January 12, 2024 • 34 mins
Today I'm chatting with Lisa Rebel of Rebel Girl Marketing, an expert with over 30 years of experience in corporate America in sales and marketing. Lisa discusses the importance of networking for business success and shares practical tips on crafting a 'power pitch' for effective introductions at networking events. She offers advice to introverts on building confidence and managing nerves for networking events. Lisa also highlights the importance of follow-ups after networking events.
00:00 Introduction and Overview
01:17 Lisa's Approach to Marketing and Her Book
02:48 The Importance of Networking for Small Business Owners
03:47 How to Get Started with Networking
06:47 The Art of Introducing Yourself at Networking Events
10:50 Creating an Effective Pitch
18:14 The Art of Networking: Making a Lasting Impression
18:57 The Power of Repetition in Networking
20:21 The Art of Follow-Up After Networking
21:49 Networking: Not Just About Selling
23:08 Finding Networking Opportunities
26:26 Overcoming Networking Nerves for Introverts
28:30 Where to Find Lisa and Final Thoughts
29:04 Lightning Round of Questions
33:17 Conclusion and Final Remarks
Find Lisa at
https://rebelgirlmarketing.com/
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The Rebel Girl's Guide to Marketing Podcast
Book Recs:
The Midnight Library
Speak With Confidence
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Learn more at Howyoupicturedit.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kate (00:00):
today's episode is an interview with Lisa rebel of
rebel girl marketing.
We had a great conversation, allabout networking, which is
timely as I head to the creativeeducator conference, this coming
week.
I'm so excited to meet othercreative educators.
Um, but this interview was allabout.
Figuring out your perfect pitch,your power pitch as Lisa calls
it.
(00:20):
And how you introduce yourselfat networking, how networking
can benefit you.
Um, and we talked about ways toget into it and be more
comfortable even when you're anintrovert at a networking event.
Let's dive into it.
Kate Hejde (00:32):
I am here today with Lisa Rabel.
I am gonna let Lisa introduceherself to you.
I am so excited to chat with hertoday.
Go ahead and say hi, Lisa, andtell us about who you are, what
you do, and a little bit aboutyour, uh, life as well.
Lisa Raebel (00:45):
Okay, great.
Thank you so much.
Um, I'm really excited to behere today.
I.
I.
Supporting entrepreneurs, soloentrepreneurs is like my passion
and my mission in life.
Um, I take the 30 plus yearsthat have been in corporate
America, in both sales andmarketing and convert it into
trainings and under and reallife applications to small
(01:06):
businesses and soloentrepreneurs.
So my job is a marketingstrategist, period.
End of sentence.
That's what I do the best.
Um, I help entrepreneursunderstand.
Who their client is, whatthey're selling, because people
don't actually think about whatthey sell sometimes and how that
relates to the marketing andwhere their ideal client hangs
out.
(01:27):
And who that ideal client is.
Um, people jump into themarketing without actually
answering foundational questionsfirst.
So they're committing randomacts of marketing, which is the
title of my book.
Um, and so it's, it's more aboutbeing strategic and intentional
with your marketing, and I lovedoing that.
I do it on stages.
I do it with my book, I do itwith podcasting.
(01:48):
It's, it's a lot of fun.
Kate Hejde (01:50):
a lot of fun.
Tell me about your book.
Lisa Raebel (01:52):
So the Rebel Girls Guide to Marketing, um, was born
out of the fact that I keptgetting asked when my book is
coming out, and I kept saying,what book?
Um, so what I do is I do a wholebunch of different kinds of
training and they're like, itwould be great for so
entrepreneurs to have it all inlike one spot.
So it's.
It's all of those questions.
Why do you need marketing in thefirst place?
(02:13):
Who is your ideal client?
What are you actually selling?
What are you gonna say once youget there?
And, and if you're gonna networkon purpose.
So people go to networkingthinking, well, I need to
network.
They don't think about wherethey're networking or who
they're networking or what arethey gonna say.
So I.
I usually, I, the most popularspeaking that I have is the, the
(02:34):
power of your pitch.
Because a pitch literally is afirst impression, and if you
don't take it seriously, youmight not be making a right
first impression.
So the book came outta the factthat I do so many of these
little, like little trainings.
I just put it all in one place.
Kate Hejde (02:48):
I love that.
So let's talk more aboutnetworking.
That's what we're gonna chatabout today.
We're gonna talk about pitching,let's talk about how networking
helps small business owners andsolopreneurs especially.
Lisa Raebel (02:59):
Yeah, it's important because no matter what
you sell, it's a relationshipyou're selling to a human,
right?
There's a whole movement B two Hbusiness to human versus
business to business to businessto consumer, and so this whole
business to human capacity ispeople.
So marketing in its core is nolike trust.
(03:22):
It's, they have to know youexist, like what you say and
trust you would've to buy fromyou.
And networking helps move thatrelationship along much fa
faster than trying to get themthrough email campaigns or
through marketing.
Showing up, showing up the bestversion of yourself is a great
way to get known and people likeyou much faster than if you
(03:43):
tried to market through otherchannels.
So networking I think isextremely important.
Kate Hejde (03:47):
So what are some ways that small business owners
can get started with networking?
Lisa Raebel (03:53):
Networking is very, um, specific.
So in my opinion, there's threeways to network.
Um, you have to go off of the,the same thing about there's,
there's buyers, there's endusers and there's influencers.
You have lead gen, which isnetworking, and that's
specifically going someplacewhere, you know, the buyers or
end users are hangout.
(04:13):
But there's also a sense ofcommunity and as, as, as
entrepreneurs, especially likeme as a solo entrepreneur, a
sense of community is really,really important.
I need to hang around withlike-minded people who
understand the trials andtribulations of being your own
boss and your own salesperson,and wearing all the hats we get
to wear.
Right.
Um, so a sense of community, butalso education.
(04:34):
And so as a marketingprofessional, I'm part of the
American Marketing Association.
I'm part of differentorganizations that help me be
better at what I do as aprofessional.
So to get started, I would pick.
One of those three categories,where can I find people that are
like-minded like me, that canget me the support and the sense
of community?
Where can I go to get leadgenerations?
(04:57):
It's not always your localchamber, it's, it could be an
industry if you sell thosespecific industry.
Let's take school districts, forexample.
The Association of SchoolBusiness Professionals is all
over the country.
There's an international onetoo.
So if you sell specifically toschool districts, go find that
association that can get you infront of the right people.
(05:17):
And so it could, doesn't need tobe people within your industry.
It could be the people, theindustries that you sell to, and
as far as influencers areconcerned, that might be the
chamber, then that might be thepeople who influence other
business owners or whomever yourideal client might be.
Kate Hejde (05:34):
So networking could be more than just like going to
like the coffee shop meetup of abunch of business owners.
It could be more like teachingor um, speaking to A group of
people as well.
Lisa Raebel (05:46):
Yes, absolutely.
So in my networking and purposetraining, what I talk about is
the, the short, the mid, and thelong-term goals of networking.
You're not gonna show up at onenetworking event and they're
gonna, people are gonna give youa whole bunch of money to buy
from you.
That's not what's gonna happen.
So it's about the short-termgoals, short-term goals is that,
no, they need to know you existand show up consistently.
(06:07):
To build that trust in the likeaspect of you get that brand
recognition right?
Um, so that's really importantto do that and go in there with
the intention of giving first.
Anytime that I give theattention of like, I'm going to
give more than I get in anetworking event, I always
somehow get still.
Re something out of it, whetherit's learning or leads or even a
(06:30):
one-on-one meeting to somebodythat, that might fill that
education or community or leadgeneration.
It's about giving first.
If you go with the givingattitude, I'm telling you 100%
of the time, you're gonna have abetter experience.
Kate Hejde (06:43):
So we get to our networking event.
How do you suggest we likeintroduce ourselves, get started
while we're there.
Lisa Raebel (06:52):
First, the first thing you need to do before you
even walk in a door, before youwalk into the coffee shop, to do
a one-on-one.
Before you do anythingnetworking, you need to check
yourself.
Because I'm not sure about you,but I have come into a parking
lot with my hair on fire runninga couple minutes late and I'm
all like, you know, disheveledand everything like that.
And you just need to checkyourself.
'cause you walk into that coffeeshop with your hair on fire, the
(07:14):
person you're meeting with gonnabe like, whoa.
Like, okay, this is, I'm gonnamake this real quick.
Maybe how fast can I drink mycoffee to get out of this?
Right?
So you need to make a really,really, really good first
impression, because that's whata pitch is when you do your
elevator pitch or sales pitch,which I would love to get rid of
those terms.
I'd love to change it to a powerpitch instead.
(07:35):
'cause you're not gonna sellsomebody in the first 30
seconds, you meet them, butthat's a whole nother topic.
Uh, check yourself first.
If you've had a really bad dayor got a really bad phone call
and you're gonna go into anetworking event.
Take five minutes, breathe,listen to your favorite music.
You know, for me it's throwingsome Bon Jovi or some, some Bob
Marley and sing for like singreally loud in my car for just a
(07:57):
couple of minutes to kind of getcheck myself.
And once I've checked myself andI'm in the proper mindset and
the mind space to walk in thatdoor, then it's all about like.
You know, setting goals.
I wanna talk to have three greatconversations instead of handing
20 people my business card infive minutes, right?
So what are those goals?
Um, the other thing I would dois make sure that you do have a
(08:19):
really good pitch, because the,the worst thing you could do is
someone to say, so what do youdo?
And you're like.
Well, I kind of, sort of made medo this and well, you know, we,
we talk about these things and Idon't know, and then, then you
got the people that like show upand throw up, right?
The people who like, so what doyou do?
And two minutes later they'restill talking.
(08:39):
So it's really important tocheck yourself, make sure you're
in the right mindset, and makesure you have a pitch that
really works and grabssomebody's attention.
So,
Kate Hejde (08:49):
So
Lisa Raebel (08:49):
but once you get there, yeah, you have the goals.
Mm-hmm.
Kate Hejde (08:51):
goal.
Yeah.
What kinds of things do you feelgrab people's attention then
when you start pitching or startdoing that?
Okay.
Lisa Raebel (08:58):
seriously.
Humor.
I don't know where we stoppedhaving humor in business.
Why did we stop?
Like why is it not not okayanymore?
I don't understand.
So, um, I like to use humor,especially in GE general
networking.
I.
You know, those, like, it's notvery industry specific or
something if it's industryspecific, have an industry
specific pitch.
(09:20):
But I'll give you a perfectexample.
I have a friend and a client,she's a life coach.
And you know, when I'd ask herlike, so what do you do?
She, people would ask you, belike, well, I have this.
Take these people through thisinside out journey and take them
as transformational.
And I'm like, Ooh, that's verylife coachy of you.
Um, let's pull back.
And so we do this process.
I have a, a, you know, a fivestep process that to have people
(09:44):
create a power pitch and wecreated one.
The one that we ended up withwas I un constipate the mind and
spirit so you can be you.
And people were like, you unconstipate the mind, like, tell
me more.
Right?
It's funny and people like,remember her because she's the
one who un constipates you.
So it's just using humor.
I say I am the nanny McPhee ofmarketing.
(10:05):
I.
People go, wait, what?
And so it's, it's until Disneycatches up with me at least.
And so it's like that whole,like, how do you grab your
attention with humor?
I never say that I'm a mark, youknow, a consultant, um, you
know, I, she doesn't use, shedoesn't lead with, I'm a life
and leadership coach.
You lead with what's gonna grabtheir attention
Kate Hejde (10:24):
so more like how you help people, but do it in a
clever, kind of fun, intriguing,mystery building way.
Lisa Raebel (10:32):
Exactly, and it's about them, not about you.
It's, I say this in the booktoo, it's your story, but it's
their journey.
I'm gonna say that again.
It's your story, but it's theirjourney and you want them to
engage in that journey.
So make it about them.
Kate Hejde (10:50):
Can we get into like maybe trying this kind of how
to, how to build a pitch forsomeone?
Like we can either run it off ofmy business, or if you wanna do
like a fake business or
Lisa Raebel (11:00):
No, let's do you, come on, that's, that'll this'll
be fun.
Do you got a pen and paper?
Kate Hejde (11:04):
right.
I do actually,
Lisa Raebel (11:06):
Okay.
It, it usually takes a lotlonger than I'm gonna take it
from you.
Kate Hejde (11:09):
Gimme a baby version.
Yes.
Lisa Raebel (11:12):
So what I want, anybody who's listening, if, uh,
unless you're driving or walkingthe dog, of course, like be
safe.
Um, but you take a peak bankpiece of paper and you divide it
to three into thirds.
The first one is what and how.
The sec.
The second section is problemsand, um, emotions.
Not emotional problems, butproblems and emotions.
And the third one is why.
(11:33):
So I'm a massive Simon Sinekfan.
And start with why and find yourwhy.
And the infinite game, the wholenine yards, right?
So I like knowing my why.
So it's very simple in the verytop section.
The what and the how.
It's what you do and how you doit.
So what you do literally couldjust be your title.
(11:54):
Make it simple.
Don't complicate this.
And then the how is, what do youdo every day?
Like, what do you physically andmentally do every day?
Like for me, it would be, well,let's, it doesn't matter about
me, let's talk about you.
What, what is your business andwhat do you do?
Kate Hejde (12:09):
So web design and coaching for creative
entrepreneurs.
Lisa Raebel (12:14):
Okay.
Coaching.
How do, what do coaching, what?
Kate Hejde (12:16):
Website coaching, web
Lisa Raebel (12:17):
Website coaching.
Okay.
So the, the, what is the websiteDeveloper and coaching Right.
Website creation and then the,then the how is, I have
one-on-one conversations with myclients.
I, um, I, I do a question, youknow, a discovery call with them
to find out what they're lookingfor.
I find out more about theirproduct, I find more about them.
(12:38):
I wanna know what their style islike.
There's a, there's a whole bunchof stuff you have to do to be
able to create a website.
People don't understand thatthere's a whole like.
Kate Hejde (12:46):
like
Lisa Raebel (12:47):
It's huge amount of homework to do before you can
even start on the programming.
And so it's not about the codingand stuff, it's about learning
the person and learning aboutwhat you do.
So the how is, you know, I spendtime on WordPress or whatever
format that is of your choice.
I start developing it.
I give them samples of threedifferent choices that them
(13:07):
decide which one works for them.
Right.
That's the how.
And then the problems andemotions is about like, what
problems do you solve?
You solve some.
some, Brand awareness problemsyou can solve.
Um, being found like SEOproblems, right?
The, the problems that you solveis like getting found so people
know you exist.
(13:28):
It's also making sure that theylook professional and
legitimate.
With the website being veryprofessional, you solve those
kinds of problems.
Now, here's the tricky part.
There are emotions that go withevery one of those problems that
you solve.
Kate Hejde (13:41):
right?
Lisa Raebel (13:42):
for me, when I, um, had a client that we did a, a, a
new website for, she got allteary eyed and I was like, are
you okay?
She's like, I'm finally proud.
I.
Of our website.
I'm finally proud to show peoplewhat we do.
I'd never said to to told peopleI had a website'cause I was so
embarrassed by it.
Right?
So pride is an emotion orconfidence or joy, any of those
(14:05):
emotions that come out of it,right?
Some it could be relief.
Oh, thank God I don't have todesign my own website because I
have this professional doing it.
I mean, it's all of thosethings.
And then the why.
I'm not sure if you've done yourwhy, but it's, why did you pick
web design?
Why, what?
What is it about that industrythat gets, that gets you going?
Kate Hejde (14:25):
Well, really it's the fact that I want small
business owners to be able to Befound without constantly being
on social media and like doingthat constant churn.
Um, I want them to be able toshow up proudly, um, and
represent their business onlineand drive traffic into them,
like become a magnet for trafficinstead of having to be
(14:46):
constantly fighting for it andso that they can get back to
their, the life that theypictured when they started their
business.
Lisa Raebel (14:53):
Oh, I love that.
That's beautiful.
So if we wrote all of thosethings we just talked about
down, we talked about what youdo, how you do it, and then we
talked about what problems yousolve, the emotions that go with
it, and we talked about that.
Why if you wrote all of thatdown on your piece of paper,
there would be power words inthere, and the power words of
the words that resonate with theaudience, not with you.
Kate Hejde (15:14):
you.
Lisa Raebel (15:15):
It might mean something to you too, but you
wanna pick the power words thatare gonna resonate with them.
And so once you pick those out,then you can start building a,
then you can start building apitch.
It could be, um, you know, myjob as a web designer is to help
small businesses get found sothat they can stay in business.
(15:35):
It grabs the emotional side.
It talks about the problems thatyou solve, but also tells about
what you do.
So the two that I have are, I'mthe dynamic fee of marketing.
I help my clients until theyneed me, and then I'm gone.
Because a lot of times peoplehire, they say they hire a
consultant, like, oh, she'sgonna be around forever.
How do I get rid of this woman?
Right?
But it's literally like, itcould be two months.
(15:58):
You need me, it could be twoyears.
You need me, whatever that lookslike, as long as you need help,
I'll be here.
But if once, you know, teach manto market, teach man to fish
once you don't, I, you know, Itell my clients.
Eventually you're gonna wannafire me because you'll be
confident and know what youwanna do in your marketing, and
you can do it yourself, or youcan hire an agency to do it, and
(16:18):
you're gonna wanna say, thankyou, Lisa, but I got this, which
is like the biggest compliment Icould ever have.
Kate Hejde (16:23):
ever have.
Lisa Raebel (16:25):
So for you it's this.
It's the same concept for you.
It's a very much more ongoingbecause you have the maintenance
and you've got all the things inthe backend, and you gotta
change the website for SEO andall the algorithms, right?
So it's the same thing.
So with that said, how would yousuccinctly within 15 seconds,
tell people what you do ifyou're in networking and say, so
(16:47):
what do you do?
Kate Hejde (16:48):
you do.
Yeah.
I, right now I say I help, um, Ihelp creatives show up online so
that they can get back to livingthe life that they pictured.
Lisa Raebel (16:58):
I like it.
Kate Hejde (16:59):
that,
Lisa Raebel (17:00):
And then, and I love it.
'cause you didn't say how youdid it.
Or what you do, but creators arelike, yes, thank you very much.
'cause I would like to get backto being a creative and stop
doing all this like websitecrap.
Kate Hejde (17:11):
Yeah.
Lisa Raebel (17:11):
Not that website stuff is crap, but as a creative
website's not top of line.
Right?
Kate Hejde (17:16):
Yeah.
Lisa Raebel (17:18):
So it's it.
That's really, that's great.
And so a longer, moreprofessional version of what I
do is, as a marketingstrategist, it's my job to make
sure when your clients andprospects need what you sell,
they think of you first.
It's a little bit longer, but itstill talks about the problem
that I solve.
It still talks about like, um,like their brand awareness,
(17:40):
right?
And then it also, it just, itleads to the intent of like, oh,
good revenue,
Kate Hejde (17:45):
Yeah.
Lisa Raebel (17:46):
I can increase my sales.
Right?
It has that like kind of gist toit.
And so what happens is that ahuman has an 8.25 second
attention span.
I think it's down to eightseconds now, the last article
that I read.
And so you literally have eightseconds to grab their attention.
Eight seconds.
So how are you gonna do that?
You gonna do that in a, in a62nd pitch?
(18:06):
Probably not.
So I say a, a good power pitchis 15 seconds or less.
Now the other weird thing aboutthat is that if you have to
stand up and like I do younetworking stuff sometimes, like
you have to give your pitch andthen say your name and then
you're done.
Like, it's not like one-on-onenetworking.
(18:26):
So my thing is that people saytheir name and the company name
first.
I say, say it last'cause youwanna grab their attention with
something funny or somethinginteresting that you say as your
pitch and then end with yourname and your, the company name.
'cause that's the last thingthey're gonna remember.
They're not, they don't rememberif you say it the first.
So it's here.
(18:48):
Here's the thing.
It sounds like as you'relistening to this, this
episode's like, oh my God, Igotta do all this work.
This is the cool thing about it.
Once you do it though, it'sdone.
done.
And then you just use it overand over and over again and you
can walk in to that networkingevent confident in like, I know
what to say, I have a clearmessage.
I know exactly who my targetaudience is.
(19:08):
I know what I, what I wanna say.
And then you're gonna havebetter conversations.
Better conversations lead tomore meetings.
More meetings lead to moresales.
So honestly, it starts with thatfirst impression in my personal
opinion.
Kate Hejde (19:22):
and I love the advice to say your name at the
end, because I do like even whenI'm listening to people, I hear
their name and then I'm liketrying to remember the name and
I miss the next part, you know,
Lisa Raebel (19:33):
Yes,
Kate Hejde (19:34):
or I listen to the next part and then I'm like,
wait, what was their
Lisa Raebel (19:37):
Wait, what was her name?
Yeah, exactly.
No,
Kate Hejde (19:40):
it's, that's such good advice, such a simple thing
to just, um, switch.
So
Lisa Raebel (19:48):
Yeah.
Kate Hejde (19:48):
that's, uh,
Lisa Raebel (19:49):
They'll probably remember your name of your
company more than they'llremember your name.
So that's why I say name andthen name of your company'cause
they're not gonna'cause you're,well unless you're a speaker or
something.
It says your personal name isyour company name.
They remember the name firstbefore they'll remember.
Remember your, your name, so Idon't take it personally.
Kate Hejde (20:09):
So once we're done with our networking, we're,
we've pitched ourselves, we'vetalked to people, how do you
follow up with people after anetworking event or how do you
continue the relationship fromthat?
Lisa Raebel (20:21):
Great question because this is where another
huge problem that people have,they don't set time in their
calendar for follow up.
So let's say you're going to abreakfast meeting with the local
chamber or your industry groupor whatever that might be.
That's from seven 30 until nine30, let's say.
Then either that afternoon orthe next day, schedule 30
(20:44):
minutes on your calendar forfollow up.
And it could be simply linkingin with them.
It could be sending them a, apiece of, um, I say propaganda,
which is terrible, but like amarketing material that, that
you promised to send them or aconnection.
Some of the best networking iswithout having to sell, is the
(21:05):
fact that.
fact that.
You say, oh my gosh, I knowsomebody who is what you're
looking for.
I know somebody.
Let me connect the two of you.
And so it adds value to thatrelationship because following
up is not just like, Hey, I metyou yesterday when I have copy.
Yeah, that's, that's not afollow, but follow up is, it was
(21:26):
great talking to you.
You mentioned the fact thatyou're looking for a web
designer.
I know this great person inColorado.
You know, she's a great webdesigner to let me connect you
guys.
It's that kind of followupthat's really important, but put
it in your calendar and thenstick to it and it's, it could
take you five minutes and thenyou've got 25 minutes of free,
you know, extra time, but at thesame time, just schedule it in
(21:47):
your calendar.
The other thing that I thinkpeople don't do is they don't
realize that the person thatthey're talking to is not the
person they're selling to.
And this is where I get a lot ofpeople just kind of just go,
huh?
When you're networking andyou're talking to somebody.
Don't talk to them as if youwant them to be your customer.
(22:09):
Talk to the Rolodex in theirhead.
Okay, I'm dating myself, not aRolodex, but a CRM.
Right?
Talk to the all the context thatthey have in their head, because
what you want them to do is say,oh, I may introduce you to these
three people, or I have twopeople that I know that need
what you have.
Or, Hey, I was just thinkingthat sounds like something that
I need.
So if they need a bonus, great.
(22:29):
Perfect.
If you don't talk to them likeyou're selling to them and
you're just informing them howyou help other people, they're
thinking about all kinds ofpeople they can introduce you
to.
That is not working, in myopinion.
I guess for me it's the, it'sthe, like, don't, don't do the
networking unless you plan ondoing something with it.
Kate Hejde (22:47):
okay.
Lisa Raebel (22:48):
Right.
Because that's what we do.
Like our marketing is about thecall to action.
I could write a book, I can letit sit on the shelf or I could
do something with it, right?
You could do a social post anddo something with it.
Have a beautiful website, but dosomething with it and have that
call to action.
I figure out what that is.
And networking's no different.
Have an intent,
Kate Hejde (23:09):
Where do you suggest people finding these networking
opportunities?
And are they all in person orare there some ways to network
online?
Lisa Raebel (23:16):
Oh, absolutely.
In person and online.
Um, in person I believe is morepowerful.
However, your customers mightnot be local, so networking
online is great.
I would start with, um, onceyou've defined what your.
Ideal customer is.
So just super quick, I knowyou've talked about this in
other podcasts that I'velistened to from you, is that
(23:38):
there's a difference between anideal customer and a target
audience.
The ideal customer is the personwho's actually buying from you
or using your product, and theare the target audience is where
they hang out.
So just reiterating that fact.
So what happens is that if youdefined who that is and they
have a specific industry orgeographical location or
whatever the case might be.
(24:00):
You know where they go, wherethey hang out, go there.
So one of my clients, um, we do,uh, their employer branding and
we do a lot of recruiting withthem.
Well, they have a lot oftechnicians, you know, second
and third shift technicians.
And it sounds really weird, but,um, the people that they're
hiring hang out in a veryspecific geographical location.
(24:23):
And some of them are bars.
So we literally do like, youknow, this TV screen, sometimes
it does advertisements.
We go there because that's wherethey hang out.
And it sounds weird, but it'slike, oh, you gotta go where
their hangout.
So where do they hang outphysically about digitally as
well.
If they're not on Facebook,don't waste your money on
Facebook ads.
(24:44):
You know what I mean?
Um, but if they are a veryspecific industry sponsor,
events, become a, become aspeaker at one of their events,
do all the things in thatindustry.
So you show up where they hangout and have a booth, do those
kinds of things.
But it starts with knowing whothat ideal client is and where
(25:07):
they hang out.
Then you go, that's where you gonetworking, in my
Kate Hejde (25:12):
love that advice.
Yeah, that's great.
And we talked a little bit aboutlike Chamber of Commerce, um,
and there's always like justlocal Business groups I feel
like too, that you can startthere and a lot of the times you
find one group that you networkwith and they, somebody that you
meet there networks somewhereelse and you can kind of just
like mind map all the way outinto lots of different places
(25:36):
too.
Lisa Raebel (25:37):
Yeah.
And it's okay to, to, to trysomething out and then say no.
Kate Hejde (25:41):
that,
Lisa Raebel (25:41):
I've gone to as a guest to networking things and
I'm just like,
Kate Hejde (25:44):
like
Lisa Raebel (25:46):
great group.
Not my vibe, not my, not mypeople.
Um, but you know, thank you verymuch for letting me have a
guest.
I mean, you have to let themknow nicely.
Just say, I've chosen to investmy time and, and money
elsewhere, but I trulyappreciate you've got a great
group.
It's just not where I'm lookingto go.
And most networking peopcompanies, people are like,
yeah, I get it.
(26:06):
'cause they don't want you thereeither.
If you're just gonna be there.
They want you to be fruitful and
Kate Hejde (26:12):
and
Lisa Raebel (26:13):
like add to the conversations and add value to
the people that you'renetworking with.
So try out.
It's okay to go and ask to be aguest places and say, Hey, I'm
just looking for someplace togo.
I'm, can I see if this is it?
So.
Kate Hejde (26:26):
any tips for getting over nerves for introverts,
going to these kinds of things.
Lisa Raebel (26:33):
Yeah, I am actually an introvert.
Um, in my, at my core, so what'scalled an extroverted introvert.
I have very extrovertedtendencies like this.
Um, but I am quite theintrovert, so for me, it's
literally sitting in my car anddoing something that makes me
joyful.
So listening to music, you couldbe listening to a podcast, you
(26:54):
could do whatever it is to getyou in the mindset of going in
there.
Now, the the introverted aspectof things is that if you walk in
not knowing what to say, you'regonna be like sitting against
the wall, not talking toanybody.
But if you have a power pitch,you know exactly what to say.
You know who your targetaudience is.
You have all the things thatbuilds the confidence for you to
walk in that networking withconfidence.
(27:16):
The introvertedness can takeseconds.
A backseat to the confidence.
And so I think having thatconfidence of knowing where your
pitch is, knowing who you wannatalk to, what are your
intentions of that, theintrovertedness can kind of get
a backseat to that now.
You're not gonna be walking inthere, just gonna be like, I'm
here walking in.
Right?
(27:36):
Like, I've entered the room.
The party can start.
You know, we're not gonna bethat person.
But at the same time, you know,it can be hard to have like
three or four people standingthere just to walk up and
introduce yourself.
But if you know what to say, youwould know who your audience is.
You know, all those things.
It gives you the confidence towalk up and just start
introducing yourself.
Kate Hejde (27:56):
Well, and I think there's always going to be
another introvert there.
and
Lisa Raebel (28:01):
Guaranteed.
Kate Hejde (28:02):
right?
And so I tend to seek out theother person that's by themself
or like, looks as nervous as youfeel and, and be, be the person
that makes them feel welcome.
And I feel like that helps me somuch get past that.
Lisa Raebel (28:20):
Well, and then you can go together.
Then you have a buddy now to gointo those groups of three and
four and like talk to together.
Kate Hejde (28:26):
Yes.
Lisa Raebel (28:27):
that's really good advice.
Kate Hejde (28:29):
Okay.
I have loved talking to you,Lisa.
Where can people find you?
Lisa Raebel (28:34):
So Rebel Girl marketing.com is my website.
Uh, Lisa Rebel is my name, andyou can find me on LinkedIn, um,
on Facebook too.
But the best way to get ahold ofme is just to go to my website,
do the contact me page, um, orjust email me at
lisa@rebelgirlmarketing.com.
I'd love to talk to anybodywho's just.
(28:55):
Sitting there struggling with, Idon't know what to do.
I know I need marketing, but Idon't know where to start.
Kate Hejde (28:59):
start.
Lisa Raebel (29:00):
Those are some great people for me to have a
conversation with.
Kate Hejde (29:03):
That's awesome.
We're gonna wrap up with alightning round of questions I
did not pre-warn you aboutthese.
So there's, there's threequestions, They're pretty easy
ones though.
So what are, what's a book thatyou've read lately that you've
loved?
It can be, um, a business bookor a fun book.
Lisa Raebel (29:21):
So my fun book is The Midnight Library.
Kate Hejde (29:24):
Midnight Library.
Lisa Raebel (29:25):
I love that book.
It's um.
It's very, um, soul searchingand unpredictable and fun and
all those other things, and youlaugh out loud, that kind of
stuff.
So I loved, love that book forlike, pleasure.
Right now I am reading a bookcalled, um, speak with
Confidence.
Because I truly believe whetheryou've been speaking for five
(29:46):
minutes or five years, it'salways good to hone in on your
skills and learn from otherexperts.
So this is a, um, this is a, aspeaking coach who wrote a book
that I saw present at a AmericanMarketing Association
Association event at one pointin time.
So yeah, I'm reading that rightnow for business.
Kate Hejde (30:04):
And then what what free resource or um, educational
thing have you found superbeneficial lately?
Lisa Raebel (30:13):
Oh, um, free resource.
Kate Hejde (30:16):
resource.
Lisa Raebel (30:17):
I love podcasts.
I love, I love listening tothem.
I love being on them as a guest.
I love my own podcast.
And so you can learn if you havea very specific subject matter
you're trying to learn about.
I.
Podcasting, I think is one ofthe best ways to do that because
you can listen to it as you'redriving to appointments or
walking the dog, and I justthink it's really great to, to
(30:40):
learn from subject matterexperts without having to hire
them.
I, yeah, I'm a big podcastlistener.
Kate Hejde (30:47):
do you have a favorite recent episode of your
podcast that we should sendpeople to?
Lisa Raebel (30:52):
Sure.
I actually have two.
Um, so my life coach friend thatI talked about, her name is
Krista Morrissey, and she was onmy show a couple months ago, and
she talked about mindset.
So we talked about the whole,like, if you need to check
yourself before you walk into anetworking event, you should do
that before appointments aswell.
But she talked about mindset andhow marketing as, as a mindset
(31:15):
helps you.
Build that business developmentwithout actually trying.
So we talked about that.
And then my friend SusanTrumper, who wrote, oh, oh, can
I swear on your show?
It's, it's called, oh Shit, I'min sales Making Sales, your BFF.
And so she wrote that book and,um, it's all about like all the
basics of selling, the thingsyou don't think about.
(31:35):
And so her name is SusanTrumper, and we talked about
selling as an entrepreneur andhow hard it can be if you let it
be.
If you do all the prep work andyou do all these things ahead of
time, just like having a greatpower pitch before you walk into
networking, it doesn't feel likea sales call anymore.
It it, there's no pressure toit.
(31:56):
And she has great advice andnuggets.
So those, those two, um, thosetwo specific interviews, I
really, I, I actually listen tothem again'cause sometimes they,
they teach me again when I getinto a weird mindset.
'cause we all do.
Kate Hejde (32:09):
all do we do.
You're right.
We'll make sure to link those,both of those episodes in the
show notes.
And then the last question is,is there something that you've
been learning or have learnedrecently that you are just
really into?
What's making you curious?
Um, what's sparking yourinterest lately?
Lisa Raebel (32:26):
Um, what am I learning Lately, I am learning
how to be a better businessowner.
So I've, I've intentionallystarted taking classes on how,
you know, how to show up as theCEO of my own company.
Um, I can do that, but it's allthe backend stuff that I, that
I've always just kind of ignoredor gave to somebody else to do
that I'm really learning how tobe better at that.
(32:47):
It's making more, moreintentional, it's making more
productive.
It's, um, like getting rid ofall the squirrels that kind of,
you know, suck your attention.
And so I, I'm really lovinglearning how to just manage my
time better and be a moreproductive business owner so I
have more free time to do thethings that I wanna do, which is
(33:08):
why we start our businesssometimes in the first place.
Kate Hejde (33:10):
Yes.
I love it.
Well, thank you so much, Lisa.
It was so great talking to youtoday.
Lisa Raebel (33:15):
Yeah, you too.
Thanks, you too.
Kate (33:17):
There were so many gems in this interview with Lisa.
I hope you got as much out of itas I did.
I really enjoyed her quicktraining with me on.
Perfecting my own power page.
I'd love to hear from you.
What your biggest takeawayswere.
You can DM me over on Instagramat dear Kate brand strategy.
And just let me know what youthought of the episode.
Let me know if there's someother guests you'd like to see
(33:37):
on the show or other topicsyou'd like covered.
I do have some solo episodesplanned in coming up and look
forward to talking to you againsoon.
today's episode is an interview with Lisa rebel of
rebel girl marketing.
We had a great conversation, allabout networking, which is
timely as I head to the creativeeducator conference, this coming
week.
I'm so excited to meet othercreative educators.
Um, but this interview was allabout.
Figuring out your perfect pitch,your power pitch as Lisa calls
it.
(00:20):
And how you introduce yourselfat networking, how networking
can benefit you.
Um, and we talked about ways toget into it and be more
comfortable even when you're anintrovert at a networking event.
Let's dive into it.
Kate Hejde (00:32):
I am here today with Lisa Rabel.
I am gonna let Lisa introduceherself to you.
I am so excited to chat with hertoday.
Go ahead and say hi, Lisa, andtell us about who you are, what
you do, and a little bit aboutyour, uh, life as well.
Lisa Raebel (00:45):
Okay, great.
Thank you so much.
Um, I'm really excited to behere today.
I.
I.
Supporting entrepreneurs, soloentrepreneurs is like my passion
and my mission in life.
Um, I take the 30 plus yearsthat have been in corporate
America, in both sales andmarketing and convert it into
trainings and under and reallife applications to small
(01:06):
businesses and soloentrepreneurs.
So my job is a marketingstrategist, period.
End of sentence.
That's what I do the best.
Um, I help entrepreneursunderstand.
Who their client is, whatthey're selling, because people
don't actually think about whatthey sell sometimes and how that
relates to the marketing andwhere their ideal client hangs
out.
(01:27):
And who that ideal client is.
Um, people jump into themarketing without actually
answering foundational questionsfirst.
So they're committing randomacts of marketing, which is the
title of my book.
Um, and so it's, it's more aboutbeing strategic and intentional
with your marketing, and I lovedoing that.
I do it on stages.
I do it with my book, I do itwith podcasting.
(01:48):
It's, it's a lot of fun.
Kate Hejde (01:50):
a lot of fun.
Tell me about your book.
Lisa Raebel (01:52):
So the Rebel Girls Guide to Marketing, um, was born
out of the fact that I keptgetting asked when my book is
coming out, and I kept saying,what book?
Um, so what I do is I do a wholebunch of different kinds of
training and they're like, itwould be great for so
entrepreneurs to have it all inlike one spot.
So it's.
It's all of those questions.
Why do you need marketing in thefirst place?
(02:13):
Who is your ideal client?
What are you actually selling?
What are you gonna say once youget there?
And, and if you're gonna networkon purpose.
So people go to networkingthinking, well, I need to
network.
They don't think about wherethey're networking or who
they're networking or what arethey gonna say.
So I.
I usually, I, the most popularspeaking that I have is the, the
(02:34):
power of your pitch.
Because a pitch literally is afirst impression, and if you
don't take it seriously, youmight not be making a right
first impression.
So the book came outta the factthat I do so many of these
little, like little trainings.
I just put it all in one place.
Kate Hejde (02:48):
I love that.
So let's talk more aboutnetworking.
That's what we're gonna chatabout today.
We're gonna talk about pitching,let's talk about how networking
helps small business owners andsolopreneurs especially.
Lisa Raebel (02:59):
Yeah, it's important because no matter what
you sell, it's a relationshipyou're selling to a human,
right?
There's a whole movement B two Hbusiness to human versus
business to business to businessto consumer, and so this whole
business to human capacity ispeople.
So marketing in its core is nolike trust.
(03:22):
It's, they have to know youexist, like what you say and
trust you would've to buy fromyou.
And networking helps move thatrelationship along much fa
faster than trying to get themthrough email campaigns or
through marketing.
Showing up, showing up the bestversion of yourself is a great
way to get known and people likeyou much faster than if you
(03:43):
tried to market through otherchannels.
So networking I think isextremely important.
Kate Hejde (03:47):
So what are some ways that small business owners
can get started with networking?
Lisa Raebel (03:53):
Networking is very, um, specific.
So in my opinion, there's threeways to network.
Um, you have to go off of the,the same thing about there's,
there's buyers, there's endusers and there's influencers.
You have lead gen, which isnetworking, and that's
specifically going someplacewhere, you know, the buyers or
end users are hangout.
(04:13):
But there's also a sense ofcommunity and as, as, as
entrepreneurs, especially likeme as a solo entrepreneur, a
sense of community is really,really important.
I need to hang around withlike-minded people who
understand the trials andtribulations of being your own
boss and your own salesperson,and wearing all the hats we get
to wear.
Right.
Um, so a sense of community, butalso education.
(04:34):
And so as a marketingprofessional, I'm part of the
American Marketing Association.
I'm part of differentorganizations that help me be
better at what I do as aprofessional.
So to get started, I would pick.
One of those three categories,where can I find people that are
like-minded like me, that canget me the support and the sense
of community?
Where can I go to get leadgenerations?
(04:57):
It's not always your localchamber, it's, it could be an
industry if you sell thosespecific industry.
Let's take school districts, forexample.
The Association of SchoolBusiness Professionals is all
over the country.
There's an international onetoo.
So if you sell specifically toschool districts, go find that
association that can get you infront of the right people.
(05:17):
And so it could, doesn't need tobe people within your industry.
It could be the people, theindustries that you sell to, and
as far as influencers areconcerned, that might be the
chamber, then that might be thepeople who influence other
business owners or whomever yourideal client might be.
Kate Hejde (05:34):
So networking could be more than just like going to
like the coffee shop meetup of abunch of business owners.
It could be more like teachingor um, speaking to A group of
people as well.
Lisa Raebel (05:46):
Yes, absolutely.
So in my networking and purposetraining, what I talk about is
the, the short, the mid, and thelong-term goals of networking.
You're not gonna show up at onenetworking event and they're
gonna, people are gonna give youa whole bunch of money to buy
from you.
That's not what's gonna happen.
So it's about the short-termgoals, short-term goals is that,
no, they need to know you existand show up consistently.
(06:07):
To build that trust in the likeaspect of you get that brand
recognition right?
Um, so that's really importantto do that and go in there with
the intention of giving first.
Anytime that I give theattention of like, I'm going to
give more than I get in anetworking event, I always
somehow get still.
Re something out of it, whetherit's learning or leads or even a
(06:30):
one-on-one meeting to somebodythat, that might fill that
education or community or leadgeneration.
It's about giving first.
If you go with the givingattitude, I'm telling you 100%
of the time, you're gonna have abetter experience.
Kate Hejde (06:43):
So we get to our networking event.
How do you suggest we likeintroduce ourselves, get started
while we're there.
Lisa Raebel (06:52):
First, the first thing you need to do before you
even walk in a door, before youwalk into the coffee shop, to do
a one-on-one.
Before you do anythingnetworking, you need to check
yourself.
Because I'm not sure about you,but I have come into a parking
lot with my hair on fire runninga couple minutes late and I'm
all like, you know, disheveledand everything like that.
And you just need to checkyourself.
'cause you walk into that coffeeshop with your hair on fire, the
(07:14):
person you're meeting with gonnabe like, whoa.
Like, okay, this is, I'm gonnamake this real quick.
Maybe how fast can I drink mycoffee to get out of this?
Right?
So you need to make a really,really, really good first
impression, because that's whata pitch is when you do your
elevator pitch or sales pitch,which I would love to get rid of
those terms.
I'd love to change it to a powerpitch instead.
(07:35):
'cause you're not gonna sellsomebody in the first 30
seconds, you meet them, butthat's a whole nother topic.
Uh, check yourself first.
If you've had a really bad dayor got a really bad phone call
and you're gonna go into anetworking event.
Take five minutes, breathe,listen to your favorite music.
You know, for me it's throwingsome Bon Jovi or some, some Bob
Marley and sing for like singreally loud in my car for just a
(07:57):
couple of minutes to kind of getcheck myself.
And once I've checked myself andI'm in the proper mindset and
the mind space to walk in thatdoor, then it's all about like.
You know, setting goals.
I wanna talk to have three greatconversations instead of handing
20 people my business card infive minutes, right?
So what are those goals?
Um, the other thing I would dois make sure that you do have a
(08:19):
really good pitch, because the,the worst thing you could do is
someone to say, so what do youdo?
And you're like.
Well, I kind of, sort of made medo this and well, you know, we,
we talk about these things and Idon't know, and then, then you
got the people that like show upand throw up, right?
The people who like, so what doyou do?
And two minutes later they'restill talking.
(08:39):
So it's really important tocheck yourself, make sure you're
in the right mindset, and makesure you have a pitch that
really works and grabssomebody's attention.
So,
Kate Hejde (08:49):
So
Lisa Raebel (08:49):
but once you get there, yeah, you have the goals.
Mm-hmm.
Kate Hejde (08:51):
goal.
Yeah.
What kinds of things do you feelgrab people's attention then
when you start pitching or startdoing that?
Okay.
Lisa Raebel (08:58):
seriously.
Humor.
I don't know where we stoppedhaving humor in business.
Why did we stop?
Like why is it not not okayanymore?
I don't understand.
So, um, I like to use humor,especially in GE general
networking.
I.
You know, those, like, it's notvery industry specific or
something if it's industryspecific, have an industry
specific pitch.
(09:20):
But I'll give you a perfectexample.
I have a friend and a client,she's a life coach.
And you know, when I'd ask herlike, so what do you do?
She, people would ask you, belike, well, I have this.
Take these people through thisinside out journey and take them
as transformational.
And I'm like, Ooh, that's verylife coachy of you.
Um, let's pull back.
And so we do this process.
I have a, a, you know, a fivestep process that to have people
(09:44):
create a power pitch and wecreated one.
The one that we ended up withwas I un constipate the mind and
spirit so you can be you.
And people were like, you unconstipate the mind, like, tell
me more.
Right?
It's funny and people like,remember her because she's the
one who un constipates you.
So it's just using humor.
I say I am the nanny McPhee ofmarketing.
(10:05):
I.
People go, wait, what?
And so it's, it's until Disneycatches up with me at least.
And so it's like that whole,like, how do you grab your
attention with humor?
I never say that I'm a mark, youknow, a consultant, um, you
know, I, she doesn't use, shedoesn't lead with, I'm a life
and leadership coach.
You lead with what's gonna grabtheir attention
Kate Hejde (10:24):
so more like how you help people, but do it in a
clever, kind of fun, intriguing,mystery building way.
Lisa Raebel (10:32):
Exactly, and it's about them, not about you.
It's, I say this in the booktoo, it's your story, but it's
their journey.
I'm gonna say that again.
It's your story, but it's theirjourney and you want them to
engage in that journey.
So make it about them.
Kate Hejde (10:50):
Can we get into like maybe trying this kind of how
to, how to build a pitch forsomeone?
Like we can either run it off ofmy business, or if you wanna do
like a fake business or
Lisa Raebel (11:00):
No, let's do you, come on, that's, that'll this'll
be fun.
Do you got a pen and paper?
Kate Hejde (11:04):
right.
I do actually,
Lisa Raebel (11:06):
Okay.
It, it usually takes a lotlonger than I'm gonna take it
from you.
Kate Hejde (11:09):
Gimme a baby version.
Yes.
Lisa Raebel (11:12):
So what I want, anybody who's listening, if, uh,
unless you're driving or walkingthe dog, of course, like be
safe.
Um, but you take a peak bankpiece of paper and you divide it
to three into thirds.
The first one is what and how.
The sec.
The second section is problemsand, um, emotions.
Not emotional problems, butproblems and emotions.
And the third one is why.
(11:33):
So I'm a massive Simon Sinekfan.
And start with why and find yourwhy.
And the infinite game, the wholenine yards, right?
So I like knowing my why.
So it's very simple in the verytop section.
The what and the how.
It's what you do and how you doit.
So what you do literally couldjust be your title.
(11:54):
Make it simple.
Don't complicate this.
And then the how is, what do youdo every day?
Like, what do you physically andmentally do every day?
Like for me, it would be, well,let's, it doesn't matter about
me, let's talk about you.
What, what is your business andwhat do you do?
Kate Hejde (12:09):
So web design and coaching for creative
entrepreneurs.
Lisa Raebel (12:14):
Okay.
Coaching.
How do, what do coaching, what?
Kate Hejde (12:16):
Website coaching, web
Lisa Raebel (12:17):
Website coaching.
Okay.
So the, the, what is the websiteDeveloper and coaching Right.
Website creation and then the,then the how is, I have
one-on-one conversations with myclients.
I, um, I, I do a question, youknow, a discovery call with them
to find out what they're lookingfor.
I find out more about theirproduct, I find more about them.
(12:38):
I wanna know what their style islike.
There's a, there's a whole bunchof stuff you have to do to be
able to create a website.
People don't understand thatthere's a whole like.
Kate Hejde (12:46):
like
Lisa Raebel (12:47):
It's huge amount of homework to do before you can
even start on the programming.
And so it's not about the codingand stuff, it's about learning
the person and learning aboutwhat you do.
So the how is, you know, I spendtime on WordPress or whatever
format that is of your choice.
I start developing it.
I give them samples of threedifferent choices that them
(13:07):
decide which one works for them.
Right.
That's the how.
And then the problems andemotions is about like, what
problems do you solve?
You solve some.
some, Brand awareness problemsyou can solve.
Um, being found like SEOproblems, right?
The, the problems that you solveis like getting found so people
know you exist.
(13:28):
It's also making sure that theylook professional and
legitimate.
With the website being veryprofessional, you solve those
kinds of problems.
Now, here's the tricky part.
There are emotions that go withevery one of those problems that
you solve.
Kate Hejde (13:41):
right?
Lisa Raebel (13:42):
for me, when I, um, had a client that we did a, a, a
new website for, she got allteary eyed and I was like, are
you okay?
She's like, I'm finally proud.
I.
Of our website.
I'm finally proud to show peoplewhat we do.
I'd never said to to told peopleI had a website'cause I was so
embarrassed by it.
Right?
So pride is an emotion orconfidence or joy, any of those
(14:05):
emotions that come out of it,right?
Some it could be relief.
Oh, thank God I don't have todesign my own website because I
have this professional doing it.
I mean, it's all of thosethings.
And then the why.
I'm not sure if you've done yourwhy, but it's, why did you pick
web design?
Why, what?
What is it about that industrythat gets, that gets you going?
Kate Hejde (14:25):
Well, really it's the fact that I want small
business owners to be able to Befound without constantly being
on social media and like doingthat constant churn.
Um, I want them to be able toshow up proudly, um, and
represent their business onlineand drive traffic into them,
like become a magnet for trafficinstead of having to be
(14:46):
constantly fighting for it andso that they can get back to
their, the life that theypictured when they started their
business.
Lisa Raebel (14:53):
Oh, I love that.
That's beautiful.
So if we wrote all of thosethings we just talked about
down, we talked about what youdo, how you do it, and then we
talked about what problems yousolve, the emotions that go with
it, and we talked about that.
Why if you wrote all of thatdown on your piece of paper,
there would be power words inthere, and the power words of
the words that resonate with theaudience, not with you.
Kate Hejde (15:14):
you.
Lisa Raebel (15:15):
It might mean something to you too, but you
wanna pick the power words thatare gonna resonate with them.
And so once you pick those out,then you can start building a,
then you can start building apitch.
It could be, um, you know, myjob as a web designer is to help
small businesses get found sothat they can stay in business.
(15:35):
It grabs the emotional side.
It talks about the problems thatyou solve, but also tells about
what you do.
So the two that I have are, I'mthe dynamic fee of marketing.
I help my clients until theyneed me, and then I'm gone.
Because a lot of times peoplehire, they say they hire a
consultant, like, oh, she'sgonna be around forever.
How do I get rid of this woman?
Right?
But it's literally like, itcould be two months.
(15:58):
You need me, it could be twoyears.
You need me, whatever that lookslike, as long as you need help,
I'll be here.
But if once, you know, teach manto market, teach man to fish
once you don't, I, you know, Itell my clients.
Eventually you're gonna wannafire me because you'll be
confident and know what youwanna do in your marketing, and
you can do it yourself, or youcan hire an agency to do it, and
(16:18):
you're gonna wanna say, thankyou, Lisa, but I got this, which
is like the biggest compliment Icould ever have.
Kate Hejde (16:23):
ever have.
Lisa Raebel (16:25):
So for you it's this.
It's the same concept for you.
It's a very much more ongoingbecause you have the maintenance
and you've got all the things inthe backend, and you gotta
change the website for SEO andall the algorithms, right?
So it's the same thing.
So with that said, how would yousuccinctly within 15 seconds,
tell people what you do ifyou're in networking and say, so
(16:47):
what do you do?
Kate Hejde (16:48):
you do.
Yeah.
I, right now I say I help, um, Ihelp creatives show up online so
that they can get back to livingthe life that they pictured.
Lisa Raebel (16:58):
I like it.
Kate Hejde (16:59):
that,
Lisa Raebel (17:00):
And then, and I love it.
'cause you didn't say how youdid it.
Or what you do, but creators arelike, yes, thank you very much.
'cause I would like to get backto being a creative and stop
doing all this like websitecrap.
Kate Hejde (17:11):
Yeah.
Lisa Raebel (17:11):
Not that website stuff is crap, but as a creative
website's not top of line.
Right?
Kate Hejde (17:16):
Yeah.
Lisa Raebel (17:18):
So it's it.
That's really, that's great.
And so a longer, moreprofessional version of what I
do is, as a marketingstrategist, it's my job to make
sure when your clients andprospects need what you sell,
they think of you first.
It's a little bit longer, but itstill talks about the problem
that I solve.
It still talks about like, um,like their brand awareness,
(17:40):
right?
And then it also, it just, itleads to the intent of like, oh,
good revenue,
Kate Hejde (17:45):
Yeah.
Lisa Raebel (17:46):
I can increase my sales.
Right?
It has that like kind of gist toit.
And so what happens is that ahuman has an 8.25 second
attention span.
I think it's down to eightseconds now, the last article
that I read.
And so you literally have eightseconds to grab their attention.
Eight seconds.
So how are you gonna do that?
You gonna do that in a, in a62nd pitch?
(18:06):
Probably not.
So I say a, a good power pitchis 15 seconds or less.
Now the other weird thing aboutthat is that if you have to
stand up and like I do younetworking stuff sometimes, like
you have to give your pitch andthen say your name and then
you're done.
Like, it's not like one-on-onenetworking.
(18:26):
So my thing is that people saytheir name and the company name
first.
I say, say it last'cause youwanna grab their attention with
something funny or somethinginteresting that you say as your
pitch and then end with yourname and your, the company name.
'cause that's the last thingthey're gonna remember.
They're not, they don't rememberif you say it the first.
So it's here.
(18:48):
Here's the thing.
It sounds like as you'relistening to this, this
episode's like, oh my God, Igotta do all this work.
This is the cool thing about it.
Once you do it though, it'sdone.
done.
And then you just use it overand over and over again and you
can walk in to that networkingevent confident in like, I know
what to say, I have a clearmessage.
I know exactly who my targetaudience is.
(19:08):
I know what I, what I wanna say.
And then you're gonna havebetter conversations.
Better conversations lead tomore meetings.
More meetings lead to moresales.
So honestly, it starts with thatfirst impression in my personal
opinion.
Kate Hejde (19:22):
and I love the advice to say your name at the
end, because I do like even whenI'm listening to people, I hear
their name and then I'm liketrying to remember the name and
I miss the next part, you know,
Lisa Raebel (19:33):
Yes,
Kate Hejde (19:34):
or I listen to the next part and then I'm like,
wait, what was their
Lisa Raebel (19:37):
Wait, what was her name?
Yeah, exactly.
No,
Kate Hejde (19:40):
it's, that's such good advice, such a simple thing
to just, um, switch.
So
Lisa Raebel (19:48):
Yeah.
Kate Hejde (19:48):
that's, uh,
Lisa Raebel (19:49):
They'll probably remember your name of your
company more than they'llremember your name.
So that's why I say name andthen name of your company'cause
they're not gonna'cause you're,well unless you're a speaker or
something.
It says your personal name isyour company name.
They remember the name firstbefore they'll remember.
Remember your, your name, so Idon't take it personally.
Kate Hejde (20:09):
So once we're done with our networking, we're,
we've pitched ourselves, we'vetalked to people, how do you
follow up with people after anetworking event or how do you
continue the relationship fromthat?
Lisa Raebel (20:21):
Great question because this is where another
huge problem that people have,they don't set time in their
calendar for follow up.
So let's say you're going to abreakfast meeting with the local
chamber or your industry groupor whatever that might be.
That's from seven 30 until nine30, let's say.
Then either that afternoon orthe next day, schedule 30
(20:44):
minutes on your calendar forfollow up.
And it could be simply linkingin with them.
It could be sending them a, apiece of, um, I say propaganda,
which is terrible, but like amarketing material that, that
you promised to send them or aconnection.
Some of the best networking iswithout having to sell, is the
(21:05):
fact that.
fact that.
You say, oh my gosh, I knowsomebody who is what you're
looking for.
I know somebody.
Let me connect the two of you.
And so it adds value to thatrelationship because following
up is not just like, Hey, I metyou yesterday when I have copy.
Yeah, that's, that's not afollow, but follow up is, it was
(21:26):
great talking to you.
You mentioned the fact thatyou're looking for a web
designer.
I know this great person inColorado.
You know, she's a great webdesigner to let me connect you
guys.
It's that kind of followupthat's really important, but put
it in your calendar and thenstick to it and it's, it could
take you five minutes and thenyou've got 25 minutes of free,
you know, extra time, but at thesame time, just schedule it in
(21:47):
your calendar.
The other thing that I thinkpeople don't do is they don't
realize that the person thatthey're talking to is not the
person they're selling to.
And this is where I get a lot ofpeople just kind of just go,
huh?
When you're networking andyou're talking to somebody.
Don't talk to them as if youwant them to be your customer.
(22:09):
Talk to the Rolodex in theirhead.
Okay, I'm dating myself, not aRolodex, but a CRM.
Right?
Talk to the all the context thatthey have in their head, because
what you want them to do is say,oh, I may introduce you to these
three people, or I have twopeople that I know that need
what you have.
Or, Hey, I was just thinkingthat sounds like something that
I need.
So if they need a bonus, great.
(22:29):
Perfect.
If you don't talk to them likeyou're selling to them and
you're just informing them howyou help other people, they're
thinking about all kinds ofpeople they can introduce you
to.
That is not working, in myopinion.
I guess for me it's the, it'sthe, like, don't, don't do the
networking unless you plan ondoing something with it.
Kate Hejde (22:47):
okay.
Lisa Raebel (22:48):
Right.
Because that's what we do.
Like our marketing is about thecall to action.
I could write a book, I can letit sit on the shelf or I could
do something with it, right?
You could do a social post anddo something with it.
Have a beautiful website, but dosomething with it and have that
call to action.
I figure out what that is.
And networking's no different.
Have an intent,
Kate Hejde (23:09):
Where do you suggest people finding these networking
opportunities?
And are they all in person orare there some ways to network
online?
Lisa Raebel (23:16):
Oh, absolutely.
In person and online.
Um, in person I believe is morepowerful.
However, your customers mightnot be local, so networking
online is great.
I would start with, um, onceyou've defined what your.
Ideal customer is.
So just super quick, I knowyou've talked about this in
other podcasts that I'velistened to from you, is that
(23:38):
there's a difference between anideal customer and a target
audience.
The ideal customer is the personwho's actually buying from you
or using your product, and theare the target audience is where
they hang out.
So just reiterating that fact.
So what happens is that if youdefined who that is and they
have a specific industry orgeographical location or
whatever the case might be.
(24:00):
You know where they go, wherethey hang out, go there.
So one of my clients, um, we do,uh, their employer branding and
we do a lot of recruiting withthem.
Well, they have a lot oftechnicians, you know, second
and third shift technicians.
And it sounds really weird, but,um, the people that they're
hiring hang out in a veryspecific geographical location.
(24:23):
And some of them are bars.
So we literally do like, youknow, this TV screen, sometimes
it does advertisements.
We go there because that's wherethey hang out.
And it sounds weird, but it'slike, oh, you gotta go where
their hangout.
So where do they hang outphysically about digitally as
well.
If they're not on Facebook,don't waste your money on
Facebook ads.
(24:44):
You know what I mean?
Um, but if they are a veryspecific industry sponsor,
events, become a, become aspeaker at one of their events,
do all the things in thatindustry.
So you show up where they hangout and have a booth, do those
kinds of things.
But it starts with knowing whothat ideal client is and where
(25:07):
they hang out.
Then you go, that's where you gonetworking, in my
Kate Hejde (25:12):
love that advice.
Yeah, that's great.
And we talked a little bit aboutlike Chamber of Commerce, um,
and there's always like justlocal Business groups I feel
like too, that you can startthere and a lot of the times you
find one group that you networkwith and they, somebody that you
meet there networks somewhereelse and you can kind of just
like mind map all the way outinto lots of different places
(25:36):
too.
Lisa Raebel (25:37):
Yeah.
And it's okay to, to, to trysomething out and then say no.
Kate Hejde (25:41):
that,
Lisa Raebel (25:41):
I've gone to as a guest to networking things and
I'm just like,
Kate Hejde (25:44):
like
Lisa Raebel (25:46):
great group.
Not my vibe, not my, not mypeople.
Um, but you know, thank you verymuch for letting me have a
guest.
I mean, you have to let themknow nicely.
Just say, I've chosen to investmy time and, and money
elsewhere, but I trulyappreciate you've got a great
group.
It's just not where I'm lookingto go.
And most networking peopcompanies, people are like,
yeah, I get it.
(26:06):
'cause they don't want you thereeither.
If you're just gonna be there.
They want you to be fruitful and
Kate Hejde (26:12):
and
Lisa Raebel (26:13):
like add to the conversations and add value to
the people that you'renetworking with.
So try out.
It's okay to go and ask to be aguest places and say, Hey, I'm
just looking for someplace togo.
I'm, can I see if this is it?
So.
Kate Hejde (26:26):
any tips for getting over nerves for introverts,
going to these kinds of things.
Lisa Raebel (26:33):
Yeah, I am actually an introvert.
Um, in my, at my core, so what'scalled an extroverted introvert.
I have very extrovertedtendencies like this.
Um, but I am quite theintrovert, so for me, it's
literally sitting in my car anddoing something that makes me
joyful.
So listening to music, you couldbe listening to a podcast, you
(26:54):
could do whatever it is to getyou in the mindset of going in
there.
Now, the the introverted aspectof things is that if you walk in
not knowing what to say, you'regonna be like sitting against
the wall, not talking toanybody.
But if you have a power pitch,you know exactly what to say.
You know who your targetaudience is.
You have all the things thatbuilds the confidence for you to
walk in that networking withconfidence.
(27:16):
The introvertedness can takeseconds.
A backseat to the confidence.
And so I think having thatconfidence of knowing where your
pitch is, knowing who you wannatalk to, what are your
intentions of that, theintrovertedness can kind of get
a backseat to that now.
You're not gonna be walking inthere, just gonna be like, I'm
here walking in.
Right?
(27:36):
Like, I've entered the room.
The party can start.
You know, we're not gonna bethat person.
But at the same time, you know,it can be hard to have like
three or four people standingthere just to walk up and
introduce yourself.
But if you know what to say, youwould know who your audience is.
You know, all those things.
It gives you the confidence towalk up and just start
introducing yourself.
Kate Hejde (27:56):
Well, and I think there's always going to be
another introvert there.
and
Lisa Raebel (28:01):
Guaranteed.
Kate Hejde (28:02):
right?
And so I tend to seek out theother person that's by themself
or like, looks as nervous as youfeel and, and be, be the person
that makes them feel welcome.
And I feel like that helps me somuch get past that.
Lisa Raebel (28:20):
Well, and then you can go together.
Then you have a buddy now to gointo those groups of three and
four and like talk to together.
Kate Hejde (28:26):
Yes.
Lisa Raebel (28:27):
that's really good advice.
Kate Hejde (28:29):
Okay.
I have loved talking to you,Lisa.
Where can people find you?
Lisa Raebel (28:34):
So Rebel Girl marketing.com is my website.
Uh, Lisa Rebel is my name, andyou can find me on LinkedIn, um,
on Facebook too.
But the best way to get ahold ofme is just to go to my website,
do the contact me page, um, orjust email me at
lisa@rebelgirlmarketing.com.
I'd love to talk to anybodywho's just.
(28:55):
Sitting there struggling with, Idon't know what to do.
I know I need marketing, but Idon't know where to start.
Kate Hejde (28:59):
start.
Lisa Raebel (29:00):
Those are some great people for me to have a
conversation with.
Kate Hejde (29:03):
That's awesome.
We're gonna wrap up with alightning round of questions I
did not pre-warn you aboutthese.
So there's, there's threequestions, They're pretty easy
ones though.
So what are, what's a book thatyou've read lately that you've
loved?
It can be, um, a business bookor a fun book.
Lisa Raebel (29:21):
So my fun book is The Midnight Library.
Kate Hejde (29:24):
Midnight Library.
Lisa Raebel (29:25):
I love that book.
It's um.
It's very, um, soul searchingand unpredictable and fun and
all those other things, and youlaugh out loud, that kind of
stuff.
So I loved, love that book forlike, pleasure.
Right now I am reading a bookcalled, um, speak with
Confidence.
Because I truly believe whetheryou've been speaking for five
(29:46):
minutes or five years, it'salways good to hone in on your
skills and learn from otherexperts.
So this is a, um, this is a, aspeaking coach who wrote a book
that I saw present at a AmericanMarketing Association
Association event at one pointin time.
So yeah, I'm reading that rightnow for business.
Kate Hejde (30:04):
And then what what free resource or um, educational
thing have you found superbeneficial lately?
Lisa Raebel (30:13):
Oh, um, free resource.
Kate Hejde (30:16):
resource.
Lisa Raebel (30:17):
I love podcasts.
I love, I love listening tothem.
I love being on them as a guest.
I love my own podcast.
And so you can learn if you havea very specific subject matter
you're trying to learn about.
I.
Podcasting, I think is one ofthe best ways to do that because
you can listen to it as you'redriving to appointments or
walking the dog, and I justthink it's really great to, to
(30:40):
learn from subject matterexperts without having to hire
them.
I, yeah, I'm a big podcastlistener.
Kate Hejde (30:47):
do you have a favorite recent episode of your
podcast that we should sendpeople to?
Lisa Raebel (30:52):
Sure.
I actually have two.
Um, so my life coach friend thatI talked about, her name is
Krista Morrissey, and she was onmy show a couple months ago, and
she talked about mindset.
So we talked about the whole,like, if you need to check
yourself before you walk into anetworking event, you should do
that before appointments aswell.
But she talked about mindset andhow marketing as, as a mindset
(31:15):
helps you.
Build that business developmentwithout actually trying.
So we talked about that.
And then my friend SusanTrumper, who wrote, oh, oh, can
I swear on your show?
It's, it's called, oh Shit, I'min sales Making Sales, your BFF.
And so she wrote that book and,um, it's all about like all the
basics of selling, the thingsyou don't think about.
(31:35):
And so her name is SusanTrumper, and we talked about
selling as an entrepreneur andhow hard it can be if you let it
be.
If you do all the prep work andyou do all these things ahead of
time, just like having a greatpower pitch before you walk into
networking, it doesn't feel likea sales call anymore.
It it, there's no pressure toit.
(31:56):
And she has great advice andnuggets.
So those, those two, um, thosetwo specific interviews, I
really, I, I actually listen tothem again'cause sometimes they,
they teach me again when I getinto a weird mindset.
'cause we all do.
Kate Hejde (32:09):
all do we do.
You're right.
We'll make sure to link those,both of those episodes in the
show notes.
And then the last question is,is there something that you've
been learning or have learnedrecently that you are just
really into?
What's making you curious?
Um, what's sparking yourinterest lately?
Lisa Raebel (32:26):
Um, what am I learning Lately, I am learning
how to be a better businessowner.
So I've, I've intentionallystarted taking classes on how,
you know, how to show up as theCEO of my own company.
Um, I can do that, but it's allthe backend stuff that I, that
I've always just kind of ignoredor gave to somebody else to do
that I'm really learning how tobe better at that.
(32:47):
It's making more, moreintentional, it's making more
productive.
It's, um, like getting rid ofall the squirrels that kind of,
you know, suck your attention.
And so I, I'm really lovinglearning how to just manage my
time better and be a moreproductive business owner so I
have more free time to do thethings that I wanna do, which is
(33:08):
why we start our businesssometimes in the first place.
Kate Hejde (33:10):
Yes.
I love it.
Well, thank you so much, Lisa.
It was so great talking to youtoday.
Lisa Raebel (33:15):
Yeah, you too.
Thanks, you too.
Kate (33:17):
There were so many gems in this interview with Lisa.
I hope you got as much out of itas I did.
I really enjoyed her quicktraining with me on.
Perfecting my own power page.
I'd love to hear from you.
What your biggest takeawayswere.
You can DM me over on Instagramat dear Kate brand strategy.
And just let me know what youthought of the episode.
Let me know if there's someother guests you'd like to see
(33:37):
on the show or other topicsyou'd like covered.
I do have some solo episodesplanned in coming up and look
forward to talking to you againsoon.
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