March 1, 2025 • 40 mins
Episode 59 Frederick Dudek (Freddy D)
Expert in You: Transforming Coaches into High-Earning Consultants with Ann Carden
Today's Episode 59, we're diving into an insightful conversation with Ann Carden, a powerhouse in business growth and marketing strategy. With over 43 years of experience and a knack for helping entrepreneurs scale their success, Ann shares her journey from a stay-at-home mom to building multiple successful businesses. She emphasizes the importance of aligning one's expertise with their business model, a concept that transformed her approach and led to her clients achieving remarkable results. We discuss how she empowers coaches and consultants to create premium offers and leverage their existing knowledge, turning it into lucrative revenue streams. Tune in as Ann lays down some serious wisdom on navigating the complexities of business and the art of creating lasting client relationships.
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Ann Carden, a business growth expert and the CEO of Acarden Inc., shares her incredible journey of transformation from a stay-at-home mom to a successful entrepreneur and consultant. With over 43 years of experience in marketing and sales, Ann has built and sold multiple businesses, earning recognition as a top coach and best-selling author. Throughout the episode, she emphasizes the importance of aligning one's business strategies with personal expertise and knowledge. She recounts her early struggles in business coaching, where she encountered ineffective strategies that did not resonate with her skills. This led her to develop her unique approach, focusing on leveraging existing strengths to create successful business models. Ann discusses her work with coaches and business owners, helping them build premium offers, refine their marketing strategies, and implement effective sales processes. Her philosophy revolves around creating a 'million dollar offer' that not only generates revenue but also aligns with the client's core expertise, ultimately leading to sustainable growth and success.
The conversation dives into the nuances of coaching, where Ann shares insights on the common pitfalls faced by entrepreneurs, such as overcomplicating their offerings and failing to maximize their existing skills. She encourages listeners to identify their unique strengths and to construct their businesses around those capabilities. Ann's stories illustrate the transformative potential of her methods, as she recounts instances of clients who have successfully scaled their businesses by restructuring their offers and enhancing their market visibility. The episode highlights the significance of having a support system and accountability in navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship, a theme that resonates deeply with aspiring and seasoned business owners alike.
Listeners will walk away with actionable insights on how to approach their business strategies with a fresh perspective, encouraging them to embrace their expertise and leverage it effectively. Ann Carden's journey serves as a testament to the power of aligning passion with purpose, making this episode a treasure trove for anyone looking to elevate their entrepreneurial game.
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Takeaways:
- Ann Carden, with over 43 years of experience, has successfully built and sold multiple businesses, showcasing her expertise in business growth and...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(02:21):
Today I have the pleasure ofwelcoming an incredible business
growth expert marketing andsales strategist and consultant Ann
Carden as the CEO of AcardenInc. And the Expert in you attraction
marketing and media agency andbrings over 43 years of experience
in business, marketing andsales with an impressive track record
(02:46):
of building seven successfulbusinesses, selling five of them.
From launching a globalbusiness before the Internet era
to helping hundreds ofentrepreneurs scale their success,
Anne has made a lasting impactas a consultant, speaker and best
selling author. Her bookExpert in youn became a number one
(03:07):
international bestseller andshe shares her expertise through
her podcast and magazine ofthe same name. She's been featured
on major media outlets likeabc, NBC, CW and Fox, recognized
as one of the top coaches inthe world, and recently inducted
into who's who in America.With a wealth of knowledge and a
(03:31):
passion for helpingentrepreneurs thrive, I'm thrilled
to have her here today.
Welcome, Ann, the founder ofExpert in youn to the Business Superfans
podcast. Excited to have youhere this afternoon, Ann.
Thanks Frederick. I'm happy tobe here.
So tell us a little bit aboutyour story of where you started from
and how did you end up comingup with Expert in you.
(03:54):
That's a great question. Let'ssee, 35 years ago I left my corporate
career and my corporate incometo be a stay at home mom. And we
were struggling financiallyand I started looking for a way to
make money and that is how myfirst business started. Since then,
I built multiple businesses,sold them and I started coaching
and consulting about 15 yearsago and I fell into a lot of the
(04:19):
wrong strategies and thingsthat just were not helping my business.
And I was part of a coachingorganization and everything they
were teaching people werehaving to learn their stuff to go
out and build a businesscoaching business. But they were
all struggling. And I thought,what's wrong here? And I took a step
back and I kind of figured itout and I thought, Ann, you're trying
to learn stuff that's reallynot in your expertise here. It's
(04:41):
stuff you're trying to do.Things that don't really align with
you and what you know and yourknowledge. And I started looking
around and everybody else wasdoing the same thing. So as I took
a step back, I thought, okay,and where's your expertise? Where
does that lie? And then howcan you structure, how can you still
take the things that you'velearned from them, but structure
(05:02):
it in a way that it can helpyou move your business forward? Because
I kept getting kind of stuckin my business and all of a sudden
my business exploded once Ifigured that whole thing out and
they started really sending meother coaches and other consultants
to help them. I really washelping them build their and I would
(05:22):
say to these coaches andconsultants, what was your background?
Like why didn't you decide tobecome a business coach? And they
might say something like mybackground was in music. Okay, that
doesn't align, right? Ordoesn't. I started looking at that
and I thought people need tobe taking what they're already great
and building a business aroundthat is their fastest pat. So out
of that my was where theentire brand came from.
(05:46):
Interesting story. So what isit they specifically do in helping
these coaches? You workprimarily with coaches, is that correct
or you work also with businessowners or is it hybrid of both or
business owners that are coaches?
It's really both. So I, sowhat I really help people do is build
out either a new revenuestream. So maybe they have been running
a business but now they wantto build a whole nother revenue stream
(06:08):
helping other people with whatthey've learned. So more coaching,
consulting maybe anotherprofessional service that they want
to offer to build a newrevenue stream. Maybe they want to
get out of their business andthis is their next step. I work with
people coming from corporatethat they are ready for something
different or they're maybethey're retiring or they. And they
(06:28):
want to. For example, I have aclient that's a surgeon and a practitioner,
a specialist. And she hasbuilt out a concierge business practice
and she's been the firstperson to do it in specialty. Now
she's creating a coachingbusiness and a coaching model to
help other specialist be ableto build out a concierge model. So
(06:49):
I take what they're alreadydoing or have already done or what
they're great at and I helpthem really design a premium business
around that because they'realready experts, they already know
their stuff and I help thembuild out what is going to be their
revenue model. I call it theirmillion dollar offer, their branding,
their marketing strategies andsystems, their sales process and
(07:12):
then even building their team.And how are they going to scale this
and how are they going to keepgrowing it? So really an A to Z coach.
But I also work with peoplethat are wanting to level up. So
maybe they feel like theyhaven't really been working as an
expert, they really haven'tbeen working in their skill set and
their knowledge. They have somuch more opportunity. They want
(07:35):
better clients, they wantbigger deals, they don't know how
to do that. They want to be amore premium player in the market.
I help them structure,restructure, and then how they can
grow and scale that. But allaround professional services. So
it might be an agency ownerthat decided, I want to create a
consulting arm of my business.We're doing all the done for you
(07:57):
services, but I want toconsult, I want to be a trusted advisor.
I don't want everything to bedone for you. I want to leverage
my skill set and my expertiseand teach people, teach their teams
or run their teams, Managetheir teams. Not manage, but advise
their teams. And so that allbecomes another revenue stream or
(08:18):
a completely new business.
Interesting. You've got aunique approach of really working
with these people to findanother niche. And it's really an
extension of what they'realready doing, but it's just repackaging
it into a revenue generating machine.
Yes, absolutely. A lot ofpeople go out and they try to learn
(08:38):
something new. It's like,okay, I know, I want to. We see this
with business owners a lot. Iworked with business owners for years
before I started working andwith professional entrepreneurs.
And what I would see isbusiness owners would not maximize
what they were doing. And sothen they would decide to start another
business or add something, butit was a completely different business.
And so now they're trying torun two businesses. We see this even
(09:01):
a lot with entrepreneurs, butthe businesses aren't connected in
any way.
They're not complimentary.
No. And they're notcomplimentary at all. So one of the
things I help people do isbuild out what I call their million
dollar core system, their coreoffer, and then from that they can
build off. So now I actuallyhave an agency where we do a lot
(09:22):
of done for you services. Wecan write their book, we can get
them published in the media,we can launch their podcast. There's
a lot of things we can do withthem. Those are all done for you,
but were a natural fit to whatI was already helping people do,
but I was sending them away togo get it done somewhere else. And
I said, okay, that doesn'tmake sense. And so I built off of
that. Now I'm really runningtwo businesses, but they're so connected
(09:46):
that it doesn't feel like I'mrunning two businesses.
Interesting. And that's reallyclever of what you're doing because
you're helping that customerof yours really scale. You're controlling
their growth process becauseof the fact that you're tracking
what's happening. And you cansay, okay, you need to just like
an airline Pilot has got anautopilot system that automatically
(10:09):
tweaks and adjusts. I have afriend that's a retired airline pilot,
used to fly from Phoenix toMaui, and he would say that the plane
would adjust every secondbecause of the wind and everything
else happening. That if itdidn't do that, it would never arrive
to Maui, be someplace out inthe middle of the Pacific Ocean.
So what you're doing is you'rehelping them tack back on course
(10:31):
so that through the differentprograms that you're offering, which
is really cool.
Yeah. One of the things too isbusiness marketing. Sales is always
changing. Right. We havedisruptors like AI coming into the
market. And so when they'retrying to run their business and
build their business, theydon't really have time to learn all
the business stuff, all themarketing stuff, all the sales stuff.
(10:51):
They're trying to be good attheir skill set or hone their skills.
But it's my business to learnbusiness. It's my business to know
what marketing is relevant inthe market today. That is my business.
So that's where I put a lot ofmy energy and my focus and my time.
And so now I am able to takethe most relevant things for them
(11:13):
and they don't have to go outand still try to learn all those
things. I can just help themimplement those things. And so it's
just a faster path for them tobe able to have somebody helping
them along the way.
That's great. When I wasworking recently with an interpreting
and translation company, I hada business coach that was helping
me just keep me accountable.More importantly, brainstorm. Because
(11:36):
it was a frustratingsituation. It was a husband and wife
business and they had reacheda plateau and they had no technology,
no systems in place. Every 90days, somebody was quitting on a
multitude of things that theydid wrong. So I got involved to help
turn that business around. AndI had somebody helping me to just.
(11:58):
Sometimes it was just I neededthat person to vent.
Right.
He'd listened to it and hesaid, okay, now that you got that
off your chest, what are yougoing to do about it?
Right.
Wait a minute. I just talkedto you for that.
Yeah. I don't believe anybodyclimbs the mountain alone. And I
think the people that try toclimb the mountain alone are just
really. They're doing it thehard way. They're. It's just so much
(12:19):
easier when you have somebody.And yeah, I definitely am an accountability
partner to people as well.Keeping them on track and keeping
them on course. Look,everybody hits ditches, right? I
was Just actually having thisconversation with my husband, you
can be going along, things aregreat, and then all of a sudden a
disruptor comes or this littlething called the pandemic. And all
of a sudden you're in a ditch.Right. You run off in the ditch.
(12:42):
And having somebody that maybehas been through things before. Yeah.
I'd been through everythingover 40 years in business, so I can't
bring up much that I haven'tbeen through and worked through.
And so having somebody thathas been through a lot of that and
has overcome all the fear andthe mindset things and they are just
able to help you get throughthat. I hate to say like a therapist
(13:04):
or a counselor, but sometimes.
Sometimes it's what it takes.It's what it takes.
Feel that way. Yeah.
Because I was dealing withpersonnel issues and the way they
were managing the company andsome events happened and I ended
up running company completelyhad full authority and we scaled
in one year by a milliondollars. We're talking interpreting
and translation. So we'retalking a dollar a minute for a phone
(13:26):
call, getting an interpreteror getting a Spanish in person interpreter
for $70 an hour. Those kind oftransactions multiplied many times
is a significant amount.
Right.
But one of the things that wedid was we turned around the culture.
And so I started empoweringthe team because I'm a firm believer
in the team is the extensionof the soul of the company.
(13:50):
Yeah.
So if they're not empoweredand love the company and love who
they're working for, thattonality comes across to prospective
customers and existingcustomers and you're going to sense
something is off. If thetonality is off, you can say, not
sure about this company.Something's not there. Your subconscious
(14:11):
is going to be doing right.And where somebody answered a phone
or an email and says, andwe're super excited you call, how
can we help you? Bridge yourlanguage, communications, et cetera.
Whole different mindset, wholedifferent approach. So what I created
is I created superfans. Firstof the team that transcended to.
(14:31):
We were working withindependent interpreters. So they
don't work for us. They'reindependent contractors. They can
work for multiple agencies. Soit was now recognizing them because
of the fact they're the frontline. They're the ones going to the
hospital.
Right.
Because if they're not brandadvocates for this company, the hospital's
going, why are we dealing withthese guys? Maybe we should look
(14:52):
at somebody else. So totallyget what you're talking about. I
bring that up because I thinkwhat you're Doing is you're helping
these businesses create theirown superfans from within the people
that they're dealing with.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean,again, as business, if it's going
to be successful, it has to besuccessful on all fronts, from how
(15:14):
your clients feel about you tohow your employees feel about you.
Suppliers, you can distributeall of it.
Yeah. People, when you're ontheir podcast, how they feel about
you. It's all part of it.
Yes, it's all part of it. Andit's. So that's one of the things
that I'm excited to have youon, because bring that to the equation
of how you're helping yourcustomers, your business coaches,
(15:36):
create super fans of thepeople that they're helping, which
is in turn promoting their success.
Yeah, absolutely. And itreminds me of when I worked with
small businesses when I firstgot started. Many now coaches and
consultants, I haven't reallyseen the same thing because they
really have a heart to serve,and so that's their whole thing.
But when you talk about asmall business, I worked with contracting
(15:59):
businesses for a long time,plumbing companies and roofing companies,
and some of the basics thatdid not get done when I first would
start working with them, thatwe would have to make sure. Even
you mentioned the phone call,even from the very first phone call,
how people were treated, howthey treated their employees and
how. How they treated theircustomers. I even see it a lot online
(16:21):
with a lot of entrepreneurs.They work really hard to get business
in the front door, but it'sgoing out the back door as fast as
it's coming in, because.
Absolutely.
Because they're not doing whatthey need to do within that business
to create super fans withtheir clients. And so all those things
have to be looked at in abusiness. It's not just one thing
(16:42):
that makes a business go, butit reminded me of when I worked with
a lot of small businesses andthat just the things that weren't
happening, that needed tohappen. And for a lot of them, they
just have to learn that alongthe way. They have to learn what
it really takes. But how manybusinesses don't even open their
doors anymore? I mean, I amblown away by when I go to a business
(17:04):
and they say they have hourson the door and yet they're not there.
They haven't opened, theydon't answer the phone. We're seeing
it all across America whereI'm like, how do these people stay
in business? We also areseeing the same thing. So we have
to be out there helping thesepeople do a better Job.
(17:24):
Agreed. So share a story, Ann,of how you've help transform somebody
that was looking to becomecoach and work with other businesses.
And what's the story thattransformed them to where they're
now? They've achieved thegoals that they were seeking.
Yeah, I could tell you somany, but one of the goals or one
(17:46):
of the ones that it was in myearlier days and he was a referral
to me from a past client andhe had been trying to launch a product.
And so this is just sort ofhow I mold things and how things
work, which is why I'm tellingthis story. He was trying to launch
a product that he was bringingto the US From Europe. And he knew
(18:07):
his target audience. He had abusiness before. Not in the same
thing, but he had businessesbefore. So he wasn't new to business,
but he just could not get thisproduct off the ground. And his marketing
was wrong. His offers were notput together in a way that he could
hit the money or the levelthat he wanted. Everything was just
off. His sales process wasoff. So we restructured everything.
(18:30):
His offer originally was about$4,000. And I said, one of the problems
that you're going to have. Hewanted to work with chiropractors.
I said it was a machine. Oneof the problems you're going to have
is chiropractors don't needanother thing and they don't need
another thing to do. So ifyou're going to sell this to them,
you have to make it a reallysweet deal and you have to make it
(18:51):
something they really want.And he was trying to almost sell
it like, this will be greatfor your patients. Well, chiropractors
care about their patients, butthey still max out on their time.
They still can only do somuch. Right. They don't want to put
out more money. And so werestructured all of that so that
he was now targeting thechiropractors and how much revenue
it could add to theirbusiness. And the benefit is what
(19:13):
it would get to do for theirpatients as well, and how they could
sell this is a whole notherthing. But the other thing we did
with that, we changed all themarketing, we changed the package.
And I said, let's turn thisinto a consulting offer that includes
the product because. And let'sput some marketing with this. So
he put about $500 worth ofmarketing stuff, brochures and some
(19:35):
signage, and got somematerials made for them that would
go with the package. Again, werecreated everything and then we
put together a consultingwhere he trained the staff so the
staff could run it, and thestaff could be building out another
revenue stre inside thechiropractor's office. The chiropractor
didn't have to do anythingexcept say, this person needs to
(19:57):
know how to do this, or hecould mention it to the patient and
what it would do for them andhow he thought it would be good for
them, and then the staff couldtake it over from there. So we restructured
all of that. So we took itfrom a $4,000 offer to a $25,000
offer. And then we changed uphis sales process so that he funded
the chiropractor so they couldmake very low monthly payments. We
(20:19):
showed them the kind ofrevenue they could create. And long
story short, he went from zeroto almost a million dollars in a
year with that offer. Also, hewas getting paid in full when they
bought. So he was now selling$25,000 a shot every time he sold
one of these. And that alsogave him the money and the resources
to now grow faster. So hehired some sales teams and they were
(20:42):
able to go out and he was ableto grow that and scale that really
fast. That was just oneexample. But I look at what people
are already doing and where'sthe opportunity there? Well, that
could be. Maybe they've notdone a business, but I look at what
have you been doing, what isyour expertise, what is all of that
value that you have? How canwe put something around that and
(21:02):
build around that? But thenwhat are you trying to do or where
do you want to go and how canwe level that up? So, yeah, so that's
just one story.
That's a great story. Becauseyou created value. You basically
simplified the process ofgetting that implemented into the
chiropractor's practice. Andyou removed the time constraints
(21:27):
for the chiropractor becausehe didn't have to get involved or
she didn't have to involve inmanaging it. The person came in,
did the implementation, didthe training get everybody up to
speed, helped everybodyunderstand how to position it to
market it to the patients. Andyeah, I'm sure he became a super
fan of you.
(21:47):
Yeah, there it was just followup. And then I think he actually
went on and did it in dentistoffice and went did it in spas. I
only worked with him for ashort time, but after that he was
able to take that same exactprocess and just change who he was
selling it to. The wholeprocess still worked and he was able
to go into differentverticals. So I don't even know really
what he did beyond that. Butthat's what he did in the timeframe
(22:12):
that I worked with him. Soyeah, yeah.
That reminds me of years agowhen I was in charge of global sales
for a software company and Iwas responsible for taking a product
that existed, nobody knewabout it, and grow it. And I grew
it from 0 to 3 million at thecompany in a three year window. The
challenge was, was similar. Iwas working with independent distributors
(22:34):
or what we called value addedresellers back then. And they were
all over in Europe, Asia, etcetera. These are independent people
that are representing I'll say12 different watches, you know, and
how do I get my watch mindshare and sold within their teams.
I would go out to there. So Itraveled a lot and would spend time
(22:57):
getting them see the benefitto take on the product. Two was training
their sales team how toposition it, how to sell it with
all the other products thatthey sold and what was a differentiator.
But where the difference wasis we would recognize the distributorship,
who sold the most and all thatstuff. That's what most of the vendors
(23:17):
were doing in our space. Iwent one step further and I actually
recognized the individualsalesperson of that agency that was
the one that's selling themost of our product. So I recognized
him as my superfan forpromoting the product. So I was actually
his superfan, recognized himand then recognized the distributorship.
(23:38):
And what that would do is thatwould motivate other salespeople
within that distributorship.Wow. Nobody else did that. None of
the other competitive vendorsdid that. I did as something I had
learned from somebody. Andthat was a game changer. That's when
we scaled, like I said, from 0to 3 million net to the company in
(23:58):
$5,000 chunks. We had set up60 resellers around the world. And
I'm still friends, we'retalking 20 some years later, I'm
still friends with some ofthose of people.
Yeah, it's. It's amazing howmuch can be done with even just an
outside perspective or anoutside person that can just see
things you can't and can helpyou implement things faster. And
(24:22):
I love that story. I, that'ssuch a great story.
Thank you. So let's go back towhat's your ideal customer and how
do you work with them so thatour listeners, if somebody's interested
in reaching out and lookingfor help. How would you work with
somebody? Let's say pick me.Okay. How would you take me? Put
me on a hot seat? How wouldyou turn around and look at what
(24:44):
Is it that I'm doing and howcould you help somebody like me or
somebody that's. We're dealingwith a lot of solopreneurs and small
to mid sized businesses. I'vegot some people that I've done some
work with and talk with thatdo wellness stuff. Some people do
with the mindset. One personis a business coach that I just interviewed
(25:04):
on a show that is from theNavy and he's just launching his
coaching business.
Yeah, those are all greatpeople. And I've worked with a lot
of mindset coaches andobviously business coaches. So one
of the things that I do isreally take them through a process
of first of all, if they haveanything that they're already doing,
then I look at that and I seewhere their bigger opportunity is.
(25:26):
Almost everybody has a biggeropportunity. Sometimes they have
fallen into particularstrategies or something that they
see out there. Funnels is anexample. I help people work at a
really premium level. Sothey're playing in kind of in blue
ocean. So the way I can dothat with them is because I'm taking
what they're already great atand I'm helping them build a business
(25:48):
around that. I don't typicallywork with people who are trying to
learn something and then Iwant to learn something to be a business
or to build a business. Iwant, I'm in training to be a life
coach so I can be a coach andbuild a business. Those are not my
people. My people mostly arein the B2B space. If they're not
in B2B like mindset coaches,I'll move them into B2B. I'll move
(26:12):
them into business becausethat's where their bigger opportunity
is, that's where the moremoney is. And I help people get high
end clients. That's my wholemotto. I help them build a premium
high end business. So most ofthe clients that I work with, $25,000
might be their low offer. AndI've helped clients get $400,000
(26:33):
clients. It's working at thathigher end. So what I would do is
really look at what are theycurrently doing. Are there shifts
that can be made to level upwhat they're doing and really reposition
them in the market? Create ahigher value offer, a higher value
business model. So those arethe first two things we look at.
(26:53):
And then now how are you goingto market that and how are you going
to go get clients? Typicallythe marketing strategies that we
use are very high impact. Soit's either you're speaking in some
form or you're writing yourbook, you're getting in the media,
you're speaking your thoughtleadership on social media, you might
be getting on stages, youmight be running virtual events,
(27:14):
you might be hosting your ownpodcast, you're getting on podcast.
It's all what I like to call ahigh impact marketing strategy where
it's a one to many type ofapproach to the strategies we use.
And that also levels them upand levels up their visibility in
the market too. So it kills alot of birds with one stone. So those
(27:35):
are the marketing pieces andthen helping them obviously put the
sales process in place toclose those higher end clients. From
there, if they want to scale,I have a four step process. It's
premium offers, it'spositioning, promote and then profits.
So those, that's the fourbuckets of my accelerator and different
(27:55):
people come into me indifferent phases and they may not
need. They might already beselling something at a hundred thousand
dollars, but could that be 250or could that be 300? So I look at
those things first or do theyjust need to add more, more offers
to what they're already doing?I look at just everything that they're
doing and everything they haveand really help them define what
(28:20):
that new business or new modellooks like. So whether they're just
getting started in business,helping them build all those pieces
out, or they're scaling theirbusiness, helping them level that
up and get out of being in themainstream and move them to the blue
ocean or top of their market.That was blended.
(28:41):
No, that's fine. But that'simportant for our listeners. Somebody
that's interested in yourservices or wants to know more. At
least now they have an idea ofwhat it is that you're doing and
how you can potentiallytransform not only their business,
but ineffectively. Their life.
Yeah. Oh, it's life changing.I think you mentioned a mindset coach.
I think of one of my mindsetcoaches who was brilliant. She had
(29:02):
been doing it for a long time,but when she came to me, I don't
think it was probably evengetting to maybe $50,000 a year,
maybe $60,000 a year. And shejust kept getting stuck. But she
was selling her services solow that she had to have so many
clients. And so we moved herinto the business sector, we restructured
and repositioned everythingand she, she closed a $50,000 client
(29:27):
with mindset coaching. So it'sjust knowing how to put the pieces
together, which was justalmost unheard of for a mindset coach.
But it's also why I Love thebusiness sector. It's what I know
anyway. I'm more of a B2Bperson, but it's what I know. But
I also love it just for thefact that it helps them build a more
simple business and they canget paid a lot more and there's such
(29:50):
a need for their expertise. Soyeah, whatever sector they're in.
Well, absolutely, becausehaving been in sales for decades,
it takes the same amount ofeffort for selling a hundred dollar
item as it does $100,000 item.Same amount of follow up, same amount
of time, same amount ofengagement. It's the same thing,
(30:12):
but the ROI is different.
It's easier to sell high.People don't realize that. But when
you're selling very low,you're dealing with a different type
of client, a different type ofmindset. A lot of times you're dealing
with people that might nothave the money. Like they're having
to decide do I want to pay myelectric bill or do I want to invest
in this. When you're dealingwith higher caliber clients, they're
(30:35):
looking for the shortcut,they're looking for the speed, the
money's not a factor. That's avery different mindset from what
most people experience becauseof the way they structure their business.
And there's such a greatpleasure to work with too, because
they actually require lessbecause you don't have to drag them
on the bus.
(30:55):
Yeah, no, I totally agree. Ijust recently fired a client.
Well done that.
We've all done that. Andpeople don't realize that they need
to do that. Well, sometimesthat client is draining you and costing
you money and you're notseeing it because you're into it.
You're into the weeds, you'renot looking outside. And that's where
(31:15):
an external person can change.But this particular company was in
a service business and I gotrecommended by the business coach
that I had talked about. So Iworked with this other guy and had
again, no CRM in the company.Was working with folders and Excel
spreadsheets and no follow upstrategy, et cetera. What's in the
(31:36):
construction industry. And Idid research and said, look, there's
$159 billion worth ofcommercial construction going on
in Arizona right now. You'regetting 0.00000000 whatever of that
business. So we needed to putsystems in place and everything else.
(31:57):
That business been around 30years, did great work, but it was
a family run.
Right.
Very short mindset. And I putsystems in place and things like
that. And some of the peoplegot it. They had one person that
wasn't family and he wasgetting at what I was doing. But
it got to the point where theyfelt they couldn't control it anymore
because they didn't understandit. It was like, wait a minute. They
(32:20):
had never gone to any eventswith general contractors and stuff
like that. Come to one andsays, look, here they all are, you
know, 50 general contractorsin one spot. It doesn't get better
than this.
Right.
In six weeks, I put together a$1.1 million bidding opportunity
for him of multiplecontractors that he had never even
(32:42):
approached. But he couldn'tsee it. He didn't understand what
was happening. I justbasically said, this isn't going
to work.
People stay stuck in theirways. They're not willing to change
or they're not willing to. Youcan't help clients like that. Yeah,
no.
Just like you're saying,because he was losing control because
he didn't understand how touse the CRM, Wasn't computer literate.
(33:03):
Right.
And it was just beginning.
Refused to learn, right?
Oh, yeah. Totally refused to learn.
You know, you said sometimeswe had to fire people. And I just
look at it this way. Life istoo darn short. And I don't want
to be drained by clients. I'vehad those clients and they drained
me. And at some point you haveto say, it's not worth it. No amount
(33:26):
of money is worth it. So go.Clients that will appreciate you,
will implement, will do thethings. And part of the reason why
I help people do it in ahigher end market is because those
higher caliber clients arethose people. They get it. They already
get it.
Well, they leverage theirtime. That's the bottom line. Time
is the most. I keep tellingpeople, time is the most expensive
(33:47):
and limited resource that wehave. You can't buy more of it and
you can't buy it back 100%.
You'll never get more. So makegood use of it. And I, for one, don't
want to be going to bed atnight thinking about my clients,
having bad dreams about them,because it's not going well. That
(34:08):
is not something that I wantto live.
No. I mean, yeah, I could saythis guy went and I took him to a
meeting with a bunch of women,and he was dropping F bombs. And
I was, okay, this is gonna bea long day.
Yeah, yeah.
So, yeah, laugh about it today.
Kind of figure those thingsout as you go. But if you have the
idea, if you don't just takeeverybody because they're breathing
(34:29):
and they have money. You canbuild a business that you absolutely
love.
And you brought up a greatpoint there, Ham, because you need
to really look your idealclient. Because as you just said,
you don't want necessarybuddies breathing and can pay for
it. You want to really workwith somebody that wants the transformation.
Yeah.
That wants to go from thislevel to that level. And it really
(34:52):
doesn't matter what it is thatyou're marketing, it's still the
bottom line is even if you'redoing remodeling or services or you're
selling technology, whateverit is, that recipient that you're
talking to has got to be openminded that says I need to do something
to transform and go from thislevel to that level. If they're not
(35:13):
even open minded, it doesn'tmatter how good you are, you're not
going to pass go.
Well, not even that. You'lltotally lose confidence in your skill
set. When I first started inthe coaching space and I was working
with people just trying to getmy feet wet and trying to really
figure out my business and Iwas working with people who I wanted
(35:34):
their success more than theydid. So that doesn't ever go well.
Right.
Right.
And it broke my confidence. Itwas one of the reasons why I took
a step back and said, I'm notloving this. Why did I work so hard
all those years to learn whatI've learned? And I can't get them
to do anything. I can't get. Ican't get this. I can't get them
(35:55):
over the finish line with thisor they won't implement or it's a
consistent complaining orwhatever it was. And I just thought
I must just not be very goodat this. Even though I knew I could
help them, I knew I could helpthem make money, I knew I could do
all that. And it just broke myconfidence. And then when I started
working with the right people,it was like, oh, wow, I'm pretty
(36:16):
good at this. I know how tohelp people and I can get amazing
results.
Yeah, no, you bring up a greatpoint. Because I was selling and
sometimes when I was sellingtechnology and multitude of other
things, I helped a bathremodeler that does those fiberglass
drop in things. And I went tosome guy's house for a project in
(36:36):
a condo in Chicago and I neversold this stuff before. And I ended
up selling their largest condoremodeling project in the company's
history was about $145,000back in 2008.
Huh.
It was just because I Had aconversation with the guy. Yeah,
but there's been times where,you know, I didn't get the sale and
(37:00):
all the buy signals were thereand everything else. And then you
go, what did I do wrong? Youknow, our minds sometimes can be
our worst enemy because thenegative self.
Talk if we don't learn how tomanage them. That's for sure.
Yeah. Our negative self talk,you go and you gotta slap yourself
upside the head a couple timesand go, okay, wait a minute. Get
back into the game.
(37:20):
Yes, 100%. We all have thosemoments too. And I think that's an
important thing for people toknow too. It's kind of like I said,
you'll be going along, goingalong. Things are great. You're going
up the mountain, you're goingup the mountain, all of a sudden
you fall into a big cave orsomething. It's like, what happened?
What happened? But you have tobe able to pull yourself out of that
(37:40):
and keep moving forward andpush through any fear and take big
risk and take big bold moves.And you just have to know that's
how business, I mean, that'show life is too.
Sure.
That's how business is.
When you work with thatcustomer that appreciates it and
it becomes your superfanbecause you've helped transform and
grow their business, they'regoing to tell all of their colleagues
(38:02):
and that's going to attractmore business for you as the coach
or whatever business thatyou're into. So it's all full circle.
Yes, 100%. Yeah.
So, Hannah, great conversationwe've been having. Unfortunately,
our clock is kind of runningup here. So let's talk about how
can people find you and do youhave an offer for our listeners?
(38:25):
Yeah, absolutely. So one ofthe things I love to do is if you
like what I'm talking aboutand you maybe want to do this in
your business, it resonateswith you. Book a call with me@acarden.com
and let's just have aconversation. I often have workshops
that I'm running that I caninvite you into or maybe you just
want to jump in and getstarted and we can talk about what
(38:46):
that looks looks like. Sothat's the best way. I'm actually
putting together a brand newwebsite for expert in you. It's not
quite ready yet, so you can goto annlcarden.com and that's my personal
website and there's resourceson there and you can grab my books
on there. So there's a lot onthat website that you can get my
podcast, and I have a magazinethat just came out, so a lot of resources.
(39:10):
Very cool. Very cool. And it'sbeen a pleasure having you on the
Business Superfans podcast.Great information for our listeners
and great conversation that wehad. And we definitely look forward
to having you on the show downthe road.
Thank you so much. It's been fun.
Today I have the pleasure ofwelcoming an incredible business
growth expert marketing andsales strategist and consultant Ann
Carden as the CEO of AcardenInc. And the Expert in you attraction
marketing and media agency andbrings over 43 years of experience
in business, marketing andsales with an impressive track record
(02:46):
of building seven successfulbusinesses, selling five of them.
From launching a globalbusiness before the Internet era
to helping hundreds ofentrepreneurs scale their success,
Anne has made a lasting impactas a consultant, speaker and best
selling author. Her bookExpert in youn became a number one
(03:07):
international bestseller andshe shares her expertise through
her podcast and magazine ofthe same name. She's been featured
on major media outlets likeabc, NBC, CW and Fox, recognized
as one of the top coaches inthe world, and recently inducted
into who's who in America.With a wealth of knowledge and a
(03:31):
passion for helpingentrepreneurs thrive, I'm thrilled
to have her here today.
Welcome, Ann, the founder ofExpert in youn to the Business Superfans
podcast. Excited to have youhere this afternoon, Ann.
Thanks Frederick. I'm happy tobe here.
So tell us a little bit aboutyour story of where you started from
and how did you end up comingup with Expert in you.
(03:54):
That's a great question. Let'ssee, 35 years ago I left my corporate
career and my corporate incometo be a stay at home mom. And we
were struggling financiallyand I started looking for a way to
make money and that is how myfirst business started. Since then,
I built multiple businesses,sold them and I started coaching
and consulting about 15 yearsago and I fell into a lot of the
(04:19):
wrong strategies and thingsthat just were not helping my business.
And I was part of a coachingorganization and everything they
were teaching people werehaving to learn their stuff to go
out and build a businesscoaching business. But they were
all struggling. And I thought,what's wrong here? And I took a step
back and I kind of figured itout and I thought, Ann, you're trying
to learn stuff that's reallynot in your expertise here. It's
(04:41):
stuff you're trying to do.Things that don't really align with
you and what you know and yourknowledge. And I started looking
around and everybody else wasdoing the same thing. So as I took
a step back, I thought, okay,and where's your expertise? Where
does that lie? And then howcan you structure, how can you still
take the things that you'velearned from them, but structure
(05:02):
it in a way that it can helpyou move your business forward? Because
I kept getting kind of stuckin my business and all of a sudden
my business exploded once Ifigured that whole thing out and
they started really sending meother coaches and other consultants
to help them. I really washelping them build their and I would
(05:22):
say to these coaches andconsultants, what was your background?
Like why didn't you decide tobecome a business coach? And they
might say something like mybackground was in music. Okay, that
doesn't align, right? Ordoesn't. I started looking at that
and I thought people need tobe taking what they're already great
and building a business aroundthat is their fastest pat. So out
of that my was where theentire brand came from.
(05:46):
Interesting story. So what isit they specifically do in helping
these coaches? You workprimarily with coaches, is that correct
or you work also with businessowners or is it hybrid of both or
business owners that are coaches?
It's really both. So I, sowhat I really help people do is build
out either a new revenuestream. So maybe they have been running
a business but now they wantto build a whole nother revenue stream
(06:08):
helping other people with whatthey've learned. So more coaching,
consulting maybe anotherprofessional service that they want
to offer to build a newrevenue stream. Maybe they want to
get out of their business andthis is their next step. I work with
people coming from corporatethat they are ready for something
different or they're maybethey're retiring or they. And they
(06:28):
want to. For example, I have aclient that's a surgeon and a practitioner,
a specialist. And she hasbuilt out a concierge business practice
and she's been the firstperson to do it in specialty. Now
she's creating a coachingbusiness and a coaching model to
help other specialist be ableto build out a concierge model. So
(06:49):
I take what they're alreadydoing or have already done or what
they're great at and I helpthem really design a premium business
around that because they'realready experts, they already know
their stuff and I help thembuild out what is going to be their
revenue model. I call it theirmillion dollar offer, their branding,
their marketing strategies andsystems, their sales process and
(07:12):
then even building their team.And how are they going to scale this
and how are they going to keepgrowing it? So really an A to Z coach.
But I also work with peoplethat are wanting to level up. So
maybe they feel like theyhaven't really been working as an
expert, they really haven'tbeen working in their skill set and
their knowledge. They have somuch more opportunity. They want
(07:35):
better clients, they wantbigger deals, they don't know how
to do that. They want to be amore premium player in the market.
I help them structure,restructure, and then how they can
grow and scale that. But allaround professional services. So
it might be an agency ownerthat decided, I want to create a
consulting arm of my business.We're doing all the done for you
(07:57):
services, but I want toconsult, I want to be a trusted advisor.
I don't want everything to bedone for you. I want to leverage
my skill set and my expertiseand teach people, teach their teams
or run their teams, Managetheir teams. Not manage, but advise
their teams. And so that allbecomes another revenue stream or
(08:18):
a completely new business.
Interesting. You've got aunique approach of really working
with these people to findanother niche. And it's really an
extension of what they'realready doing, but it's just repackaging
it into a revenue generating machine.
Yes, absolutely. A lot ofpeople go out and they try to learn
(08:38):
something new. It's like,okay, I know, I want to. We see this
with business owners a lot. Iworked with business owners for years
before I started working andwith professional entrepreneurs.
And what I would see isbusiness owners would not maximize
what they were doing. And sothen they would decide to start another
business or add something, butit was a completely different business.
And so now they're trying torun two businesses. We see this even
(09:01):
a lot with entrepreneurs, butthe businesses aren't connected in
any way.
They're not complimentary.
No. And they're notcomplimentary at all. So one of the
things I help people do isbuild out what I call their million
dollar core system, their coreoffer, and then from that they can
build off. So now I actuallyhave an agency where we do a lot
(09:22):
of done for you services. Wecan write their book, we can get
them published in the media,we can launch their podcast. There's
a lot of things we can do withthem. Those are all done for you,
but were a natural fit to whatI was already helping people do,
but I was sending them away togo get it done somewhere else. And
I said, okay, that doesn'tmake sense. And so I built off of
that. Now I'm really runningtwo businesses, but they're so connected
(09:46):
that it doesn't feel like I'mrunning two businesses.
Interesting. And that's reallyclever of what you're doing because
you're helping that customerof yours really scale. You're controlling
their growth process becauseof the fact that you're tracking
what's happening. And you cansay, okay, you need to just like
an airline Pilot has got anautopilot system that automatically
(10:09):
tweaks and adjusts. I have afriend that's a retired airline pilot,
used to fly from Phoenix toMaui, and he would say that the plane
would adjust every secondbecause of the wind and everything
else happening. That if itdidn't do that, it would never arrive
to Maui, be someplace out inthe middle of the Pacific Ocean.
So what you're doing is you'rehelping them tack back on course
(10:31):
so that through the differentprograms that you're offering, which
is really cool.
Yeah. One of the things too isbusiness marketing. Sales is always
changing. Right. We havedisruptors like AI coming into the
market. And so when they'retrying to run their business and
build their business, theydon't really have time to learn all
the business stuff, all themarketing stuff, all the sales stuff.
(10:51):
They're trying to be good attheir skill set or hone their skills.
But it's my business to learnbusiness. It's my business to know
what marketing is relevant inthe market today. That is my business.
So that's where I put a lot ofmy energy and my focus and my time.
And so now I am able to takethe most relevant things for them
(11:13):
and they don't have to go outand still try to learn all those
things. I can just help themimplement those things. And so it's
just a faster path for them tobe able to have somebody helping
them along the way.
That's great. When I wasworking recently with an interpreting
and translation company, I hada business coach that was helping
me just keep me accountable.More importantly, brainstorm. Because
(11:36):
it was a frustratingsituation. It was a husband and wife
business and they had reacheda plateau and they had no technology,
no systems in place. Every 90days, somebody was quitting on a
multitude of things that theydid wrong. So I got involved to help
turn that business around. AndI had somebody helping me to just.
(11:58):
Sometimes it was just I neededthat person to vent.
Right.
He'd listened to it and hesaid, okay, now that you got that
off your chest, what are yougoing to do about it?
Right.
Wait a minute. I just talkedto you for that.
Yeah. I don't believe anybodyclimbs the mountain alone. And I
think the people that try toclimb the mountain alone are just
really. They're doing it thehard way. They're. It's just so much
(12:19):
easier when you have somebody.And yeah, I definitely am an accountability
partner to people as well.Keeping them on track and keeping
them on course. Look,everybody hits ditches, right? I
was Just actually having thisconversation with my husband, you
can be going along, things aregreat, and then all of a sudden a
disruptor comes or this littlething called the pandemic. And all
of a sudden you're in a ditch.Right. You run off in the ditch.
(12:42):
And having somebody that maybehas been through things before. Yeah.
I'd been through everythingover 40 years in business, so I can't
bring up much that I haven'tbeen through and worked through.
And so having somebody thathas been through a lot of that and
has overcome all the fear andthe mindset things and they are just
able to help you get throughthat. I hate to say like a therapist
(13:04):
or a counselor, but sometimes.
Sometimes it's what it takes.It's what it takes.
Feel that way. Yeah.
Because I was dealing withpersonnel issues and the way they
were managing the company andsome events happened and I ended
up running company completelyhad full authority and we scaled
in one year by a milliondollars. We're talking interpreting
and translation. So we'retalking a dollar a minute for a phone
(13:26):
call, getting an interpreteror getting a Spanish in person interpreter
for $70 an hour. Those kind oftransactions multiplied many times
is a significant amount.
Right.
But one of the things that wedid was we turned around the culture.
And so I started empoweringthe team because I'm a firm believer
in the team is the extensionof the soul of the company.
(13:50):
Yeah.
So if they're not empoweredand love the company and love who
they're working for, thattonality comes across to prospective
customers and existingcustomers and you're going to sense
something is off. If thetonality is off, you can say, not
sure about this company.Something's not there. Your subconscious
(14:11):
is going to be doing right.And where somebody answered a phone
or an email and says, andwe're super excited you call, how
can we help you? Bridge yourlanguage, communications, et cetera.
Whole different mindset, wholedifferent approach. So what I created
is I created superfans. Firstof the team that transcended to.
(14:31):
We were working withindependent interpreters. So they
don't work for us. They'reindependent contractors. They can
work for multiple agencies. Soit was now recognizing them because
of the fact they're the frontline. They're the ones going to the
hospital.
Right.
Because if they're not brandadvocates for this company, the hospital's
going, why are we dealing withthese guys? Maybe we should look
(14:52):
at somebody else. So totallyget what you're talking about. I
bring that up because I thinkwhat you're Doing is you're helping
these businesses create theirown superfans from within the people
that they're dealing with.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean,again, as business, if it's going
to be successful, it has to besuccessful on all fronts, from how
(15:14):
your clients feel about you tohow your employees feel about you.
Suppliers, you can distributeall of it.
Yeah. People, when you're ontheir podcast, how they feel about
you. It's all part of it.
Yes, it's all part of it. Andit's. So that's one of the things
that I'm excited to have youon, because bring that to the equation
of how you're helping yourcustomers, your business coaches,
(15:36):
create super fans of thepeople that they're helping, which
is in turn promoting their success.
Yeah, absolutely. And itreminds me of when I worked with
small businesses when I firstgot started. Many now coaches and
consultants, I haven't reallyseen the same thing because they
really have a heart to serve,and so that's their whole thing.
But when you talk about asmall business, I worked with contracting
(15:59):
businesses for a long time,plumbing companies and roofing companies,
and some of the basics thatdid not get done when I first would
start working with them, thatwe would have to make sure. Even
you mentioned the phone call,even from the very first phone call,
how people were treated, howthey treated their employees and
how. How they treated theircustomers. I even see it a lot online
(16:21):
with a lot of entrepreneurs.They work really hard to get business
in the front door, but it'sgoing out the back door as fast as
it's coming in, because.
Absolutely.
Because they're not doing whatthey need to do within that business
to create super fans withtheir clients. And so all those things
have to be looked at in abusiness. It's not just one thing
(16:42):
that makes a business go, butit reminded me of when I worked with
a lot of small businesses andthat just the things that weren't
happening, that needed tohappen. And for a lot of them, they
just have to learn that alongthe way. They have to learn what
it really takes. But how manybusinesses don't even open their
doors anymore? I mean, I amblown away by when I go to a business
(17:04):
and they say they have hourson the door and yet they're not there.
They haven't opened, theydon't answer the phone. We're seeing
it all across America whereI'm like, how do these people stay
in business? We also areseeing the same thing. So we have
to be out there helping thesepeople do a better Job.
(17:24):
Agreed. So share a story, Ann,of how you've help transform somebody
that was looking to becomecoach and work with other businesses.
And what's the story thattransformed them to where they're
now? They've achieved thegoals that they were seeking.
Yeah, I could tell you somany, but one of the goals or one
(17:46):
of the ones that it was in myearlier days and he was a referral
to me from a past client andhe had been trying to launch a product.
And so this is just sort ofhow I mold things and how things
work, which is why I'm tellingthis story. He was trying to launch
a product that he was bringingto the US From Europe. And he knew
(18:07):
his target audience. He had abusiness before. Not in the same
thing, but he had businessesbefore. So he wasn't new to business,
but he just could not get thisproduct off the ground. And his marketing
was wrong. His offers were notput together in a way that he could
hit the money or the levelthat he wanted. Everything was just
off. His sales process wasoff. So we restructured everything.
(18:30):
His offer originally was about$4,000. And I said, one of the problems
that you're going to have. Hewanted to work with chiropractors.
I said it was a machine. Oneof the problems you're going to have
is chiropractors don't needanother thing and they don't need
another thing to do. So ifyou're going to sell this to them,
you have to make it a reallysweet deal and you have to make it
(18:51):
something they really want.And he was trying to almost sell
it like, this will be greatfor your patients. Well, chiropractors
care about their patients, butthey still max out on their time.
They still can only do somuch. Right. They don't want to put
out more money. And so werestructured all of that so that
he was now targeting thechiropractors and how much revenue
it could add to theirbusiness. And the benefit is what
(19:13):
it would get to do for theirpatients as well, and how they could
sell this is a whole notherthing. But the other thing we did
with that, we changed all themarketing, we changed the package.
And I said, let's turn thisinto a consulting offer that includes
the product because. And let'sput some marketing with this. So
he put about $500 worth ofmarketing stuff, brochures and some
(19:35):
signage, and got somematerials made for them that would
go with the package. Again, werecreated everything and then we
put together a consultingwhere he trained the staff so the
staff could run it, and thestaff could be building out another
revenue stre inside thechiropractor's office. The chiropractor
didn't have to do anythingexcept say, this person needs to
(19:57):
know how to do this, or hecould mention it to the patient and
what it would do for them andhow he thought it would be good for
them, and then the staff couldtake it over from there. So we restructured
all of that. So we took itfrom a $4,000 offer to a $25,000
offer. And then we changed uphis sales process so that he funded
the chiropractor so they couldmake very low monthly payments. We
(20:19):
showed them the kind ofrevenue they could create. And long
story short, he went from zeroto almost a million dollars in a
year with that offer. Also, hewas getting paid in full when they
bought. So he was now selling$25,000 a shot every time he sold
one of these. And that alsogave him the money and the resources
to now grow faster. So hehired some sales teams and they were
(20:42):
able to go out and he was ableto grow that and scale that really
fast. That was just oneexample. But I look at what people
are already doing and where'sthe opportunity there? Well, that
could be. Maybe they've notdone a business, but I look at what
have you been doing, what isyour expertise, what is all of that
value that you have? How canwe put something around that and
(21:02):
build around that? But thenwhat are you trying to do or where
do you want to go and how canwe level that up? So, yeah, so that's
just one story.
That's a great story. Becauseyou created value. You basically
simplified the process ofgetting that implemented into the
chiropractor's practice. Andyou removed the time constraints
(21:27):
for the chiropractor becausehe didn't have to get involved or
she didn't have to involve inmanaging it. The person came in,
did the implementation, didthe training get everybody up to
speed, helped everybodyunderstand how to position it to
market it to the patients. Andyeah, I'm sure he became a super
fan of you.
(21:47):
Yeah, there it was just followup. And then I think he actually
went on and did it in dentistoffice and went did it in spas. I
only worked with him for ashort time, but after that he was
able to take that same exactprocess and just change who he was
selling it to. The wholeprocess still worked and he was able
to go into differentverticals. So I don't even know really
what he did beyond that. Butthat's what he did in the timeframe
(22:12):
that I worked with him. Soyeah, yeah.
That reminds me of years agowhen I was in charge of global sales
for a software company and Iwas responsible for taking a product
that existed, nobody knewabout it, and grow it. And I grew
it from 0 to 3 million at thecompany in a three year window. The
challenge was, was similar. Iwas working with independent distributors
(22:34):
or what we called value addedresellers back then. And they were
all over in Europe, Asia, etcetera. These are independent people
that are representing I'll say12 different watches, you know, and
how do I get my watch mindshare and sold within their teams.
I would go out to there. So Itraveled a lot and would spend time
(22:57):
getting them see the benefitto take on the product. Two was training
their sales team how toposition it, how to sell it with
all the other products thatthey sold and what was a differentiator.
But where the difference wasis we would recognize the distributorship,
who sold the most and all thatstuff. That's what most of the vendors
(23:17):
were doing in our space. Iwent one step further and I actually
recognized the individualsalesperson of that agency that was
the one that's selling themost of our product. So I recognized
him as my superfan forpromoting the product. So I was actually
his superfan, recognized himand then recognized the distributorship.
(23:38):
And what that would do is thatwould motivate other salespeople
within that distributorship.Wow. Nobody else did that. None of
the other competitive vendorsdid that. I did as something I had
learned from somebody. Andthat was a game changer. That's when
we scaled, like I said, from 0to 3 million net to the company in
(23:58):
$5,000 chunks. We had set up60 resellers around the world. And
I'm still friends, we'retalking 20 some years later, I'm
still friends with some ofthose of people.
Yeah, it's. It's amazing howmuch can be done with even just an
outside perspective or anoutside person that can just see
things you can't and can helpyou implement things faster. And
(24:22):
I love that story. I, that'ssuch a great story.
Thank you. So let's go back towhat's your ideal customer and how
do you work with them so thatour listeners, if somebody's interested
in reaching out and lookingfor help. How would you work with
somebody? Let's say pick me.Okay. How would you take me? Put
me on a hot seat? How wouldyou turn around and look at what
(24:44):
Is it that I'm doing and howcould you help somebody like me or
somebody that's. We're dealingwith a lot of solopreneurs and small
to mid sized businesses. I'vegot some people that I've done some
work with and talk with thatdo wellness stuff. Some people do
with the mindset. One personis a business coach that I just interviewed
(25:04):
on a show that is from theNavy and he's just launching his
coaching business.
Yeah, those are all greatpeople. And I've worked with a lot
of mindset coaches andobviously business coaches. So one
of the things that I do isreally take them through a process
of first of all, if they haveanything that they're already doing,
then I look at that and I seewhere their bigger opportunity is.
(25:26):
Almost everybody has a biggeropportunity. Sometimes they have
fallen into particularstrategies or something that they
see out there. Funnels is anexample. I help people work at a
really premium level. Sothey're playing in kind of in blue
ocean. So the way I can dothat with them is because I'm taking
what they're already great atand I'm helping them build a business
(25:48):
around that. I don't typicallywork with people who are trying to
learn something and then Iwant to learn something to be a business
or to build a business. Iwant, I'm in training to be a life
coach so I can be a coach andbuild a business. Those are not my
people. My people mostly arein the B2B space. If they're not
in B2B like mindset coaches,I'll move them into B2B. I'll move
(26:12):
them into business becausethat's where their bigger opportunity
is, that's where the moremoney is. And I help people get high
end clients. That's my wholemotto. I help them build a premium
high end business. So most ofthe clients that I work with, $25,000
might be their low offer. AndI've helped clients get $400,000
(26:33):
clients. It's working at thathigher end. So what I would do is
really look at what are theycurrently doing. Are there shifts
that can be made to level upwhat they're doing and really reposition
them in the market? Create ahigher value offer, a higher value
business model. So those arethe first two things we look at.
(26:53):
And then now how are you goingto market that and how are you going
to go get clients? Typicallythe marketing strategies that we
use are very high impact. Soit's either you're speaking in some
form or you're writing yourbook, you're getting in the media,
you're speaking your thoughtleadership on social media, you might
be getting on stages, youmight be running virtual events,
(27:14):
you might be hosting your ownpodcast, you're getting on podcast.
It's all what I like to call ahigh impact marketing strategy where
it's a one to many type ofapproach to the strategies we use.
And that also levels them upand levels up their visibility in
the market too. So it kills alot of birds with one stone. So those
(27:35):
are the marketing pieces andthen helping them obviously put the
sales process in place toclose those higher end clients. From
there, if they want to scale,I have a four step process. It's
premium offers, it'spositioning, promote and then profits.
So those, that's the fourbuckets of my accelerator and different
(27:55):
people come into me indifferent phases and they may not
need. They might already beselling something at a hundred thousand
dollars, but could that be 250or could that be 300? So I look at
those things first or do theyjust need to add more, more offers
to what they're already doing?I look at just everything that they're
doing and everything they haveand really help them define what
(28:20):
that new business or new modellooks like. So whether they're just
getting started in business,helping them build all those pieces
out, or they're scaling theirbusiness, helping them level that
up and get out of being in themainstream and move them to the blue
ocean or top of their market.That was blended.
(28:41):
No, that's fine. But that'simportant for our listeners. Somebody
that's interested in yourservices or wants to know more. At
least now they have an idea ofwhat it is that you're doing and
how you can potentiallytransform not only their business,
but ineffectively. Their life.
Yeah. Oh, it's life changing.I think you mentioned a mindset coach.
I think of one of my mindsetcoaches who was brilliant. She had
(29:02):
been doing it for a long time,but when she came to me, I don't
think it was probably evengetting to maybe $50,000 a year,
maybe $60,000 a year. And shejust kept getting stuck. But she
was selling her services solow that she had to have so many
clients. And so we moved herinto the business sector, we restructured
and repositioned everythingand she, she closed a $50,000 client
(29:27):
with mindset coaching. So it'sjust knowing how to put the pieces
together, which was justalmost unheard of for a mindset coach.
But it's also why I Love thebusiness sector. It's what I know
anyway. I'm more of a B2Bperson, but it's what I know. But
I also love it just for thefact that it helps them build a more
simple business and they canget paid a lot more and there's such
(29:50):
a need for their expertise. Soyeah, whatever sector they're in.
Well, absolutely, becausehaving been in sales for decades,
it takes the same amount ofeffort for selling a hundred dollar
item as it does $100,000 item.Same amount of follow up, same amount
of time, same amount ofengagement. It's the same thing,
(30:12):
but the ROI is different.
It's easier to sell high.People don't realize that. But when
you're selling very low,you're dealing with a different type
of client, a different type ofmindset. A lot of times you're dealing
with people that might nothave the money. Like they're having
to decide do I want to pay myelectric bill or do I want to invest
in this. When you're dealingwith higher caliber clients, they're
(30:35):
looking for the shortcut,they're looking for the speed, the
money's not a factor. That's avery different mindset from what
most people experience becauseof the way they structure their business.
And there's such a greatpleasure to work with too, because
they actually require lessbecause you don't have to drag them
on the bus.
(30:55):
Yeah, no, I totally agree. Ijust recently fired a client.
Well done that.
We've all done that. Andpeople don't realize that they need
to do that. Well, sometimesthat client is draining you and costing
you money and you're notseeing it because you're into it.
You're into the weeds, you'renot looking outside. And that's where
(31:15):
an external person can change.But this particular company was in
a service business and I gotrecommended by the business coach
that I had talked about. So Iworked with this other guy and had
again, no CRM in the company.Was working with folders and Excel
spreadsheets and no follow upstrategy, et cetera. What's in the
(31:36):
construction industry. And Idid research and said, look, there's
$159 billion worth ofcommercial construction going on
in Arizona right now. You'regetting 0.00000000 whatever of that
business. So we needed to putsystems in place and everything else.
(31:57):
That business been around 30years, did great work, but it was
a family run.
Right.
Very short mindset. And I putsystems in place and things like
that. And some of the peoplegot it. They had one person that
wasn't family and he wasgetting at what I was doing. But
it got to the point where theyfelt they couldn't control it anymore
because they didn't understandit. It was like, wait a minute. They
(32:20):
had never gone to any eventswith general contractors and stuff
like that. Come to one andsays, look, here they all are, you
know, 50 general contractorsin one spot. It doesn't get better
than this.
Right.
In six weeks, I put together a$1.1 million bidding opportunity
for him of multiplecontractors that he had never even
(32:42):
approached. But he couldn'tsee it. He didn't understand what
was happening. I justbasically said, this isn't going
to work.
People stay stuck in theirways. They're not willing to change
or they're not willing to. Youcan't help clients like that. Yeah,
no.
Just like you're saying,because he was losing control because
he didn't understand how touse the CRM, Wasn't computer literate.
(33:03):
Right.
And it was just beginning.
Refused to learn, right?
Oh, yeah. Totally refused to learn.
You know, you said sometimeswe had to fire people. And I just
look at it this way. Life istoo darn short. And I don't want
to be drained by clients. I'vehad those clients and they drained
me. And at some point you haveto say, it's not worth it. No amount
(33:26):
of money is worth it. So go.Clients that will appreciate you,
will implement, will do thethings. And part of the reason why
I help people do it in ahigher end market is because those
higher caliber clients arethose people. They get it. They already
get it.
Well, they leverage theirtime. That's the bottom line. Time
is the most. I keep tellingpeople, time is the most expensive
(33:47):
and limited resource that wehave. You can't buy more of it and
you can't buy it back 100%.
You'll never get more. So makegood use of it. And I, for one, don't
want to be going to bed atnight thinking about my clients,
having bad dreams about them,because it's not going well. That
(34:08):
is not something that I wantto live.
No. I mean, yeah, I could saythis guy went and I took him to a
meeting with a bunch of women,and he was dropping F bombs. And
I was, okay, this is gonna bea long day.
Yeah, yeah.
So, yeah, laugh about it today.
Kind of figure those thingsout as you go. But if you have the
idea, if you don't just takeeverybody because they're breathing
(34:29):
and they have money. You canbuild a business that you absolutely
love.
And you brought up a greatpoint there, Ham, because you need
to really look your idealclient. Because as you just said,
you don't want necessarybuddies breathing and can pay for
it. You want to really workwith somebody that wants the transformation.
Yeah.
That wants to go from thislevel to that level. And it really
(34:52):
doesn't matter what it is thatyou're marketing, it's still the
bottom line is even if you'redoing remodeling or services or you're
selling technology, whateverit is, that recipient that you're
talking to has got to be openminded that says I need to do something
to transform and go from thislevel to that level. If they're not
(35:13):
even open minded, it doesn'tmatter how good you are, you're not
going to pass go.
Well, not even that. You'lltotally lose confidence in your skill
set. When I first started inthe coaching space and I was working
with people just trying to getmy feet wet and trying to really
figure out my business and Iwas working with people who I wanted
(35:34):
their success more than theydid. So that doesn't ever go well.
Right.
Right.
And it broke my confidence. Itwas one of the reasons why I took
a step back and said, I'm notloving this. Why did I work so hard
all those years to learn whatI've learned? And I can't get them
to do anything. I can't get. Ican't get this. I can't get them
(35:55):
over the finish line with thisor they won't implement or it's a
consistent complaining orwhatever it was. And I just thought
I must just not be very goodat this. Even though I knew I could
help them, I knew I could helpthem make money, I knew I could do
all that. And it just broke myconfidence. And then when I started
working with the right people,it was like, oh, wow, I'm pretty
(36:16):
good at this. I know how tohelp people and I can get amazing
results.
Yeah, no, you bring up a greatpoint. Because I was selling and
sometimes when I was sellingtechnology and multitude of other
things, I helped a bathremodeler that does those fiberglass
drop in things. And I went tosome guy's house for a project in
(36:36):
a condo in Chicago and I neversold this stuff before. And I ended
up selling their largest condoremodeling project in the company's
history was about $145,000back in 2008.
Huh.
It was just because I Had aconversation with the guy. Yeah,
but there's been times where,you know, I didn't get the sale and
(37:00):
all the buy signals were thereand everything else. And then you
go, what did I do wrong? Youknow, our minds sometimes can be
our worst enemy because thenegative self.
Talk if we don't learn how tomanage them. That's for sure.
Yeah. Our negative self talk,you go and you gotta slap yourself
upside the head a couple timesand go, okay, wait a minute. Get
back into the game.
(37:20):
Yes, 100%. We all have thosemoments too. And I think that's an
important thing for people toknow too. It's kind of like I said,
you'll be going along, goingalong. Things are great. You're going
up the mountain, you're goingup the mountain, all of a sudden
you fall into a big cave orsomething. It's like, what happened?
What happened? But you have tobe able to pull yourself out of that
(37:40):
and keep moving forward andpush through any fear and take big
risk and take big bold moves.And you just have to know that's
how business, I mean, that'show life is too.
Sure.
That's how business is.
When you work with thatcustomer that appreciates it and
it becomes your superfanbecause you've helped transform and
grow their business, they'regoing to tell all of their colleagues
(38:02):
and that's going to attractmore business for you as the coach
or whatever business thatyou're into. So it's all full circle.
Yes, 100%. Yeah.
So, Hannah, great conversationwe've been having. Unfortunately,
our clock is kind of runningup here. So let's talk about how
can people find you and do youhave an offer for our listeners?
(38:25):
Yeah, absolutely. So one ofthe things I love to do is if you
like what I'm talking aboutand you maybe want to do this in
your business, it resonateswith you. Book a call with me@acarden.com
and let's just have aconversation. I often have workshops
that I'm running that I caninvite you into or maybe you just
want to jump in and getstarted and we can talk about what
(38:46):
that looks looks like. Sothat's the best way. I'm actually
putting together a brand newwebsite for expert in you. It's not
quite ready yet, so you can goto annlcarden.com and that's my personal
website and there's resourceson there and you can grab my books
on there. So there's a lot onthat website that you can get my
podcast, and I have a magazinethat just came out, so a lot of resources.
(39:10):
Very cool. Very cool. And it'sbeen a pleasure having you on the
Business Superfans podcast.Great information for our listeners
and great conversation that wehad. And we definitely look forward
to having you on the show downthe road.
Thank you so much. It's been fun.
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