Onward Nation

Good Morning Onward Nation...I'm Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI and your host for Onward Nation. Welcome to Episode 722, which will be a solocast -- where it will be just you and me covering a topic.

Before we dive into what I would like to share with you this morning -- I would first like to say thank you and to give you an update.

I want to say thank you for you taking the time to be here -- you have a lot of demands on your time -- I know your schedule is compressed -- I know that the life of the business owner means you are pulled in many different directions -- so I greatly appreciate you choosing to be here this morning -- to share some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds that you have today, with me -- I take that very seriously so I wanted to be sure to let you know how much your time means to me.

Second...I owe you an update. In January, I shared that one of our 2018 vital priorities at Predictive ROI was for us to launch a YouTube series -- and our original plan was to have it launched by April -- right now. And it isn't ready. And I am the reason why. We made some excellent progress -- and then I felt the onslaught of the imposter syndrome and the myriad of questions and a flood of presuppositions hit me -- and in full transparency, Onward Nation -- I let the imposter syndrome break my momentum -- and worse yet -- affect the schedule that I had promised you.

Well, Katherine Baessler, our director of content marketing and a member of my leadership team here at Predictive ROI, called me on it. During our off-site leadership session last week...she asked me why I had fallen behind. She forced me to recognize what was going on -- and it wasn't comfortable. And she would not let me off the hook until we had a plan in place that I committed to.

So...our first YouTube video will air on Thursday, May 3rd -- it is in our airing schedule -- we are collecting the final footage over the next couple of weeks while my team and I are in Austin, Seattle, and San Diego working on-site with some of our Predictive clients as well as a couple of speaking engagements.

All that is to say -- my team kicked me in rear when I needed it because that is what great teammates do, and as a result, I shoved the imposter syndrome to the curb and got my act together. So...I am very excited to share Episode 1 of our YouTube series with you on Thursday, May 3rd -- stay tuned.

Okay...so for today -- we are going to talk about quitting because the temptation to quit is something we all face -- when the stress is high -- when the problems pile up -- when the fear seems insurmountable -- the temptations to quit a project, quit the business, or the myriad of other temptations can seem more and more attractive. Our momentum breaks, we start to lose our focus, and then pretty soon, we have drifted out to see and are far from the goal back on the shore.

And again in full transparency...had it not been for Katherine on my team stepping in and snapping me back to reality -- we may not have checked the YouTube series off our list of 2018 vital priorities. But -- when Katherine stepped in -- I got mad -- not at her -- but at myself -- because I have never, ever, ever, quit on anything in my life. And I don't plan to start now.

Quitting in life, quitting in business, quitting on family -- quitting in all its shapes and sizes. It breaks my heart when I see it happen. People who possess an abundance of God-given talent -- as we all do -- but then don't apply it.

It's tragic. So I wanted to share some insights about quitting that I have learned over the last 25 years of my career as a business owner -- owning five companies -- but as the lessons I re-learned again last week -- despite all of the experience someone has, the resolve, the commitment, and the track record -- the temptation to quit can still rise up.

So it needs to be counteracted and pushed aside, Onward Nation.

My hope for you is that today's discussion will help you to push aside any temptations to quit that you may be feeling, too.

So I'm going to start us off by introducing you to one of the most influential mentors in my life...he is someone you have likely never read about, never heard of, never quoted...in fact...one the surface...most people might think he led a rather ordinary life because his name was never up in lights.

He never graced the cover of SUCCESS Magazine...he was never the author of a bestselling book. And he never made the list of top influencers...but...that did not limit his influence or the impact he created in the lives of many.

Because the exterior trappings of success are not the true testimony of the quality of someone's life. The relationships, the love, the personal impact is the really good stuff, Onward Nation.

I have met many successful people by the world's standards...they had everything...they had fame, they had fortune, they possessed every material thing you could imagine, and yet, they were miserable.

Their spouse was miserable because he or she never got to see them.

Their kids were miserable because the deep emotional connection that should have been there was missing -- a terrible hole was there instead. A hole that can only be filled by a steady stream of love and caring.

But, the person I am referring to taught me the true definition of success, as well as the power of persistence, the power of tenacity, the power of grit...the power in moving slowly, consistently, and pursuing something over the long haul.

Because when we do these things...great things happen...and all of that was made possible because of his quiet, relentless attitude toward never, ever quitting.

He never quit.

His name was Peter Maronitis.

Peter was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1902. His family was Greek but they lived in Istanbul. And this was a time when it was not awesome to be a Greek male living, working, or trying to raise a family in Turkey.

There was ethnic cleansing -- a Greek genocide -- such an awful term -- and so it was common that an Greek adult male wouldn't make it back to his home at night because he had been whacked behind a shed somewhere or rounded up to fight for the Turkish army against whoever they were fighting at the time.

That was the harsh reality of the day -- that Peter's father had to navigate each day when he left his home for work.

And one day, tragedy struck and Peter's father didn't come home. Peter was the ripe old age of 8 years old...his father didn't come home...and now it looked as though Peter was the man of the house.

Peter ran out of the house...in pursuit...to find his Dad...he searched the city...he got onto a train...he continued his search...looking...desperately...he didn't quit...it was Peter's first taste of a the relentless pursuit for someone -- for something he loved.

But still...his father would never return.

So, Peter at 8 years old was indeed the man of the house.

He dropped out of the third grade in order to make enough money to support his mother and his younger brother and sister.

Eight years old, Onward Nation.

Peter did it...without complaining...without feeling self-pity...without feeling disadvantaged. He did his duty and he did it with excellence.

Every day...for 10 years.

And despite the end of his formal education at the 3rd grade...he never stopped learning. He studied and read whatever he could get his hands on...and in doing so...a dream was sparked in his mind.

His dream...Peter wanted to make his way to the United States and then own his own restaurant...to build a better life for himself and his family.

He promised his mother, sister, and brother that if he made it to America, he would save his money and come back to get them so they could all live together.

When Peter was 18 years old -- he received that opportunity!

Through some mutual friends...Peter's dream was set into motion. But isn't it interesting, Onward Nation...how through determined, unrelenting focus, hard work, and grit -- what we want most in this world finds its way into our circle?

And Peter's focus had definitely been unrelenting.

So, Peter made it to the United States with no money and couldn't speak the language. He followed the mass of Greeks who were headed to Canton, Ohio to work in the steel mills.

Peter worked in the mills for a couple of days and realized that was not going to be the path that would get him closer to his dream of owning his restaurant.

Instead, he pursued a job in a downtown Canton restaurant where he would cut vegetables and wash dishes on the night shift. As you might imagine, Onward Nation...it was back-breaking work...he bent over a sink and then a cutting board...all night, every night.

But he did it...with a happy and grateful heart because he was in the pursuit of his total happiness, Onward Nation. He was working in pursuit of his dream and he would not quit!

During those years working in the restaurant, Peter learned English. And then providence set in. One of the cooks on the day shift befriended Peter and gave him his old knife set so that Peter could refine his food preparation skills.

That knife set end up being Peter's ticket to getting off of the night shift and onto the day shift as an apprentice where he could make more money.

Within a short period of time...Peter was on the day shift and saving all his money.

After just 6 years later, Onward Nation, without knowing English, without any money, without a formal education, without a network of influential contacts, and while gritting it out doing work that many people today would refuse to do -- Peter had saved enough money to open his own restaurant and bring his family from Istanbul to live with him in Canton.

The restaurant was called the Ideal, which ended up being the first in a total of three restaurants Peter would go on to own.

He delivered on his promise to himself and to his family.

How?

Not by getting funding from so angel investor. Not through a Kickstarter campaign. Not through loans from family members. Not through an economic development grant. No!

He was successful because he refused to quit when his body and mind tried to convince him to do just that.

He refused to quit.

But...as you may have already guessed...there's more to this story.

Peter opened his restaurant called "The Ideal" in downtown Canton at a time when Canton was often considered "Little Chicago" because of how organized crime running rampant.

In fact, if you read Napoleon Hill's brilliant book, "Outwitting the Devil", he shares a story about his visit to Canton in July 1926 to meet with local publisher Don Mellet. And how Mellet was gunned down by mobsters while Napoleon was in town for the meeting.

And the mobsters who killed Mellet also threatened Hill and forced him out of Canton. Yep, that was Canton, Ohio at the time...the same time Peter was courageously running his brand new restaurant downtown...right in the thick of all the action.

Insane, Onward Nation.

But even the threat of organized crime didn't persuade Peter to quit. He pushed forward.

And just when he thought he was making progress...the United States and the world entered the Great Depression in 1929 -- just a few short years after opening his restaurant.

Here is a photo of Peter standing behind the lunch counter of "The Ideal" during the Great Depression. You will see the humble beginnings of a very humble man. And if you were to have asked Peter about his business plan during the Depression, he would have said, "If you take care of your customers, they will take care of you. Because everyone's got to eat."

A simple business plan that Peter executed flawlessly every day.

In my opinion, Peter was also the creator of the original value meal...he sold homemade soup and sandwich for a nickel. During the Depression, he gave away more soup than he ever sold.

And yet, the story of Peter doesn't end there.

Peter married the woman of his dreams in Julia Katsaris -- and together -- they ran the restaurant and raised four wonderful kids along the way.

In their kids, they instilled their lessons of Family Comes First...you take care of your customers...and all of the other business lessons they had learned through 42 years in the restaurant business.

And when Peter and Julia retired...they shifted their attention toward their 10 grandchildren and instilling all of these powerful lessons into them so they could be well equipped to move ONWARD and become leaders in business, within their communities, and to become great parents.

Peter and Julia wanted their grandchildren to understand their family's history...the risks they took to get here...to stay here...and what it takes to create a meaningful life that revolved around service...around grit, tenacity, and never ever quitting...no matter the odds.

And in the end...how important it is to be kind and compassionate...because those are the true keys to success.

Some years later -- after Peter's retirement -- his adult son Bill Maronitis, who also became the owner to two successful restaurants, asked his father, "Pop, why did you give away so much soup during the Depression?"

And Peter looked at Bill, and with compassion and kindness in his eyes, said to him, "I gave away the soup because I know Jesus is coming back some day -- I don't know what Jesus will be wearing -- or what Jesus will look like when he comes -- so I'm going to be kind to everyone."

When Bill Maronitis shared that story with me -- he had tears in his eyes because that lesson from his father was that impactful and had helped shaped who Bill had becomes as a person and how he served his customers as a business owner.

Look, Onward Nation...there will be times that will weaken the best of us. But the truly great, those like Peter, they are the ones who got back up...dusted themselves off and got back to their work without feeling sorry for themselves. There was no victim mentality in his spirit -- only a commitment to what he believed was right and why he was put here on this Earth.

Don't let yourself fall into the seductive trap of self-pity -- yes, it can be comforting for a season during a period of loss -- of grief -- and we need to take the time to honor the loss -- but if we are not careful -- the thoughts of self-pity, or telling ourselves that we cannot move past an obstacle, or that we are somehow not worthy to conquer that next challenge -- or saying to ourselves over and over again that we can't do something -- those thoughts of low quality, of pessimism, will destroy your pursuit of happiness.

Your thoughts of fear will cause you to slow down -- ever so slightly -- each day -- and you will begin to move at the pace of the herd.

And that is not the pace and tempo you need to run at, Onward Nation.

Little by little -- if you are not vigilant -- you will slowly quit, each day.

But don't ever quit, Onward Nation. Ever.

Happiness is only achieved by the relentless pursuit of what you love most in this world -- something or someone -- you love more than anything else -- that your love is so intense you cannot breathe without it.

For Peter -- his happiness was driven by creating a better life for himself, his family, and taking the steps and necessary risks to make that happen.

And he did it.

He didn't wait for someone to make it happen for him. He was generous, he gave, he took care of the people around him -- and they took care of his during his times of need, too.

But, and maybe you're asking yourself… "How does Stephen know all of this to be true about Peter?"

Well, Onward Nation...Peter Maronitis was my grandfather.

And Bill Maronitis, Peter's son from the soup story...is my uncle...and my godfather.

My Uncle Bill is also one of my first mentors, one of my first employers -- I started washing dishes in his restaurant when I was 11 years old -- and he has always been a strong and dependable father figure in my life -- and still is to this day.

I have the honor of being one of the 10 grandchildren who had the privilege of learning these lessons of success directly from Peter. And the four amazing kids Peter and Julia raised...are my Aunt Joy, my Uncle Bill, my mother, and my Aunt Elaine.

And Canton, Ohio -- well -- that is my beloved hometown, Onward Nation.

Peter was a great man who gave everything for what he believed in. He took great risks coming to a foreign country seeking to create a better future for his family -- to create legacy for all of us grandkids.

So the photo of Peter in his restaurant that I mentioned earlier -- it hangs on the wall in my office next to my desk -- and my Uncle Bill has the same photo framed on the wall in his restaurant.

It is a visual reminder of our family's legacy -- where we came from. Our entrepreneurial DNA -- our roots.

There has been many a long night when I am working in my office late -- when I would much rather quit and go to bed...and then I look up from my work...and see Pop looking at me from the photo on my wall...and I think to myself...he did all that he did for me so I could live this kind of life...so I could have the opportunity to spend time with you Onward Nation, so I could do all that I do and enjoy today.

He did that for me.

He worked so hard and took so many risks.

So what in the world is my excuse? That I can't send out that last email...write one more invitation to a rockin' awesome guest...create the strategy for one more client...that I can't get that YouTube series launched?

His legacy helps keep me laser-focused on my most vital priorities -- and right now -- that is Thursday, May 3rd for Episode 1 on YouTube.

And my hope is that Peter's story has done the same for you, Onward Nation.

So don't ever quit. Never ever give up.

You were meant for greatness. You are a child of the most high God. You are instilled with an abundance of talent and gifts. Please don't let something so small as fear -- or your circumstances -- limit all you were meant to be.

As my mentor and great friend Don Yaeger says, "Greatness is available to all of us IF you are willing to do the common things uncommonly well."

So be uncommon, Onward Nation -- and never ever quit.

So with that said...

I want to again say thank you for taking the time to be here with me today. It is an honor to have you here.

And please continue to let me know what you think of Onward Nation...good or bad...I always want your feedback. My direct email address is [email protected] -- and yes -- that is my actual Inbox. No fancy filters or filing system and I read and reply to every single email.

So please let me know how you think we are doing. I look forward to hearing from you.

We will be back tomorrow with an incredible interview. Don't miss it.

Until then, onward with gusto!

Carolyn Cole is Show Host of the global Boomtank Business Show podcast, for sharp female entrepreneurs and cool guys who support them. For nearly two decades, she was a Fortune 100 and Fortune 200 senior corporate trial attorney. Now she makes the case on behalf of others' business and career dreams - happiness too. She offers global business consulting and coaching for executives, teams, entrepreneurs and business owners. She is an organization development consultant, business strategist, entrepreneur, Livestreamer, speaker and certified professional coach.

• Why anyone at anytime can seize their life and make a decision to change it
• How a podcast can serve as a platform for your business
• Why visibility is the lifeblood of your business
• How making a list of your top three priorities for the next day can be a time saver
• Why you should have a presence on social media but should not live there
• Why the practice of positivity on a daily basis can set your day for success
• How doing the right things on a consistent basis keeps your business moving forward
• The importance of being clear on who you are and what you offer
• Why playing small serves no one
• The importance of not making the mistake of undervaluing what you are offering

• Website: www.boomtank.com
• Twitter: @CarolynColeLive

Our special encore guest today is J.D. Graffam. He is a user experience expert and business leader. He founded his first business, Simple Focus, a digital experience company, in 2009. Today, his holding company, Graffam Companies, manages three digital agencies and six product businesses, all of which are bootstrapped and profitable. In his industry, he co-founded "CSS Off", the world's first philanthropic CSS contest, speaks nationally about creative leadership, user experience, and business, and is the author of the book "CSS for Print Designers." Now...you may remember J.D. and the wisdom he shared during Episode 354. If you haven't listened to, studied, and applied all he shared during our first interview...I highly encourage you to add Episode 354 to your list of vital priorities.

• Why you need to learn to trust your own patience
• The role common sense plays in being successful in business
• Why success is however we define it for ourselves
• Why you should not be afraid of failure
• Why J.D. feels failure should be considered an organic natural outcome from doing things
• Why anxiety is not fear, it is a negative prediction
• Why hiring A-players is not the only way to get A-players
• Why you should gain satisfaction from an A-player moving on to other opportunities
• The value of having relationships with your employees on an individual level
• Why you have to have the ability to critically evaluate your current scenario

• Website: www.simplefocus.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Twitter: @jdgraffam

Laura Roeder is the CEO and founder of MeetEdgar, a social media automation tool designed to prevent status updates from going to waste. She has given talks at conferences like BlogHer and South by Southwest, and has spoken about the value of independent entrepreneurship at The White House. Laura's also appeared in Forbes, Fast Company, Mashable, CNET, and other major publications.

• The value of independent entrepreneurship
• How time blocking helps increase productivity
• The importance of consistently focusing on the priorities of your company
• The value of giving yourself a mental break to help regain your focus
• How MeetEdgar saves time by automating your social media posts
• The benefits of saving and recycling old social media posts
• Why you should be posting more updates and content on your social media
• Avoiding the mindset that you are annoying people with your social media updates
• Why letting others help you is a critical skill to master
• Why you should not wait until something is perfect before making it live

• Website: www.meetedgar.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Twitter: @lkr

Susan Baier founded her company, Audience Audit, in 2009 in order to help organizations understand their best audiences based on attitudes and needs rather than just demographics or purchase behavior. With 30-years of experience as a marketing strategist, she develops custom segmentation research for marketers and agencies around the world, supporting their efforts to create marketing initiatives that are more relevant, more efficient, and more impactful.

• How Audience Audit gives small to midsize businesses access to marketing research
• The importance of focusing on an audience when building a business
• The two questions that help define your audience
• Why you should stop focusing on the demographics of your audience
• Why you need to identify the problem your audience is trying to solve
• The importance of building the audience you want to work with
• Why you should use your website as a sales tool
• How to use your website to target the clients you want to work with
• The importance of working with clients that are the right fit for your business
• Why you should not rely on searches for exactly what you sell

• Website: www.audienceaudit.com
• Email: [email protected]

Michael Dunn is the Global Brand Strategist and Chief Creative for D U N N — an independent marketing consultancy specializing in inspired thinking, creativity and content-driven brand development. Over the past 15 years, he has worked in a variety of senior-level executive and creative positions throughout the world in advertising, marketing, merchandising and public relations, gaining experience and racking up successes on both the agency and client sides of the business. Michael is currently working on the book "Brains, Beauty and Belief: How Brands Work and Why You Should Care."

• Why Michael feels a brand is a vessel of trust
• Why business owners need the ability to constantly shift gears
• Why observing people's behavior helps you become a good brand consultant
• The importance of reading everyday
• The value of reaching out to authors and thought leaders
• The importance of being open to ideas no matter who they come from
• The benefits of stepping out of your comfort zone
• Why Michael feels keeping your atena up for ideas is a critical skill
• The importance of knowing how your brand makes people feel
• The benefits of putting design as part of your business strategy

• Website: www.dunnbrand.com
• LinkedIn: Michael Dunn Brand

Our special encore guest today is Christine Kloser. She is an international speaker on the topics of transformational authorship and transformational leadership and is the author of thirteen books, including the best-selling and award-winning books, Conscious Entrepreneurs, Pebbles In The Pond, Get Your Book Done, and this is the 10th anniversary of The Freedom Formula and she is releasing an updated version. She has trained 70,000 writers in more than 125 countries, teaches her signature Get Your Book Done program online, and facilitates transformational writing retreats throughout the year. Now...you may remember Christine and the wisdom she shared during Episode 432. If you haven't listened to, studied, and applied all she shared during our first interview...I highly encourage you to add Episode 432 to your list of vital priorities.

• Christine shares what a transformational book is and its value to business owners
• The benefit of Christine's group mentorship program "My Time to Write"
• The four quadrants needed to form a transformational book
• How following the four quadrants helps you become a transformational author
• How writing a book can have a powerful impact on your business
• The power of writing a book targeted to one person rather than thousands
• How success can be defined as doing work that is fulfilling and impactful to your clients
• What makes an "A player" is someone who believes in the mission of your business
• Why a plateau in your business may be the result of a plateau in you as a person
• The importance of maintaining creativity and productivity to keep your business moving forward

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.christinekloser.com

Good Morning Onward Nation – I'm Stephen Woessner and welcome to Episode 715 – this week's solocast.

I am excited about you and I will cover today because it addresses a gaping hole that exists inside most businesses.

And that hole is the lack of qualified leads flowing into a the sales pipeline -- or -- potentially the lack of a sales pipeline altogether.

Here's the most recent data…of the 28 million small business owners in this country – over 43 percent of them cite "growing revenue" as being their top challenge in their company.

That is over 12 million business owners in this country, Onward Nation.

And yes, the challenge to grow revenue can be complex – there can be a myriad of factors or obstacles in the way.

But, in my over 20+ years of experience in owning five different companies – and having interviewed over 700 of today's top business owners – I will say that the inability to generate leads – or to generate high quality leads that consistently flow into a well-defined sales pipeline represents the most significant challenge to building a scaling a business.

So that is going to be where we spend our time together today.

We will focus on how to effectively use LinkedIn to fill your sales pipeline like a pro. Today's lesson will provide you with the tools, resources, and the step-by-step you and your team can take and apply right away to begin building momentum with your lead gen.

Before we dig into the tactical step-by-step…I want to first make ensure that we level set around mindset.

Here's what I mean.

Generating leads is not hard work. In fact…it is straightforward and very little tech…especially when you have the right recipe to follow.

But…just because the work is simple does not mean it is easy.

In fact, I can almost guarantee that you will be frustrated at the beginning, you may even pound your fist on your desk and wonder why the results are not better, and you may get upset at your sales team for their lack of productivity.

I am sharing this with you so that when it does happen – instead of getting frustrated and thinking that success will always elude you – I want to you to say to yourself, "Ah, Stephen said that I would think this right." And then push forward.

Because pushing forward, whether we are talking about generating leads, or pursuing your life's passion, is what it takes to be successful. As Vince Lombardi once famously said, "The man at the top of the mountain didn't fall there."

But, if you remain focused on continuous improvement – refining your recipe — you will be successful.

This is a long haul – it requires data collection – testing – adjusting – testing again – scaling – making mistakes – testing again.

So let's dig into the recipe and all of the ingredients.

First…some quick words as to why I love LinkedIn as much as I do, and why in my opinion, it should be the cornerstone of your lead gen strategy.

There are approximately 500 million LinkedIn members — yes, 500 million. Hugely valuable community.

Next…want to guess the average number of LinkedIn connections for a CEO?

1. Interesting.

Why?

Because if 933 is the average — some are higher — some are lower — but you tend not to get 933 connections by accident — you work at it — so if someone has 933 connections — it is likely intentional.

Meaning, LinkedIn is a platform that he or she values — and a place where they spend time — that that is great news for you.

And yes, you should be reaching out to the CEO — the top decision maker at your prospect client — but that can be a topic for a completely different solocast.

Okay, next…some additional insight into why you should care about LinkedIn…27 percent of all members are between the ages of 30 and 49…and another 24 percent are 50 to 64 years old…and 13 percent are over the age of 65.

So to say that another way…over 64 percent of LinkedIn members are over the age of 30…and 38 percent of total members earn $75,000 or more per year.

Bottom line…there are 433 million people on LinkedIn…64 percent of them are over the age of 30…and 38 percent earn more than $75,000 per year…with the average CEO having 933 connections on the platform.

All of that speaks well to your opportunity of finding and connecting with the prospects who can accelerate you biz dev, Onward Nation.

So let's press forward by reviewing the seven ingredients within our recipe.

Our recipe for how to effectively use LinkedIn to fill your sales pipeline consists of seven core ingredients, and they are:

Ingredient #1: Improve your LinkedIn profile by adding video / audio clips, value proposition, etc. to the Summary.

Again — we will get tactical here in just a minute — and I will give you tangible visual examples within today's Show Notes for each ingredient.

Ingredient #2: Import your existing email list in LinkedIn and send connection requests.

Ingredient #3: Export your LinkedIn connection list and import into your client's email list.

Ingredient #4: Personalized thank you message sent to each new connection

Ingredient #5: Build your prospect list using LinkedIn's Advanced People Search tool.

Ingredient #6: Send InMail messages to your top prospects — and be sure to speak the language of your "client avatar."

Ingredient #7: Create and send consistent nurturing email campaigns with exclusive content just for your LNKD connections so they feel valued to be part of your growing community.

Okay, now that the high-level view of the forest is complete — let's dive in and go tree-by-tree so you can see all of the tactical ingredients of this recipe.

Ingredient #1 is all about getting ensuring that your LinkedIn profile is not just good — but that it is excellent. Why does this matter?

Because when you send InMail messages as part of Ingredient #6…the very first place your recipients — your prospective clients will go to learn more about you — is your LinkedIn profile.

And if it is sparsely populated with value propositions, your connections count is low, you haven't taken the time to include a quality profile picture, you have zero recommendations, etc. — then it looks like you don't care — and they won't respond to you. Maybe your InMail was just spam — you are ignored — and they move on.

Or, if you have taken the time to include audio and video clips, Slide Shares of recent presentations you delivered, links to articles you have written recently, blog posts, recommendations from current clients — it not only takes advantage of all the profile building tools that LinkedIn provides you — but — you also visually demonstrate your thought leaderships and expertise to your prospective clients — and that is a very good thing.

Now when they receive your InMail message as part of Ingredient #6 — they move from skeptical questions like "Why did she send me this?" to "Oh, interesting…they would like to talk with me? Awesome."

Think of your LinkedIn profile as your personal landing page and it needs to be excellent — just like everything else in your business.

If you would like a tangible example — check out what my team has built for me on LinkedIn…look me up…send me a connection request…and you will see illustrations of each step I just shared with you.

Let's move on to Ingredient #2 — import your existing email list into LinkedIn and send connection requests.

To make sure we are on the same page here — I am talking about taking your email list — the list you communicate with often — consisting of customers, prospects, maybe even vendors — people with whom you have a relationship — and then uploading that list into your LinkedIn account and inviting them to connect with you on LinkedIn.

But why?

First…when you increase your number of LinkedIn connections — your network and credibility grows. Instead of having several hundred connections — you move to several thousand. And the next time a prospective client checks out your LinkedIn profile — they may see the number — and be impressed.

Second…your number of 1st-degree connections in LinkedIn impacts the number of prospects you will be able to see during Ingredient #5 of this process — when you use LinkedIn's Advanced People Search. To cement this into place — let's quickly review what LinkedIn defines as 1st degree, 2nd degree, and 3rd-degree connections.

A 1st-degree connection on LinkedIn is — let's say you are listening to this solocast — you like what you hear — and decide to send me a connection request on LinkedIn — and by the way — you should totally do that — anyway — when I receive the request — I personally accept it.

And so you and I become 1st-degree connections.

Now, here's what's interesting. My nearly 24,000 1st degree connections instantly become your 2nd-degree connections. And all of my 2nd-degree connections become your 3rd-degree connections.

Again, why is that important?

Well, back to my connections…my nearly 24,000 1st connections extrapolates out to a total network of over 20 million people when considering 1st degree, 2nd degree, and 3rd-degree connections.

That means…I can search through a huge number of people during Ingredient #5 in finding our ideal prospects we might want to reach out to.

So, Onward Nation, building your number of 1st-degree connections is essential to your success on LinkedIn — and uploading your email list and sending out connection requests is a quick and easy way to boost your connection count — and the size of your network — with a couple mouse clicks.

Very powerful.

Here's how you complete the step. Click your "My Network" on the left side of the menu and then you should see an option on the right side of the screen to import your contacts.

Then click "Add Contacts" and you will see a screen with options to connect LinkedIn with your email service

Definitely do that — as well as the option to upload your email list and send out a massive number of connection requests all at one a couple of clicks.

In the testing that we have done here at Predictive ROI over the years -- is that about 30% of your recipients will accept your mass connection request within the first 72-hours. So this is an efficient way for you to boost your number of 1st degree connections -- nearly immediately.

Moving on to Ingredient #3: You should export your LinkedIn connection list and import into client's email list.

This might seem a bit backwards after you just uploaded your email list into LinkedIn — why am I now recommending that you reverse the process and export the list back out and import it into your email list?

A couple of reasons:

First…LinkedIn is the only social media platform that gives you the ability to export the contact and profile details of your connections — and that is just plain awesome!

Second…the email address someone used when getting onto your email address may be different than the email address they use within a professional community like LinkedIn — so you should have both inside your email list.

This gives you the ability to cross-pollinate — ensure your high-quality email content that you will be sending (ahem — only high-quality content here, Onward Nation) — will be able to reach them via LinkedIn posts — as well as via email.

And third…there may be some hundreds of people who connect with you via LinkedIn — and not know how to signup for your email list.

No problem…if you are importing and exporting on a consistent basis…you will solve that problem to ensure you are fully covered.

Okay, onto Ingredient #4. Do you feel the momentum starting to build, Onward Nation?

You just beefed up your profile so it is ready to be checked out by the highly targeted prospects who will soon be coming your way. And then you expanded the size of your network so you have tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or maybe even millions of people you can sort through to find the right prospects.

Rock solid awesome!

With ingredient #4…I recommend that you send a personalized thank you message to each new connection — and — that the message includes something of value — and — it is a personal message. Not one of those automated messages that feels like a heavy-handed sales pitch as soon as you connected with someone.

Ugh — those are awful and I tend to remove someone as a connection as soon as I receive one because I feel as though I got duped into a sales pitch.

Yack. We will not be doing that with Ingredient #4.

No...instead I recommend you send something personal — a warm hello and thank you — some personalized context so he or she knew that the message was just for them and then a link to the video.

Now, here is a little scaling secret, Onward Nation — you — you personally — do not need to be the one who sends each of these messages.

You can and should delegate this to a member of your team — maybe even an unpaid intern on your team — and my team at Predictive ROI has been blessed to have worked with 24 rock star interns who were assigned this project as well as other front line — forward facing activities.

And if you're thinking "unpaid interns — he is out of his mind — there's no way we could recruit unpaid interns in this market." Let me just say…we have worked with interns who were students at Duke University, Ohio State, Purdue University, University of Northern Iowa…and many other schools around the country — all unpaid.

If you want our recruiting recipe — go take a listen to Episode 137 — because I share all of the step-by-step of how we do it in full transparency.

Okay, back to lead gen and Ingredient #5: How to build your prospect list using LinkedIn's advanced search tools.

With these tools, you will be able to search through your entire network of connections using several powerful filters, such as:

• Keywords
• First Name
• Last Name
• Title
• Company Name
• Location — or mile radius from your office or location

And then you can take it deeper and make your searches more refined by including your prospect's years of experience, their function within their particular company, seniority level, what they are interested in, company size, and so forth.

And if you are looking to upgrade to a premium membership -- I am a big fan of LinkedIn's Sales Navigator because of the additional granularity in data that can be pulled as well as how leads can be categorized and some of the reporting actions or reminders you can put into place. Sales Navigator is not a CRM but it is definitely getting closer to that.

Okay, by taking the time to get specific about your prospect — you leverage LinkedIn's database — to deliver back to you a list of prospects who match your criteria and you eliminate the time wasting of sending direct mail to a purchased list and hoping for a better result outcome than the last campaign.

So let's say that in your first attempt — LinkedIn returns a list of 100 people. You can then click on the profiles of each person (see — Ingredient #1 is really important) and from their profile — you can better determine if he or she is a good fit for your lead gen efforts.

If yes, add the person and their details to an Excel or Google Sheet so you can keep a running list of who you have reached out to.

I get it -- this is tedious work — I completely understand — but — it is also where the rubber meets the road in the success of your business and it will fill your sales pipeline.

Okay, so if you have worked you way through all of the ingredients, you will have built a solid profile — you expanded your LinkedIn network by leveraging your email list — and being smart — to also reverse the process and cross-pollinate your connections back into your email list…and now…you have mastered LinkedIn's search tools with the resulting outcome being — a highly targeted prospect list — perhaps the most targeted list you and your sales team have ever had.

Now what?

Ingredient #6 is next.

Crafting your InMail message and sending it to each of the people on the list you just created. There are seven sub-ingredients, if you will, that make up the InMail message…and they are:

• Include the first name of the recipient in subject line
• Your first 255 critical characters need to be awesome
• Speak to your "Avatar"
• Include credibility indicator(s)
• Include a client testimonial
• Include a call-to-action – reason for your prospect to reply to your message
• Include your email signature
• Here is an actual InMail message — a template — you can use to create your own.

Please use it.

My team at Predictive ROI has sent thousands and thousands and thousands of InMail messages on behalf of our client's lead gen efforts — as well as for our biz dev — and the template we included in today's Show Notes is the resulting outcome of all that testing and hard work.

You will dramatically shorten your learning curve by using the template.

One last point about the InMail and the template you will see in the Show Notes — there is a reference to "speaking to your client avatar." And yes, we have a recipe for that, too.

If you go to Episode 208, I explain in full detail how to identify your client avatar — how to speak directly to him or her — and how to deliver value in the process.

Having and mastering this knowledge is a must in writing effective InMails.

And now we have arrived at our final ingredient…Ingredient #7…creating and sending consistent lead nurturing content to LinkedIn connections.

When you export your LinkedIn connection data — and then import into your CRM like InfusionSoft, etc. be sure to add the emails to a special list tagged as "LinkedIn Connections" or something else that lets you know these email addresses are super special.

This list represents your MVPs and your goal should be to create content just for them — exclusive — and then share it with them — letting them know it was created just for them — and that your connection means something to you — your connection is important — that you value their opinions — that you want to hear from them and how you can do better — and that you share your insights and expertise along the way in such a context that you are providing value that can be incorporated into their business straight away.

So that when you do reach out to them to explore the potential of a business relationship — you are not reaching out to a stranger with a cold call — you are reaching out to someone who already knows you, already likes you, and may already trust you because you offered tremendous value first — and that is an awesome way to begin a business relationship.

Before we close out for today…I'd like to leave you with a couple of important thoughts.

Now that you have learned the recipe – and have seen the typical result outcomes – there are two questions you and your team need to answer.

First…how will we take immediate action based on what you learned here today?

How will you apply it right away to fill your pipeline?

And that leads to the ultimate question.

Are you committed…or are you just interested in having a steady stream of well-prepared prospects flowing into your sales pipeline?

Being committed means knowing exactly how much new business you are seeking, from what sources, and having a strategy in place to fill the pipeline to get it.

Let me share a quick story about Coach Nick Saban from the University of Alabama – who, in my opinion, represents the epitome of being committed.

Alabama is consistently one of the top-ranked teams in college football each year. They were the 2015 National Champions and won the title again at the close of the 2017 season.

Coach Saban's reputation is one of precise detail and process.

And once he uncovers a "recipe" for success…he uses it over and over again.

But he also freely shares his secrets without fear that his competitors will be able to duplicate his results.

How is this possible?

Case in point…my good friend, mentor, and three-time guest on Onward Nation, Don Yaeger, interviewed Coach Saban as they considered writing a book together.

During one of Don's visits with Coach, he asked if there was a secret formula or recipe that gave Saban an edge to recruiting the best talent out of high school year-after-year.

Coach told Don that his recipe is simple. He committed himself to watching every single play that any of their 85 scholarship athletes every played while in high school.

Every play…so he could evaluate talent, effort, and other qualities.

Let's just think about the magnitude of that for a minute.

Alabama has 85 scholarship athletes…who likely played at least 2-years of high school football…at 10 games per year in high school…and many high school players play both offense and defense during a game, so let's call it 100 plays per game.

All totaled, Coach Saban watches film on 170,000 plays to make his recruiting decisions.

It is an overwhelming number, right?

How could anyone do that? But Coach Saban does.

And the resulting outcome is that Alabama is consistently the best on the field each year.

So Don asked him, "Coach…aren't you worried that if we put your secret recipe into this book that people will steal it from you?"

And Saban looked at Don and said, "Nope…not worried at all. Because no one is going to be willing to put in the same amount of effort that I am willing to commit to our success."

So my hope is that you don't leave this solocast thinking – yeah, I knew LinkedIn could do that. My challenge to you is…but is your business doing it?

And as Tony Robbins says…"A real decision is measured by the fact that you've taken a new action. If there's no action, you haven't truly decided."

So I hope you will decide to put this sales pipeline-building recipe into action and then please drop me a line and let me know about your success.

So with that said, Onward Nation…

I want to say again, thank you for taking the time to be here with me today.

It is an honor to have you here — thank you for tuning in — your time is sacred and I am delighted you chose this episode to be what you listen to, study, and take with you on your morning run, or maybe Onward Nation has become part of your daily commute, or in some other way has become part of your morning routine.

However our daily podcast fits into your daily routine — I want you to know how much I appreciate you sharing some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds you have in your day with me and the strategies we learn and share each day from today's top business owners.

I look forward to being back with you again tomorrow as we spend time learning from another one of today's top business owners.

But until then -- onward with gusto!\

Our special encore guest today is Jill Schiefelbein. Jill helps business owners increase sales, enhance product experience, and retain customers. Her first business, Impromptu Guru, helps people improve their presentation and public speaking skills. She created a YouTube series that was syndicated by Entrepreneur Network and brings in thousands of new viewers each week. She's a video partner and a contributor to Entrepreneur Magazine. Her latest book is entitled, "Dynamic Communication: 27 Strategies to Grow, Lead, and Manage Your Business." Now...you may remember Jill and the wisdom she shared during Episode 453. If you haven't listened to, studied, and applied all she shared during our first interview...I highly encourage you to add Episode 453 to your list of vital priorities.

• The importance of defining your ultimate goal when deciding to write a book
• Why you should systematize innovation within your company
• The value of asking yourself "where does my business come from?"
• Why you need to understand how to present in a technological environment
• Why you should know how to use the technologies at your disposal
• How to overcome fear by identifying the real obstacles in the way
• Why you should focus on empowering and educating your customers
• The two questions Jill uses to define success
• Why when seeking advice, you need to look at the life situation of the individuals providing the advice
• How to be a better mentor by setting clear expectations and being clear about your mentorship style

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.thedynamiccommunicator.com
• Twitter: @dynamicjill
• LinkedIn: Jill Schiefelbein

Jane Mosbacher Morris is the Founder and CEO of TO THE MARKET, a socially-inspired business connecting ethical producers around the world with consumers and businesses seeking to make a social impact. TO THE MARKET works with large corporations such as Macy's, Levi's, Capital One, UBS, Experian, General Mills, and many more. Her written work has been published on platforms ranging from the National Defense University to Refinery29.com. She is the author of the forthcoming book, "Buy the Change You Want to See: Harnessing Your Purchasing Power for Good".

• Why Jane's vision was changing the way businesses identify and source product
• How farm to table allows people to better connect with the supply chain of food
• Why fashion and product are headed towards the same model as farm to table
• How we can all make change in the world by harnessing our purchasing power
• How your brand can be congruent with what it is you value and care about
• Why Boomerang for Gmail is a valuable tool for email management
• Why persistence when starting and running a business is a critical skill to master
• Why Jane wrote her forthcoming book "Buy the Change You Want to See"
• What the term "Buycott" means and how it relates to consumer purchasing power
• The importance of making a change in the world by choosing to spend money with social impact businesses

• Website: www.tothemarketcustom.com
• Website: www.tothemarket.com
• Book: "Buy the Change You Want to See: Harnessing Your Purchasing Power for Good"