00:01:39
So the topic that we're covering today. And I also have a second venture with a business partner called Jeremy, who's based in the in the States, in Indiana. Shout out to Jeremy. And we call ourselves Expert Content Pros with Adventure. And we have a two-folded focus. On the one hand, we help clients with video content, the strategy, the planning, the production. And then on the other side of the business, we focus on lead generation, particularly quality connection. So I'm excited to be here and to talk about that topic. Wow. You have really amazing career. I mean, 500 episodes of podcast and even like different stuff that you do with the video creation, content creation, etc. It's really impressive. So I feel even a bit blushing. Thank you.
00:02:26
having you here on our podcast, because can you maybe tell our audience more about what is lead generation or like what, for example, some of the people might not know what what does it actually means lead generation? Yeah, absolutely. There is different. If you ask different people, they may give you different definitions of lead generation. Often it's synonymous with building an email list. But simply put, lead generation is the act of taking specific actions online. It can also be done in person. But in our case, in Novotology, we talk about online, on a platform, let's say like LinkedIn. So our specific actions that you take with the purpose of having people gravitate toward you. And that may mean, for example, you do some research, you create a list of people, companies you want to focus on, and that that would be your list of leads.
00:03:24
So very simply lead generation is the action of generating leads, which are data sets, really. And depending on your business, that may be somebody's first and last name and email address, phone number, maybe something else that can be relevant for your business, geographic location too. And basically, it's the packaging, if you like, of that piece of information. So the actions of finding the right people and companies to focus on. And ultimately, if things go well, to do business with. That's really interesting. And I even have a practical case for also our audience that they can embark on this journey after when they watch this episode, because I'm also currently having a slight issue with the leads, mainly for Novotology, that we try to, let's say, optimize the lead generation, how to follow up with people, et cetera.
00:04:18
So we have different kind of channels where we are getting the leads from. Mm For example, from the events, when we are in, for example, in Helsinki for the Slush, or in different parts of the world. But the main lead generation is coming actually online from the different platforms. So like LinkedIn, et cetera. And what we are, the first issue here is that how you can stay focused on, because there is so many distractions nowadays. There are so many ways where you can take your business, et cetera, and the leads are coming from the online events, from the physical events and business cards. And so how to make it really optimized so that you don't end up after every event. For example, right now I came from Slush.
00:05:07
Also last week I collected, for example, 200 contacts from the Web Summit. And the only thing that I'm currently doing between the events is just like finding all of the leads where somebody gave me the business cards, somebody gave me the LinkedIn, so sales navigator. Mm-hmm. Somebody gave me the email, then we had some quizzes. So, like it was like a type form and stuff like this. So how do you stay focused on what matters the most for your business and not to end up in really like optimizing these leads all the time? Yeah. Yeah. I think that's an issue that not only you guys are facing, but many companies and individual professionals like coaches, and consultants face. I think the first thing to think about is: what is the system that we use?
00:05:52
Mm-hmm. So very simply, having a CRM tool, which stands for customer relationship management tool-and there's plenty, so you can pick whatever you prefer. Having something like that is going to help you. So you have a centralized place where you and everybody in the team can access the contact details of the leads. That's the first thing. The second thing I would say is you need to decide what is the most effective way for you to gather those leads. Mm-hmm. So for example, for me, what I do nowadays is I use a CRM called Breakthrough and with Jeremy, my business partner, we have created different lists or different pipelines. If you'd like, I have some for my own business, some for Expert Content Pros, and we have specific pipelines.
00:06:41
For example, we work with coaches. So we have one that is for coaches. Then we have another one. We also work with lawyers. So that one is for lawyers. And in this case, it's a break code. It's a web browser extension that works with LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and so forth. So nowadays what I do is let's say I wanted to, I researched and found you on LinkedIn. What I would do, the first thing I do nowadays, even before I send a message or send a connection request, there is the button of break code on your LinkedIn profile. I click that and I add you to the right list. Oh, that's perfect. So immediately I'm like, okay, because like in your case, for example, if you have a conference and you get however many new contacts, 200, it's going to be very difficult to be able to sort through them.
00:07:35
And I have been in that situation too. I remember I've done some speaking, for example, at Podcast Movement, which is the biggest podcasting conference in the world. And I would get home with like stacks of business cards. And back then I really didn't have a good system like that. So having that sort of system means that when you meet people like that, somebody hands you their business card, you take 30 seconds to be okay. You go look up the person on LinkedIn and add them. If they're not on LinkedIn, you can inside the CRM just create a contact card for the person. And what I really like about it is that you can add notes. So for me, for example, it happens that I have a meeting with a potential client and then we say, 'Yeah, let's reconnect.' In a month, when we finished the meeting, I take 30 seconds to write some key notes so that when we meet, I'm up to date.
00:08:30
And often it has happened that people are like, 'Yeah, you know, I have it in my calendar, but I don't remember what we are supposed to talk about.' So I say, 'Yep, just let me look at my notes real quick.' So I would say having to briefly summarize having a CRM tool, I think it's key. And then second, try to get into the habit. Yeah. Yeah. So as soon as you get a contact business card or LinkedIn, it doesn't really matter. Immediately add it to your system because otherwise, and actually I'll add one more thing, add him or her to the system. And if there is an important note, add it to, and you can do that by typing, or you can even create tags or lab labels.
00:09:12
For example, if you offer different services, or let's say you have a service and a product, you can have a label for product one for service. So if you're talking with somebody, it's like, oh, this seems more for the service. You just put the tag 'service'. So after the conference is finished, you may not remember everybody, but then you're going to look like, oh, okay, this was about the product. And if you have taken some notes, you're like, oh yeah. So now if we have our next conversation, I know what is the best way to approach it. Yeah. And what is called the tool one more break? Break cold, or it's all one word. Break cold. Shout out to the break cold team. Yes. And as I said, there is plenty of options.
00:09:52
And nowadays I would add that many CRM tools have the web browser extension feature I was talking about. So even if you're not using Break Cold, many of those give you that ability to easily add somebody from LinkedIn. And in there you can add information without having to leave LinkedIn. That's the cool thing. Yeah. But the thing is that the CRM is really like, there are lots of software for CRM. So for example, we started to use HubSpot. Yeah. But the problem is that it's more for corporations. So it's quite expensive. There are also different products. So we also spoke about it in Slush yesterday that they are doing really good in like scaling it up because they are providing new products inside their product, which is interesting for their business and for corporations.
00:10:37
But for the small and medium-sized businesses, it's just not necessary because then you can use, for example, Break, you can use the Break, Break cold. Break cold or Zoho, which is also really good. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. For example, small and medium-sized businesses. So this is another one that you can definitely take a look for the lead generation. This is the step number one that you should take in your business. So if I have then like set up the CRM in my business or in my podcast, whatever I'm doing, offering hardware, software, I already have like set up CRM. Then like when it comes to the lead generation, what usually the person should do in order to have optimized leads?
00:11:22
So you said also about the text that if I have like product and service, I use the different text, but what is usually then the next step in order to generate, do you have some tips like on how to generate more leads? Like for example, what is the most recent tip that you have find out in your. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I would say before you actually go at an event or you start to do lead generation online, I would recommend that you make sure that if you're using LinkedIn or a specific social media platform or your website, it doesn't really matter, but whatever you use, you want to make sure that it's optimized for the type of people you want to, you want to have conversations with, and then you, you want to do business with.
00:12:07
So that's the first thing I would say to make sure that everything is optimized and is it okay if I share also what many tend to do, which is not what I would recommend. Yeah, definitely. So what to not do. Yeah, because many people, what they do is, okay, they just have scripts and they have a list of let's stick with the example of Slash and Neurotology, 200 people. Okay. Everybody's going to get the same copy and pasted message and it's often super generic and even not only it's generic, but often it's like, 'Hey, nice to meet you. Here's my new product. Here's my new book. Here's my new whatever.' And that doesn't work. So I would say. Don't do that.
00:12:51
What Jeremy and I would recommend doing, and we actually have created a method that we call the Spark Catalyst Method and SPARK is an acronym where every letter stands for something we recommend. And I'm going to add, we are not the ones or the only ones who recommend doing this, but that you put emphasis on the personalization. Everybody is trying to look for ways to reach as many people as possible, as fast as possible. But you should ask yourself, how can I reach people in the best way for them? Not for you and for your business, but for them. So what does this entail? This entails a little bit of research to understand, and you can do it manually, or you can use AI.
00:13:37
It can help you identify certain things, but start to do some research and see, is there a specific topic that appears to be a pain point that maybe they explicitly ask about, Hey, we want to use a CRM tool. What's your best suggestion? And if you are a CRM tool consultant, for example, that would be already a signal in the right direction for you. So you want to start to focus on those signals. And then what you want to do is you want to start to get on their radar. So if you have met already in person, it's different because you already build a little bit of personal connection. But you know, if you have. Okay. Connected online, that may be a bit different.
00:14:21
So I would recommend that first in the case of LinkedIn, for example, you leave, if they publish content, you leave some meaningful comments to their post. Not just, yeah, great post. I love it. But really that you add something to it. Yes, this is going to take time, but this is going to have a greater impact because at the end of the day, people, and we have heard it before, people do business with people. They know, like, and trust. And you don't build like the like factor can be a bit subjective. They know the knowing can be a bit subjective, but the trust, it's something that, you know, you can try to do your best to be likable, to be somebody that people know and somebody that people trust.
00:15:08
So you want to start with that, with the comments you want to get on their radar. You want to join their conversation first. And then. When the. Time is when the time comes, then you can say, hey. What about continuing the conversation one on one? So you can move from a public conversation in the comments to a DM conversation, and then from there you can move to, for example, a call if that's sort of the flow that one tends to to use. Having said that, though, with Jeremy and our Spark Catalyst, we have a bit of a more nuanced approach because we recommend using content that we call Catalyst content. So what is Catalyst content? But maybe first what does the spark stand for, because I'm like really waiting for like what each letter then stands for.
00:16:01
Yeah, because I'm already like so specific, personalized action. And then I don't know what it is. Exactly. I was going to say, what do you have for the R and the K? But maybe I'm also wrong with the S, P, and A. Yes, definitely. You know, I'm going to I'm going to be nice and say that it was nice to see you try, but you didn't hit on single one. Not at all. Not even one. Not even one. I was like, 'I'm going to personalize it.' So Spark, it's let's call it a tool that everybody can use. And it's a different way to look at your network, at your existing network, because most people look at their network this way. Is this a client? No. Can they be a client?
00:16:45
Yes. No. And that's it. Pretty much. Some people maybe think about partners, but that's really it. But you have more people in your network that could help you with your business directly or indirectly. And that's where Spark as an acronym comes into play. So S stands for super connectors. And these are people, for example, on LinkedIn who are really active. Okay. So if you look at their profile, you look at their activity comments, you see that they're very active. They like to share their two cents. They ask questions. They elevate others. They pay compliments. Is it like influencers on LinkedIn? Kind of. Can be influencers, but it can even be somebody who doesn't necessarily have a very big audience, but it's somebody that really would be good. Exactly.
00:17:31
That person would be good for me to have my network because if I share a specific piece of content that in a moment, I'll tell you what that content can be, that that's a person that is likely to engage. So if I ask a question. And I'm curious to hear what people think that person may be somebody who's likely to give me his or her two cents. So S stands for super connectors. Then we have P which stands for potential partners. And this, I think it's pretty self-explanatory. So you see, you were really far off. Actually, sorry. I take it back. S stands for what did you say? Specific. So specific super. I said specific personalized action. There you go. So P stands for personalized potential partners. Okay.
00:18:20
So I was not that far. You were really on track. And those are basically people that you would like to collaborate with and in different forms. But the idea is, okay, these are people I would like to collaborate with. Then we have A that stands for, was it action? Yes. Allies. Allies. Okay. And allies are people like current clients, past clients. Okay. Or even partners that you've done things with before, but maybe they've been out of touch or you have been out of touch. So they would need to be re-engaged. Then R stands for reporters and news curators. And K stands for key individuals, prospects, potential clients. So why it's important to use Spark as we look at our network is because you may have different goals for your business.
00:19:10
And for example, you may say, you know, our goal for the next quarter for, you know, Atology is to increase our visibility. Let's say, if that's the case, I would say apply Spark to your network and focus on the R and maybe the P as well. So do I have somebody in my network who is a reporter, is a content creator, writes for publications, has a podcast and things like that? Exactly. Exactly right. So if, let's say for example, if I had a book. That I wanted to promote somebody like you, it would be perfect because I could say, okay, she could be like a potential partner or even a reporter because you have a platform for me to be on.
00:19:57
So having this approach to your network is going to help you understand that you may have a network that is big or small in size, but it doesn't really matter because if you start to look into it, you'll see that you have different groups of people. And every of those groups can help you in a different way. That's amazing. I really like the each letter like that stands for something, but it's really just for the like lead generation specific because I can really practically apply it on our business, how we can like even because I was until now, I was really thinking about leads as a lead as some like contact, like some of them were stronger, some of them were lighter also like when it comes to the link.
00:20:44
You try your best, but right now I put in the category in my head in the category, each person that I have met throughout the last two weeks and they really can suit in each letter, which is just brilliant. I just love it. And I just had like when you said when you said that it's about the super, super, super connect. Yes, super connectors because it seems to me that it's more like in currency in USA that I see more of this like super connectors on LinkedIn, especially from the US in Europe. It starts to now booming, but it's really in the initial stage because when I, for example, sharing on LinkedIn and lots of my clients or even like potential leads, they're like what she's doing like this is not Instagram.
00:21:33
And but this is really what is coming from the US. It seems to me that this style of how to use the social because at the end, like LinkedIn is social media. It's just like that. We are also a. Both. And more like strengthening the professional relationships online because on Instagram you have rather your personal connections. It can be also used for a professional, but it's more likely that people are open about the specific issues. But on LinkedIn in Europe, it's still, I would say to some extent with some people taboo to be like super connector. They don't know that it's like really like. Well, and there is something to think about, and this has nothing to do with me, has nothing to do with you. This is just to do with.
00:22:13
How social media platforms work, and it's valid for LinkedIn, but it's valid for other platforms, too. I agree with what you said. It's definitely something that comes more from. Let's say it's a way of thinking and using the platform that comes more from North America, but they are called social media for a reason. And if you're on LinkedIn, for example, and you don't really do anything other than logging in, maybe like once a week to post a blog post. And then you leave, that's not going to take you really far because what you're doing, it's a so-called drive-by, meaning that you show up, you say, hey, I'm here. Here's my post. See you. So the platform is the algorithm isn't really going to give you visibility.
00:22:58
And that's why many LinkedIn experts, myself included, suggest that this has been proven: if you engage before you post, then when you post your republish your post, it's going to get a boost from LinkedIn. Why? Because you have been contributing to the platform first. And I'll add another thing for everybody who's who's here with you and I: when it comes to your approach to social media, you may say, well, you know, LinkedIn; we don't really use it because we don't have a lot to share. Here's the thing to keep in mind. If you go on LinkedIn next week, let's say, and every day you publish five posts, that's spam, right? That's spam. If next week you go on LinkedIn and every day you leave 10 comments, that's a super, that's being a super user of LinkedIn; super engagement.
00:23:57
Exactly. So you need to remember this is important to keep in mind is that we like as creators, we tend to think, well, I'll create content and then comments. It's sort of a secondary thing. We should change the focus and say, comments are content too. So I may publish once a week, but I may be super active in my comments and comments, especially if I leave comments on other people's posts, are a great tool to attract people toward my profile and toward what is sort of like my ecosystem. That's a really great tip for the social engagement on social media. I also was, I had a coaching with Jasmine from HeyJay and he's like expert on LinkedIn. Oh yeah. Yeah.
00:24:42
And he told me that also, like what he's doing is like brilliant, and it's that he's doing really a lot of comments. So, like, he's doing 10 comments per day, and then after the full week, so it's for example, 50, 70 comments per week that he's generating. And on Sunday, he's sitting down, and he is going through all of the comments that he has generated, and the comment that has the most likes is his post for the next week. It's just that he's actually like all the time. Just engaging. He's not like creating from the scratch a content that he's like, oh, what I will post today about what is clever or something, but it's like pre-validation that people will actually like it.
00:25:24
So like he has the audience because people can like the comment and then he sees, okay, like this comment has like 200 likes and that comment has seven, so why would I post something that is like related to the less engaging post than the other one? Right. So it's like an interesting tip as well. And I also started to use a software, which is called Use Ever. I don't know. Oh, I, I know the software. Yeah. It's, it's also like a really amazing for the link, LinkedIn engagement, and they are like pushing you towards, for example, commenting and engaging with people who are not inside your, uh, uh, so like you have on LinkedIn, you have different connections, right?
00:26:03
You have like first connection, second, third, and the best engagement tip and trick is to engage with the people who are on second and the third, because then. It's like broadening up your opportunities and use aware platform can actually help you to sort out the influencers who you want to target and dig deeper into the leads of the super connectors, especially I'm using it for because, uh, I am sometimes I feel that, uh, that like when you are having your business and then, uh, You are yourself, you have some career, you are in a certain bubble. Let's say you are in a bubble of your connections. Uh, you for example go out and extend that bubble. When you go to the conferences like Slash or Web Summit, et cetera, because you can like meet people from different topics than you usually do.
00:26:52
But usually we stay in our bubble in the comfort zone. And what Aware is helping me with is, uh, that it's giving me the, uh, the tips on with whom I can engage from the second and third level. And it's really easy to so within 10 to 15 minutes, you actually have, um, you, you then have like, uh, done LinkedIn for that day. You don't need to spend like five hours as, uh, some people might, uh, spend on LinkedIn, but, uh, do you maybe have some other tips, how do people can extend their comfort zone of the relationships? Uh, not only like on LinkedIn, but, uh, on, um, in many, when we are speaking about the lead generation, like, uh, how to, uh, get out and like, uh, get the potential clients of yours.
00:27:38
So for example, if I'm like, uh, uh, having a service and I want to, uh, I want to extend my clientele outside of my current connections because they are usually passive followers, not really active. So how to get the outside of, uh, the current bubble? Yeah, absolutely. First shout out to Jay. I don't know him personally, but I definitely have learned a lot from him and he has, you know, speaking of, of comments, he has some great content that really talks about the power of commenting. Now, to answer your question, I think one of the, well, there's a couple of tips I would, I would like to share.
00:28:19
The first one is that we tend when we are on a sales call, for example, we think that, okay, I should talk as much as possible. I need to have it's a 30-minute call. I need to have like 55 slides to show, and I need to make sure that they highlight how, like all the features of whatever it is. They sell, but what we should do is, and this may sound cliché, but it's to really listen because if we ask the right questions and we really pay attention, people not only are going to talk about their pain point, but they're going to talk about it in a very specific way. They're going to say some very specific things, specific, they're going to use a very specific language.
00:29:02
And that's what you could then use, for example, on a sales page or landing page. And that's what makes people feel like, 'Ah, sure.' she gets me she really understand like that's exactly how I talk about it so when you are on a sales call ask questions listen like really listen and then you can use something that it's very powerful which is paraphrasing repeat back now you don't need to every time somebody gives you an answer you don't need to repeat it but when there is something very powerful and then it's your turn to speak you can say just to make sure that I understood correctly and you basically tell the person what
00:29:41
she just here she just told you on a psychological level that's really impactful because it's gonna position you closer to them as somebody that okay she really understands what I'm saying like she really understands how I'm feeling and when you start to sort of have people move from an emotional standpoint that's when they start to really come closer to you and start to be more opened an when it comes to a more sales or deal closing oriented conversation so this is something that we don't do enough of in person also online because that's the thing also line we think okay i need to promote my book or you know whatever it is that one sells or wants to promote instead of trying to understand okay i have i want to sell you this a cup if you're somebody that for some reason doesn't like cups mugs i can try to tell you you know this colour you won't you won't care But, you know this handle, you won't care.
00:30:45
You know this material, you won't care if you're a vegetarian and I have a restaurant and we sell meat. I can tell you, you know we have the best steak in the city. You're like, well yeah, I'm a vegetarian. No, no but you don't understand; we have the best barbecue sauce and it'll be like, yeah, still don't, don't, no matter. And that's what people tend to do. We have a sales call, I think I have a sales call with you. I think that I know what you want and that's not true. I may have some hints that I was able to collect by doing research, by studying you, by having exchanges online; but
00:31:28
then we when we're on the sales call, i need to say okay let's have a conversation with with term in this case and see were my assumptions correct yes no and if they were correct like how much of a pain point this is for you maybe there is a couple of things and i'm thinking the first thing here it's so important the second it's uh and then when we talk it turns out that this one that i thought wasn't important for you is the key thing so if i'm really listen and i notice that in my head i'm like okay this one i'll put it in my head and then i'm like okay this one i'll put it in my it aside and i'll focus on this but if we don't listen but if i'm just thinking I'll ask a question and as you're talking I'm thinking, okay my next question is gonna be this one it's not gonna work,
00:32:15
yeah that's uh that's amazing, uh analogy how to actually like approach the sales. I read something similar in Think Again, it's a book and there are different personalities of the different people-there is like a politician, a preacher, a scientist, etc. And what you just explained it really seems to me like to really go from the scientist's perspective of having different hypotheses because like usually what people do here is like preaching, like I have the best product or I have the best book, I mean like we are all humans and we are all experts in something so for example even though we would be selling the same service i have different background i have different perspective on the business because i would be in the same position for example in the same service i have
00:32:58
the stuff so like it's i mean having the preach uh preach mindset is not the best when it comes to the sales for speaking with the potential clients however what you explain is like that you have the hypothesis that for example i might be interested in for example in the steaks then you might be that you might if you would like to open the restaurant for example you will be thinking about okay what kind of food i will be selling there so the first hypothesis is having a steakhouse it's expensive but people like to you know enjoy when they're going out then the second one is the vegan people nobody is like to go like alternative and the third one is to have junk food like pizza yeah because it's cheap and it's uh uh and uh it's just easy to just start from one day to another to start to do the pizzas and uh and things like this and then like uh
00:33:53
if you are like just doing it based on your like what you think yeah assumptions it's just like that you can invest a lot into the business that it might be not profitable at the end but if you go and you ask people inside your town because there are people of the certain culture of the certain taste what they are missing in the town and then just replying uh to the demand so like that you provide them the supply and you then meet the demand with supply it's just win-win for the both so it's then called something like a research market that you should be doing before you are starting uh with the
00:34:33
new product with a new service with a new project because this is uh this is also what we did with innovatology that we started with the study so we did the research and we find out that people Are really low with their digital skills, so like for example, because I'm coming originally from the Czech Republic and people are really below the average of the digital skills, whereas in Belgium it was much higher. And then we started to brainstorm about how we can elevate digital skills of the people in the different member states, and even to put it outside of the EU. We started with Innovatology to do it in a more engaging way via vlogs, via podcasts that we have today.
00:35:15
Because I think that also not a lot of our audience might know about the lead generation what does it even mean? Because when I heard it for the first Time, maybe like 10 years ago, five years ago, it was like lead generation, like, are we speaking about something like Gen Z or yeah, exactly, a generation of leaders? What should I do with that? Uh, so it's really important to speak about it openly and really cover uh the basics of these things that are the new normal because everybody nowadays is to some extent online. Somebody might prefer to have more privacy, but we all sell either ourselves online or the services or the products because we for example need the business growth; we want promotion, so then if we are showing uh online about what we are good then it's always uh nice to show in your linkedin or other uh platforms speaking about the platforms what is your favorite uh
00:36:18
social media where the people who are watching us can actually follow you or how they can get in touch with you regarding the tips about the lead generation or podcasting and others and may i add one quick tip after i share the platform yeah sure yeah the platform would be linkedin pretty obvious i've talked about it it's linkedin and it's a platform that i you know i i hit myself in the head sometimes that i'm like yeah i should have approached it seriously like earlier but it's easier to to say it you know afterwards but the tip i want to share is this sales is a conversation because i don't come from a sales background i come from a communications background and somebody may say well it's easy for you to talk about psychology of communication because it's your ever expertise yes but the point is that it's about having a conversation
00:37:13
and i wouldn't say this what i consider maybe the best tip when it comes to sales calls and this is something i learned from somebody who uses the username alex octopus on instagram so shout out to him he said and this is a tip that all of us should use when it comes to sales is we should be like doctors doctors Do two things, the first: They diagnose so if you go to the doctor and say, 'Ah, my knee hurts.' The doctor is not going to say, 'Okay, here you go, I prescribe something.' First, they start to ask you what happened. Did you hit it? Did you fall? Was it while you were doing some sports? And then, depends on which country you are at the doctor, that's a very that's okay.
00:38:03
Let's say in theory, let's say because it's a very good uh addition in the Czech Republic. You say like whatever you say that is wrong with you, they're like 'antibiotics bye' okay, let's say a good doctor yes should first or for us when we enter our sales conversation or sales. call we should first diagnose then we prescribe and i have the best example of this i have two clients same gender similar age same country same pain point want my help but here's the thing one of them says i i can do things on my own just tell me what i need to do and i will do it so i can go there do it yourself route the other client says look i need hand holding i'm not somebody who likes to do things on her own so let's do it together so if i wasn't paying attention to that i could have said yeah for both of you the course by the course instead
00:39:12
i really listened and said okay this one is telling me i can i don't need a lot of supervision i don't need a lot of help you just give me the directions and i'll do stuff myself so i said you know what there is this video training gives you all the instructions you need and then you can follow it at your own pace and implement the other one no point in saying you know there is this video training because she said yeah i need help i need hand holding so in her case i said yeah we can do like how do you say we can address the topic at hand through a series of coaching sessions so that's something just to say that if we don't listen if we don't focus really on diagnosing first we may make the give the wrong prescription yeah this Is then also making an expert from expertise right, like you can also then distinguish between junior, medium, and senior, like usually senior knows
00:40:19
something one thing is not to be confused, I mean we are of course novices who are João, our unskilled, what I'll tell you more, and also not just novice, you will probably feel like I'm an expert, so don't be afraid to say no. I know you didn't ask me that topic, but even then, I know you as my subject, and the he knows what he's doing, and it was just a disclaimer. Uh, this investing expert was not the person to whom I would be giving the money and he would be investing, but I am the owner of my money, and he was just Giving me the guidance on what I can invest instead of having it on my savings account and here it was a really interesting experience because, uh, he was like really skilled; he is also one of the most grown brands in the Czech Republic in terms of investment, like how he's doing his VR and online branding, it's just like amazing.
00:41:17
But what he was doing was like he was really navigating me towards the services and the products that I really need because I was like asking, I was digging deeper like into, 'Do I maybe need to go to some conferences about investment?' He was like, 'No, just focus what you're doing the best.' Because if you focus on the desired product you will be able to do the things that you need to do and the what you are doing the best then in terms of the finances you will be able to invest more in what i just told you you don't need to go to conferences you don't need to buy my courses
00:41:45
you don't need to buy my premium services even though he could really do it and he could have pushed for that and he could have me as a cherry you know like because i was like wow this is like everything was great but he said no this is just enough you know what you should do now you know what you should focus on and i just went from uh from the from the coaching that i had with him and i was like wow like this was just like exactly what i needed the navigation in the investment and not to overwhelm me about it not distract me i think that in the online sphere there are a lot of distractions all the time with a lot of products and a lot of people they try to squeeze from you as much as possible as much money as possible without even trying to connect with you what you exactly need and how they can maximize
00:42:37
your well-being your focus etc and i think that this is also very much big difference between the expert who is on the other side who is then selling to you specific products so thank you for sharing Because it also now gave me a bit of like a connection, why I felt for example really good after that session and it was puzzling me a lot because nowadays in the marketing you see a lot's of like over sales, oh yeah, over sharing. And maybe do you have some tips uh for our audience how they can like concentrate on or like how do you do it yourself that you really focus on what matters the most and you don't uh you don't uh just like uh buy everything but others people, other people are selling you because it's everywhere, yeah, yeah.
00:43:28
I would say that it's it's not easy to be disciplined but that's one of the of the key skills we need to really. Focus on and never stop working on, and you need to get into the habit of in this case, if you want for lead generation to be effective, you need to get into the habit of taking the steps. And if you say okay, now my goal is to contact these 200 people over the next couple of years. I'm going to get into the habit of taking the next three days you won't make it. You won't make it at some point you're going to start to feel fatigued and so forth. So it's better to say okay, what is realistic for me? How much time do I have every day?
00:44:07
15 minutes perfect. My goal is to contact three people every day. If you put that as a goal, you're gonna be surprised. by how far away how far you go and sort of how you're gonna be surprised by how far you go and sort of how you're gonna be surprised by how far you go and sort of how impactful those small actions are because most people are just like yeah i need ai i need consultants to help me reach not three people two thousand people twenty thousand people in a day and then tomorrow another new twenty thousand people and i often tell us tell this to to prospects and clients to really help put things in perspective i say in my business if i if i got 50 new consulting clients tomorrow it would be a huge problem i wouldn't be able to deliver so that's Something that most people want: numbers, numbers, numbers!
00:45:02
But first, you need to understand. Okay, what is a number? If everybody I reached out to told me 'yes', I want to be a client, I want to start tomorrow. What is a number that would be reasonable for me? I say, 'okay,' this is the number. Then I say, 'okay', in order to get to that number, how many people do I need to speak to and I can start to keep track. So I say, 'okay' the last month or the last 90 days I've talked or I had x number of sales conversations. How many of those turn into clients? Okay, now I have my conversion rate or my percentage, then I can look before that and say the last 90 days how many people Did I invite to have a sales call with me?
00:45:47
How many did accept? Now, I have my invite-to-call ratio. So, if you backtrack then you'll know exactly okay. If I want to have looking at my stats with the approach I'm having, if I want to get five new clients, I need to have whatever now. I'm just gonna throw some random numbers. If I want to have five new clients, I need to have 25 sales calls which means that I need to send the invite to at least 75 people. So then you will know exactly from a quantitative standpoint what to focus on but the biggest tip is to focus on things that are doable. It's better to spend five minutes a day and be very focused.
00:46:34
and disciplined with what you do then try to say ah okay yeah this week we're gonna try to contact all the 200 people and then you get to maybe like tuesday and you're like oh i'm so fed up and then you just start to send random templates and you're not so and you're surprised that it's not working yeah i really like the quantification uh that you're really put like the statistics again the scientific uh perspective on the stuff like really logic like just don't over thinking no emotion just look at what you are working with right now and what works and what doesn't do you usually do it like one time per week or one time per month or quarter when you are like sitting down and you say what works or not what not and how you can move forward how frequently yeah that's a good question i think you need to have a window of time that has statistics
00:47:24
significance for example if i were to do it every day it wouldn't have much sense so i would say if somebody is starting out i would start probably first with at least 60 days for example for me i do it on a quarterly basis and i do it on a monthly basis but it's because it's something that i've already done for a while and i help people with so it sort of makes sense but if somebody is starting out i would say at Least track two months of activities, then you'll see exactly what the numbers are. Of course, you may be one percent more, one percent less, but at least you'll have the guidance that you need to be disciplined. So, if you know, okay, I need to contact 200 people in the next two months.
00:48:11
Just do the math: say, okay, if I contact somebody every day, how many people can I reasonably contact? Again, a random number, seven people per day. Okay, how much is that gonna take me? If it's five minutes per person, let's say it's 35 minutes. Do you have 35 minutes? If you don't, say okay, I'm not gonna contact seven people; I'm gonna contact only four, yeah, that's a really good tip yeah uh i have a last question from my side and it's about uh and uh like what have you learned throughout your uh career journey because you have like uh you already did like uh more than like 500 episodes and like uh you speak a lot about the lead
00:48:54
generation and the content etc so like when you look back at the start of your career uh what would be one thing that would really like help you in what what you already know now with all of your experiences but if you look back uh what would be the one thing that you would give advice to yourself because you for example were struggling with it and this would really help You from the beginning, I would that's a good question. There are several things I would tell myself, but probably also to tie it to the conversation we've been having, I would say to try to have a system like we talked about earlier as soon as possible, as basic as it can be, so that you start to keep track of things, so that then you're able to contact people, you know how to contact them when is the right time what to talk about what not to talk about.
00:49:48
If you have something new to sell, you can, oh, that person said no, courses are not for me; she may be somebody that I still contact. But instead of saying 'well, that's not really what I would say' Instead of trying to sell my course, I may say, 'Look, I'm excited because I have this new course coming out. Any chance that you could help me spread the word? You see, now that person is not useful like how people tend to think it's ah; she's not a good target because she's not gonna buy the course. But guess what? Maybe she's not buying the course but she introduces me three people. Yeah, or maybe she introduces me just one person but her budget would have been one and the budget of that person is five so technically she's introducing me to five like her from a budget standpoint, yeah!
00:50:38
So I would say to my younger self, 'I would say put a system In place as simple as it can be, but make sure that you put a system in place so that you are able to be disciplined yourself, so that you know you're the one person who is on the path, at least in your own way, so with that, I think it's okay. Let's say I want to sell my course, and then in that, I can, I can with the time feel like, and in times that are expensive, I will do something help to increase the revenue; it's okay. By the way, like if something may not work, and I couldn't do everything, and if something works, like I had to change it my or you know the process on how to then make it more innovative in the future, how to maximize it.
00:51:29
How to take on the board more people, or how to do it more automatic in general. So thank you so much, Yann, for this advice. I really enjoyed our podcast. And thank you to all of you who were listening to us about this lead generation episode of Innovatology and the podcast Create the Future Now. So, this was a really amazing episode about how to start with the lead generation, how to even like from the step number one, your CRM, then start to also use the Spark as your catalyst for the different leads, how to categorize them, and how to even un-broaden your bubble of the different contacts, and how to take it even to another level so that you can maximize your business and move to, for example, even in other spheres and like do something like HubSpot, for example, that they use other products inside their products.
00:52:36
So thank you so much, Yann. Do you have some last things that you would like to share with the audience? Well, it's definitely been a pleasure to, A, to be back in this new venture of yours, and also to do it in person, it's fun, because, you know, it's been a pleasure to be back in this new venture of yours, and also to do it in person, it's fun, because, like you, I do a lot of remote work, and I don't get to do interviews in person that often anymore. The final thing I would say is, there is a lot that we covered, but it's important that you start with the first step. Start small. If you wanna build a house, you start with the first brick.
00:53:10
You don't start with everything, you start with the first brick. And the last thing I would add is, if anybody has questions, or maybe you're getting started, and you would like, for me to have a look at what you're doing, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn, and let me know that you came through the Innovatology podcast. Yes, we will also put the link of Yann's LinkedIn below, so you can just simply click there, and let him know if you have some questions, or if you need help with anything. And in the meantime, while you are here, you also don't hesitate to subscribe, so the upcoming episodes won't be missed, because we have a lot, a lot for you in store for the future guests, about the different innovations, AI, how to use the future tools, and how to stay ahead of the digital innovation. So thank you so much, and see you again soon. Bye.
