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EP46: Alan McLaren - Why You Must Beat The 6 Second Scroll Rule For Marketing Success
47 Plays7 years ago
6 seconds.
That's all you have to convince a prospect, who is scrolling on her smartphone, to check out what you are promoting.
Let's face it, we are bombarded with marketing messages everyday, so how will you attract your ideal clients through the noise?
Today's guest, Alan McLaren, who is the CEO of the creative marketing agency, Infinity Comm, has some ideas.
During this interview, you'll learn...
- The importance of getting back to the basics by making sure your offerings are worth promoting
- Why creativity is a key factor in setting yourself apart from your competitors
- Why word-of-mouth advertising is still a crucial marketing tool even in the digital age
To find out more about Alan, visit https://www.thebusinessofthoughtleadership.com .
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Transcript
Introduction: The Power of Connection
00:00:00
Speaker
All i do is connect with people and at the end of the day try to help them and if i can help them spread my knowledge to them and to the businesses that actually pay us to do that kind of stuff and i think at the end of the day good things start to happen and people look at you and say oh my god you really helped us and they tell two friends and that's the secret sauce.
00:00:25
Speaker
You're listening to the Business of Thought Leadership with Nikki Ballou and Michael Palmer.
00:00:34
Speaker
Welcome to another exciting episode of the podcast, the business of thought leadership. I'm your co-host, Nicky Baloo. And I'm the other co-host, Michael Palmer. Michael, do we have an amazing, exciting episode lined up today? Our guest today is my old boss, the legendary Alan McLaren.
Guest Introduction: Alan McLaren
00:00:55
Speaker
Alan
00:00:57
Speaker
was my boss back in 2000 and 2001 when I worked in the high tech industry. He was the president of a high tech company called Jaws. And that company was a dot com that became a dot bomb. But Alan and I, we stayed in touch. We liked each other. He's a good guy. And since then,
00:01:16
Speaker
He has really become a thought leader in the whole world of social media and PR. He's the co-founder of Infinity PR. He has been a member of the young president's organization because he was president of a $10 million company before he was 40. He's just a great guy. He's super brilliant and he's got a lot of value to add to our listeners. So I'm really excited. Are you?
Career Journey and Entrepreneurial Path
00:01:41
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I'm looking forward to getting to know him, looking at his website and some of the things that he's done. I think we're going to get a lot of gold today. Absolutely we are. So with no further ado, let's go say hello to Alan. Welcome, Alan McLaren. It is a true honor to have you on the show. The listener doesn't know this, but you actually were my boss at one point.
00:02:06
Speaker
That was a fun year, wasn't it, Nicky? It was incredible. It was incredible. I learned a lot from you and we've stayed in touch over the years and you've been somebody that's really taught me a lot. And I know you've got an incredible story. You've created a fantastic company along with Leanne and you're a real thought leader in this whole space.
00:02:28
Speaker
of social media communication and PR, and you're one of the greatest salespeople I've ever met. And I'd consider you a thought leader in all of those. How did you come to acquire all this amazing knowledge and commercialize it so well? Do tell us your story.
00:02:44
Speaker
Well, Nicky, I think I'm no different than anybody who's kind of come through a world where they went to school, didn't know what they wanted to do, but just kept saying yes and kept trying different things to kind of discover as opposed to have a path that says, here's the end point, here's where I'm going. And so, you know, truthfully, when I was, I grew up in Montreal and I went to Concordia University,
00:03:06
Speaker
And really didn't was not a great student didn't love didn't love to go to school which is contrasting today when i'm an absolute. I'm a rabbit learner but will i was going to school i was not actually went to school and thought oh good i'm gonna play your professional football so the universal be the path to that and in fact what happened was that was the path to learning about me and learning about what was important and really learning about.
00:03:32
Speaker
that you had to keep trying things to be able to discover what your passion is. And that was kind of the catalyst for me is going to university for those four years, finishing school, having a good university career, getting the degree, and then going to a couple of professional camps and realizing when I was there, you know what, this isn't what I want. This is not exactly what I thought it was, watching TV. So it really taught me that it's okay to chase your dreams, but also understand that, understand what your dreams are before
Sales and PR Foundations
00:03:59
Speaker
you get there. So in my case, it was a great learning.
00:04:01
Speaker
From there i went to work in sales nicky and michael and it was up and down the street selling photocopiers in montreal and i have to tell you there was no better training it was kind of like vacuum cleaner salesman for the business world. I learned how to call call and i wasn't i wasn't great at it but i learned how to do that i learned how to do with rejection i learned how to be good on my feet i learned how to sell on the spot.
00:04:29
Speaker
And then I evolved my career through canon and then became part of their I became a supervisor became part of the marketing team became part of the training department got recruited away by another organization and then I started my executive career as a general manager vice president of sales and then my first president's job was back in quebec after living in Halifax for a couple of years and that was my first turnaround and then you met me at jaws which was.
00:04:55
Speaker
As we all know, and the podcasters, one day there'll be a book that'll come out on that one year that I experienced there, because that was a lot of fun. And then went into IT security, met my business partner. After, this is the only story I have coming out of that experience was when we sold our shares in this company called White Hat, Leanne turned to me and said, so what are we going to do now? And I said, what do you mean we? I'm going to go get a job as the CEO somewhere and we'll be friends for life.
00:05:21
Speaker
And in fact, what happened was she says, let's do something together. And I said, what'll we do? She says, well, you're an expert and you're an executive and you know about sales, you know about marketing. I'm a PR expert. Why don't we start an agency? And that was 12 years ago, actually this month that we started with zero, no customers, no computers, no offices. And then we looked back 12 years later and here we are with a flourishing marketing business and having
Social Media Expertise and Business Growth
00:05:43
Speaker
a ton of fun. So that's kind of my story, Nicky and Michael. That's a fantastic story, Alan. You know,
00:05:50
Speaker
I always knew you as a sales guru, a sales expert and someone who was great and inspiring and motivating people, but you've actually been paid to do talks on social media and the power of social media to help impact the bottom line for corporations. How did that evolve? Well, what happened was it's kind of funny. So as we started Infinity, we really were, we had two areas of expertise. Mine was.
00:06:15
Speaker
Sales expertise in the ends was PR so what happened was we did that for the first three or four or five years and very successfully and then as the media started to die kind of in the late we started in two thousand five seven.
00:06:28
Speaker
five years after that, I started to see this thing called social media. And I told Leanne, I said, listen, I'm going to dive in and become an expert at this. You keep doing the PR thing. And in fact, it saved our business. If we didn't have social media as one of the early adopters in that world, we would have died. And essentially, it saved our business and became 80% of our business was helping
00:06:49
Speaker
other businesses figure out how to do social media. So we became community managers and consultants and then added the element of traditional PR to social. And then I moved away from the sales expertise and then dove into now what I'll consider, I guess, digital and social. And the misnomer that I must clarify, there are no experts in this space because, oh my God, tomorrow there's somebody doing something
Authenticity and Leadership
00:07:13
Speaker
that I don't know about.
00:07:14
Speaker
And so what i would call it is somebody who's very knowledgeable what's going on and has the pulse on what's coming but oh my god it is a changing world every day so that's i just came about it through learning and getting mentors and understanding what the market was delivering and how we could take advantage of it and how we can help our clients.
00:07:34
Speaker
I think it's great and I love that you sort of tacked that out. It's like there are no experts because you're an expert in something other than what the industry is today because it'll be something tomorrow. But you're an expert in being able to take whatever new is coming along and learn how to leverage that or help other people leverage that.
00:07:53
Speaker
i'm curious to know how you along this journey over the last twelve years how you as a ceo have leveraged what you know and become known for that in the market that you serve. Well you know it's it the tactics are pretty easy right you you speak professionally you ensure that you have built solid relationships so both online and off.
00:08:17
Speaker
And you ensure that you're not just standing at the top of a mountain and shouting, hey, look at me, how good I am. But when you're helping people genuinely in whatever you do, that karma thing, it comes back to you. You become known for not only what you know, but who you are.
00:08:35
Speaker
And people give credence to who you are more than what you know, right? And so I've done social, LinkedIn and Twitter and Facebook and all the things that we know can be done. But I don't do it with the goal of, oh my God, I've got to become a thought leader. All I do is connect with people and at the end of the day, try to help them. And if I can help them, spread my knowledge to them and to the businesses that actually pay us to do that kind of stuff.
00:09:00
Speaker
And I think at the end of the day, good things start to happen and people look at you and say, oh, my God, you really helped us. And they tell two friends. And that's the secret sauce. People forget about word of mouth. It is still, in my view anyways, the number one way marketing happens. It's just that no one can measure that in a very effective way. So it happens with thought leadership as well. People say, hey, you should talk to Al. And that happens to me. If it doesn't happen weekly, it happens two or three times a week.
00:09:31
Speaker
I love that. And that is kind of the phrase right there. You should talk to Al. I mean, if our listeners had that happening more often every single day, it's like, go talk to that person because that's how they're solving that problem brilliantly over there. Yeah.
00:09:46
Speaker
You know, one of our mentors is a gentleman by the name of Matt Church. He is the founder of Thought Leaders Global in Australia. He's Australia's number one speaker. And a lot of the material that we deliver to our clients here in Canada has been licensed from Thought Leaders Business School. And Matt has a definition of a thought leader. And he says that an expert is someone who knows something
00:10:10
Speaker
A thought leader is someone who's known for knowing something. And that being a thought leader is better than being an expert because people do what you just said. They come looking for you. And by that definition, I would agree you're not an expert. You're actually a thought leader.
00:10:25
Speaker
Well, you know, it's interesting that, you know, as my entire career was really developed through the sales funnel and Nikki, as you experienced with me, you know, that sales developed into management and developed into executive roles and developed actually in another organization called YPO that at the end of the day, you develop as a leader. And I think that, you know, I would rather be known as a great, or that's a strong word, as a good leader,
00:10:50
Speaker
that knows some things about sales and knows some things about social media and knows some things about marketing because i think at the end of the day anybody can get a ted talk you can learn a lot today you can sit by your computer and become an expert in anything in ten thousand hours as we as we've heard many many times when you're a leader you help other people get better and i think is a thought leader.
00:11:13
Speaker
You know my job at the end of the day is if i can have an interaction you know with you nicky and our interactions because of those it made you better or made you motivated or inspired to do something that to me is the secret is really about being a great leader and knowing stuff as an example today i don't know although i know a lot about sales i don't use that as part of my business anymore.
00:11:34
Speaker
I could probably do talks on that all around the world and say this is how you build a sales force and inspire them, but it's not what I'm doing today.
The Evolving Marketing Landscape
00:11:42
Speaker
I focus on the areas that pay the bills, but also inspire me. What inspires me is the fun in social and the fun in leadership. That's how I define it.
00:11:54
Speaker
It's beautiful. In terms of over the last 12 years and what you've seen happen in business, what are you seeing happening today that is blowing your mind? Well, I think it's like anything else, right? The speed of change is overwhelming.
00:12:12
Speaker
Because nobody can figure out what works anymore when it comes to marketing because you're being pushed everything from programmatic ad buying to social media to podcasting to blogging to video and it's all just a lot of noise.
00:12:29
Speaker
at the end of the day you know what so i think that speed is scaring scaring people a lot and you know what's coming with a and a r and. Blockchain and all the technologies that are going to really transform you know what we see and how we see it and how we interact and that last part of course is that what i call the six second squirrel rich if you look at people today on their phones they are you have got six seconds to get their attention me how do you do all that.
00:12:56
Speaker
That's the part that I think is fascinating and I think we're figuring out but I mean it is just faster than it's ever been and oh by the way it's gonna get even faster so to me over the last twelve years watching that speed of communication is has been fascinating and trying to figure out how to slow it down and do what is right to get someone to listen to you and I think that's what's what I've seen.
00:13:18
Speaker
This is what you do for your clients. This is your business. This is your expertise. What are some of the ways that people can capture people's attention in those six seconds? The first thing you need to do, and it seems counterintuitive, is you've got to slow down so you can go fast.
00:13:36
Speaker
What i mean by that is often times we have everybody has or even our clients have the sugar silver ball syndrome right oh this is new we should do that. And so what i try to do is get them to go back to basics let's make sure you have a really good product or service so the starting point is to make sure that your business is good because if your business is not good.
00:13:57
Speaker
then no marketing in the world is going to make that better. I mean, a lot of times people approach me saying, well, our sales are down. And my first question is, let's not talk about what we're going to do to tell your story. Let's talk about your story and make sure you can deliver on what you say. If you can do that, we'll engage with you. If you cannot, we say no. So we say no to half the people we talk to because we don't believe in their product or service. And so we'll take their money and market and nothing's going to happen because we send them leads and they fail in delivery. Then we look bad.
00:14:24
Speaker
So I think those are the basic elements that really slow down so you can go faster and make sure your business is right. That's kind of step one. Step two is really to go back to basic marketing 101. Who is your audience? Where are they? What do they respond to? So right audience, right message, right time, right place. That does not change. And to get their attention, the word is creativity. You got to be able to go to the white space and say, well, this is what everybody's doing.
00:14:52
Speaker
How do we say something different and get their attention while keeping the brand standards in mind? Because you can't really go crazy. But I think to me, it's what I think we do best is not so much the blocking and tackling of, hey, here's social, here's let's go do that. But here's an idea that can help you get attention. That creativity is what you have to foster in your organization and look for in your
Client Selection and Business Strategy
00:15:17
Speaker
agencies. And I think that that's kind of what we do to help people figure that out.
00:15:26
Speaker
Brilliant, very generous thanks. I think that will be, you know, people listening, they've got to get noticed. And, you know, we talk a lot about, do you have actual expertise and can you really help people in the way that you're stating? So it's really resonating for me.
00:15:43
Speaker
Well, Alan, you know what I liked about what you just said? That you turn away half the people you talk to because you know there's not a fit. And I think the listener to this podcast can learn a lot from what you just said here. It's sometimes tough as a business person to say no to business. I mean, especially if someone wants to give you the deal.
00:16:05
Speaker
But it's the right thing to do. And in the long run, I actually think it's the profitable thing to do. Because if people know that you're only going to work with a certain type of client and you're going to say no to certain opportunities, first of all, more people are going to clamor to want to work with you. But secondly, I think energetically, it's really going to cause God or the universe or what have you to respond to that and say, OK, I'm going to send you the exact perfect type of people that you want to work with, that you're excited to work with, and that you can make the biggest
00:16:35
Speaker
impact on you know you're absolutely right nicky and i think that the other part of it that we didn't realize when we did it because let me tell you it is a hard decision someone's got to check and they want to work with you and you're saying no i don't want your three thousand dollar and i'll tell you and because we made those mistakes early on
00:16:55
Speaker
And then what we realized is that, you know what, if we can't make a difference for that client, then our reputation suffers because we couldn't help them. So we took their money and didn't make a difference because maybe the relationship wouldn't have worked in any ways. So we said, you know, let's look at it in a different way.
00:17:13
Speaker
let's look let's look for those people to your point that we can actually help and in our sales process we actually tell the client that by the way you know you're looking at us we are looking at you too because we have to make sure that the fit is there so we can help you so you can tell two friends about us and not hey don't work with infinity you wanna say these guys are awesome you should work with them why because they really helped us.
00:17:37
Speaker
So it really becomes a business strategy that it's a bit of a differentiator because when we compete with three or four agencies on a pitch, we're standing alone because we're telling the client, hey, we want to work with you or we don't. And the other agencies are going, we want to work with you at all costs, and we don't do that. And it puts us in a different light when we talk to our clients because we're authentic about it. It's not a sales pitch. It is absolutely, we will say no if we do not see the fit. And unfortunately, we say no a lot.
00:18:08
Speaker
I actually think it's fortunate that you say no. I'm sorry to disagree with you. I know it's probably not good etiquette on the part of the host to disagree with his guest, but I think it's actually very fortunate that you do that. And I think that for the listener, be they a coach, be they a consultant, be they a trainer, a facilitator, or another business owner. Knowing when to say no and having the courage to do it and stick to your guns, it's very powerful.
00:18:32
Speaker
very liberating. And in the end of the day, I believe it's very profitable. I actually think it's had a lot to do with your phenomenal growth.
00:18:40
Speaker
You know, it may happen. It just kind of came to us when we realized, you know, we did the exercise, what's our ideal client? And, you know, we kind of look down the list and say, what does that ideal client look like? But it took us some time to figure that out. And a lot of bruises to tell you the truth. It took a lot of bruises to figure that out. But once we figured it out now, we can articulate and say, this is what our ideal client looks like in this space. And this is what it looks like in that space. So every client asks us the same question. You know, tell us about your experience and what verticals.
00:19:09
Speaker
Pull up our client list and say okay it's every vertical in the world so but here's what we look for.
00:19:16
Speaker
And so it shows them that, oh my goodness, they only work with people that they think they can help.
Resilience and Leadership Style
00:19:22
Speaker
And that's me. So then they kind of see themselves in that world. So it is, it turned out to be a really good business strategy. But boy, is it liberating when I can hand the strategy over to our team and say, we really believe in these guys. And then that inspires everybody to do good and then do better work and be more creative and healthy.
00:19:39
Speaker
Alan, that's absolutely brilliant. You know, one thing you just said here that really resonated with me was you took a lot of bruises on. You had a lot of bruises. I think that's exactly how you phrased it. It didn't happen for you immediately. Your ideal client was something you had to work on. It wasn't like one day you sat down and you got in the first 10 minutes of thinking, okay, I need an ideal client. You know,
00:20:05
Speaker
Talk about that for the listener because I think a lot of people think when they listen to a podcast like this, I don't have my ideal client yet. I'm frustrated. Why is it that other people have got it? I don't. Is that why it's not working for me as well as it could be? Talk about that because I think that could help set a few people free.
00:20:24
Speaker
Well, you've heard the quote, right? I think it was Mike Tyson that all, you know, all plans are off the table once you get punched in the mouth. Right. So so, you know, and I have to tell you, I don't think if you ever answer the question, this is just my opinion. But if you ever answer the question, I am there and I've made it. You've already failed, in my view. I think that we are always on a journey.
00:20:47
Speaker
To figure it out listen to twelve years it is not been a hockey stick up it has been up and down and up and down and up and every year you have things that.
00:20:57
Speaker
that if you are not resilient, you will not survive. And that I think is a theme from all of your thought leaders and listening to the podcast that you've already done. Every one of them has said, man, there is no one linear path to success. So I think what happens is if you believe in your vision and you believe in what you're doing, whatever that happens to be, it could be running a max shop, whatever that is, you believe that you can do really well, then understand that stuff's gonna happen to you.
00:21:25
Speaker
and that the stuff's gonna happen to you as long as you keep your eye on the goal. I think the great quote is, you only see obstacles when you take your eye off of your goal. But to me, it's always been true. So when something happens into our business that it happens every week to us, we look at it and say, what do we learn?
00:21:42
Speaker
and then are we still on the right track yes we are turn the page move on fix the problem let's go take a breath deal with the stress and go and so it really becomes an attitude of resilience that you have to have and some people have it naturally some people have to learn it but if you're in business understand some stuff will happen that is not good.
00:22:03
Speaker
and try to always learn. And then when you learn it, I always record it and say, OK, that becomes part of next year's plan to say, here's what I won't do again. I'm going to go here. And then you institutionalize it with your with your team. And and good things start to happen because you're doing some of the right things. And oh, by the way, whatever you learn in MBA school and whatever you've learned 30 years behind you, you're learning today something new. I'm 57 years old.
00:22:29
Speaker
I can't believe the stuff I learn every single day. And why? Because I'm open to it. I don't know everything. I need to learn everything and that's what I continue to do. So that's a few things that I've been thinking about.
00:22:46
Speaker
You know, Alan, when I used to work for you, I say to people, Alan's one of the best bosses I ever worked for. And I think I'm congenitally unemployable, right? You know, I'm just not built to work for people. But what was brilliant about you when we worked together that I really appreciated was
00:23:04
Speaker
You didn't act like you knew it all. You actually sought my thoughts, my thinking, my advice, my help. And you didn't just do that with me. You did that with everybody that reported into you and the senior leadership team. And obviously, you live by those rules. So kudos to you.
00:23:21
Speaker
So the thing we like to do, Alan, to close off each podcast is we ask our expert, what are your three expert action steps that you would recommend our listener take on in order for them to be able to make the dent that they want to make in the universe and get to the next level in their dreams and their success? Sure. I think the first thing that I would say is relationships matter.
00:23:45
Speaker
They matter in more ways and I think anybody gives credit for it. It's not just that you have to actually say, well, I need to have a really big network. We all have these networks, I have a huge network, but I have a network that I have activated. A network that sits dormant because it's a number on a LinkedIn, on your LinkedIn page is not a network. A network where you now connect with people both,
00:24:11
Speaker
whether it's on the phone or it's a text or it's a coffee or whatever it happens to be, I think that would be the first thing I would say because those relationships will save your bacon at some point in your life. When you reach out to them and you're sincere and you're empathetic and you care about people and you need help, people will be there to help you. So I think that would be the first thing I would say. As a subset of that, I would say that the other thing is that we get really hung up on online relationships, right, with Facebook and Twitter and all the different things that are there.
00:24:40
Speaker
make sure you take those relationships into the human world as well. It is the best way ever to nurture and to stay in touch with people digitally. I'm all about that. But boy, have a Skype call, have a Zoom call. If you can't see it, but when you're downtown, pop in for coffee with no other agenda that I just want to say, hey, and see how you're doing. Because guess what happens every time you do that? Something beautiful happens. So I have as part of my world,
00:25:09
Speaker
when i am downtown in toronto i will say who are the people i know in that area who haven't i seen in a while and i always work coffees around those just to stay in touch with people with no agenda just hey let's connect so i think that's the second one.
00:25:23
Speaker
And I think the third one is, if you're really sincere about life, you're, at least in my view, I want to make people better. Everybody that I interact with in some way, if they feel better because they smiled when they were around me or we had a laugh together or I gave them advice or I gave them a hug or whatever it happened to be, you know, at the end of the day, we're all humans and we just happen to know stuff.
00:25:44
Speaker
And that's fine, but there's a bigger purpose here, right? It's about humans, and they don't want to sound too existential here for a moment, but at the end of the day, there's seven billion of us on the planet. We're all trying to make our way, and everybody needs a little bit of help. So if you can make people better, I sleep really well at night when I do that, because that's why I think I was put on this planet, is to encourage people and inspire people
New Ventures and Opportunities
00:26:06
Speaker
to be better. So I think those would be the three that I would finish with Vicki and Michael.
00:26:11
Speaker
Those kick butt, I love it. So Alan, what have you got going on that you may want to let our listeners know about? Is this something you want to promote or talk about? You know, not really other than, you know, what I, I guess what I failed to do, and I think it's a good thing, is I've got to learn how to say no to things and say yes to the right things. And I've learned how to say yes to a lot of really good things.
00:26:39
Speaker
And it's really hard when you say yes, great things happen in your life, but there's a lot of things you have to say no to. So I said yes to an opportunity in the US, which is a new business that I've invested in in the telemedicine, telehealth space. And it's taking me into a world that I had never experienced before and to the American healthcare world.
00:26:57
Speaker
I have to tell you it opens up opportunities that i could never dream of before so the only i would say that your listeners and i'm not promoting what we're doing in the states but i will tell you that this business will have a be at the end of it as we as we get through it because it's gonna scale so well and it's because i had a let me tie everything together.
00:27:16
Speaker
I had a relationship with somebody who trusted me, who I helped in some area who said, I want you to be a part of this. And that guy lives in Milan, Italy. And so to talk about how those things come together. So now I'm involved in a business with 12 other people from around the world that all put in some dough into this business that's gonna really be transformational, not only for the healthcare system in the US, but for myself and my family, all because I said yes, and because I had a really tight relationship with someone.
00:27:43
Speaker
The world does kind of deliver stuff to you if you say yes, just say yes to the right thing. So that would be what I would say as a final note. Well, that's fantastic. Since, you know, you've been too modest to talk about your company website, I'll do it for you. If you want to find out about the services that Alan and his fantastic team offer, go to infinity.com with 2Ms.ca. Check them out. They do incredible work.
00:28:09
Speaker
Alan is a dynamite speaker. He speaks from the heart. He's powerful, so if you're interested in bringing someone in to do a talk for you, reach out to Alan. Alan, thank you so much for being on the show today. Gentlemen, it was an honor and a pleasure, and thank you for reaching out, and I really enjoyed their talk today. Thank you. Thank you, Alan. Great having you. You crushed it. Thank you, Alan. Thanks, man. Really good. Bye
Conclusion and Resources
00:28:37
Speaker
-bye. See you.
00:28:44
Speaker
So Michael, Alan McLaren, my former boss. I know you may be in the back of your mind. You were too nice to say. It had a little bit of trepidation. What's Nicky doing here bringing his old boss to the podcast? But I think he really crushed it and hit it out of the park for us.
00:28:59
Speaker
Well, you know, for listeners that are owners of businesses, I mean, he's just, again, another, it seems like these last couple of guests that we've had, textbook examples of how they're becoming authorities in their market and the things that they're doing and how they're becoming known. So I think for our listeners there, I mean, I knew once I looked at his website and the things that he's done, I knew right away, like, it's going to be a great guest.
00:29:23
Speaker
Absolutely. And I really liked what he said about knowing when to say no, knowing what to say no to so you can figure out what to say yes to. And I really liked the fact that he turns over half of the opportunities that come his way away. I actually think that's massively contributed to his growth. And for the listener, that's a powerful thing for you to take on in your own practice. Because if you do that, you're going to be known as someone who has integrity and the right people are going to seek you out.
00:29:51
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I think what stands out for me about what they're doing is that they really know who they want to serve. They know how they can serve them. And there's a formula that they figured out. And so what that enables them to do is do amazing work with those type of people and let other people that don't fit that model move aside. So I think his message for some of the listeners that maybe are smaller businesses, their coaches, consultants,
00:30:21
Speaker
You can learn from that. It's like don't try and serve everybody. Figure out who is your ideal customer. What is it that you're really great at? And then focus helping those people and let all the other people go to whoever is great working with those people.
00:30:36
Speaker
Be okay with the fact that you might not nail who your ideal customer is right away. It might take you some time, because obviously he talked about how it took him and his business some time to do that. Absolutely. I think for you and I, we could speak from that ourselves, right? We've been there and had our own pivots a number of times.
00:30:56
Speaker
And if you don't pick one, you're never going to narrow it down. So it's pick one, go try, test, research, do the things that he was talking about today, and you will find that there's gold and your business will really take off when you actually figure out who your ideal customer is, how you really, really serve them, and then become known for doing that. 100%. So Michael, we've created a fabulous new tool for people to download from our website, haven't we?
00:31:26
Speaker
Yeah, and we've had it up for a couple of episodes, couple of weeks now, and we're definitely getting some people downloading it and enjoying it, giving us some feedback on it. Well, tell people what it is and why it'd be useful for them to grab a hold of it.
00:31:42
Speaker
We call it the Market Authority Blueprint. And it basically takes a look at 10 ways that you can position yourself as an authority in the market and be known as a thought leader. And I think the reason why we came up with it, it's a one-pager. We actually saw a really good example of it from another thought leader who I think is coming on our show in the future. But he had this download, which was 10 things. It was on one page. You could print it off.
00:32:09
Speaker
And it had pure gold, 10 pieces of pure gold. So we said, you know what, let's do the same thing. Let's have a one pager. Let's put out a blueprint, have 10 awesome things that people can do to position themselves better in the market, make more money, attract better clients. And that's why we did it.
00:32:25
Speaker
And obviously it's absolutely free. So go to our website, thebusinessofthoughtleadership.com forward slash authority. This will also be in the show notes. Go ahead and download this blueprint and start using it right away. It'll make a big difference for you.
00:32:40
Speaker
Absolutely. That wraps another episode of the Business of Thought Leadership podcast and what an episode it was. You can get all the show notes and links to the guest that we had on today at thebusinessofthoughtleadership.com. Until next time, goodbye.
00:33:03
Speaker
You've been listening to the Business of Thought Leadership with Nikki Ballou and Michael Palmer. For more information and to download the resources mentioned in this episode, please visit us at thebusinessofthoughtleadership.com. Thank you for listening.