BOSS-it: Recent Episodes
Mark Edwards
This weekly podcast reveals the insider tips, techniques and concepts to help you grow your software business. It’s an over-the-shoulder look at a conversation between Mark Edwards and a wide range of talented and experienced executives. Hosted by Mark Edwards, Presenter - Author - Entrepreneur - Mergers & Acquisitions Expert - Consultant for adding value to your business in the software sector
Thom Dennis is well known for his expertise in creating transformational change and is a sought-after advisor on a spectrum of leadership, diversity, inclusion and justice issues. Over the last 30 years he has been a coach and confidant to executives of many organisations, facilitated pivotal meetings setting strategy, purpose and vision, and devised and led culture change programs bringing lasting value. He has developed the skills of senior management in leadership, conflict resolution, communication and customer service and enabled change in many corporations in the US, South America, Europe, Africa, India and the Far East.
Thom is the CEO of Serenity in Leadership Ltd, the premier culture remodelling, change and leadership specialists. He is an international speaker, voice over actor and Amazon #1 published author and has been featured on both BBC TV News and radio and as a thought leader in over 100 articles in industry leading publications in just the last year alone. With over 30 years’ experience as an Executive Coach, Facilitator, Change Maker and Leadership Developer, he has been hired by global banking, pharmaceutical, energy and engineering brands such as Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Conoco Phillips, Shell, BP, and ABB Automation to name just a few.
He holds an MSc in Change Agent Skills and Strategies, is a Certified Facilitator accredited by the CQ® Center, a certified NLP Master Practitioner, a member of the International Association of Facilitators and a Fellow of The Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. Thom served 17 years as an officer in the Royal Marines, has lived and worked in many countries and is the proud father of two and grandfather of five. His extensive travels for both work and pleasure have informed his understanding of different cultures, and he is working on a third book. When relaxing, he can be found delving into his library or combining his love for Nature and wild places with his curiosity in photography.
Pete Sena is a creative entrepreneur and forward-obsessed business builder. He partners with founders and business leaders to 10x their growth through marketing innovation, branding, and digital-experience design and create what’s next.
Specialties: Branding, Marketing Innovation, Strategy, Web3, Digital Transformation, Creative Leadership.
As founder of Digital Surgeons, a forward-obsessed brand experience consultancy, Pete designs results-driving strategies that unlock new possibilities and growth for ambitious brands and businesses. For nearly 20 years, he has built and led cross-functional teams that have delivered innovative, bottom-line boosting activations and multi-channel programs, ranging in scale from venture-backed startups to Fortune 500 organizations. As a human-centered problem solver, Pete focuses on the behaviors and systems that drive people, products, and experiences. He designs demand by relentlessly exploring the interplay of connection, curiosity, and creativity to help companies of all shapes, sizes, and business life stages optimize their potential.
Mark talks to Zach Rattner, the author of is his first book. Zach shows us the lessons he learned in his journey from an employee to a founder mindset. The lessons he learned are universal amongst entrepreneurs, but Zach gives us a unique spin, as his start-up is in one of the fastest growing areas in the business world - AI.
https://growupfastbook.com
In this episode of the "Boss It" podcast, join host Mark Edwards as he engages in a compelling conversation with Philip Hall, a distinguished UK inventor deeply committed to advancing technology that could play a pivotal role in addressing the global climate change challenge.
Rarely in one's lifetime does the opportunity arise to encounter a game-changer with even half the transformative potential that UltraClean brings to the table. However, the sheer enormity of UltraClean's impact can often prove perplexing for many, leaving them grappling with the full extent of its implications, or even wondering if it's too good to be true.
Tune in as Mark peels back the layers of Philip's remarkable background, offering listeners a profound understanding of the groundbreaking innovation that is UltraClean. Join us for this enlightening conversation that sheds light on the future of climate change solutions.
In the 16th episode of the third season of the BOSS-it podcast, Mark Edwards delves into a discussion with Alan Schulman about the importance of creativity in digital software communication
Alan Schulman's background: Alan is widely recognised as an expert in digital creativity and content within the industry. He has held executive roles in both big four consulting firms and creative departments of holding companies. During his tenure as the Managing Director of Deloitte Digital, he became the company's first Chief Creative Officer and led their content supply chain practice. Alan has also held the position of Chief Creative Officer at Sapient and worked at McCann and FCB. Additionally, he is a board member of the American Marketing Association (AMA), an instructor for the Cannes Lions Academy, and a voting member of The Recording Academy - the institution responsible for the Grammy Awards.
In episode 15 of season 3 of the BOSS-it podcast, Professor Alexiei Dingle discusses with Mark Edwards the impact of AI on the software industry. They explore the key benefits that AI will provide, as well as the considerations that the industry needs to make in order to benefit from this emerging technology.
Professor Alexiei Dingli Background: Alexiei is a Professor of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with over two decades of experience in conducting research and working in the field of AI, aiding various companies in implementing AI solutions. Alexiei's work has been rated as World Class by international experts, and he has received several local and international awards, including those from the European Space Agency, the World Intellectual Property Organisation, and the United Nations. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications.
Dr. Ulrich Kampffmeyer was an early pioneer in enterprise content management who pivoted to machine learning and AI. Dr. Kampffmeyer firmly believes that AI will redefine work. In this 54-minute podcast, Mark and Ulrich discuss many topics related to AI and the software industry.
Join Mark Edwards as he has an entertaining and informative chat with Bob Hoffman a very outspoken speaker on the subject of advertising. He has been CEO of three advertising agencies and since leaving that role has been unfetttered or hindered about his learnings from several decades. An Amazon #1 best-selling author Bob is happy to take on advertising delusions and layout some startling facts.
The Ad-Contrarian http://adcontrarian.blogspot.com/
Hear what Danel learned about scaling businesses from analysing the cut-throat US election cycle, his AI prediction for the next 20 years, and finally what his favourite business book ever is (after reading hundreds of them). Contact Daniel Priestley here: www.linkedin.com/in/danielpriestley Buy Daniel’s latest book for £0.99 here:
Scorecard Marketing: The four-step playbook for getting better leads and bigger profits: Amazon.co.uk: Priestley, Daniel, Carlson, Glen: 9781781337196: Books
Ethical Hacker on the security flaws of software companies - with Ted Harrington
Hear about the rapidly evolving techniques criminal hackers want to use to bring down your software company, and also, how to protect yourself against them.
Listen to this BOSS-it episode now hosted by top M&A deal maker, Mark Edwards.
Contact Ted here: www.tedharrington.com
How to do business process automation the right way - with Nick Gradwell Part 2
Hear from one of the industry’s top experts about how he reduces his clients’ runnings costs and maximises their efficiency which drives revenue and cost savings. Plus, discover the number one pitfall software companies make when trying to automate their processes.
How to do business process automation the right way - with Nick Gradwell
Hear from one of the industry’s top experts about how he reduces his clients’ runnings costs and maximises their efficiency which drives revenue and cost savings. Plus, discover the number one pitfall software companies make when trying to automate their processes.
"Blockchain tech insights for software execs - with Dr Christian de Vartavan
Hear from an advisor to the UK government about the surprising ways software companies can use Blockchain technology to their benefit, also how companies who don’t use it are being left behind, and finally, hear Christian’s expert prediction for Blockchain going forwards (and how it’ll affect your software business). Listen to this BOSS-it episode now hosted by top M&A deal maker, Mark Edwards.
Contact Christian here: https://projectis.co.uk/ "
Ransomware attacks, innovation mistakes, & cyber security - with Leon Kuperman
Hear Leon’s personal story about the ransomware attack that struck when they were making between $750k-1m sales a day, the unorthodox ways he keeps his engineers happy, and the one innovation mistake that’s so common in the software industry. Listen to this BOSS-it episode now hosted by top M&A deal maker Mark Edwards. Contact Leon here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itexecutivecto/ & www.Cast.ai
Hear about the one thing about AI that our industry needs to urgently address, future areas he believes are worth investing resources into, and about the big machine learning study he did while working as a senior scientist at Xerox. Listen to this BOSS-it episode now hosted by top M&A deal maker Mark Edwards.
Contact Luca here: www.sparkd.ai
For the last episode of Season 2, Mark was delighted to host Steve Hoffman, CEO of Founders Space and author of three startup-related books (links below).
The conversation between the two CEOs is far-ranging, lively and entertaining - Steve's energy and enthusiasm for what he does are infectious.
From early ambitions to be an architect, filmmaker or games designer, Steve admits he never expected to end up being a venture capitalist, entrepreneur and writer.
Founders Space - the Platform for Startups
Steve's platform - Founders Space - is a startup accelerator, focusing primarily on software startups.
The goal is to help promising tech startups raise funding and connect with strategic partners, marketing people, lawyers etc. – whatever they need to grow their business.
Steve's Four Rules for Startups
- Go out into the market and look for unmet needs - Don't just think of an idea and fall in love with it. Then, later on, find that nobody cares about it.
- Find your "A-Team" - Don't try to go it alone or be a solopreneur. Nobody builds a billion-dollar company by themselves
- When presenting to potential investors, keep it visual - Slides should have no more than 6 words but better still, create a video. Investors don't want to read. Just like everybody else, they want to be entertained.
- Never tell an investor you're going to sell via partners - This is the "Kiss of Death". If you're relying on partners to sell your product, your investor is gone.
On a Mission to Help Startups
Founders Space is an early-stage investor whose mission is to help startups progress into the venture funnel, where they can seek additional funding from investors on the Founders Edge platform.
Startups also have access to a huge network of business mentors, across marketing, legal etc. They can work with experienced mentors over a period of weeks, rather than paying to have these skills in-house full-time.
Founders Edge is currently working with around 100 companies in the US and overseas - with 5 locations in China.
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/foundersspace/
https://www.foundersedge.com/
First Book: Make Elephants Fly
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Make-Elephants-Fly-Process-Innovation/dp/0349418837
Second Book: Surviving a Startup
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Surviving-Startup-Practical-Strategies-Overcoming-ebook/dp/B08BYZXWDY
Latest Book: The 5 Forces that change everything
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9781953295040?gC=5a105e8b&gclid=CjwKCAiAlfqOBhAeEiwAYi43FzQiFbvRWrOic7oAxLz5exuJPBD3HXUMJ4ziMSFFLpyjx3msA3skJBoCTHUQAvD_BwE
In this episode of BOSS-it, Mark Edwards talks with Uli Erxleben, Co-founder and Managing Director of Hypatos. The conversation ranges widely over topics including IDP (Intelligent Document Processing), Neural Networks, Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) but ultimately, it's all about the humans who use the tech.
Hypatos - Unusual Origins
Mark shares a joke with Uli about the origin of the company name, Hypatos, which is not what he had thought. You'll need to listen to the podcast to understand more :)
With studies in business administration, a Masters in Accounting & Finance as well as a PhD in Finance & Statistics, Uli explains his background is in business rather than tech. He goes on to explain Hypatos' offering, which harnesses visual pattern recognition, language understanding and artificial neural networks to make repetitive tasks, such as invoice processing, quicker and easier - and operatives more productive.
A Focus on Semi-Structured Data
Hypatos focuses on high-volume use cases, where companies have many semi-structured documents - Finance, purchase to pay, order to cash, travel expense reports, insurance claims, loan applications etc
Uli believes it's important that the software is fully integrated into companies' data workflows and also that it's human-centric - Made to assist human beings in their daily work, not to replace them.
The Software Needs to Work in "Real-Life" Scenarios
He says it's critical the software is created for human beings, not just for "nerdy machine learning engineers" - believing that, just because something works in model format, doesn't necessarily mean it will work and add value in an organisation.
Links:
https://www.hypatos.ai/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ulierxleben/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markledwards/
https://www.bossequity.com/
In this last episode of Season 2 BOSS-it podcast, Mark Edwards has a warm and engaging conversation with Sean Si, CEO & Founder of SEO Hacker.
Early Beginnings
Sean Si introduces himself as a born-again Christian from the Philippines. He runs a 50 people digital marketing agency, one of the most-trusted and leading SEO companies in the Philippines.
He founded SEO Hacker at just 21 years old with only about (1300 pesos) $65 capital and it's now grown, through grit, prayer, mentorship, book reading and podcast listening (including BOSS-it), to a $1 million company.
From Failure to Success
Sean's route to setting up a business was anything but traditional. Having, in his words, "failed" at college, Sean was nonetheless able to land a job with HP.
He stayed at HP only 5 short months because his 'side hustle' - SEO Hacker - was already earning him 8-10 times what his day job paid and, as Sean puts it, he "had to resign and jump on this opportunity before the train left."
Evolution of Growing a Business
‘Mom and pop’ startups often remain as ‘mom and pop startups’ for years, because change is difficult; it takes you out of your comfort zone and it also requires money.
Many changes are required along the way, to ensure your company makes it through the first 5 years and beyond.
SEO Hacker had no backers and has grown organically, meaning that, as founder, Sean has had to wear many hats along the way - even assuming all janitorial duties in his first office because he couldn’t afford to hire people to do it.
Humility - You have to have a lot of humility as a CEO. In his book, "How the Mighty Fall”, Jim Collins (link below) explains how hubris & ego are the main reasons companies fail. You have to make sacrifices in order to succeed and be humble enough to do whatever it takes.
Sean believes everything has “Divine Appointment” - You have a purpose, desire and reason for living. You have a burning “Why” in your heart. To find out what it is, you have to have faith.
A jovial, friendly character, Sean's closing observation gives great insight into his positive attitude to life's ups and downs and where they may lead - "Almost getting kicked out of college, quitting my job - How lucky can a guy be..?!"
Great to meet you, Sean Si!
Links:
https://sean.si/
https://podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/the-leadership-stack-podcast/id1470219705 https://www.linkedin.com/in/seansi/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/seansi/?originalSubdomain=ph
https://www.instagram.com/sean.si/?hl=en
https://www.facebook.com/seansi.speaks
https://seo-hacker.com/
Jim Collins' book - How the Mighty Fall
Mark Edwards talks with Martha Amram of Glynt.ai.
Revisiting their previous conversation,Mark and Martha have an in-depth conversation, spanning exciting innovations in AI and Machine Learning, no-code platforms, the increasing demand for carbon emissions data and how companies can now make money from their data.
Background
With a PhD from MIT, Martha's background is in economics & finance. From there, she moved into the energy sector and for the last 8 years, she has been running Glynt, which captures energy data and turns it into a useful product.
Right now, there’s a pressing need to record emissions in order that they can be reduced.
Glynt.ai
Glynt is the market-leading producer using AI of carbon emissions. They are at the forefront of not only change (reducing emissions) but also of making profit from that change. So, AI and data are absolutely critical.
There’s now a big market in carbon credits - selling them directly, selling them as options and futures and embedding them into green loans - Sort of the Fintech of carbon emissions.
Two Major Pivots for Glynt
Realising that building templates didn't scale, they built a ML (Machine Learning) system to eliminate the need for templates, but also to avoid using expensive ML specialists. They created a system that could be operated by no-code users.
Doing this, significantly reduced costs to the business and was an important strategic pivot for Glynt.
Glynt's second pivot was coming out of Covid - in late Spring 2021 - Everybody was exhausted after 20 very difficult months and nobody had time to think - It could be called an "Enterprise Attention Deficit Economy", where people just wanted easy solutions to their problems.
So, to address this attention deficit economy, Glynt simply configured their existing AI solution to focus on carbon emissions.
The Future for Glynt
There’s now an underlying, new demand for carbon emissions data and the ability to make money from it.
Glynt's extensible solution can produce Scope 2 & 3 emissions data. Having combined those two things and being an emissions data producer, they are simultaneously connecting everything to the financial market.
Supplying data is Part A of contributing to climate change solutions, Part B is showing people how to profit from their own data - And this is where Glynt is poised to make a huge difference in accelerating the cycle of change.
Currently, every CEO has an issue with reporting emissions data. Clearly this is a risk management challenge for them, and this is fuelling a huge demand for for carbon emissions data and for Glynt's services.
Regardless of the size of the enterprise, the pressure is now on to have really accurate data today and to be able to report reductions tomorrow. Climate tech is now a huge market - with $40 billion a year spent on solar, wind and building in efficiencies.
That complete market needs data to drive down next year’s data, next year’s reported emissions.
Biggest Business Lessons Learnt
Martha's approach is:
- "Get ready to be lucky" - What can I do now to be prepared to take that random call that’s gonna be the game-changer..? Where are my gaps?
- Take the big mission and break it down - Deliver your message so your team can take it forward, build a very tightly run organisation, particularly as everybody is working from home - Clear communication from the top and setting the culture is a ‘must have’.
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/martha-schary-amram-b9164328/
https://glynt.ai/
In this podcast, Mark has an illuminating conversation with John Taylor of Action.ai, a company that offers the world's most advanced natural language technology, conceived by the best computational linguistics.
Never one to shy away from a controversial question, Mark’s opening question, “Does AI really exist?”, doesn’t disappoint.
Taking this in his stride, John says it does exist but the term is much misused. He agrees that "AI" is an extraordinarily broad term that has, unfortunately, been attached to just about everything in any context you can imagine.
However, the current buzz is justified as the sector is at an extraordinary flexion point, where computational power and algorithms can be applied to use the tech in really useful ways - in healthcare, customer service etc.
John notes that knowledge is building really rapidly - and its origins are in academia.
Early Foray into Entrepreneurship
John started his entreprenuerial career early, setting up a small software company with a friend to pay university fees.
That friend was Richard Tolcher, now Action-ai's CTO. Richard was brilliant technology-wise but also had a strong commercial awareness - an unusual combination. Their aim was to do something really pioneering - to create "Delightful Automation".
The Vision: "Delightful Automation"
John and Richard knew that the Big Tech companies - Facebook, Microsoft and Google - were going to launch automated customer communication with chatbots, and although this had potential, it wasn’t really going to work, in terms of the “Delightful Automation” John and Richard were seeking to achieve.
It was going to make an impact but it wasn’t going to change behaviours and the way people interact.
Their vision has remained constant since the early days but everything else has evolved over time and the business now looks radically different from Day 1.
Most Important Things Learned from Running a Business
John believes the most important element of the business is its people. And they need to be exceptional. Compromising on the people you hire is a poor economy. In the early days, when funds are limited, if you can find a way to hire those 4 or 5 great people, the difference to the business can be immeasurable.
His approach was to try to run a capital-efficient business, understanding that if you want large, flashy offices, you will need to raise huge amounts of venture funding. John acknowledges that it's harder to run a capital-efficient business but when funding does arrive, it’s a lot easier as you’re not sitting in offices where your overheads are huge, you haven’t made promises you can’t keep, lost track of consultants etc etc.
He notes that there is a caveat though, as you can’t be so cautious that you can’t move quickly. You need to assess how much money you need to spend to get to market quickly - but it’s also about balancing spending as little money as possible in the first couple of years.
Another critical ingredient is that you need to own your own IP and be able to prove that you do. It's simple enough to achieve but you need to be aware of the need to do this from the beginning.
Getting smart people into the business sets the culture for the business. It's important you have a culture of integrity and aim to build long-term relationships.
Thanks for your time and a fascinating conversation, John.
Links and Contact:
Email John: john@action.ai
https://action.ai/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnjamestaylor/?originalSubdomain=uk
medwards@bossequity.com
https://www.bossequity.com/
BOSS-it host, Mark Edwards has a wide-ranging chat with CTO and author, Mark Herschberg, who, it turns out, has been a guest on 180 podcasts. No pressure there then for our host to ask some decent questions :-)
Brief Bio for Mark Herschberg
Back in the 90s, during the .com era, Mark was a software developer. At the same time, he recognised the skills required to be successful were leadership, communication and networking. These were skills that were not taught in college, so he ended up teaching them at MIT - for the past 20 years.
Mark has followed these two careers in parallel and is still a CTO.
Best Lessons Learned
Mark says the best lessons he has learned came from a book called "Peopleware", by Tom de Marco & Timothy Lister – The essence of the book is that most software projects fail not because of technological (software) issues but for sociological reasons – In other words, because your team didn’t talk to each other and plan and communicate well, they messed up the project.
He outlines the most important things to do to avoid this scenario:
1) Set the overarching goal – What are we trying to achieve? – Not just what it is but how it's positioned.
2) Have a clear process - How are we going to work together? Have a clear idea for what happens when there’s an issue? – How do you raise that to your teammate? Where do we use Slack, versus an email or a meeting? Don’t leave this to chance.
3) Agree the definition of “Done”? – You need a common definition so that everybody knows when a job is actually complete.
Links:
The Career Toolkit – Mark A Herschberg
https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com/
Download the career development kit:
https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com/author
Peopleware by Tom de Marco & Timothy Lister
https://menloinnovations.com/
The BOSS-it Podcast:
https://www.bossequity.com/resources/podcasts
medwards@bossequity.com
https://www.bossequity.com/
Mark Edwards talks to Salt Lake City-based Joseph Wilkins of FunnySalesVideos.com, about how his company uses humorous videos to connect with audiences and drive massive sales.
Background..
In 2000, Joseph Wilkins founded ProCreative Studios, which produced infomercials for television & marketing videos for clients, including Google, Linkedin, McDonalds, Goldman Sachs, Chevrolet & Home Depot.
As viewing habits shifted away from television, Joseph launched FunnySalesVideos.com where, after several evolutions, he now creates attention-grabbing "viral style" sales videos that get millions of views, converting cold traffic into sales.
With 20 years' experience, hundreds of millions of views and over $250 MILLION in career sales, Joseph enjoys sharing 8 steps anyone can follow to drive sales on his podcast "How To Make A Video Go Viral."
Switch to Humorous Video Proved a Huge Success
Making the switch to video was hugely successful - Joseph explains that the biggest video success they’d ever had online, using straightforward sales pitch videos was 100,000 views. Yet, when they launched their new brand - funnysalesvideos.com - their very first video campaign hit 7 million views. Fast forward to today and their campaigns are now hitting 100 million viewers and millions of dollars in directly tracked sales.
So, the business has come full circle, surpassing its former huge levels of success, but this time using social media and harnessing the power of humour.
When is a Sales Video Not Appropriate...?
Joseph says he's never yet seen a situation where video is inappropriate - Even videos created for funeral service companies.
The questions to ask are: Did it do justice to the story and to the audience? It’s got to be funny without being offensive to the audience.
Comedy makes the risky safe - Because you’re using humour you can discuss things that you’d not normally talk about.
And Finally…Reinvention is Key
You always have to be evolving - You can never stay still. This is true across all industries and in particular in the software sector. You need to learn to look at the trends and see where things are going. Ten years ago, people were fast-forwarding through commercials on tv. If Joseph hadn't reinvented the company the ongoing changes would have killed it.
Links:
Joseph Wilkins:
Harmon Bros University: https://harmonbrothersuniversity.com/start-home
https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilkinsjoseph/
https://funnysalesvideos.com/
joseph@funnysalesvideos.com
Free ebook: How to make a funny sales video without hiring us
https://funnysalesvideos.com/ebook/
How to make a video go viral
Mark Edwards:
https://www.bossequity.com/resources/podcasts https://www.linkedin.com/in/markledwards/
https://www.bossequity.com/
Mark Edwards talks with Alex Gesell of Imagine Growth, a training institute, focused on the tech sector.
A true digital nomad, Alex lives globally, spending 3-6 months in the most beautiful places from Europe to Latin America, US, Africa to Asia - He has employees on all 5 continents and clients mainly in Europe and the US.
It’s a fully virtual company, which he founded 2 years ago and built from the start with the idea of having a truly global company. It’s a company that embraces the next level of working globally together with no borders and no distance is too far.
To make this work in practical terms, Alex has made a conscious shift to scheduling his business meetings around where he currently chooses to live - whether that’s in Colombia, London or Silicon Valley. 100% of customer conversations are online - There’s literally no need to be face-to-face. Conversely, whenever he has the opportunity, Alex loves to have face-to-face meetings.
Imagine Growth Institute
Imagine Growth Institute is a training institute, dedicated to a very specific target audience - The tech industry, including software & consulting founders and their executive teams.
Imagine’s vision is to help people change the way they do business, from strategic positioning to scaling up their business x2 to x10 times.
At the same time, they work on top leader personal growth on all levels - Alex likes to call this "body, mind, soul reprogramming. Questions tackled are those that face many top entrepreneurs and executives: How do you live an empowered life as a leader and not simply work 100 hours, contsantly stressing out about reaching the next quarterly goal - At the same time, how do you transform your operations for the future?
Alex has worked for 10 years in the tech sector, mainly in the innovative RPA and AI niches. In all the organisations he worked with, he realised that 2 things weren’t working:
- Branding and content marketing - Really creative content to educate the customer about the innovative tech sector.
- Lead generation
The biggest mistake they all made was to be panicking about the results for “this quarter”. And this was true in companies of all sizes - from small companies with 50 people to Microsoft-size corporates.
If you want to really grow your business, this is a strategic essay - a core capability. Producing software is one element, while generating sales is another. The bridge between these two elements is communication with your market through thought leadership and then leveraging this to generate leads.
You need to combine this with smart outreach, not a ‘shotgun in the dark’ approach. It must be specifically targeted outreach so you are adding value.
Thanks, Alex, for a really interesting conversation and great insights :)
Links & Contact:
Alex Gesell:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandergesell/
https://imaginegrowth.institute/ https://www.instagram.com/imaginegrowth.institute/?hl=en
Mark Edwards:
https://www.bossequity.com/resources/podcasts https://www.linkedin.com/in/markledwards/
https://www.bossequity.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markledwards/
Mark Edwards has a stimulating conversation with Matt Rosenthal, CEO at Mind Core.
What Matt Finds Inspirational..
Matt says he likes change and uncertainty, coupled with having to figure things out and not being quite sure what’s coming next. He also loves failure as it forces him to push himself and to learn and to see how far he can go and what he’s capable of - He’s often surprised by what he can do and inspired by seeing what he can do and how far he can go in his life and how many people he can impact.
Matt has read the book, “The 5am Club” by Robin Sharmer about 10 times because there’s so much information in it about the brain and how it works. Matt habitually gets up early and meditates for 20 minutes, then reads - He feels this sets the tone for the day.
The One Thing…
Matt says the one thing he really aspires to is that feeling of happiness and joy - almost like constant sunlight that people around you can feel radiating from you.
Money is, of course, great and it can make life fun but it can also disappear at any moment, whereas an awesome state of mind that impacts you and those around you is something nobody can take away from you...
Links & Contact:
Matt Rosenthal:
Podcast: Digging In
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-rosenthal-mindcore/
https://www.instagram.com/mattrosenthal_/?hl=en
Mark Edwards:
https://www.bossequity.com/resources/podcasts
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markledwards/
https://www.bossequity.com/
The 5am Club – Robin Sharmer
Malcolm Gladwell Books:
Blink
Outliers
The Tipping Point
Think and Grow Rich - Napolean Hill
Jordan Belfort:
TED Talk: Sir Ken Robinson - Do Schools Kill Creativity?
The Sedona Method
Mark Edwards has an animated, all-encompassing chat with award-winning, published author, strategist and brand expert Minter Dial
Background
Minter is a welcome and lively guest on BOSS-it. He introduces himself as 56 years old, living in London, an American citizen with a French passport, married to a Spanish lady
He's changed profession & moved country 15 times, worked at L’Oréal cosmetics company for 16 years and also at an investment bank. He started a travel agency for musicians, taught tennis, worked in a zoo and an aquarium.
Minter has also written a novel, a biography and 3 business books and produced a World War II documentary.
On Ageing and Staying Curious
Change things up - When you put on your trousers or underwear, change legs - 97% of what we do every day is the same every day. We are creatures of habit - Can we “unwire” ourselves?
Locked away in the ivory tower that is HQ, leaders become isolated from reality, because nobody has the courage to tell the boss what’s going on.
Leaders need to do more learning to experience things first hand - Not just read about stuff in the Financial Times.
Keep on “checking out the new stuff” and that’s how you’ll stay young at heart and be able to contribute longer-term to the business. Older people have experience and there’s value in that.
What personal achievement are you most proud of?
The journey I was on for 25 years to discover who my grandfather and grandmother were. My grandfather was killed in a Japanese Prisoner of War camp - To understand what they went through and to give thanks for the freedoms they fought for. Minter interviewed 130 WW2 veterans for the film, and it made him realise how truly privileged we are to be living the lives we do. Minter bellieves we can learn from the values they espoused, that they had a higher sense of honour and levels of courage and love that ran very deep.
Minter's film, “The Last Ring Home” outlines some of the challenges of having a father who didn’t return home and coming to terms with it. Through this journey, Minter and his father were able to understand themselves better and allow themselves to cry.
Final Thoughts...
Life is short - We need to cherish it; cherish the people we love and accept our emotions and imperfections.
Thanks so much, Minter for a really interesting and enlightening conversation.
Links & Contact:
The Last Ring Home
Film: http://www.thelastringhome.com/
Book: http://www.thelastringhome.com/book
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs
Minter Dial:
https://www.minterdial.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/minterdial/?originalSubdomain=uk
https://www.facebook.com/minterdial/
Mark Edwards:
https://www.bossequity.com/resources/podcasts
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markledwards/
https://www.bossequity.com/
Mark Edwards has a lively and engaging conversation with seasoned US entrepreneur and former NYPD detective, Greg Demitrou.
Background
Greg is CEO of Lorraine Gregory Communications and Greg’s Corner Office. A retired NYC Detective, he rebranded himself in the marketing space, where he's been for almost 30 years.
Greg says being a detective was an ‘interesting ride’ that gave him many skills, including ‘good ears’, so when he's talking to marketing clients those skills help him listen and understand what they really want.
They started the business in a little shop back in 1992 with no fax machine, no computers - just 3 ladies stuffing envelopes. Fast forward 30 years and they’re a fully-integrated marketing company with 30 employees. The agency is front of house and they have a print & mail factory at the back of the house. They’ve recently added two television & film studios.
Greg says his company takes customers on the complete marketing journey: all the necessary skillsets are in-house so they very rarely need to send work out
Detective Greg Demetriou.
He joined the Police force just before his 18th birthday in a clerical trainee position but they sent him over to the detective squad in East Harlem by mistake - These were the days when detectives had tattoos, wore Fedoras and smoked cigars. They taught him how to be a detective and he loved it.
One sunny August day, a suspect was being pursued by officers so Greg joined the chase. As the youngest and fastest, Greg was first through the door and he was shot. The suspect also shot & killed the uniformed officer Greg was with.
This was a life-changing event in Greg’s life. It ended his Police career and set him on a different path.
After that, he worked with his brother for a while but when his brother passed away suddenly, the business was closed down. So, again, Greg was out of a job.
Top Marketing Tips for Software Companies
It’s all about the audience - Who is the audience? - What does the audience need? Software companies create solutions to address a need - How deeply did they interrogate that need?
It's important software companies communicate their “Why” - Why do people need their software? - Can it save them money? - Can it get them more business? - Can it make their lives easier? It’s not about the features of the software; it’s all about the benefits. "If I buy your software, what is it going to do for me?” This needs to be communicated.
Greg finishes almost with an aside that neatly epitomises the essence of what marketing is all about: “What is a brand? A brand is a promise of an experience.”
Thanks for your detailed insights and amazing story, Greg. We appreciate your time.
Links & Contact:
Greg Demetriou:
https://gregscorneroffice.com/index.php/ask-ceo/greg-demetriou-2/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregdemetriou/
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ask-a-ceo/id1519848446?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=bcast&utm_campaign=ask-a-ceo
https://twitter.com/gregscorneroff
https://www.lorrainegregory.com/greg-demetriou
Tel: +1 631-694-1500
Mark Edwards:
https://www.bossequity.com/resources/podcasts
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markledwards/
https://www.bossequity.com/
This week, Mark Edwards talks to former Royal Marines Commando, Ben Williams.
From taking drugs to being pinned down under Taliban fire, Ben took some hard knocks in his teenage years, which prompted him to decide that a life of crime wasn't for him - So, he joined the Marines to find out if he was part of the 0.1% who would make it through training.
After a tour in Afghanistan at the height of the conflict, Ben returned to the UK and trained new recruits for 3 years, before being given a medical discharge.
Having enjoyed the coaching aspect of military life, Ben set about utilising his experiences as a Marine to help those in the corporate world.
Ben has also written a book - Commando Mindset - in which he writes about the "ARA model" of coping in adversity, explaining that it's based on principles he learned with the Marines, as follows:
A - Accept: Think with clarity
R - Remove: Remove unwanted emotion
A - Adapt: What's changed? What do we do now? How can we now take the fight to the enemy?
The ARA model is designed to help people think with clarity in a crisis situation, so they don't freeze but instead, make calm, coherent decisions and take positive action.
This ability to think rationally in a crisis, clearly has immense benefits in the corporate world - particularly in the current situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is causing global economic chaos. Ben's business was one of the many casualties and he has since pivoted to create Loopin, an app that monitors and takes care of employees' mental health.
The Loopin support team includes a psychologist, whilst the app includes well-being interventions, hints & tips. It's really helpful for HR to see if a team is under stress - but, for employyees' peace of mind, they can't access the team data. It remains confidential within the team on the app. Loopin can highlight to HR if teams are exhausted and even indicate how that is likely to play out in the future, so they can take action to mitigate.
A highly entertaining listen, with many real-world anecdotes, both from Ben's military career and corporate experience.
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-williams-vgs/
https://medium.com/@ben_82245
Book: Commando Mindset
https://www.letsloopin.com/
Podcasts:
The Infinite Monkey Cage Brian Cox & Robin Inc
Secret Leaders Dan Murray-Serta
Squiggly Careers Helen & Sarah
Warning to Salespeople: This might hurt - just a bit
In this week's podcast, Mark Edwards talks to Ari Galper, the World No1 authority on "trust-based selling".
Some 20 years ago, Ari was a sales manager in a software company, selling an innovative tracking solution.
It was after an hour-long, online demo - which Ari describes as a "Lovefest on the phone" - that Ari had an epiphany that changed the way he saw and approached selling from that moment forward.
After that demo, Ari realised that somewhere over the years, it had become socially acceptable to lie to salespeople; he realised that you need to remove pressure from sales conversations and replace it with trust or you'll never get to the truth of what they need - And you'll be forever chasing 'ghosts'.
Ari explains the importance and the subtle nuances of the language you use - with a list of phrases and words to avoid.
He also explains when and how the sale is lost - and it's not when and how you may think...
Links:
linkedin.com/in/australiatrustsalestraining
https://unlockthegame.com
Book: Unlock the Game
In this highly entertaining, both serious and amusing podcast, David Angel talks to Mark Edwards about the gratitude he now has for his life.
Starting life as a chef and 'accidentally' falling into sales, David went from door-to-door sales to in-office calling - 300 calls a day.
As a saleman and manager of sales teams, his drink and substance abuse gradually increased to a point where he lost everything and found himself living in his car.
From this rock bottom, David gradually rebuilt his life to the point that he became a sales coach and helped others work on their selling skills as well as their mindset.
David describes his persistent anxiety as like living with a pet tiger. When the tiger behaves, he enjoys laser-like focus, drive and determination; when the tiger misbehaves, it's a totally different story. But David has now learned different, more positive coping mechanisms.
Amongst the seriousness, David and Mark swap anecdotes of some hilarious - and not so hilarious - situations selling door to door landed them in: being chased by German Shepherd dogs and bombarded with missiles by 10-year olds at houses where sales people weren't welcome, people dressed as pirates with parrots on their shoulders. As David says, such episodes gave him a rhino skin but also taught him never to pre-judge people.
An easy-listening podcast, as entertaining as it is informative.
Links:
The Sales Network platform - send a DM and talk to David direct
Instagram: The Sales Angel
https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidangeltsn/?originalSubdomain=uk
https://www.tethr.men/
Mark Edwards Talks with Gordon Ho, founder and Head Rainmaker at Rainmakerdots.
The main problems Gordon sees with lead generation are lack of time and consistency
He says, sales prospecting never sleeps – so therefore, you have to commit the time and be consistent with it – Otherwise the pipeline will fall off.
Nobody likes to do prospecting but it has to be done.
https://www.rainmakerdots.com/
A New Way to Succeed as a Software Tech Entrepreneur
In this episode of Boss-it, Uruguayan immigrant, Sandra Shpilberg tells her fascinating story, from landing in New York, aged just 16, with her family, through educating herself, to finding a mission to do work that would make an impact.
Sandra is an author, tech entrepreneur as well as Top 40 Healthcare Transformer. She founded, built & sold Seeker Health, a digital platform that connects seriously ill patients with clinical trials.
Sandra explains her practical approach to setting up a tech business in Silicon Valley – going against established mores – and gives actionable tips. Her book is both an inspiration and something of a route map for aspiring tech entrepreneurs who may feel they don’t quite fit the Silicon Valley mould.
https://www.sandrashpilberg.com/
Sandra's new book
New Start Up Mindset
With a background as an M&A lawyer in Israel, and several successful start ups to his name, Dan Ziv is now CEO of TouchNote.
Dan describes TouchNote as a creative platform for personal communication, where people upload their own images and send them as postcards, greetings cards etc.
TouchNote's primary differentiator is that they are a “Mobile first” platform, optimised for ease of use, with a particular focus on personalisation.
Amongst a range of topics, Dan explains how they have pivoted to rapidly scale the business by offering memberships.
Links:
- @Danziv
- dan@touchnote.com
Simon Grosse, CEO at "Great Place to Work", award-winning company, Foundation-SP, talks to Mark Edwards.
We learn how his company has evolved from a services model to being a provider of Pulse 360 software that assists organisations in managing their employee culture, communications, expectations and well-being.
Simon explains how he and his colleagues have fostered a very direct & open culture of communicating the things that are going well as well as things that aren't.
He goes on to describe how this two-way communication is invaluable for enterprises in gauging employee engagement & satisfaction and how his organisation strives to make work a place where people are 'in flow' and where they are empowered to do their best work.
Links:
- https://www.pulse360.io/
- https://foundation-sp.com/
- linkedin.com/in/simon-grosse-7324b61
- simon.grosse@foundation-sp.com
B2B software sales veteran and Social Media marketing expert, Neil Schaffer, shares invaluable & easy to implement, marketing tips. He also discusses his new book, The Age of Influence with Mark Edwards.
During his early sales career based in Asia, Neil ‘wore many hats’ and also learned to speak Japanese, Mandarin & Chinese along the way. It was on returning to the US during the 2008 crash, that he began to network via LinkedIn to find work. This proved so successful for him that he wrote his first book about it. His take on the current state of Social Media: The power is still there – It’s just how you use it.
Links:
https://www.amazon.com/Age-Influence-Power-Influencers-Elevate/dp/1400216362
https://nealschaffer.com/
Amongst plenty of joshing and generally giving each other a hard time, Mark & Michael catch up on what they have each been doing over the past 18 months.
Michael announces his forthcoming book: “Nobody Knows You” – How do you fix your business so it scales. To be published September 2020.
They discuss humour, Ricky Gervais, how to change entrenched mindset and how to make your content work really hard for you.
Links:
Michael Humblet
The Experience Economy - James H Gilmore
Mark Littlewood from BoS (Business of Software) talks to Mark about how he took on the mantle of running the Business of Software events both in the US and European - He explains how he and his team had to rapidly change tack from putting on an in-person event to hosting a 2-Day, online event for senior software sector executives & entreprenuers. And howe the online version was a resounding success.
Each presenter speaks for approximately one hour on all aspects of the software sector.
Mark believes, if you get the right people on stage you have no problem holding people's attention. He shares his criteria for choosing the speakers at his events, which may surprise you..
Links:
www.businessofsoftware.org
www.businessofsoftware.eu
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marklittlewood/
Former CEO & founder of Everteam and ECM veteran, Béchara Wakim, recently sold his company to Japanese firm, Kyocera.
Here, he talks to Mark Edwards about his background and subsequent career in the Document Management and Content Management space, 'the death of AI', machine learning, compliance and information governance.
Originally a University professor of IT and Document Management, Béchara founded Everteam in 1990.
Everteam started life focusing on Document Management tech tools and processes and over time, evolved to include Content Management.
Now Everteam is a major player, integrating artificial intelligence into Document Management and Content Management processes and tools. They have thier own, in-house R&D team which combines expertise and technological innovation with artificial intelligence and automatic natural language processing (NLP).
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bechara-wakim-327263/
https://www.everteam.com/en/
This week, Mark Edwards talks to experienced software salesman, Michael Veenswyk, whose previous experience includes senior roles at IBM as well as running his own software companies. Michael offers sound advice, based on several decades of experience ‘at the coal face’.
With his in-depth software sector knowledge Michael is well-placed to share many insights that will help you on your journey towards growing a more successful software business.
Software entrepreneurs often work too hard. And, just like anything in life, there needs to be a balance.
But how do you find that balance?
In this episode, Mark Edwards interviews experienced psychologist, Nicola Bird, who shares with you the answer to that question.
Nicola also shares insights about overcoming the fear of delegation.
How to deal with uncertainty.
And, what an entrepreneur should do if s/he is overworked and has too many tasks to complete each day.
Links:
www.alittlepeaceofmind.co.uk
In this episode, Mark Edwards talks to healthcare industry veteran, Steve Wightman.
Currently Sales Director at Servelec, Steve discusses innovation in global healthcare and how hospital Trusts were trying to manage their exisiting paper records while making the transition to digital records.
Steve offers insights on latest developments within the sector.
Most marketers you hire will not get you results.
You may have experienced this before.
They promise to deliver. But fail miserably.
In this episode of BOSS-it you’ll find out from expert marketer, Shane Barker, how to identify which marketer/s to hire if you want great results.
You’ll also learn Shane’s response to B2B companies who say: “Social media isn’t for us.” As well as, the biggest mistake software companies are making right now with their content marketing. Amongst a host of other things.
Links:
www.shanebarker.com
This week Mark Edwards interviews Aurangzeb Khan. Aurangzeb sold his company for $125 million and has now just invented the Panacast 3 with Jabra.
How did he do it? - Are there any secrets to his success? - What was the main lesson he learnt from his failed ventures? All of these questions and more are answered in this episode.
Links:
https://www.jabra.com/business/video-conferencing/jabra-panacast#/#8100-119
Partnerships: a seemingly simple & almost insignificant part of any business. Yet, they’re more important than you may suspect.
In this episode of BOSS-it, Mark Edwards talks to Colin Frith, founder of Covvered, a company which helps people keep track of valuable warranties and insurance policies.
You’ll learn how Colin transformed Covvered with the partnerships he formed in his business.
And, Colin reveals exactly how you too can transform your business - just like he did.
Links:
www.covvered.com
Knowing which person to hire for your company is tricky. And you can waste a lot of time & money if you get it wrong. In this episode, Mark Edwards interviews David Hirschfield. David is an expert in scaleable software development.
You’ll hear David’s one sure-fire method to make sure he always hires the right person for the job. As well as the one characteristic you need to develop to be ultra-successful in our industry. Amongst other things.
Links:
https://www.tekyz.com/
Speech Technology is exploding within the software industry so this episode will bring you up-to-date with what’s going on, so you can see the potential value to yourself and your business.
In this episode Mark Edwards interviews speech technology expert, Nigel Cannings. You’ll also learn about a new, upcoming area within speech technology which could prove of real benefit to your business.
Links:
www.intelligentvoice.com
In this episode Mark interviews Greg Dickenson. Greg is an expert in creating great demo experiences so prospects can truly experience your product prior to buying. This is highly important because it will dramatically affect your conversion rates. So this episode is definitely one you should check out. And if you have any feedback for the podcast you can email Mark (The Host) at medwards@bossequity.com or Greg Dickenson from Omedym at gdickenson@omedym.com
Links:
www.Omedym.com
In this episode Mark Edwards talks with Jeremy Brassington. Jeremy is the CEO of Note Taking Express who have created a platform for note taking which takes it to another level. You’ll hear Jeremy’s interesting background story as well as his inspirational journey you can learn a lot from. If you have any feedback for this episode then please email medwards@bossequity.com
Links:
l www.notetakingexpress.com
In this episode Mark talks with Tony Armour. Tony is an expert in the management drivers industry. He’ll explain what management should NOT do in the software industry (even though most of them do these things), the way to run a small company if you’re looking to scale AND why successful people are successful. If you want to get in contact with Mark for any reason then email medwards@bossequity.com
Most people who come across your business will not buy from you straight away. So in this episode, Jon street, a marketing expert, explains what to do about this. And trust me, this one is a good one! We cover everything from overcoming social anxiety to how to get your business positioning right to the unique giving approach that can boost your business and even your life!
Links:
l The Go Giver by Bob burg - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Go-Giver-Little-Story-Powerful-Business/dp/0241976278/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+go+giver&qid=1558621277&s=gateway&sr=8-1
l Give and take by Adam Grant - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Give-Take-Helping-Others-Success/dp/1780224729/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=give+and+take&qid=1558621301&s=gateway&sr=8-1
l Jon Street - www.jonstreet.com
In this episode Mark Edwards has a chat with Neil Cumming. In this longer than usual podcast they talk about cognitive overload, story telling in the B2B world and the Harvard study that will help improve any sales & marketing you do in the future.
In this episode Mark Edwards has a chat with Jon Buchan. They talk about the importance of humour in your business, using FaceBook for B2B advertising and how to write your content in the correct tone of voice for your audience.
Links for podcast:
l CHARM OFFENSIVE LINK - https://www.charm-offensive.co.uk/
l CHARM OFFENSIVE FACEBOOK LINK - https://www.facebook.com/groups/charmoffensivegroup
l Colin Theriot- https://cultofcopy.com/
You may think you understand your target market. But, do you really? New research from a Harvard Business School professor has revealed something few software entrepreneurs know. In this episode, Michael Humblet and Mark Edwards discuss these findings as well as a couple of other interesting topics suitable for software entrepreneurs.
https://www.bossequity.com/resources/podcasts
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now, and you can receive one free 30-minute telephone consultation.
Also check out our other social media platforms...
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Boss-IT podcast has received a question from one of our listeners, Peter: “Is your company worth more if it operates in several countries, or is £10 million revenue the same value if it’s all from the same geographical location?” Well, in this episode Michael Humblet and Mark Edwards are joined by another Peter (an expert in Virtual Reality) to discuss this very question. We ponder whether global expansion of your business is even worth the hassle. As well as a couple of other interesting topics.
Anyone involved in any type of business, in any country, needs to see this research. You'll probably be pleasantly surprised! Check out the study for yourself (but only after you've listened to our analysis of it which you may find intriguing):
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2018/12/19/the-best-countries-for-business-2019-u-s-down-u-k-on-top/
Everybody knows how technology is changing the world. But how many people know the specific upcoming trends in the B2B software industry? In this episode, we draw on over 30 years of experience in the B2b software industry to tell you what we think is going to happen next. (This could be really interesting to you if you're a software entrepreneur!)
Of course, everyone has their own opinion. Some will say it's better for you to take your business public. While others will say it's not. However, in this episode, Mark Edwards and Michael Humbleton describe the numerous benefits to NOT taking your business public. Plus they talk about other topics that would be useful to any software entrepreneur.
Michael and Mark this week in their podcast try something different. Since they were together in Belgium for a speaking event they decided to get nose to nose and do a video podcast. They discuss a number of things relevant for software entrepreneurs this week including presenting on stage and Michael gets a bit uneasy
For this episode Michael Humblet is away on business. Instead Mark Edwards is joined by Bernard Braithwaite, a marketing expert, who can tell you how to succeed at marketing in the software sector. Bernard will share some fresh perspectives you may not have heard before. And he describes them in an easy to understand way, so you can implement them immediately…
Links for podcast:
l www.mimeanalytics.com - Bernard Braithwaite’s Website
l https://nz.linkedin.com/in/bernardbraithwaite - Bernard Braithwaite’s LinkedIn
l medwards@bossequity.com - Contact Mark Edwards if you have any comments about the Boss-It podcast.
The average software company is missing out on 90% of the leads they could be getting. In this episode, we reveal how you can make sure you aren’t one of them. And it doesn’t require you hiring any new staff or making any dramatic changes. You’ll only have to improve one part of your business.
Avoid the big error almost all software companies make which lowers their conversion rates
Are your sales people failing to convert as many prospects into customers as you would like? This may be because prospects are being given inconsistent sales messages from your staff, brochures and website etc... In this episode, Michael Humblet and Mark Edwards reveal how you can make sure your prospects get the same exact sales message every time. This will of course result in more sales due to less confused prospects. (And by the way, this podcast is for you, even if you have a small company!)
Links for podcast:
l https://qwilr.com/
l https://www.pandadoc.com
Miksang. That’s the Tibetan word that could transform your business for the better. Listen to this episode to find out what it means and how it can benefit you. Also, we’re always looking for new podcast topic ideas.
If you have any problems you’re currently facing in your business then feel free to email me at medwards@bossequity.com. We will then discuss it on our nearest convenient episode of Boss-IT Podcast.
Michael and I often look in different industries to get inspiration for new ideas. In some ways, the B2C industry is far ahead of the B2B world. Especially the software sector. In this episode, Michael Humblet and Mark Edwards reveal one reason why B2C companies typically have a much higher conversion rate than B2B companies. (It might not be what you think!)
I remember being told ‘you need 11 touchpoints before you can convert a prospect into a customer’. Over the years I’ve also been told that number is 7 … or even 8 touchpoints that you need. How confusing! The great thing is there’s now some new, reliable research that’s come out that can put an end to this debate. Exactly how many touchpoints do we need? Or do we even need to focus on touchpoints at all? Michael Humblet reveals all in this episode.
Links for podcast:
l Mous Iphone Case (YouTube video dropping the case from a crane) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49tFe9rVglM
l Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins: How to Use Your Own Stories to Communicate with Power and Impact by Annette Simmons https://www.amazon.co.uk/Whoever-Tells-Best-Story-Wins/dp/0814449131/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1538303229&sr=1-1&keywords=whoever+tells+the+best+story+wins
l Trust me, I’m a Salesman: How to Earn Customers through Trust and Value by Mr. Yuri Van Der Sluis https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trust-Im-Salesman-Customers-through/dp/9887890103
You’ve probably read dozens of books telling you how to succeed in business. But the problem is they all show you a different path to success. Some of these books may even contain contradictory information to what you’ve read elsewhere. The truth is that successful people have very few common traits amongst them. However, having dealt with hundreds of software entrepreneurs, I’ve found one common trait they all have. In this episode, I’ll reveal what that one skill is.
www.bossequity.com
How a “punctum” can make your software demo more persuasive
Most software demos are dreadful. They lack any sort of persuasive selling power and are far too long. This results in boredom for the audience. But what is it that gives some software demos the je ne sais quoi? In this episode, Michael and I describe what a “punctum” is and how it can make your software demo instantly more persuasive.
NOTE: Click here to download Michael Humblet’s FREE course -
https://schoolofsales.be/p/accelerate-your-business-with-value-ladders
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhumblet/ Don’t forget to give Michael feedback on his course. ;)
ClickFunnels has recently been valued at over $500 Million. Now what may surprise you, if you don’t already know it, is that ClickFunnels was only founded in 2014. In this episode, we talk about the techniques they used to achieve their success. Plus, we talk about another successful ‘unicorn’ company as well. These case studies will be useful because ‘success leaves tracks that we can follow ourselves’. Enjoy!
Links for podcast:
Sweep Bright - www.SweepBright.com
The Fourth Industrial Revolution by Klaus Schwab - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fourth-Industrial-Revolution-Klaus-Schwab/dp/0241300754/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537947955&sr=8-1&keywords=fourth+industrial+revolution
Slack - www.Slack.com
Funnelytics - www.Funnelytics.io
Click Funnels - www.ClickFunnels.com
James White on the Unique Challenges to Success in the Software Sector You’ve heard it before… the software sector is becoming more competitive by the day … and you need to adapt or die! I think most of us understand this. But it can be hard to figure out exactly HOW we should adapt. And the contradictory advice out there doesn’t help.
This is of course a big topic, and it’s one we’re going to cover in more detail in future episodes. But today, I wanted to at least kick-start that discussion in a dramatic way. My guest is James White, the UK’s leading prospect conversion expert and sales mentor, and the co-author of the book Sales Genius 1: 20 top sales professionals share their sales secrets. Our conversation may not answer all your questions. But I hope it gets you thinking in the right direction - and that it sets the stage for additional episodes on this important topic.
Also, James has kindly offered to give away 5 FREE COPIES OF HIS BOOK (Sales Genius 1: 20 top sales professionals share their sales secrets) to BOSS-IT listeners. If you’d like a copy then contact me at medwards@bossequity.com.
If you could include in your email some feedback for the BOSS-IT podcast then it would be appreciated :)
Links for podcast:
Sales Genius 1: 20 top sales professionals share their secrets by Andrew Priestley - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sales-Genius-sales-professionals-secrets-ebook/dp/B07GZVWNX4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537947510&sr=8-1&keywords=sales+genius+andrew
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hard-Thing-About-Things-Building/dp/0062273205/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537947593&sr=8-1&keywords=the+hard+thing+about+hard+things
James White (LinkedIn) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameswhitesales?originalSubdomain=uk
James White (YouTube) - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqzRMkyEC3dLYj5vQtzDEw
James White (Website) - http://www.jameswhite.business/
As your business grows, it becomes even more important you lead your team in the most effective way possible. Big companies who fail to manage their employees correctly can often find themselves in difficulty! Especially in the software industry, where CEOs tend to have a technical mind that’s perhaps not at it’s best when dealing with people. In this episode we’ll explain why the dictatorial approach to management is now less effective. Also, we talk about why you need to clearly define who your company is and why this will help you.
Links for podcast:
Simon Sinek Ted Talk (Start With Why) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together And Others Don’t by Simon Sinek - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Leaders-Eat-Last-Together-Others/dp/0670923176/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537947339&sr=8-1&keywords=leaders+eat+last
Boss Equity
Many software CEOs can sell their own product with ease. Yet at the same time, their employees struggle to sell the exact same product. In this episode we reveal why this happens and how to fix it. Also, we describe why the software industry is exploding with opportunities right now. And how software unicorn companies are currently changing the way people live.
Links for podcast:
High performance habits by Brendan Burchard https://www.amazon.co.uk/High-Performance-Habits-Extraordinary-People/dp/1401952852
Peter Bregman 18 minutes: Find your focus, master distraction and get the right things done https://www.amazon.co.uk/18-Minutes-Master-Distraction-Things/dp/1409135187/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1536575043&sr=1-1&keywords=18+minutes
Boss Equity
Recently we’ve been frustrated by small business owners not knowing the importance of branding. They think “it’s only for the multi-billion dollar companies”. In this episode, we’ll show you why branding is just as, if not even more so, important for your software business. And, we’ll give you a peak into why just copying what the large successful conglomerates are doing (with their branding) will result in failure.
Links for podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob1WW7QaaVw&feature=youtu.be Apple are the masters of this weaving of story and narrative. Their narrative is “the power of human innovation”. They then run in their ads which are a series of many short stories examples of individuals (heroes) demonstrating creativity and innovation. Watch this advert Apple created that has Robin Williams doing the voice over
Boss Equity
This episode will tell you:
How to succeed as a salesperson in the 21st century.
PLUS…. how to be more creative when coming up with business ideas.
AND the unusual tactics Google used, to become so successful.
Mark Edwards and David Shieldhouse reveal ideas about selecting and recruiting the very best salespeople.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now, and you can receive one free 30-minute telephone consultation.
Links for podcast:
LINK TO DAVID WEBSITE ETC… top 1% club
Gary Vee
From impossible to inevitable book Jason Lemkin
The Google Story Book link
Eric Schmidt
This episode will tell you: The best way to manage your team to get ideal results.
PLUS…. what makes a great leader in a software company. AND one extremely useful productivity tip you can use instantly to work faster. Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
This episode will tell you: How to deal with stress as a senior executive.
PLUS…. why you’re probably pointing to the wrong thing that is causing your stress. AND the one thing getting in the way of you being WORLD-CLASS at what you do. Mark Edwards interviews David Key (best-selling author) who reveals all.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
Links for podcast:
David Key Book - Joyride
David Key Website
Dr Tad James - NLP Mentor
Dr Pranksy Book and Course
David@auspicsithm.com <--- email & website
This episode will tell you: Why small software companies (ESPECIALLY) shouldn’t diversify.
PLUS…. the ONE thing that ALL fast-growth software companies typically do. AND the traits of successful software entrepreneurs. Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
Links for podcast:
Ultima software
PLC Programming Logical Systems
GWEEK Speech Website
Why understanding cultural differences is so important. This episode will tell you all about it.
PLUS…. what are the 5 best productivity tools that ACTUALLY WORK. AND some amusing anecdotes from the world of business. Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
Links for podcast:
LinkedIn www.linkedin.com
LinkedHelper www.linkedhelper.com
DuxSoup
Calendly
Canva
Lumen 5
Zapier
Jabra Bluetooth Headset 930
MindJet
The Best Self Journal
Facebook - BestSelf
What are the mistakes software companies make when presenting at trade exhibitions. This episode reveals them. PLUS…. why a lot of software companies already have the knowledge they need to get ahead of their rivals but are not using it. AND some extremely interesting facts on the fastest growing software companies you can use to help your own business. Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all. Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
Links for podcast:
CogX Exhibition
Tobacco Dock, London
SaaS Paris Conference - was in US before
Stripe
How you can have an enjoyable lifestyle and avoid becoming a slave to your business. This episode shows you how.
PLUS…how you can use virtual reality to sell more products even if you don’t think it’s suitable for your business. AND some extremely interesting facts on the fastest growing software companies you can use to help your own business. Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
These few things will make your sales people want to, and even LOVE, working as hard as you do. Listen to this episode to find out how to do this.
PLUS…why you should only focus on one thing at a time. And some unusual marketing techniques that get great results. Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
Links for podcast:
Hylands Software
Victor Kiam Book
How doing this ONE thing can result in explosive growth for your software business. This episode shows you how. PLUS…why speaking on stages at different events may be one of the best things you do for your business. And why the software sector really is the best sector to be in. Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all. Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation with Mark or Michael.
Links for podcast:
Michael Humblet YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbyjfpbO-LWxue3wQC1qBvA
GDPR Mark Edwards Twitter Post - https://twitter.com/MarkLEdwards/status/953973385473724416
How to improve your results working alongside your business partners NOW. This episode shows you how.
PLUS… why more and more businesses are running virtually these days. And how you can get to know your customers inside out. Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
How can your software company get more customers NOW. This episode shows you how.
PLUS… the ONE thing Tim Ferris did to improve his productivity. And why you need to know about https://lumen5.com/ . Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
Links for podcast:
Sap - https://www.sap.com/uk/index.html
Lumen 5 - www.lumen5.com
Tim Ferriss - https://tim.blog/
How to make cold calls work in the modern era How your software company can use cold calls in the modern era to get BIG results? This episode shows you how.
PLUS… why most software companies can’t get investment. And the SINGLE best marketing technique you can use now. Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
Why most software companies are vulnerable (but don’t yet know it)
How your software company may be vulnerable without you being aware? This episode shows you how. PLUS… why and how you should split up your sales processes. And the power of using stories. Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
Links for podcast:
Drift www.drift.com
Kevin Trudeau
How can your software company create better videos? This episode shows you how.
PLUS… the best TIP to become more successful in business AND in life in general. And the worst mistakes you can make when creating videos and how to avoid them. Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
Links for podcast:
Slow Down Cyclist Picture above Dads Desk https://www.flickr.com/photos/mark-edwards/11787345956/
Hot Jar https://www.hotjar.com/
How to improve your work life balance How can you improve your work life balance? This episode shows you how.
PLUS… how to make your public speaking skills much better. And the ONE thing that’ll help you gain more customers. Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
How to get better results with social media How can your software company get better results with social media? This episode shows you how.
PLUS… the problem with having lots of executives in one room and how you can stop it.And why “Keep it simple, get it done” is our philosophy in business and in life. Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
How to manage your time much better How can manage your time much better?
This episode shows you how. PLUS… why most time management systems don’t work. And numerous amusing stories you’ll enjoy. Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
How can your software company improve internal & external communication to improve results fast?
This episode shows you how. PLUS… how to use videos to increase your profits. And the mistake almost ALL software companies are making with their marketing. Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
Links for podcast:
The British Society Of Cinematographers - https://bscine.com/
Click Funnels - www.clickfunnels.com/
Exponea - https://exponea.com
How can your software company get better results with the content you produce? This episode shows you how. PLUS… how to make sure customers don’t waste your time. And why you must make producing content a part of your daily routine. Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
Links for podcast:
Russell Brunson -www.russellbrunson.com
Frank Kern - https://frankkern.com
Grant Cardone - https://grantcardone.com
Gary Vaynerchuk - https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com
How can your software company avoid the common error made when attracting new customers?
This episode shows you how. PLUS… how to drastically improve your productivity. And the one thing you NEED to know if you want everyone in your company to be aligned.. Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
Links for podcast:
Exponea - www.exponea.com
How can your software company get more leads in the modern era?
This episode shows you how. PLUS… why you should begin with the end in mind. And the importance of your software company having clear positioning. Mark Edwards and Michael Humblet reveal all.
Go to www.BossEquity.com to find how you can take your software company to the next level. Do it now and I’ll even offer you a free consultation.
Links for podcast:
Dot Com Secrets - https://www.amazon.co.uk/DotCom-Secrets-Underground-Playbook-Growing-ebook/dp/B00U3817WE
