Unleashed - How to Thrive as an Independent Professional

Show Notes: David A. Fields talks about the purpose of outreach emails and how to ensure they are effective. The purpose of outreach is not to sell, but rather to create conversations. He talks about both 'cold' outreach, which is to contacts who you don't know and 'cool' outreach, which is sending emails to people who the sender knows, but who have not been in contact in a few years. He also covers developing a tracking system, and follow-up calls.Regardless of the type of outreach, the goal is not to sell, but rather to create conversations that may lead to relationships and opportunities. David talks about the importance of creating meaningful conversations instead of transactional ones when reaching out to potential clients. He states that jumping right into "Do you need my help on anything?" or selling, can ruin a relationship. He suggests using the 111 Email approach which has been found to be extraordinarily effective. Instead of focusing on oneself, the email should be about the recipient and what they are interested in. This approach can get a response rate of 40-50%, which is a very high rate for cool outreach. David explains that the email should include only one line and one focus question. He gives an example of a 111 Email and emphasizes that the focus should always be on the other person and not on trying to sell something. David emphasizes that even if the person is not a client, it is still beneficial to talk with them as it increases the chances of business finding their firm, and that the more conversations one is a part of, the more likely it is that business will find their firm. Emails Questions that Engage Clients David shares an effective approach to continuing the conversation. One tip is to give a link to schedule a time for a call, and decide that it would be better to simply ask the other person if they would like to catch up. When asking someone for a quick catch up, conversation, or call, he suggests to not be too business-like and to keep it simple by starting with Are you up for a quick catch up? Follow up questions should include: "I'm gonna have my assistant scheduled something," "What about these times?" "How's next week?" etc., to make it easier for the other person to respond. He also suggests not asking too many questions on the email, but to keep it simple with the goal of getting the other person on the phone or into a Zoom call. David discusses the importance of using live conversations, as opposed to email or other messaging apps, in order to create better relationships with clients. He provides examples of how to transition from email conversations to live ones, such as asking if the client is open for a quick conversation and catch up. David also advises against using humor in emails, as it can often be misinterpreted and can put one at risk. The goal of the email is to get the client on a call. How to Contact People for Networking Purposes David talks about the best ways to contact people for networking purposes, including categories of emails people should use, such as job related, comments on LinkedIn, and questions that ask if an email address is still valid. He also talks about the frequency of emails and suggests sending them once every two to three months, and tracking the responses in a CRM system. He also offers tips on how to approach a person on LinkedIn who seems to be an interesting contact, but with whom you have no prior connection and suggests a few ways to reach out in a cold contact situation such as explaining why you are reaching out and how the contact could be beneficial to the client. Additionally, David recommends researching the person to get an understanding of their background and interests, and how the contact could be mutually beneficial. He suggests making the message personal and concise, and also including a call to action. To connect with potential clients, David suggests using personalized connections as a way to make a connection, such as referencing an affiliation they might have. He gives examples of successful email outreach and follow up messaging and timeline. Cold Leads in the Consulting Industry David talks about sales tactics for cold leads in the consulting industry. David recommends the Ben Franklin approach, which is asking for help with a project such as being interviewed for a podcast instead of trying to sell directly. He also suggests an aggressive reframe, where the consultant takes an opposing stance from the norm and then offers a solution. He offers examples to demonstrate how this works. He talks about how emails help improve lead generation. When asked if a direct approach like saying "here's what we do" is helpful, David responds that he has not seen it work and identifies the type of email content and approaches that are ineffective and questions that fail to engage. He also talks about the importance of crafting a personalized subject line. David explains that his team focuses on having a clear, one-topic message and keeping it personal. He also mentions that the subject line should be short and make it clear that the message is personal. With short, question emails, it may not be effective due to the high volume of spam emails using this format. David closes by sharing the one line follow up message and explaining why the "turn" works. Timestamps 04:24 How to Reach Out Without Being Transactional 06:51 Making Sense of 111 Emails 12:40 Building Relationships and Generating Business 15:00 Exploring Conversation Strategies for Professional Networking 16:56 Consistency and Influence in Networking 21:45 Maintaining Relationships Through Email and Other Messaging Apps 30:04 Network Core Frequency and the 2099 List 32:00 Creating a Personalized Connection Point for Cold Outreach 43:17 Effective Outreach Strategies 51:25 How to Use the "Turn" Technique for Professional Networking Links: Website: https://www.davidafields.com/ CONTACT INFO: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidafields/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_davidafields?lang=en Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Show Notes: Will Bachman and Ashlee Horn spoke about her practice, which focuses on coaching new sales leaders. Ashlee outlines the problem she is trying to solve that 50% of new sales leaders fail within the first year. She speaks about the lifecycle of a sales manager and why sales leaders are so important to an organization. She explains that she focuses on those who are new to frontline sales management or director roles. She works with star performers who have made the leap into leadership, and star managers who are now trying to manage teams of teams. Ashlee provides coaching for these roles to help them drive sustained behavior change. Training Sales Leaders Ashlee outlines her approach to promoting new sales leaders. She has identified six key areas of focus: building relationships, holding people accountable, multiplying themselves, creating a culture of execution, developing their team, and driving strategic planning. She stresses the importance of building relationships based on trust and value, as well as the need to be able to articulate what makes them successful. Additionally, she emphasizes the need for leaders to be able to hold people accountable and have candid conversations. Lastly, she highlights the importance of creating a culture of execution, developing their team, and driving strategic planning. All of these areas are essential for successful leadership. Ashlee recommends that salespeople prioritize the highest revenue generating activities, focus on effective communication, simplify complex topics, and use data-driven decision making. She has experience working with technology sales and service sales, specifically SAS sales. Time Management for Sales Managers For frontline salespeople, she recommends they focus on facetime with clients, build pipeline, and take care of customer service activities. For frontline sales managers, she suggests they prioritize their time and get six to ten people motivated to make changes to their daily habits that will lead to success. A good time allocation for a frontline sales manager with eight reps at a tech company may include focusing on individual team member goals, mentoring and coaching, analyzing data to make decisions, creating and executing sales plans, and managing customer relationships. Ashlee talks about the importance of reverse engineering a sales manager's priorities. According to Ashlee, the majority of the manager's time should be spent on coaching activities that improve customer retention, as this will be the highest revenue generating activity. This includes one-on-one meetings with the team members, team meetings, and individualized programs. Additionally, Ashlee suggested that the manager should spend 70% of their time with the team, observing calls, preparing for calls, and reviewing deals. The remaining 20% should be spent on broader team activities such as setting the vision, having internal meetings, and working with their VP or director to understand their marching orders as a sales leader, and 10% should be spent on understanding clients. Motivation Coaching for Sales Leaders She talks about assessing the motivators of their team members in order to come up with the best solutions for them, including looking at examples of mindsets other than the mindset of the sales rep who was promoted. She suggests looking at the broad category of growth and fixed mindset. This involves understanding how people respond to challenges, failure, and success, as well as their attitude towards change and effort. This can help sales managers come up with a roadmap for understanding different categories of motivation and how to best approach each person. Ashlee identifies different mindsets that salespeople may have and how to address them to develop an effective coaching strategy. The first mindset is the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset, where the growth mindset individual believes they are in control of their own success and the fixed mindset individual believes external factors determine their success. The second mindset is the individual who is not money motivated and does not want to be competitive. To address this mindset, Ashlee recommends focusing on uncovering what motivates the individual. Ultimately, it is important to understand the mindset of the individual in order to help them be successful in sales, and how to overcome the reluctance to sell to people who don't want to take the call or listen to the pitch. Accountability in Sales Management Ashlee talks about the concept of accountability in sales management. Ashlee points out that in order to hold team members accountable, managers should be explicit about expectations upfront and use data to ground conversations in facts and ensure objectivity, and that conversations should take place early and often. Moving on to teaching managers to scale their impact, Ashlee suggests that it begins with simplifying the complex and getting into habits that allow them to effectively and efficiently manage their teams. Ashlee explains how sales managers can multiply their impact. Ashlee recommends that they take the tacit knowledge they have and document it into a simple, repeatable process, known as unconscious competence, that can be shared with the team. She also suggests managers prioritize their time and their messaging with the team to align with moving a key performance indicator (KPI). Additionally, Ashlee suggested that instead of spending a lot of time one-on-one, managers should offer batch coaching sessions with two or three reps who are newer or working on the same skill. She also explains what they should prioritize to be most effective, and how she helps sales managers with communication techniques. Data-driven Decision Making On data-driven decision making, Ashlee explains that it is important for leaders to be able to react to data and anticipate decisions for the business instead of responding emotionally. Ashlee then gives an example of a leader who noticed their team was not making many calls and assumed that improving that would help, when in fact the data showed that their conversion rate on cold calls was already high. She explains which metrics they should focus on and which ones should be avoided. Ashlee advises that the front end of the funnel is the easiest to track and that looking at the data can help leaders to identify more effective solutions. How Sales Managers Navigate Their Roles Ashlee talks about how new sales managers can navigate their roles. She stresses the importance of focusing on the quality of conversations, rather than just quantity. As a sales manager, it's important to judge conversations based on the organization's expectations, and setting clear objectives for the call, and if the client is clear on why they should take another meeting. For sales directors, the challenge is coaching through a layer and helping managers foster their individual style. Ashlee also offers advice for independent consultants on cold outreach, suggesting that they should research the customer and approach the call with a point of view. People enjoy being told about what they're excited about, and if the consultant is wrong, the customer will be happy to correct them. Ashlee shares how to create a compelling message when trying to build a relationship with a Chief Strategy Officer. She suggests that the message be more detailed and have a point of view, rather than a generic one, as that could be seen as uninteresting and not differentiate the sender from others. Ashlee believes that having a point of view is bolder than a generic approach and that it is better to be wrong and have a point of view than not have one. Timestamps: 03:51 Structured Program for Onboarding New Sales Leaders 06:58 Sales Leadership Prioritization and Time Allocation 09:06 Reverse Engineering Priorities for Sales Managers 11:54 Effective Sales Management Strategies 13:53 Strategies to Motivate Sales Teams 15:05 Different Mindsets in Sales Teams 21:13 Accountability and Scaling Impact for Sales Managers 26:24 Multiplying Impact and Prioritizing in Sales Management 28:24 Effective Communication in Sales Management 32:14 Engaging Participants and Performance-Based Conversations Links: Website: HornSalesCoaching.com Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Josh Leibowitz spent 13 years at McKinsey and was elected partner in New York. He then moved to Miami and grew the office there before joining Carnival, the largest leisure company in the world. He talks about the ideas behind Parenting MBA, a book that aims to help parents give their children the skills they need to be successful in life. Josh joined the cruise line Cunard as Chief Strategy Officer, and eventually became president of the luxury brand Seaborne. Post COVID, he was tasked with supporting the relaunch of the line, and made it his goal to ensure every employee was back to work. This spring, Josh left the company after bringing back 4,000 employees and launching a new expedition division. Josh explores misconceptions people have about the cruise industry, explaining that most people don't appreciate how special of a way it is to see the world, as it's 70% water. He added that Seaborne specialized in three different kinds of places: big cities, secondary cities, and remote expedition destinations like Antarctica and Greenland. During lockdown, as a father of three children, Josh had more time to reflect on how much time work took from family life. He reflected on how his experiences from work could be used in parenting and decided to write the book, Parenting MBA, which applies the principles of success in business to raising and preparing children for life as an adult. He stresses the fact that he is not a parenting expert and that the book merely puts forward points that he has found to be successful in his life. An Inside Look at the Book, Parenting MBA The book is divided into three sections: getting the vision right, managing the day-to-day, and long-term performance. The first lesson of the book is to act as a mentor to your children and show them unwavering support. Josh believes this can help you raise incredible human beings. He provides a case study example from Harvard, in which a student suggested that rather than firing an employee who was underperforming, they should mentor them instead. Josh reflects on their own experience with mentors who overlooked mistakes he made, and how mentorship helps people develop and achieve goals. Josh talks about what it takes to be a mentor. Josh explains that the first characteristic of being a mentor is having an unmatched belief in the mentee and what they can do. Even as an adult, it can be difficult to believe in oneself and thus having a mentor who has an unmatched belief in the mentee is special. The second characteristic is having close and meaningful interactions. Mentors often know more about the mentee than the mentee knows about themselves. Trust and honesty is a key component of the relationship, and the mentor should also be demanding, providing encouragement while also pointing out errors. Management and Branding Techniques Applied to Parenting Josh talks about the concept of applying management techniques to parenting, including: setting a vision, creating patterns, building trust and honesty, and helping children overcome barriers. One of the points, defining a brand, is the idea of linking marketing and branding to a child's self worth and understanding of what they are all about. He focuses on the concept of helping people, and especially children, understand themselves and their brand better. The idea of a brand having two sides is presented: the intrinsic side, which is the brand values, and the extrinsic side, such as what the brand delivers or what skills the child has. He proposes three intrinsic values for consideration, starting with being a good person, then striving to reach one's full potential, and finally, finding one's voice. The idea is to encourage children to find their own brand values and to use them to become successful people. He suggests talking with children about their favorite brands and asking them what they think they stand for. He also discussed the balanced scorecard to manage the day-to-day challenges, which is used to evaluate the performance of a company, and suggested applying this to parenting by looking at the child's core skills, activities, relationships and good person attributes. Being a Vacation SuperHero and a Lifelong Learner Josh is curious about the concept of taking vacations seriously and conducted a global study with over 100,000 respondents and focus groups. He believes that being a vacation superhero is important and gave a TED talk on the topic. He shares a story where he was at a resort in Miami with his wife and family, in the pool with the kids but still distracted by work. The idea behind being a vacation superhero is to treat vacation time as seriously as one would treat work time, in order to gain the most out of the experience. Josh talks about the concept of the indispensable complex and how it can be used to better balance work and play in our lives, and the idea of focusing on taking time off and treating it as seriously as one would treat work because this is often when the best ideas break through. Josh and Will discuss inspiring lifelong learning, suggesting that continuous learning is key to staying relevant. He encourages stimulating curiosity, engaging in self awareness, and being flexible and adaptable. Finally, he emphasizes the importance of lifelong learning with passion projects such as a TED talk and his book. He also reads a lot of both fiction and non-fiction to get ideas. He has recently been focusing on the intersection of human and artificial intelligence. Finally, he suggests taking long-term time off to increase learning capacity. Timestamps 04:13 Josh Leibowitz on His New Book, Parenting MBA 11:05 Mentorship and Mentor Characteristics 12:59 Parenting Strategies for Raising Successful Children 16:46 Branding, Balanced Scorecards, and Parenting 21:33 Raising Balanced and Compassionate Children 24:38 The Benefits of Being a Vacation Superhero 33:46 Lifelong Learning and Choosing Books to Read Links: Website: https://www.parentingmba.com/ CONTACT INFO: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leibowitzjosh/ Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Show Notes: Mahan Tavakoli is a consultant, leadership coach, and host of the podcast Partnering Leadership. He talks about his podcast, the incredible guests he has had on his show, and his time at the Dale Carnegie Leadership Institute. Mahan has been an avid podcast listener for over a decade, and he decided to launch his own podcast in 2020. His podcast focuses on the journey of CEOs and leaders in the Greater Washington DC region. He has interviewed some impressive names and his show is now in the top 1% of podcasts in the leadership category. He credits the pandemic for allowing him to make his podcast more antifragile, as he is now able to reach a much wider audience. Promoting a Podcast and Crafting a Compelling Story As the host of the podcast Partnering Leadership, he has conversations with CEOs from the Greater Washington, DC DMV region on Tuesdays, and leadership book authors on Thursdays. He has interviewed authors such as Seth Godin, Ken Blanchard, John Kotter, Stephen Covey, and Ciaran. He offers tips on reaching out to authors, including using the momentum of the podcast being in the top 1% of podcasts, and often the agents for the authors who want to promote their book reach out to help promote the book. CEOs he interviews are often people he knows well enough to invite on to the show. He shares what he has learned from the CEOs he has interviewed and notes that they have a tremendous sense of humility and confidence, as well as a growth mindset, and are constantly looking to learn. Mahan talks about the importance of storytelling for CEOs. He believes the key to a great story is to focus on one moment in time and draw inspiration from Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey. He suggests that the leader be the guide of the story, not the hero. He also sends stories of successful storytelling to CEOs, so they can learn to do the same. This will help them communicate their story both internally and externally, which can strengthen the organization. Podcast Promotion, Content Development, and Distribution Mahan and Will discuss strategies for promoting a podcast. Mahan offers valuable tips, including creating micro content, posting on other places, and getting guests to send out notes. He also suggested posting on LinkedIn as a way to raise awareness. He suggests creating multiple pieces of content from each episode to promote over a six month period. His team focuses primarily on promoting on LinkedIn, but also shares content on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Mahan discusses how he has focused his content development on LinkedIn to get the most traction. He also explains how videos from his interviews go up on YouTube, even though less than 1% of his audience actually watch them. He shares a story of when he got a great client, where he believes they discovered him from his website, podcast, and personal relationships and networking. Overall, he has seen great benefits from his podcast, including building relationships and learning new things, as well as landing new clients. He explains how his team repurposes content to post on social media over a six month period, and how this is important to reach people who like to consume media in a variety of different ways. From Salesperson to Chief Strategy Officer at Dale Carnegie Mahan shares his experience of working for Dale Carnegie, emphasizing the importance of sincerity and genuineness when building relationships with others. Mahan has found that his podcast has helped build his reputation and credibility throughout the business community and has received many referrals who know him as an authority in business leadership. He is currently working with CEOs and senior leadership teams. His practice also involves individual coaching sessions and consulting services. Mahan started as a salesperson but eventually moved up to helping start franchises internationally as his board of directors sought to expand their operations. Despite the busy travel schedule, Mahan was able to successfully contribute to the CEO's strategic vision and was eventually promoted to Chief Strategy Officer. Through this position, he has been able to lead the organization in constant reinvention and adaptation. Success As a Business Executive As a business executive Mahan was constantly on the road, but he realized that his values of family could not be seen in his lifestyle. As a result, he decided to stay in DC, and he started a youth-serving organization to help underserved youth gain access to college and internships. Mahan believes that it is important for the right people to take the right kids to work, so that they can see the opportunities available to them. He has dedicated his life to providing these opportunities to young people and inspiring them to look at the world differently. He has also been active in the regional community, serving on the board of directors of the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the executive committee of Leadership Greater Washington. His regional focus allows him to take advantage of the relationships he has built in the area, while also allowing him to spend more time with his family. Mahan stresses the importance of developing relationships and differentiating oneself in the business world. He highlights the importance of building trust, which can be accomplished by showing genuine interest in the other person, and having genuine conversations. He also discusses the importance of brand names and noted that he has been warmly received in various countries because of his affiliation with Carnegie. Finally, he stresses the importance of focusing on differentiating oneself rather than trying to be better than others. Timestamps 01:24 Mahan Tavakoli's Journey to Becoming a Top 1% Podcast Host 03:16 Insights from CEOs and Leadership Book Authors 10:05 Analysis of CEO Storytelling: Examining What Makes a Great Story Resonate 16:32 Exploring Strategies for Promoting Content on Social Media 18:17 Exploring the Benefits of Content Development for LinkedIn and Other Platforms 24:52 Mahan Tavakoli's Journey from Dale Carnegie Training to Chief Strategy Officer 29:06 Regional Focus in Consulting and Coaching 33:05 Leveraging Regional Relationships and Trust Building with Dale Carnegie 39:07 Building a Leadership Brand 41:26 Appreciating Hard Work and Giving Back Links: Website: https://mahantavakoli.com/ Podcast: https://www.partneringleadership.com/ Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Show Notes: John Driscoll is the President of Walgreens Boots Alliance and the co-host of the second largest healthcare podcast on YouTube, CareTalk. In this episode, host Will Bachman welcomed John to the show. John has extensive experience in the healthcare industry, having played a leading role in creating successful companies like MedCo, Surescripts, Oxford Health Plans, and Care Centrix. John discusses topics such as monkeypox, mask mandates, baby formula shortages, Silicon Valley Bank's failure, and healthcare related topics. He also shares his opinions on a variety of healthcare issues. The Future of Pharmacies John started his career in health care after being influenced by his mother, a nurse. After college, he developed housing programs for homeless and mentally ill people. He then became a management consultant, before moving to Asheville Health Plan. He has worked in multiple parts of the health industry spectrum, gaining experience in Medicare and Medicaid. He has found his career to be full of big and challenging problems, but is motivated to improve the world and create successful businesses. His main initiatives involve investing in Village MD, Summit, and Espadin Shield Specialty Pharmacy to show how an integrated pharmacy and clinical model can improve outcomes at lower cost. Walgreens is also working with health plans and has 9000 stores and 90,000 clinicians to provide access and convenience, trust, and traffic. Their goal is to become essential in healthcare by leveraging their expertise in retail and pharmacy services. He discusses how pharmacies can become better partners to health plans by taking advantage of their advantages in brand marketing, trust, convenience, and patient specificity. He shares a specific example of how a large regional health plan achieved a return rate of three times greater on colorectal screenings than before they partnered with the pharmacy. The pharmacy was also able to increase the rate of colorectal screenings up to 51% in underserved areas due to the support of non-clinical personnel in their stores. Additionally, the pharmacy is partnering with health plans to reduce admissions to nursing homes by 20% through nurse visits, follow-ups, and care navigation. The system leads to better patient and contact information. Overall, the pharmacy is providing an invaluable service in helping health plans lower costs while improving outcomes. He explains how his company invests in bespoke automation machines to allow pharmacists to spend more face-to-face time with patients, and how pharmacists could be more involved and take on more responsibility in the treatment of patients and how this would expand access to more care in an overburdened health system. Pharmaceutical Healthcare, the Pandemic, and Value-based Care John reflects on health regulations and restrictions and also the risk taking and flexibility that came into place under the COVID pandemic. He confirms how important it is to prepare for pandemics in terms of vaccine supplies, communication, and pre-deploying and integrating national and state employees in operations. He also notes the critical role of pharmacies in crisis situations. He tackles the issue of employee burnout and the current pharmacist shortage and the steps Walgreens is taking to solve the problem across states. On value-based care, he explains how it is the future, especially in the U.S. where healthcare is more expensive than any country in the world, how this is unacceptable, and how this should be approached to address health issues earlier to avoid hospitalization. The CareTalk Podcast John talks about the inspiration and intention of his podcast, what the content is and what has surprised him throughout the conversations. Guests that have been on his podcast include Andy Slavitt, Zeke Emanuel, Tony Cosgrove, and Amy Abernathy. When asked what he learned from his guests, John shares that he was surprised to find out that even though healthcare is very complicated and people are in silos, there is still room for novel and provocative opinions that can be explained. He also found out that everybody knows that drug costs are too high, but there are practical ways to bring them down without destroying the biotechnology industry that is creating new drugs to cure aging and extend lifespans. The podcast explores various issues surrounding health care and how to best address them. Toby Cosgrove from the Cleveland Clinic brought up the importance of creating heart-centered care in a large inner city hospital. It was noted that there are a lot of people working on solutions to healthcare problems, such as telehealth and AI to solve labor shortages. He also touches on the potential for AI and Chat GPT to be used in health care. While it is still early days, he mentions that there have been some companies experimenting with using these tools. Health Care and AI John talks about the impact of artificial intelligence on healthcare. He believes that AI has the potential to reduce administrative costs and waste in healthcare by simplifying billing and reconciliation processes. He also believes that AI can help in drug discovery, clinical pathways, and personalized care. He is looking forward to having guests on CareTalk with whom he can discuss the economy, healthcare costs, and the pandemic's effect on inflation. He wants to discuss the current chaotic economic landscape that is impacting healthcare, and the labor industry in particular. He mentions the growth of traveling nurses who are paid by private equity firms and how hospitals have had the worst six months financially in US history. He sources his information from HealthTech Nerds, the Washington Post, New York Times, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Health Affairs, and Jim and Science, the MIT Tech Review, Science and Cell, all as good sources of information. He suggests Kaiser Family Foundation and Kaiser Health News as exceptional sources, as well as government sources such as CMS for basic data. Timestamps 03:20 Walgreens Boots Alliance's Healthcare Initiatives 06:35 Partnering with Health Plans to Improve Outcomes and Lower Costs 09:52 Improving Patient Care Through Pharmacist Interaction 10:48 Automated Fulfillment Centers and Patient Care at Walgreens 28:45 Healthcare Innovations 31:54 Exploring Solutions to Healthcare Challenges 32:15 The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Healthcare 36:49 Exploring the Impact of the Changing Labor Industry on Healthcare Links: https://www.caretalkpodcast.com/ https://www.walgreens.com/ Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Show Notes: On May 12, 2023, Chad Oakley, CEO of Charles Aris, a top retained search firm in the US for placing former and current management consultants, spoke to members of Umbrex about the current state of the job market for consultants. Chad gave an introduction to Charles Aris and spoke about their strategy practice. He encouraged attendees to ask questions to make the conversation interactive. The conversation focused on the job market for consultants, including the current state of the market, the opportunities available, and the strategies consultants should use to navigate the market. Chad offered his perspective on the job market and provided insights for consultants looking for positions. Charles Aris, Executive Search Firm Charles Aris is a classic executive search firm that has been in business for 54 years and has 90 team members located across 15 states. They specialize in bespoke searches and their five main areas of focus are strategy, corporate development, finance and accounting, engineering, operations and supply chain, and sales and marketing. Their client base is split between private equity firms and non-private equity organizations. They also produce monthly newsletters about their searches and offer reports and compensation studies. Charles Aris has the largest strategy recruiting practice in the United States and their practice is headed by a former consultant from Deloitte Consulting and Wharton MBA. They specialize in placing current and former strategy consultants from firms such as Bain, BCG and McKinsey in various positions from pre-MBA level to partner level. Increased Demand for Management Consultants Since May 2022, the United States experienced unprecedented economic growth during the past year and unprecedented numbers of employees leaving current positions which led to a shortage of staff in many firms. As a recruiting firm, Charles Aris was overwhelmed with search requests and had to implement a 40-day delay on all new searches for the first time in its 54-year history. A pullback started in December, and interest rates were raised to tame inflation, even if that meant driving the economy into a recession. We are now in the middle of a transition from a 100% candidate-driven market to a 75% company-driven market. Despite this, mixed messages are coming from the market causing confusion; major corporations such as Amazon are announcing sizable layoffs, while the monthly labor reports are robust and unemployment rates have fallen. Chad explains what is behind the conflicting reports between the numbers. He goes on to explain how this has impacted the consulting sector, how numbers of hires have fallen dramatically compared to the previous year. He mentions how major consulting firms are rolling out their playbook, how they are managing people out, and promotions are slowing, taking on fewer hires, and he identifies a common lie amongst top-tier consulting firms when it comes to promotion, and what many firms are offering in terms of "transition payments" to accommodate moving people out of the firm. Areas of Demand for Management Consultants However, he also talks about what firms are looking for in terms of remote or on-location hires. He talks about the areas of consulting where there is an increase in demand for transformation skill sets. He explains that companies want to reduce their cost structure and are in need of transformation and cost containment experts. Companies have built up investments during the hay days and now need help unwinding them. Companies need assistance in cost containment as they look to their future and realize they likely won't hit their revenue targets. These transformation and cost containment services can help them reduce their cost structure, allowing them to be successful in the coming years. Private equity firms are facing a challenging time right now, as the cost of capital has increased and deal flow has slowed. To make up for this, private equity firms are investing in their existing portfolio companies to make sure they reach their full potential. There is a spike in demand for individuals who specialize in areas such as transformation and cost cutting, finance and accounting, talent professionals, and operations and supply chain. CFOs are the hardest positions for companies to fill due to a demand and supply imbalance. He recommends that independent consultants should specialize in a few areas to ensure they are able to take advantage of the current market demand with Finance as the highest area of demand. The Demand for Specialists over Generalists In the current economic downturn, companies are less likely to take risks on hiring generalists and more likely to hire specialists for projects. Companies want to make sure that their money is being spent in a way that will yield a strong return. Therefore, it is important for people to identify their true specialties and market themselves aggressively as a specialist in those areas. This can be difficult, as it is tempting to present oneself as a generalist in order to secure more work. However, companies in an economic downturn are more likely to look for specialists they can trust to get the job done. Chad offers key tips on how to market oneself in the current down market. Chad shares that demand is steady across all industries, with insurance companies being particularly consistent in their hiring practices; general financial services, life sciences, and healthcare also show steady demand. Consumer-facing and retail jobs, however, have seen less demand. To illustrate the extent of the downturn, he states that in the first four months of this year, they have enacted 30% fewer searches and that one should prepare for the ongoing downturn by cranking up their marketing efforts and skills. Finally, he also discusses some of the challenges consultants may face, such as the importance of having a strong online presence and demonstrating value to potential clients. The International and Future Market for Consulting Services Charles Aris represents the U.S. but has 50 partners in other countries. He shares feedback from their annual meeting in Columbia this year that a recession in the U.S. affects the rest of the international community and that a recession is inevitable. To ride the wave, Chad recommends taking proactive steps to deal with an economic downturn. He shares how they have seen a reduction in compensation rises without a decrease in current compensation. He shares how major consulting firms such as McKinsey are managing to maintain their current fees with their clients. In terms of the Data Science market, this is a no-lose career choice moving forward, but in the ESG sustainable market, a lot of companies consider this a luxury and it's not at the core of their business, Chad forecasts that companies will downplay the focus in this area. He confirms that corporations will reach out to independent consulting firms especially when they are experts in the fields of Finance, AI, Data Science, and Big Data, in addition to healthcare companies and hospital systems that may need to hire a boutique firm. How Independent Consultants Get Noticed by Recruiting Firms Chad explains that, despite how extremely talented and experienced his clients may be, they can't always place top talent with a company. The candidate's skills must be specific in alignment with the company's demands. When reaching out to an executive search firm, focus on the information on the resume because the resume will be uploaded to the internal database which will be matched with queries. Also, Identify what you are looking for in the initial email, but Chad also recommends that applicants should continue to network. When asked about working for private equity firm's portfolio companies, Chad explains that it's advisable to approach the professionals in the private equity firm to gain a better understanding on what the firm wants to accomplish and who to contact. He offers advice on email subject headings, the type of quantifiable information that will get you noticed, and when to follow up. He also explains how consultants who have "been on the beach" for an extended "vacation" should approach firms. Timestamps: 05:42: Current State of the Job Market 19:44: The demand for independent consultants vs. demand for consulting firms 24:02 Consulting Demand in Times of Uncertainty: Transformation and Cost Containment Skill Sets 32:31 Quantifying Expertise to Secure Consulting Gigs and Hiring Former Consultants for Full-Time Jobs 34:56 Impact of Recession on Recruiting and Consulting Services 37:51 Exploring the Impact of the US Economy on Business Development and Marketing Strategies 35:18 Bracing for a Tough Year: Insights from International Search Firms 39:36 Recession Strategies and Fee Levels in the Consulting Industry 54:09 Leveraging Independent Consulting Experience for Full-Time Roles Links: Website: https://charlesaris.com/ Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Show Notes: Evan Polin, founder and operator of Polin Performance Group, talks about how his firm helps professionals in the service industry build their businesses and grow their practice. He helps them get in front of their ideal clients, make sure they're not giving away their expertise for free, and qualify opportunities more quickly. He also helps them take a strategic approach to problem solving and use their expertise to close more business with the kind of clients they'd like to work with. Evan provides professional services firms with sales and business development advice. He starts with a diagnostic, using the Harver behavioral-based assessment tool. This gives him a 35-page report on the client's strengths and weaknesses in sales and business development. He asks about the client's goals and what kind of practice they want to build, how much revenue they'd like to develop, and what their mix of clients should be. He then puts together a customized business development plan to help the client reach their goals. Strategy to Leverage Your Contacts Evan helps individuals and businesses reach their goals by breaking down the process scientifically. He typically starts with helping them understand how to get in front of the right opportunities. He also helps with issues such as people feeling like they are being used for free consulting, and those not getting as many referrals as they think they should be. He helps them leverage the relationships they have already developed, and figure out the most effective way to use them to get introduced to the right people and focus on the right opportunities. To get in front of opportunities, he advises clients to first sit down and think about what their ideal client looks like and whom they need to target within an organization, and what the engagement looks like. Furthermore, he suggests leveraging their relationships and current context to start by downloading their LinkedIn connections into a CSV file. This file can then be separated into three categories - A list, B list, and C list. A list contacts are those who are more likely to get back to the consultant within a week. The B list is composed of contacts who may take a bit longer to respond, while the C list includes those who may not respond at all. Cold Outreach Tips and Using Sales Navigator Evan talks about reaching out through telephone calls and emails. He explains how to be successful with cold outreach, and suggests that it is better than making a cold call but cautions not to set expectations too high as the response rate would still be low. Common best practices include sending a message that introduces the person and their role, and mentioning any connections they might have in common. Evan explains how to use Sales Navigator to manage the outreach list of contacts. Evan suggests sending messages to carefully selected prospects, and paying attention to who is looking at your profile. He also suggested filtering out those with less than 500 connections, as they are likely not active on the platform. Polin highlights the importance of understanding the psychology of sales and marketing, and how it can be used to target the right people. He also mentions that if someone views your profile, but does not respond, it is worth reaching out again in a week or so. Evan suggests ending the message with an open question in order to get a response rate. Evan added that he often sends a short version of his elevator speech, which outlines the biggest challenges he helps people with and then inquires which of those things the other person is running into. This is done to see if the contact is responsive and to see if they are a good potential prospect. Reaching Out to Past Contacts Evan talks about how he reaches out to people he served in the past in order to get referrals. He suggests to start by reconnecting with them, asking how they have been and what has changed. He also suggests sharing what he is currently working on, and to ask them if they know anyone who could be a good introduction for him. Evan also suggests that if someone has referred him in the past to remind them of how they first started working together. When it comes to following up, Evan suggested to follow up two to four weeks later and to keep a spreadsheet with the date of outreach and the result of the outreach. He has found that, recently, a call is regarded as more personal and people are more likely to respond. He also talks about reaching out through email and effective subject lines. How to Leverage Relationships for Referrals Evan explains that most people don't ask for referrals. If it's a current client, he suggests asking how satisfied they are with the service provided. He finds that if he shares information about his business, it allows him to present a broader range of services and plant the seed for future referrals. He also suggests the kinds of clients that would be a good fit. He also puts a timestamp on the conversation to see how interested they are in offering the referral. He also offers tips on how to reach out to contacts on LinkedIn who don't really know you. A 20% response rate is considered a good result and he stresses adding a bit of nuance to the message to show that it is coming from a real person and not a bot, offers a handy tip on using your profile to determine interest in your outreach, and how to reach out to and follow up with potential clients with whom you have no connections and/or do not return your messages, and when to put them on the back burner. Timestamps: 05:27 Top Challenges Faced by Professional Service Firms 08:07 Exploring Strategies for Gaining Access to More Opportunities 10:32 Exploring Strategies for Reaching Out to Ideal Targets 14:22 Business Development Consulting Practice 15:29 Networking and Introductions 32:58 Crafting an Effective Cold Outreach Message 35:03 Exploring Sales Coaching and Psychology Strategies on LinkedIn 36:12 Cold Outreach Strategies for Consulting Firms 37:55 Reaching Out to Past Clients and Following Up 44:30 Cold Outreach Strategies for Business Development 46:15 Follow-Up Strategies for Outreach Success Links: Polin Performance Group www.polinpg.com Selling Professional Services the Sandler Way: Or, "Nobody Ever Told Me I'd Have to Sell!" CONTACT INFO: evan@polinpg.com 215-970-2360 (office) Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Show Notes Sarrah Rose is an executive intimacy coach who runs the firm CEO on Fire. CEO on Fire helps senior level executives optimize their lives. Sarrag works with clients to help them achieve personal growth and spiritual development. She has been working in this field for the past 10 years, and rebranded to CEO on Fire to focus on executives specifically. Sarrah works with primarily male senior executives to help them balance their personal and professional lives. She looks at their relationships, sex lives, and other aspects of being human to give them more fun in life. Some of the challenges of working with senior executives include having less time for family, travel, and the specific personality type needed to become a CEO. ADHD is common among executives and can be both a superpower and a challenge. The benefits include hyper focus, the ability to see the bigger picture and from different perspectives, there's also a lot of sexual energy. Sarrah introduces her clients to tantra which helps them use and channel this sexual energy productively. She has noticed that many clients are self-made and grew up in a more impoverished situation. This change in their lives often leads to a disconnect with who they were and who they are now, and how they are perceived. Rose helps her clients overcome these difficulties and create a balance between their personal and professional lives to better enjoy their lives. Relationship Challenges of Senior Executives Sarrah talks about the challenges that high-powered male executives face in their roles as fathers and in their relationships with their significant other. Sarrah explained that presence and empathy is one of the biggest areas that executives need to focus on to provide for their children. They need to be able to give their children their undivided attention and love, safety, and belonging. Sarrah explains that the process she takes her clients through helps them develop these skills. Will asks Sarrah how executives manage to shift roles from boss at work to partner at home. Sarrah explains that it depends on the relationship. She talks about the initial attraction to the partner is a combination of nature and nurture, and that the attraction is often tied to wounding. To navigate this, Sarrah helps her clients understand the layers of attraction, create more intimacy, and be aware of the different seasons of relationships and how to intelligently navigate the changes and the tough times. Sarrah believes that one of the challenges that these executives often face is understanding the difference between men and women, and how to seduce their partners and maintain a state of heightened arousal. To help her clients, Sarrah suggests flirting through text throughout the day and engaging in roleplay and fantasy before you enter the bedroom. She also emphasizes the importance of leaving business talk out of their relationship and engaging in more light-hearted and fun conversations. Sarrah also mentions the importance of maintaining friends outside of one's work life. Some have stayed connected to people from their past and have maintained those long lasting relationships, while others have not. Strategies Used in Executive Intimacy Coaching When she starts working with a client, Sarrah starts off with an introductory call with her clients and then follows up with a diagnostic session. During this session, Sarrah gets to understand what her client is looking for and engages on a personal level. When it comes to exercises and tips, Sarrah explains that communication is the most important and also the most difficult area for her clients to master, especially when it comes to discussing intimate sexual and emotional conversations. She offers a few questions to help explore and connect on a deeper level. Sarrah notes that the first and most important area to focus on with clients is their relationship with themselves, including patterns of self-sabotage, trauma, and triggers. Throughout the program, Sarrah explains that they use four main strategies that begin dealing with the nervous system, including breath, sound, movement, and focus, which can be combined in different ways. By using these strategies, clients can release stress cycles and better understand their own needs and desires. Additionally, Sarrah helps clients focus on what one desires to create in life and then looking at where there are fears, resistances, and self-limiting beliefs that need to be worked through in order to move forward. By understanding oneself and engaging in self-reflection, it is possible to build a strong relationship with oneself and achieve one's goals. Sarrah adds that sleep is a common issue among senior executives, who often struggle to fall asleep due to the demands of their job and the inability to turn off their minds; she suggests specific questions and practices to help address this issue. CEO Case Study and Dating in Today's World Sarrah talks about how high-powered CEOs approach dating in today's world. She shares a success story from one of her clients who was in an abusive relationship and how she helped him heal and prepare for his next relationship. Sarrah recommends that high-profile CEOs use matchmakers and that she works with the matchmakers to help her clients find the right person to have a fulfilling relationship. Sarrah also shares that she personally uses dating apps and that she sees many high-profile CEOs on the apps. Sarrah explains that she works with the top 1% of men, helping them to become more confident and successful with women. She also shares that she makes organic introductions for her clients if they seem to be a good fit. Sarrah emphasizes that men need to be willing to do the work necessary to make successful relationships with women. Timestamps 01:32 The Challenges of Senior Executives' Personal Lives 09:48 Seduction Tips for CEOs 11:26 Maintaining Friendships Outside of Work 12:57 Intimacy and Sexual Energy Exercises 14:31 Relationship and Sexuality Coaching 22:29 Exploring Intuitive Movement and Sounding for Self-Exploration and Transformation 22:53 Sleep and Habits for CEOs 26:38 Sleep Challenges for Senior Executives 27:32 Executive Intimacy Coaching 29:59 Success Story: High-Powered CEO Overcomes Insecurities After Divorce and Prepares for Next Relationship Links: https://ceoonfire.com/ https://www.instagram.com/sarrahrosenyc/ CONTACT INFO: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ceoonfire/ Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Show Notes Author Jimmy Soni kicks off the conversation by explaining why the PayPal mafia is more noteworthy than other large startups. Soni explains that he wrote the book to document not only the business successes, but also the personal stories of the founders. He explains that the market has been good and that people can learn a lot of new things from the book. Soni reveals that his favorite thing about the book is learning about the inventiveness and innovation PayPal had. The Birth and Growth of the PayPal Mafia Jimmy and Will discuss the phenomenon of the PayPal Mafia, the group of entrepreneurs who emerged from PayPal's success and went on to found some of the most successful companies in Silicon Valley. Soni explains that the PayPal Mafia is a unique phenomenon because the founders were relatively young when PayPal was successful, they had faith that businesses on the internet could be successful, and they supported each other's ventures. PayPal alumni invested in and supported each other's companies, and they hired alumni as their first employees. This mutual support and collaboration was key to the success of the PayPal Mafia, and their success has been a major factor in the success of Silicon Valley. He shares how PayPal was able to succeed in the early 2000s due to their right timing and how important that was, the selection of very talented people, and the nurturing of their employees. They were able to take advantage of the increasing ubiquity of email addresses and the platform of eBay, which hadn't yet sorted out its payment infrastructure. They also managed to survive the .com burst and make a successful IPO. This was due to their selection of very smart and entrepreneurial people, and their experiences of putting a company together from scratch and having it be a success. He mentions how the book The PayPal Wars by Eric M. Jackson shows how messy real companies can be and how PayPal started out as two companies, Con Finiti and X.com, that merged and began toying around with the idea of beaming money from one palm pilot to another. Building a Startup Jimmy reflects on his experience of studying the formation of PayPal and how it taught him about Silicon Valley strategy and the messiness of how companies actually grow. He emphasizes that building a company from scratch is much harder than most people think and that things that seem inevitable can often look ridiculous at the start. He demonstrates this by using the example of the Palm Pilot that was labeled one of the 10 worst business ideas of the 1990s but that company became PayPal. He emphasizes that researching the book has made him more aware of the difficulty of creating something and has taught him to not to dismiss ideas that seem silly or take for granted the companies that occupy our lives. The creation of PayPal was a "dogfight" that required a lot of hard work and effort. The biggest challenges in making it successful were to convince people to use the payment system and make sure that people were not taking advantage of it. Jimmy talks about the uncertainty and anxiety that comes with being involved in a startup and the do or die moments that can arise and that there are often one or two decisions that are crucial to survival. He noted that CEOs usually only make six important decisions per year, so it's important to go into a startup with eyes wide open and know that these moments will arise and that the company could go under at any point. He also talked about how chaos can be beneficial for a startup, as it can bring about new ideas, but also can just be chaos. His insight from the story of PayPal is that a lot of what appeared to be chaos from the outside was actually a controlled chaos that was directed towards the right problems and issues. The Elon Musk's Pressure Cooker Leadership Style Will and Jimmy discuss Elon Musk's recent acquisition of Twitter and his ability to lead a tech company. Jimmy explains that he and Musk never spoke about social networks, and that they only discussed payment networks. He noticed that Musk's management style and that Musk used the term 'maniacal urgency' to describe it, and believes that Musk's intense approach is necessary for the success of a startup. Jimmy goes on to explain that this style of management has been consistent from Musk's first venture, Zip Two, to his current companies Tesla and SpaceX. Elon Musk's leadership style is one of prioritizing urgency and setting unreasonable demands for his employees. This was the case in his experience with PayPal, and is now being seen at Twitter. An engineer from X.Com shared that during this period, Elon worked longer hours than anyone else and that it was an energizing environment for engineers who wanted to build something quickly, get rapid feedback, and keep moving towards a big goal. This style is not for everyone and can be difficult to understand, but it has been successful for Musk in the past. Through his research, it became clear to Jimmy that startups need to be maniacally urgent and dedicated in order to succeed. He discusses the market for books about companies, including his own book The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley The book has done well, both domestically and abroad, and Jimmy believes that people are drawn to the book because of the famous and controversial players involved. Feedback received from professionals in the startup world have told him that the book captures the energy and feeling of what it is like to be in a startup. Soni shares that the market for books about companies is big and that the Silicon Valley halo has not diminished abroad; all of these factors have contributed to the popularity of the book. His book has international appeal and what differentiates his book from others in the same genre is the inclusion of personal stories. Researching the Book He talks about the importance of invention and how startups are allowed to look at a problem and create something new to solve it. He shares how many inventions were developed by PayPal. When it came to gathering information, he struck gold when he was interviewing someone who offered him access to the company's early records. The person sent Jimmy several gigabytes worth of emails from the time. Jimmy was able to access emails sent and received by key players in the company, giving him a better understanding of the story he was researching. To capture the widest possible story, he started with any emails sent to the company and printed them all out. He then read through every page, looking for any interesting gems that could be included in the book. He found a motivating note from Elon Musk outlining the company's struggles and signed off with Work like hell, Elon. This note was unexpected and captured the character of Musk that is still seen today. When writing his book, Jimmy explained that he took a methodical approach to email research, using folders, binders, and highlighting to identify key points. He used Google Drive to store PDFs of her citations for fact-checking. This email archive was instrumental in making the book more accurate, rather than relying on hazy memories. Jimmy talks about the secret sauce of recruiting talent. He specifically mentions Peter Thiel's superpower. Jimmy believes that it is talent identification. Thiel has an uncanny ability to identify people who have potential and to offer them help in the form of introductions, investments or by sketching out a vision of their career that is bigger than they thought possible. Jimmy shares what he learned about his time working at McKinsey and how that helped him as a writer, and what he is working on now, which is a co-writing project on tech history. Timestamps 07:41 "The Evolution of PayPal: A Story of Near-Failure and Success" 09:57 Exploring Contingency in the Story of PayPal's Success 13:33 Managing Uncertainty in a Startup Environment 14:15 Analysis of Elon Musk's Management Style at Twitter 18:42 Recruiting Strategies at X.com and Confinity 24:34 The Market for Books About Companies 27:59 On PayPal's Inventiveness and Innovation + Exploring the Origin Story of PayPal's CAPTCHA Technology 38:10 Analysis of Peter Thiel's Superpower: Talent Identification 41:23 Peter Thiel's Approach to Hiring and Recruiting 44:42 Writing Books, Consulting, and Professional Development Links: The Everything Store, Brad Stone The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley, A Mind at Play, Jimmy Soni https://jimmysoni.com/ CONTACT INFO: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmysoni/ Twitter @jimmyasoni https://jimmysoni.com/ Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Show Notes: David Newman is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), marketing expert, speaker, and founder of Do It! Marketing. In this episode, Will Bachman and David discuss his new book, Do It Selling. The book is organized with 77 instant action ideas that can be used to land better clients, bigger deals, and higher fees. The book is divided into micro chapters which focus on topics such as understanding the sales process, creating an ideal customer profile, building relationships with potential clients, using content to create credibility, and closing more sales. Additionally, the book includes many stories, case studies, and advice from David's own experiences. The goal of the book is to help independent consultants learn how to market and sell their services effectively. David talks about the fact that many consultants and professional services firm principals love the work but not the sales aspect. David explains that one needs to upgrade their sales brain to be successful in sales. The idea is to replace the words 'selling' and 'sales' with invitations to conversations and reframe the idea of selling to connecting. Lead Generation and Client Communication Ninja Tricks He encourages people to change how they view sales to be less focused on chasing and persuading, and more focused on the qualifying, sorting, and filtering business rather than chasing and persuading. He encourages a shift from taking an inferior vendor stance trying to persuade the client of your value to that of a casting director for whom the clients are auditioning. He moves on to the idea of targeting the clients you want and launching intentional and specific relationships to open doors rather than "taking what comes." This puts the seller back in control of their lead generation and prospecting, and allows them to be more proactive and hold better conversations. The crux of this approach is to lead the client to want what you do. David talks about the current approach to cold calling and prospecting when generating leads, and how the approach should be more about serving before selling and helping before pitching. He suggests making an "active 20" list and gives tips on how to reach out to and warm up those contacts and avoid your proposal landing in a black hole. David offers tips on how to connect with clients through being where they play, write where they read, and be where they attend. He talks about checking into trigger events in the industry you are targeting such as upsizing, downsizing, mergers and acquisitions etc. This entails doing thorough research on the client and understanding the clients' situation to ensure your communication relates to their current situation. How to Reach Out to Cool Contacts Will and David discuss tactics for reaching out to cool contacts. David suggests apologizing for the lack of communication and to follow with a direct and authentic request to catch up on where they are and where they are going – but not to sell. He also offers a few ninja tricks on how to encourage a follow up conversation. The goal should always be to build a rapport with the customer or client, and to show that your company cares about their needs by demonstrating thoughtfulness, relevance, and value. David offers examples of each to clarify these three points and how this approach works for reaching out to past, present, and future clients to ensure you are perceived as a trusted advisor. Revenue Acceleration and Business Growth David divides his clients into three buckets: Zero to Hero (consultants who have just left a corporate role), Hero to Superhero (those who have gained experience in their industry and are looking to take their consulting to the next level) and Superhero to Intergalactic (those who have a lot of experience and are looking to take their consulting to a much higher level). For those in the zero to hero stage, he helps them with lead generation, prospecting, sales, and sales processes. Those in the hero to superhero stage are looking to double or triple their current business and need to make changes to do so. Finally, those in the superhero to intergalactic stage are looking to scale their business to reach the million dollar mark. David focuses on helping them with scaling strategies, such as hiring a team, licensing, and digital programs, to help them become the CEO of their business. David discusses how consultants can reach the 500k plus plus level, by building infrastructure and focusing on revenue multipliers. He explains that businesses need to make money even when the consultant takes time off or goes on holiday, and emphasizes the importance of setting up systems that can make this happen. Recommended CRM System Will Bachman and David Newman discuss the advantages of using a CRM system over just a spreadsheet for tracking conversations and action items. David recommends One Page CRM, as it has powerful features on the back end and is simple to use on the front end. He also recommends grabbing free resources from his website, doitmarketing.com, such as the companion tools to his book, the 500k Consulting Gameplan session, and the Do It Marketing Manifesto. David's company offers a few different ways to work with clients, either through one-on-one discussions, mentoring programs, or group sessions and includes daily coaching, live events, online communities, sales labs and sales gyms. He is open to chatting with people who contact him at his email, David@doitmarketing.com. Timestamps 03:44 Professional Services Firm Growth and Sales Mindset 08:48 Tips for Generating Initial Conversations in Sales Prospecting 16:33 Reaching Out to Cool Contacts 20:34 Catching Up with Past Clients: Revitalizing Old Projects and Teams 23:07 Follow-Up Strategies for Unresponsive Prospects 29:03 "Strategies for Direct Prospecting: An Email Example" 36:04 Revenue Acceleration Strategies for Consultants and Executives 38:13 Revenue Multipliers and Technology Recommendations 39:25 CRM Systems and Consulting Services 45:24 Content to Solve, Not Content to Learn Links: www.doitselling.com - to get the book bonuses www.doitsellingbook.com - to buy the book www.doitmarketing.com/manifesto - free 37-page guide www.doitmarketing.com/webinar - free on-demand training for consultants The Selling Show Podcast CONTACT INFO: David@doitmarketing.com Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.