, big fan of that. That's number one, but some way that you can connect and have that camera turned on, that's important.   The Coronavirus taught us about a new tool that he wants to pitch, he’s not an investor or anything, but he loves it. It's called Stormboard. And it is an online interactivity white boarding tool that you do not have to train anybody. It's amazing. The service is really responsive; they have really enjoyed working with that. So if you're looking at a tool for doing online workshops, they loved them, they've been great partners; they’ve been very flexible and willing to teach them how to facilitate. But what they found is that they don't have to spend a lot of time teaching their clients how to use the tool, they just get in and they start to use it.   Books That Have Had the Greatest Impact on Jim When asked about books that have had the biggest impact, Jim shared that he just came back from vacation a couple of weeks ago out in Maine and what he does when he goes on vacation, this is geeky. He read books and he read three books and half of three others. But the one that really hit him hard is Leading Change, With a New Preface by John Kotter.   Time called it one of the most influential business books of the last 25 years. And he's got a great method of walking through it. And so, as he mentioned, they've used Prosci in the past, he has read their book and that's good from an outcomes perspective. What Kotter does, he walks through a process.   First of all, you've got to create a sense of urgency. What they find most customer experience leaders failing at is the next step, which is to create a powerful change coalition and then from there creating a vision as a total steps. But it just spoke to him. And yes, he realize that that shows how geeky he is in a book on change management, on the beach spoke to him, but he strongly recommends that book.   The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact he liked a lot by Chip and Dan Heath and he interviewed one of them for his blog, getting their feedback at Heart of the Customer. And it was interesting because Jim has a little bit different approach in that they they're all about building positive moments, which he agrees with as well. They don't like journey maps as much because journey maps also focus on the negative but you have to understand what are the most crucial moments are.   But in there, they also talk about do you want to spend your time fixing problems or creating great interactions? And what they find is that most organizations spend their time fixing problems. But the potential of creating great moments of truth with your customers has nine times the organizational value than fixing problems. Great book.   What Jim is Really Excited About Now! When asked if he could share something that he’s working on the develop himself or his people, Jim mentioned both, as mentioned, they’ve done 86 interviews so far to understand what is it that leads to excellence in customer experience. And one hint, it does not involve the letters N, P or S, it's really involving engaging executives, creating a vision.   They are right now in the process of distilling that and hope to be coming out with their own book again, a second book here in probably about 6 months to a year. But they're learning that there are people out there that are truly transforming their organizations around the customer experience and that there is a process that does it, but that it's rare and that most organizations are not having the impact. But there are some that are truly transforming their companies around the customer.   Yanique asked when would that be out and Jim shared that they're suppose to start analysis on the first of the month and do the writing through the end of this year or so, hopefully first and second quarter of next year. But he knows that their original project plan on the last book had them getting done in 2017 and it came out in 2019. But his history is not so good at getting the writing done in time.   Where Can We Find Jim Online Jim shared listeners can find him at – Twitter - https://twitter.com/jimtincher LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimtincher/   Website – www.heartofthecustomer.com   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Jim Uses When asked if he has a quote or saying that he would revert to in times of adversity or challenge, Jim shared that he does and it's particularly poignant during the Coronavirus, and it's from John le Carré, who's an English author, who said, “The desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.” They find a lot of customer experience people don't actually talk to customers, it's really important. Has been harder in the Coronavirus, it has to be done virtually but if you want to create an amazing customer experience, it starts by talking to your customers and that quote has inspired him for years now.   Me: It's so simple and it's almost like a BFO, like a blinding flash of the obvious, because clearly, how are you going to know what needs to be improved if you're not talking to the person who you are trying to make the improvements for because you need their input, it can't be based on what you feel or think. It must be based on their experience. So you would think, a lot of people are doing that, but a lot of companies don't actually do that consistently.   Jim agreed and shared that a lot of customer experience people don't even do it consistently, and that's the opportunity. So if he was to wish one thing for you, for everybody listening to this, it's that you will tomorrow reach out to a few customers and just have a conversation.   He shared that he had a great interview with the customer experience leader in France and she said one of the benefits of a pandemic is that she used to visit all the customers in France because she could do without traveling. Now, she’s talking to their customers in China, in Brazil, in Canada, because they're all the same distance away from her now.   Me: That's true. The French and the Chinese and the Brazilians, it takes that much energy to call each one if you're calling somebody just the same in France.   Jim agreed and shared that that's his encouragement to everybody is, reach out to your customers no matter where they are.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners   Links How Hard Is It to Be Your Customer? Using Journey Mapping to Drive Customer Focused Change by Jim Tincher Leading Change, With a New Preface by John Kotter The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact by Chip Heath and Dan Heath   The ABC’s of a Fantastic Customer Experience Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC’s of a Fantastic Customer Experience.”   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Hug Your Customers! Maybe not literally, especially if you have an online business. That would be hard. But Hug Your Customers is the name of a book I'm reading, and I'm recommending it to you. The book is written by Jack Mitchell, the Chairman of Mitchell Stores, a three-generation family business that operates men's and women's specialty stores in Connecticut, New York, California, Washington and Oregon that are nationally renowned for their personal service touches and strong relationships. (let me share with you the description of the book from Amazon, since I just started reading it) Mitchell, whose father started the business, shares the secret of his success in this unoriginal but cheerful guide to keeping customers happy. Hugging your customers, he says, has nothing to do with being touchy-feely around them and everything to do with offering them over-the-top service. For Mitchell, that means literally offering a customer the coat off your back, if that's the only one left in the store in the customer's size and preferred style and color. It means going to customers' homes to tie their bow ties for big events. It means serving coffee and bagels in the store and giving away hot dogs in the parking lot on summer Saturdays. Some might view this as fawning, but for Mitchell, it's the best way to keep customers coming back. I love the message in the book. For one, it aligns with much of what I talk about in The Grateful Entrepreneur. But it also can be summarized into this simple concept: be kind to others and make them happy. Which is the foundation of a successful business.

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Please ignore any speech-to-text errors) [00:00:00] hello, everyone, I'm so glad you joined us. For those of you who don't remember me, my name is Penny. And welcome. Welcome to this next session of $get calling you with Beatty Carmichael. Beatty is the CEO of Master Grabber, the creator of Agent Dominator and one of the top marketing expert in the real estate field. Beatty, I'm super excited. I know you always have something great for us today. What are we going to be discussing today? [00:00:27] Well, Penny, today we've got a really exciting call because this is going to be something a little bit different as things like I'm always trying to do. I'm going to share the audio of a call I recently did with a friend and a very successful real estate agent client of ours named Stuart Sutton. And this kind of set the stage. You know, right now we're going through just some terrible times with the Corona virus. States are locking down where shelter at home. Nonessential businesses are being forced shut. And in some of those states, they consider real estate non-essential. We're headed into a recession. We have millions of people unemployed. And this is where we find ourselves in the real estate world. The question is, what do we do and how do you manage on it? The reason I did a special call with Stuart is in talking with Stuart. Stuart spins through every financial crisis in the last 40 years, 40 plus year veteran, whether the 1986 crisis, the dot.com boom and then bust, OK, or the meltdown in 2008 and now the coronavirus. One of the things that's been really interesting is every time Stuart entered one of these crises, he earned more money. And as he exited the crisis, he earned even more money. OK. And Paul, other real estate agents are going out of business. Stuart's income continues to grow. And I was asking him how I wanted to do a call. So we did a call recently, and that's what I want to share. But real quickly, before I introduce the call to you, I want to share one other thing. One of the things that he focuses on, you'll hear this right upfront is that he increases his marketing for listings. [00:02:15] This is the thing that's always impressed me when ever Stuart wants more listings. He simply increases his marketing for it. Most people don't understand. How do you market for listings? One of the things that we did many years back, Stuart was actually one of our very first clients and working with Stuart. We developed using his guidance and then have really taken it beyond from that point a very consistent pattern on how do you market for listings? Is the focus is both in geographic farming to generate listings and in your personal contacts, your past clients and sphere of influence. We've even expanded into commercial investment property and are just now moving the same process into property management. But where I want to go on this is as you're listening to this call, and if you don't have a way to market for listings, let me encourage you to check out what we do, because it's a very proven, consistent model. And as you move into these crisis times, then you can follow the pattern that Stuart's done and not only stay in business, but earn more money. And if you do have interests on that, just visit our Web site at Agent Dominator, dot com agent dominator, dot com. And you'll see a skilled prime is really on the Web sites geared for residential, you know, geographic and past client sphere of influence. If you do have interests on the commercial side, just make a note of that. If you fill out the form and will follow up with you on that. But anyway, with that penny, would I like to do now as I like to bring on the recording, this conference call I recently did with Stuart. It's really fascinating. [00:04:05] Welcome, everyone. Right now we have an open call, so you'll hear the beats coming in. And this is Bayti Carmichael. [00:04:11] The voice you're hearing and also with me is Stuart shotton. And this is going to be this really great call. And I'm so glad that you guys who are joining in or joining in, we are going to be recording this and we're putting it out as a podcast. If you want to listen to it, more completeness later, you'll have that opportunity really soon. But with all the challenges going on right now in this nation that we're experiencing and especially how it impacts our business and the real estate world, I reached out to my friend Stuart, whose is just a an amazing realtor in terms of consistent production, regardless of the environment. And I thought it were and could learn a lot and be encouraged a lot. So we'll quickly to start, if you would. We're still a few minutes before starting. So this is not an official start time yet, but I'd love to if you would just announce who you are and just what what city and state. [00:05:16] You're in the heart. All right, Gary. Rolling Stone Mountain. All right, welcome. St. Charles, Illinois. Hey. All right. Else is out there. Zelda Greenberg, quantity for Florida. Welcome, Ken. Ken Gandi, Naples, Florida. Remember this as you're joining interest. Tell us who you are and where you're from. John King. [00:06:00] John, welcome. And see the lady there. Welcome. [00:06:05] I miss the name, but welcome to call me Austin from Charleston, South Carolina. OK. Welcome from India. [00:06:15] Hi, Candy. [00:06:19] This been you are watching. Welcome. You can pour me some java to whoever is boring. That will set the mike down in just a moment. Get the background noise is out. The. But as you're joining it. Just tell us who you are and where you calling from. Justin was there. Minneapolis, Minnesota. Hey, Justin. [00:06:46] All right. Anyone else want to say hello before we are? [00:06:50] We're at the top of the hour, someone said like anyone else want to say a lot before I shut down, am I? OK, now let me figure out how to let. Hold on. [00:07:04] Moment. [00:07:09] Everyone else is now muted. [00:07:11] Ok, great. So I've got the backgrounds down. And so I wanted to just kind of officially start this call off and introduce my friend Stuart to you. [00:07:24] So the purpose of this call is we're all going through some really difficult times right now with the Corona virus and kind of what's happening in shutting everything down. I want to see if I can turn these chimes off. Just one moment. [00:07:41] Entry and exit chimes are now off. [00:07:44] Okay, perfect. And and, you know, the question is how do we respond? How do you grow your business? I was talking to Stuart. In fact, Stuart, I have to tell you, the reason I reached out to you. We've had several clients saying, hey, you know, you're all going to do any of those mastermind calls. Again, this would be a good time. I was thinking, oh, yeah. Let's do that. Because Stuart and I did to mastermind calls a number years back for about a year and a half to two years. And I just learned a lot. But for those who don't know Stuart Street, you've been selling real estate for almost 40 years now. Am I right on that? [00:08:23] Q Well, it sure does sound like a long time when you say, well, you know, when you started fifteen years old, then, you know, anything can go on the trip. [00:08:35] And that's the neat thing with Stuart is Stuart is going through. So what what are all the crisis you've hit? What are the ones you remember? [00:08:48] I'll go and see. When it started, the real estate industry interest rates were 18 percent. So basically, nobody can buy a house with a new mortgage. The market crashed the. If anybody remembers that work. RTC pretty much took over a bulk of the properties in the country. Then the dot com bust, of course, was pretty nasty. And there was no age, of course. And then there's been some others that weren't as many as five, but really had a tremendous interest in go for when the first one started with great concern. And then, of course, the most recent one we're involved in, which is quite interesting. If I'm lucky to have experienced. [00:09:29] Yeah. And we were talking earlier today, you made a startling comment for me. What happened with your income in each of those? Can you share quickly entry and exiting each of those areas? [00:09:44] Yeah, and this is a little hard to get your arms around, but I believe the reason behind this has to do a lot with not a real exciting word, but it to me is a word that's paramount to my business and that is consistency. [00:10:00] The most money I've made in given years to my career has been going into and coming out of crisis like this. And I can give you kind of a reasoning and a background like that as we go. Or I can give you a summary. Is that such what you prefer? [00:10:18] Why do we do this? Wanted to give us a quick summary right now. And then what I may do is. And then we'll just dig into it, because what I like to do is I like to kind of peel back the onion a little bit with what I call the low hanging fruit, things that people can really take away from this call and start applying in the business now. And most importantly, make sure they apply in their business long term so they can weather anything like this in the future. [00:10:46] All right, so in the best way I can think of, to put it, is very simply that if you're prepared in I don't mean like make all these special preparations and do all this significant stuff that you'd never month been before. If you're prepared with the way you do business entering into a situation like this, this is not going to level you out or take take away your income and your livelihood. Here's what I mean by that. Let's just take the 0 8 debacle as an example. So when when 0 8 came around, one of the things that happened just before 0 8 was the market was moving along very, very well. And our listeners were selling just as fast as they possibly could. But when a late hit, things change dramatically. So we started we kept doing what we were doing. And so it just before 0 8, I was carrying a listening inventory. And after a weight, within a few months, my listing inventory was 2, 3 times that. In this time went by five times that. What we had to do, what we've always done is assess where we are compared to the market. So it's very important to know your market. So if the turnover ratio and I'm asking you use one ratio, I'm not going to get into a lot of subtleties and muddle this up. [00:12:14] But if your market sees 1 in 10 listings on the market close every month, then that means if you have 10 listings, you'll have one close. Well, if you have to pay all your bills with two closings, then you need 20 listings. If you have a budget that requires three closings, then you need three transactions. So we've always simply adapted to what the market was doing based on turnover ratio. So I'll give an example when I continue to talk about the 0 8. So when when that hit are we just kept marketing, kept marketing, kept marketing, our listening inventory built in. I'm talking about me and one assistant. All right. Me and one assistant. I was carrying 50, 60 at one time, even 70 listings. But guess what was happening? The turnover ratio was selling a portion of those every single month and keeping me with the income that I needed. It was used to and had set goals for. So if you remember when things started getting better, your market may be different than mine. But Irish was 12. It was the last year where things were sort of even in 13 they started up. I remember. Within a few months period, my listening inventory went from over 60 listings to less than 20. [00:13:49] So what do you think happened during those few months? Well, demand started changing. Interest rates were falling. People were realizing this crisis didn't the crisis anymore. In that year was very, very strong year for us. The same thing happened in the dot.com bust in the early 2000s. We saw prices drop within two months. Toward sellers could not even get close to what they thought they can get anymore. So parliamentary built. And then when the market improved, we made dramatic. We had dramatic sales months in. I think the same thing's gonna happen now. What I mean by that is my little toy already in one month is double what it typically is. I believe that in two months to three months it will double again. So when this crisis is over, guess what's going to happen? I truly believe in. I'm not a prognosticator, buddy, but I truly believe the pin-up demand after this eases up is going to come out and we're going to see most of the homes that we put in the market that are good value, good will price and show well that they're going to sell. So that's kind of a sign we do that since it does. [00:15:03] Look, let me really repeat it, because it seems I won't use the word so brilliantly simple. It's I think it's easy to miss. You made the comment. You keep marketing and marketing and marketing. Let me say, if I if I if I net this out, the turnover rate of how many listings in a given month actually sell, then you back into it. How many listings do you need to have an inventory to sell that will cover your nut? And you just keep marketing until you get that number of listings. So now you've got you've got to set the listing inventory that keeps you cash flowing. And I want to make an assumption and correct me if I'm wrong when you keep marketing for listings. [00:15:55] In these crisis times, I'm assuming that you're probably experiencing your competitors have stopped marketing for listenings by and large. Is that am I making it? I'm kind of extrapolating, but is that behind the scenes assumption? Maybe. [00:16:11] That's a very reasonable assumption in an accurate one. So going into a crisis, if you remain consistent and actually increased my budget a little bit, because what has to happen during a down market during a downturn is I have to have more listings in order to cover my expenses. And my expenses, by the way, are extraordinarily low for someone who does the volume I do. And that's just the experience to a great degree. So going into a crisis, I build my inventory. And what happens is those people but you might not have told me, keep getting my stuff. And even though the market's not what it was. People still have to sell. There are certain circumstances where people have no choice. They still need to sell. So in a in a current situation like this, where they may not want to sell right now, but they know they have to sell. I have quite a few listings right now signed that aren't on the market, but will be as soon as the seller and myself feel it's a comfortable time to go back in the market. So going into a crisis, my listening inventory builds coming out of a crisis. All those listings sell. So I do quite well on both ends of that. No, that's not that's not a hey, let's find out how we can get rich quick. That's the last thing it is. It's really a a consistency provides an opportunity no matter what. And you're not taking advantage of anything. What you're doing is being prepared in advance for whether the market goes up or down, if it stays consistent. Guess what? You stay consistent. [00:17:58] You know that this really is it seems so simple. [00:18:03] And I just want to reiterate repeat it, because, you know, I'm over here kind of grasping and going is that it goes like it's things like, do you increase your marketing for listings while everyone is pulling out of their marketing per listing? So now your marketing is more effective. [00:18:23] You're getting I think you're getting a higher response rate in generating listings because you're one of fewer people doing it. So now your listings are growing, which keeps your cash flow consistent. You're building up this huge pipeline of listening. And then when the dam breaks, now it all cashes out. [00:18:49] Yeah, I remember coming out of the 0 8, I believe it was April of about 12. We sold, we put it. Remember, this is mean assistance. We put 31 homes under contract in one month because the peanut the came out and we had a large listing. If I had, you know, plodded along and not been consistent in not adapted to the market. [00:19:19] In other words, if I hadn't paid attention to the turnover ratio and had done what I needed to, then I did. Okay. But you know how many agents, babies that that herd wander in even in this market? [00:19:33] I've never been without listenings before. They'll say I've got one listing. I'm usually carry six or eight or I usually carry 20. I've got two. Well, that doesn't happen. The reason that happened to me is because of the consistency in the actually extra little push. Always put a little push, for example, in the fall when other people back off. So I tried to be a little bit of a contrarian as far as the timing is concerned, if that makes sense. [00:19:59] Yeah, I know that in the fall we also go head to head. Now you go. [00:20:05] I will just say we also increased something else in. This is a lot of people have a hard time believing. I really had people look me in the eye and go really, really to 60 listings. Are you serious? And the answer is yes. How do you eat an elephant? [00:20:24] One bite at a time? So I'm going to work Monday through Friday and I'm out of work a little more on that back then, but really not much more because I had two little kids. So here's what happened on Monday. Twelve people hurt somebody who were listening. So let's take sixty divided by five on Tuesday. Well, people heard who listed with me, so I basically took an increased our level of service. [00:20:55] Hardpoint because a lot of idiots aren't used to having a whiskey for two months or four months or 12 months, but that's sometimes inevitable depending on the scenario. So if you don't want sellers getting upset with you in moving on to the next agent, you have to ramp up that service. So the adaptation is increased marketing for listening, increased service for those who do list. And that's that's simply an organization issue in the timing issue. That makes sense, right. [00:21:32] I remember a few years back I was asking you about your business and just to put things in perspective for everyone on the call. When you and I met, it was late 2012. So we're just coming out as we're about to come out of the recession. The recession caused by that. And you're doing like a hundred and twenty transactions a year. Thirty five hours a week at effort. And we started to talk about your business. This is about a year later going through the recession period. You pulled up your numbers and every year your numbers were not inconsistent. But you increase the number of sales you transacted every year for other agents. We're going out of business and collapsing. Your business was growing. And I just thought that was brilliant. And now it just seems like it's so easy to just increase marketing for listings. [00:22:38] Well, it's it's maybe easier said than done. But again, it's just, you know, what's that? You know how to tell someone by term. So I don't take that. I've never really taken that. Hey, I've got it. Get these six thousand mailings out over the next 60 days. Right. We piecemeal it. We send a few here. We send a few there. We we monitor we we follow up the IP. And as you know, I've been one of those teams with, you know, listing agents and buyers, agents and in staff and runners and marketing agents. And, you know, did hundreds of cells a year. And I really and truly enjoy what I do now because I have first of all, I can do it with an incredible system. She is phenomenal. But relationships are built with clients are very, very different than when I had a team, a big team. And one thing he said was very accurate. But that memory probably let it slip a little bit. [00:23:37] A number of transactions during that time didn't keep going up. They actually started going down. But that was on purpose. My income kept going up. That's what it was. Yes. So what I realized was it was one system. I could keep doing those 100 plus transactions a year or I could move them down. And there's three ways to increase your income in this business. I mean, it's very obvious. More sales, higher commissions or more transactions per client. [00:24:07] So I basically manage my business in a way that most of my clients are multiple transaction clients at this point. So they're much easier to deal with. It's a much easier transaction. There's a great deal of trust. So I do about half the transactions that clients have, but nearly half the transactions I did in 12. But my income is higher than it was in 12. Does that make sense? [00:24:34] That does. I want to get people to start asking some questions. I'm wanting to. For those interested, I'm pulling up a join me account. And I just want to direct you before you go and you can type your questions in and I'll read them out for you. [00:24:51] Stuart But if you go to join me, when else is now, unmute it. I don't want second, we don't have a really loud call. Give me just one moment. I just pulled this up. Let's see how. Take on. Here we go. I'm gonna say this online. [00:25:12] The conference is now in question and answer mount. [00:25:17] Ok. Stuart, is it okay if I let people start asking you question? Because I think we're right. I think this is a brilliant spot that probably a lot of questions for us a little bit dig deep. So I've got everyone's soft muted right now. If you have a question for Stuart, you want to kind of inquire a little bit more. Press star six on your phone and along your line and just a little bit of protocol. We'll quickly press Star 6 and announce yourself. And I just hope we'll just take any questions as they come along and let you meet yourself back. After you've asked your question, any questions out there, we'll quickly before we just continue in a monologue. [00:26:04] Bombeck. OK, Wanda. Go ahead. I didn't want a hard time from Minneapolis, Minnesota. And I am. I missed the other two things that you mentioned. Stuart is two, three ways to increase the income. [00:26:21] I didn't get the multiple transection of clients. That is my strong suit and I love it. But what were the other two? [00:26:30] Oh, good question. And by the way, I love Minnesota. I've got a friend that just moved up there to get married. Beautiful part of the country. So the three ways to increase your income in this business are, as you and I both agree on strongly, and that's multiple transactions per client. And I've got two different ways that I do that. Another one. The most obvious is make more sales. [00:26:54] And then the third one is a higher commission curtail. [00:27:00] So just to kind of follow you back, just to kind of follow that path. I purposely increased my average sell price over the last six years rather dramatically, and that was from poignant, focused and pertinent marketing to to a targeted database of people. So the multiple transactions per client have to do with two things. I chose a niche and started working with a niche where the result is typically two loops. I deal with listenings where the seller is usually going to sell that and buy another house more often than the typical real estate market transaction in your your area will be different than mine. But the bulk of my business is people who move from acreage into a subdivision or from subdivision to acreage. So I have two transactions and in very high percentage of my clients and the other is investing. I teach my clients who want to learn how to invest in give him example this month alone. I have sold for investment properties to clients who are really scarily trusting. And what I mean by that is what do you think, Stuart? You go right ahead. [00:28:21] That's fine. We don't care to go ahead. So you really have to cover yourself and make sure that all the information and and pertinent documents are taken care of as far as, you know, that particular transaction is concerned. So I teach my plans to invest in a lot of my plans and go invest. And then I work a market where many of them will, you know, sell their acreage, move into a subdivision, cause your kids grow in some or multiple, multiple, multiple. I just sold one investment house I sold this week was to a guy who moved out of a subdivision with his family. But acreage then they sold their acreage, moved back into a subdivision, and they started buying investment property for me. And that's his third one. So, you know, those are just those are just the best kind. [00:29:11] You know, the other thing I want to make an observation. And I've seen this from you throughout our entire relationship, Stuart. But you made a comment sharing with. I think that I think as Karen was carrying around. I'm sorry, Mr. Wanda. Wanda is Wanda with Linda. And it was you made a deliberate decision to increase the sales price and you started marking that direction. And I think what happens a lot of times with a lot of agents is they just try to do anything, anywhere. But you've always been very deliberate. Do it with everything you do. [00:29:51] And. [00:29:54] And maybe if you just, you know, if there's anything that touch on with that. But I just thought that was an interesting observation. You don't react well. You make it happen where you want it to happen. [00:30:08] And that has that has a lot to do with experience, but also has to do with, I think, awareness. I mean, one of my favorite sayings is truly that, you know, the difference between an agent who makes a million dollars and an agent who makes fifty thousand dollars is is not always passion. It's not always determination. It's not always will. It's not always work ethic, but times, it's awareness. Are you aware of the steps you need to take? Now, here's the scary part. When you're aware of the steps you need to take. [00:30:42] Now, are you willing to do it? And that's where the rubber meets the road. But awareness is is huge. And one the best thing that ever did truly was learn to market. And I'm not being derogatory by any means. This is just this just an observation. You know, I know lots of insurance agents. You probably do, too. Very few of them really know how to market their business. Most trilogy's agents claim to market, market, market. They really don't know how to market their business. And if you remember, one of the reasons I pick up the phone and called you in 2012 was because I think everybody on this could probably agree. Man, I think I don't know who told everybody else or put real estate agents on a target list. But hey, real estate, buy anything. Just start marketing tool. I mean, there's so much stuff out there. [00:31:36] It's unbelievable what they're trying to sell us. But the reason I called you was because when I got a marketing piece from you, I read it and I said. This person knows Markin. This isn't some fluff piece for some good looking piece or some focused on them piece. This is a marketing piece in the difference, if you're aware, is astounding and. Making the decision to market to a particular group. You can do that. Whoever they are really does not matter your price range that matter. Market doesn't matter. I mean, bottom line is that if you understand the rules of marketing in consumer response, you can pretty much turn your faucet up, turn your faucet down. And I use that analogy simply because that's what marketing is. If I want to make more money next year, guess what I'm going to do? I'm going to turn my marketing faucet up if I want to take more time off. And you know, this Beatty. But my wife had breast cancer about a year and a half ago. And she's doing very well. But I turn my marking faucet down. I didn't quit doing business totally, but I turned my marking post down so I could spend the time with her. And that's the beauty of real estate. That's the beauty of marketing. That's just why just this business is such an incredible business to be. [00:33:02] Yes, it is. Let's go with another question. If anyone else has out there, just say hello. [00:33:13] Impress Star 6 on your phone. [00:33:18] Any other questions before a yes. This is it, open hand. You can find Trulia, Washington and a real for about five years and. I'm doing a little better each year. Kind of, I guess, and say I'm in the top twenty five ish and are counting to small county. Kind of rural neighborhood. Just wondered what what advice you might give to somebody at my age. Got a bunch of kids at home. Sole provider for my home. And I've actually got six children at home. I'm trying to balance work life and and, you know, paying the bills, but looking for just any insight you might give to somebody who's at year 5 doing pretty well, doing about 25 to 30 transactions a year. And that's pretty good in our area with top producers, then 90, I think. And the next person to them is like 60. I want to get closer to 50. But, yeah. So any any input, anything. And it's kind of open ended, but anything you might have to say. [00:34:33] No worries that will bless you. By the way, six kids, you got your hands full. But Abed's Christmases are a blast, aren't they? Oh, yeah, lots of fun. And there's another you know, I'm in Texas, you guys. [00:34:48] I'll admit, it's not the beautiful, most beautiful state. We love central Texas, but I mean, Washington. What a gem that is so gorgeous up there. Yeah. So, yeah. You know what? First of all, five, five years in six kids and sole provider, that is. That's absolutely phenomenal. I'll I'll share something personal with you. [00:35:11] And, you know, my wife tells me, hey, you know, quit preaching at people, but sometimes I just have to share stuff. And you're probably already head of this. But you know what? When my first son was born, I started taking all day Thursday all in, gave my wife the entire day off. And the bond and the time and understand quality, time, quantity time is huge as well. And here's what's interesting. I would put on my voicemail. This is Thursday. It's the day with my family. So if you need me immediately, my system will know how to get hold of me. But if it's not, I'll be happy to talk to you tomorrow. People would leave voicemails that say, don't you dare call me back today, you know? Or, hey, good for you. Put your family first. We'll talk you tomorrow. [00:36:01] I guarantee it never cost me a deal. And I think it probably enhanced my business with people who knew the position that I was taking. OK. [00:36:13] So the next thing that I would say from a business perspective is very simply this and that is truly learn and understand marketing. And you said it if it's open ended. But if you if you get to become a student and learn marketing those people in your sphere. So we're going to refer you business because they like you care about you want to see you succeed. [00:36:47] In the number to get those people so Indian kids for free. [00:36:55] That poem, but I would recommend marketing people like our niece. Ah, yes. Look, I don't necessarily think it's a matter of fact, the agents that go through. I do some teaching, coaching, et cetera, et cetera. And I don't include real estate books in any of my progress. We read books that are outside of real estate and we bring the methodology into real estate. [00:37:21] Some of the best things that I've ever done in my business came from Ford or Nike or, you know, somebody like that, because guess what, marketing works. Coca-Cola does it on different scale than I do. I do it in a very small world. But guess what? The methods and strategies still work very, very well. And with that small town that you're in, in that small market, the turian, if you market professionally and aggressively, you're going to get to that 50 or 60 transactions faster than if you do it the old real estate way. If that makes sense. [00:38:02] Yeah, that. [00:38:04] Awesome. Thank you. I don't know if that was helpful. I hope it was. [00:38:07] Are you OK? Yes. Thank you. I am out of all the books I've read in marketing. There is one that's kind of encapsulates everything in a single book. It's absolutely the very best. I have to go on audio and I can't tell you how many times I've listened to it, but it's called Monopolized Your Marketplace by Rich Harshaw H.A. R s h a w I believe monopolized your marketplace. But it is the best book in understanding marketing copy writing headlines and the entire process of what I call the marketing equation are actually what they call the marketing equation. If you guys have been through any of our demos where we share what we do with Agent Dominators, you'll see what we talked about outside perception versus inside reality comes straight from that book. Okay. [00:39:11] And second, that that is that is a fabulous textbook for market. [00:39:15] Yes. And if you read that and apply it, then you'll start to really understand what what Stuart's been talking about. When he says when you understand marketing, then you can start to pursue most any niche you want and you can become successful there. So let me just encourage you not to get that monopolize your marketplace. I think it's still in print. If it's not, you can probably find a used copy somewhere. [00:39:47] Oh, yeah. I'm sure you can find his copy arms. Another one I would recommend is this in real estate related. But the principles are it's a book called Hug Your Customers, where everyone goes around saying, well, what with closing gift you recommend. Well, if you read hug your customer, you'll understand the principles behind true customer loyalty and keeping those customers raving fans of yours. [00:40:13] It's just it's again, it's outside the real estate industry. It's a retail industry book. But you bring their principles into real estate. It's fantastic. [00:40:22] Why? That's that's good. Any other questions out there? [00:40:26] Press star if you're not a medium yourself already and just announced yourself. [00:40:32] I am from California. And thank you for taking the time out today. Hey, I was curious, what is successful in your marketing plan? What avenues do you use? Are you using only print media, using social media? Where do you focus your kindness? [00:40:51] Very good question. We have so many options nowadays. And I would really encourage you to become an extraordinary expert at one. And pretty good, if not really good at others. So here's my strength. It's obviously because of my era is as Beatty said, I've been in real estate for just a little while. As my twenty five year old son says. And I don't know where they got this, but I've always heard out of his mouth. Well, you've been doing it a hot minute, had you? So, Hotman. It means a long time, apparently. So I have been doing it a HOTMAN Way I started was good old fashioned mail marketing. [00:41:37] And so I am the bulk of my income comes from mail marketing, but. It used to come from male marketing that gave consumers a hard offer. What that means is call me right now. Is technology advanced? Then my male marketing turned in to soft offers. Go to this 800 number. Hear this message. Now my soft offers. Take them, too. I want to remember this very specifically, landing pages and videos. I do not have a card that goes in the mail that doesn't send them to a landing page in a video and I'm gonna give you one area. The has helped me with this small harm area. [00:42:32] There's nine hundred and seventy one people there and I have one print piece that has gone out there. The video has been viewed at my the last time I look at the video has been viewed four thousand one hundred and twenty seven times. There's only 971 people in that in that farmers. And the reason for that, I think you can pretty much guess is they look at it. Oh, that's not bad. And then they get ready to sell and then they go look at it again and then they're ready to colonnades it. They look at it again. So it's just one of those things that what is how we adapting to what's going on that day. So my strength is truly male marketing. And I've had a tell me, hey. It don't work anymore. And I'm just I'm living proof that it does actually got a postcard from Google. About four months ago. So it's Google sending me postcards. I know that postcard marketing still works, but our social media marketing is quite strong as well. Last month, I'm sorry, last week I spent two hundred and nineteen dollars on Facebook ads and again, marketing. Works on Facebook like it works on postcards. The same methods, the same strategies, the same principles, typical real estate agent marketing is not as effective. [00:43:57] And I'll be happy to cover a couple of those things with you. But I spent two hundred and ninety dollars on Facebook ads in the last two weeks have put most modern in two increments, and I created ninety six leaves with phone numbers, emails and names. Now I know agents that don't do the phone numbers and they'll get a lot more leads than I do. But I get phone numbers, emails in names in one out of five phone numbers. So nearly 100 leads means I got nearly 80 good phone numbers and a high proportion to email addresses because even if they don't leave these phone numbers, I'll leave you a good email. So Facebook marketing is very inexpensive, but the actual commission that you generate is not that much greater with Facebook than it is with post-card. It's just an area where I'm going to find somebody that I might not have gotten from the postcards or if you've heard the term about very touches. If I get my postcard and then they see a video of me giving up on the market in my area and then they see a listing on Facebook on a Facebook ad. Now they're saying, well, this guy really works. This area guy really knows his stuff. Does that make sense? [00:45:24] Yes, it doesn't. No one should just like. Sure. All right. But again, I would I would reiterate the the marketing aspect of that. My life Facebook ads and my online ads get a much higher conversion than most agents because they produce high quality lead at a much higher level than most ads do. So what you were asking the question. I apologize. Ahead. [00:45:54] No, no worries. On your Facebook ads, what what are you advertising? When are giving in their assets in train a person to go through? [00:46:04] Query. Good question. Three things. One is a list of houses. Now they can go to Zillow, they go to Realtor.com and go anywhere they want. But if you show them a list of housing by list, I don't mean, hey, clicking here, I'm going to make your list or we're going to send you a PDA or some of that. [00:46:27] When they when they click through, they go straight to a page that shows them those in their updated in real time. It's not a it's not a static list. It's a page with the criteria. So I'll give an example. I work, as I mentioned earlier, the small acreage market, I call it the one acre plus. So I got to see what's 29, 28, 67 leaves from an ad that said. If you want a massive backyard for less than five hundred thousand dollars, here it is. So list of houses I call it must see houses that see all houses with massive backyards and such an acre or more because most people don't know want an acre is, but a lot of people want a huge backyard. So another one that I ran is if you want a home with more than two acres, there's a lot of people who are looking at acreage making quite enough. They want they want to do something that you can't do on an acre. Most of the acre subdivisions are restricted. You can't put a workshop, things like that. So when I say more than two acres, that hits a hot button with these people who want to park their RV on it or put a workshop on it so that one gets a lot of talk. It's what I call my see houses and see all the homes on two or more acres. See all homes with massive backyards. Preston Five hundred. See every house on an acre and more with a swimming pool. [00:47:57] And then it takes them directly to a page that is updated live with that in people are if they want to see that net is pertinent to them. They're a much better lead when it when it comes right down to putting in their information to see it. In the second type of ad is really what I call video views. And video views are nothing more than me doing the video. It might be, hey, here's one of the best values on the market. It might be. Here's what happened, in fact. Tomorrow I'll be putting one out that says here's what happened in the first quarter of 2020 compared to 2019. I'm going to really separate out what happened in January, February. What happened March? Because I saw a very big difference in March and January, February. We thought this was going to be the best year we've seen ever since. I mean, in forever, it was going to be incredible. And then the third type is is not really the best lead that I put it out there. So those people who've seen the videos, who are seen the sea houses, ads and things like that say that I'm doing business. So new listings and I run them for a shorter time, put a new listing up in. When I sell a listing, I tell a little story behind listen, just like the postcards did. So listing sold ads, see houses, ads in video ads that help. [00:49:25] Yeah, yeah, definitely. [00:49:27] Thank you. You're welcome. [00:49:31] Stuart, you're here. Go ahead. Yes, sir. Bob Burns is in Naples, Florida. How are you? Oh, doing well, thank you, sir. Yes. Get out. [00:49:47] Probably only 4 percent of the agents in America meet the National Association's definition of a business base, which is what we're all trying to build as a reliable, sufficient base of people that are referring as well. That means the other 96 agents are working the stranger market, whether that's for sale by owners or expires this first time. And the thing that you shared with me, your strategy and I don't know if you have time to go into it today on expired listings. What was the most amazing that I've heard in 50 years? The nine Umbridge, nine children as a condition of all salesman in this business. So do have time to share your. [00:50:47] Yeah, I can give you a quick summary if you like. Beatty, how we doing on time? It. [00:50:53] Let's say we've got about 15 minutes, so that's a quick summary on that. [00:50:58] All right. This is typically our presentation. I'll do it in five minutes. I'm awfully glad to meet somebody who's been in the business longer than me. That didn't happen very often. Congratulations. So what you're probably referring to is, I believe very firmly that there is no better business. You can have been past clients and customers because of the trust and the referrals and all that. But I also believe that you're leaving money on the table if you don't market to strangers. If you don't market to the cold market as well. Again, if marketing is something you're aware of and understand, you're going to have a much higher level of success. When people who have never dealt with call me to do business because of marketing, it's not as good as a past client, but it is really reaching that. So a lot of people have mis perceptions about expires in by owners. I'm just going to focus on power right now. I don't work expands the way a lot of agents do. Now, I used to question surreally back in the 90s. I put on a headset and co-called and I'd call up and down streets and I'd call expands and I'd do that two to four hours a day. But once I learned marketing, I never did that again. Never had to do that again. That didn't mean it didn't work. That just means it's really hard work. So from an expired perspective, here's why I like experience with a home that's come off the market. [00:52:36] It's perfectly legitimate, perfectly legal, perfectly moral. They no longer have a relationship with a real estate agent. So I'm free to send them some information so that they can see that there are options if they decide to sell the house again. Now, I don't call them the first day. If all those, you know, twenty seven, eight, 30, 40 agents who come first day, the house expires, if they want to battle it out for an appointment, get the listing. That's most of the people I list whose homes have expired list with me. Two weeks, six weeks, three months, a year, even two or three years later. Here's one I like expired. It's a much more dollars productive set of people. I get three point seven times as much response from the expired database. Now, for years it was 3.1. Now it's 3.7, 3.7, nearly four times. So what I'm saying is that if I take a regular database like a farm area or a mailing area in and keep blanking. [00:53:44] Getting calls, my expires the same number of expired, the same amount of dollars spit is going to make me nearly four times as much money. So if I've got a group of 1000 people. And then I have a group of 1000 ex-parte. I'm gonna make three to four times as much money spent in the exact same dollars on the market. I kind of like those odds. [00:54:09] So when somebody's home expired, we send them some information and then we continue to send them information about how we do business. They'll look at this video online. Here's what here's why you should look at this video online. This video online is something you should see because we keep sending them to see. And that's one of the reasons that our videos are seen so often is because they are pertinent and informative to how we do business. So those inspired to list with me. Most of the time, I'm the only one that's going over to talk to versus if I was one of those who is co-called and trying to close them for an appointment. The first day or two they expired and we compete with 3, 4, 5, 6 agents. Anyways, that's kind of a summary. Better dollar, productive and consistent long term marketing. My record is I had somebody call me that had expired 13 years ago. And if you had been in the business 13 years, you can look forward to that. But that's my record. They had kept my mailings in and they knew that if they ever listed the home again, they would call me. Now, here's one of the best databases you can go get. [00:55:26] Go back in your market, the area that you work for, three, four, five years. Download all the listings that expired during that time. Now download all the listeners that have sold. That are pending, that are active. Take the two databases and do what would Excel calls data. So we take out the duplicates in the expires from three fourth from last week. Last month, a year ago, four years ago, five years ago to have never released Relisted their home are a great database for you to start marketing to not expect. You'll have three times as much business from those people as you will. A similar group. Let me give you a stat real quick. This one's pretty astounding. In an area that I that I work one acre plus homes. There are about 360 houses that have expired in that timeframe that I'm talking about. Now I market to a group beyond that of nearly six thousand. And I want you to grasp these numbers. The expired from those three sixty list is many houses from there. Is there do the other six thousand? What do you think cost me less money? [00:57:04] Now, here's why that is. [00:57:05] First of all, I'm an expert in the 16 plus market, so I have a higher result from that anyway. Now, you take the expired in a market where I'm perceived as an expert in the response. Absolutely skyrocket. [00:57:23] So if you just think about, all right, let's let's be very greedy with in very careful about our marketing dollar and if our marketing dollar can go farther than we can spend less money and make more money in that, how when we started this conversation I shared with you that I went. I kept decreasing the number of cells I was making and increasing my income because my overhead is far less marketing to groups with higher response rates. [00:58:00] Does that make sense, she goes to my own trap with that. Yeah, you are. Yes. [00:58:08] Thank you for asking that, by the way. Appreciate that. Now, did did you. Did we meet in Florida? What was the question? [00:58:19] Then we meet in Florida. You had said that I shared that with you. Oh, yes. Yes. And in Orlando, it's the edge in Orlando. You were at the Orlando. Yeah. And that was, you know, just something that's. While you're in the rat race, you don't look behind the door to this. There was a better way and now that's out. Yeah, I understand what work and so many that are the reason for the turnover of our business if you don't have that big. [00:59:09] Business space that will sparked a referral part of your business where 70 no, 74 percent of a legit business comes from people they know like and trust. But if you don't have that base, you're forced to go to the stranger market. And when you get there, if you work these elegant things, if you worked out, if it will save some people's ability to go ahead with their career and real. [00:59:36] That just awe inspiring, that holy grail. Oh, you bet. Thank you for speaking up. [00:59:41] Well, this has been great. Let's call it let's take one final question before we wrap up the call. Is there anyone who has the final question? [00:59:51] Emory Bruno from New Jersey. Go ahead, then. Just a question on landing pages and videos. Are you hiring a cut? Do you hire a company or do you have someone on your staff that's doing this for you? [01:00:09] Sorry for laughing sensitive. That's a great question. Well, I'll tell you. I'll bet he's laughing. You know where West Deptford, New Jersey is? [01:00:20] Not exactly. [01:00:22] No. OK. Well, my one of my favorite people in the world, my one of my programmers is in West Def., New Jersey. At least that's where us and his check. But he's a I've known him for many, many years. And he's a he's a great guy. I only know one person from New Jersey. He's an awesome person. So can't be too bad. Stay right anyway. That is a very good question. Here's here's what I do. And I can only tell you what I do. Everybody is different. But I'd like to know exactly how things are done. [01:00:58] And that way I can better manage people that are how to do things for me. Things I don't ever pass on them. And one of the things I don't ever pass on are my videos. The landing pages or there are programs out there that are quite simple to use nowadays. Very easy teens, very easy to create a landing page. Now, let me just give everyone the definition of the landing page. And I know some of you going, oh, gosh, we know what that is. But for those of you who might not be familiar, your landing page is simply a one page Web site. And the reason for that is if you've got one page, people go to it. There's no place for them to be distracted or go away. So if you if you've ever seen a really good online network, marketers say they use what they call funnels. They don't use Web sites anymore for a long time. That's the crux of this is very straightforward. Seth Godin, who is one of the first Internet gurus that came along, he was one of the big leagues in Yahoo! Said that you, the consumer, has to see the bonanza. And we got that. Is that intelligent animals? Anyone who's ever trained animals would acknowledge that they perform better if they see their reward. And Seth Godin says people are the same way. So if I market something like the the number one most powerful secret, you have to know before you ever list your home on acreage. Now, if I him from my website and they go just to a website that, you know, has all my stuff on it and there's, you know, there's a link on their head or it's part of the menu that's not been nearly as effective as if they go to that link. [01:02:44] Go to that. You are ill in. As soon as a page pops up, the top says here's the number one most powerful secret. You have to know before you ever list your home on acreage. So they saw the banana and they went there for a reason. They saw Facebook and they saw a postcard. Whatever the cases, Instagram didn't matter. When they land on that landing page, they have to see their reward. So there are several different programs and then you might want to throw a few of them out. I use two primarily. One is called Unbound. Just like it sounds, you know, bounce a ball, put you in and of a bounce. And the other one is client creator dot com. So I use those primarily to create my landing pages. And then the video is most of these programs. And I think there's actually some users in those. But most of the videos are very straightforward. Nowadays, there are free programs for everything. If you've got a P.C., you have probably have Windows movie maker. If you've got a Mac, you have their version of, you know, making videos. There is a program online called Blue L O O M Loom. And there's just there's there's quite a few. [01:04:04] So what I do is I've got different kinds of videos and I make I'm not even the center of attention on most of most of them. It's just me doing the voice in explaining the information. But here's the thing. It's been seven years now. I think either six or seven years, I had zero videos. One. Not. The first couple videos I did and Marina were so cheesy, they were absolutely embarrassing, but the first one is always the hardest and I don't care what you're doing, the first one is always the hardest. When I ran my first Facebook ad, you know how long it took me to do that because I didn't want to look dumb. I don't want to do something wrong. I didn't want to. But the first one's always the hardest. I now have to think I've crossed a twelve hundred might even be thirteen hundred because I consistently put them out in the videos are here, the statistics in the area or here's a new home that we put on the market. Here's one we just sold. We sold it for days and had been listed with another agent for a year. Here's why that happened. But here's some statistics you're never going to hear from anybody else. I mean, the videos. There is unlimited is your creativity in my videos are anywhere from 30 seconds to. 12 to 14 months and a lot of people just like my predicting package, which is 52 pages. Agents always say nobody will ever read all that. [01:05:43] Well, guess what? Consumers will if it's pertinent videos that are 11 or 12 minutes, if they're pertinent. People will watch them. But most of them are in the 90 second range. The 3 minute range. So if I can get someone because of a compelling reason to go to a video, they're going to learn a lot more about me, especially if my pictures on there or if it's me, you know, down in the corner talking explains that they just get a better feel of who you are. One of my agents hates being on video. Can't stand it. Finally talked her into it. And she is doing more business and she's ever done before. Because if people are missing out, getting to know who you are in understanding a little bit more about you and what kind of person you are, they can't get a feel for that on an ad or a picture or a business card or a postcard. They just can't. So they can learn more about you and some are going to make wrong decisions about who you are. Someone going to like who you are. And it's just a very powerful medium that I decided I certainly wouldn't early by me, but I decided, you know, six, seven years ago I had to take advantage of it. And it's just a very, very effective way to meet people in a very effective way to communicate your message to people that answer your question. I tend to ramble on that. [01:07:12] What it does and I'm assuming that when you post these on Facebook or boost them. [01:07:21] There's a very good question where you are on top of things. I don't boost very many posts in the reason I don't is because I get better results by running ads than boosting posts. So you can you can boost posts and you will have more people see your post when you boost it. But I've started spending a while back, started spending the same amount of time and effort running ads instead of boosting posts. You can do both. There's no reason not to boost posts. I'd rather just spend my dollar on ads because for me it seems to have a little bit more impact. [01:07:57] Yes. Thank you very much for answering my question here. Well, you're very welcome. And this has been great. I wanted to share what my chuckle was because I still think it's kind of funny. [01:08:14] So often everyone believes that you have to do this amazing professional job to have someone, you know, choreograph your video, put music in the background and make it look professional because your real estate agent and you wanted to be professional. But I think one of the keys I've seen with Stuart and I definitely have experiences over the years to a degree is there is a level of authenticity that people want to know who you are. And and if the video is Stuart talking, then it's very real. It's exactly who Stuart is. And people get this real comfort level of Stuart, because this is Stuart. It may just be his voice. I remember watching one of your videos. This was a few years back. Stuart, you're walking someone through a home and there was just a slide show video and you're just the voice voiceover describing it. But just the way you described everything, such as the custom inlaid marble for your with a quarter inch marble and and it comes from mentally injured. You're just describing it. It made me want to buy the house. But as you're describing it, I'm getting to know who you are because I'm hearing your voice. Sometimes I see you and I get to know who you are. And there's just this great level of authenticity. And with that authenticity comes realism and believability and therefore, trust ability. And so as you're out there doing these videos, let me just encourage you to be yourself. Don't try to be too professional. Be professional enough. But that's why I was chuckling because, you know, everyone is probably thinking, you know, serious got the slickest ads and the slickest videos. [01:10:07] And since an out for post-production, that's just that's not it. [01:10:12] And babies call me up and tell you guys that they're they weren't just cheesy when I started. [01:10:19] Oh, they're they're just wonderful. [01:10:20] No, they're but they are. It's you know, I enjoy doing it. So that's why I continue to do it. And feel free to you guys go to. I'll just give you one of my sites. It's the number one. And then everything else spelled out one Fakher plus dot com. And if you go around on that site, you can see lots and lots of different videos from from different things that will kind of give you an idea of how, how and why we do the videos that we did. And feel free to copy anything on there. Call me, ask questions. My contact information is on there. No, no worries. [01:10:56] They're wrapping up. I'd like to just summarize one thing that we started with. And I want to make a comment because it's been really impressive. I won't make a correlated comment. So what we started with is we're in a crisis or we're in an opportunity. Depends on how you look at it. And when every time stewards come in these type of environments, he's entered it making more money and he exit it, making even more money. And the reason is he continues to market for listings when listing slow down. You just build up your listing inventory. So you continue making a no sales to cover everything you need. And as you're marketing for listings, everyone else panic any and they're pulling back on their marketing budget. So it means your marketing is easier and more effective in building your listening inventory that you need. So you continue your lifestyle and then exiting. You've got this great big pipeline that empties out really quickly. And I want to share just another benefit of that. I was talking to one. He's the number one suburban agent here in this debut where I live, part of Birmingham. [01:12:08] His name is Mike. And my understanding is going into the 0 8 recession, he was just a typical agent coming out of the recession. He was the number one agent in our suburban city and has maintained that position year over year, except for maybe one year where he just barely lost to someone else. And and I hope this never gets to him. He's a great agent, but I would not put him near the caliber of someone like Stuart. What happened is he got there and he grabbed the market share and now he's got a name and a brand that everyone knows and recognizes. And it drives his business even to this day. And this is the opportunity. He did not stop when everyone else did and he came out on top and has maintained it. And I think that's the message. I really want to strike home for all you guys today. Keep your marketing budget up, whatever it takes, but drive it on listings. OK. And stay focused and deliberate and and don't panic because this too shall pass. [01:13:20] So with that, you. Go. Go ahead. One. Oh, OK. I just want to thank you for exposing the truth to your entire network. You absolutely gave them the best of the best. [01:13:40] Well, thank you. And so I'd like to I'd like to springboard one more comment with that. Why am I doing this? I'm a Christian. I have no fear of what's going on. [01:13:55] The Lord has promised he's going to tell us. And it's always taking care of us. And I've seen him do this famous Stuart and his family. There's a lot of fear. A man. There's a lot of fear because people have no foundation to turn. And I know I just want you to know that no one there's a great big guy who loves you and is going to take care of you. And if you follow him, he will lead you down the right path and he will take care of you. You trust him. But this is not a time to fear because of put your. I see. This is a time to trust the Lord and say, I want to follow you and I'm going to follow what Stuart is doing. I just wanted to be able to give back and share in just a simple way from our heart. [01:14:41] How do you make it through crisis? [01:14:44] And and because if you can make it through, then you can pay your bills. You can support your family. And hopefully if you are a follower of the Lord, then you can give price and glory to him as well. So, really, Stuart, I want to thank you for sharing of your time, because hopefully you've shared a lot of insight and just of encouragement to people. [01:15:08] Well, it was helpful, I just want to second everything you said. Thank you. [01:15:12] All right. Well, you'll have a very blessed day. Please take this to heart and go out and do it and you'll be blessed. Thanks so much. P061 [/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

Do you engage in personal development? About five years ago, I got an Audible account, and have been listening to audio books. It’s amazing how I have access to some of the most influential pieces of literature everywhere I go! I’d estimate that I’ve listened to at least 100 books, and I’m here to share with you the best of the best! These are the books that have changed me. While I’ve listened to these books, I’ve: Lost 40 pounds Redefined the way I interact with customers Changed the way that I approached marketing Impacted how I viewed the sales industry This week on the Selling the Dream podcast, I could go through all of the books that I have listened to, and share some excellent ones, but this week, I want to share the best of the best. Thanks for joining us on Selling the Dream - we wouldn’t be where we are without you listening, and giving your feedback! Make sure that you give us a rating and review on iTunes: that would mean the world to me, and will help us get even more amazing guests on our Friday episodes of the show. Highlights of this episode: Here are the top ten books that have influenced my business and life. The Miracle Morning Building a Story Brand The Power of Moments Rehumanize Your Business Bold Free Marketing Vlog Like a Boss Podcast Launch Hug Your Customers The Ultimate Sales Machine Get an Audible account; go on Amazon, and buy some of these books! They will change your business! Hey everybody, thank you so much for spending time with us today: would you do me a giant favor and share this podcast with fellow realtors, and leave a review. Your reviews help this podcast get shared with more people. If there’s ever a topic that you’d like to hear us cover on the podcast, just send me a message: my contact information is below. Connect with me (Tom): 2nd Home Agents website Facebook Instagram YouTube Resort & 2nd Home Real Estate Agents Facebook Group Subscribe to the Show Don’t miss a single episode of the podcast. You can search for “Selling the Dream” on any of your favorite listening platforms, or follow the links below: iTunes Spotify Stitcher YouTube As always, thanks for listening. Don’t forget, you’re not selling real estate: you’re selling the dream.   See you next time!

After years of working in the world acquisitions, development, asset management, and commercial real estate investments, Anisha Blodgett decided it was time to trade in her portfolio for pizza. As an avid health and fitness enthusiast, Anisha was frustrated that she couldn't scratch her pizza itch without being unhealthy. In 2017 she set out to solve her problem by developing a healthier alternative to the traditional pie. In January of 2019 Power Haus Pizza and Smoothies, located in San Diego, was born.   Show notes… Favorite success quote or mantra: "Live intentionally." In today's episode with Anisha Blodgett we will discuss: Opening a restaurant within the last year Most-current challenges Food halls Healthy pizza Free events to find out if there's a demand for your food Taking risks Hiring when you're desperate Don't settle Labor shortages Avoiding stress Work/life balance Hosting events that double as education Recognize what brings people in and going all in on it Catering Branding Design Today's sponsor: BentoBox empowers restaurants to own their presence, profits and relationships. The hospitality platform disrupts third-party services that come between the restaurant and the guest. BentoBox puts the restaurant first and offers tools that drive high-margin revenue directly through the restaurant’s website. BentoBox is trusted and loved by over 5,000 restaurants worldwide including Union Square Hospitality Group, Eleven Madison Park, Gramercy Tavern, Lilia and more. Restaurant365 is a cloud-based, all-in-one, restaurant-specific accounting and back-office platform that seamlessly integrates with POS systems, payroll providers, food and beverage vendors. It generates accurate real-time reporting and analysis in user-friendly dashboards, facilitating immediate, data-driven decision making. Restaurant365 eliminates manual, error-prone processes and is designed to help restaurant businesses grow with functionality that helps optimize labor costs, reduce food costs and increase revenue. Wisetail’s user-friendly platform focuses on engaging, growing, and empowering your workforce while enabling your culture to thrive in multi-site businesses. It is easily configurable to an organization's brand and technical specifications. In addition, Wisetail provides a social community for their customers to share best practices and continuously improve the learning experience.   Knowledge bombs Which "it factor" habit, trait, or characteristic you believe most contributes to your success? "Teaching myself things." What is your biggest weakness? "Too trusting." What's one question you ask or thing you look for during an interview? "Do I want to work with this person?" What's a current challenge? How are you dealing with it? "Bring in more revenue." Share one code of conduct or behavior you teach your team. "Bring the energy." What is one uncommon standard of service you teach your staff? "Encouraging guests to try different foods." What's one book we must read to become a better person or restaurant owner? Hug Your Customers by Jack Mitchell GET THIS BOOK FOR FREE AT AUDIBLE.COM  What's one thing you feel restaurateurs don't know well enough or do often enough? Organization Name one service you've hired. Whiplash for SEO in San Diego What's one piece of technology you've adopted within your restaurant walls and how has it influence operations? Trello Toast If you got the news that you'd be leaving this world tomorrow and all memories of you, your work, and your restaurants would be lost with your departure with the exception of 3 pieces of wisdom you could leave behind for the good of humanity, what would they be? Live your life the way that makes you the happiest Surround yourself with good people Quality time with yourself Contact info: Instagram: personal @asliceof.life Instagram: business @PowerhausPizza Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining today! Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post. Also, please leave an honest review for the Restaurant Unstoppable Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. Huge thanks to Anisha Blodgett for joining me for another awesome episode. Until next time!   Restaurant Unstoppable is a free podcast. One of the ways I'm able to make it free is by earning a commission when sharing certain products with you. I've made it a core value to only share tools, resources, and services my guest mentors have recommend, first. If you're finding value in my podcast, please use my links!

In this episode of “The Middle Market Transformative CEO,” Jack Mitchell, chairman of Mitchell Stores, touches on the importance of personalizing customer service, how the state of the economy has affected the retail industry, and how he implements his metaphorical “Hug Your Customers” philosophy to drive success and inspire his people. Listen as Mitchell, along with hosts Joe Brusuelas and Robert Reiss, discusses leveraging data analytics to improve the customer experience, adapting to the impact of the Great Recession and planning for the future of the company, and navigating governance in middle market family-owned businesses.

*Affiliate disclaimerOn today's show, I have Kristen Ley who is the Founder and Owner of Thimblepress, located in Jackson Mississippi. Kristen and I were introduced through episode guest Katie Hunt (link to /005 episode) and we immediately hit it off. I get the pleasure of working with Kristen to help get Thimblepress even more press than it already attracts. Talk about dream job!Kristen and I talk about what it's like to run a profitable, online business, how she started partnering with brands such as Hallmark and Target, her proudest moments and hardest struggles, and more!Excited for you to tune in and hope you enjoy!   In today’s episode, you'll find out:   What she struggles with the most being the owner of an online business. How she initially connected with big brands like Hallmark and Target and what it was like to get those emails. How she sets boundaries at work and in her home space so she's not constantly working. How to connect on a deeper level with your customers. Advice Kristen would offer to someone who wants to start their own business. Full show notes at: brittneyllynn.com/017 Links mentioned: Thimblepress website: https://www.thimblepress.com Hug Your Customers by Jack Mitchell: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401300340/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=brittneylly07-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1401300340&linkId=1474fef7c8c5f7c8e7fd9ffea2ffab8b Essentialism by Greg McKweon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804137382/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=brittneylly07-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0804137382&linkId=bfe0ece97258dcacd1e7b2b2717cc167 Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594634726/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=brittneylly07-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1594634726&linkId=858aa9825a90b146b33fff5134130daa Rising Strong by Brene Brown: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/081298580X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=brittneylly07-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=081298580X&linkId=38977807d73db3d4e33a09165888c8ec Asana: http://asana.com Small Squares, Mighty Words: https://www.thimblepress.com/shop/product-category/small-squares-with-mighty-words?v=7516fd43adaa Day Dreamer journal: https://www.thimblepress.com/product/the-day-dreamer?v=7516fd43adaa Boomerang Chrome Extension: https://www.boomeranggmail.com/ The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080241270X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=brittneylly07-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=080241270X&linkId=0100a6750e6bb70bf83828d4424f53a7 Waiter app: https://www.waiter.com/app Enneagram test: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions/ Follow Kristen & Thimblepress:Thimblepress Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thimblepress/ Kristen's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristen_ley/ Thimblepress Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/thimblepress/ Kristen's Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/Kristen_ley/ Thimblepress Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thimblepress Like the show? There are several ways you can help! Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Leave an honest review on iTunes. The ratings and reviews help for two reasons: 1) Most importantly, I get to know you, the listener, and what content you enjoy the most. 2) The more reviews the podcast has, the better chance it has at getting in front of new listeners. Follow on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram Join the Facebook group to interact with guests and other listeners Join the Day in the Life newsletter

Today on the podcast I sit down with Co-CEO and Co-Founder of EVEREVE Megan Tamte. Megan was living her lifelong dream of motherhood but something was off. By listening to her heart and walking in faith she found the clarity and courage to pursue her lifelong dream. That dream is EVEREVE! If you're not familiar they are an incredible boutique with over 80 stores in the US. I hope you enjoy our conversation! SHOW NOTES: GET THE COZI APP- Cozi.com/Rachel Pre-order Your Copy of Girl, Wash Your Face- amzn.to/2qSzmjj EVEREVER: https://www.evereve.com Hug Your Customers by Jack Mitchell: http://amzn.to/2p4kLwE The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown: http://amzn.to/2p4kLwE

Do you need to "hug your customers?" Maybe not. Or maybe you do. here's why it's critically important to understand customer expectations.

Clothier Jack Mitchell authored one of the best business books I've ever read. I still use it as an example of a book "done right" to authors. Learn what sparked his book "Hug Your Customers," what it's done for him and his business, and how it launched his second career.

Transcription: This is Hank Hoffmeier with the marketing and business tip. I had the pleasure of going to a conference in Miami Florida for some franchise owners in the haircutting industry. One of the speakers was Jack Mitchell who owns Mitchell Stores in Connecticut He was discussing his book, Hug Your Customers: Still the Proven […] The post Hank’s Marketing and Business Tip #54: Hug Your Customers appeared first on .

1. Why loving your customers will improve your bottom-line 2. How Passion and Long term relationships are keys to long term sustainable business 3. Why we must understand our customers more than our products 4. How to become a customer centric organization 5. How to build powerful relationships with employees so that they help you get to the next level Visit us at: http://www.2000books.com Get Free Audio book: http://www.2000books.com/free Schedule a FREE call with me: http://www.2000books.com/discuss

Shannon talks “The Hugging Culture” with Jack Mitchell, author of Hug Your Customers and Hug Your People. They discuss the importance of developing personalized, individualized relationships with both customers and team members as a route to building a successful entrepreneurial company. The post An Interview With Jack Mitchell appeared first on Your Team Success.

In this episode I interview Professional Office Organizing Consultant Kacy Paide.  We talk about how much more productive and focused you can be when your environment is organized.  It sounds so simple.  Why aren't more of us there already?  We get into practical tips, where to start, and mistakes to avoid.  Kacy mentioned the following resources during the interview:   Evernote software to organize and retrieve your stuff electronically: www.evernote.com Tim Ferriss's blog and podcasts: http://fourhourworkweek.com/ The Pomordo Technique: http://pomodorotechnique.com/   Book recommendation: Hug Your Customers by Jack Mitchell   You can learn more about Kacy and her work at www.theinspiredoffice.com.  She has a blog and a bunch of great instructional videos.  Enjoy this interview with Kacy Paide. Send your comments, questions, and show ideas to mike@schoolleadershipshow.com.  Consider rating the podcast in itunes and leaving a comment.  And please pass the show along to your colleagues.

Tattiana Gandolfo Owner of Gold Coast Pilates in Setauket, NY, Best selling Author "Rapid Body Makeover" - "A PILATES HOLISTIC APPROACH TO WELL BEING" chapter contribution, 2nd generation Pilates teacher designated by Lolita San Miguel, Balanced Body Pilates and barre faculty/educator/presenter  Jack Mitchell Chairman of the Mitchells Family of Stores which is made up of five of the most successful upper end men's and women's clothing stores in the United States. Jack heads up this third generation family business  Jack launched a “second career” as a speaker and author.  His first book, Hug Your Customers, was endorsed by Warren Buffet with the following quote printed on the cover:  “It's a gem.  I wish everyone at Berkshire would follow his advice – we would own the world”.  In 2006, Jack was listed amongst the Top 10 Retail Visionaries of all time according to Daily News Record, one of the most well read retail trade publications in the country. Jack has also become known as a passionate enthusiastic public speaker, keynoting at over 200 events for corporations including Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Conde Nast, Payless, Nike, and Starbucks just to name a few  

*Ethan Austin is the Managing Director of* *Techstars Western Union Accelerator* ( https://www.techstars.com/western-union-program/ ) *. Techstars Western Union Accelerator is the premier program for global startups shaping the future of money movement. Companies participating in the program gain direct access to the world's best fintech execs, founders and investors covering everything from customer development, global go-to-market strategy, access to capital and biz dev opportunities. You can currently apply* *Here* ( https://www.techstars.com/western-union-program/ ) *to be part of their summer cohort. The application deadline is April 5th, 2020.* *Previously, Ethan co-founded Giveforward, the world's first medical crowdfunding platform which was acquired by gofundme, and Deal Gooder, an E-commerce site where proceeds benefitted local non-profits and schools.* *You can follow Ethan on Twitter* *@ethanaustin* ( https://twitter.com/ethanaustin ) *. To follow along behind the scenes of the show, you can follow* *@mikegelb* ( https://twitter.com/MikeGelb ) *and* *@consumervc* ( https://twitter.com/consumervc ) *.* *One book that inspired Ethan professionally is* *Hug Your Customers* ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401300340?camp=1789&creativeASIN=1401300340&ie=UTF8&linkCode=xm2&tag=theconsumervc-20 ) *by Jack Mitchell. One book that inspired Ethan personally is* *Arc of Justice* ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805079335?camp=1789&creativeASIN=0805079335&ie=UTF8&linkCode=xm2&tag=theconsumervc-20 ) *by Kevin Boyle.* *In this episode you will learn -* * *What attracted Ethan to entrepreneurship? Why he is mission-driven. How going through Techstars changed his life? How to analyze teams? The importance of distribution.* * ** * *The requirements of the Techstars Western Union Accelerator. Some trends that Ethan is focused on in fintech? What is one company in your most recent cohort that you are excited about? What is one thing that you would change about venture capital?* * ** * *What is one piece of advice that he has for founders?*