testimonials Archives - Business RadioX ®

North Fulton Studio

Challenging Common Marketing Misconceptions with Paul Zanardo, Zanardo Dezignz

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Challenging Common Marketing Misconceptions with Paul Zanardo, Zanardo Dezignz (The Price and Value Journey, Episode 118)

Paul Zanardo, the founder of Zanardo Dezignz, is the guest on this episode of The Price and Value Journey with John Ray, and he shares insights from his 25-year background in sales and marketing. Paul discusses common misconceptions about marketing and SEO, why many marketers’ claims can be misleading, and the importance of understanding the specific needs and goals of a business before implementing marketing strategies. Paul highlights the significance of an individual’s digital reputation, the value of personal engagement both online and offline, and the true use and limitations of AI in marketing. Practical advice for service providers in terms of effective website design, SEO, and networking strategies is provided, aimed at helping professional service providers better position and price their services.

The Price and Value Journey is presented by John Ray and produced by the North Fulton affiliate of Business RadioX®.

Paul Zanardo, Zanardo Dezignz

Paul Zanardo is the CEO and Founder of Zanardo Dezignz.

Paul Zanardo’s background of over 25 years was in sales and marketing. He turned his attention to entrepreneurship in the early 2000’s. While studying website design and earning his degree in graphic design, he opened Zanardo Dezignz in the same year of 2015. Zanardo Dezignz has grown into an award-winning, nationwide marketing communications agency with locations in Alpharetta and Lawrenceville, GA.

Zanardo Dezignz exists to honor God by partnering with business service providers on website design, hosting services, SEO, graphic design, & digital marketing, achieving the highest reputations online.

Paul was named Solopreneur of the Year by the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce in 2024.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

00:00 Introduction to The Price and Value Journey
00:44 Guest Introduction: Paul Zanardo
02:37 Challenging Marketing Preconceptions
04:54 The Importance of SEO
07:43 Building Online Presence
13:26 Offline Networking and Engagement
20:12 Website Design Misconceptions
26:30 The Value of LinkedIn Newsletters
27:13 SEO Benefits of LinkedIn Newsletters
27:45 Website Strategy for Niche Clients
28:59 The Pitfalls of Landing Pages
30:20 Understanding Digital Reputation
31:23 Personal Branding for Professionals
33:51 The Role of Reviews and Testimonials
36:08 Ethical and Unethical Uses of AI
40:59 Effective Marketing Strategies
43:28 Choosing the Right Marketing Professional
46:36 Final Thoughts and Contact Information

About The Price and Value Journey

The title of this show describes the journey all professional service providers are on: building a services practice by seeking to convince the world of the value we offer, helping clients achieve the outcomes they desire, and trying to do all that at pricing that reflects the value we deliver.

If you feel like you’re working too hard for too little money in your solo or small firm practice, this show is for you. Even if you’re reasonably happy with your practice, you’ll hear ways to improve both your bottom line and the mindset you bring to your business.

The show is hosted and produced by John Ray and the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®. The show can also be found on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.

John Ray, Host of The Price and Value Journey

John Ray, Author of The Generosity Mindset and Host of "The Price and Value Journey" — John Ray, Author of *The Generosity Mindset* and Host of *The Price and Value Journey*

John Ray is the host of The Price and Value Journey.

John owns Ray Business Advisors, a business advisory practice. John’s services include business coaching and advisory work, as well as advising solopreneurs and small professional services firms on their pricing. John is passionate about the power of pricing for business owners, as changing pricing is the fastest way to change the profitability of a business. His clients are professionals who are selling their expertise, such as attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, consultants, coaches, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.

In his other business, John is a Show Host and Producer and owns the North Fulton (Georgia) studio of Business RadioX®. John and his team work with B2B professionals to create and conduct their own podcast using The Generosity Mindset™ Method: building and deepening relationships in a non-salesy way that translates into revenue for their business.

John is also the host of North Fulton Business Radio. With over 780 shows and having featured over 1,200 guests, North Fulton Business Radio is the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton area, covering business in its region like no one else.

John’s book, The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices

John is the #1 national best-selling author of The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices.

If you are a professional services provider, your goal is to do transformative work for clients you love working with and get paid commensurate with the value you deliver to those clients. While negative mindsets can inhibit your growth, adopting a different mindset, The Generosity Mindset™, can replace those self-limiting beliefs. The Generosity Mindset enables you to diagnose and communicate the value you deliver to clients and, in turn, more effectively price to receive a portion of that value.

Whether you’re a consultant, coach, marketing or branding professional, business advisor, attorney, CPA, or work in virtually any other professional services discipline, your content and technical expertise are not proprietary. What’s unique, though, is your experience and how you synthesize and deliver your knowledge. What’s special is your demeanor or the way you deal with your best-fit clients. What’s invaluable is how you deliver great value by guiding people through massive changes in their personal lives and in their businesses that bring them to a place they never thought possible.

The combination of all these elements is quite different for you compared to any other service provider in your industry. Therein lies your value, but it’s not the value you see. It’s the value your best-fit customers see in you.

If pricing your value feels uncomfortable or unfamiliar to you, this book will teach you why putting a price on the value your clients perceive and identify serves both them and you, and you’ll learn the factors involved in getting your price right.

The book is available at all major physical and online book retailers worldwide. Follow this link for further details.

Connect with John Ray:

Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Business RadioX®: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

North Fulton Studio

The Most Essential Element of a Great Testimonial

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The Most Essential Element of a Great Testimonial

While we are grateful for any client affirmation of our work, what makes for a great testimonial, one which is most effective? One word: pain. Specifically, the client’s pain and dysfunction before our intervention.

The Price and Value Journey is presented by John Ray and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.

TRANSCRIPT

John Ray: [00:00:00] Hello. I’m John Ray on the Price and Value Journey. What’s the one essential element of a great testimonial? Every great testimonial involves pain. It’s the pain that you, as the professional services provider, freed your client from. I was reminded of this recently when I received a note from one of my North Fulton Business Radio guests, that’s one of the shows that I host. The note said, “I was so nervous wondering what I was going to say that I almost canceled. You made me forget I was on the show. We were just having a conversation, and it was so easy. Thank you so much for making my appearance so enjoyable.”

Now, imagine if the note had simply said, instead of what I just read, imagine if it had said the following, “You made me forget I was on the show. We were just having a conversation, and it was so easy. Thank you so much for making my appearance so enjoyable.” Now, the powerful testimonial that I read to begin with has been neutered somewhat. It’s now a nice compliment, nice to have, and these words feel good, but there’s something missing in the words that I read without referencing the pain. It’s the pain.

Let me read those original comments again. “I was so nervous wondering what I was going to say that I almost canceled. You made me forget I was on the show. We were just having a conversation, and it was so easy. Thank you so much for making my appearance so enjoyable.”

Stage fright is agonizing, and the nervousness of wondering whether you’ll say the right thing about your business involves a lot of angst and personal second guessing before that interview, speech or elevator pitch, whatever you’re delivering. This person lit up a fear many can identify with, and that gives that note a much greater impact.

Great testimonials are client-centered. They’re not centered on us as the services professional. Comments that I might receive about my show like, “John, you’re such a great host,” or “You’re so wonderful or a great guy,” well, they’re the skim milk, I’d call it, of testimonials. The skim milk version of testimonials. They might make me feel good, but the point of getting testimonials isn’t about me, unless the principal concern in my business is buffing up my own self-image instead of building the bottom line.

The reason you want testimonials is to help prospective clients who read them understand the pain you can deliver them from. You want others to read that testimonial and self-identify. Bottom line, it’s about them. Any endorsement you receive from a client is a precious gift you should be grateful for. And sometimes, it’s impossible to control what’s said when you are privileged to get a testimonial that’s unsolicited.

When you’re able to ask for an endorsement, though, ask your client to recall the pain they were in before you fix their problem and how their business and life has changed because of your involvement. The more specific the problem, ‘My sales were down 25%,” let’s say. And then the results, “My sales are now at an all time high and I’m not working 12-hour days,” the more those results are stated, the better.

The best testimonials are mostly about the client’s journey to a better business and life, and, yes, the role you played in that journey. But the emphasis is on the client. They’re the hero. It’s about them. And it starts with their pain. That’s the one essential element of a great testimonial.

I’m John Ray on the Price and Value Journey. Our show series can be found at PriceValueJourney.com or on your favorite podcast app. And we would be honored if you’d subscribe to the show and give us feedback along the way. You can email me at John@JohnRay.co. Thank you for joining me.

About The Price and Value Journey

The title of this show describes the journey all professional services providers are on: building a services practice by seeking to convince the world of the value we offer, helping clients achieve the outcomes they desire and trying to do all that at pricing which reflects the value we deliver.

The show is produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® and can be found on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.

John Ray, Host of The Price and Value Journey

John Ray The Price and Value Journey — **John Ray, Host of “The Price and Value Journey”**

John Ray is the host of The Price and Value Journey.

John owns Ray Business Advisors, a business advisory practice. John’s services include advising solopreneur and small professional services firms on their pricing. John is passionate about the power of pricing for business owners, as changing pricing is the fastest way to change the profitability of a business. His clients are professionals who are selling their “grey matter,” such as attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, consultants, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.

In his other business, John is a Studio Owner, Producer, and Show Host with Business RadioX®, and works with business owners who want to do their own podcast. As a veteran B2B services provider, John’s special sauce is coaching B2B professionals to use a podcast to build relationships in a non-salesy way which translate into revenue.

John is the host of North Fulton Business Radio, Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Radio, Alpharetta Tech Talk, and Business Leaders Radio. house shows which feature a wide range of business leaders and companies. John has hosted and/or produced over 1,300 podcast episodes.