RichardTalks: Recent Episodes
Richard Bezuidenhout
Goals based on an outcome or result can really cause harm.https://richardtalks.co/yearinreviewFor the last few months I’ve been trying to grow a new product. In the beginning, the prospects were great and I felt, as any business person does in the beginning, I felt positive.I set a goal of 100 new clients by December. I even had a breakdown of the time I had remaining and the effort I thought was involved.This is what I think of as an outcome goal. Something you don’t have any control over. I did not anticipate or give enough time to user readiness. Current competitive landscape. Messaging. Customer profile or any other really important aspect.I simply took feedback from my coaching interactions as ‘enough’ evidence of a need and built out from that.Now my reason for moving so quickly is simple. I have a lot of technical experience so building out a product isn’t a lot of work for me but taking that idea to a new market is always more work than I expect.Today, I can honestly say that in comparison to the goal I’ve set, I’ve come way further than I had expected. Only, I haven’t signed a single customer. Not 1https://richardtalks.co/yearinreview
You have an important message to share, you just don't know it yet. The more I've recorded and shared messages the more I've been able to find my voice. Maybe my voice found me but the result is that I have gratitude for the people that write to me to tell me how I've impacted them positively.
I've had the same happen to me when someone posted something, and I was able to use their message in my own life.
In this episode, I want you to find something you've always wanted to say and then hit record. When you are done...
Push Publish. Your message could save someone's life.
It saved mine.
I talk openly and honestly about the journey of sales and how it is NOT some slick sales presentation
Sales is not some gift of the gab, smooth-talking, Wolf of Wall Street, closing all the deals thing.
It's a journey of finding the people that need a solution to a problem that you solve.
I also announce my coaching program for one-one-one sales training to help you develop your very own selling system
https://richardtalks.co/selling-system-download-early-bird/?mtm_campaign=PodCast&mtm_kwd=Ep06This coaching program is a one on one 3 month program to develop your very own selling system that you can use to create consistent, predictable monthly revenue
So last week I chatted a bit about how I got into sales. This week I share how I developed our Sales System that helped us really grow the business.
We all start somewhere. I never thought of myself as a born salesperson and I still don't.
I also never thought about entrepreneurship but rather just tried to build a business out of necessity.
I thought I'd share this story with you in case you wondering how to get started.
This is episode 1 of 2.
What is a Sales Funnel?
Now, if you’ve never heard of a sales funnel before, let me just share very briefly what that is. A sales funnel is when you have a product or a service. You have a solution for a group of people. You might have an idea of where they are, so you go out to that place and you talk to a lot of people. As many people as possible and say “I have this thing. I think it’s awesome. I hope you think that too. Do you want to buy it?”
Now, if there are 1000 people at that place where you go to talk about your product and service to see if they are interested, maybe only 500 of them say “Yeah, I have a similar situation that that product or service sounds interesting to me. I’d like to know more”.
Now instead of 1000 people, now you have 500 and as you go through these different stages of talking to people, where you initially started with 1000 people, you might only sell to 10 people. Yeah, I know those numbers sound weird, but in essence, that’s a sales funnel.
It just means that through your conversation and through your messaging, you may start off with lots of people at the top of your funnel at your initial engagement, and then at the end, when you actually make the sale, it’s far fewer people than what you had started with, making the V shape, the shape of a funnel, and that’s what it’s referred to.
How does a Sales Funnel work?Listen for more information or visit my website
https://richardtalks.co/why-your-small-business-needs-a-sales-funnel/?mtm_campaign=Podcast&mtm_kwd=sales-funnel
Today I want to review cold calling and why you should invest the time in working through a cold call plan. Now I know a lot of you might be thinking, it’s 2023 cold calling is dead, but let me explain to you why cold calling Is not dead and why you should at least work through the plan of building out a cold call now.
Despite many people thinking that it is outdated, cold calling could Sky-Rocket your sales. Cold calling is a valuable way to learn about your product and your business, as well as to gain direct feedback from potential customers. By practising and refining your pitch, you can better understand your customer’s needs and the journey you want to take them on. While cold calling should not replace other sales methods, it is a valuable tool for anyone starting out in sales.
Now, talking about yourself or your product, if you’re anything like me, may have you feeling cringe. You feel like “Oh, no, I’m being too something, too much about me. It’s not supposed to be about me. It’s supposed to be about my customer“.
The winning formula for creating contentThat is exactly the winning formula. If you think “your content is for your customer“, because you believe in your product and service so much that it helps people and it changes their lives for the better, then, of course, you want to talk about it.
What to talk aboutWhat you want to talk about is not the product. Nobody wants to talk about a phone. Everyone wants to talk about what the phone does for them. The convenience that it creates for them. Nobody wants to talk about a nappy cream, but everyone wants to talk about how the baby is free of nappy rash. Nobody wants to talk about moody teenagers, but everybody wants to talk about how your teenager is much happier than they were before they started a programme that you provide.
If you want to Download my Sales System or watch the video then you can do so at this link
What is a Customer Avatar?I want to talk a little bit about the customer and why it’s important for you to know how to define your ideal customer
For example, if you read a lot of literature out there, they’ll talk about the demographics of a customer. Their hair colour, whether they’re Gen Z or not. While those things are important, I don’t think that they really are that important.
When you are getting going in your sales journey, things that I think are way more important when thinking about your customer is, what’s the problem that you are solving with your product or service. What problem is that addressing for these kinds of people?
You can download my Sales System or Watch the Video here
When you're thinking about your business and when you look back about the kind of investments that you've made in sales over the last five years over the last year, if that number is close to zero, then maybe it is time for you to consider investing in a sales system, or at least some sort of training for sales.
It doesn't have to be with me. I am not saying that I have the best sales system. I feel that I can help people. I genuinely feel I can help people get started with putting together a sales system.
Understanding who your customer is and learning prospecting, doing outbound call calling yes, then creating an inbound strategy with e-mail sequencing all of those things. Those are all things that you do need if you believe in your product and you believe that it's going to make a difference.
You do, but getting started is the hardest.
I want to encourage you to take that first step and write down the number that you've invested in your business in yourself and the people that you are trying to help write down that number and if that number is close to 0, then I want to help you.
OK. I hope that this creates some inspiration for your Sunday, Saturday, Friday, Monday evening, whenever you are watching this and I hope that it will inspire you to think about making a change.
The Difference Between Sales And An Offer In A Sales System.
What is Sales?
Sales is really just going to be talking about how you are approaching customers.
Let’s say you’ve got your product defined, let’s say you’ve defined your ideal customer profile or your customer avatar, whatever name you want to give that, you know who your customer is. Let's say you’ve done that part and you know the problems that your product solves. Now you actually have to get it in front of people, and that is going to be your sales approach.
What is an Offer?
Now if that’s sales, then what is an offer? Well, an offer is the way that you package your product or service. For example, if you think about your phone that you have in your pocket, or maybe you’re watching this video on your phone. Nobody buys the phone itself. Nobody buys the hardware.
You can watch this as a Video and Download My Sales System
I recorded this back in March of 2021, a whole 5 months later.
It was at a time when I was struggling to publish anything because I was wrestling with authenticity and content value for you, my connections and possible future audience.
I dig into some real depths of some of the struggles I've been through after running my business for 13 years, pretty successfully, and then having to face an almost meltdown. Having to go through that and live life online where everything is people living their best life with pictures of grand achievements when I was feeling less than nothing.
Bio: Today I chat to Bronwynne Powell, an experienced and achieved writer that believes we all have a storyteller hidden in us just waiting to get out and let the world hear it's voice. Your story matters and she provides tips and guidance on how you can be a better writer and the tips and techniques to get you started and keep you motivated.
Bronwynne:
I create content and get it out into the world. As a digital content writer, I use my editorial and on-page SEO skills to develop content that gets read and shared across the web. My love for storytelling started in the print newsroom more than a decade ago. Since then, I've worked with startups and established tech companies from all over the world. My articles have been featured on the web's biggest sites, like Digital.com, Craft Your Content, Muck Rack, Blogging.com, and more.
Topics Using other posts in your social posts and why that's okay
Bronwynne believes that using other people's post helps you spread useful articles that other's have written that you yourself find insightful. Why not build on these thoughts and ideas.
Who is your top two authors
If you want to get better at blogging and writing then check out Copyblogger and smartblogger
Use LinkedIn to see what kind of posts people are responding to
If you are afraid of writing, here's insight into what Bronwynne recommends you use to get started
Just start!
Give yourself permission to be bad. Every author and book that you've read, all of them believe that they are bad writers, so you should just get started. Even the best writers struggles and the best way to get over that is just to start so you can work through it and get better over time.
How to deal with the pressure of likes and social attention
Sometimes a post or article will get attention and lots of likes and you may find yourself really responding to that and trying to recreate that with every post that you put out. Bronwynne cautions that you need to check yourself and ask the question, "Why are you writing, is it for likes or to share ideas". If you change your mindset about why you are sharing then you pay less attention to the social notifications.
If you put out content, is it okay to ask for the sale?
In any marketing, put yourself in the other persons' position and if you like the approach then it's okay. The best way to think about this is if you are in a normal human relationship and if someone approached you the way you are about to then will you like it, would it feel natural. Ask yourself these questions
- Do you know this person well enough?
- Did you earn the right to ask for this?
Where should I publish my content?
Post anywhere and start to see where you are most comfortable. Some places prefer long-form articles and others do. It also depends on the audience that you are hoping to reach and just how consistent you are at publishing. Just one article won't do it.
Links mentioned in this conversation
Coppyblogger: https://copyblogger.com/
Smartblogger: https://smartblogger.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bronwynne-powell/
Website: bronwynnepowell.com
email: brownwynne@bronwynnepowell.com
Jerusha is the founder and CEO of Data Innovator
With a history in capacity building within other organisations, she found that a lot of organisations aren't equipped to make use of the data available and interrogate data to make it useful and user friendly.
Some of the common impacts and challenges Jerusha deals with is
- Helps work through some of the gaps with data by working with people through the data value chain.
- How to collect data
- How to use the information for strategic gain
Jerusha has more than one talent and she explores her talents through many things such as
- Data Innovator
- Speaker
- Training Programs (In-house skills developments through developing skills)
- Data Heros (Online Learning platform)
- Responsible Data governance working group
Jerusha thrives in a little bit of chaos.
The view that Jerusha gave about how she and her family had to do to get through the lockdown and some of the very real impact it had on her family life.
One of the key take-aways is that Jerusha focussed on compassion in business.
You can find out more about Jerusha over on
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerusha-govender-1894a732/
Data Innovator: http://www.thedatainnovator.com/
Data Heros: https://www.thedataheroes.org/
Uwais Asmal
This week I chat to chartered accountant, Uwais Asmal, on the things he is seeing what businesses are doing to survive and thrive.
Those businesses that were able to "Pivot" are the ones that made a change and built resilience compared to those that wanted to wait and see.
Some key things that Uwais noted is
- Know how your suppliers are doing? - If you have a key supplier that is going through issues that could have a direct impact to your business, so check this
- Play the long-term game and take a look down the line at what decisions you are taking and how the short-term gain could turn into long-term loss
- Work-from-home expenses is again a topic we discuss. Who is responsible and is there a middle ground that employers and employees can agree on.
- Make sure that you have some sort of budget or forecast estimate in place. You can use these tools to plan better and create strategic business planning and decisions
Business tools that business owners should be using
- Any business should have a basic level of accounting in place, like XERO or WaveApps (FREE).
- Social Media platforms and how you can use these platforms to grow a personal brand. We also talk about how to plan a budget for marketing on social media and justifying the cost
- Use planning tools like HOOTSUITE to schedule, plan and be consistent.
Reach out to Uwais on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/uwais-asmal/
Check out the FREE accounting platform WaveApps
https://www.waveapps.com/
If you want to change the way you learn, specifically Excel, why not try my course, Data to Dashboard, where I show how to leverage your business experience to make reports you create in Excel, easier, and more functional. https://learn.e-magination.co.za/ Use the coupon code "PODCAST" to get a 50% discount
This is an episode about how we managed to do 14 Podcast (and Vid Cast) episodes of these conversations about business every week for the last 14 weeks.
Okay, we missed one or two weeks in between, but we always set time to record.
We discuss our favourite, Episode 08 (I say 7 in the show but I really meant 8) and some of the not so favourites.
My main take-away from this was that 1. There are so many people that want you to show up, even if they not that vocal about it. 2. You are not alone. Other professionals and business owners are also going through challenges but don't feel safe to share 3. There's opportunity if you just try something new
Now go ahead a give it a listen
You can check out the show notes over at https://learn.e-magination.co.za/what-weve-learnt-running-a-podcast-our-first-season-season-1-finale/
How to clear your mind and create the future you want with mindfulness.
This week I have the great pleasure of sitting down in conversation with Hussein Patel. Among many things, Hussein is an author, a coach, and an entrepreneur.
I chat to him about his latest books, The beginning of ecstasy, Think your way to success, and The Robben Island Effect.
We have a great, although long, chat about how we can use 6 simple mindful practices to change how we perceive life.
With over 25 years of corporate experience, Hussein studied natural sciences, computer science, operations research and business in South Africa. He travelled all over South Africa, the Middle East, India, North Africa and Europe. Through his travels, he developed a keen interest in scientific and engineering principles, systems thinking, eastern philosophy and neuroscience. He has transitioned into sharing his learnings of the pathway to success through self-actualisation and mindfulness as a business coach and mentor. The concepts and learnings he ultimately shares transforms lives and motivates people towards true fulfilment and success. His writings challenge old paradigms and brings a fresh perspective to current real-life and business problems.
You can find more about Hussein here: https://husseinpatel.com/
If you want to change the way you learn, specifically Excel, why not try my course, Data to Dashboard, where I show how to leverage your business experience to make reports you create in Excel, easier, and more functional.
https://learn.e-magination.co.za/ Use the coupon code "PODCAST" to get a 50% discount
As a business owner, there is a lot that is expected of you. With lockdown and many companies forced to work from home, some employees have hit some expenses they never had before and are coming back to their employers, demanding to be refunded.
What are your options as a business owner or manager on how to handle this?
- Do you just give into every claim?
- Do you deny every claim?
- Or, is there a middle ground that can be reached?
Jermaine and I explore this new normal challenge of who is responsible for work-from-home expenses and what is the dividing line between a reasonable request and what is not. Cellphone usage, Internet connectivity and many other services are now seeing increased usage and with it at times, and increased costs.
So should the employer pay for these?
What about the personal expenses that the employees are not paying for because they get to work from home and what advantages are they gaining?
Join us for this weeks business view of this topic.
If you are an experienced business person and you use Excel daily, then you’ve probably taken a course or two in Excel to help you be better. The challenge with those courses is that it only teaches you specific functions and how to use it but it doesn’t teach you how to use your existing experience to be more productive and spend less time building out complex workbooks.
I’ve developed a course that tackles this issue and poured my 25 years of data analytics and training into my newly launched course, Data to Dashboard. A course specifically designed to teach you Excel techniques that leverages your existing business skills to help you get closer to data analytics without the complexity of functions.
If this is of interest, head over and buy this course. Use the coupon code “PODCAST” and get 50% off.
In this episode, we discuss what reports help drive business success. We both agree that while there are many reports you could use, like the income statement and maybe the balance sheet, or even a Sales Report - but there's one that more important than all of them. Click this link to get our template-based report to help you on your journey to better reporting.
https://learn.e-magination.co.za/get-our-reporting-template/
In this show, we get to know a little more about Jermaine's journey into business.
We discuss how he got into it, the side hustle, and thinking about new ideas.
Jermaine and I discuss the tools we recommend you use to help run and grow your business.
Some of the recommendations we make include
- A website domain name - https://xneelo.co.za/domain-name-registration/
- Check if a domain is available - https://coza.net.za
- A FREE Invoicing app - https://www.waveapps.com/
Jermaine and I discuss the difference between an ideal client and a potential problem client.
What warning signs to watch for and how to manage through the ever price sensitivity that you encounter.