Michael Chapman is a Horticulturalist and Pike Nurseries’ Vice President of Real Estate and Visual Merchandising. He has been with Pike Nurseries for 25 years.
Connect with Michael on LinkedIn and follow Pike Nursery on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Stone Payton: And we are back with BRX Pro Tips. Stone Payton, Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, let’s take a somewhat broad topic and nail something on it, how to be successful.
Lee Kantor: Yeah. I read this recently and I think this really resonated with me and I think it’s something that people don’t think about when it comes to success. I read simply that if you want to be successful, figure out what the prices that you’ll have to pay, then pay it. It’s really that simple. People are always looking for shortcuts. They’re looking for magic formulas and hacks and all this stuff, but there is no shortcut for success. Successful people don’t rely on hope or luck. They rely on taking action, improving a little bit every day. They rely on listening, learning and tweaking their systems until they have a machine that gives them the results they desire reliably and predictably.
Lee Kantor: And that’s our goal here at Business RadioX. We have a system that says if you do shows with the right people as guests, you’ll have meetings with people who expressed an interest and you’ll be able to sell some of those people’s shows that will help them get the same outcome that you got by introducing that person to our system. So, that’s all it takes, is figure out the price that you’re willing to pay and then, pay it if you want success. But there is no shortcut and you want to build systems that help you get that kind of predictable and reliable result over time. And we believe we have that here at Business RadioX.
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Paul Linenberg is President of Gotcha Covered Franchising.
Gotcha Covered helps consumers and businesses find the right window treatments for any style or budget. A Gotcha Covered franchise provides a lifestyle business with extraordinarily profit potential through high margins and extremely low operating expenses, all within a very cash flow friendly model.
They sell virtually everything for the interior of a window, both for the residential and commercial markets, including blinds, shades, shutters, window film and fabric treatments like draperies, curtains, swags & cascades and hundreds of other custom window treatments and accessories.
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Matt Lane is the CEO of Streamline Brands, the largest swim school brand family: with over 200 locations and four learn -to-swim schools across North America.
Prior to his current role, Matt served as Chief Operating Officer for Ponderosa Advisors, a boutique data analytics company focused on the Oil and Gas industry, SVP of Technicolor USA: a technology and video effects company, and Managing Director of Hewlett Packard’s Communication, focusing on the transformation of the consumption of digital and social media.
He has been featured in several well-known publications including INC, Entrepreneur, and Denver Business Journal. Matt holds BS, MS and MBA degrees from The University of Iowa.
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn and follow Streamline Brands on Facebook.
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Jason Westhoff, President of Cousins Subs, is a trusted strategic Executive with broad experience in multiple aspects of accounting, audit, financial management, marketing, development, human resources, technology, purchasing and operations.
Direct industry experience in multiple market segments including, financial services, technology, manufacturing, software services, home improvements and hospitality. Continuous learner who fosters relationships to bring his organization and those around him forward specifically in entities which are closely held or family owned. Professional partner who respects outsider needs while balancing shareholder needs.
Connect with Jason on LinkedIn and follow Cousins Subs on Facebook and Twitter.
Stone Payton: [00:00:00] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, we put so much energy, we’ve invested so much time and resource into what to do in the room to create that ideal scenario, that dynamic that allows for relationship building. What can we do? What should we do as studio partners to go above and beyond what happens in the room to serve our clients?
Lee Kantor: [00:00:29] We use the phrase “surprise and delight” quite a bit in here, And we’re always looking for opportunities to surprise and delight our clients. Some of the ways and some of the easy ways for us to do that is connecting our clients with other guests. You can’t do that enough. That has to be kind of something that’s top of mind, that you’re always looking for the appropriate opportunity to make a connection for your client with that previous guest, somebody that you met networking, somebody that’s going to help your client either get more clients or introduce them to more clients. So, you can’t do that enough. That should be part of your day-to-day routine when it comes to dealing with your business here.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:13] Another thing that we like to do to surprise and delight our clients is swag. I mean, we’ve given them mugs, t-shirts, a lot of Business RadioX swag, right. We’re always looking for that. If they have a kid, we’re giving him a onesie with a Business RadioX logo on it. We’re doing something to do it in that regard. Another thing we do is, a lot of the times, we interview restaurant owners and people in retail, and we’re giving them gift cards or some of the stuff that we get here given to us.
Stone Payton: [00:01:42] And I’ll tell you something else that I feel like is relatively easy for us to do wholly consistent with our mission, and boy, is it just received like platinum. If you’ve got an executive in here or a well-established entrepreneur, and you’ve already provided this experience for them, you learn through the course of that experience that they have a cause, a nonprofit, something that’s really important to them. If you can provide them with a path to let their cause get some exposure on our platform, it means the world to them. It’s good for us, it’s good for them, everybody wins.
Lee Kantor: [00:02:20] And if they have a friend that is a business person, a real micro business, and we can help them, get them on. How many times have we had the kids of one of our clients or guests-
Stone Payton: [00:02:31] Starting their own small business.
Lee Kantor: [00:02:32] … starting their own small business, and we gave them a chance to be profiled on Business RadioX. And another thing is we get our a lot of our guests, our authors, and we get a ton of books. We’re constantly giving away those books to other guests that we think are appropriate. So, surprise and delight, you can’t do it enough.
Stone Payton: [00:00:01] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, we’ve talked a little bit before, I think, on this whole idea of surprise and delight. But how do you add surprise and delight at the studio a little?
Lee Kantor: [00:00:17] Yeah, this is one of the great things that we have at our disposal. There’s so many ways to add value by surprising and delighting an existing customer. We do it all the time in here, and we kind of take some of this stuff for granted. So, we thought it was important to kind of articulate some of them. Now, the number one thing we do is the mug. I think handing them a mug is one, a coffee mug, a Business RadioX coffee mug. Those things are coveted like trophies. I can’t tell you how many meetings I’ve had months later, and they’re proudly in the cupboard, or on their desk. So, the Business RadioX mug is a great surprise and delight addition.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:57] Another thing we do is connect people. By being a connector and by just regularly thinking of people you can connect together, you’re helping two different parties, and you’re creating that ubiquity that keeps Business RadioX and your studio top of mind. Other things we’ve done – transcription, we cut out some people segments, create like a really compelling sound bite. You can even create a video for them with that sound bite. When we share the content, when they see their name pop up on the LinkedIn feed, or they’re tagged in a post on Twitter, Instagram, all of a sudden, that’s another thing, a happy memory of, “Oh, yeah, I was part of that show. That’s great. That was nice of them to do that. Another thing we do is with photos in the studio, when we take the time to take photos, or we ask them, “Hey, do you want us to take some photos with your phone?” Those are moments that you’re capturing and you’re capturing some of the emotion. And then, they’re going to feel that emotion later on.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:53] For some clients, we’ve invited them to invent events that we’ve been invited to. When we get invited to broadcast from an event, and we ask one of our prospects, or a client, or a friend say, “Hey, when did you become part of this?” That’s a way to surprise and delight. We’ve done custom mic flags. You have a client you’ve had for a while, make them a custom mic flag. So, when they show up in the studio, and there’s their logo on the mic flag next to your Business RadioX logo, they’re super proud of that. They take pictures with it. It really makes their day. And we’ve done custom intros, custom closes where you intro the show with their name, and their company’s name, and their website, and stuff like that. Anything you can do to help them get the word out to kind of make them more valuable for their customers is a great thing to do. So—and then, if you have any good ideas, send them our way because we want to share them with everybody.
Stone Payton: [00:02:46] Yeah. Well, actually, that’s an idea. Now that we’re saying is, maybe we should start a list of surprise and delight ideas that we can all tap.
Lee Kantor: [00:02:52] Yeah.
Stone Payton: [00:00:03] And we are back with BRX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, you are so good at this. I want to ask you to talk about it a little bit. How can we leverage our existing network to serve a new client, a new sponsor?
Lee Kantor: [00:00:18] One of the benefits of operating your own Business RadioX Studio is that your network is very diverse. You have interviewed or been part of interviews of people in a variety of industries that most people really don’t have access to. Most people work in a certain field, and they know certain types of people, but because you interview people from all across the business community, you have a very wide and deep network.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:46] So, when you have a new sponsor, one of the most generous things you can do to really help them have a successful launch is reach out to your network and make a connection. I do these all the time, “Bob, meet Mary. Mary, meet Bob.” And then, get them together, and so they can start helping each other. So, now that your new sponsor can reach out, and then take it from there, and then start building a relationship, you’ve served both of those parties. You’ve made it easier for the sponsor to make a new friend and maybe meet a new potential prospect or client for them. And you’ve helped the past guest get onto another show to help give them more exposure and get the word out about their work. And they might have a new business acquaintance that can help them in their business.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:32] So, by being this kind of mega connector, you are really living into the mission that we’re trying to help our studio partners do in the markets they serve is to being that de facto media outlet, that hub, of business knowledge and influence in their market.
Stone Payton: [00:00:01] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tip. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, you are so good about keeping you and I on task in this regard. You’re just wired this way. But if I’ve heard you say it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times, be a connector.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:17] This is one of the biggest responsibilities, I think, that we have running studios in our unique market is being a connector. We have the gift of being able to meet so many different people in so many different industries. And if we can use that gift that we have to connect people who would never in a million years meet each other, that is something that we try to do every week here in our studio. And we make a point, we have a meeting about it, and we look at each one of our clients and go, “Who can we connect with who? Who came to the studio this week that we can make a connection with somebody else?” Whether it’s a guest, a host, two guests together, two hosts together, a guest with a host, it doesn’t really matter. This is an important part of the mission.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:08] And by being this connector, you’re helping yourself in so many different ways. You’re becoming a valuable resource to your client especially because you’re helping bringing them potential business. How many of their other vendors are out there actively looking for more business for them? It just doesn’t happen. So, we have this ability to do this every week. It happens organically in the work that we do. So, make sure you’re leveraging that, and spending some time, and mindfully connect people together.
