BRX Pro Tip: How to Have the Money Conversation Transcript

Stone Payton: [00:00:01] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, let’s talk a little bit about how to have the money conversation with prospective Business RadioX clients.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:14] Yeah, I think this is critical. This is something that a lot of people fumble with because they get a little defensive about it, but it’s important to really lean into this and get this conversation handled as early as possible in the relationship. It is critically important to know what a sales win looks like to your prospect in terms of actual dollars.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:40] Once you are clear the exact amount of money a sales win looks like, then you know a lot of information. You know if they can afford your service. You know how many that seems reasonable, that like how many people they have to meet in order to kind of get—to a hit that number. You know that if they’re going to be a client for life, or have a chance to be a client for life, or just somebody that’s going to just try this for a little bit because their sales cycle is too long.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:12] So, it’s important to know how much a sales win is for these clients because you don’t want to get to the point where you’re selling the show in terms of hours, or time, or episodes. You have to be able to explain to them that the show is going to work for them 24/7, and they’re not paying for studio time. You have to be able to kind of articulate that. And when you know what a sales win looks like, it’s easier to have—to kind of show the value you’re delivering, not the service you’re providing.

Stone Payton: [00:01:44] All right. So, that’s kind of good prep leading into, but at some point, they’re going to say, ‘How much does it cost?” So, you have a take on because you’ve prepared, you kind of know how to frame things up, I’m gathering from that is what you’re saying.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:57] Right. So, I think it’s important to frame it up in terms of—for me, I like to say, you know, I like the numbers to work, so that one show in a year—I mean, one sale in a year pays for the show for the year. So, that’s what I like to shoot for in terms of fees. And that’s who I’m aiming at in terms of a target for a potential client because I don’t want them to think that, “Oh, if I do a show or I record a podcast, that takes me 45 minutes one time, and you’re getting paid X number of dollars,” and I don’t want him to think—to work that kind of math. That’s not the math I want them to work. I want them to see the value of having a show 24/7, having their clients’ ability to get a Google search result on the first page of Google when they’re on one of our shows, I want them to understand the totality of the value that they’re getting from being part of the network and having a show. It’s not the time they spend in front of a microphone.

Stone Payton: [00:02:53] Well, that simplifies it for me because to me, then, if you’re gonna do business with Lee Kantor, the price is one. What does it cost to have a show with Lee Kantor? One sales win. So, if a sales win for you is $30,000, Lee’s probably going to gear a show that will deliver one that won’t cost any more than that one sales win.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:14] Right. I want them to be able to look forward to coming into the studio, happily pay the bill, and stay with us for a long period of time. I want to be able to deliver results that blow them away nuts; not a bill they kind of dread and and want to get rid of.

Stone Payton: [00:03:31] Right. But one sales win—if one sales for me is $30,000. Then that’s a $2500-a-month show. That math works. Now, if I told you, a sales win for me is $500, you might not take the business, right?

Lee Kantor: [00:03:44] Right. That wouldn’t be a good fit. I don’t think I can deliver that kind of result that you’re going to want to pay for this.

Stone Payton: [00:03:51] Right. Got it.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:52] It’s got to work for both of us.

Stone Payton: [00:03:53] Got it.

BRX Pro Tip: Look for Activities to Prune Transcript

Stone Payton: [00:00:01] And we are back with BRX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, some good counsel is to periodically look for activities to prune. Would you agree?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:14] Absolutely. And I think this goes back to her previous Pro Tip we had about accountability. Everything should be accountable. That means all of our activities should kind of have to earn the right to be part of our day, or our week, or month. So, it’s important to kind of audit them periodically and to make sure that they’re doing what they are supposed to be doing. A lot of times, we do—and we do this all the time, we do a lot of experiments, and we try things.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:36] A trap when you try a lot of things is to continue doing the thing, even though it’s not delivering the outcome you desire. So, it’s important to go back, and audit things, and to make sure that you are getting out of that thing what you wanted to initially. If not, you’ve got to get rid of it. There’s only so much time, and it’s easy to get distracted by things that aren’t kind of delivering results. And you’re doing it because you used to do it, or you’re doing it because it used to deliver results.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:05] Things change, and it’s important to kind of move with the changes and adjust. So, go through all of the activities you’re doing, and then hold them all accountable. Are they delivering the greatest impact? Is there a better way to do that? As things change, maybe now—like at one time, we used to have a human being kind of deal with the audio. And now, we found a better solution. We audited that, we held it accountable, and we found a better and less expensive, more affordable that delivers pretty much the same result that we used to do, and we made the change. You have to hold all of your activities accountable and get rid of the weakest performing activities. And then, just, if you do that all the time, it will help you save time, save money, and they’ll make you more effective and more productive.

Stone Payton: [00:01:53] This is great. And this is going to have an actual name in BRX Academy from this day forward and in Stone’s personal disciplines – the activity audit. I must start asking people, “Have you done an activity audit lately?” I’m going to start asking myself, “Stone, is it time that we did an activity audit? “I think this could be very powerful.

BRX Pro Tip: Low Cost No Cost Methods for Testing Your Market Transcript

Stone Payton: [00:00:01] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, let’s talk a little bit about some low-cost, no-cost methods for testing the market for either a show or a Business RadioX studio?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:17] All right. Well, let’s start with kind of a show. If I wanted to see if a certain show had potential, I would want that person or me, if I was the one looking, I would go out to the marketplace and ask for interesting guests. I would try to maybe make a landing page or some sort of page where I can collect and socialize and say, “Hey, anybody, I’m starting this new show. It’s about this subject. And if you know anybody that would be a good guest, you know, have them go to this page, and sign up, and get on our waiting list for this—when the show launches. These will be where we’ll pull the initial guests.” So, I would definitely try to socialize that concept of interesting guest.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:59] I would also want to know what are some of the associations that serve that group, and I would contact them to see if they would want to be part of the show to see if this is something of interest. “Hey, I’m thinking about doing a show about this topic. I know that your association serves that industry, Would your leadership like to come on that show and talk about what you guys are up to?”

Stone Payton: [00:01:20] Interesting, because I think I would use the exact same strategy when it came to testing the market viability for a Business RadioX studio. The only thing I would do differently maybe is I would test different show concepts out of the marketplace. So, to some people, I might say, “Hey, me and my company, my operation, we’re thinking about underwriting a show to spotlight local business leaders. Does anyone come to mind that you think we ought to reach out to interview on that show?”

Stone Payton: [00:01:47] But then, I might also, in that same day or with a little different constituency, say, “Yeah, it looks like we’re going to be underwriting a show focused on women in business. You know, do you know some really powerful women doing some interesting things that could tell some compelling stories?” And I might try that with a variety of different, you know, like smaller subsets of the larger ecosystem, because I know each of those subsets, whether it’s technology, whether it’s women, whether the topic is diversity or software, whatever, those are all potential revenue streams. And I can get a real—I can get a good temperature reading, I think, on interest in those topic areas and viability for not just a show but a whole suite of shows, i.e. a studio.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:34] And then another thing, I would add, if I was looking to open a studio, I would go to all the co-working spaces, the incubators, maybe some of the large businesses and say, “Hey, I’m thinking of opening a Business RadioX studio. Would you be open to us having it here and giving us free rent for six months or twelve months, so I can test it? And in exchange, I’ll give you a free show and I’ll spotlight your members,” or something like that because if I got free rent and I knew that there was a bunch of people that want to be on my show, it becomes kind of a no-brainer situation to open the studio.

Stone Payton: [00:03:10] Amen