Real Relationships Real Revenue - Video Edition | Invest in Relationships to Build Your Business and Your Career

Jeff Berardi shares how the business development skills he developed during his career became the foundation for his consulting practice’s success after launching right at the beginning of the pandemic. Discover the mindset shift that takes someone from struggling with business development to becoming the rainmaker of their organization, why you need to understand sales if you want to succeed at marketing, and the counterintuitive way to showcase your expertise and land paying clients that most consultants get completely backward.   Mo asks Jeff Berardi: Tell us the story of the time where you realized that business development was great. Jeff first realized the importance of business development in the marketing class at business school. The first question his professor asked was “Who here is interested in pursuing a career in marketing? And who here is interested in pursuing a career in sales?” The majority of the class had their hands up for the first part and not the second part, and that was the first lesson of the class. If you’re thinking about marketing and you don’t have a clear understanding and appreciation for sales you have a fundamental disconnect. Marketing is meant to drive sales. Where a lot of organizations fail is turning the one-to-many marketing experience into one-to-one sales conversations. Nobody hires someone after they give a speech, they have to talk with them about how they can solve their problems. When Jeff took over as CMO, he introduced the organization’s first business development group. A lot of the difficulty an organization faces is when marketing and sales are not in alignment and are treated as completely separate activities. Jeff didn’t just publish unique content. He created events around the content and a follow-up process for turning it into actionable conversations. The key is to work backwards from the goal of the campaign. For Jeff, that meant showcasing their expertise to companies that they wanted to work with in Europe. He started off with a survey to understand what is happening with potential clients. Once the research was conducted, they discovered that some issues were local and some were more widespread, but no matter the scope the research became the basis for the report that could be leveraged in a number of different ways. This sort of deep dive research into a client’s problems and needs can be as broad or as narrow as you need it to be.   Mo asks Jeff Berardi: What is your personal definition of business development? Business development is creating a pipeline of future growth opportunities. You won’t know when they come to fruition or how, but it’s a steady process of cultivating and building relationships. There is never enough when it comes to business development because you never know when the well is going to go dry. By having a large pipeline, you have the ability to choose who you work with rather than having to take whatever comes your way. The lack of control is a major source of stress for people. Business development activities give you back the control over who you work with and how. You may be busy, but you must set aside time for business development opportunities or you might end up resentful of how much you are working. By having more opportunities than you need, you can say no to stuff you don’t want and the more you’re going to get paid. You also regain control on who you work with and which big ideas you get to work on. The commonality in cases where people are struggling with business development and people who thrive is fear. For those who are already successful, it’s a fear of losing what they’ve achieved. For those who are struggling, it’s a fear that they can’t be successful or that business development is beyond them. When you change the mindset from a fear of not being capable, to being afraid of too much success, you open the door of opportunity. The rainmakers have learned the tools they need to succeed and they have confidence in the process. Knowing that business development is a learnable skill is what flips someone from fear to confidence.   Mo asks Jeff Berardi: What is your favorite GrowBIG or Snowball System principle? Build everything together is Jeff’s all-time favorite principle. When you work with something in conjunction with your prospect they are going to like you, and the work, more. Jeff uses the example of bake-at-home cake mixes and how one small change that increased the engagement of the consumer in the process led to an increase in sales. Everybody wants to add value in life, and when you send somebody a project that’s done they have no way to participate. Even a small step or contribution can increase the sense of ownership on a project. Include your client in the planning process and ditch the inclination to have a perfect fully baked proposal. You can’t give too much to the client, but giving them small steps that get them engaged on the big picture helps them understand the value you are bringing to the table. Work together to nail down the scope of the project and get their stamp on what’s going to be done. You convey your authority in the details. Not asking for the client’s thoughts and perspective can actually be the weaker position compared to asking for input.   Mo asks Jeff Berardi: Tell us about a business development story that you are particularly proud of. Jeff has had a long and successful career, but his proudest business development story happened at the very beginning of the pandemic when he launched his own consulting practice. Jeff had the training and the experience leading up to that moment, and the launch of his consulting practice simply became reaching out to his contacts and helping them figure things out. Those initial relationships and just being valuable eventually turned into client work. Even when Jeff became busy with client work he made sure to stick to the business development habits that built those relationships. Having the Snowball System to rely on was a big asset. The habits of business development combined with being helpful became the basis for Jeff’s consulting success. When you experience the result of the process, you get more motivation to keep it going. Finding the time to continue business development activities once you become successful is challenging but vital to continued growth. For Jeff, he made sure to put names and tasks in his calendar about following up. These became visual reminders that he couldn’t ignore and kept him on track. To-dos can always be kicked down the road, blocking off time is hard to ignore.   Mo asks Jeff Berardi: If you could record a video and send it back to your younger self, what would it say? Jeff would tell himself to ask more questions and to be more intentional on directing the conversation to the ways he could help the other party. Asking questions and getting the client engaged is much more beneficial than just telling people what you do. A lot of consultants make the mistake of just wanting to showcase their expertise, but the counterintuitive part is that by getting the other person to talk about what’s happening on their end they view you as having that expertise. There are three big benefits of asking questions: they light up the pleasure center of the person being asked, you learn their perspectives in their specific words, and it highly correlates to likeability. Asking questions releases the pressure you have when you assume you know what the client needs and then telling them how you can help without really understanding the situation. The end goal of your questions is to understand their needs and how you can address them. The essence of the questions is to build trust and also to help the client understand what they need because often they haven’t defined the problem precisely on their own. If you uncover their needs over the course of the conversation in an authentic and meaningful way that shows you understand their issues and you have the skill set to help them, it feels less like you aren’t trying to sell them something and more like you are trying to simply help them.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com jberardi@baretzbrunelle.com Jeff Berardi on LinkedIn Jeff Berardi's Bio

Mo asks Jeff Berardi: If you could record a video and send it back to your younger self, what would it say? Jeff would tell himself to ask more questions and to be more intentional on directing the conversation to the ways he could help the other party. Asking questions and getting the client engaged is much more beneficial than just telling people what you do. A lot of consultants make the mistake of just wanting to showcase their expertise, but the counterintuitive part is that by getting the other person to talk about what’s happening on their end they view you as having that expertise. There are three big benefits of asking questions: they light up the pleasure center of the person being asked, you learn their perspectives in their specific words, and it highly correlates to likeability. Asking questions releases the pressure you have when you assume you know what the client needs and then telling them how you can help without really understanding the situation. The end goal of your questions is to understand their needs and how you can address them. The essence of the questions is to build trust and also to help the client understand what they need because often they haven’t defined the problem precisely on their own. If you uncover their needs over the course of the conversation in an authentic and meaningful way that shows you understand their issues and you have the skill set to help them, it feels less like you aren’t trying to sell them something and more like you are trying to simply help them.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com jberardi@baretzbrunelle.com Jeff Berardi on LinkedIn Jeff Berardi's Bio

Mo asks Jeff Berardi: Tell us about a business development story that you are particularly proud of. Jeff has had a long and successful career, but his proudest business development story happened at the very beginning of the pandemic when he launched his own consulting practice. Jeff had the training and the experience leading up to that moment, and the launch of his consulting practice simply became reaching out to his contacts and helping them figure things out. Those initial relationships and just being valuable eventually turned into client work. Even when Jeff became busy with client work he made sure to stick to the business development habits that built those relationships. Having the Snowball System to rely on was a big asset. The habits of business development combined with being helpful became the basis for Jeff’s consulting success. When you experience the result of the process, you get more motivation to keep it going. Finding the time to continue business development activities once you become successful is challenging but vital to continued growth. For Jeff, he made sure to put names and tasks in his calendar about following up. These became visual reminders that he couldn’t ignore and kept him on track. To-dos can always be kicked down the road, blocking off time is hard to ignore.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com jberardi@baretzbrunelle.com Jeff Berardi on LinkedIn Jeff Berardi's Bio

Mo asks Jeff Berardi: What is your favorite GrowBIG or Snowball System principle? Build everything together is Jeff’s all-time favorite principle. When you work with something in conjunction with your prospect they are going to like you, and the work, more. Jeff uses the example of bake-at-home cake mixes and how one small change that increased the engagement of the consumer in the process led to an increase in sales. Everybody wants to add value in life, and when you send somebody a project that’s done they have no way to participate. Even a small step or contribution can increase the sense of ownership on a project. Include your client in the planning process and ditch the inclination to have a perfect fully baked proposal. You can’t give too much to the client, but giving them small steps that get them engaged on the big picture helps them understand the value you are bringing to the table. Work together to nail down the scope of the project and get their stamp on what’s going to be done. You convey your authority in the details. Not asking for the client’s thoughts and perspective can actually be the weaker position compared to asking for input.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com jberardi@baretzbrunelle.com Jeff Berardi on LinkedIn Jeff Berardi's Bio

Mo asks Jeff Berardi: What is your personal definition of business development? Business development is creating a pipeline of future growth opportunities. You won’t know when they come to fruition or how, but it’s a steady process of cultivating and building relationships. There is never enough when it comes to business development because you never know when the well is going to go dry. By having a large pipeline, you have the ability to choose who you work with rather than having to take whatever comes your way. The lack of control is a major source of stress for people. Business development activities give you back the control over who you work with and how. You may be busy, but you must set aside time for business development opportunities or you might end up resentful of how much you are working. By having more opportunities than you need, you can say no to stuff you don’t want and the more you’re going to get paid. You also regain control on who you work with and which big ideas you get to work on. The commonality in cases where people are struggling with business development and people who thrive is fear. For those who are already successful, it’s a fear of losing what they’ve achieved. For those who are struggling, it’s a fear that they can’t be successful or that business development is beyond them. When you change the mindset from a fear of not being capable, to being afraid of too much success, you open the door of opportunity. The rainmakers have learned the tools they need to succeed and they have confidence in the process. Knowing that business development is a learnable skill is what flips someone from fear to confidence.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com jberardi@baretzbrunelle.com Jeff Berardi on LinkedIn Jeff Berardi's Bio

Mo asks Jeff Berardi: Tell us the story of the time where you realized that business development was great. Jeff first realized the importance of business development in the marketing class at business school. The first question his professor asked was “Who here is interested in pursuing a career in marketing? And who here is interested in pursuing a career in sales?” The majority of the class had their hands up for the first part and not the second part, and that was the first lesson of the class. If you’re thinking about marketing and you don’t have a clear understanding and appreciation for sales you have a fundamental disconnect. Marketing is meant to drive sales. Where a lot of organizations fail is turning the one-to-many marketing experience into one-to-one sales conversations. Nobody hires someone after they give a speech, they have to talk with them about how they can solve their problems. When Jeff took over as CMO, he introduced the organization’s first business development group. A lot of the difficulty an organization faces is when marketing and sales are not in alignment and are treated as completely separate activities. Jeff didn’t just publish unique content. He created events around the content and a follow-up process for turning it into actionable conversations. The key is to work backwards from the goal of the campaign. For Jeff, that meant showcasing their expertise to companies that they wanted to work with in Europe. He started off with a survey to understand what is happening with potential clients. Once the research was conducted, they discovered that some issues were local and some were more widespread, but no matter the scope the research became the basis for the report that could be leveraged in a number of different ways. This sort of deep dive research into a client’s problems and needs can be as broad or as narrow as you need it to be.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com jberardi@baretzbrunelle.com Jeff Berardi on LinkedIn Jeff Berardi's Bio

Mo shares his insights from the habits of Jay Baer. This is an encore presentation of an episode that aired on July 9, 2021. Market your marketing. Most experts put in the time to create some content, but they would be much better served by taking half that time, creating less content overall, and spending the other half marketing that content. Doing this allows you to spend half the time and generate 10x the results. There are three components to marketing your marketing: the plan, the lead up before the launch, and what you do after the launch. Whatever you are creating, you should spend quite a bit of time upfront developing the outline of the content, who the audience is, and think about the marketing of that content. Start with what your audience needs to know and how you can create something that they would die to have. Jay’s example of creating a report on the top 50 university’s websites is perfect. If you’re the person that has the data, information, or algorithm, it makes you more magnetic to your prospects. Narrow down your audience to specific people. That will help you tailor the content directly to what they care about. The goal of your pre-launch is to break down your big piece of content into smaller, bite-size pieces as you can. Get as many people as you can to help promote them and get the word out for the official launch. The post launch step is the most important. Your big piece of content is not the finishing line, it’s the start. Post launch you should organize an effort with your strategic partners to funnel people into a meeting with you on how the content impacts them. Seize the momentum of your launch to get the meetings where you can actually get hired. Most people only do one or two parts of the three steps of the marketing your marketing process. Put all three into practice and watch your results explode.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com talktriggers.com convinceandconvert.com jaybaer.com The Top 3 Things You Need to Implement from Jay Baer, Customer Experience Expert

Mo asks Marissa King: How can we hack our own habits to build the most robust networks? This is an encore presentation of an episode that aired on May 20, 2021. Our networks are often our most valuable asset but very few people are intentional about them. You don’t need to invest a lot of time into relationships to grow them, you just need to invest what time you have wisely. Pick one day a week and choose a 15-minute window to commit to reaching out to three people who can help meet whatever needs you have. A good place to start is the Give, Thank, or Ask framework. Send them an article or podcast you think they’d like, thank them for something they did, or ask them for something. People want to help you. The key is to keep the ask small and specific so it’s easy to answer. If someone doesn’t respond or says no, that’s okay too. It’s about putting yourself out there and creating the habit more than the outcome. Studies have shown that people overestimate how many people will say no to them by orders of magnitude. If fear is getting in the way, realize that you are more afraid than necessary. If you are struggling with the idea of connecting with other people, know that you are better than you think and people are more likely to say yes than you think.     Mentioned in this Episode: GrowBIGPlaybook.com socialchemistry.com assessyournetwork.com linkedin.com/in/marissadking How to Hack Our Own Habits to Accomplish More, with Marissa King

James Clear, author of the best-selling book Atomic Habits, shares the importance of creating a system of habits that makes reaching your goals simple. Mo applies the principles of Atomic Habits directly to the world of business development and shows you how starting small can create huge results in your business. This is an encore presentation of an episode that aired on June 11, 2020. James Clear recounts the story of the high school baseball bat incident, how he realized that something had gone horribly wrong and how he found himself fighting for his life. People are building habits all the time, but when your life is completely changed by a traumatic injury, you have to start as small as possible in order to rebuild them. Scaling down to what James could manage was how he was able to regain a sense of control over the life that he’d lost. You don’t have control over the random events that come your way, but you do have control over how you respond to those things and that usually comes down to your habits. Most people start with one foot in expertise and become great at what they do but once they reach the next level of success, they find themselves in a completely different world. This can often lead to them feeling defeated since they aren’t as skilled in the new area. Goals are helpful for setting a direction or a filter but they come with a lot of drawbacks. Your goal is your desired outcome, but your system is the collection of daily habits that you follow. If there is ever a gap between your system and your goal, your daily habits will always win. Whatever results you have right now are by definition the byproduct of the system you’ve been running. It’s common in business for people to focus on the position or outcome, like doubling revenue or leads, but it’s more important to look at the system that’s running and the trajectory that business systems are driving towards. We want our results to change, but it’s not the results that need to change, it’s the habits that precede the result that need to change. Fix the inputs and the outputs will fix themselves. Goals are useful as check-ins, but more time should be invested into the system of habits that lead to the outcome you want. The Snowball system’s structure of lead and lag measures is very similar. Everybody is running systems whether they realize it or not. The questions you need to ask yourself are “How do I design a good system?” and “Which habits should I build?” This is where BIG goals come in to send you in the right direction. There are three main things that impact your outcomes in life. The first is luck, the second is your choices/strategy, and the third is your system of habits and behaviour. When you master the last two, you increase the surface area for good luck to come your way. People will often conflate the outcome they want to achieve with the person that they want to be. James believes you should shift the focus to the identity you desire instead of the goal because the real reason habits matter is that they can shape your sense of self. True behavior change is really identity change. Another way of reshaping your identity is to reframe your goal into a question. Instead of trying to close more deals, ask yourself what a successful sales person would do and then use that to select the action that moves you in the right direction. Questions are superior to advice because advice is contextual and situations change. Life is dynamic and advice will not always fit the circumstances. Identity-based questions guide you based on the situation. There are four fundamental things that increase the odds of getting a habit to stick. The first is to make your good habits obvious and easy to see. The second is to make them attractive and appealing. The third is to make them easy and convenient. The fourth is to make your habits satisfying and associated with a positive emotion. If you want to break a bad habit, just invert those four. When it comes to business development, we should look for one-time actions we can take that will help the cause every day from that point on to help mitigate the roller coaster that businesses tend to ride most of the time. A lot of business development is done through a screen. Is there an app or a tool that you can use to make business development more obvious and prime yourself and your environment for that use? James talks about the idea of the Temptation Bundle, where you combine a task that you know you should do with a task that you want to do in order to encourage the more important action. Don’t let one piece of silence prevent you from following up. A failure should not be desired but it should be planned for. When following up, there will also be people who ignore your efforts, but by writing down your next follow-up in your calendar, you will be many times more likely to keep following up. Life has a series of seasons and your habits should be different depending on the season of life you’re in. The same idea can be applied to your career. When you reach a new level it will probably require new habits in order to succeed. As your career progresses, typically, your responsibility increases. When your responsibility increases your ability to say no to things and to prioritize also needs to increase. Saying no to something is only saying no to one thing, but saying yes to something means saying no to everything else. Everything comes with a trade-off. If you’re going through a change of season in your career or your life, it may be the perfect time to reread Atomic Habits. The process of building habits is essentially rebuilding and getting started over and over as your life changes. In business development, the goal is not to be the absolute best in the world, it’s just to be a little bit better than your competition. Business is mostly a winner-take-all proposition so put yourself in a position to make more shots and improve your craft, and each day you will be more likely to win. Start with doing something small every single day when you don’t know where to begin. Any goal you have can be broken down into a two-minute chunk that will help you master the art of showing up. A habit must be established before it can be improved. It has to become the standard in your life before you can optimize and scale it up and expand it into something more. One of the most motivating feelings for the human mind is seeing progress. A simple strategy to improve your business development habits is to create a way to visualize your efforts even if you don’t get any direct feedback. A visual cue is a powerful way to see your progress and increase the odds of you keeping pushing forward.   Previous Episode: bdhabits.com James Clear on Why Habits Are the Foundation of Business Development Success

Michael Hyatt shares the power of a compelling vision and how it can completely transform your business. Find out how to craft your Vision Script and turn it into a roadmap for your business’s success, while giving you the perfect filter to avoid the trivial many and stay focused on the vital few. This is an encore presentation of an episode that aired on August 6, 2020. Michael tells the story of how he struggled early on when he and a partner started their own book publishing company. Michael’s company had a lot of success and opportunity for the first few years, but a disastrous partnership led to them being $1.2 million in debt and having all their assets seized, leaving them with nothing. People don’t always see the history of those who succeed. Great things come all of the time when we hit our low points. Never waste a good crisis. Crises are an opportunity to dig deep and be reflective. One of the major issues Michael had with his business was the lack of a clear vision as a company about where they were going. Without a clear vision it’s very hard to discern the difference between a distraction and an opportunity. Michael’s company found itself fracturing its focus and attention, spread its resources too thin and everything fell apart. Michael went back to work for Thomas Nelson and was given responsibility for one of the 14 divisions of the company, specifically the worst performing division in the whole company. This was where Michael first implemented the Vision Script and described what that division would need to be to turn it around. The Vision Script became so inspiring for the team that the division managed to become the highest performing division in the company in only 18 months and stayed that way for the next decade. No matter where you are in an organization as a leader, being a leader presupposes that you are leading people somewhere, which means you must have clarity and vision. There is a big difference between a Vision Script and a Vision Statement. A Vision Script is a detailed document that describes your future business in detail three to five years in the future written in the present tense. A Vision Script is broken down into four different sections. The team, the product, the marketing and sales, and finally the impact. This is essentially a whole brain description of your future vision. Before executing your vision, you have to create alignment in your organization around that vision. This is not something you can outsource as a leader, you need to do it yourself. Start with the highest level and then cascade it down. To get buy in from your team solicit their feedback. People buy into what they help create and this takes the burden off of you as a leader. Your Vision Script should be the first thing you check in at your annual planning meeting. You must have a cadence of review in your organization because vision leaks, you need to be constantly repeating the vision and reinforcing the path. When you come up with your annual goals, ask yourself what are the seven to ten things that will move you towards your vision and when they are deliverable. Your quarterly goals will inform your weekly priorities, and further down to your daily MIT’s. Limiting yourself to three major goals each quarter is more effective than aiming for a higher number of goals at the same time. A vision helps you identify what you’re going to focus on but it also allows you to exclude what you’re not going to focus on if you use it as a filter. If something falls outside the scope of your vision, it becomes an easy “no”. Strategy answers the question how you are going to get from where you are to where you want to go, and should be revised as often as necessary. All progress begins with an honest assessment of where you currently are, because it’s hard to move beyond where you are until you get honest about where you are. Establish hard boundaries around your work. When you restrict your work time you force yourself to get things done in the time allotted. With a clarity of vision you are able to create boundaries and choose what is the most important. In line with the Pareto Principle, what are the three actions that are going to drive the biggest results in your business? A lot of people think that to get more you’ve got to do more, but it’s not what you do, it’s about doing the right things. It all comes down to your vision which gives you the courage to say no to the trivial distractions. In order to serve your clients fully you have to be able to say no to lesser opportunities. Michael describes the systems he uses to protect his time and deliver his best every single day. Any structure is better than no structure at all. Michael has a powerful system of automation that simplifies his responses and saves him an incredible amount of time that anyone can apply. Michael uses the Power of No formula to make sure that he protects his time and honors his commitments without closing any doors permanently. People are used to not getting a response so they end up appreciating this kind of response. Most people can handle a no, what they can’t handle is no response. People are vision starved. As a leader, if you have a clear, compelling vision you will be amazed at how confident you will show up and how well your team will respond.   Mentioned in this Episode: businessaccelerator.com/big bdhabits.com Michael Hyatt Reveals How To Create A Vivid Vision That Will Transform Your Business