The IT Experts Podcast

In this episode, I talked with James Burtt, who is an awesome brand performance expert.

You will learn what you need to do to get your brand out there, how you standout on a crowded IT marketplace which will ultimately help you generate more leads.

The purpose of this episode is to give you a clear understanding on how having and building a solid Brand makes a huge difference and impact into your business.

First off, we should know what Brand is?

According to James, Your Brand is your reputation – nothing more, nothing less.

Your brand is built to be a true representation of who you are as a business, and how you wish to be perceived.

Having a strong brand will distinguish yourself from your competitors, it will also make memorable impression on consumers and it allows your customers and clients to know what to expect from your company, making sure that your company offers the best choice of products, services and solutions.

Ultimately, you must make sure that all messaging is always be about them not about you.

Having said that, this allows you to stand out from your competitors!

Other important things that we also talked about are;

• The difference between Branding and Marketing
• The Basic of USP'S
• The biggest mistakes that people make when branding their business
• Business niche – ideal target market
• Understanding Brand proposition
• How to stand out from your competitors
• Productizing

ITS Quick Fire Round

If you are to bottle one part of your business journey and sell it. What would it be and why?

5AM Club – I love getting up early. I get so much more stuff done.

What is your biggest learning / regret about scaling your business?

My biggest learning is the power of being around with the right people.

What is your favourite app on your phone and why?

I love WhatsApp. I think it's brilliant, I build business and connected with some of the biggest influencers on the planet.

Guest Details

To contact James Burtt, connect with him on Instagram at @jamesburttofficial

If you are looking to scale your IT / Tech Consultancy Business and don't know where to start, then check out the IT Experts Growth Accelerator on our website http://tiny.cc/ITEXPERTS

You can also download the e-book by clicking this link - http://tiny.cc/ITE-Ebook19

Quotes

Your Brand is your REPUTATION – James Burtt

In this episode, I talked with a very special guest, Mark Matthews CEO, Leader and Visionary owner of ATG-IT in Bromsgrove, UK.

Mark has an amazing and inspiring story of how he transformed his business using his inspiration from a crisp packet.

He took his IT business from 0 to £2.8m, making him one of the most successful IT/MSP business owners I know.

In today's podcast, you will learn a great deal about the non-technical side of Business. It's all about leadership, systems, processes and company culture.

We also talk about how to engage properly with your staff, how to get more out of them, how to step back and use self-awareness to become a better leader and most importantly you will learn how Mark developed his IT and Tech business.

The purpose of this episode is to explain and share some of the amazing successes that Mark has had growing ATG-IT and how that relates to having a deliberate and systemise growth plan.

Mark also shares how a crisp packet changed his life.

Back in the day, Mark didn't have a process to lead his business, which probably led him to become a control freak. Spending his time focusing more on money, because everything was all about money and not about the people.

He said, ATG wasn't going anywhere, they had flatlined, he's working 70 hours plus a week, unhappy and not knowing what his purpose was.

Mark added, since that epiphany, he was gone from being lost with no direction to being clear about his purpose and the professional and personal journey he is on.

Because he realised, it was him all along.

According to Mark, he had never told his staff at work, what GOOD looked like. Therefore, if you don't explain to your employees what good looks like, then they will just do what they think they should.

Hence, they will use their own version of what good looks like as a guide and if they do and you haven't helped them understand what you wanted, then getting it wrong can't be their fault if you haven't supported them.

Mark soon realised that it was his fault then he decided to change the way he dealt with employees.

He added that having a system is the overall key element to business growth success.

Other important things they talked about are:

• The Traction business model from Gino Wickman
• The steps they need to define core values
• The core values of the company
• How he set boundaries and use "The 5 questions of clarity" Model

Mark said, having these 5 questions of Clarity can put boundaries for people, boundaries for money and boundaries for time.

ITS Quick Fire Round

If you are to bottle one part of your business journey and sell it. What would it be and why?

It's always the owner's fault – get out of your own way.

What is your biggest learning / regret about scaling your business?

There are so many learning points but for me, it is to develop a system and to work on yourself.

What is your favourite app on your phone and why?

Waterminder. – It helps me to remind myself to rehydrate as I go through the day.

Guest Details

To contact Mark Matthews, connect with him through Linkedin and Twitter or email him at [email protected] or check out his website at https://www.crispleadership.com/

If you are looking to scale your IT / Tech Consultancy Business and don't know where to start, then check out the IT Experts Growth Accelerator on our website http://tiny.cc/ITEXPERTS

You can also download the e-book by clicking this link - http://tiny.cc/ITE-Ebook19

Quotes

If you don't explain to your employees what good looks like, then they will just do what they think they should, using their own initiative based on their own experience and values, and not yours. – Matt Matthews

In this episode, we had a great time talking with Kevin Lowe, he is an absolute expert when it comes to finding and training the right apprentice and making sure that the apprentice offers value back to you and your business from day one.

Today, you will learn not just to find the right candidate that fits to your business needs but knowing whether it is the best time for you to hire an apprentice.

The purpose of this episode is to help business owners understand the benefits and/or advantages of having the right apprentice for their business, understanding the whole apprenticeship scheme bringing your business to the next level - helping them grow and develop their organisation.

Research has shown that apprenticeship offers myriad of benefits.

By investing in talent development through apprenticeship, employers gain a pipeline of loyal skilled workers, increase productivity, and improve the bottom line however most business owners often overlooked this and is often battling out the whole idea of bringing in an experienced staff rather than an apprentice.

Oftentimes, business owners don't want to hire apprentice simply because they don't have the time nor the resources to train or probably it's not just easy for them and they don't have the right support to do so.

Moreover, as companies, whether to bring on apprentices yet most of them have the same question in mind: What if I invest all this time and money training an apprentice, only to have them jump ship when it's done?

According to Kevin, that's a possibility, as it is with any employee. But advocates argue that the benefits outweigh the risks.

Hence, they talked about important topics such as.

• The benefit of apprentices to the business owners?
• The benefit to the actual apprentice themselves?
• How they kind of work and how you can help?

Kevin added, when he seeks for the right apprentice, he always asks; What do they like to do in their spare time? Through this, it will help him identify and find out the type of people that he is working with.

Kevin believes, those young, enthusiastic, hungry, passionate apprentices are like a sponge that they are going to suck all the information that you are giving them.

They will just do, follow and complete all the task that you want them to do.

Other topics they talked about:

• What in the pre-qualification process do you look out for?
• How do you choose the right apprentice for your business?
• What are your criteria to make sure that you match to the right candidate with the job role?
• What additional support you can provide to the business owners?

ITS Quick Fire Round:

If you are to bottle one part of your business journey and sell it. What would it be and why?

My advice would be to work hard, be honest, work with integrity and have no regrets.

What is your biggest learning / regret about scaling your business?

Don't look for apprentice that has more experience instead bring in someone who is young, enthusiastic, hungry, who is ready to do what they are told to do.

What is your favourite app on your phone and why?

Spotify because I always listen to music.

Guest Details

To contact Kevin Lowe, connect with him through LinkedIn or you may call his number at 07984 962 865 to ask for a FREE consultation.

If you are looking to scale your IT / Tech Consultancy Business and don't know where to start, then check out the IT Experts Growth Accelerator on our website http://tiny.cc/ITEXPERTS

You can also download the e-book by clicking this link - http://tiny.cc/ITE-Ebook19

Quotes

You can't teach people attitude manners and/or beliefs, but you can support them with their knowledge. – Ian Luckett

You must teach someone making sure that they have a mentor who is teaching them doing what is right. They need someone to support them, look after them and making sure that what they are doing is right and that they are guided through with all those kinds of support. – Kevin Lowe

In this episode, I had the privilege to interview AJ Yager of Praxis Metrics Data from Austin, Texas. He will be sharing with us loads of tips on how you can learn, understand and implement Data Analysis that will help your clients grow and succeed their IT and Tech Businesses which will add value to your organization.

The purpose of this episode is to help business owners understand how Data works.

Why Data is important and how a deeper understanding on how we can analyse it in terms of Data Analysis can help Business owners succeed with their IT and Tech Businesses.

Ian shared that for most of the business owners apparently don't understand or have an idea what data they've got and how to use it.

According to AJ, Data is simply information. This will help business owners become well-informed.

Moreover, Data is the key to gaining information, knowledge, wisdom and that helps you scale your business and do your job better.

He added, it is extremely valuable to know your numbers and of course, to take action.

As business owners, you are constantly making decision and with that why not use that learning and use it to become better. Data will help Business owners make better and right decision. Thus, it's all about taking action with the data that you have.

With this, you must ask your clients "What are your biggest Problems?" from there you can build relationships and drive bigger opportunities by knowing how to solve their biggest problems.

Apparently, there are lots of ways to use the data but the number one thing that we used it for is to drive a better decision. This is to really change the behaviour within the organization.

Other Key points we talked about are:

• Typical types of Data and how to use it.
• Steps that you need to ask and know to help your Business grow.
• Lifetime Customer Value

ITS Quick Fire Round

If you are to bottle one part of your business journey and sell it. What would it be and why?

Our Knowledge/Brains. In a way to teach people to think about this, understand and to take action with the data that they get.

What is your biggest learning / regret about scaling your business?

Hiring team members – where we had the most mistakes and a biggest learning.

What is your favourite app on your phone and why?

AJ: Prime Mind & Do Not Disturb App – if I want to focus on my life and my business.

Guest Details

To contact AJ, visit their website at praxismetrics.com

If you are looking to scale your IT / Tech Consultancy Business and don't know where to start, then check out the IT Experts Growth Accelerator on our website http://tiny.cc/ITEXPERTS

You can also download the e-book by clicking this link - http://tiny.cc/ITE-Ebook19

Quotes

Data doesn't need to be complicated. This means that by understanding your data, knowing your numbers, and by knowing your business can then help you implement your business growth. - Ian Luckett

Every business is one data away from exponential growth hence know your numbers. – AJ Yager

Today I talked with Tiffany Kemp – CEO and Founder of Devant Limited.

We share some business saving tips and tricks and strategies all around Business Contracts that you need to know that will help your business grow and run smoothly.

When talking about Contracts, people generally use this as some sort of weaponry or an Insurance policy. When really it should be treated as a relationship that guides and helps both you and your customers to do the right thing.

According to Tiffany, when Business owners know how to approach the conversation and then do it the right way, this will help your business grow rather than running into unforeseen risks.

She added that, Devant had a mission to help businesses use the right contracts to help them build great value to their customers.

It is so important that you are being transparent with your Contract to your customers so that both parties can set a proper expectation with one another.

Other key topics we talked about are:

• Getting the best contract for your employees and how to protect yourself from others who try to poach your key staff.
• Termination of Contract by Clients.
• Do's and Don'ts that you need to consider in setting up contracts.
• Contracts in terms of Cyber Security.
• Protecting your IP.

ITS Quick Fire Round

1) If you were to 'bottle' one part of your business journey and sell it, what would that be and why?

Having the courage with your convictions to say what you believe to be true.

2) What is your biggest learning/regret and advice to listeners when scaling their business?

To hangout with other key people who knows stuff that you don't.

3) What is your favourite App on your phone and Why?

Waze and voice recorder on my phone.

Guest Details

If you need some help on anything contractual, you can contact Tiffany Kemp at Devant Limited for FREE 30 minutes of support. You can find out more about Devant at https://devant.co.uk

LISTENER OFFER!

Devant are running a Negotiation Skills Course that you can find out more about here on the link below and Tiffany has kindly given a 20% discount off of any TiffCo Contract Law or Contract Negotiation course: find out more here https://tiffanykemp.com/shop/

Just enter the code IAN2020 now up until 30th of April 2020.

Links and Resources

If you are looking to scale your IT / Tech Consultancy Business and don't know where to start, then also check out the IT Experts Growth Accelerator on our website http://tiny.cc/ITEXPERTS

You can also download the e-book by clicking this link - http://tiny.cc/ITE-Ebook19

Quotes

It is very important that when you are growing your business, you have to be clear understanding about what you are bringing to the party and also what your customers are bringing to the party. Then you can work out how to serve them better – Tiffany Kemp

Today I talked with Ian Benjamin from DigitalExecs. He is a digital recruiter and an expert in head-hunting, recruiting and finding the right people in IT and Tech Businesses.

In this episode we will help you to not only find, attract and interview the right candidates but also learn the huge impact of getting the right people in your organisation.

One of the biggest issues amongst business owners is a matter of whether to recruit contract employees versus getting full time employees.

According to Ian, unemployment in the IT Sector is at its lowest in UK because of a shrinking pool of talent to hire, attract or engage with.

As to the question of whether or not to hire people for full time or contracts would still depend on the size of the business, although majority of the hires are contracts only.

Essentially some of the companies feel that contractors are the best option depending on what sort of project they are working on.

However if they are looking into longevity and long term growth then he would recommend to bring someone in long term employee and to develop them and make the person part of the journey of the growth of the company.

Only then the employee will be more committed to the success of the company.

Other key points that we talked about are;

• The Do's and Don'ts of the typical Tech Company when recruiting.
• What are the best things to do when conducting an interview?
• What questions that are asked to in terms of selecting the right people?
• The structure of the actual interview.
• The timeframe of the feedback after the interview.
• The Key Steps that we need to consider when interviewing/selecting new candidates?
• The importance of transition and the on boarding process.

ITS Quick Fire Round

1) If you were to 'bottle' one part of your business journey and sell it, what would that be and why?

I value the massive impact of my learning and development experience development in shaping me as a young adult.

2) What is your biggest learning/regret and advice to listeners when scaling their business.

Regrets – when I missed an opportunity to join into a big business partnership.

3) What is your favourite App on your phone and Why?

Linkedin and my Health app.

Guest Details

To contact Ian Benjamin, connect via Linkedin or visit his website at https://digitalexecs.com/

Links and Resources

If you are looking to scale your IT / Tech Consultancy Business and don't know where to start, then check out the IT Experts Growth Accelerator on our website http://tiny.cc/ITEXPERTS

You can also download the e-book by clicking this link - http://tiny.cc/ITE-Ebook19

Quotes

You have to get it right – recruit the best people otherwise people will leave. – Ian Benjamin

Today I interview a great friend of mine, Matt Elwell – founder of Elite Closing Academy.

In this episode you will learn the difference between Selling and Closing, and more importantly how the different elements of this process to help you close more business, convert more sales and help more people.

All we did today was talk about the Ancient Art of Closing Sales.

Essentially, Sales is an important process but understanding how we close is crucial for any business owner.

Matt's point of view is that his learning came from a very young age. He had a great Sales training when he was working for others and this has put him in good stead.

Also, He added that during that time when he was working he knew that his company didn't have a process or a system for closing business.

He soon realised that he needed a "way" of creating a better human to human connection. The power of voice, the way we speak, the words and language that we use has a huge impact in closing sales.

Matt mentioned that People don't want being sold to because of previous horrible experiences. Most sales people don't listen and they don't ask great questions.

Being able to close doesn't mean taking money of people. It means the logical next step on the journey – once you master the logical next step on the journey on the prospecting cycle that's when the process becomes much easier and more natural

Matt has 2 key teaching on the subject;

• Prospecting journey – "Understanding the caterpillar egg into a beautiful butterfly." Understanding the lifespan of your prospects and/or customers. How long it takes somebody to go from cold to sold- from caterpillar egg to beautiful butterfly and most importantly, understanding how to nudge your prospects through the process and knowing how many contacts you need to have before they are ready and you've earned the right to ask a closing question.
• Understanding the Serve Sell/Close Cycle – A lot of business get that wrong because they are serving so much that they forget to sell and forget to close. This can be really frustrating particularly in Consultants. I find them full of information, full of strategies and techniques, experience and knowledge. All the things that they want to tell people about but actually that is the real problem because if you are telling - you are hard selling. The power of the serve sell/close circle is to understand how to serve sell and close at the same time and understand this key concept. The highest level of serving a prospect is to sell congruently and sell well and close somebody that needs what you do. Closing is serving on a high level.

Ian asked about the clients and the prospects that are fighting on price.

According to Matt you have to look at your own beliefs around money and price before you can master this part of the system.

He added, the thing that is very helpful and interesting to consider in 2020 is to replace the word "Price" with "Investment".

If you really want to increase your conversion in 2020 and grow your business then you must go towards the pains and the problems and the challenges that your prospects are having that your service or product solves.

In many cases, if you use the word price it will always be too much and if your sales or your process is around money then you're really going to struggle.

The System we use is the PUNTq system for serving:

• Pain – You must solve problems and pains and challenges
• Urgency – if there are no promises there are no urgency
• Need – find out what they need to solve that problem
• Trust - asked question to build an enormous amount of trust

Matt said, if there is really a solution to a problem then people would really consider investing. When you are the solution to the problem; money is never an issue because they can see the value to their money.

The Q is then the high quality question that you ask.

He added, there's always an investment for time, money, thinking, energy, mindset, and attitude – but my advice is to focus on results because people pay for results.

Moreover, you have to position your price at the very beginning of the prospecting journey and then ask these powerful questions that linked to pain, urgency, need and trust.

• Other than money/investment/cost/price give me 5 of the reasons why us working together would benefit your business?
• What are you criteria other than money can make you decide to use our product or services?

Ian asked what is it on the prospecting journey that people aren't going buy you or aren't going marry you that we need to understand when nurturing the brand new prospect.

• Discipline
• Certainty
• Process

They also talked about the difference between Selling and Closing.

Selling is getting to the point where they want to buy and Closing is when they actually buy the product.

However, Matt believes all the selling is done on an individual contact prior to a written proposal.

Like a caterpillar and butterfly system - It's a game of two halves;

• Understanding and asking powerful questions, finding out pain, urgency, need and trust.
• When you decided that you and your prospect are a good match that's when you start sharing quality information.

Now, the moment you've than done that is when you need to stop selling and start closing. When they believe that you have that information that will help them resolve their problems.

Ian states that, testimonials and client results will also help you build your own credibility and certainty.

Matt added, you must be certain within yourself. Sell it to yourself first. You have to be actually sold with the business you are selling.

Asked these important questions;

• If my business is not here who suffers?
• When you founded this business - what is your strongest reason of doing it?
• And more importantly, if you weren't here who's got a problem?

ITS Quick Fire Round

1) If you were to 'bottle' one part of your business journey and sell it, what would that be and why?

Knowing the difference of when to stop selling and start closing.

Follow up question: What signal would you expect to get from somebody when the prospects are really warm and move towards the closing?

You will know the moment when you should ask the big question.

2) What is your biggest learning/regret and advice to listeners when scaling their business.

People - Your business is only as good as the people that operate it. Identify the skills that you don't have and hire people who have those skills to fill that role.

3) What is your favourite App on your phone and Why?

Elite Closing app.

Guest Details

To contact Matt Elwell, check out his social media accounts or

Visit his website: https://www.eliteclosingacademy.com/sales-accelerator

And/or download his app: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/elite-closing-academy/id1468828449

Links and Resources

If you are looking to scale your IT / Tech Consultancy Business and don't know where to start, then check out our IT Experts Growth Academy Group on LinkedIn - a collaborative and safe environment to learn the foundations to IT and Tech Business Growth - click here to request access - https://goo.gl/weymKj

You can also download the e-book by clicking this link - http://tiny.cc/ITE-Ebook19

Quotes

Remember this one key thing; Become the solution to a problem and your business will grow because when you are the solution to a problem that's when you become very relevant to other businesses and people. – Matt Elwell

In this episode, I will be sharing with you my 5 keys steps to New Year Success process.

Last year was a very successfully year at Innovate to Success and I put this down to having a solid plan that I adjusted and measured throughout the year.

I always have some kind of plan because it helps me keep out of and also manage unnecessary stress and changes that happen in and around the business.

Today, you will learn the 5 key steps to New Year's success, that I used in 2018 to help achieve my 2019 business growth targets. Also in this episode I have shared with you your own action PDF workbook, that will help you go through each step, note down your actions and also set up a plan of your own so you can set your priorities and goals.

You can download is HERE.

In this show, we go through each step in detail.

As mentioned before the important element about business planning is setting your goals and making sure you have the correct team around you to help you keep on track.

You can go through this process all in one sitting or you can stop the podcast and spread it over 5 days. Then you will have chance to reflect and add details to your plans while you think and maybe involve others in the process.

Here are the 5 key steps to New Year's Success:

• Step 1: Review your business performance last year.
• Step 2: Look at the bad.
• Step 3: Look at the good things that went right.
• Step 4: Set out your goals/targets.
• Step 5: Map out and measuring it.

(6:00) STEP 1: DAY ONE

Review your business performance last year - Have a look and review at what exactly happen last year.

1. Look at what went well?
2. Look at the things that didn't go well?
3. Look at projects that didn't get completed?

(10:10) STEP 2: DAY TWO

Looking at the bad - Look at what went wrong and also at things that we can potentially improve. This is where we learn and this is where we grow, as you don't learn unless you made a few mistakes.

When I learn something new, I can't help but to share it (if relevant) to my clients, to my company and to my team. This helps us all grow, develop, learn and grow our different businesses together. So, have a look at:

1. What are your weaknesses? What are the things that are holding you back?
2. What are your New Year threats?
3. What are you doing about those threats?

(16:18) STEP 3: DAY THREE

Look at the good things that went right - When things go well we want to magnify them. Quite simply doing more of the things you do well is a sure-fire way to add to your bottom line, so let's take a look at:

1. Identify your strengths.
2. Identify other opportunities.
3. Maximizing new opportunities

Right in the middle of this Podcast I gave you a few Tips on how to prioritise and delegate your tasks, This is through the £10, £100 and £1000 test! Here is the detail.

3 different types of task you have in your business:

£10 (Admin task) - room bookings, calling clients, admin task – social media posting, email, etc.

£100 (Management task) – creating content, manage, supervise and delivering client and/or customer satisfaction.

£1000 (important task) – strategic thinking, pitching to clients and generating leads.

(24:00) STEP 4: DAY 4

Setting out your goals/targets - What are the things that you need to achieve next year – what are your new KPI's. (Key Performance Indicators)

1. Set up your new 2020 targets (Overall for the year)
2. Break them down into quarterly targets
3. Monthly review/KPI's.

(28:40) STEP 5: DAY 5

Map out and measure – Quite simply, What gets measured gets done. One of the best ways to ensure success in your personal and business life is to measure, test and recalibrate your plan as you travel through the year.Therefore:

1. How are you measuring your business?
2. Make sure you assign owners to those actions and that they take accountability.
3. Have a clear vision for what winning look like for you?

The last page in the action tracker, helps you to pull all of this together. This helps you take the key things that you've just written down on each of the individual day steps and create your own plan.

I urge you to complete this exercise, go through this podcast either all in one go or across the next week and share your findings with your team so that they can feel engage with the business.

Complete the sheets, have a think, go back to it next week, have another think and very soon you will have your vision set up for the next year ahead.

Links and Resources

If you are looking to scale your IT / Tech Consultancy Business and don't know where to start, then check out our IT Experts Growth Academy Group on LinkedIn - a collaborative and safe environment to learn the foundations to IT and Tech Business Growth - click here to request access - https://goo.gl/weymKj

You can also download the e-book by clicking this link - http://tiny.cc/ITE-Ebook19

In this episode, I bring Anna Heim, the Head of Cyber Security and Data Protection Consulting at ARES Risk Management to the podcast. .

Today, you will learn about the different elements of the current Cyber Landscape, how it is evolving and how you can respond to it.

More importantly, what IT companies can do to integrate cyber into their value offerings and how to identify different malicious threats to different companies and how to prevent it.

In This show we talked about 2020 Cyber Security Essentials.

The importance of understanding the Cyber security Landscapes because according to Anna the basic mantra of Cyber Security is - it's not the case of "IF you get hacked but it's more of WHEN you are going to get hacked."

She added that the level of security you are getting should enhance your security not burden them.

Every day our businesses are evolving and every day we see that there is new software coming out to deal with our security. However we need to understand that what's right for each company and "A" is not necessarily right for company B,C,D,E,.

Moreover, knowing how to identify what your business needs and what types of threats that may potentially attack your business is very crucial because once you are aware, you will then know how to prevent it.

Anna and Ian talked about the different types of attacks;

According to Anna, the biggest threat in 2020 and beyond is 5G and IOT.

Malware, or malicious software, is any program or file that is harmful to a computer user. It could be a worm, a Trojan, a virus, a rootkit or a back door.

Malware is a Blanket across the business world so it doesn't matter what type of industry you are in or how big you are because It's something that could attack us all either as an individual or as businesses.

Ransomware on the other hand is a type of malware (malicious software) that cybercriminals use to "Kidnap" your data. And then hold you to ramsom. It blocks access to your computer system or data and then encrypts it, until the victim pays a fee to the attacker.

In many cases, the ransom demand comes with a deadline. If the victim doesn't pay in time, the data is gone forever.

And these are the different types of Industries / business sectors that needs to be aware as are more prone to different types of hacks or ransomware attack:

• Gas company
• Financial Sector
• Healthcare
• Retail
• Utilities

Ian states, that the best way to prevent this ransomware attack is to have a Backup which Anna agrees with and that backing up is the big solution to overcome ransomware attack very quickly.

Hence, the important thing is to understand that Cyber security and data protection is not just about your computers and your networks but more about what lives in the cloud.

It's about your mobile phones, your laptops and your tablets. Everything has to be secured. You lose your phone you lose your life".

So, making sure that your phone in particular has a good level of security is absolutely critical in your business.

ITS Quick Fire Round

1) If you were to 'bottle' one part of your business journey and sell it, what would that be and why?

I think my curiosity and my research skills. I spend a lot of time asking awkward questions and looking at things from an analytical point of view. That's what keeps me ahead of the curve from the cyber intelligence perspective.

2) What is your biggest learning/regret and advice to listeners when scaling their business.

I would get into coding. There is an absolutely outrageous shortage of cyber security penetration testers out there and I love this part of my work

3) What is your favourite App on your phone and Why?

I've got to favourite apps - Wickr Me https://wickr.com/ and Signal. https://signal.org/ Both are communication apps with end to end encryption.

Guest Details

To contact Ana Heim, email her at [email protected] or call her at 07465 932099.

Links and Resources

If you are looking to scale your IT / Tech Consultancy Business and don't know where to start, then check out our IT Experts Growth Academy Group on LinkedIn - a collaborative and safe environment to learn the foundations to IT and Tech Business Growth - click here to request access - https://goo.gl/weymKj

You can also download the e-book by clicking this link - http://tiny.cc/ITE-Ebook19

Quotes

"Backing up your whole system is one of the best steps any business owner can take against ransomware." --Anna Heim

In this episode, I interviewed the amazing Sam Rathling – the "Queen" of LinkedIn. And today, you will learn how the online Lead Generation process works and how you can help your message get out there and stand out from the crowd, which ultimately means that you will help more of your customers and clients.

After listening to this show you will have the process that you need to generate more leads, more profit and get your brand out.

In This show we talked about:

The importance of understanding the whole Lead Generation and sales process; In which according to Sam, the main challenge is, most business owners does not understand the basics of Social Selling.

They try to sell everything to everyone and by doing this, they are just simply selling to NO ONE.

Therefore, it is critical that you identify your target market, because It's not just about getting the leads but it's about getting quality leads that will convert and that only comes by understanding who you serve.

The first step we take is to narrow down your target market.

And to do this we use the I-D-E-A-L framework:

• Industry – What type of businesses that you want?
• Demographic – Size of the company? How much revenue they are generating?
• Experience – Who exactly do you want to talk to?
• Attributes – Cultures, ambition, values of the company etc. It helps create the identity of your own company which will then attract like-minded clients.
• Location – Where do you want this people to be located?

Ian and Sam also talked about why LinkedIn is the best B2B platform and what to look out for in 2020.

Sam believes that LinkedIn is dominating right now because of its organic free reach available.

Business owners, specially the small ones, don't need to invest a lot of money into LinkedIn, unlike other social media platforms.

These are some of the features that'll be soon available on LinkedIn:

• LinkedIn Live
• Newsletter feature
• Changes in terms of Groups & Communities
• Content Creation – algorithm

Top Tip: Don't get caught up with likes, shares, comments, engagements etc instead be consistent with what you are doing and just know that there are people out there who are watching.

Ian asked - What do people need to consider in terms of setting up their profile and what people need to do to generate leads?

The SSI or Social Selling Index is key – (selling without selling)

• (25%) Orange score – establish your professional ground.
• (25%) Purple score - Find the right people – building network with your target market, building a relationship.
• (25%) Engage with Insights – engagements and interaction and how much research you are doing.
• (25%) Green Score – building trusted relationships.

Ian and Sam also talked about another tool of LinkedIn – Sales Navigator. Ian asked if people need Sales Navigator for their Business.

Sam said, it won't be necessary unless otherwise you have fully understood the basic or the free version first because it won't make sense to upgrade if you don't understand and know how to use LinkedIn properly.

Do's and Don'ts

1. Build Relationships – Don't go in there to sell and take, but go in there to give, help and build trust.
2. Be an original content creator - come up with a strategy, think what your target market needs to see and do content consistently that is aim to your target.

Tip for content: Ask a question on your post which will drive answers and conversation underneath.

1. Consistently prospect – find people, start a conversation and reach out to them consistently.
2. Have an effective profile – make sure that your profile is effective to the market.
3. Don't be passive – don't just sit there and watch everybody else but be brave and courageous and just start posting.
4. Don't ever sell to people because it only screams desperation.
5. Don't spam people
6. Don't use automation

Strategies in reaching out to corporate clients – your content, profile and your strategy should be targeted to whoever your target market is.

ITS Quick Fire Round

1) If you were to 'bottle' one part of your business journey and sell it, what would that be and why?

I would bottle resilience and bounce back ability. If we have complete resilience and bounce back ability then we can survive anything, particularly in Business.

2) What is your biggest learning/regret and advice to listeners when scaling their business?

You must be around the people who are playing a bigger game than you are. Invest in your own personal development.

3) What is your favourite App on your phone and Why?

My favourite app is Author.

Guest Details

To contact Sam Rathling, check out below;

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/samrathling-linkedinexpert

Email: [email protected]

Book her Masterclass: linkedinbound.co.uk

Youtube: youtube.com/samrathling

Links and Resources

If you are looking to scale your IT / Tech Consultancy Business and don't know where to start, then check out our IT Experts Growth Academy Group on LinkedIn - a collaborative and safe environment to learn the foundations to IT and Tech Business Growth - click here to request access - https://goo.gl/weymKj

You can also download the e-book by clicking this link - http://tiny.cc/ITE-Ebook19

Quotes

It's not just about getting the leads but it's about getting quality leads and that only comes in understanding who your target market really is. If you don't know who you are targeting then there's no point in leveraging LinkedIn– Sam Rathling

You can't force people to buy something from you. People buy when they are ready – Ian Luckett