Brett Trainor Unplugged

By Brett TrainorBusiness Entrepreneurship Education Self-Improvement

Brett Trainor Unplugged episodes

May 25, 2021104. The Rise of the Inbound CEO: Here’s Why Founders Need to Tell Their Story with Marti Sanchez
The sales first approach isn’t going to cut it anymore.

When the market is filled with stiff competition, it’s time to bring out your key differentiator- your CEO.

For today’s show, I finally have the real proof why content is king. Inbound CEO Marti Sanchez shares with us what he does and how he helps B2B CEOs build their personal brands and create trust through high-quality content.

Listen to this episode and find out why content is definitely king!

We’ll talk about:
How Marti went from ghostwriting to personal branding for CEOs [02:02]
Why content is important for founders [08:09]
Content is about providing value and building trust [10:05]
Everyone has ideas, execution is what matters [11:41]
Start with 1-2 long-form pieces to build trust [16:22]
How early-stage founders can get started on content [13:32]
Speed of execution is key [18:17]
Inbound revenue should be the only metric you look at [21:23]
Most of your leads aren’t the ones liking your content [23:18]
Why a content-first approach is better than a sales first approach [25:20]
Targeting problem-aware and solution-aware prospects is easier [27:35]
The CEO or founder is your company’s differentiator [32:38]
The one thing that Marti recommends [37:43]
Resource Links:
Brett Trainor Website (https://bretttrainor.com/)
Download Startup to Scaleup: A 4-Part Framework to Grow Your B2B Business to $10 Million (https://bretttrainor.com/resources/)
Check out Marti Sanchez’s Podcast, Podium Stories (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podium-stories-with-marti-sanchez/id1505931491)

About Our Guest:

Marti Sanchez is the Founder and CEO of Influence Podium. As an Inbound CEO, he represents his company’s brand and uses thought leadership content to drive new business, attract top talent, and channel partnerships. His company helps B2B CEOs build their brand by getting placed on relevant podcasts and creating high-quality content for them.

You can reach out to Marti by sending him an email here: [email protected]. Or you can connect with him via his LinkedIn or Twitter.

If you liked this episode, please don’t forget to tune in, subscribe, and share this podcast.

Connect with B2B Founder:

Subscribe on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCySoKsETeKxu-Fnf2VfE7Gg/
42 min
May 24, 2021Bonus Episode: How To Break Through The Business Growth Plateau
In another bonus episode, I’m sharing my second time to be a guest at M&A Unplugged, which is hosted by Domenic Rinaldi. For this episode, I talked about my strategy for helping B2B startups achieve scalable growth.

I’ll be talking about my template for analyzing a company’s growth barriers, strategies for growth, and how to implement those strategies without making bad investments that won’t provide a return.

Whether you are an existing owner of a business or you are contemplating your business acquisition and want to grow it, you wouldn’t want to miss this episode.

Here are the topics we covered:
Intro to this episode [01:15]
The stats in the startup space & what Brett found out about what’s preventing scalable growth [03:08]
Why will Brett’s methodology work for any company [06:22]
The three levers to look at when it comes to growth [07:11]
Brett’s discovery process for finding where the plateau is [08:38]
Most of the time the owners aren’t as accurate in revenue reporting [09:52]
Finding the true opportunities and their costs [11:33]
Brett’s approach to analyzing the client and the market [13:54]
You might want to consider hiring a market research company [16:28]
What the net promoter score is [19:08]
Check if your message is aligned with your audience [20:11]
How to test and find the areas that are paying off [24:07]
Pitfalls to avoid when doing growth strategies [26:27]
Brett’s Growth Readiness Assessment [28:35]
Why so many businesses plateau [30:57]
Resource Links:
Download my free Growth Readiness Assessment (https://mailchi.mp/bretttrainor.com/growth-readiness-checklist)
Grab the free best practices and checklists for how to conduct diligence from Sun Acquisitions (http://www.sunacquisitions.com/) or K2 Adviser (https://www.k2adviser.com/)
You can also listen to this episode on M&A Unplugged Ep. 94 (https://sunacquisitions.com/podcasts/94-how-to-break-through-the-business-growth-plateau-with-brett-trainor/)
34 min
May 18, 2021103. How Being Yourself Makes You a Better Leader and Why This is Critical to Growth with Minter Dial
As a founder, you are a critical component to your startup’s ability to grow and succeed.

And I’m not talking about who you know. This time, it’s all about how well you know yourself.

Leaders lead and pave the way for businesses to reach new heights. Today’s guest is very passionate about helping entrepreneurs transform their organizations by first looking within and leaning into their personalities and finding that meaningful purpose to tap into that powerful energy that will drive growth.

Dive into this inspirational episode to help you build the backbone of a business built for success. Tune in now.

We’ll talk about:
Minter's life and global background [02:05]
Companies need to have a purpose [03:24]
What led to him writing his book, You Lead [04:47]
Why entrepreneurs should lean into their personalities [11:41]
Create a brand that is real for people [16:39]
Make your purpose meaningful [16:49]

The two components needed for long-term success [14:56]
Purpose is key to unlocking discretionary energy [20:17]
Be intentional with your communication [26:14]
How to harness that discretionary energy in a remote workforce [23:28]
Why you shouldn't only surround yourself with like-minded people [30:11]
The critical work entrepreneurs need to do on their own selves [33:27]
The one thing Minter highly recommends [42:06]
Resource Links:
Brett Trainor Website (https://bretttrainor.com/)
Download Startup to Scaleup: A 4-Part Framework to Grow Your B2B Business to $10 Million (https://bretttrainor.com/resources/)
How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan (https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225)
Being Mortal by Dr. Atul Gawande (http://atulgawande.com/book/being-mortal/)
Lost Connections by Johann Hari (https://thelostconnections.com/)
Minter Dial Website (https://www.minterdial.com/)
YOU LEAD, How Being Yourself Makes You A Better Leader by Minter Dial (https://minterdial.com/books/you-lead)
The Last Ring Home Documentary Film (http://www.thelastringhome.com/)
Minter Dialogue Podcast (https://www.minterdial.com/resources/podcasts/)

About Our Guest:

Minter Dial is a professional speaker, elevator and a multiple award-winning author, specialized in leadership, branding and transformation. An agent of change, he's a three- time entrepreneur who has exercised twelve different métiers and moved countries fifteen times.

Minter's core career stint of 16 years was spent as a top executive at L’Oréal, where he was a member of the worldwide Executive Committee for the Professional Products Division.

He’s author of the award-winning WWII story, The Last Ring Home, as well as prize-winning business books, Futureproof and Heartificial Empathy. His latest book on leadership, You Lead, How being yourself makes you a better leader came out in January 2021. He’s been host of the Minter Dialogue weekly podcast since 2010.

If you liked this episode, please don’t forget to tune in, subscribe, and share this podcast.

Connect with B2B Founder:

Subscribe on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCySoKsETeKxu-Fnf2VfE7Gg/
48 min
May 17, 2021Bonus Episode: How to Build a Four-Point Demand Gen Strategy
In this bonus episode, I’m sharing my guesting at the B2B Growth podcast.

I get to talk with Lesley Crews of Sweetfish Media about how to shift your mindset and focus on growth. On top of that, I share my four-point plan for growth - something that I encourage B2B startups to use as a framework as early as now.

Here are the topics we covered:
What exactly is demand generation? Why do we need to have an organizational approach to it? [01:35]
The need to shift our mindset from a sales perspective to a buyer’s perspective [02:42]
Change is inevitable. Growth is optional. [04:06]
The one thing B2B marketers need to stop doing [05:25]
Why there’s no such thing as a marketing-qualified lead & why you shouldn’t force your prospect through the buying process [07:23]
The four-point framework to move from startup to scaleup [10:17]
How to get started on building a demand gen framework [16:11]
How startups get demand gen wrong [18:42]
Resource Links:
Brett Trainor Website (https://bretttrainor.com/)
Download Startup to Scaleup: A 4-Part Framework to Grow Your B2B Business to $10 Million (https://bretttrainor.com/resources/)
You can also listen to this episode on B2B Growth Ep. 2024 (https://sweetfishmedia.com/show/b2b-growth/how-to-build-a-four-point-demand-gen-strategy/)
22 min
May 11, 2021102. How This Serial B2B Entrepreneur has Changed Growth Strategies and Why Content is the Key to Scaling with Norman Crowley
Climate change is a controversial topic for many.

But let’s face it. We all want to continue living on our planet.

Imagine combining capitalism and climate change. Serial entrepreneur Norman Crowley is at the forefront of climate capitalism as he pushes forward with his Cool Planet Group. Norman talks with me today about his own entrepreneurial journey and the tough lessons he has picked up.

Get to know this inspirational startup founder who has already successfully sold 3 businesses by tuning in now.

We’ll talk about:
Starting his entrepreneurial journey at 15 [01:38]
Energy efficiency through Clarity [04:59]
Electrify: Converting classic cars to electric cars [06:01]
The future of food with Cell Ag [06:45]

From gaming to climate change [04:22]
His approach to growing his B2B ventures [08:21]
You have to jump with both feet and learn new stuff all the time [13:56]
Ask yourself this: Would you want to go drinking with this hire? [19:27]
How to attract the right talent to help build the business [16:07]
Lazy people blame not having a process as a reason for failure [22:21]
What’s changed in B2B since the past 15 years [25:31]
The key to success is humanizing your business [27:49]
The one thing that Norman recommends [28:49]
Why founders should make sure to get good sleep [31:08]
Resource Links:
Brett Trainor Website (https://bretttrainor.com/)
Download Startup to Scaleup: A 4-Part Framework to Grow Your B2B Business to $10 Million (https://bretttrainor.com/resources/)
Cool Planet Group Website (https://www.coolplanetgroup.ie/)

About Our Guest:

Norman Crowley is an inspirational international entrepreneur who founded multiple successful businesses including The Cloud - Europe's largest WIFI operator, Inspired Gaming Group - the world's largest company in the server-based gaming domain, and Trinity Commerce. His most recent venture is the Cool Planet Group, a family of environmentally positive businesses and brands that push the boundaries of sustainability.

Connect with Norman through his Twitter.

If you liked this episode, please don’t forget to tune in, subscribe, and share this podcast.

Connect with B2B Founder:

Subscribe on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCySoKsETeKxu-Fnf2VfE7Gg/
35 min
May 04, 2021101. How to Dominate: Raving Fans, Innovation & a Yellow Tux with Jesse Cole
Standing out when tons of other companies offer similar products is a challenge.

But in this day and age, it pays to be creative. And it pays to be different.

Today, we have a very unique guest, Jesse Cole is the owner of the baseball team, Savannah Bananas. And I believe he has the blueprint for businesses to stand out and separate themselves from the crowd.

When different is better than better, you want to make sure you are highlighting what makes you YOU.

Get to know this passionate entrepreneur and learn what it takes for your startup to stand out.

We’ll talk about:
How Jesse is changing baseball through differentiation [01:12]
Constraints force creativity, but you learn by doing [05:19]
Own the problems [08:37]
Create Noise [09:26]
The 3 Loves [09:55]
Why do you do what you do [10:53]

The blueprint for becoming the ONLY [08:10]
Different is better than better [14:01]
Why you should create the ‘Wow’ factor [19:41]
Make sure you develop raving fans [17:01]
Focus on what you can control [24:43]
What else Jesse is thinking about next [26:58]
You have to keep pushing forward & do new things [29:40]
Set aside time to think about the future [30:45]
The one thing Jesse recommends [33:24]
Resource Links:
Brett Trainor Website (https://bretttrainor.com/)
Download The Growth Readiness Checklist (https://bretttrainor.com/resources/)
The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM) (https://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Morning-Not-So-Obvious-Guaranteed-Transform/dp/0979019710)
The Savannah Bananas Website (https://thesavannahbananas.com/)

About Our Guest:

Jesse Cole owns the baseball team, Savannah Bananas, which has currently sold out 32 straight games and has a waitlist in the thousands for tickets.

Jesse is also the author of "Find Your Yellow Tux - How to Be Successful by Standing Out,” and the host of the Business Done Differently Podcast.

Jesse believes to be successful you need to Stand Out and Be Different. He is passionate about creating attention, loving your customers more than your product, and loving your employees more than your customers.

Get in touch with Jesse through his LinkedIn.

If you liked this episode, please don’t forget to tune in, subscribe, and share this podcast.

Connect with B2B Founder:

Subscribe on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCySoKsETeKxu-Fnf2VfE7Gg/
38 min
April 27, 2021100. Why Experience and Differentiation Are Key to Grow from a Startup to a Scaleup with Tim Caito
Selling to a founder’s network is very different from selling to those outside the network.

As startups reach that threshold, they find that what worked before is no longer getting them the leads to scale and grow.

So for my 100th episode, I got back my first guest, Tim Caito. Tim and I revisit what he talked about before, the value and power of differentiation. Now, I believe this has become increasingly valuable as buyer expectations have become much higher.

In this digital-first world we’re in, what are the things startups need to do as they’re planning to scale?

Well, you’d have to tune in to find out.

We’ll talk about:
Tim’s background and the work he does [02:36]
Sometimes founders end up as barriers to their startup’s growth [04:54]
Selling is just problem solving [08:40]
Crazy founder syndrome is real and it’s a problem [15:03]
What makes you different makes you relevant [22:35]
Tim’s process of reverse engineering and forward engineering differentiation [29:56]
Aim to get the collective ‘Yes’ [34:43]
Make your differentiation relevant to the customer [36:22]
Customer expectations are now much higher [41:29]
Sheer volume won’t get you to where you want to go [45:49]
The one thing Tim recommends [52:07]
Resource Links:
Brett Trainor Website (https://bretttrainor.com/)
Download Startup to Scaleup: A 4-Part Framework to Grow Your B2B Business to $10 Million (https://bretttrainor.com/resources/)
Force Management Website (https://www.forcemanagement.com/)

About Our Guest:

With over 40 years of sales, management, professional development, and business consulting experience, Tim Caito has been helping organizations win better deals and improve critical seller-buyer relationships. Tim is Senior Partner at Force Management, where he is responsible for Customer Success and Strategy. His previous work experience includes helping teams create and execute sales strategies and providing global sales training to transform the productivity and profitability of sales organizations.

If you liked this episode, please don’t forget to tune in, subscribe, and share this podcast.

Connect with B2B Founder:

Subscribe on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCySoKsETeKxu-Fnf2VfE7Gg/
58 min
April 20, 202199. Startup to Scaleup: A 4 Part Plan to Grow Your B2B Business to $10 Million
Reaching $10M in revenue is a very important milestone. And why wouldn’t it be when less than 1% get there.

Any startup already making half a million to a million dollars in revenue is most likely thinking about scaling. But if you’ll be using the same tactics and sales strategy then you might not give yourself the best chance.

In this guest-free episode, I’ll be sharing my 4-part framework which I’ve used to help companies grow to $10M in revenue. After speaking with quite a number of subject matter experts, I’ve been able to tweak and refine what’s worked, especially as we move to a digital-first approach where flexibility is necessary.

Why wait any further? Get into the episode now.

We’ll talk about:
Why $10M in revenue is a critical milestone [01:33]
What’s stopping startups from getting to that milestone [03:52]
The 4 parts of my framework: ACES [04:39]
A: Align your company, customer, and offer [05:36]
C: Connect with your prospects [09:00]
E: Enable your buyer [11:25]
S: Build support into the DNA of your organization [15:34]

Recap of ACES [17:09]
Resource Links:
Brett Trainor Website (https://bretttrainor.com/)
Download Startup to Scaleup: A 4-Part Framework to Grow Your B2B Business to $10 Million (https://bretttrainor.com/resources/)

If you liked this episode, please don’t forget to tune in, subscribe, and share this podcast.

Connect with B2B Founder:

Subscribe on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCySoKsETeKxu-Fnf2VfE7Gg/
21 min
April 13, 202198. How This Founder Bootstrapped His Startup to a Scaleup with Ofer Yourvexel
The story of Pepperi is a story of success.

Being in business for almost 12 years, this B2B sales platform has reached heights that most B2B founders dream of.

What did it take to get there? That was a question I wanted to dive into.

So I got Pepperi’s CEO and Cofounder, Ofer Yourvexel, to tell us himself. From offering one unified business logic to the ‘Wow’ factor that got the attention of customers, Ofer reveals that they don’t even do outbound calls.

How did he build the momentum that got Pepperi to where they are today?

You’d have to tune in to this episode to find out.

We’ll talk about:
Ofer’s personal and work background [01:23]
What Pepperi offers that others don’t have [05:15]
Making a pivot to get things right [08:07]
The benefit of being profitable and not needing investors [10:18]
The key selling proposition that hooked their first customers [11:35]
Nurturing customers instead of chasing them [14:26]
The impact of COVID-19 on Pepperi [18:24]
What Ofer would have done differently [24:17]
What’s the focus for Pepperi in 2021 [26:03]
The one thing Ofer recommends [28:39]
Resource Links:
Brett Trainor Website (https://bretttrainor.com/)
Download The Growth Readiness Checklist (https://bretttrainor.com/resources/)
Pepperi Website (https://www.pepperi.com/)

About Our Guest:

With almost 30 years spent working in technology, Ofer Yourvexel has played an executive role in companies such as Amdocs. In 2009, he co founded Pepperi, a B2B sales platform for brands and wholesale distributors. Pepperi connects field sales and B2B e-commerce on a single, flexible, enterprise-grade platform.

Ofer has also spent six years as an officer in the Navy.

If you liked this episode, please don’t forget to tune in, subscribe, and share this podcast.

Connect with B2B Founder:

Subscribe on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCySoKsETeKxu-Fnf2VfE7Gg/
33 min
April 06, 202197. How to Leverage Digital Transformation to Thrive in the New Economy with Lynda Roth
The saying hindsight is 20/20 holds true most of the time.

Learning from the mistakes made by businesses that have either gone up or gone under is a worthy exercise.

In this nearly hour-long episode, digital transformation expert, Lynda Roth, takes us back with stories from companies that rode the wave of technology change and those that didn’t and sunk in the process.

We hear about companies such as Sears and Amazon, Blockbuster and Netflix, and even a little sewing pattern maker who craftily built a business digitally.

Don’t get left behind and grab the lessons you can pick up in this episode. Tune in now.

We’ll talk about:
Getting into and being a pioneer in I.T. [01:58]
Stories of success & failure in the midst of technology change [08:05]
The contents of her book - Digital Transformation [16:56]
Comparing Sears to Amazon [19:31]
Comparing Sears to Emerson Electric [23:58]

Whatever business you’re in, start as a digital company [26:59]
How a little sewing pattern maker grew through digital [28:38]
When new tech changes a previous solution [34:52]

Online stores have to replicate the experience in-store [38:44]
An example of digital being driven by data [45:26]
Mine the gold from subscription and data [47:51]
Reimagine your business as a 21st-century business [50:16]
Lessons from the Blockbuster story [53:29]
The one thing Lynda recommends [55:06]
Resource Links:
Brett Trainor Website (https://bretttrainor.com/)
Download The Growth Readiness Checklist (https://bretttrainor.com/resources/)
Digital Transformation: An Executive Guide to Survive and Thrive in the New Economy (https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Transformation-Executive-Survive-Economy/dp/198225727X)

About Our Guest:

For over 20 years, Lynda Roth has been leading business and technology transformations. She is the author of the book, Digital Transformation: An Executive Guide to Survive and Thrive in the New Economy. Lynda is also a frequent speaker on topics such as I.T.-driven business optimization, successful outsourcing approaches, establishing or growing an internal I.T. department, and creating a high-functioning organization with strategic I.T.

You can connect with Lynda by emailing her at [email protected]

If you liked this episode, please don’t forget to tune in, subscribe, and share this podcast.

Connect with B2B Founder:

Subscribe on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCySoKsETeKxu-Fnf2VfE7Gg/
59 min