Ask an Expert: Recent Episodes
Propelo Media
Thought-provoking interviews designed to share real and actionable insights from founders, c-level execs, and thought leaders.
In this episode, we dive into the world of marketing with Rob Murray, CEO and Co-founder of Intrigue Media. Rob challenges the traditional approach of trying to convince everyone to love your product. Instead, he reveals the marketer's secret weapon: finding those who already adore what you offer.
The episode goes beyond theory, offering actionable advice. Rob discusses the tenacity needed to find your ideal customers, but also introduces the "3SWN" principle: "Some will, some won't; so what? Next!" This powerful concept helps you move on from rejection and focus on the potential "yeses" waiting around the corner.
Finally, Rob emphasizes the importance of authenticity, both for your brand and your individual marketing efforts. He shares the inspiring quote: "Every single time you get a ‘no’ you’re closer to the ‘yes’. Embrace the no, get the answer and then move on to the next one."
Join us as we learn how to ditch the generic marketing tactics and find your true fans!
Are you struggling to understand why your product isn't selling?
In this episode, pricing expert Hermann Simon, founder of Simon-Kucher & Partners, dives deep into the concept of perceived value and how it impacts your pricing strategy.
You'll learn how to assess customer perception, along with practical tips on using conjoint measurement to maximize your profit. Hermann also discusses the role of innovation and market share in difficult economic times.
This episode is for you if:
- You're a business owner struggling to price your product competitively
- Your sales are lower than expected
- You're unsure how to measure customer perception of your product
Tune in and unlock the pricing secrets of hidden champions!
Looking to climb the career ladder and make a difference? This video explores 3 key ingredients for success:
- Tenacity & Goal-Setting: Learn from Melissa Eichbauer, a recognized leader, on how clear goals and unwavering determination can propel you forward.
- Adaptability & Innovation: Discover how Finley Volkswagen thrived during the pandemic by embracing online sales and prioritizing customer convenience.
- Enhancing the Customer Experience & Community Involvement: See how businesses can win by putting customers first and giving back to the community.
Melissa shares valuable insights on leadership, empathy, and creating a positive impact. Be inspired to achieve your goals and make a real difference!
Business guru Verne Harnish, known for books like "Scaling Up," shares valuable advice applicable to any company. He emphasizes prioritizing customer needs over sales ("giving before taking"). He also challenges the typical view of differentiation, arguing for a truly focused target market. As Harnish says, "the richest are in the niches."
Mark Graham, co-founder of Commonsku, tackles both the challenges and the potential of the promotional products industry. He explores the fate of those pens and stress balls we leave behind in hotels, contrasting them with the high-quality items we hold onto. This disparity highlights the industry's struggles. But Graham doesn't just dwell on the problems; he offers a solution: fostering a strong community. He explains how Commonsku's innovative software bridges the gap between distributors and suppliers, fostering collaboration across the entire supply chain. This isn't just about software – it's about connection. By fostering authentic connections within the industry, Commonsku empowers distributors and suppliers to interact and collaborate effectively. In essence, Graham details the evolution of Commonsku, a platform that has transformed from a simple product into a powerful tool that unites the promotional product community.
Margaret Heffernan, a renowned entrepreneur, CEO, author, and keynote speaker, dives deep into the ever-present reality of uncertainty. From navigating personal challenges to navigating global shifts, Heffernan emphasizes the importance of embracing the unknown and fostering the skills necessary to thrive in dynamic environments.
Key takeaways from the episode:
- Uncertainty is an inevitable part of life: Recognizing this allows us to approach challenges with a proactive mindset.
- Preparation is key: While we can't predict the future, we can be prepared to adapt by developing scenario planning and critical thinking skills.
- Embrace experimentation: Don't be afraid to try new things and learn from failures. Experimentation is crucial for innovation and growth.
- Stay informed and engaged: Be an active participant in shaping the future by staying informed about current events and engaging in meaningful conversations.
Heffernan's insights offer valuable guidance for individuals and organizations alike, empowering them to navigate uncertainty with confidence and initiative.
**Using Swag More Intentionally and Thoughtfully by Joseph Sommer
Discover the dynamic world of promotional products with Joseph Sommer, the entrepreneurial mind behind Whitestone Branding. In this podcast, Joseph recounts his journey from a culinary enthusiast to the founder of a successful marketing agency. Uncover the challenges of saying "no," scaling a business, and securing major deals, including the Washington Nationals.
Explore the evolution of Whitestone's marketing strategies, from overcoming scaling hurdles to rebranding for a polished image. Joseph sheds light on the misunderstood realm of promotional products, emphasizing strategic thinking over throwaway swag.
Get real-world examples of impactful and misjudged promotional campaigns, along with insights into KPIs that define success. Joseph predicts the future of promotional products, envisioning a shift towards sustainability and creative integration into virtual and in-person events.
Before you dive into promotional products, Joseph leaves you with three vital questions: Does it surprise and delight? Will it be used? Is it of high quality for a potential re-gift? If you resonate with two out of three, promotional products might be the strategic boost your brand needs.
Join us for Promo Unveiled, where Joseph Sommer shares his expertise, providing a fresh take on turning swag into a potent tool for marketing success.**
Jesse Cole is the owner of the viral sensation Savannah Bananas, a baseball team that has sold out every home game since the 2016 season. But it wasn’t like this at the beginning, as Jesse explains. With a lot of adversity came the realization that they had to be dramatically different, so they challenged themselves to create an unforgettable customer experience.
Join us in this episode as Hilary Corna, a seasoned professional with a background in process optimization at Toyota, unveils a groundbreaking approach that places humanity at the forefront of business. Discover how her unconventional, "unprofessional" approach encourages authenticity, allowing individuals and organizations to shed pretenses and connect on a genuine level, fostering a more loyal customer base.
Intriguingly, Hilary kicks off the conversation by delving into the importance of embracing this human-centric philosophy, even within the realm of process optimization. We explore the correlation between improving the customer experience and directing the same effort towards understanding customers on a personal level.
Hilary also shares insights from her recent transformative experience at Burning Man, shedding light on how it has shaped her perspective and influenced her clients in understanding their business's trajectory.
What sets this episode apart is the wealth of practical examples Hilary provides, showcasing how businesses can infuse humanity into their operations. Learn from success stories like Scribe Media, who have personalized their invoices to add a human touch to otherwise mundane aspects of business. Tune in for a captivating discussion on revolutionizing the business landscape with a human-centric approach.
Welcome to today's episode of the Untangled Entrepreneur Podcast. In this edition, we delve into the insights and experiences of Jonathan Domsky, a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of expertise. As the Founder of Untangled Coaching, Jonathan's mission is to ignite the growth and potential of fellow entrepreneurs.
In this exclusive Ask an Expert Interview, Jonathan shares his remarkable journey, from an impulsive decision resulting in the establishment of his first company, Kidorable, to his adept utilization of key industry connections that facilitated the rapid expansion of his business to over 2,500 retail locations.
Moreover, he imparts invaluable wisdom on the significance of recognizing and nurturing one's passion and purpose, emphasizing the vital intersection between personal fulfillment, proficiency, societal needs, and financial viability.
Listeners will gain profound insights into breaking detrimental habits and routines, as well as discovering the secrets behind sustained motivation and productivity in the ever-evolving landscape of remote work. Jonathan's tips on navigating complexities, both professional and personal, will undoubtedly inspire and guide you towards your own entrepreneurial success.
Tune in as Jonathan Domsky unravels the fundamental principles that drive success, offering practical tools to cut through the noise and carve a path towards a purposeful and prosperous entrepreneurial journey.
When you think of how to describe Jake Dunlap, the words "sales guru" come to mind, but after interviewing him, that term seems too nuanced. Over the years, Jake has achieved great success in many sales positions, from execution to leadership, but over time he began to realize that office politics had no interest in him. He loved sales, tactics, processes, and customers, but realized the best way forward was to start his own business.
That's why Jake founded Skaled in 2012, a sales consulting firm focused on developing repeatable and sustainable sales models and processes. To date, the company has outperformed its competitors in many industries, including some of the biggest brands everyone knows. Although many businesses faced many challenges in 2020, many of Scaled's customers were able to achieve significant revenue goals.
Join us on today's episode as we dive into the inspiring journey of our expert guest, Royal Marty. Discover how Royal's customer-centric approach breathed new life into a struggling, long-established business. Uncover the innovation behind the cutting-edge enzyme-based biochemical product, with applications ranging from road construction to soil conditioning.
Royal opens up about the valuable lessons learned during a transformative rebranding process and shares insights into agile adaptation in the face of change. Don't miss his simplified explanation of enzymes for non-scientific minds.
After navigating a rollercoaster year of rebranding, our guest found their stride with remarkable success at tradeshows. Learn how they adapted their strategy in response to unexpected challenges, delving into the world of impactful content creation, particularly through short, high-impact videos. Explore how these adjustments compressed their sales cycle and set the stage for a bright future.
Today's Ask an Expert guest, Kathleen Quinn Votaw, underwent a dramatic turn of events in a short span – from welcoming her baby boy to receiving a cancer diagnosis, all while navigating a tumultuous work environment in 2003.
Inspired by a casual burger and beer date night and her husband's encouraging words, Kathleen embarked on a journey to revolutionize the recruitment industry. Her primary focus has always been aligning an organization's culture with the talent they seek, sometimes helping them implement internal changes for success.
Kathleen discusses her early use of channel marketing for business growth and emphasizes the importance of providing value to your network. She shares her challenging but fulfilling experience writing "Solve the People Puzzle," comparing it to a labor of love and highlighting its impact on her brand and career.
Lastly, Kathleen sheds light on the current recruitment landscape, addressing challenges faced by both employers and employees in today's uncertain times.
In this enlightening episode, join us as Nate Brown, the Chief Experience Officer at Officium Labs, delves into the often underestimated realm of customer experience (CX). With a wrestling belt award adorning his office wall as a testament to his CX prowess, Nate brings a wealth of insights to the table.
Having honed his skills on the front lines and sought guidance from CX mentors, Nate has transformed into a sought-after thought leader. Tune in to discover how to assess your own customer experience, navigate the nuances between transactional and recurring business models, and effectively engage senior leadership (hint: leaders need not be at the forefront of support).
Nate's wisdom extends to marketing too – learn why aligning marketing messages with actual customer experiences trumps embellishment. And don't miss his poignant revelation about prioritizing employee experience over CX. A personal anecdote underscores the critical role of front-line employees in shaping exceptional customer interactions.
Join Nate as he unveils the layers of CX intricacies, redefining your understanding of this pivotal business facet. 🎧🚀
Accounting encompasses more than mere financial statements and tax preparation, as mentioned by today’s guest on Ask an Expert. Greg Crabtree serves as a partner at the accounting services firm Carr, Briggs and Ingram. He holds a reputation as an international speaker and acclaimed author, known for his work titled "Simple Numbers."
Greg's perspective centers on the idea that accounting can serve as a potent tool to aid owners and management in effectively operating businesses. It further facilitates enhancing profits and reinvestment in business operations.
From assessing labor efficiency ratios to evaluating capital profit reinvestment, there are uncomplicated yet profound ways to harness the potential of accounting for business management.
Greg has encapsulated these concepts and metrics in his publication, "Simple Numbers." He is also on the verge of unveiling his upcoming book, "Simple Numbers 2.0," delving into even more insightful methods to harness intelligent accounting techniques.
Finally, as many of you are aware, I am consistently intrigued by the strategies and content creation approaches of business owners. Regarding writing, Greg shares his approach of retreating for a weekend with a goal of producing 5,000 words, ensuring he remains on course. However, it's his philosophy of aspiring to change the world rather than focusing solely on marketing that has allowed him to achieve both objectives.
Allan Dib, author of the wildly popular book “The 1-Page Marketing Plan” comes on the show and shares a ton of useful information so get ready to take notes. Allan’s background is in technology, but he learned a valuable lesson early on that even if you’re the best in your industry if you’re not also very good at marketing you’re going to struggle.
“A dollar from your ideal customer is much more valuable than a dollar from just any random customer even though your bank manager will tell you they’re equal, they’re not equal it’s the principle of the unequal dollar”Allan Dib
Allan then dove head-first into marketing realizing that there had to be a better way, and the 1-Page Marketing Plan was born. Allan and his company at Success Wise have used this to help countless businesses simplify, and more importantly, get more out of their marketing.
Today he shares specific marketing strategies from strategic targeting, improving the customer experience, and then how you turn those happy customers into referral channels. He also shares the importance, and the technique, to developing a good team for your business. Finally, we talk about the importance of augmenting your marketing vs. strictly automating your marketing.
Sorry folks, but… “Nobody cares about your product but you,” states David Meerman Scott. David has been studying businesses across countless
David recently co-authored the best-selling book “Fanocracy” which details why, and how, you should focus on turning your customers into fans. Naturally, you need to have a good product or service, but if you can put the needs of your customers at the forefront, and then focus on developing an engaging experience you can start to create a tribal community. These customers will not only end up becoming stickier to your brand for the long haul, but they will also become your best source of new referrals.
Reiko Scott, David’s daughter, has earned a degree in neuroscience so there is tangible science that helps explains how exactly fanocracy works. David also highlights Pelaton and Haggerty Insurance as two brands that are excelling at creating tribal fans.
We also talk about the importance of passion in your business and how you express that to your customers and the marketplace. While leading a mastermind group at a Tony Robbins seminar, David was challenged by an attendee that said his profession as a dentist wasn’t that passionate. A couple of questions later David had tapped into the dentist’s personal passion of skateboarding and recommended he try to infuse that into his customer experience. It took a while to figure out how, but a couple of years later the dentist’s revenue is up 30% and his patients have become raving fans.
Finally, we talk about the science and power of proximity conversations and mirroring nuerons. These are the part of our brain that fire, when we see someone else doing something but our mind can visualize as if it’s us doing it.
Video is a medium that allows us to capitalize on both of these when we use a format just like this interview; casual conversations with faces close and centered on the camera. We’ve all experienced the power of this these past few months, but mostly with our colleagues and family/friends. David talks about how you can leveage this with your business to, and gives a visceral demonstration that highlights just how powerful it can be.
Accounting doesn’t have to suck, so Today’s Ask an Expert guest went out and improved it. Spencer Sheinin, Founder and CEO of Shift Financial, literally wrote the book on how to simplify your financials so you can turn accounting into a powerful business lever. We talk about his book, Entreprenumbers, and how his simplification strategy allows you to control and leverage your accounting, in fact, he gives you the 6 specific metrics you need to focus on.
We also talk about cash flow and how you can use it as fuel to grow your business. Finally, we also talk about the Pareto Principle, and how you can use this to identify your best clients, and then how you can go get more.
People don’t hate presentations, they hate crappy presentations according to Rich Mulholland. Rich founded Missing Link over 20 years ago focused on helping individuals and organizations to develop and then deliver presentations that aren’t just memorable, but ones that drive action.
Rich has spoken and given presentations all around the world and has helped elevate the audience experience for tens of thousands of people. Today he gives actionable insights from the 4 pillars of a successful presentation to the technology you should be using.
He also shares his own personal passion for board games and how he’s incorporated that passion into helping companies generate stronger engagement and bonds. Finally, we talk about a best-in-class example of a company that has literally jumped into the content generation space before it even knew what they were doing. They’re a great example of how focusing on how if you wait until everything is perfect then you’ll be waiting forever.
The biggest financial winners are those that can leave their emotion at the door and capitalize on becoming countercyclical says today’s Ask an Expert David Waddell. With over 900 clients nationwide, David’s wealth management firm Waddell & Associates take a holistic approach to growing wealth.
David talks about the distinction between asset management and wealth management, and why the latter is a better approach to financial growth. He also talks about what he’s seen from the market in the past few months, and more importantly what he sees in the future.
He also talks about how too many people focus solely on the P&L. While that’s important from day-to-day operations, he talks about how leveraging the balance sheet can have a tremendous impact on growing the business.
Joey Coleman is such a customer experience expert that even Zappos consults with him. While Joey has had a very interesting career, he’s spent the past 20 years analyzing and figuring out ways to improve the customer experience. In fact, he even wrote the book, “Never Lose a Customer Again” which emphasizes how important the first 100 days of the customer experience are.
Joey shares ways that you can accurately evaluate your own customer experience today, and moving forward. He then gives tools you can use to begin implementing change within your organization, and within your people.
Joey also shares his personal experience in how content creation has changed his own perspective, and how it’s changed his business. As an author, and as the host of the podcast, “Experience This”, Joey has invested a lot of time, but as he explains, the investments have helped produce long money.
For years Caryn Kopp, and her team at Kopp Consulting, have not only been helping businesses open desirable doors, but they’re able to develop compelling interest with those prospects.
Caryn learned early the value of hiring proven professionals vs. younger less expensive reps that she’d have to train up. Her secret sauce though was pairing the proven door openers with content and message writers. Add a sales process she continues to evolve to this day and Caryn’s team has opened just about every door imaginable.
In today’s Ask an Expert episode Caryn shares insights into what it takes to develop strong messaging, how you identify the right individual and subsequently get their information. She shares her thoughts on when you should give up on an ideal prospect (…….never), and then she shares her 3 P’s to overcoming objections.
**As more and more technology is being introduced into Real Estate, today’s Ask an Expert guest Sherry Chris wants real estate agent’s to focus on getting back to deeper and more human relationships.
Sherry is CEO of Better Homes & Garden Real Estate, and was the driving force to elevating the company to a nationally recognized brand.
In today’s episode, Sherry is going to share insights on several topics from current trends in real estate, how direct mail is still a powerful marketing channel, and why agents need to focus on personalizing the home buying experience in this era of social distancing.**
How to Reapproach Your Business Development by Bernie Brenner
TrueCar Cofounder, Bernie Brenner stops by our “Ask an Expert” and comes out of the gate helping to differentiate between business development and sales strategies. After years of successfully growing TrueCar, he reconciled all of his notes and realized he’d created a systematic approach to biz dev, which outlined in his book, The Sumo Advantage.
Bernie walks through the 4 pillars of business development that you need to be focused on when implementing your biz dev strategy. In case the title of his book didn’t give it away, utilizing a good BD strategy can have massive gains for your business.
As the current CEO of Rollick, a company that’s reimagining the powersports shopping experience, from manufacturer to retailers to consumers. He shares the specific approach he takes to evaluating the customer experience, and then how they get creative trying to make it better.
Too many self-help gurus out there tell you what you already know, today’s Ask an Expert guest actually gives you the tools to reach your full individual and business potential. Noah St. John is known as “The Power Habit Mentor” and has helped businesses add an additional $2.7 billion in revenue.
Back in 1997, Noah had an epiphany when he discovered that the traditional affirmation models we all have tried to help change our lives fell short, and so he made a subtle but powerful shift and created the Afformations model. Noah shares how much more powerful this can be and then shares how we struggle to make progress because of the “head trash” we all have inside our heads.
Noah also talks about the differences between individual and corporate habits, and how we can get them to align for a more productive corporate environment. Finally, we talk about how you can mentally mitigate the challenges that we’re all facing in these tough times.
While attending Yale University, Yong Zhao noticed that traditional Chinese restaurants were declining, but demand for authentic Chinese cooking was rising. He quickly started working on a fast-casual dining chain that could provide a balanced experience for Asian and non-Asian alike, but in a design that could scale up.
Shortly after, Junzi Kitchen was born. Already recognized as one of the best fast-casual dining experiences around, Yong is now set on reinventing the Chinese takeout experience, and in the process immediately addressing today’s need while also giving an exit strategy to restaurant owners that don’t have many succession options.
We cover many topics, but some favorites are around how thanks to his strong international connections he was able to begin planning for the lockdown well before that was even thought of as a reality in America. He also shares the success of how they’ve enhanced the customer experience through a highly interactive cooking show on Instagram that pairs chefs and home cooks together. They’ve also created a “Share a Meal” program that allows patrons to purchase meals for first responders at a reduced rate.
It’s 3:30 am and Kobe Bryant is rigorously practicing basic drills taught to middle schoolers. Today’s Ask an Expert, Alan Stein Jr., shares lessons this valuable lesson, along with others he’s learned after helping to train NBA greats like Kevin Durrant and Steph Curry for over a decade.
Now he’s helping organizations and individuals with proven strategies from leadership, organizational performance, and management. We cover a wide range of topics including the importance of following your passion, the power (and method) of storytelling to connect with your audience, and a great life hack to help you professionally and personally.
Today’s Ask an Expert, Adele Revella, is the Founder and CEO of the Buyer Persona Institute. They take a journalistic approach to interviewing recent & actual buyers that are in their client’s space revealing the real buying decisions, for individuals and committees.
Adele talks about changes to buying decisions in recent months, and she also shares a powerful insight about focusing on how you want to fill your day and how that should drive what you want to be. Finally, she shares “the worst year of my life” while she wrote a book and how valuable that book has been for her personally and professionally.
After successfully getting a business off the ground, today’s Ask an Expert started struggling in 2013. To help turn things around they started adopting the principles of Verne Harnish’s book, Scaling Up. Things turned around so quickly, and with such great results, he started a coaching business, Elevation, as a certified scaling up coach helping businesses quickly turn things around.
Shawn shares insightful and actionable tips from how to better evaluate your talent, what he sees as the biggest mistakes companies are making as they pivot right now and how keeping the focus on your customer and their experience can help solidify your brand for years to come.
70% of the 30 most transformative innovations have been created by employees within companies, not entrepreneurs. Today’s Ask an Expert guest Kaihan Krippendorf, Founder and CEO at Outthinker, explains how organizations should look for patterns from companies that are bucking the traditional status quo. He also talks about why it's just as important to market internally vs. externally and how important it is for organizations to not just think about the virtual marketplace, but why they shouldn’t view it from traditional viewpoints. Finally, Matt Damon’s name makes a cameo with a valuable lesson on creating large exposure.
Mark Sanborn has dedicated his life to developing leaders in business and life for over 30 years. He’s worked with over 2,600 companies across the globe from FedEx, HP, RE/MAX to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, and has authored 8 books having sold over 2 million copies worldwide.
Tim Wolfley has been in the digital marketing space for almost 15 years, and comes on to talk about some recent technology changes around geofencing. Historically, geofencing has been intriguing, but due to limitations to pinpoint targeting impressions and budget could be wasted. Tim shares how accurate the targeting has become allowing for some new strategies businesses can utilize:
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Conquesting: This allows you to target the shoppers of your ideal competitors. You can then deliver media that helps differentiate your business from the competitors.
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Affinity: This strategy allows you to target your ideal customers that are shopping in “like” businesses. Let’s say you’re a higher-end pet store, and you think your customers would also likely shop at Wholefoods. You can then filter on demographics to narrow down those shoppers, such as targeting only pet owners to find the perfect affinity match.
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Recapture: Just like how you can retarget website visitors, this strategy allows you to target people who have shopped at your storefront so you can encourage them to continually come back.
Tim also talks about the importance of testing into campaigns. He encourages companies to be very leary of those marketing “expert” that says they know exactly how to approach a campaign. The reality is that we don’t have unlimited budgets so testing allows you to incrementally build your campaign out.
Finally, we talk about the power of video, especially in the year of social distancing.
Some of my favorite business origin stories are from entrepreneurs who were having a problem and then figure out how to eliminate that problem. Today’s Ask an Expert, Greg Skloot, co-founded a company right out of college that developed an impressive software platform, but they struggled on the sales side because of challenges working with different personalities. To help overcome this they hired a business coach who seemed like a wizard with his ability to interact and engage with any kind of person. Turns out his wizardry was rooted in the DISC personality test that’s been around for over 100 years.
Greg and his co-founder, Drew D’Agostino, started experimenting with the concept of leveraging AI and publicly accessible information to see if they could replicate the wizardry of their coach. Very quickly they had formed their next venture Crystal Knows which has gone on to help sales and marketing professionals understand how they should approach potential clients before they’d even talked with them.
Greg explains the benefit of having a rich content strategy focused on how personality traits can help sales, hiring, marketing, and coaches become better at their job. Some of this content was manifested in their book, Predicting Personality, which Tony Robbins stated has “Insanely valuable advice for any business leader!”
Awareness, passion, and staying close to the problem allowed today’s Ask an Expert guest to successfully buck traditional start-up models. Shani Dowell, Founder and CEO of Possip, was talking to her husband about a gap in good communication between schools and parents. From a dining room table, a business was born and in just three years they’re now working with over 400 schools.
Shani talks about the slow-growing approach she took to get Possip off the ground from product development, investments, marketing, and her continued approach to scaling up.
After talking to many incredibly successful business people over the years one theme starting coming up over and over for today’s Ask an Expert guest Erik Qualman. Erik, author of the wildly successful book Socialnomics, shares that successful leaders said that the most important attribute of their success is focus, but that it’s also their most challenging aspect.
Erik realized that was something that he struggled with too, and so he went all-in on understanding how to improve it. Fast forward to today, and he’s just authored a new book titled “The Focus Project”. In today’s episode, he chronicles his own journey towards saying “No” more often so he can really focus on what’s most important. He also shares the value and power of storytelling and explains how you can monitor and improve your personal brand by understanding the difference between your digital footprint vs your digital shadow.
Having spent over 25 years helping organizations from Godiva, Oreo, and Kraft Foods shape stronger brand strategies, Rich Keller developed a personal branding program to help you personally and professionally. Rich’s program is predicated on in-depth personal evaluation through a series of questions, which reveal your one-word personal brand. This one-word brand will help you Stand-out, Conquer Obstacles, and Reach Excellence!
When heading into a negotiation it’s important to understand the differences between what you want to happen, and what you need to happen. Today’s Ask an Expert guest explains that it’s just as important that we understand that for the other party which requires you to be deliberate with your research while also making sure to ask open ended questions.
Mark Raffan is the founder of Negotiations Ninja, a firm that helps businesses develop stronger skills in this area, and he’s also the host of the #1 negotiating podcast by the same name. In this episode he gives insightful pointers on improving your approach, execution and most importantly, your success when negotiating.
We all have weaknesses, and like it or not it’s easy for most of us to see these weaknesses vs. our strengths, but today’s ask an expert has flipped the script by challenging people to change their perspective. David Rendall is a former professor, part-time comedian, and brilliant speaker talks about his philosophy of why “weird is wonderful and weakness is strength.” In this episode, David gives several examples of how what you perceive as a weakness in one scenario can be considered a strength in another one. On the surface, I know how it can seem counterintuitive, but let’s talk about dyslexia. A recent study showed that 50% of Britain’s billionaires are dyslexic, and 35% of US entrepreneurs are dyslexic, even though only 10% of both populations are dyslexic. It’s not that their brains are broken, it’s that their brains simply work differently. This theme of changing your perspective can have a profound impact on your organizations and you individually.
Your logo is not your brand, no matter how much you want it to be, nor how many thousands of dollars you spent creating it. Today’s Ask an Expert guest, Denise Lee Yohn is a branding expert who has worked with big brands from Frito Lays to Oakley.
Today we talk about her book Fusion, which outlines why where your brand and culture intersect matters. She outlines how you can audit your brand, and what you can do to bring your culture and your brand closer together. She also shares insights on how to navigate tough social issues organizationally. Finally, we talk about video, more specifically what you need to focus on before you actually start recording.
With manufacturing shortages and limited inventories coming up against increased consumer demand dealerships need to adapt quickly says today’s Ask an Expert Guest. Stephanie Reck, National Sales Director for CF Search Marketing, talks about how dealerships are getting creative with variable marketing, fixed strategies, and improving the customer experience in an era of social distancing.
We’ve all heard it’s the thought that counts, but that’s only true if it’s a thoughtful thought, says our Ask an Expert guest. John Ruhlin was a humble farm kid from Ohio who became the biggest Cutco distributor in the company’s history. Today he helps companies with his Giftology approach which focuses on cutting through the noise, strengthening relationships, and increasing referrals through thoughtful and meaningful gift-giving.
There is a paradigm shift when it comes to selling within the automotive industry towards servicing and not selling, shares our Ask an Expert guest. Jose Morales, CP of Corporate Relationships at Applied Concepts, shares how they are coaching and training dealerships to deal with a much more informed consumer. He also shares, automotive sales & marketing trends, and clever ways dealerships are leveraging video today.
There are headhunters everywhere, but Pronexia Co-Founder Marina Byezhanova shares their unique human-to-human approach that produces better A-list matches. In this Ask an Expert interview Marina shares one of the best hiring practices to ensure you get the talent you want. She also discusses the importance of a personal brand and how she personally outperformed a professional PR firm by strategically growing her social media content reach.
85% of the most meaningful interactions between you and your child happen before the end of their 18th Summer. Jim Sheils, a successful real estate entrepreneur, started looking for ways to maximize his relationship with his kids more during this period. As these ideas and techniques came together, he soon founded 18 Summers, which has helped improve the relationship of thousands of individuals and families across the country.
Imagine joining 1-800-GOT-JUNK as employee #15 and scaling it up to over 3,100. Our Ask an Expert guest today Cameron Herold, Founder of the COO Alliance, talks about how COOs and CEOs should have a dynamic yin/yang relationship. Effectively filling in the deficiencies of the CEO, no matter what those are, to provide a better framework for companies to follow their vision and mission more efficiently.
Sasha Strauss shares his insights on several topics from brand strategies, meaningful customer communication through storytelling, corporate responsibility, the value of being empathetic, and how valuable video can be moving forward for companies. Sasha is a USC professor and the Founder and Managing Partner at Innovation Protocol, a branding and strategy firm working with companies from Google, Paypal, Nestle, and more. He’s also an incredibly genuine and insightful speaker, having spoken at hundreds of events worldwide.
Meals on Wheels Diablo Region has seen a 40% increase but has faced difficult challenges serving a senior community that is especially at risk for COVID-19. Caitlin Sly, newly named Executive Director, has talked about how they’ve strategically and operationally pivoted through these challenging times.
Geoff Smart, Chairman and Founder of ghSMART, a Leadership Advisory Firm that was just voted #1 firm to work for by Vault shares key leadership and hiring strategies. These ideas come from his book Who, which is the global top-selling book on hiring talented teams.
Why should you pay for marketing that’s 50/50 win or lose when you can be focused on performance-based marketing? Robert Glazer, the founder of Acceleration Partners, talks about how they help businesses build and scale performance-based marketing platforms. The backbone of his organization though is an award-winning culture that has helped them quickly become one of the biggest performance-based companies in the country.
“Successful people don’t get everything done, they get the most important things don’t” states today’s Ask an Expert guest, Christo Popov. Christo is the Founder and CEO of Fast Track, an organization that has studied hundreds of companies around the world in an effort to show companies the beauty and simplicity of the 80/20 rule. He outlines how successful businesses approach this, gives a brilliant strategy of how companies should be pivoting right now and talks about the importance of mind and body wellness.
Rick Gilbert, the founder of a popular lifestyle apparel company in Portland, Oregon, called Grafletics, shares clever ways he’s adapted his retail and eCommerce business during the pandemic. Even though revenues are off 50% they’re actually looking to invest in a larger retail location.
Bill Lyons, Founder and CEO of Griffin Funding, a mortgage company that has excelled by staying focused on a niche market, Veteran Funding, which earned them the fastest-growing company in San Diego. He shares insights on how you hire for culture, talks about market trends, and has actionable business insights.
Nick Middleton runs an agency that develops marketing campaigns for summer camps, a sector that has been hit especially hard these past few months. He shares several different ways that camps are getting creative and innovative to pivot in the face of cancelations or changing restrictions. He also shares interesting marketing opportunities including Facebook eCommerce platforms and FREE AdWord funds for non-profit organizations.
Looking at an educational system that has missing teachers, and even textbooks, today’s Ask an Expert guest developed a virtual learning platform over 10 years ago to help give education to kids in need. Evan Erdberg is the President and Founder of Proximity Learning and has created a video-based educational platform that pairs remote teachers to students and classrooms in need across the country.
Barrett Ersek, Founder and CEO at Holganix started his first multi-million dollar business at age 16 thanks in large part to his grandfather who had him do book reports on sales and business books. Two successful exits later he’s on his third business where he’s revolutionizing the lawncare, and all things that grow from the soil, with a positive benefit on our environment.
Rohit Talwar, Founder and CEO of Fast Future, talks about how we’re in a one-time opportunity to rehearse how we want our future to be. He also says that now is a time to get back to basics, to start really actively listening, to focus on training and learning, and surround yourself with people who will encourage and challenge you and your ideas.
Samuel Monnie is an acclaimed speaker, author, and consultant focused on Marketing Transformation, and also co-hosts the “Across the Pond: Marketing Transformed” podcast. Today he talks about business responsibilities in the current societal climate focused on racial inequalities. He highlights some companies that have historically been focused on equality, talks about how customers are demanding change from their brands, and explains the importance of being proactive vs. reactive.
After navigating the last recession, today’s Ask an Expert guest Richard Davis, President of a full-service agency, concentrated his efforts on developing a crowdsourcing platform to connect talented writers across the world with companies in need of a slogan. Richard also explains why businesses need to make sure they continue to be aggressive with their marketing, and which channel they should look at right now.
Howard Behar, former President and Boardmember of Starbucks, joined the company when there were just 28 stores, and by the time retired there were over 15,000. Howard shares the most important thing for their quick growth. Quick hint, it’s not about the coffee (which just happens to be the title of a popular book he wrote, and it’s something that you should be focused on with your business today.
Dave Kurlan, who started out as a musician, realized at an early age his real talents were in sales and has been running a sales training firm working with SMB’s to Fortune 500 companies. In this Ask an Expert segment Dave shares cold calling strategies, sales hiring tips (hint: don’t trust your gut), pivot strategies, and how to leverage video for selling in today and future environments.
John DiJulius is considered the preeminent customer service experience leader by big brands from all over the world from The Ritz Carlton, Lexus, Starbucks, Progressive Insurance, and more. In this Ask an Expert interview John explains how by focusing on three things—Culture, Customer Experience, and Accountability—you can create a world-class customer experience.
Jack Daly, and sales and motivational speaker, shares key mindset approaches to achieving success. He’s built several successful businesses, and equally, if not more incredible, has done over 95 marathons and 15 ironmans — all after the age of 46.
Summer Erickson has worked with some of the biggest brands from Visa, Shutterfly, and Gap, and has created a consulting firm to help businesses accelerate performance through customer acquisition, retention, and loyalty. She shares insights on why your why matters, how you should look to pivot, and how you should engage your customers in today’s environment.
Heather Anderson, former executive editor at Credit Union Times and founder to The Oasis Group, shares how credit unions are uniquely positioned compared to regional banks during this economic crisis. She also details what they need to be keenly focused on right now.
Within a two-month period Jessica Jones, onboarded at infoUSA as VP of Talent, got promoted to GM and had to adapt to a global pandemic. She shares how one of the biggest takeaways is focusing on employee mental health.
Nick Lateur, National Sales Manager for IMAGEN Brands, shares the attention-getting series he’s developed, and the approaches he’s taken to becoming a social media guru… so much that he’s been promoted to IMAGEN’s social media director.