The Idea Climbing® Podcast

Idea Climbing® Podcast Episode 43

If you’re not careful negative people can rain on your parade and hold you back. Thankfully, there are ways to avoid those things. That’s what I discuss during this episode with my guest, Brittany Anderson.

Brittany’s current big idea is the creation of the “Dream Architect Movement”. Her primary role is helping people manage their money. She is driven to do more than just that; she is also helping people decide what they want to do with their lives. She helps them answer tough questions such as “What do you want to accomplish?” and “What are your aspirations in spite of what other people have told you?” When people share a big idea, they’re often met with resistance and even criticism. The other person might say “That’s too big of an idea” or “That’s not possible”. That’s where the Dream Architect Movement comes in. The process supports people that want to embrace possibility.

Why is this movement so important to her? Both Brittany and the founder of their company, Bryan, grew up with single mothers in tight financial situations. Instead of succumbing to their life circumstances they both decided to go in a different direction by choosing success over failure. While it wasn’t easy, they made it happen. Brittany said “It doesn’t matter what happens to you in life, what matters is that you set your eyes on the future. What matters is the pursuit of all that’s possible”.

In this episode we also discuss:

How to stop negative self-talk dead in its tracks by focusing on the three components self-awareness.

Why acting as if you’ve already achieved your goals will help you achieve them faster.

Why surrounding yourself with the wrong people will hold you back in life and what to do about it.

How to create “stories about moments of impact”.

How to balance your personal and professional lives while chasing your dreams.

…and more golden nuggets of advice!

If you enjoy this episode please rate us and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your podcasting platform of choice.

About The Guest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brittany Anderson is the President and Shareholder of a top-ranked financial services firm, Sweet Financial Partners. Having more than a decade’s worth of experience in her field, she has taken her business building and team engaging insights, and has worked with CEO’s, Entrepreneurs, Business Owners, and Authors. Brittany is also the co-creator of the Ultimate Advisor Coaching and Ultimate Advisor Mastermind Platforms. Her insights have been featured in national media outlets such as the Huffington Post, Women, Inc & Forbes magazine.

She has shared her expertise through her contribution to three published books and will continue on with her love for writing as she is set to publish two additional books in 2022. As an influential speaker and author, Brittany Anderson has spoken at Million Dollar Round Table, Raymond James National Conference, EWAS and others on showing up each day to be more than a title, more than a label, and pursuing a life that fulfills their purpose.

Here are the ways that you can connect with Brittany:

www.MySweetFinancial.com – Resources

www.SweetFinancial.com – Company Website

Idea Climbing® Podcast Episode 42

If you want to bring a big idea to life a support system will take you there faster than you could alone. That’s what Steve Hunt and I recently discussed. After twenty years as a corporate executive turned entrepreneur, Steve has learned the keys to selling big ideas. One way to create that is through a process called enrollment.

What is enrollment? It’s getting people excited about your big idea and convincing them to join you on your journey. Enrollment is about opening doors, not closing sales. It’s about sharing passion and purpose about a project.

What’s the starting point of enrollment? It’s understanding that because you are excited about your big idea doesn’t mean other people are going to be as excited as you the first time you share it. Sometimes they will get excited quickly and sometimes they won’t. Another important point is remembering that you’re selling an idea, not a product or service. Your big idea might lead to sales of a product or service, but they have to buy into your idea first.

Enrollment is the process of not always being closing but always being opening. What does this look like? Imagine that you’re selling a big idea. The other person in behind a closed door and they’re looking at you through the peep hole. Through conversation you need to create enough connection and rapport to get them to open the door. How do you accomplish that? Get them to feel like you understand them and where they’re coming from. You want them to become part of something bigger than yourself.  When you achieve that you can begin a real conversation.

During this episode we also discuss:

How to build rapport and get the other person to open the proverbial door without steamrolling them.

How to communicate in a way that the other person understands you and wants to learn more about your big idea.

Why inviting people to join the mission of your big idea to fulfill a vision is better than trying to sell a product or service to everybody that you meet.

Why listening skills are more important than presentation skills.

…and more golden nuggets of advice!

If you enjoy this episode please rate us and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your podcasting platform of choice.

About the guest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A speaker, advisor, and most of all a teacher, Steve has been entrenched in the world of the highest achievers in business for over three decades. He has coached executives at British Petroleum, Lockheed Martin, the White House, Cisco, Microsoft, and IBM and has assisted more than 400 global organizations in optimizing success in operations and leadership.

Steve has appeared as an analyst on CNBC, Fox News, CNN, and other news programs. His commentary has appeared in The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Businessweek, and other global publications. He attended Elizabethtown College and was a graduate fellow at the University of Chicago.

Steve's diverse background lends a fresh perspective on business and society.

Steve’s website:www.Ravestrategystudio.com

Idea Climbing® Podcast Episode 41

In this episode Megan Robinson and I discuss the skills needed to bring your big idea to life. Megan is the principal at E Leader Experience and works with individuals and teams to develop self-leadership skills that grow companies.

When it comes to creating an action plan there’s the tactical side of the equation and the strategic side of the equation. It’s one thing to have a big idea, it’s another thing to be able to execute and breathe life into it. That’s where tactics are needed as much as bigger picture strategies. The skill needed to combine the two is project management. A person skilled at project management can balance those tactical elements with staying true to the bigger picture.

Another way to look at both sides of the coin is to examine management versus leadership. Leadership is being able to craft the big vision. Management is being able to guarantee that all of the “nitty gritty” aspects of the project get done. Project management is most successful when both sides of the leadership/management coin are aligned.

How do you get people to buy into your vision? It’s an 80/20 principal. It is 80% the leader’s responsibility to craft and build that vision. The other 20% has to come from the team, that’s where you get the buy-in and alignment. Without some kind of team ownership of that vision it will never be truly aligned and actualized. When it comes to execution you need 80% to come from the team to get stuff done and make things happen.

In this episode we also discuss:

How to be tactical and productive instead of just “busy”.

When it’s most important for a leader to be strategic.

How to use the “stop, start, keep” philosophy to being a better leader.

How to give your team the ability to take ownership of your big idea.

…and more golden nuggets of advice!

If you enjoy this episode please rate us and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your podcasting platform of choice.

Megan Robinson is the principal at E Leader Experience and works with individuals and teams to develop self-leadership skills that grow companies. She started her career in marketing climbing her way through the corporate ladder at advertising agencies and fortune 500 companies.

Like many of us, she caught the entrepreneur bug and started her own marketing company. After yet another “Business Therapy” session, Megan discovered her true passion was in coaching and is a John Maxwell certified coach and DiSC Trainer. In addition, she is the Past President of ATDChi the leading learning and development organization in Chicagoland.

Inspired by her own successful career in corporate and entrepreneurial environments, Megan makes leadership approachable for everyone, regardless of title, position, or experience.

You can connect with Megan on LinkedIn here

Idea Climbing® Podcast Episode 40

Storytelling is a popular subject.  While many people will tell you how important it is, few will tell you HOW to craft compelling stories. Recently I spoke with Michael Davis, a speech and storytelling coach, about how to create compelling stories even if you're a novice at doing so.

Back in 2002 Michael met Darin, the World Champion of Public Speaking at Toastmasters. Michael wanted his speeches and stories to be perfect. Darin told him “Done is more profitable than perfect”.  This means that you have to get your product or service out there, and not wait until you think it's perfect because it never will be. This helped Michael eliminate some of the stress with bringing his speeches into the market.

What does this mean to a B2B services company? We discussed leveraging networking events to hone your pitch, or better yet tell your story. After a brief conversation, if the other person doesn’t ask you to share more or ask for your business card – that’s feedback. That means your message isn’t landing with them. At that point you should try something else with the next person that you speak with. If you don’t get a great response from your latest marketing efforts, try something else. Don’t dig your heels in with a message that doesn’t resonate with your audiences. Keep honing your explanation until people lean in and ask you for more information.

As a storytelling coach Michael believes that stories are the #1 tool we have in our marketing tool bag. Your story is the only asset that you have that nobody else can duplicate. Your life and business experiences are your own and yours only to share if you want to connect with people in a meaningful way.

In this episode we also discuss:

Why people don’t care about your offering unless you can solve a problem that they have. Michael shares how you can craft a story to describe the solution that you can offer them.

How to have your clients to give you the marketing message you that you need to grow your business.

Why listening more than you speak will build more business relationships.

What NOT to do when approaching a potential client.

Two questions to ask yourself after every sales conversation.

…and more golden nuggets of advice!

If you enjoy this episode please rate us and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your podcasting platform of choice.

 

Michael Davis is a highly sought after presentation skills coach, author and speaker. He has trained business leaders, sales professional, professional speakers and TEDx speakers on four continents to deliver talks that have been viewed over 3 million times. He is also a faculty member and coach at Stage Time University and Rooftop Leadership.

His work is focused on helping you attract more clients, create more efficient teams, and increase your influence through more effective speaking, business storytelling and online presentations. He helps experienced speakers, entrepreneurs, and sales professionals confidently deliver memorable and meaningful talks of any length, even on short notice.

Connect with Michael on LinkedIn here or visit his website here

Idea Climbing® Podcast Episode 39

Your reputation and what people say about you when you’re not around means everything in business. Credibility means everything. My guest in this episode is Mitchell Levy. Mitchell is a TEDx speaker and international bestselling author of over 60 books. We’re discussing how to bring your big idea to life through credibility and how credibility helps with marketing your big idea.

Mitchell interviewed over 500 thought leaders on the topic of credibility. 98% of them couldn’t articulate who their customer was and the pain point that they solved for their customers. The term Mitchell uses for pain point is “CPOP” or “Customer Point Of Pain”. Test this out on yourself. In 10 words or less, without using the words “I” or “we”, describe who your customer is and the CPOP that you solve for them. If it’s 10 words or less, it’s memorable. If it’s memorable, it’s sharable. It should also be something that begs the question “tell me more”.  Mitchell’s is “Humans that want to be seen as credible”. One of his favorite client’s one is “Creating a successful marketing funnel”.

Big Ideas, CPOPS and Credibility

A clear CPOP is helpful when marketing your big idea. When you have a big idea, you should be able answer the questions “What is the audience that you serve?” and “What is the pain point that you’re addressing?” You should be able to articulate your big idea in five words or less. Then it will act as your compass of what activities you engage in and it will let you know what people should be finding you and how they find you. This is important because if you want to execute your big idea the first thing that you need to do is find other people that are interested in your big idea. To attract the right people, you must be deemed as being credible.

Credibility is: The quality in which they KNOW you, the quality in which they LIKE you and the quality in which they trust you. It’s more than just they know of you, it means they actually know you. To achieve this, you have to be of service to others before you ask for something from others.

Listen In!

In this episode we also discuss:

Three target markets for your big idea and how to reach them.

The ONE thing that needs to be in all your messaging.

How credibility ties into your personal branding and marketing outreach.

What NOT to do and be if you want to be perceived as credible.

…and more golden nuggets of advice!

If you enjoy this episode rate us and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your podcasting platform of choice.

About The Guest

Global Credibility Expert Mitchell Levy is a TEDx speaker and international bestselling author of over 60 books. After interviewing 500 thought leaders on credibility, he started Credibility Nation, a credibility movement, delivered aTEDx, wrote a book, created courses, and is working on revising the definition of credibility in the dictionary.

He's an accomplished Entrepreneur who has created twenty businesses in Silicon Valley including four publishing companies that have published over 750 books. He's provided strategic consulting to hundreds of companies and has been chairman of the board of a NASDAQ-listed company. Mitchell has been happily married for thirty years and prior to covid-19, regularly spent four weeks a year in Europe with family and friends.

Idea Climbing® Podcast Episode 38

In this episode I speak with David J.P. Fisher (also known as D. Fish) about creating a hybrid marketing, networking and outreach business plan during the pandemic and beyond. David is a speaker, coach, and author of 9 books, including the best-selling Hyper-Connected Selling and Networking in the 21st Century: Why Your Network Sucks and What to Do About It.

David suggests that you shouldn’t wait until the pandemic is over to create a “post pandemic plan”. Create a hybrid plan NOW for networking, marketing and outreach. Make sure that you’re doing work to build social capital and foster relationships during the tough times. This will set you up for success moving forward.

One piece that you can start working on now is your digital presence. Start with LinkedIn to continue conversations and  create relationships. People are spending a lot more time on LinkedIn during the pandemic which means that they’re more accessible. That way when we go back to in person networking events and meetings you’re not starting from scratch, you’re continuing online conversations in offline venues.

Instead of a bunch of rando Zoom calls pick a target audience and schedule two Zoom meetings a week with people in that audience. That’s 48 targeted conversations in six months. Those “deposits of social capital” will pay great dividends in the long run. Every conversation doesn’t have to be a sales conversation. Simply reaching out to discover what the other person is working on and how you might be able to help them will build your social capital.

Listen in!

In this episode we also talk about:

What hybrid meeting habits will carry over into a post pandemic world.

More ways to develop relationships on LinkedIn.

What NOT to do when you’re networking on LinkedIn.

How to create “hyperconnected” sales opportunities

…and more golden nuggets of advice!

If you enjoy this episode please subscribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts or your podcast platform of choice.

About The Guest

David J.P. Fisher (also known as D. Fish) is a speaker, coach, and author of 9 books, including the best-selling Hyper-Connected Selling and Networking in the 21st Century: Why Your Network Sucks and What to Do About It.  He is a Sales Hall of Fame inductee and LinkedIn Influencer and collaborator.  Building on 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur and sales professional, he combines nuanced strategy and real-world tactics to help professionals become more effective, efficient, and happy.

David’s goal is to help them understand the new Sales Sherpa™ Path, where social media, networking, and old-school sales and communication skills are the key to providing value and staying relevant. He lives in Evanston, IL – next to a huge cemetery which helps him appreciate the value of every day.

Connect with David on LinkedIn here or visit his site here

Many companies' primary marketing focus is on getting new clients. That can be the wrong way to go about business development. A better way is to focus on your current clients and stay in front of them as much as possible. They already know, like and trust you which shortens the sales cycle and opens the doors to more referrals.

I recently spoke with Matt Deutschman about this. He runs Doubletake Promotional Marketing, a company that specializes in promotional products and branded swag for professional services firms, colleges and universities, the financial industry, and advertising and marketing agencies.

Matt’s slogan for his business is “make them look twice”. This is a two-pronged marketing approach. The first one is the promise that his company’s products will make clients and potential clients look twice at their marketing messages. The second one is an important internal meaning for his company. It’s a rallying cry for Matt and his team. For every proposal or conversation with a potential prospect he wants to show them something that they’ve never seen before.

What does this mean for you and your business? Once you get a prospect’s attention by making them look twice show them how you provide outstanding service, why you’re creative, why your product or service is different and more ways to capitalize on the attention that you have in a moment in time.

Why You Should Focus on EXISTING Clients

Matt shares that he’s come across research that it’s seven times easier to get another sale from an existing client than it is to get a sale from a first-time client. Yet there’s a paradox in that 80% of marketing budgets are spent on getting new clients. This surprised Matt. Yes, in order to grow you need to be attracting new clients. Matt’s not saying that you shouldn’t be focusing any efforts on getting new clients. Instead of trying to get new clients completely on your own you should be asking for referrals from existing clients that will sing your praises. That means that it’s very important to stay top of mind with and show appreciation for your existing clients. Matt reverses those numbers and spends a majority of their advertising budget on treating their existing clients like gold.

In short, Matt focuses on and successfully turns existing clients into referral sources to help him grow his business.

Listen In!

In this episode we also discuss:

How to add value to your client relationships without always asking for more business.

How to create a “client appreciation campaign” and add it to your marketing strategy – even during the pandemic.

More ways to stay top of mind with your current clients and potential clients.

When and how to ask for referrals from existing clients without seeming “pushy”.

How to get repeat business from your current clients.

…and more golden nuggets of advice!

If you enjoy this episode please rate us on Apple Podcasts or your platform of choice and subscribe here!

About The Guest

Matt Deutschman is the owner of Doubletake Promotional Marketing, a company that specializes in custom branded promotional products for colleges and universities, advertising/marketing agencies, professional services firms and the finance industry.  Matt founded Doubletake in 2010 and is fourth generation in his family in the promotional marketing industry, previously working for his dad in the family business.  He also has a background in journalism, which provides the framework for his unique ability to ask insightful questions and tell his clients’ stories.  Matt is married and has two children (4 and 2), and has recently published his first children’s book.

Matt is passionate about forging a work/life balance that allows him to spend as much time with his wife and kids as possible, while also building a great company with a tight-knit team and an elite level of service and professionalism.  Doubletake has grown in sales every year since its inception, and Matt spends most of his afternoons running around with his kids, soaking up the joy of fatherhood.  His interest in children’s book writing stems from his fond experiences reading to his kids.

The backbone of what makes Doubletake Promotional Marketing successful is their creativity and focus on marketing strategy in their work with clients, coupled with an industry-leading track record of reliable delivery and superb communication.  Doubletake works with clients to turn clients into referral sources, employees into brand advocates, and recruits into team members.  With every project, Doubletake strives to “Make Them Look Twice.”

Everyone has great ideas from time to time. To create success in life you have to combine your great ideas and share them with the world. I recently discussed this concept with Richard Mulholland, the founder of presentation powerhouse Missing Link.

Richard first shared that there are idea hunters and idea gatherers.

Idea hunters seek out answers to questions. They’re the leaders in your life and in your networks. Idea gatherers look to the leaders for answers to questions and accept what they’re told. The idea hunters are always seeking something new, an explanation to a question, a solution to a problem, etc. The idea gatherers are always looking to the idea hunters for solutions to problems. They want the “hunting” for a solution done for them.

Create intentional places to trap ideas. Buy a small notebook that you can carry with you and when ideas come to you write them down. This creates the opportunity to combine the ideas later to write a keynote speech, design a new marketing strategy for your business and many other opportunities that you want to create. Simply put, when you want to bring a big idea to life, instead of looking at a blank page as a starting point you have an idea trap to reference. From there you can combine the smaller ideas that you’ve had over time into one big idea.

Listen in!

In this episode we also discuss:

How to curate information and conversations now so that you’ll have a better tomorrow.

A deeper explanation of idea hunters and idea gatherers.

How to be happier in your day-to-day life.

How to amplify your big ideas and unleash them on to the world.

…and more golden nuggets of advice!

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts or your podcasting platform of choice.

About The Guest

Having spoken in over 30 countries on six continents, Rock and Roll Roadie turned entrepreneur Richard Mulholland knows first-hand the impact that memorable presentations can make. That's why he works with executives and speakers around the world, helping them deliver unforgettable presentations that activate audiences and generate income.

He's the founder of presentation powerhouse Missing Link, as well as the co-founder of 21Tanks, HumanWrit.es and The Sales Department. He has written three books, Legacide, Boredom Slayer, and Story Seller, and was voted top 40 under 40, and top 300 South Africans to take to lunch.

Mostly though he's a husband, father, son, brother, and uncle.

In this episode Thomas Kim tells his story of and gives advice for leading in crisis and explains why a culture of mentorship is good for your business. Thomas is the founder and CEO of Everclean Car Wash.

Mentorship is important to Thomas because his dad left when he was seven. He’s grateful that scenario didn’t leave a gaping hole in his life because he always had men in his life that would take him under their wing and investing their time in him for reasons he didn’t understand at the time. Those mentoring experiences lead him to create a life and a company where mentorship is integral.

This also led Thomas to have what he calls a “triad of relationships” in his life. This means he tries to have a mentor, be a mentor to someone else and surrounds himself with peers that will challenge him, encourage him and help him grow as a person and as business owner.

Advice About How To Find a Mentor

The first piece of advice Thomas shares is to ask and ask about a specific problem or area of your life that you want help with. To engage with a mentor Thomas suggests asking this question: “Can I meet with you for 30 minutes from time to time just to ask you some questions and get some advice?” The second piece of advice he shares to potential mentees is once you find a mentor to drive the relationship. By that he means that he tells potential mentees “I’m going to give you my time, but I want YOU to come with the agenda for the conversation.”

Listen In!

In this episode we also discuss:

What NOT to do when attempting to start a mentoring relationship.

More details about how to successfully engage with potential mentors.

How Thomas has built mentorship into the day-to-day operations of his company.

Why including a mentorship program in your company will enhance your company culture and increase performance with your employees.

The steps you need to take is to create a mentoring program for your company.

How to successfully lead a company during personal and professional crises.

…and more golden nuggets of advice!

If you enjoy this episode, please rate us on iTunes or your podcasting platform of choice and subscribe here!

About The Guest

Thomas Kim is an entrepreneur and investor with a focus on real estate and small businesses with high growth strategies. He’s the Founder and CEO of Everclean, a modern, branded car wash. Its social mission is to enrich lives through opportunity and holistic mentorship. He and his wife, Evelyn, make their home in the Chicago suburbs. They have one daughter, Mackenzie, who is in heaven, and prior, Thomas raised three teenage foster children. Hobbies include any sport under the sun (except long-distance running), foreign travel, motorcycles, and high-fiber breakfasts. He has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BS in Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Recently I spoke with Matt Clark about how to successfully turn your LinkedIn connections into clients. Matt Clark is the founder of The Virtual Edge and co-creator of The Rainmaker System - an online marketing system that helps entrepreneurs get 2-5 high-value leads per day from LinkedIn without paying for ads.

Why does Matt prefer LinkedIn over other social media platforms? Because it’s the most profitable and easiest to use, you can reach out and directly connect with your ideal clients.

You can “knock on virtual doors” and get straight to the decision make to have a conversation. That may sound easy, but there’s a lot more to it. You need a sales strategy to implement to move people down the pipeline from being interested in your product or service to buying your product or service. Matt asked himself “How do you turn a connection into a customer in the shortest period of time?” The answer is that there’s a couple of things that you need to have.

The first thing is that you must have your positioning right. Know who your ideal clients are and specifically target them rather than starting conversations with anyone and everyone for generic “networking”. Then you want to have what Matt calls the “pickup line”. That tells them exactly what you do and how they can work with you before they even talk to you. That also allows them to come into your world with certain expectations. Your job is to deliver on those expectations. If you have your positioning right, you’ll have a productive conversation and you’ve already started the process of knowing, liking and trusting. To do this you can create a sequenced sales process that gets them from interested to buying in less than an hour. When you have a repeatable process that allows you to scale your business.

What To Say On That Initial Introduction

First things first. Your profile has to be set up in a way that explains what you do, who you work with and how you help them. The more targeted you are with your marketing copy the faster your relationships will build. When you send a connection request let them know that you read their profile by saying something like “I came across your profile while searching for (insert industry/job title here). I’m always looking to connect with like-minded, successful people in (insert industry/job title here).”

Listen In!

During this episode we also discuss:

What to say AFTER the initial contact to turn a connection into a client.

How to conduct business development without sounding “salesy” or pushy.

What NOT to do while developing your business development strategy.

What to do to maintain relationships when people aren’t ready to buy from you right now.

How to define who your ideal client is.

…and more golden nuggets of advice!

If you enjoy this episode please subscribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts or your podcast platform of choice.

About The Guest

Matt Clark is the founder of The Virtual Edge and co-creator of The Rainmaker System - an online marketing system that helps entrepreneurs get 2-5 high-value leads per day from LinkedIn without paying for ads.

With their flagship programme Matt and his business partner, Wesley Longueira have helped thousands of businesses in 26 countries grow exponentially. They are now on a mission to reach 10k businesses worldwide and build a vibrant community of Rainmakers!

The success of The Rainmaker System has led to Matt becoming a sought after international speaker and has shared the stage with Brian Tracey, John DeMartini, Michael Douglas, Stedman Graham, Peter Sage, Brandon Bays, Les Brown, and many more. Matt is also the author of The Proven Path, The Automation Playbook, and The Automated Income systems and has been featured in Wake up- How to live a Healthy Vibrant Lifestyle.