ALLISON MASLAN: Hanging Out with Mike Koenigs!

7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

You'll never have the sacred stone. Oh, this.

You crazy mother.

This is so fun. It's like work and play at the same time. I get to see some really good friends, hang out and share some inspiration. So come along.

So we went to the bathroom.

Okay.

We're just hanging out on the bathroom.

This bathroom.

Not like a weird one or anything.

We're having a great time already. And this is Dave Lucas.

And you want to send you from Columbus, Columbus, Ohio. Split time between San Diego and Columbus, Ohio.

Very nice. So we just made a really good connection here and there's nothing better than creating high value relationships.

Absolutely, absolutely. And it's amazing what you find when you come to an event like this and the people you get to meet and just the synergies that you have and the things that you have in common. You know, it's always eye opening and you always come away with it. Almost re energized in so many ways.

Because, you know, your show is called the Misfit Entrepreneur and we're all misfits. I mean, you guys get that we're all little weird entrepreneurs. So then when we start talking to other language like.

Yeah, yeah, like I get that.

I get that.

I know what you're talking about.

Yeah. We were just discussing what it was like to have 10 different businesses going at once, you know, and what that's like in life and that sort of thing and how opportunities all around you and seizing that and what to go after and picking and stuff. It's just the life for the entrepreneur. It's so much fun.

And we're live. Hey, welcome to Social Smash 2017. My name is Mike Koenig. Jolly Dumas. Alright, so we are here with the party of all parties that's taking place after Social media Marketing World 2017. It's the place to be in beautiful San Diego and we've got a whole bunch of cool stuff in store for you today. So thanks for being here, my friend. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. We just rock social media marketing world. So what's better than a little social smash?

Right on.

So I am here. We're having a blast at Mike Koenigs social smash. I'm here with Laureate Williamson and she is one of only 24 master sommelier. Perfect. Okay, I said it right. I'm so impressed. I was a little worried about that.

Not the easiest word.

Yes, but she is the ultimate connoisseur of all good wines, right?

Very. Something fun, extraordinary, simple. Whatever you need.

Yeah. So there's nothing like a good glass of wine.

Right.

You actually have a cabernet franc from the Loire Valley.

Oh, wow.

In France.

I'm going to savor this. That's fantastic.

And it's very savory, which is really fun.

Oh, really? See, I need that.

A lot of earthen elements.

Yeah, great. But I think you have to, you know, and sometimes when you're learning a training, you have to kind of look at how can I apply this to what I'm doing and not take it for exactly how they're saying it? So I think what he's saying, what he was overall saying, was don't take no for a no. And that what that means is that you just need to get to a deeper level and find out what the roadblock is. Because once you can get those objections answered, you often have a client.

A lot of speakers, especially persuasion speakers, always say, think the bigger picture. And then when we say the bigger picture, everyone says, well, what do you do? Yeah, so I do think there's a good balance, depending on the audience and how fast you need to cut to the chase. His information is so valuable, though. My question to him is, I love the role play. And for us to go through enterprise challenges, that's a common question with companies going B2C, like many of you seema you can probably relate to. And there's also a different perspective and approach going, what is it? B2B versus B2C.

Yes.

And a lot of. A lot of, hey, Stuart. A lot.

B2B is really a lot of relationship building. It's a longer cycle of developing that relationship and having, you know, going to lunch with them, finding out what their. What are their hobbies and passions and, you know, if they're bird watching is their. Their hobby, then send them a book on bird watching and get them tickets to the latest bird watching convention. And just being creative that way where you're really aligning and just building that relationship and then saying, how can we work together to make this happen within your company? Every week that you get together for a sales meeting, let's talk about what the biggest objections were and then let's role play as a team on those objections to see how we could have handled those better. Or, you know, and then they go back and apply it and record that call and to. And then. So that you can support them. Because there might just been a couple little things that you would have said differently that would push the sale through. But it can't be just we go train them and Then, you know, we do this again in three months. It literally has to be weekly. It has. It's kind of like when you are learning a new habit or you're trying to lose weight or you're trying to quit smoking or whatever that is. It's. It's like you have to consistently work at that over time before it moves from, you know, I'm trying to do this to part of what you just naturally do. So. Welcome everybody. I'm super excited that we are having this all day AMI meeting to help us get focused on the vision for the year and for the quarter, to make sure that we are on track with our objections and also to celebrate. We have a lot to celebrate and also to just get clear on where we're going, where we're headed, who's responsible for what, and to get everybody on the same page.

I was actually a client of Pinnacle to start with and was fortunate to be asked to step in and do coaching as well. And that's been a few years now and it's been a blast. And like Gina, we started out as clients and that's, I think, big importance with how I communicated with the people that I do work with and share that experience because I can feel their fear from that other side easier maybe and understand that and work through it. But other than that, I've been in business self employed nearly all my life. Worked a little bit here and there in corporate America. Always wanted to take charge and work my way to the top. And I'm just a natural leader. So usually get out of my way and let me do things and I'm happy.

So I was looking for a coach and it's funny because that month three coaches showed up in my life. So Alison was one of them and then two others. And I thought perfect timing. And I had very specific kinds of. And I think I've told you, Alison, my three criteria were they had to be as rich or richer than me, as fit or fitter than me, in an as good or better relationship than me. And you were the only one that fit all three.

So.

I know.

No pressure. I know so. And I love that she was local too.

Graphics and social media and help Ryan with the video and work with the web guy and do the branding and help plan the events and just the general techie type stuff. And I help teach the Pinnacles as well.

I think it's five years, Jared.

Wow. Yeah.

Five years.

Well, I don't think he attired 12.

Poor guy.

He's like Larry King there, right?

I'M a regular contributor now to Entrepreneur magazine, which is always a dream of mine. In fact, I just approved a new article today. Lots of great interviews and exposure, which just exposes the whole company. Oh, actually, we were interviewed twice in Entrepreneur Magazine besides that about Pinnacle. And there's a link in Entrepreneur magazine about Pinnacle, a video about scaling and everything. So if you just. I'll send it all to you. But if you just go into entrepreneur.com and hit search with my name, you'll see all the articles come up. That was a huge leap. It was a scary leap. It was one of the hardest things that I. Hot. Okay, go ahead, Siri.

I took more of the training that I was talking to my clients about and started putting it back onto myself. I realized last year that I had forgotten that I need to follow my own directions. So that was a big kind of leap and change for me, and I think I'm still trying to even improve that a little bit more. But, yeah, the accomplishments of the wins. I mean, just when you get a call from a client, you know, on a Saturday or in the evening, and they've done something that you've been kind of pushing them along to do and to get this huge win, it's just such a great feeling. And I think that that just continues to be probably at the top of my list every year.

Greatest accomplishment would be helping clients make decisions. You know, I find that when they make. When they feel empowered to make a decision, it just moves them forward. And I think by structuring the mastermind groups to help each other to make really pointed decisions, that's how they get progress. That's how they succeed. And so I can say that. And it's also a great way to bond the groups. I really believe that last year, the groups that I had were the groups that bonded, like, amazingly, and they're still friends. And I think that's what keeps them in the program, in the network, because they know that they have not only Allison and the coaches and their own coach, but they have each other, and they don't want to ever leave that environment. It's so supportive.

I want to say, though, is that I couldn't be happier than where we've been and where we're going. Right. We're poised for dramatically. We've had incredible growth. We have the best clients. We have the best team. I'm so excited about the rest of this year, and I just. I feel that we're, you know, we're doing this together. I'm having a lot of fun with it, and I'm just. I'm excited about the vision. I love all the impact and input that you give, and just the collaboration, it feels fantastic.