BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: From Vendor to Partner

Play Episode Pause Episode

Mute/Unmute Episode Rewind 10 Seconds 1x Fast Forward 30 seconds

00:00 /

RSS Feed

Share

Link

Embed

BRX Pro Tip: From Vendor to Partner

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, most of us, we want this in almost every relationship that we have with our clients. But let’s talk a little bit about navigating the terrain. Making the transition intentionally, purposefully, appropriately from vendor to partner.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:25] Yeah. I think that if you’re in professional services, especially, that this is critical for the growth of your firm is you’ve got to move yourself from being just a vendor, another commodity to an indispensable partner. When you do that, you can charge more. When you do that, you can get more referrals. And when you do that well, you can build a portfolio of customers for life.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:51] But in order to do that, you’re going to have to deliver results that have a meaningful impact on your client. You’re going to have to be a trusted adviser for your client. Someone that tells your client hard truths. Someone that holds your clients accountable. And someone that delivers memorable service.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:14] And if you do all of those things, then you have elevated yourself from being a commodity vendor to, now, somebody that’s a trusted adviser, somebody that’s indispensable, somebody that is critical for the success of the client. And they wouldn’t consider shopping that service. They wouldn’t consider, you know, going out and seeing what else is out there. They’re going to be somebody that’s happy to tell other people about you if you can do those things.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:41] So, focus on delivering that service and results that have a meaningful impact. And then, you will have done that. You will have become that indispensable partner.

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Interview Tips

Play Episode Pause Episode

Mute/Unmute Episode Rewind 10 Seconds 1x Fast Forward 30 seconds

00:00 /

RSS Feed

Share

Link

Embed

BRX Pro Tip: Interview Tips

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome back to BRX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, you’ve been doing it for a long time, I’ve enjoyed studying with you and learning. Please, if you would, share some of your interviewing tips.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:15] Well, some of the things that when it comes to interviewing, practice goes a long way. But some of the things you have to remember when you’re doing this is to allow your guests to do 80% to 90% of the talking. Your job is to tee them up for them to look smart. It isn’t about you looking smart. You’re going to benefit with the relationship just by having the authority of being the host. So, you don’t have to work that hard when it comes to being that hilarious or that smart. Your client should be the star.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:45] Another thing is don’t lean too heavily on the talking points that were submitted. I always tell the guests before I’m doing a show is, “Hey, we’re going to use those, and I’ll try to weave in as many as I can, but we’re going to have an authentic conversation.” I’m not afraid to let a conversation meander topic to topic because you never know what’s going to come up in that conversation. And authentic conversations are not linear, and they could go in all different kinds of directions. But always know that when there’s a lull,go back to the topics, and then throw another one in. But you should not be afraid to just meander like a normal conversation would. It’s more listenable anyway for the listener because they think that they’re kind of voyeuristically listening in to a person’s conversation, which they are.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:33] And always make sure you give your guests time to share the ways to get in touch with them like their website. Don’t forget that part because that’s in their head a lot of the time, the reason that they’re there is because they want to share where a person can get a hold of them. And if you don’t give them that chance, they feel like they kind of got cheated. So, always give them time to share their website or ways to get in touch with them.

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Authenticity

Play Episode Pause Episode

Mute/Unmute Episode Rewind 10 Seconds 1x Fast Forward 30 seconds

00:00 /

RSS Feed

Share

Link

Embed

BRX Pro Tip: Authenticity

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you this afternoon. Lee, let’s talk a little bit about this thing we call authenticity.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:10] Sure. Authenticity is a big buzzword in today’s world because everybody wants everybody to be authentic. And I think you got to really define the terms. And to me, someone is authentic when they have overwhelming confidence in the principles that they believe in, so much so that they’re loud and proud about them. They don’t waver when challenged, but at the same time, they can respectfully disagree with those who see things differently than they do.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:39] So, now, this is where the trick is. It is possible to be confident, curious, and open-minded all at the same time. If you’re truly authentic, you cannot be kind of a zealot and not see things a different way. You have to be open-minded because that’s how you learn and that’s how you improve. You don’t have all the answers, and you could be authentically wrong in your thinking a lot of times, if you are kind of a zealot and only believe that there’s one way.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:10] So, I think, authenticity, there has to be some flexibility and pliability inside of that. Otherwise, you cannot grow and learn. So, I think that you should strive for authenticity, but understand that it’s a big world out there, and there are some things you don’t know, and be open to those things if you want to grow and improve.

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Better Show Hosting - Active Listening

Play Episode Pause Episode

Mute/Unmute Episode Rewind 10 Seconds 1x Fast Forward 30 seconds

00:00 /

RSS Feed

Share

Link

Embed

BRX Pro Tip: Better Show Hosting – Active Listening

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, under the heading of Better Hosting: Hosting Mechanics, give us your perspective, your insight on the role of active listening.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:16] Yeah. I think this is something that’s really important for hosts, especially if you’re new to hosting a show. You have to be good at asking questions, number one. But you also have to be good at listening. And most people are too focused on the asking of the question part, and they’re not focused enough on the listening part.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:38] I think my philosophy is that a good host talks much less than the guest, much less than the guest. To me, a good host job is to help the guest look good, to help them articulate their message, to give them opportunities to explain what makes them special and different.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:00] That’s all we’re doing is we’re just kind of nudging them along, helping them articulate their message, helping them share the stories that are important to them, giving them kind of soundbites and chunks that they can kind of go off and riff about the good work they’ve done, that they’ve helped somebody and made a difference in someone’s life. We’re there to help them kind of capture that kind of content.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:25] And just like a host of a party at your house, you want your guests to be comfortable as quickly as possible so they can relax. And in our case, create a good piece of content that they’re proud of and will share.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:38] So, if you’re kind of going into the interview with the lens of my job is to make my guest look good, not me look smart. I’m going to benefit just by making my guest look good. If you really believe that, then everything you’re doing during that interview is helping your guest look good, helping them get their message out, helping them create a piece of content that they’re proud of that they’ll share.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:01] If you can do that, then your guest is going to think you’re smart. Your listeners are going to think you’re smart. You don’t have to talk more in order to do that. You just have to be kind of gracious and helpful and then that’ll happen by itself.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:18] So, I think sometimes hosts work too hard to try to make themselves look good by kind of talking too much and kind of demonstrating how smart they are rather than using their time to elevate the guest. Because guess what? It’s your show. You’re going to be on every episode. You don’t have to talk all the time. You get the credential just by being the host.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:43] So, spend more time making your guest look good, and you’re going to have a better show, you’re going to have happier guests, you’re going to have better relationships with those guests, and you’re going to achieve the outcome that you desire by hosting the show in the first place.