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What is Book Yourself Solid?

Please help me give a warm welcome to michael port what great intro my friend great intro I just flew in did you see so I'm a little uh a little winded anyhow uh who's nervous come on you can admit it a little nervous me too there's the first time I've done something like this they're really scary did you see very serious and so it's perfectly normal and I think it's really important if we want to do big things in the world to get comfortable with discomfort because entrepreneurship is often very uncomfortable you're giggling because you know it's true right? Anybody else with me say yes if you are yeah of course so responsibility is a big part of being an entrepreneur and so we have a lot of responsibility here in this room today I have responsibility to serve you I have responsibility to serve the folks that creative live who have been extraordinary by the way their professionalism uh they're production skills top of the charts often charts in fact so this has been really easy for me...

. I've just been able to fly in a cz you see on dh show up here with you guys you guys have a lot of responsibility as well you're responsible first and foremost to your goals to your needs what you need to do to book yourself self secondly, you're responsible to the folks at home hi guys you're there, you know, mouth, you're their ears, you're there their mouthpiece and the needs that you have are the needs that they have so you cannot hold back at all. There's, no dumb question, there's, no question that michel will say, watch as that of stupid who never do that you might have a question that you think it's so small, so insignificant, that nobody else is going to be interested in it. The fact of the matter is that's probably the most important question to ask, because if you have it, it means other people have it. And not only are you helping yourself, because you need to have that question answered, but you're also standing in their service for the people in this room for the people at home. Now, for those of you at home, you might be a little less nervous than the people in the room because you're sitting behind your computer, which is great. But might I suggest maybe a little request just for me to try to turn off the other influences around you? So maybe turn off your email, close the door, maybe even turn off the phone so that you can focus here because another absolutely and important I take critical component of being successful entrepreneur is being able to focus to say I'm doing this at this moment and I'm going to do it extraordinarily well and that's very, very important this at this moment this is my focus, nothing else, and sometimes we focus on the wrong things, right? You're smiling because you know what I'm talking about. So the one of the questions we often asked what's the right thing, what should I be focusing on? So we are going to make sure you are all focusing on the right things, okay? You with me say yes if you are you guys with me. All right? So book yourself solid started in two thousand and six with this hard cover book and you know, it's actually when I look at it now, it looks old, I don't know why it looks dated to me, although I don't remember maybe two thousand seven or eight paperback edition came out didn't really read the very first edition in hardback yeah, fantastic, I heard you're a stalker bythe okay, so then in two thousand ten no, then after that I wrote beyond booked solid, so because this is going to get your books out, you could have a big problem, the problem is you'll be absolutely, completely booked up, you'll have no time for anything else and you'll be running around like a chicken with your head cut off and we don't want that so then I wrote beyond books out so how do you build a more scalable more leverage a ble much more profitable business your way without working that much and then I did a second edition in two thousand ten this looks a little bit more up to date I don't know why it does to me but it does and we did it in paperback um and then just this last april book yourself solid illustrated came out did you see it if you have you have it you like it the winner right because what I realized is not everybody loves to read you know I mean it's not exactly the great american novel right where those of us who write business books were trying to give you the information you need with some inspiration at the same time but you probably wouldn't read these books unless you needed to get books off I mean this is not the great gatsby so if not everybody loves to read why should be forcing them to have to read ninety thousand words so I hooked up with an illustrated in jocelyn wallace who will be here on wednesday actually illustrating what we're working on which is really, really excited on dh I cut about two thirds of the text and replace it with jocelyn's illustrations so that you cannot see the concepts and the exercises that will be working on from the ap our exercises directly from the book and you'll see they are also illustrated as well sound good say yes it does sound good at home where's my camera good at home say yes if it does I know that's weird you're by yourself but just say yes thankyou good they are okay good so let me give you in this first session this morning an overview of what we're going to do over the next three days so I'm going to take you through the whole book yourself solid system because it's essential we understand the context a lot of marketing education is very tactical in nature so they say we'll do this do this do this do this and that's good and often very effective those tactics often work but many of us don't love marketing and selling raise your hand if you just absolutely love it like all you want to do all day long is marketing itself beside you see I knew he was right he's got a natural flair for it I can tell but that's just one person so not everybody loves to do it why should you have to? You really are not obligated to love marketing and selling I hope to maybe get you to like it if not fall in love with maybe you'll even have a mad, passionate love affair with marketing and selling by the time I'm done with you because book yourself solid is a love story disguised as a marketing system it's true it's a love story between you and all of the inspiring clients that you serve and a love story between you and maybe the idea of marketing and selling but most importantly it's a love story between you and yourself not a weird way but it's a mad passionate love affair with the work that you do and that's why you went into business in the first place isn't it you don't go into this business for pain and suffering and heartache did you know of course you didn't you went into this for fun for enjoyment for play maybe some money too especially you so keep remembering as we're working through that everything that I'm teaching you from a tactical and from a strategic strategic perspective fits into a bigger picture keep going back to the context that's what's important and that's what I want to take this first session this morning and walk you through how the whole book yourself solid system works so that you can see that everything that I'm going to be teaching over the next three days fits into very specific places so you will understand why you are doing the things you're doing you understand why you need to do some of the things that I'm going to teach you especially for those of you at home who may be tuning in and then tuning out tuning in and tuning out. You got to do your best to keep focusing on the context so remember what I'm going to teach you this morning keep coming back to it even if you're tuned in and tune out hope you don't hope you're able to stay here throughout the entire process, but I know you've got other things going on, so then when you go back and if you do decide to purchase all of the video recordings, then you'll know exactly what we're working on, why we're working on it and how it fits into the overall structure. You guys with me say yes if you are take a deep breath really gotta breathe I'm serious because life is a beautiful thing but sometimes a scared and I'm going to keep reminding you that it's okay to be afraid, kate, be nervous when you're sitting up here with me you know you're front of the tens of thousands of people that are out there watching I'm sitting and looking you or them going like this I'm giving you the eyebrow trying to get you to do the thing you know you need to do for yourself it might be uncomfortable so I need to know that I have permission to be direct with you do I? Will you give me permission? Ok, I will do it with this much grace on respect as I possibly can respect is an absolute the grace I will do as you know my best at but anything that I'm working with you on any suggestions that I have for you are on ly to serve you. My agenda is to serve you that's it so if you tell me you want to achieve something and I see that there is something getting in your way, I'm going to share that with you. Is that okay? Good. Thank you. Alright, you already you sure you're ready? All right, so I think I've got enough room here, so book yourself solid is based on philosophical principles and very practical principles because I think we need philosophy. We need a way of seeing the world that supports the actions we take often, a coach will say will change what you're doing, change what you're doing, change what you're doing, but if you don't change the way you see the world, it's hard to support those actions so you may leave here seeing the world in a different way. These small shifts that we make may allow you to create a whole new worlds for yourself. So we need to have a way of seeing the world of philosophy that the actions we take our based on are supported by so from a philosophical perspective. I believe there are certain people you're meant to serve and others not so much, and our job is to do everything in our power to find the people were meant to serve everything in our power to find the people were meant to serve, and the people were not meant to serve. We do everything in our power to push them away, it's hard as we possibly can. So I want to tell you a little story that will support this whole concept, and I think you'll like it, okay? There's a picture of of a donkey up there, you see is a docking upon the wall um and it's a illustrate this story it's an aesop's fable. Actually, I've embellished it a little bit, I think, but it originally was an aesop's fable there's an old man and a little boy in the dock and they want to go to town now. This town, this is their goal. Imagine it's this's, they're booked solid this's what they've always wanted to go. They've never left this little village that they live in and off they go and they start with the old man on the donkey, so they're riding along old man little boys walking next to the donkey, now they passed some people who shamed this old man and said, old man that's inappropriate teo be on on the dock you make that little boy walk that's terrible should be ashamed of yourself and the old man goes oh my god they're right so they confirmed they discussed what should we do? They have the brilliant idea to switch so now the little boy gets on the dock e and the old man walks next to the dog great idea right? It makes perfect sense they did the opposite of what everybody told him to do now they passed the more people who shamed the little boy is that a little boy? How could you make an old man walked like that that's terrible and the little boy felt terrible as a result they confirmed they talked again they came up with another brilliant idea they said let's both ride the donkey it's a perfectly sensible thing to do and they do but now they pass the people who shamed them and said that is inhumane how could you put such a load on the donkey it's terrible and they went, oh my god we really are terrible people watching we do we'll both walk next to the donkey it solves the problem perfect so they do and off they go and now they masked people who laughed at them look at those idiots they were perfectly good donkey and they're walking next to the doggy what is wrong with them and they said we are idiot we need to do something else what should we do? Ah yes great idea we will carry the donkey I mean, that makes perfect sense right? So they do they pick up the donkey they carry the docking now they're about to get to their town this is where they want to go this is their version of being booked solid but they have to cross a bridge to get to this town and under the bridge is a river and as they're crossing this bridge the donkey slips out of their hands, falls into the river and drowns and the moral of the story is if you try to please everyone you might as well kiss your ass goodbye because the best kind of marketing to me is full self expression you show up in the world the way you feel comfortable, fully self expressed and you connected the people you're meant to serve and then you push away the people you're not meant to serve and that's what you're trying to do so you show up fully self expressed and you've got to remember keep in mind you try to please everyone you might as well kiss your ass goodbye so that is one of our philosophical principles and of course, as I said before, this whole idea that it's a love story disguised as a business book as a business system is a marketing system that we're trying to have a love affair between us and our clients, between us and the whole concept of building and marketing the business and of course, between ourselves and ourselves, I'm not sure that makes any sense dramatically, but you know what I'm talking about so that's, what a philosophical perspective. Now, from a practical perspective, this may surprise you marketing doesn't really get you clients, huh? Antonio, when you see him doing a journey, turning a little c what do you mean a marketing? I thought this guy teaches working to get booked solid. I'm confused well think about marketing just creates awareness doesn't actually book you business that's all it does, it creates awareness. The mistake that I think a lot of people make is that they do the marketing, thinking that's what's going to get them the business, they don't get the business from it because all they're doing are the tactical aspects of the marketing and they go this stupid this sucks! I hate this marketing do you see? I'm justified for saying I hate it for saying I don't want to do it, I'm not doing it and they take their ball and I go home and they sit down and then what happened six months later, they're business it's gone, so we just gotta keep in mind from a practical perspective that marketing doesn't book us the business what does book us the business is what we do once somebody becomes aware of us that's the key and so over the next three days I'm going to take you step bye step by step in acting this is called indicating step by step I'm gonna walk you through the whole process of what happens what you need to do one somebody becomes aware of you so often marketing books are just about the tactics but in book yourself solid the fourth module and there are four modules and book yourself solid we'll be working through all four of them the fourth module will be working on on her final day those are the six core self promotion strategies how many I need you to remember that because if I forget I'll ask you how many are there okay? They're sixteen but here's the thing they're not um then on anything you haven't heard before number one networking you've heard of that say yes if you could talk back to me yes number two direct outreach meeting reaching out to people that you do not yet know but would like to know if you heard that of course you have referrals heard of that one? Yeah how'bout speaking strategies heard that one yeah. How about writing strategies her that one? Yeah how'bout web strategies yeah, of course you have so absolutely I have very specific ways of looking at those strategy's those tactics and those I'm going to teach you but they are the fourth module and book yourself solid because we shouldn't focus on those first because what happens then we go great, I'm going to go do some speaking, I'm going to do some social media stuff you're creating this awareness but nobody knows what to do with you once they become aware and more importantly, you don't know what to do with them once they become aware of you. So the first module of book yourself salad is your foundation we need to build a solid foundation rock solid foundation on which you can stand but more importantly a solid foundation that potential clients will want to step onto and they'll feel comfortable feel secure because if this foundation is weak or shaking, they're going to go not so comfortable here and they're going to get off it and they're gonna go somewhere else but you want to make sure this foundation is built in such a way that they go ah, this was built for me. I know this provider built this foundation for me and the people who are not supposed to be there that your mock men to work with you have this little button that you press and there's a little springboard you know, like in james bond cargos and they just fly right off that platform they're not meant to be there but for everybody else it's solid that's the first module in book yourself south and therefore building blocks that were going to work through how many for now the second module and book yourself solid is building trust and credibility you put together a plan for building trust and credibility and there are how many building blocks guess yes you got it genius for therefore I do this just so it's easy to remember right when you create intellectual property you want to make sure that the way you're creating it is easy to consume and then once it's consumed easy to remember we'll work on that gun day two we work on information products okay, so you have your foundation then you learn how to build trust and credibility and then the third module and book yourself salad is focused on perfect pricing and super simple selling and those of the four modules you have the fourth module and think about this watch this process how this works you create some awareness using just a few of the six core self promotion strategy is not all of them just a few of them somebody becomes aware of you and they come and check out your foundation which is over here and they go oh I feel good here feels like a place I should be is that enough for them to hire you? No but they may give you an opportunity to earn their trust so they give you their hand, you'll take that and you will move them through your plan for building trust and credibility. Now as you're moving them through this plan for building trust and credibility excuse me you make sales offers that are proportionate to the amount of trust that you've earned. I'll say it again because it's essential you make sales offers that are proportionate to the amount of trust that you've earned now as you're moving them through this process if what you're offering them is relevant and they have a compelling need for it at that moment because people don't buy when we want them to buy, they buy when they need to buy if they are compelled in that moment to raise their hand and say, hey, I'm interested in that well, that's when your perfect pricing and your ability to have a super simple sales conversation books you the business now we'll book of business every time. But if that person is somebody who are meant to serve, not kind of sort of supposed to because they're on your target market but meant to then you're having the sales conversation at the right time and because you're having a sales conversation at the right time, you book the business and watch how the process repeats itself again and again and again and again you use a few of the self promotion strategies, how many you use a few of the six right? A few of the six core self promotion strategy is not all of them because it's too much you can't do all of that it's ridiculous to think that you could do all marketing strategies ever invented for service professionals too much so you just use a few of them you create awareness somebody becomes aware of you they come check out your foundation they go oh gosh this's so solid this makes sense to me I get it this was built for me and they give you an opportunity to earn their trust and now you go about earning their trust over time because trust is not necessarily built in an instant trust is built over time but you make sales offers that are proportionate to the amount of trust that you've earned over time if you weak sales offers that air proportion to the trust that you've earned over time and you know howto have simple sales conversations and your pricing is right in the sweet spot of that buyer's perspective then you'll book the business if you are meant to serve them and you're not going to meant to serve everybody but again look how it worse it's a repetitive process so over time you actually do less marketing then you might do in the early stages because the aggregate of the marketing you've done these six core self promotion strategies the aggregate of that marketing is out in the world. And the more clients you have, the more their marketing for you. Right? So you use a few of these? This is what? Each day you just use a few of these, right? That's hit maybe thirty minutes a day, maybe an hour a day. Most that's it just a few of them people go check them out. We'll see what's up with them. Come check it out. This looks like a good place. I like it. I like it. Remember that trey's I like it and I like them. We're gonna work on that tomorrow. I believe your likability factor is an absolute essential component of getting booked solid. So here they like it. They go, oh, I get it. I'm going to give them an opportunity to earn my trust. You go about earning their trust overtime, you make sales offers that are proportionate to the amount of trust that you've earned your offer's a price perfectly. You have the simple sales conversations and you will often book the business. And I would say probably seven or eight times out of ten when you used the book yourself solid sales conversation because not because the book yourself, solid sales competition is so brilliant or something, but it's the right time you're having it at the right time and that's the key component so I'm going through this a few times you see trying to give you this context this frame that you can put all of the work you do in repetition is very important in learning right we need to see it see it again see it again then seed from another perspective and then another perspective and then we start to get it and then six months later you see from another perspective we go now I get it so we gotta look at it from his many different angles as we possibly can in the way that I teach I'm going to try to give you lots of different angles lots of different ways to look at it so you based on the way you see the world can start to get into it and start to engage with because each one of you is unique each one of you is different we have all some core needs that are similar but the way that you learn might be a little different the way that you learn where you are in your business right now may be a little different than where you are in your business so if you feel like somebody else is getting in or everybody else is getting it and you're not getting it there's nothing wrong with you you just haven't seen made that shift yet or maybe I haven't given you the perspective that you need but I'm going to try to do everything in my power to do that so let's look at some of the components the building blocks of the book yourself salad system okay uh gonna go over here now I work out when you're doing this the internet just loves your enthusiasm so they're right here with you right now there you are you rock high five give me a virtual have cool be great if we get a sound effect it's like every time I go like this it goes like you do the sound effect ready they're going out okay so for your foundation there are four building blocks how many? How many you sure okay the four building blocks the first is your red velvet road policy that's we're going to do in our next session the red villa row policy the second is understanding why people buy what you're selling we'll do that after the third is developing a personal brand identity so you decide how you're known in the world you know what other people do it for you you decide and then fourth be able to talk about what you do without sounding confusing or bland were like everybody else but without ever using an elevator speech what did you just say that sacrilege elevator speech everybody teaches the elevator speech but no I'm on a mission to kill the elevators see I I could either be like a serial killer my face or like a really funny goofy guy there's no in between right it's kind of true not before I shave my head but when I started shaving my head but it works as a coach I can be really scary or quite funny and weirdly goofy so you'll see why in a little bit I'm kind of trying to push everybody away from this whole idea of the elevator pitch I don't want you pitching yourself okay? So let's start with the red velvet rope policy the reds overrode policy is a filtration system that allows in only the most ideal clients clients that energize you and inspire you but most importantly allow you to do your best work because what happens out in the world when you're doing your best work? Two things number one people are talking about your best work that's the best marketing in the world and number two you love every minute of the work you d'oh which compels you to do more of it. And if you want to do more of it, guess what you might start to fall in love with say it with me what marketing you see now this very confronting concept to people because it sounds like I'm saying that you should say no to certain clients like no, I don't want your money and I'm absolutely saying that it's one hundred percent what I'm saying no question about it there are certain people you're meant to serve and others that you're not and our job is to work hard to find the people were meant to serve push away the people were not meant to serve do you hang out with people that you don't connect with that you don't like? You don't associate values you don't share their world view was so different than yours that makes you uncomfortable you'll like them I mean that's what? I want to go there but you know what I'm saying, right? No, of course not you're not going to marry somebody that you just don't connect with. Well, you may, but then that's a whole other story eyes that right? Yeah, so that happened sometimes, but at least in the beginning you thought they were ideal and when we work into in our next session, the ideal client profile so you created for yourself, you'll see that sometimes people can start out ideal and then eventually move away and become less than ideal for a whole host of reasons, and I'll explain why later. But initially we want to make sure the very first step in our process is creating this ideal client profile so we don't end up working with dud clients people that drain our energy you guys feel like our work isn't worthwhile or maybe even want to make us do bodily harm to someone despite your loving nature, you don't want to be in that place because most client and provider relationships that start out less than ideal and in conflict you ever had one of those situations so I guess if you have of course we all have but that could have been avoided if you just said no in the first place so we stopped working with anybody you know uh and everybody right we stop saying you got a pulse to get a cheque book I'm yours we get rid of that mentality and we start to select the people we work with changes the way people see you as well. So that's where we start that's the first building block we're going to do that after this session after our break in the second building block is understanding why people buy what you're selling and there are four components for a very good number therefore components if I didn't use a force that I couldn't come up with four there are four components to understanding why people buy yourself you've gotta walk through these four pieces first you start with a target market absolutely essential then if you have a target market then you know what they need in what they desire if you know what they need and desire then you can offer them a big result one big result that you can hang your hat on and if you have that big result then you know what the deep rooted benefits are from a financial perspective from an emotional perspective from a physical perspective and front even call me crazy a spiritually perspective spiritually perspective spiritual perspective these we remember with the acronym phipps gps financial emotional, physical spiritually but there are three reasons we need to target market how many? Three number one because then when we showed we know where to go do our marketing that's number one you know ever seen people put like a little card on the bulletin board at thea dry cleaners because they have no idea where to do their marketing I mean how many of you have hired a financial planner whose card was on the bulletin board at the dry cleaners yeah none of you so we need to know where to do our marketing and if we have a target market we know where they hang out now if we know where they hang out then number two second reason we need to target market you so that when we show up there they know we are dedicated to them because who do they want to hire? They want to hire the person that works with anybody there's an impulse in a checkbook or the person who is dedicated to that okay now number three if you know where to find them number one if you then show up and they know you're dedicated to them number two number three they already have established networks of communication they're already talking to other people that can hire you so that's how they spread the message is for you and most people who think they have a target market I don't really have a target market you have a target market but often were still too broad so that's the first component making sure that we have a target market then of course, if we have this very specific, very specific client in mind well then we know what they need, what they want and it's easier to speak to them about those needs and desires and if we have one big result that we can hang our hat on, we get known for that result people say you want this result you go to mat, you want that result, you go to susan you want that result you katrina and of course if you have this big result which is not really what they want, by the way it's what they think they want it's what they're going in search of what they wanted, the benefits that they get as a result of the result financial return on investment, emotional return on investment, physical return on investment and of course a spiritual return on investment and spirit is one of those things that everybody you know defines differently for themselves. For me, I just say a connection to purpose why they're doing the work that they do, why they're engaging in running the way that they are, why they want this photographer to do this project with them etcetera? So you see that very first building block is the red velvet rope policy. The second building block is understanding why people by what we're selling now there's an important um context to get the red velvet rope policy that brings an ideal clients that ideal client those clients are a small subset of your target market. The target market may have ten thousand people in it maybe more, maybe less but the people that are ideal for you just a small subset of that group and the result that you bring to them that's your niche that's your specialty I make a distinction between target market and niche. Most people conflate them. But if you make a distinction you can say I helped these people do this because let's say, um you know, people somebody works with let's say you're in marketing right? And you work with photographers. Okay, well, one expert might help them with search engine optimization that's their niece that's their specialty. Another might help them with branding that's their news that's their specialty so you want to develop a very specific specialty that brings a specific results using a specific protocol a methodology to help a very specific group of people also, the more specific you are with respect to the result you bring and the methodology you you used to bring it, the easier it is teo developer referral relationships with other people that served the same target market because they don't see you as competition in the same way they say that's, her area of specialty that's the result, she provides it's different than mine. I'm going to hook up with her. We're going to some referral stuff. People are very attracted to those who make strong choices, even if it's not a choice, that I would make your choice or your choice wouldn't be. My choice will be a choice that you'd make you still generally say that somebody with some strength with some gravitas who makes choices, you know? No, like I don't really know who my target market, isn't it? It's not really important. I'm just going to kind of figure it out sometime down the road. It's very important. Okay, so here you see, we have this red velvet rope policy we choose the people were meant to serve. We understand why people buy. We're selling because we've got a target market. We know what they need, what they desire the result. Is super clear to them and they go if I do that with them, I'll get that result and guess what I get that physics financial benefit, I'll get that emotional benefit, I'll get that physical benefit and I'll get that spiritually benefit now those were the first to building blocks of the foundation. Do you see how much important work has done just in those to building blocks before you ever start to go and do any marketing? Right? So now we go to our third building block, which is my favorite developing a personal brand identity. So you decide how you're known in the world think about the way you get to choose this is your life we're talking about here you are the one in control you're no longer sort of on your knees just going, please pick me please say something nice about me you decide you're in control and there are three components to personal brand identity it's very, very straightforward. Now we're talking about personal brand identity, not necessarily just the business brand identity and I'll when I teach this later on today, I will make this distinction very, very clear for you, but let's start with our personal brand identity, which has these three components the first is your hoo and do what statement, who you serve and what you helped them tio because the first thing everybody wants to know when they come check you out they go she help me get what I want does he help me get what I want that's the first thing now the answer is no they go somewhere else great if the answer is yes is that enough for them to hire you once in a while? Maybe somebody's I'm so sick I've looked a million places I'll just hire this dude but for the most part no it's not enough they want to know why you do it they want to know why you get up every day to do this work because you are standing in the service of others as you stand in the service of your own destiny of course but you are a service professional service is the operative word if you are service professional and you do not want to be in service of others for example if you are somebody who says I love my work except for the clients then you should not be in this business at home if you on a regular basis say I love my work except for the clients you have two choices either one get out of the business or to develop a red velvet rope policy so you work with people that you do love working with that are ideal for you because this is a service based business so they might not intellectually say why does he do that but that's what they're looking for when they're reading your marketing materials when they're looking at your videos on the reading testimonials will I make a worldview connection with this person a philosophical connection with this person an emotional connection with this person that's why we all need a why I do it statement that's the second component to your personal brand identity if the first component is your who into what statement who do I serve and what do I help them d'oh the second is why I do it statement why I get up every day to do this work and the third component and it's not even the most important although this is what everybody wants to do first cause they think it's sexy is the tagline which is based on your why you do it statement when we work on this many people will feel very confronted because this is about full self expression not looking for approval on ly results and the opportunity for full self expression because full self expression is what makes you feel confident it is the opposite of looking for approval if you're fully self expressed you're not looking for approval you're simply expressing the way you see the world and that feels great so that third component is exciting to create that tad line but it's less important than at least being clear on what you stand for why you get up every day to do this work that's the second component I will work on that today as well but you see we've done a red velvet rope policy then we look at why people buy what they're selling and then we look at the personal brand identity and we're still on ly have three building blocks of the foundation this is where such critical work happens but if we do those three things then we can talk about what we do which is the fourth building block any which way till sunday without ever using an elevator speech because here's the thing guys the elevator pitch I think was misappropriated from the world of venture capital the world of invention where if you're in an elevator and you've got this idea for some product software thing or you wanna make a little bobble head that goes on the car and goes like this you know when you're in an elevator and you happen to see this big wig from silicon valley you might have five floors to pitch this idea and you say dude they always say dude dude I've got this idea here's what it's going to do baba baba blonde they go that's interesting you can call my office in fifteen minutes and then you go there you got fifteen minutes and then if they like it they say you can make another meeting for forty five minutes come back and central and the process goes like that, but it's not generally, how a relationship builds between you and a client that you will serve it's a different type of dynamic. So I will show you how to talk about what you do without sounding confusing or bland or like everybody else. And without using that elevator speaks, does that sound good to you like that? I'm asking quick question this as little pole? No, I don't know if I can do a poll to the audience. Is there a way to do that? But what I'd like to know is how many of them just absolutely just love love just love listening to other people give their elevator pitch that's what I'd like to know can you have the answer? That question for us? Yeah. And how about you guys raise your hand if you just like, absolutely love it all you want to do all day long is listen to other people's elevator pitch is raise your hand okay, you got them on their nobody is raising their hand. Okay, how many of you guys just absolutely love? Just love giving your elevator speech that's a big doughnut as well don't zero zero okay so what do they say long michael porter I like saying you're both names at the same time michael port if you saw a kid uh my screen right now people are like not mean never no way get out of my face I mean there is like a repeat you did not like the elevators slight delay there but we'll get it by the end of the day we're gonna be perfect okay there's there's some great comet's going in though that even worse than listening is giving your own on much more anxiety provoking isn't exactly exactly any other comments wanna share in there they're coming in I'm just thinking about working entrepreneurial world how much pressure people eyes put on people to give the elevator speech when you're thinking about these entrepreneur things become picture event a big group of people you have thirty seconds to tell us what you do and how much pressure it is too sum up something in a short amount of time right? The posture guy says I used to go to the chamber of commerce bag meeting and they would spend so much time drilling the elevator speech and I hated it yeah so I apologise to anybody that teaches the elevator speech I'm not saying there's anything wrong with you or the work you do I'm just saying there may be another way but it is important at this stage of the game for me to mention that I don't think there's anyone way I think there are many different pads for you in all of the things you do in life but especially in marketing business development that's why I think it's important that we remember there's certain people you're meant to serve another is that you're not and our job is to bring fully self expressed our work to the people were meant to sir and so I think it's really really important teo look look at what is out there in the landscape and then choose what is most appropriate for you what serves you best which is one of the reasons I don't compete with my colleagues first of all I think that uh the better they do the better I can do because it means our industries better we're in service more for example you've got coming up a creative live soon john jan's who's a friend of mine a phenomenal guy amazing content and I want everybody to watch that one as well because you'll get something else from john that maybe you didn't get here or you'll hear things that we both say that we're on the same page you go more validation I get it I'm with it another perspective so always remember when I'm teaching you I believe that there are many different ways then I want you to find the way that is best for you sound good say yes if it does so there's your foundation sometimes this takes more work than the rest sometimes, but ninety nine percent of service business owners that I meet do not have a solid foundation they may have a few components here or there, you know, set but not all of it now, once you've got this foundation remember where do we go next to building trust and credibility? So once we're going to building trust and credibility, we're gonna work on four building blocks as well we're going to start with standard credibility and likability yeah very, very simple concept but very important standard credibility are the things as simple as an email address like juicy tushy at a well dot com not a great email address, I guess unless you're in like the business of maybe salsa dancing or something, you're gonna juicy sushi you know something like that then maybe sure right, but if you're say sigma black belt six sigma black belt a lean you know, strategy consultant or something not a great you know sally and bob underscore four to three at yahoo dot com so most people hopefully I have moved past that and have their own professional domaine et cetera and I use that very simple example to demonstrate that you would be surprised you'd be very surprised by how tiny little things will turn people off they will think you're not credible, tiny little things everything from typos to business cards too the way your website looks too the way you dress I'm not looking at anybody by the way you know when you're telling your teacher she is saying something that was going I know it's talking to me I know we just looked at me when he said that I'm not looking anybody I'm just saying these things matter it doesn't mean you have to dress a particular way that doesn't resonate with you it means you have to at least understand that people are looking at that and it's a reflection of your brand identity and it needs to speak to the people were meant to serve that's the key so if matt for example you know showed up in like wing tips a three piece suit with a vest and an ascot I don't think his target audience is goingto resonate too well with that is my guess right like without be true to say the truth so so that's so all these little things, what else do you think might be a standard credibility builder that would either open the door just closed the door right off the bat? What else? I think copying people is a credibility killer yeah so this is really interesting we'll talk more about this which talk about branding but we want to differentiate yourself of course we hear all about the unique selling proposition be different than everybody else, etcetera I'm going to encourage you to be different than everybody else by being more yourself that guy's that's the only way you can do it you can't manipulate you can contrive it you've got to be fully self expressed so that's absolutely right and then we're gonna look at likeability if we don't think that likability is directly related to our ability to get booked solid we might miss a great opportunity in that this is in large part why people are going to choose you now that doesn't mean everybody's gonna like you it doesn't mean you tryto pease everybody in fact you know people who are absolutely books out just like beyond books on you know what? I don't like him right? I don't like that much yet but the people they served you and that's the key so we're gonna look at likeability we're gonna make sure that our likability is high therefore components the likeability how many? Four first is friendliness because look how many people how many people can say in this room that this week they were as friendly as they possibly could be to everybody they met? Can people say that at home that they were as friendly everybody that they met as they possibly could be? Probably not I don't know maybe they will tell you once in a while that you meet some people who really are and they are just inspiring they are incredibly inspiring but the second component very important you remember to be real because if you're really friendly and not riel you might be from l a hey wait a minute I'm from l a he lives in l a hey now now of course you know I'm joking but you get the concept you know it's like the you know like look at the film business right? You know somebody will uh you know we'll meet somebody else and say hey susan, how you doing? Yeah what do you do? And then susan says, well I'm an actor and like great to meet you see you later and then they're gone right because they were hoping maybe she's a producer maybe she's somebody tub top agent you know this like hi hi hi we'll do lunch like that, you know and then they start talking so that's friendly but not really so friendliness and realist our key components to our ability to get booked solid and you see where they fit in at the beginning of this process of building trust and credibility because they may go good foundation I like it it seems like it speaks for me they give me what I want now they're goingto die like him so there's friendliness there's real nous there's empathy and there's relevance if I could take the word marketing out of the dictionary I would and I'd replace it with the word relevance because fundamentally marketing is about being relevant if your relevant people pay attention to you if they pay attention to you you have the opportunity to serve them they're paying attention to you they will start to move through your plan for building trust incredibility if you continue to be relevant they will pay attention to the sales offers that you are making as long as they're proportionate to the amount of trust that you've earned. So once you look at standard credibility builders and you look at like ability then you could move into what I think is the linchpin of the book yourself solid system which is the sale cycle process the sale cycle process what's the first thing somebody does when they get into your world how do they engage with you? How do they start with you? What do you offer them over a period of time so you could move them deeper into your environment? We're gonna spend a lot of time on this because it's essential if you guys can all walk away with a really solid sales cycle your book probably twice as much business as your booking right now that's how important the sale cycle process is now once we've done credibility likeability and we've done the sale cycle process then we're gonna move in to keep in touch strategy how many of you guys feel can we ask them at home how many people feel at home that how many of you feel at home I think you're on how do you feel at home that you are really, really good at keeping in touch like you keep in touch with everybody that is an ideal client for you how you guys feel that you're really good at it matt couple you guys that's like three people, right? So we generally need to do a better job at keeping in touch not just with potential buyers but with potential referral partners are network etcetera because other people are the ones who make our careers possible we gotta ask ourselves I'm going to get down for this one too cause this demonstrates the importance of it we gotta ask ourselves how do we behave in such a way that other people want to help us? I mean you need to be likeable need to be credible and we need to be able to keep in touch in a way that demonstrates our likeability and our credibility. So we're going to work on that for sure and then the fourth building block in the second module book yourself solid is creating brand building information products not necessarily monetized although that's good too you can create an additional stream of revenue sometimes very leveraged often referred to as passive but it's not passive because you have to make it and then of course he was like a trust fund that would be great if anybody's a trust one they want to share, I'll be happy to share but is not that because you have to make it then you have to promote it even if you don't have to deliver it so it's leveraged so you may decide to create those kind of monetized products but we also need lee generating information products that speed up the pace of the sale cycle that helped build trust and credibility faster because people love to buy packaged experiences people love to buy packaged learning so if you could take what you know and product ties it, so to speak you were also seen as an expert, which is a big part of what we're also going to focus on in this plan in module two for building trust and credibility if you have the standard credibility's builders in place if you're likable if you have a sale cycle that builds trust over time, if you know how to create lead generating and monetized information products you'll be seen as he recognised authority in your field. You don't need to be the authority that's important and authority so for example on book yourself solid I would be the authority I created it, but my certified book yourself solid coaches are authorities they have been trained by me to be on authority in book yourself solved they don't need to be vey authority understand the distinction we get very hung up on this idea that we have to be the expert and I don't want to I'm not gonna call myself an expert from the there's other people know more than me and I think you know we get into that place and that's not a good place to be so just remember you just need to be a few pages ahead of the people you served right I think that's really really key point there because we freak out about having to be the best of the best in whatever industry it is that we're in but I mean that's not even possible is impossible so keeping that perspective he absolutely look they're people who are better speakers than me there are people who are better than writers than me there are people who are better looking than me that's for sure there are people with more hair than me they're people you know there's always somebody was maur this more that maur this remember the principle the way we see the world is there are certain people were meant to serve that's the way the world is set up that's the way the world is set up it is our job to find those people so we don't worry so much about being perfect you cannot be perfect I will trip over myself over the next three days like you know I'll trip that's not even a good pratfall right I will stumble, I will get confused, I'll say on tony where was I went and he'll remind me, but if you are just trying to be helpful, then you'll do a great job so that's that second module now in that third module, we're gonna focus on perfect pricing. There are a number of pricing models that you can use something to introduce you to these different pricing models, how to use them, how to use incentives, how to use discounts when appropriate. This is often a very confronting topic for people. This whole idea of pricing how right price I'm scared to say my prices I don't place too high because then they'll say, no, I don't praise too low because I never make any money you guys feel confronted by this topic of pricing from time to time say yes, if you do absolutely so we're going to work on almost perfect prices and then we're going to work on the simple sales conversation in that same module and there's four parts to this sales formula, but it is not a script it's just a process that you can use any time you have a sales conversation with any type of buyer and then we work on those seven course self promotion strategies that's a lot of work, isn't it there's a lot of stuff it's good thing we got three days so let me give you a quick review here we go. We start with the six course self promotion strategies how many? Yeah and here's the thing three are optional three are mandatory I'm not gonna tell you which ones until the third day three are optional three or mandatory but there are six of them now what do we do with them? We use them to create what say it yes yes you're our awareness say when the you we use the six core self promotion strategy to create what awareness people become aware of us and they come check out our what foundation if our foundation is rock solid then what they say this is the place for I like it me yes this person is dedicated to who? Me? Yes. Now is that enough for them to buy from you right then and there? No, but might they give you an opportunity to earn their trust but they put their hand out. Yeah. Now what do you do once you see that hand extended you work to demonstrate your credibility and to earn trust over time because trust is not built in an instant. Unless you lift someone out of a burning vehicle or something, then they'll trust you, but if you're selling photography or financial services they need a little bit of time okay, so now you go about earning their trust over time you standard credibility builders you use your likability, you use your sales cycle process you use your keep in touch strategy, you use your information products and you got this great pricing that they go I connect with it I make makes sense to me it's right for me you know how to incentivize them to take action you know howto have the sales conversation you feel so comfortable doing it because you have it at the right time having self conversation scarce he really does scares me, but not when I have it at the right time is tough. I know I meant to serve somebody the whole sales conversation changes and this is why the red velvet rope policy is so important because I can say in a sales conversation I say you know you're my ideal client they hear what you mean because probably no one's ever said that to them before you say, well, you're someone with whom I do my best work really well, I've noticed that you're very collaborative naturally you like working with other people you seem to be somebody who does the things that you say you're going to do. You seem to be somebody who cares about the well being of others as a part of your professional development right now she's going you noticed all this about me my husband haven't even say that in five years, right because you're paying attention and you know what your filter is, you know what you're looking for. So how do you think that changes the nature of the sales conversation? And then all we do is we keep using a few of those self promotion strategies people become aware of us. This process repeats itself again and again and again, we've got the great foundation. We know how to build trust and credibility are offers a price perfectly. We know I have the sales conversation. And what do we do? We book the business, say with me we book the business, stayed at home, we book the business and that's what we want to do again and again and again. So if you can create this very systematic approach. So the foundation set plan for building trusting credibility in place you know how to price your offers. You know howto have the sales conversations. All you do each day is execute on a few of the six core self promotion strategies, the mandatory ones and maybe one, maybe two for you of the optional you don't have to do them all. And then they just more awareness comes or awareness kinds, more awareness comes and then eventually you go hi, yeah, yeah, I need beyond booked solid because I'm so booked solid that's the problem I want to try to create for you guys is to get you to that point where you say I am beyond book solid and now I need more help that's the next problem you want to face she like to face that problem? Yeah good any questions? Questions? I got a few minutes for questions great yeah we have about fifteen minutes before break so we have a slew of questions growing in and of course we see a number that are sort of pre emptive of what is yet to come but let's start with these foundational questions I think the first thing that point of view mission earlier how good our people following up on what we saw was a full stream of not good epic fail bad I don't do it seems like there's a lot of fear that surrounds the issue following up yes so why do you think? Why do you think we feel epic fail? I love that expression that's great. Why do you? Why do you think we don't follow up like we should? I don't think that's good being rejected because we're looking for approval and approval is often the enemy of results, so how do we overcome this challenge? Because most of our and this is important guys listen carefully most of our business problems are just personal problems in disguise most of our business problems our personal problems in disguise and I'm not talking pathological problems I'm talking about a problem a problem is I'm I'm too scared to get rejected so I don't do the follow up that's a problem but that's a personal problem that's not a business run that's not it I need an mba to solve that problem what else? Any other reason we might be afraid to follow up I think it's it's just not instilling fear it's also just hard keeping track of everyone you run into and making sure you follow up three times right so this is maybe a little bit less of a personal problem and more of a business organisational problem. However, if we have really organizational problems in our business it's a personal problem michael quick question over here is you mentioned the challenge without following up sometimes people don't follow because they're afraid that person I say yes, absolutely I wouldn't work you know they want to work with me can't un know what have you experienced that before the fear of actually something saying yes you mean is the first ideal or not? They're ideal and you get the business but there look here here's the thing that's interesting it's a very, very beginning you may be afraid to get a yes because you may be afraid to be able to deliver on what you're promising so that's one fear another fear is you get to the point where you're starting to get some clients, and you're kind of starting to get a little bit busy, but you need more clients still, and you're afraid you can't handle the responsibility that comes with more clients because there is a lot of responsibility that comes with it, and often our success as business owners is directly proportionate to how much responsibility we feel we can handle, so we are often well served by working on our ability to handle responsibility will work more on that great michael, this is a great question coming in from brian and memphis, who we're seeing, we're seeing that you have a lot of personality here, very engaging. What if you're not really a people person, not a social butterfly? Does that eliminate you from being able to be successful? Um, no, I don't think so at all here's the thing when people see me speak, they're going to make the assumption that I'm incredibly group. Darius and I just, you know, small talk, and every time I say something, people do what I want it's total not not true, I'm a performer, so I can perform on stage, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I can behave the same way in a one to one conversation, nor should I because I'd be weird if I was talking to like this that is the way it has to be weird, right? So I say that because I want him to know that I get scared too talking to people that I don't know and then your new and we're not going to say you know, um but I think that one of the things he can ask is does he like people because if you like people, you could be relevant to them simply by paying attention. Sometimes the best salespeople are the quietest salespeople are the most unassuming people the assumption the myth is that the big personality sales person is the is the most successful one in fact they're they're often about them selves much more than they are about the client's needs and so they're not as effective now these air generalities of course, right generalizations and I always say that all generalizations are false including that one get it sure you get it so we try to make sure that we don't buy into that everything is one way all people are like this I am this way you may have been behaving in a particular way for some time and gotten used to that way of being but that way of being khun change if you start to see the world in a different way so that gentlemen was his named brian did you say that recalls, I think, was blind man in memphis, so, brian, you know, I completely relate to fear because we all have different kinds of fears that we can relate to fierce fear, brian might say, you know what, I really do like people, I'm just I'm not gregarious, or I don't feel like I'm super outgoing, but I know I like people, and if I know that a really wonderful way to make connection is simply by paying attention to them, listening to them, maybe even asking questions about them, so you take it off yourself, and as a result, he might find that he creates really connected relationships with him with people that are influential in his field that can bring him work, and he doesn't need to be a performer because you're especially when you, when you see people who write these kind of books, go to speeches, you know, watch these events, those of us who do this, our performers right way can create intellectual property. We have a lot of experience and success in what we've done, but we're also performers, so the assumption is, well, I gotta be like, that person that's not true, we're this way because it allows us to be good at this kind of work that makes sense, okay, you have another question, therefore the question in the audience, if you guys have a questions, feel free to grab the microphone will come to you guys in just a second, and right now we're talking about the foundation of this course. You talk about the importance of having a strong foundation because a lot of people go straight to a block and top ten tactics. Teo do x, y or z thie importance of the foundation before executing? Well, look, you know, when do you think about the client life cycle, how they became aware of, he was not that important to them. They often don't even remember it. Like you said, you've been reading my material for a long, long time. How many years? Five years, six years, probably six years ago, six years ago. You remember the very first time you found out about me? I don't, and I don't recall where I found out about right doesn't remember where does remember how so? I obviously did something that created some awareness. The reason she stayed was because of the foundation so that's why that that is such a critical component that they need to see that that place was meant for them and that you are meant for them. And then they'll start to pay attention over time if you continue to be relevant so absolutely creating create content like you said you know twelve reasons need to blah blah blah blah this then the other thing that's a very effective technique but we don't want to skip over all of that just to try to produce mohr of it winston churchill once said this is one of my favorite quotes the future is uncertain it's a mistake to look too far ahead on ly one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time and that's how I see marketing that's how I see friendship relationship development that's how I see romantic relationship development the next version of book yourself solid well you look yourself solid for dating a marketing gurus insider secrets to getting more dates than you can handle even if you hate david I am so ready for that one might but in all seriousness people have asked me this a number of times one of the reasons that one of the things that I based book yourself solid on is just relationship development you're a relationship expert you know that we don't want to go too fast or it scares the other person wait I want to go too slow because that nothing ever happens we want to try to find one link at a time step by step moving forward always progressing in the development of that relationship the question I believe matt had a question right here in the audience my question you had mentioned credibility building credibility having the business card and you know, a good looking website and you know, I come from the business development that's just like, you know, get a product out there and meet the people who need it and just kind of go and so I have awful looking business card and kind of ugly website it's just like just get busted up stuff up there and start you know, producing stuff your clients I find it hard to strike that balance so I was wondering how you deal with that you're it's an excellent question matt will produce results quickly because he is willing to learn in action and he's willing to take risks and he's willing to prototype prototyping idea prototype of product prototype of service and of course when you're a service professional prototyping ah, service is very easy you don't need to go, you know, into a disc cad design program and create a three d rendering and then haven't manufactured somewhere you know you're basically taken idea and you can put it into action very quickly there's a concept that I refer to as the base minimum requirement so what is the least we need to do to get something up and out into the world so that it's credible and allows us to build on it so for example, something like a business card all you need is a white business card with, you know, black text has your contact information or black with white taxi either way, whatever colors you want my point is is that I'm not hiring you because of your business card I might reject you because of your business card now for those who are designers or brand developers they're going to see michael you're crazy yes for them it's different if I see if someone says, well, I'm a graphic designer I'm a brand expert and they give me this business card with perforated edges and, you know, it's like a white car I'd be like, well, I thought their designers right, so they need something remarkable in that category, but you don't I don't I don't even care business cards at all, and I'll tell you why later when we talk about networking is a very specific reason and it allows for the development of relationships faster, more effectively uh, so I think you do both at the same time for example in a website what's wrong with one page that articulates what you do, who you serve, what their needs and desires are the result you provide and the benefits of that and a way to contact you why do you need to build a website as bigas amazon to start you don't so okay kind borrow your piece of paper here for sex so uh this happens often, but I'll give you one particular example I gave a speech and I walked off stage in this what woman ernest ernest woman runs up to me and she says could you look at the sheet? I have six logo's that I've been working on it I'm working on that for like six months I can't decide which one and I know you're an expert in this could you help look at them and tell me which one? So ernest I took a look at it I went huh? They were all pretty much the same except somewhere like a darker blue other lighter blue wanted a curly q that went up don't curlicue that went down I said ok close your eyes close your eyes go ahead, do it for me close your eyes. Okay? I said close your eyes close your eyes I said point open your eyes no point point keeper that's your logo because for her it doesn't really matter that much anybody in this room how would this ask this to the audience? Anybody in the audience or anybody in this room know what my logo looks like? No yeah, this is a brand identify but me, my overall company this is one of our brands right I have this little local that's like mp just we put on something but it's nothing it's just a little thing is his mp because it doesn't matter as long as it's credible unless that is what you're getting hired to do so when you look at the things that you need to get out of the world what's the least I need to do to be credible for that the fastest I can get it done now let me go out in the world and create the awareness but all of this has to be done first and this but what you're talking about is doing this clearly quickly, significantly effectively without overdoing it. So I I am very interested in the whole concept of waste because most of us waste so much time we overproduce for not enough clients even under producing for two money clients is waste over processing under processing so we want to try to produce just in time for the white toyota way of doing business right just in time you only make enough cars for orders that you have coming in and they're very good at doing that and they've been teaching others around the world for years on how to do this very well so this is one of the things that if you create the book yourself solid system in the way that I'm walking you through it, you'll know just what to produce the things that I'm going to be working on with you over the next three days, you will know this is what I need I don't need more than this, but I need that much I know we need these three components of the personal brand I know I need that filtration system for the red velvet rope I know we need to be able to talk about what I do in this way I know I need to have the target market, the needs and desires the result and the benefits worked out. I know I need to have the standard all those things I worked on all of those need to be in place, but you don't need to obsess on them or go further at this stage of the game because you can always go back and review at it. Your future is a generative and it'll of process remember that your future is a generative and intuitive process as a business owner, what you create today, you'll change tomorrow what you create tomorrow you'll change the next day, but you're doing it based on feedback you're doing it based on your discovery of what worked and what needed improvement, so we're always looking at the world in that way what works? What needs improvement, not what sucks now what didn't work, what worked so I keep it and what needs improvement and that's, what we're going to be doing over the next three days, mathis is working for you, here's. What needs improvement? Susan, this is what's working for you, here's. What needs improvement? She don't get down on yourself in the same way you don't have that kind of negative talk that's so much, you know, somebody of us do, and we would be better served doing away with sound good. So go down, you guys get a high five really end.