Live with Ely Delaney

And if I get to say this, Eli, as we're going live, my bangs look good. I'm looking okay. All right, so hi everyone, we're live right now. I'm taking a break from my day. I absolutely love doing these lives because it keeps me on my toes. I don't know who Eli is, I don't know how he found me. I can't introduce him because I don't know. So Eli, introduce yourself.

All right, so Eli Delaney, Automated Systems Strategist. Uh, industry experts hire me to help them take their existing leads, convert them into clients using bulletproof systems, processes, automation, all the geeky stuff, without losing the relationship. Because that's the part that most people forget about, and that's really my specialty. I have a lot of fun with it. I've been doing it for a long time, and it's amazing some of the, some of the stuff we get to do with that.

Okay, so before we continue, let's just say this: that is one of the best introductions, if you want to call it elevator speech. You were succinct, you said exactly what you do, and you left it open for questions. So you didn't give it— you didn't give me too much. So if you're watching and you're thinking to yourself, what's a good elevator speech? I'd love to hear one that makes sense. Come back and rewind it if you didn't hear it, because it's good. You really explained everything. And so, all right, so let's just get down to it. Let's get down to business. So Eli, I, what is going on in this industry with the lead generation? I'm not talking like what you exactly do. And the reason I'm asking that is that it feels like sometimes in, as a business owner, we have like different times where all of a sudden you're asked about coaching and every email comes in, you know, and requests to connect is coaching. But lately it's all about this generating sales. I had one this morning that said AI can do it. So I'm thinking similar, AI can help you. So if you're making a pitch, let AI do it. And my response back is part of my pitch and why I've got things is my passion. I get so excited. People are like, woo, Adrian. But if they see that I'm passionate about, not passionate about just selling, 'cause I don't like selling, but passionate about sharing whatever it is that I wanna share with you, that is what's always closed my sales for me because of passion. How could AI do that? Right.

And, and you're very true, you're very right on that. The reality is that, number one, right now there's a lot of people out there that are struggling for sales. And, and it's— the reason is, is, you know, there's a lot of stuff people talk about, it's because of the economy. And I think that has a bit to do with it, but honestly, the biggest reason is because for the last several years, so many people have gotten into business, especially in the coaching, speaking community, the expert space, quote unquote. And what they've done is they've jumped in and they're, they're making insanely blatant lie promises like, I'm gonna make you a million dollars in your business, when they haven't made more than $30K in a year, you know. And that's where the problem is, because people have jumped in, they're like, okay, this person's giving me these guarantees, it's awesome. Well, the guarantee is I'll work with you until you do that, which means they just get to work free forever, and then they lose interest. They do a horrible job. You never get the goal anyway. And what's happened is too many people have bit into that for so long these last few years that now people are like, yeah, okay, I need to hold on to my money, and I'm not really sure about this because I've been burned too many times. So it's not that they don't have the money. They're not committing because they don't believe in you yet. And that's where I think a big piece of what you just brought up related to AI is going to burn people because people are saying, oh, I can just have AI do all my sales for me. Well, guess what? People buy from people they know, like, and trust. Okay, those three words are there for a reason in that order, because they have to get to know you before they can decide if they like you. And then if they like you, they're more likely to actually trust you. The only ones that can get away with not going in that order are basically doctors and attorneys, because we don't really like them. But we still have to pay them anyway.

Oh my God, you're funny. So he— so this is, this is such a great conversation. So during COVID I was like, what the heck is going on here? Everything— oh, you're making— you're not making that much money. I knew it, I knew it. But FTC really has cut— like, they have created some laws that are— you are not allowed— truth in advertising is serious. So what I do, and I don't want to tell anyone, so I'm going to whisper. Can you hear me? So this is serious. I actually created an article about the FTC. And so when I saw the other morning someone said, oh, I'm making millions of whatever, one of those weird things, and I just slipped in on the comment my article because you better be careful if you are not showing that truth in advertising. And I applauded the FTC when they came out with these new compliant laws that you cannot just get on Facebook and go, and show some receipts and say, here's my receipts. And then I go to another Facebook post and there's the same receipts like crazy. And Eli, is that because nobody wants to work? And it's like, like that old, like kind of scam, easy money.

It is. You know, some people are doing it. They're also— and this is— there's a societal thing going on. I was actually just talking to somebody yesterday about this. Society has lost a lot of the understanding of what is fact versus opinion. Or dreams and wishes. And that's where a lot of this is coming from. But what they're doing is like, some people are even going through and saying, okay, well, I've got a million dollar business. Well, you might have, have— you might have people coming in the door saying that they're going, you know, they're going to pay you that much, you know, $100,000, $50,000, whatever, over a time frame. But you've only, you know, only made $1,000 off one. You know, you haven't made $100,000 or $500,000 or even $10,000. You've made $1,000, but you're gonna bill them for $100,000 over time. So that's what they're using as a number, and it's just fake. It's, it's twisting the truth. You know, the, the good old days— and, and I will call this the good old days— when I first started getting into marketing and stuff, we know as marketers, we, we will bend the truth a little bit. It's not lying, but it's manipulation of it. I— it's not necessarily the right thing. I like to say you should be persuading people, which is persuading people to do things that are good. Manipulation isn't really the great way to do it, but marketers in our world have always been known to manipulate the truth, but they didn't lie. And now it's come to a point where it's actually over the line and they're lying. And that's one of the reasons why the FTC has cracked down so hard. I mean, reality is Marketers, I mean, I am one, so I'm in the group sadly, but marketers, we have to abuse the system. We have to mess things up, and that's why we can't have nice things.

I love that. Before we go into your business in a little bit more detail, so this whole concept of leads, like not the lead generation, because I do lead generation for my clients and it works using LinkedIn, so I get it. It's this appointment setting. And I have received appointment setting. What I don't understand is I, there's part of me every time I get a message or an email regarding I could do, can you handle 10 more clients, Adrian? No, I freaking can't handle 10 more clients. My God, I can't even handle one. I'm just kidding on that one. But like, I can't, that's not of any interest to me. So then I think to myself, oh, I feel really bad for this person. Is this their job? Like what a hard sell that they have. And then my head said, Adrian, They're probably not even real. It's an AI-generated email. So stop feeling sorry for someone behind an email and they're not even human. So I could say no a lot easier if I know that it's not a real person. But it's crazy. Is it really a business? And just like, do people respond? Like, you send out this, you spit out all this, you know, I could get you 10 more clients or 100 leads. Is that really working? And then tell us about your business.

So, so some people it is. I know people who actually have businesses for that process of bringing in closers setters, appointment, appointment setters, and appointment closers. Um, the number one thing I always tell people though is if you're not getting enough, you know, you, you're not in there and making enough sales, if you don't have enough of a high sales conversion yourself, bringing somebody else is not going to help, help out. All it's going to do is muddy up the waters and annoy them because they're not going to make the money that they were promised when they were taught how to do this stuff. Uh, so the first thing is you have to have your system rock solid. When you get— you have your flow, what's going to happen when you go from lead to actual prospect, meaning, okay, I'm raising my hand because I actually am interested and I think I need your help, to how do we convince them that we are the right solution for them and get them to trust us enough to pull out their credit card. That— there's a, there's a journey there, and if you can't do that yourself bringing somebody else in, chances are it's not going to go well because they might be trained as a great salesperson. If you have a real person doing that— the bot thing is a whole different creature— but if you have a real person doing that, they might be trained as a sales closer or sales appointment setter, whatever role they are. The problem is that they are trained on how to do sales. In just a generic standpoint. You have to know how to actually show the value first before they can do their job properly. And that's where a lot of people miss the boat.

I mean, like, I, like, I actually, if we were a little slower, the show, I'd say breathe, like, take that in, process that. That is fantastic. It reminds me, you know, I always— I grew up in a family business. My parents were incredible. They both passed, but they left a legacy, a museum behind in Connecticut of 80 1,000 Children Toys, a big family, a distributorship, and art gallery, Barker Animation Art Gallery. But one of the things my dad taught me is this: if you're gonna hire someone to go on your roof, know what you expect. Don't hire someone blindly and then be like, oh, I don't know anything about building a roof. You have to know enough in order to hire someone. So what you're saying is so brilliant. If you're not— if you're not doing it yourself, do not hire someone else to do it. At least take a— like, in with marketers, Eli and I, we, you know, as marketers, we test everything, right? So everything gets tested. So you test for a month, you try it yourself, see how it is, make up the calls. Eli, another situation is even when I'm interested, sometimes then I'm talking to someone, I'll get a call back and I can't really understand them. They're not very clear, they don't understand the business, they're not answering the questions that I have. So now I think that's another part of it too. Maybe you get someone like me, and on that particular day, I'm feeling like, you know what, this message was interesting enough for me to say hello and maybe meet. Because some people have some great— I'm thinking LinkedIn more. I really don't do anything with email. I very rarely just respond to email. But LinkedIn, maybe I'll say, hey, I'm kind of interested. And then instead of they're calling me up, like I would if you said you're interested, have the owner of the business call you up. I'm getting someone who's being outsourced who can answer nothing because all they're doing is trying to set a calendar. But I still am not at that point. I still want to try to build a relationship or understand more. Can you address that too and why that doesn't work?

So, I mean, depending on the size of your business and how, how you're structured, I don't always think that the owner of the business has to be the person you talk to. I mean, I know a lot of businesses where you're— there's no way you're going to talk to the CEO of the company or whatever, but Um, there's a lot that can go into educating the client and adding value to the client up front from whoever is playing that role of communicator, the frontline person, the face of the company that is actually talking to you. And that is something you brought up that's really important, is that person needs to know the business. They need to know what's going on. They may not know all the ins and outs. So as a great example, a salesperson for, say, a web design company doesn't need to know how to code websites, or they need to be great at Photoshop, but they need to know what kind of results they produce and they understand the basic process of how that comes to play. And then of course, what's— what happens? How do you, you know, how do you make these results? Um, you know, those people should be talking to other clients and get hearing their success stories and getting the happy words from them, because then they can now say, okay, here's an example here's what we did. Now, they're not— I'm not the one that's writing the code, but I can explain to you, this client said these things, this is the result they had because they worked with us. That now makes it so you and I are like, we're having a good conversation, and I can educate you on that even if I wasn't the one writing the code, right? If I'm not the coder or the designer, that's a way you can make that happen. But you, as the salesperson, whatever role that is, that's the direct frontline communicator with the prospect, you got to know the business, you got to know what's going on, and you got to know how to talk the language in order to sell it to anybody. Because I— and I have had that. I mean, I've had people that are— it's like me and tech support. If I ever have to call tech support, they hate me because usually when I call them, that means I've already ran out of resources, which means I probably know more than they do. And it drives me nuts because I very rarely actually get the answer I'm looking for because they don't know the product that well. And I'm like, okay, you got to step it up. I know when I mean, years ago, like 25+ years ago, I actually worked in tech support. The product that we did was the very first handheld Windows. It was like a PalmPilot kind of thing. Remember the PalmPilots, the BlackBerrys? It was—

stop it, stop it.

Oh yeah, no, long time ago. But here's the thing with that was I had one and I took it home and I played with it and I broke it and I, I read the manual no less than 20 times. And, and they didn't do anything back then. There was nothing like what we have today. But I made the point to learn every in and out I possibly could so when I was on the phone with somebody, I could answer their question. And there was no question about it, I knew more about the thing than they did because that's what they called me for. That's the position. That's what we want to look at. And if somebody's coming into that role, they need to know the business inside and out. They need to talk to clients, they need to talk to the team. Like, if you talk to that web designer, talk to that programmer— and I'm just using web design as an example, um, but whatever it is that you're in, you need to talk to the owner, the clients, if there's any other coaches involved, um, other team members. Talk to all of them and get to know them, because then you can become a better salesperson when you're having that communication.

Exactly. So this is— welcome everyone, if you're joining us— no prep needed, which means I did not meet Eli, so I don't know his business. And even before, he hasn't really— he shared his elevator pitch, which was amazing. Go back and listen to it. But I do— I— okay, so I'm a little concerned. I don't want you to get mad at me, Eli, when I say this, but can you please share why it is not smart to take a company up because they're going to do like 10 calls for you free. And why it's— it's why I, I think I wouldn't do it if you said, Adrian, let me make 100 calls, I'm going to do it at no charge so you can see our results. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Um, number one, I'm going to go back to my previous answer. You need to be able to know your system first in order to help them succeed. Um, because I have found those a lot of times where, um, people will like, oh well, they're going to do this for free for me, cool. But then The problem is neither of you on either side is good enough at your job to make that a win for either, either side. And so they're gonna get out there, they don't know the business as well as they should. You don't have a sales flow or sales process in place to make that an easier transition. And so they get talking to a bunch of people that aren't as qualified as they probably could be because they don't know the business as well as they should, and you can't close the sale. So nobody wins.

And, but I also think it harms the reputation. So I've had that happen one time. I never said yes, but as I was talking to them and the person, I was like, oh no, oh no. And you should have them, like, you know, I used to say pick up the phone so you can listen in on calls coming in, but have them, you know, put your number on the list or get, you know, get your other partner's like number and see how it really sounds. Because just like if you're going to do a mailing, right, you mail one to yourself. Does it come in nicely? Does it look nice? Is it all battered up? Well, imagine— wow, do you know, I've gotten some calls where I'm thinking— where actually there was one time, just once, because I usually don't do this, but where I called, I wrote to the owner, I said, I think you should relook at how these calls are being made. It is not representing you well. And not do I— like, I— like, you have it like in my mind, I won't work with you. And I have a really good memory. I remember if you don't reply back to me, which by the way, I always have to do a plug on etiquette. You came in early. Eli was amazing. Respond back to people too. This whole AI crap, nobody— they don't respond back or they respond back and you know it's a robot. So the whole relationship. But let's talk about Meet Cool People. What exactly do you offer?

So Meet Cool People is my mantra. And what it is, my favorite thing in the world to do is to meet cool people. I go— I'm a speaker. I've traveled all over the place. I love getting in front of people and talking. But the reality is, when I can have a conversation after I'm off stage, that's where the fun begins. That's where we really start to talk. I love to get together for dinner, coffees, things like that, and get to know people. I think the best thing you can do is grab 10, 15 people, go to dinner, and get to know each other. You break bread, you're going to learn more about that person than you are anything else in the world. So that's what I do for fun, quite honestly. That's my, that's my fun. I have a podcast that goes with it. I have a group that meets, all kinds of fun stuff that goes. I even have like these cool little wristbands that say Connect Um, says, uh, yeah, oh yeah, I got some swag. So, um, but my real business is automation. It's about building follow-up systems for people. So everything from, um, as a great example, if you have a lead magnet, you know, you're talking about generating leads, you should give them something to give them a taste of who you are, what you do, and how you can help them. So there's a billion different ways you can do this. I love checklists because they're easy to create. They're fast to get implemented and they're easy to read, which is the most important thing because people's attention span is that of a gnat right now. So if you can get them to look at it, read like half a page and realize this is amazing stuff and continue to 2, 3 pages tops, they're not going to go, oh, I'm going to read that later. Because if you give them an ebook, which is, you know, 20, 50 pages, they ain't going to read it. They don't have time. And it's going to do, do what we call collecting digital dust. So something short and sweet, but it's not about the thing directly. It's about getting them to consume the thing. And so how do you get them to actually read it and actually take action on the things that are in it? Well, that's where your follow-up comes in. Now, okay, you know, you said you're not a big, big person on email. I love email. Email is still my number one marketing tool because the reality is if you do it right, you can get people to be super, super excited to talk to you. They're excited to get your emails. The reason people say email is dead, which I hear a lot of people, especially when texting became a big thing. They're like, oh, texting is the most amazing thing and email's dead. Now, emails aren't— email isn't dead. It's because your emails suck, dude. I mean, reality, get— write better emails, people will pay attention. And so what we do is I help people, help my clients. I've got a methodology that I created called the Follow-Up Rockstar System where I help people with their freebies, their calendar. How do you get more people to get excited about jumping on that call with you? Not just, oh yeah, I have a call, But how do you prep them ahead of time and pre-sell them? If you're trying to sell a product, how do you pre-sell them with great information so when they get on the call, they're like— you don't even have to talk to them. They're like, okay, credit card in hand, ready to go. I had that one time. I had a guy who watched a presentation that I sent him before he had booked a call with me. He gets on the call and he was like, that presentation was amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that. I was like, so you watched the whole thing? He's like, yeah. I watched it 3 times. I'm like, oh wow, 3 times. You watch the whole thing 3 times. Now, just let me clarify. This is the 45-minute presentation that I shared in the email. He's like, yeah, it was that good, dude. And I'm like, that's pretty amazing. By the way, this guy's a speaker coach, so that was even better that he was impressed. I was totally flattered and honored that he said that about it. But then he said the most amazing thing. So let's cut to the chase because I know we're both busy. What am I buying from you today?

Oh wow, so he liked you first. He liked that you were giving away really great information. I do want to tell you, I have a CRM program. I do. I— and it works when I send out— like, well, you received it because you got a notice saying thank you for being big and bold and, you know, brilliant. And actually, uh, Sheila, who helps me with my CRM, I had to go in because my automation was all messed up. But because I'm, you know, I want to know enough to do it, and I want to, you know, do it myself so I could teach someone else. But, right. But it is important. So I love that. And you'll get a follow-up and a request to give me a review or feedback. So do you provide that? Do you provide the actual CRM program too?

Yeah, we do help with the CRM. It kind of depends on how the level somebody's working with me, whether we take it in-house or we have an outside company because it's the same software. It's just a matter of whether we're babysitting it or not. But the biggest thing is First off, if you're in business, you need to have a CRM. And most CRMs do some great stuff. Some are better than others. I have my favorites. I have some that I completely can't stand. But the reality is this: the best CRM out there is the one that you actually use. So get to using it. Put your contacts in there. If you meet people at an event, put them in there. Make sure you follow up with them. Now, you're not adding them to a general newsletter. But put them in your CRM, tag them so they're, you know, somebody to follow up with, but you're not pitching all your stuff to them every other week. That's not a good way to do it. But put them in there, stay in touch, put all your notes in there. Your CRM should be the lifeblood of your business. But then what— and this is where I help my clients— is like, I don't care what software they use. What my goal is, to help you use the software to the maximum capability. And how do we put a system in place that will help nurture prospects, create an evergreen system that will last forever? Like, I have a campaign that I wrote— oh, we're talking like 9 years ago— and it still works. It still runs. As a matter of fact, it's a 3-year campaign. My running joke is I could go outside and get hit by a bus today and still sell you stuff for 3 more years. Okay, once you build a system like that, now it takes all the pressure off. You're not having to work so much day to day. Your job is to get in front of people and put them into the system. So whether you're speaking on stage, getting on shows like this, whatever that is, then you get them to come in, get your freebie, you know, whatever it is, whether it's a checklist or an event. I love doing events as well. We do master classes, or I hate that term, but I like to do, you know, I'm old school, we call it webinar. But whatever it is, you know, put these things on, get people to come in, and then nurture them, stay in touch with them, follow up. I had a guy who actually came to me, it was September 16th, 2020, He says, hey, Eli, I've been on your list for a couple of years now. I want to thank you so much for all the help you've done in my business. I probably wouldn't be in business if it wasn't for you. By the way, my son is starting a construction company. I'm wondering if you can help us with some marketing stuff. So of course that starts a conversation. Conversations lead to sales. That's a good thing. But I look in my CRM and I'm like, okay, what does a couple of years mean? He had seen me speak in Scottsdale, Arizona, July 3rd, 2010. Whoa, 10 years and 3 months later, he's coming back and referring his son's business to me because I had nurtured him. I had stayed in touch with him. I added value. I helped him out all this time. The cool thing is it's through my system. It's all automated. So I didn't— I wasn't spending a lot of one-on-one time, but I was still making it happen. I was still adding value. He was still getting results, and I was staying top of mind because of that.

So, okay, so listeners, here's the thing, okay? You've got a business. I don't care if it's your hobby business. I met a cute woman who has a hobby farm. I had— was having a conversation with a woman in our promotional products industry, and I said to her, well, where do you keep all your orders? And she showed me a folder, a manila folder chock-full. And I said— she said, it doesn't really matter because it's my business. And I'm like, oh, so you're So, so you're just going to close down your business and you're not going to let anyone know? You're not going to really have a way to send to your clients that you're no longer taking orders? Or what if you had your grandchild who was interested in your business? You're going to hand them a folder? What if you want to sell your business? You can't sell your business with a folder. And she looked at me, she was kind of surprised, like, oh, you, you, you— if you're in business, come on, Eli, let's do it together. You need a CRM or program, and then you need someone to help you to get that program out there. And you need someone, you need someone that's an expert really to help you, Eli, so that he can share with you, he can talk to you and then find out what it is, what your goal is. But I feel like my business didn't start until I started my CRM that I'm currently using now. I don't, you know, I'm a believer in business. If I don't like reading long funnels, which I really don't, they turn me off right away. For years I was like, funnels, it's like the one that's like 20 million million pages long, then don't do it. If you love funnels and you love reading and you love what it takes, like, of something, 30 minutes to read something, then you should do it. Do what you love, right? To me, I don't like to blast people with emails all the time. I, I do like to send an email with a nice, you know, request for a review. I do like to keep people up to date maybe on what I'm doing. So, you know, whatever it may be, or if I'm offering like a free 30-minute LinkedIn review, which if you're interested in, let me know because I'm really good at LinkedIn. But anyways, I would, um, I would be happy to do all of— you know, that, that's like what— so you need, you need Eli. Just listen to me, I'm not kidding around here. You got a business, you need Eli. You cannot— I have an Excel file folder, that's what I use, or I use Google Drive and everything's in Google Drive. But Google Drive, I mean, I wouldn't count on that either. What do you think will be in the future? Like, I'm always wondering what's the future. So the CRMs, do you see them expanding in like 10 years and just offering more like, you know, there's definitely going to be more AI involved with it.

That's already starting to happen pretty strongly as it is. The question is how far do we take it? And I'm a big fan of don't take it that far. Use the CRM as the tool. It's not a replacement for you. It's a way to leverage your time. It's a way to make it so You don't forget, you don't drop the ball because you're human. You will make mistakes. We all do. But it's not a replacement. And when you start thinking of how can I replace myself or a team completely, that's when you start missing, missing the boat. Because what ends up happening is you take out the most critical thing, which is the human touch. And a CRM or any, any piece of any tool technology that's out there, even like what we're using, using live streaming, it's just technology. You know, the fact that You know, the best thing in the world, and I already talked about this once, is getting to sit down across the table from somebody and get to talk to them. The energy exchange that happens when you're sitting there right face to face with somebody is unparalleled to anything in this world. However, we have tools like this that we can turn around and talk to each other, be across the country. I mean, I have my running joke is I've sometimes I'll have 3 different conversations with 3 people on 3 different continents in the same day. And it's true, I've done it. But that is a poor choice to face-to-face. It's there, it's cool, and I'm gonna definitely use it, but that personal touch is always the most important thing. And so remember, when you're starting to use any of these tools, don't lose touch of the human, that personality, your personality. That's what drives people in here. I don't care what business you're in, there are 150,000 people doing the same thing. There's a lot of people that do what I do, but I'm the one that makes it different. My skills, my experience, and my personality makes it so my clients are attracted to working with me. And you got the same thing going on on your side. So don't remove that. When you remove that, game over, you're lost.

You know, I— so I totally agree with you. I think that You know, if I'm, if I'm going to buy health insurance or life insurance, I want to work with someone who has had experience. And I've always felt bad for those that have gotten in the business. And of course, even at my one point in time, I was like Prime America, and I actually got my life insurance, I think, just to prove to myself I could do it in my early 20s. I never was going to sell it, though, to be honest. I knew I would never be a good salesperson with it. But my point is, is that I was embarrassed to sell it because I always felt that the person that was going to buy it should be buying it from someone who was definitely going to be in the industry for a long period of time so that you— so that they know you, so you're not wasting your own time. So with Eli, he's already been in business for a long time, so why wouldn't you? If you're going to do it, you have to consider that too. Who's the person that's selling me the program? How long have they been doing it? Are they naturally smart, or are they getting their answers or their responses from like a ChatGPT and then getting back? Because Eli, come on, you know, there's— I think, you know, back in 2017, the first time I ever heard of a coach— I know it sounds weird, But growing up, not that I'm going to age myself at 61 because I don't need anyone to know I'm going to be 62 next month. But my point is, is that in reality, I really didn't understand. In 2017, you didn't meet a lot of coaches. And I met my first coach and she said to me she wanted— it was going to be 8 hours at $3,000. And I was like, that's a, that's a car, that's a living room set. For some reason I had living room set in my mind. But my point is, she really wasn't an expert at it. She just was starting her business. Someone said charge the maximum amount because that's what people are going to want. To pay. And so, you know, if you, if you make yourself cheaper than— but I don't care about all that. I care about what is behind and what your education— so tell us a little bit more before we close. I want to hear, you know, what brought you to this point, and then of course how people can reach you.

Okay, yeah. So my first business was a web and graphic design company. I started that, it was like '95, '96, something like that. Took that from my dining room out of my, you know, out of my house by myself to an office, 5 employees, closing 3 to 5 contracts a week, just killing it, having an awesome time, except I wasn't having an awesome time. I realized that I did not like having to go to an office and I didn't really like employees either. And so I pretty much burned the whole thing down eventually. And that's when I actually started the first iteration of this company. And, you know, we started really kicking hard in 2008. Yeah, 2007 to 2008. And part of that was I was— I got into speaking and I realized that, you know, I could— I got— had a great mentor. I had a coach. Taught me how to be a good speaker. I get up there, rocked it. Um, the problem is I get my 10% of the people are like, credit card in hand, I'm ready to work with you, this is cool. And everybody's like, man, you're doing so good. And I'm like, no, I'm not. What's about— what's wrong with the other 90% of the people? What did I do wrong? And so I started building these campaigns for myself. And I mean, that's back in 2008. And I just— they worked, and they worked so well other people kept coming to me. And eventually they wore me down. At first I didn't want to do it for other people, I want to do it just for myself. And Eventually I finally was like, all right, you keep hiring a bunch of people that keep screwing it up and wasting your money. I'll do it as long as you stop whining. I'll take your money, that's fine, just quit whining at me. And so that's how it all started. And fast forward to today, I'm doing the same thing I have been. I've been working with people for, you know, like I said, since what, about 2010, a little bit, a little bit after that was when I started actually giving in and helping other people. And I've been having a blast with it. I've worked exclusively with coaches and speakers for many years. I got out of that. Now I'm helping other people that are outside of that arena and having a lot of fun because there's a lot of amazing experts out there, but they don't understand how to position themselves and how powerful this stuff really is because they don't understand what the term automation really means. And so that, plus, you know, my expertise as a speaker, I'm helping, helping them brand themselves, not just the company, and it's great. They're, they're having a blast. And so I am the guy that's been around for a long time. Like I said, I have been doing this specifically since 2008, and I've been in business for, you know, going on almost 30 years.

Amazing. So I just want to say this again to everyone out there, if you're listening or when you do go to listen, here's the thing. It doesn't matter if you already have a system, that's cool with Eli. He wants you to hire him to help you to bring that system, hire him to see if you're even working it correctly. I think that's great because there's a lot of proprietary systems that are like literally for just your industry, but that doesn't mean that you know exactly, you know, behind the scenes how to handle it. So I think that you're valuable. And again, you're not necessarily having to sell the program. So what is the name of your business? Because I don't even know. It's No Prep Needed, remember?

So name of the business isn't even what matters, honestly. It's Purple Knight Marketing, but I don't know. People don't know me by that. What they know me by is the Follow-Up Rockstar system, because that is, that is my flagship. That's what I help people with. That is my methodology that I've spent so many years working on, and I got it down. I've played with it so many times with so many clients. I got it down to a science. It just works every time.

I love it. Can you tell us your website and spell it out?

Yeah. Easiest thing to get a hold of me. It's called ConnectWithEli.com, and Eli is E-L-Y. Okay, that's a really important thing. So connectwitheli.com. Be sure to make it with a Y, not an I. If you go to— go to I, I think there's some commercial real estate dude in Iowa or something like that. Don't connect with that. But yeah, connectwitheli.com. And you can find— that's kind of a hub. You can find all my social media, you can find more stuff about me. I got some freebies on there. And reality is, if you heard me on the show, you enjoyed this conversation, please reach out to me. I am very easy to get a hold of. Friend request me, send me a LinkedIn connection, whatever. The most important thing when you do so, send me a message. Let me know that you heard me on this show because I get, I get probably 10 connections a day anymore, but most of them will sit until I have time to actually research if they're not a spammer DMing me how to close 10 leads a day. And so if you send me a message with it saying you heard me on this show, you'll definitely go to the top of the line.

I love it. I have a little, little saying for you. So it's Ely, E-L-Y, like yes. I'm interested in talking to you, Eli.

I love it. Awesome.

You're fantastic. So I am going to— I put all of this into Podflow, which is an amazing program, and that also does— will spit out the all kinds of good stuff so that we get all this information out. You're— I don't even know how— I don't know how you reach me, but it doesn't even matter. I'm so glad you did. I love that you're, you're brave enough to go in live. What was that?

I said I could tell you where I found you on.

Oh yeah, where?

Yeah, uh, matchmaker.fm.

Awesome. Awesome.

Yes.

Yes.

Great tool. If you're a speaker and you're trying to get on podcasts, it's an amazing site for that.

It really is. It's not that easy. I mean, I do with Market Domination LLC. I'm a podcast producer, so I kind of do a variety of things. So a 40-hour week doesn't exist for me, but I love it. I was on vacation in Cancun last week, and I enjoyed the swimming in the pool and the ocean and talking to people, but there was a pull to get back to the room and work. I can't explain. It's not even work. I don't know, it's very satisfying helping clients. I love being a podcast producer and booking people on podcasts because it just, it's such a great feeling because I'm not selling anything and my commodity is people and I love people. So I love what I do. So if you're interested in, you know, you can always talk to the team at Market Domination. Actually, that's a good pitch, but about how to get on podcasts because there is some, you know, some things you want to know and how to do and how to, because there's a lot of people that are wanting to be on shows. I did this whole idea of no prep needed because I find I'm really doing this, uh, to help promote other businesses. But also because, as I said, I wasn't going to tell you that I'm 62 years old, or will be, but I think it's important that, you know, this allows you to speak like, like, like, uh, like table topics in Toastmasters, right? Have you ever done Toastmasters?

I have not. I know very much a lot about it, and I know a lot of people that are part of, but I have not done it personally.

I love it. So, so the table topics, someone spits out a topic and you have like 2 minutes to talk about it or pivot and talk about something else, but allows you to think on your feet. And so that's why I do this show, is it allows me to think on my feet. I get to meet incredible people. I think I've had about 150 episodes and nobody's ever swore or bombed. Like, there's like nothing ever happened. So don't be afraid to go live. It's really comfortable. You notice I'm not looking at any screens. I don't— this is all coming in this head, and you know, it's getting a little older. You don't remember the BlackBerry though? AOL dial-up? Remember when AOL first came to your TV?

Oh yeah, I, I had that. I had, I had many of those CDs.

I loved it all. Okay everyone, all the show notes will be in. Eli, if you have a speaker sheet, would you send it to me? Because I would like to attach that. Okay.

Yeah.

Okay. That would be great. I would enjoy that. Everything else I'll grab myself from the, from the show notes. And this should air probably in about 2 weeks. So I'm not overwhelming myself anymore. You have been fantastic. I really enjoy you. Where do you live? Where are you?

I'm in Dallas, outside of Dallas. I'm actually closer to Fort Worth, but I'm in that, in that area.

Oh, if I'm in that area, I will definitely come out and see you. Our industry has a trade show. In Fort Worth every year, and I've got some friends. So now I got a new friend in Dallas.

Definitely let me know if it's, if it's in Fort Worth. I'm only 20 minutes away.

I love it. I would love to have a, a, a little beer with you. 43 liquor with a little cream on the top is delicious. That comes from— I don't even drink, but all of a sudden I actually bought my second bottle of liquor ever in an airport. It was like the 43, very sweet, yummy. Okay, who cares about that? Come back re-listen to this. There was a lot of gems that Eli, E-L-Y, like, yes, book your time with him, has on the show. Thank you and have a great rest of the day. Happy Memorial Weekend.

Yes, thank you. It's my pleasure.

Take rest. Rest. You too. Rest. Thank you.