The Bacon Podcast with Brian Basilico | CURE Your Sales & Marketing with Ideas That Make It SIZZLE!

I don’t know about you, but I feel like I have to use the FORCE to fight off the number of people who reach out cold, asking me if I could use more leads? I find it ironic that they don’t know me enough to reach out and get to know me, yet they think they can know who a good lead would be like for me and my company?

I view leads as cold calls and who has time for that? I prefer prospects, where we have something in common and have a real reason to have a conversation. It’s all about the RACE acronym I mentioned in a previous podcast and blog.

This episode will explore the difference between leads and prospects, and how you can create a system around getting to know each other and having real conversations about common goals!

Mike has more than 20 years of experience in advertising and marketing, and his ability to understand and connect with an audience is the hallmark of his career. The approach he shares is what taught him how to understand an audience and deliver his message in a way they will not forget. Mike spent 13 years in the agency world as a client services specialist before joining Hasbro Toys and Games on the global marketing team, where he developed marketing and retail programs for brands like Transformers, Tonka Trucks, and Jurassic World. In 2015, he became the face of the Hasbro Gaming franchise, with the charge to establish the personality, attitude, and style of the Hasbro Gaming portfolio by creating a message the audience won’t soon forget. Mike has engaged his practice with audiences in the US, Hong Kong, India, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, and the UK, and every one of these audiences remembers him for not just what he says, but how he connects with them.  After over 20 years of real-world experience, Mike is thrilled to share his experience with you, and to show you how to get your audience to say…

I learned a lesson while teaching LinkedIn to a companies sales team. I could teach tools, tactics, and tips, but I could not help them to look past the process to create progress. That was up to the sales manager, who had to create accountability for them all.

What I didn’t realize at the time is that we had to run two separate races for marketing and sales…

As you start to build a bridge between marketing and sales, you have to make sure you keep leveling up with your marketing by:

This episode will explore how you can will the sales RACE by learning to use your marketing to build quality business relationships that start with awareness and create conversations!

Mark S. A. Smith designs and implements customer acquisition systems that find and recruit customers for disruptive products. He speaks at entrepreneurial events delivering pragmatic ideas to grow and succeed.

He is an electrical engineer, media technologist, computer programmer, hardware salesman, software marketer, and business owner who works with leaders who must develop the best way to bring in the right customers, fast!

Mark wrote 13 books and sales guides targeting government, educational, healthcare, and the private sector, including three with Guerrilla Marketing author, Jay Conrad Levinson. He has authored more than 400 magazine articles.

With his engineering, sales, and business background, he can teach information in a way that customers, salespeople, and management understand so that they can clearly communicate with their customers.

Creates powerful and innovative sales channel tools, combining product knowledge with proven sales skills. Creates custom white papers and books to sell technology to top management. Delivered thousands of speeches on selling.

It’s that time of year again to give thanks and send holiday gifts and cards. The problem is, when we do that in social media or email, our sincerity gets diluted by every other person or company doing the same thing at the same time.

What would happen if you had a system to do that helped you reach out to only 10 people at a time every day? That is what my 10-10-10 system is about.

All you have to do is identify your top 150 connections for the current month (your TRIBE), and reach out to 10 of them per workday. That gives your top connections one touch per month which will keep you and your business top of mind by:

This episode will teach you the 10 most powerful words in business, besides Thank You!

Mark S. A. Smith designs and implements customer acquisition systems that find and recruit customers for disruptive products. He speaks at entrepreneurial events delivering pragmatic ideas to grow and succeed.

He is an electrical engineer, media technologist, computer programmer, hardware salesman, software marketer, and business owner who works with leaders who must develop the best way to bring in the right customers, fast!

Mark wrote 13 books and sales guides targeting government, educational, healthcare, and the private sector, including three with Guerrilla Marketing author, Jay Conrad Levinson. He has authored more than 400 magazine articles.

With his engineering, sales, and business background, he can teach information in a way that customers, salespeople, and management understand so that they can clearly communicate with their customers.

Creates powerful and innovative sales channel tools, combining product knowledge with proven sales skills. Creates custom white papers and books to sell technology to top management. Delivered thousands of speeches on selling.

I recently did something I have not done in over 5 years. I hopped on a plane and went to Raleigh North Carolina to meet a bunch of people I have not yet met in person.

The last few years have been filled with new connections online and through Zoom, but face-to-face meetings have been rare. It’s one thing to meet online, but it often takes Know, Like, & Trust to a new level when you meet in person.

Most people have networks of close connections (your TRIBE) of around 150 people. Each of them probably knows 10 people (over 1,500 total) who can help you and visa versa. From there, you can amplify your reach to over 15,000 people (again amplifying by 10) simply by:

This episode will explore How your 150 closest contacts can help amplify your messages to over 15,000 people which can create Relationship Marketing success!

The Law Offices of Jacqueline Lentini, LLC is certified by the State of Illinois Central Management Services as a Women Business Enterprise (WBE), a part of the diversity compliance opportunities within the State. For more information, please see Diversity Compliance: https://www2.illinois.gov/cms/business/sell2/bep/Pages/default.aspx.

Jacqueline Lentini focuses her practice on immigration law and compliance, handling all matters of employment-based immigration case management, including Labor Certification (PERM), H-1B, L-1A, L-1B, L-1 Blanket, E-1/E-2, TN, B-1, J-1 and I-140 (EB-1, EB-2, EB-3). She counsels clients on consular processing and Client Adjustment interviews, and has filed Adjustment of Status applications, including Advance Parole and Employment Authorization.

Previously, Ms. Lentini gained extensive experience in immigration matters with other Chicago area law firms. Prior to that, she was an Immigration Specialist for World Relief, for which she obtained Board of Immigration Appeals accreditation, filed VAWA petitions, Adjustment of Status and Citizenship applications, and maintains continued involvement at World Relief sponsored Naturalization workshops.

Prior to her law degree, Ms. Lentini was employed by the University of Houston and Purdue University as a F-1 and J-1 Student Counselor serving thousands of international students. She possesses over twenty-three years of combined experience with immigration issues as both an attorney and foreign student advisor. She enjoys working with universities, faculty, staff, and students and has over half a dozen public and private Midwestern university clients she serves on an ongoing basis. 

Ms. Lentini is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (“AILA”), the Illinois State Bar Association (“ISBA”), and the Kane County Bar Association’s Immigration Committee. Ms. Lentini currently serves on the AILA Customs and Border Patrol Liaison Committee (2018-2021), served on the Midwest Regional Conference Planning Committee (2016-2018), and AILA’s National Long Distance Learning Committee (2014-2016). She is a contributing author to the Illinois Chamber Employee Handbook on an ongoing basis. Previously, she was on the Illinois State Bar Association’s Immigration and International Law Committee from 2002-2003. She writes many immigration related law articles in local bar journals and speaks regularly to audiences regarding immigration issues in a variety of industries, including universities, entrepreneurs and manufacturing companies.

Ms. Lentini obtained her J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law, earned a Master of Arts in Italian Studies from Brown University, and a B.A. in International Relations cum laude from Boston University. She is fluent in Italian.

It was not too long ago that we had to get in our cars and go to store-to-store to find what we needed and the best deal. Amazon now does that for you and delivers it in a day or two.

Since we are consumers at heart, we all tend to have a consumer bias when it comes to marketing, but B2b sales and marketing are different altogether. It takes an understanding and perspective that matches what our clients and prospects need to make informed and profitable business decisions

I have had multiple customers come to me and ask how they could use consumer tactics with a B2b audience, but I tried to guide them down a better path for success. B2b Marketing for better sales is NOT:

This episode will explore some client journeys about how their consumer bias in marketing led them to miss some of the tactics they should have used to get bigger and better B2b sales results!

Jeff Ward has covered Illinois politics as a journalist for 11 years. He knows how to frame a message and he knows how to win a campaign.

As a prize-winning former eight-year Sun-Times suburban opinion columnist and the former six-year co-host of the well-regarded Ward & Jones Radio Show, Jeff has seen it all! He’s parlayed that experience into a successful campaign managing practice, writing a popular, insightful political blog and authoring ‘So You Wanna Win a Local Election’

Through a broad base of business, political and personal experience, Forward Communication helps public and private sector entities and individuals effectively communicate through an appropriately framed and targeted message.

Our campaign clients include Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, Elgin City Councilman Corey Dixon, Kane County Coroner candidate Tao Martinez, Geneva Alderman Richard Marks, Batavia Mayoral candidate Jason Stoops and Kane County Chairman Chris Lauzen.

Jeff’s private sector experience includes 20 years of business/database consulting for major clients like Wrigley Gum, Philips Electronics, Motorola, SBC, Morton Salt, USG and AT&T. This extensive Fortune 500 background provided Jeff with the statistical and database foundation to determine exactly who your audience or constituency really is.

After all, the best message falls completely flat if it isn’t properly targeted.

Jeff also designed, invented, manufactured and marketed the Lapinator Portable Insulated Laptop Desk which received great reviews from trusted sources like The Wall Street Journal, CNET, Gizmodo, The Gadgeteer and PC Magazine. And a campaign is nothing more that “inventing” or “re-inventing” the candidate.

Jeff lives in Geneva, Illinois, with his wife, two sons and two dogs.