If you don’t want to read it, you can watch this video.
We’re going to get into the importance of putting together a business and the importance of putting together a team. One of the problems many people have is they don’t understand sales and marketing. This guy approached me last July to help him out with his business. He was asking for something that was beyond the normal. I told him, “This is going to cost you $50,000.” He said, “OK.” That was it.
Now here’s the backstory. I had a YouTube channel with years of experience. I did not pop out of a hat. I did not pop out of a rabbit costume. I’ve been here for a while, so that’s why that worked.
But it was salesmanship that was the most important thing. The second thing that made that happen was the marketing, which was this YouTube channel. I’m going to do a book called Inbound Marketing which should clear up a lot of stuff.
Once you build something solid that is not predicated on the average expectation, you can really get a lot of mileage out of it. Then there’s customer service.
I’m going over this as an overview of my story. That’s why Patti is here. One of the issues I had with my courses was I’d get a lot of questions and I couldn’t stay on top of them. The people would be frustrated and disappointed and they’d ask for their money back. A customer service person is really, really critical.
If you have the gift of gab, you could literally start a business with those three building blocks of sales, marketing and customer service. I don’t care how big you become, sales does not go away. I don’t care how magnificent you become, sales does not go away. Sales is everything to a business. Sales is oxygen to a business.
Many people are afraid of sales.
With the building blocks of starting a business, you have a lot of people who are looking to do LLCs. I’m working on Fat Cat Secrets and we’re going to have a nifty t-shirt. That’s going to drop this week.
One of the things that creates a problem for many people is they want to do an LLC but they have no business plan. They don’t know who they are selling to and they don’t know what they’re selling. All they know is they’re a business man. They have business cards and business checking.
That’s just noise because until you can sell something to a customer, you’re just wasting time. Part of the selling process is attraction. As an entrepreneur, the biggest thing we do is solve problems. Say this after me, “I am an entrepreneur because I solve problems and get results.” That makes you an entrepreneur, not the business checking, not the LLC, and not the business cards.
When I started Mack Daddy Media last year, I didn’t have a business card. I didn’t have a website. I still don’t have a website. It’s coming, but I’m making money.
Hear me on this. Once you learn how to sell, you could be making money without a website or a YouTube channel or anything. That is how important selling is. With the advent of digital marketing and Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, people think that selling has gone away.
Before you can sell something to someone, you must have their attention. Secondly, before you can sell something to someone, they must trust you. Those two things must come. You can’t get trust without getting attention.
People say it is hard to sell to millennials. They are being sold to every day. But they are being sold to in an exciting and engaging way on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. These folks want some buy-in. They want to be part of something. You have to understand how these kids operate.
The first thing you must do in sales is get attention. I don’t care how you do it, you must get attention. Essentially, you have to humble yourself to be a businessperson. Here’s the thing and this is going to be really hard for some people. I have created my own economy and I have taken certain liberties that have cost me money.
I will not work with anybody that is boring. I’m just not going to do it. That can cost me some money. I’m not going to work with someone I really don’t like. Once again, that can cost me some money. I know this. I’m aware of this. Many of you don’t have the body of work where you can play that game.
When you’re Broke Dick Danny or Penniless Priscilla, it’s kind of hard to play that game. It really is because in the beginning when I was working at Business Environments, I took deals I did not want. But I needed that money.
There is a paying of dues and a process of building that many people just don’t want to go through. But it’s very, very important.
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Question: What do you think about people who use sex appeal to get ahead? Is that too short-sighted?
Answer: No. Use what your mama gave you. Use what your daddy gave you. Use what God gave you.
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For you folks who are afraid of rejection, when I wrote my first book, it was full of typos. It had a lot of errors. The book cover was green. I made $800 my second month on that book. There were a lot of people saying things like “I’ll never buy from you again. It’s garbage.” But, they bought Pimping Craigslist.
My point is to say, do not fall prey to conventional thinking.
You have to build some resolve. When you are selling, the first time might be a “No.” The second time might be a “No.” The third and fourth time might be a “No.” Then, the fifth time might be a “Yes” from that prospect. You can’t be weak.
Now let’s get into the sale process. Sales and marketing are distinctly different. Marketing is like “Hey, we’re here.” When you see Mercedes Benz on top of a building, it’s marketing. Sales is actually creating a process where you get in front of the customer and you try to close them.
See this Coca-Cola can. The type font is marketing. Until the customer is in a position to buy, you’re not in the sales process. The Apple logo on front of an iPad is marketing. Top of mind awareness creates marketing. Until I go to Apple’s website or store, we are not in the sales process.
A lot of people are doing a lot of marketing and they’re not doing any selling. That’s why they’re struggling. One of the things I do is I straight up sell.
Part of sales is knowing who you are selling to. I’m selling Hustle Camp to people who are not Broke Dick Danny. Broke Dick Danny, I’ve got love for you. Penniless Priscilla, I’ve got love for you. But you guys can’t keep me living in the lifestyle I am accustomed to. But what I can do for you is provide a free book or something where you can apply yourself and get your money together.
This allows me to help the people who don’t have any money while remaining congruent with my targeted customer base. So, it’s a win, win, win, win.
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