The Business of Authority

When it makes sense to write a proposal and when to take a pass.The role of the sales interview in writing your proposal.How to capture the essence of the outcomes you’ll deliver in non-jargon (and avoid weasel words).Enticing your clients to actually read your proposal and learning to anchor high with the value you’re delivering.Adopting the posture of an expert and carrying it through in your proposal.Quotables“If you do a good job in the sales interview the proposal writes itself.”—JS“Every human being wants to be heard. So when you read a proposal and you go “Oh my God, they get it”…it’s huge.”—RM“Imagine that your contact is going to take your proposal and show it to their spouse or their CFO or their Board…it needs to be thoroughly 100% clear to a 10 year old.”—JS“Clients will tell you a low (budget) number and a newbie tries to hit that number. That’s the mistake.”—RM“Budget doesn’t matter…it’s is a made-up number that they (the client) based on a self diagnosis.”—JS“Consulting: you’re not an employee, they (the client) are not directing you. You are leading them to the promised land.”—RM

This week on TBOA, Rochelle and I talk about the importance of knowing how to get your clients to shout “Heck, yeah!”Talking PointsWhat your website is forWho your website is forWhat you want to happen in the first second a visitor lands on your pageThe importance of knowing the language of your ideal buyerWhat to do if niching down on an ideal buyer feels too riskyQuotable Quotes“If your site isn’t getting you leads, it’s broken. It might as well be down.”—JS“It’s really hard to decide what to say when you don’t know who you’re talking to.”—JS“It’s not about you. The client is the hero.”—RM“One attention grabbing headline can make all the difference.”—RM“Lots of people misuse Simon Sinek’s ‘Start With Why’ concept.”—JS“If you can articulate your client’s problem better than they can, they’ll assume you have the solution.”—JS“I know when people reach the right level of specificity because the words start flowing.”—JS“I’ve almost never encountered someone who was too niched down.”—JS“Before you give up on the niche, revisit your messaging.”—RM“There’s no way around it. You need to have conversations with your ideal buyers and REALLY listen to what they say.”—JS“To grow your business, listen to your ideal buyers and then speak their language.”—RMRelated linksSimon SinekAmy HoyPhilip MorganLaura ElizabethWe want you to be a part of our 150th episode!We’re planning a special episode for #150 and you can have a chance to participate! Just record your question and send it to me at jstark@jonathanstark.com and if it’s chosen, we will play your question and answer it on the show.Yours,—J

We're planning a special episode for #150 and you can have a chance to participate! Just record your question and send it to either of us and if it's chosen, we will play your question and answer it on the show. Evaluating the continuum from leading (like say thought leadership) to exploring in your space.How to know when to explore vs. when to lead.When “busy” feels productive, but is instead keeping you in exactly the same position—neither exploring nor leading.Deciding where on the exploring vs. leading continuum you want to be (for now).Making choices to give you quick wins while still playing the long game.Quotables“Exploring is about welcoming synchronicity, coincidence, luck and connection.”—JS “You might have phases where you explore…maybe your business model isn’t working so you decide to pivot and you open yourself up to ‘what other things could I do?’” —RM “You don’t have to have the map—you can make the map as you’re going. ”—JS “We naturally gravitate to different points on the spectrum. Even if right now you’re in an explore phase, that doesn’t mean that’s where you’re going to stay.” —RM

The value of starting small, including carefully curating the initial members you invite to your community.Growing your tribe organically by tapping into existing members and setting a consistent tone.How building an engaged community can build your authority quickly.How to position yourself (and your ideas) inside a community to increase your chances of being successful.How to think about the time you spend building community (hint: we’re talking business development).Where you’ll get your value as a member or community creator and why fostering more connections is good for everyone.Quotables“Growing a community…is not tons of work. It’s just a little bit of gardening-type work where you go out and weed the garden, water it a little bit and come back every day.”—JS “A community can be a warming plate—how you keep your people in motion or warming up until they’re ready to work with you.”—RM “If you’re looking for community and can’t find it, maybe you need to start it.”—JS “Part of building or engaging in a community is finding your people.”—RM 

Exploring the delicate balance between luck and skill in decision-making, the podcast delves into the challenges of shedding past identities to embrace new opportunities and growth. With an emphasis on preparing for bad luck and making recoverable bets, the speakers share personal experiences and insights on navigating adversity and strategic decision-making in various ventures.

When nurturing what you already have is more important than trying to reach a specific metric. How setting extreme goals can work provided they operate as motivation vs. a source of disappointment.The difference between progress metrics and success metrics—and how to use them to understand the trends in your business.Using social media metrics in meaningful ways.The relationship between business maturity and metrics.How the interrelationship of your services and products can impact how you measure both tangibles and intangibles.Quotables“When your estimate is kind of far off the actual, it can be extremely demoralizing.”—JS “Social media makes it so easy to measure someone by how many followers they have—but that’s not what matters. What matters is how does it move the needle on what you’re doing?” RM “You want to look for clients with more business maturity rather than less business maturity. Start-ups don’t have anything to measure—they have no numbers so there’s nothing to move.”—JS “Look behind the surface level of metrics so that you allow them to show you how you’re doing, but also to feed you in ways that are positive.” RM 

Why the extremes get stronger during massive change and why you don’t want to be in the middle.The real value of your brand and the experiences you deliver (vs. what you might think they are).How price aligns with value and the bargaining power of the market leader.Deciding which experiences and outcomes you want to promote.The value of being the head or the tail—and why as an authority the head is way more attractive.Quotables“When the internet comes for your industry…the middle gets destroyed.”—JS “The impact of the pandemic and people working from home is just going to accelerate the virtual nature of work.”—RM “Be Amazon or Apple.”—JS“As an authority, you want to be the head or the tail. The more you niche, the more opportunities you’ll have to be at the head.” RM 

This week, Jonathan and I tackled a listener question: What’s the best way to set-up a supportive technical ecosystem—website, email, podcast, billing, etc.—for the first time?We addressed this question strategically and then offered some tactical feedback on various platforms and systems to support your authority business:Why email is the centerpiece of your ecosystem (hint: it’s your relationship-building device).Looking for perfection in your systems is a waste of time—find the ones that give you the functionality you need with a small amount of room to grow into it.Deciding what you want your website to do—and letting that guide you to the right messaging, platforms and technology. Why SEO rarely moves the needle when you’re selling expertise—and what to use instead.The systems and software that support building trust and intimacy with podcasts and video.Quotables“Of this list of things, I don’t think the website is the most important...in a heartbeat, I’d delete my website before I’d delete my email list.”—JS “Your website is the strategic representation of you out in the world—so what do you want that to look like?”—RM “Invent your own keywords instead of buying keywords people are already searching for.”—JS “You don’t have to automate everything—you can start small and then move up…don’t let perfection be the enemy”—RM LinksLater.com for Instagram

The idea for this week’s episode of TBOA came from none other than Mister Rogers (as in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood) who articulated his big idea perfectly to journalist Tom Junod. How Mr. Rogers’ big idea changed the worldview of a cynical journalist—and how to apply the same framework to yours.A formula to start pinpointing your big idea (with a live example to see how it works in real life).Weaving the elements of a big idea into your marketing and branding.The psychic rewards from having your own business and the role your mindset plays in naming your big idea. Making your big idea crackle with emotion for your target audience.Quotables“A great big idea is really concise, really clear and really big.”—JS “Your big idea is focused not on you and what you do but on the result—the outcome, the transformation you deliver.”—RM “You know you’re onto something when you find the germ of an emotional reaction in your wording. You start thinking: that’s what I do—it makes me really happy and clients love these outcomes.”—RM “The less clear your big idea, the more drag there will be, the more waste there will be…if you can streamline your big idea, you can start zooming.”—JS 

Getting clear on the experiences and stories that have defined your life and your work (including an exercise to try on your own).Why you want to suspend judgment around your experiences and instead look for the connecting threads that your clients will value.Turning your experiences into powerful stories that align with your brand.Specific actions that allow you to go deeper with clients and prospects and (not coincidentally) sell more great-fit work.Using strategic graphic design to help translate your brand strategy into visuals (and how to choose a designer that is a good fit for you).Creating alignment between the experience of working with you and your stories, actions and visuals.Choosing powerful images that support your message.Quotables“Tactics work when they’re attached to strategy.”—RM“A lot of people—when they hear the word “brand”—think about the visual: a logo, colors, font…but that’s only a third of what we really mean when we talk brand.”—RM “It’s not a pitch. You’re not trying to impress anyone—you’re trying to find out if the client is a good fit for you.”—JS “Copying someone else’s visuals makes no sense—it doesn’t pass the sniff test.”—JS