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Stone Payton: [00:00:01] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received from you in terms of running a successful studio, for the studio partner to team up with a networker.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:15] Right. This is at the heart of how this business started for me personally. I don’t like to network. I’m not good at networking. And the first thing I did was identify somebody who was and who enjoyed it. And then, made her a co-host on my house show, Atlanta Business Radio. So, that’s how this began. So, I think it’s important. Ubiquity is important. Having people see Business RadioX all over the place is good for you and your market. So, the more places you can show up and be seen, the better.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:44] So, if you don’t like to go to all the networking meetings, a way to attack that is to partner with somebody who likes to go, make them a co-host or a periodic co-host on your house show, a semi-regular guest host, or whatever you want to call them, and give them the latitude to invite guests, and show them how to leverage it. And they’re going to be happy to go out to the networking meeting, and to come in there, and tell the story for Business RadioX in order to invite guests that are important to them.

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Stone Payton: [00:00:01] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, I was just at a networking event as recently as last night. How should someone in the studio, in the Business RadioX family work a networking event?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:21] I think this is one of the great benefits that we have and our clients have when they do any type of networking. No longer do they have to be the person at the networking meeting with their business card out saying, “Hey, buy my stuff,” “Hey, I’m the best blah, blah, blah in the planet. We should have coffee, so I can tell you how awesome I am.” What you can do as part of the Business RadioX family is you can put your media hat on, and you can go in there and say, “You know what, I’m looking for interesting guests. I do a show that’s about blah, blah, blah. Do you know anybody that would be a good guest for my show?” or you can say “My company sponsors a show about blank. Do you know anybody that would be a good guest for that show?”

Lee Kantor: [00:01:09] And a lot of times that person will say, “What about me? How about me?” And you’ve totally changed the whole dynamic of networking. It’s no longer about hoping that they pick you to have coffee with you. It’s you have something of value that they want, and that they want to be part of, and they want to connect with you. They want to open up their LinkedIn account and share names with you because they look like a hero because they’re connecting their people with you, and you’ve just flipped the table.

Stone Payton: [00:01:38] And I experienced this, I’m serious, as recently as last night. I mean, I was the belle of the ball. Well, John Ray, one of our studio partners, was really the belle of the ball. But I’m the cool radio guy that’s serving the community, and people have met people through us. It’s just a completely different — it’s a different positioning. It’s a different dynamic. It’s just it totally changes your presence and your approach in serving your community. And I think it’s one of those advantages of being part of the Business RadioX family that sometimes maybe we take for granted, and it is such a gift.

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Stone Payton: [00:00:01] And we are back with BRX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you, Lee, when we go out into the marketplace, and we invite people to come on the show, the select portion of our serve process, why do you advocate asking someone to suggest, or recommend, nominate a guest as opposed to reaching out and inviting them directly in so many cases?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:26] What we’ve found over the years is that it’s about positioning. We’re always going to great lengths to change the positioning in the minds of the sponsor and the guest, in the minds of the studio partner and the sponsor. And what you always want to do is be the one that gets to choose, not hoping that somebody picks you. So, whenever we have an opportunity to create that dynamic, we tend to go for it.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:52] And in the case of asking someone to be a guest, when you’re saying, “Hey, would you like to be a guest on my show?” then you’re kind of being the one that’s asking them to pick you. If you instead say, “Hey, do you know anybody that would make an interesting guest on my show?” you’re not asking that person to be a guest anymore. You’re asking them if they know anybody that would be a good guest.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:15] And a lot of times, their answer is, “What about me?” And then, “What about me?” is no longer them say, “Yes, I’ll be a guest.” They’re saying now, “Please pick me.” You’ve changed the dynamic. They’re no longer kind of getting to decide. You’re deciding if they’re worthy enough to be a guest. And that subtle change of the positioning allows you to, then, at some point, sell them something in a more efficient way because you’re, now, if not peer to peer, you’re a little bit higher than they are because you have something that they want.

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Stone Payton: [00:00:01] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, one of the best questions I’ve ever heard you ask, who has your next customer as their current customer?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:14] Yeah. That’s very important to really kind of open your mind to thinking about, where is your current customer now? What are they involved with? What activities are they spending money in right now? So, think about it, in our business, your next customer could be, right now, sponsoring a business association. I would be looking at business association sponsors as potential sponsors of Business RadioX shows. Think about who is the luxury box owner of the local sports team, and that sports team doesn’t have to be major league sports team. It could be a minor league sports team. Who companies are paying money to have a luxury box in order to schmooze other people in those luxury boxes? Who are the people that are sponsoring the cultural and the arts in your market? Those sponsors are, obviously, looking to impress somebody, and they’re looking to get in front of certain types of people. Our shows will do that for them.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:16] Think about who would the sponsors at the country club. Which businesses do you see showing up to be sponsoring events at the country club? If they’re spending money sponsoring things at a country club, they can be getting the same or if not better results by sponsoring Business RadioX shows. So, think about it. Who has your next customer as their current customer? Figure it out. Get to know them. Invite them on a show.

Stone Payton: [00:01:41] It’s a fantastic question. And you’re being very gracious. I’m going to go ahead and mention because most of the people listening to this material know it to be a fact. Everything that Lee just mentioned, these other ways that people are investing their marketing dollars, they don’t work as well as what we do. So, yeah, people who are doing that, at least, need to know about what we’re doing and how we might be able to serve them. So, yes, fantastic question. Who has your next customer as their current customer?

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Stone Payton: [00:00:01] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Today, Lee, let’s talk about power partners and, specifically, don’t neglect power partners.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:13] Right. This is another area that we have a huge advantage over other business people in the market. We can be the friend to so many business groups and business associations in your community by inviting them on, by giving them a place to tell the story about their mission and their work. You are going to be networking at kind of a networking-on-steroids manner because each one of these business associations have members and have sponsors that can also be sponsors of your shows and studio.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:46] So, the more business associations and business groups you can meet and get them on the show, let them come on. After the show is over, go, “You know what? Your business group is awesome. I really want to support the work that you do. Why don’t you come back in on the show on a regular rhythm?” Maybe offer it every six months, maybe quarterly where they just come on your house show, and maybe they bring in one of their leaders, and talk about the work they’re doing. And then if that works out, maybe you expand it and offer them a series if you find that they’re really good partner and that you can really work well together.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:20] But this is an area that is underserved, and they appreciate the attention. And don’t be afraid to invite on a lot of these niche business groups. There is a business group for every underserved group out there. There’s women business groups. There’s veteran business group. There’s gay business groups, Hispanic, black. Every Asian, every community has a business group that serves their niche. You should be a friend to all of them.

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Stone Payton: [00:00:01] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and  Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. Lee, let’s talk about the dream list.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:09] All right. This is an exercise that I think is critically important when you’re selling somebody something or broaching the idea of them having a radio show. A lot of people’s fear is that no one will be on a show because, who are they? They’re not a professional broadcaster. Their show doesn’t have any listeners. All these fears come up. So, they think it’s going to be very, very difficult to get guests. So, an easy way to allay the fear is to just start brainstorming. What—who are these guests? Who are they? Start naming them. Name the companies, name the people. Just start brainstorming the associations that serve this group. Start getting a list together. And if you can get a list together of 50 to 100 names of people, you’re going to be getting over one of the big hurdles of getting this person as a client because, now, there’s a big pile of guests.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:59] Now, the next challenge will be, will any of them come on the show? That’s an easy challenge, now, to manage because, now, you can just start inviting them. Now, you have a starting point. And then, when they start seeing the ratio of people that are saying yes to coming on the show, now, you’re that much closer to a sale because they’re going to see, “Hey, this is easy.” Most people that I ask, “Do you want to be a guest on my radio show?” say yes. When I was saying, “Hey, do you want to have a coffee with me, so I can tell you what a great CPA I am,” nobody was saying yes. So, doing this puts you on the road to success.

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Stone Payton: Welcome to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. We’ve been talking about inviting guests. Lee, your counsel is cast a wide net.

Lee Kantor: That’s right. Don’t be afraid of the small guy, the person that’s just starting up. That’s the mission of Business RadioX. We’re here to tell the stories of business. We’re here to tell the positive stories of businesses of all sizes. And I’m perfectly comfortable having a studio with an executive with a large consulting firm, an executive of a startup, and then somebody who’s just starting their brand-new, you know, pizza shop. Businesses come in all sizes. And every large business started as a small business. The network, there can be learnings from everybody at every stage.

Lee Kantor: Now, the only caveat to this is I try to avoid in our studio kind of these businesses that are kind of in a gray area that I don’t think that somebody from a large accounting firm or a large consultancy would feel comfortable in. I don’t want to have a multi-level marketing, or somebody selling, you know, vitamins, or something that’s kind of in a gray area. There are places for that. It just that we find in Business RadioX that we’re looking for businesses that are serving the vast majority of the population in a way that the vast majority of the population thinks is legitimate.

Lee Kantor: Now, we don’t kind of hesitate from being in controversial areas. We’ve had businesses that have been in cannabis. We’ve had businesses that have been in areas that are not exactly, you know, kind of — you know, they’re kind of in a gray area for some people. But as long as they’re legitimate businesses that are serving the community in a legal way, we’re perfectly comfortable of spotlighting them on our shows.

Stone Payton: Well, and you don’t know whose cousin is operating that pizza shop. And if you are living into this mission of ours, that will be seen, that will be felt throughout your community. And it’s that context, it’s that backdrop, it’s that foundation that allows us, I genuinely believe, to have the inroads that we do into all of these businesses we are genuinely supporting and celebrating, the local business community. So, I think, it’s not only okay to cast a wide net. I actually think it’s fundamental to the whole strategy.

Lee Kantor: Right, but you don’t want to only have the small guy.

Stone Payton: Right.

Lee Kantor: You have to have the people that can afford sponsorships, or else, you’re not going to be able to continue making a living doing this.

Stone Payton: Absolutely. And that goes back to something we mentioned in an earlier Pro Tip, you also just don’t want to have a roomful of celebrities. That’s fun, and every town has that, but most of the times, those folks aren’t going to write checks. So, you do have to be mindful of the people who do fit that profile for you. And in the same breath, I got to say, let’s live into our mission of supporting and celebrating business, and be willing to have the small guy in there, and be willing to cast a wide net.