1977 – The Key to Successful B2B Relationships with Funneling Media’s Nikhil Sai — The Thoughtful Entrepreneur

Hey there, thoughtful listener. Are you looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers, and clients? Well, I've had private conversations with over 2,000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from. I've got a free video you can watch with no opt-in required where I'll share the exact steps necessary to be 100% inbound in your industry over the next 6 to 8 months with no spam, no ads, and no sales. What I teach has worked for me for over 15 years and has helped me create 8 figures in revenue for my own companies. Just head to upmyinfluence.com and watch my free class on how to create endless high-ticket sales appointments. Also, don't forget, The Thoughtful Entrepreneur is always looking for great guests. Go to upmyinfluence.com and click on podcast. I'd love to have you. With us right now, it is Nick Tsai. Nick, you are the founder and CEO of Funneling Media. You are found on the web at funnelingmedia.com. Nick, I wanna start off the conversation with an, a show of appreciation. Thank you so much for having me on your podcast, and then you and and I had a wonderful conversation afterwards, and, uh, you know, we just— you shared some great insights that were just absolutely brilliant. So I just want to kind of start with just a show of appreciation for your generous heart and spirit, and it is such an honor to have you on The Thoughtful Entrepreneur.

Yeah, I'm stoked, Josh, and you were a wonderful guest on my show, so I will try to keep up with my advice here, uh, for people who are listening over.

For our friend that's listening and you're like, I know, like Josh, and you want to hear my interview, we will link that up in the show notes so that you can just click right to it and you can listen to that episode. But Nick, tell me about the work that you do with Funneling Media, who you work with and what, you know, kind of what that looks like.

Sure. Yeah. My name is Nikhil Sai and I'm founder and CEO at Funneling Media. Just like how Josh introduced, I started as a 19-year-old broke dropout with brown skin, thick accent in a small town country. In India, and I have built a million-dollar marketing agency in under 2 years. You know, and I am unfortunately not born in US. I couldn't walk in and get a referral or show up at a networking event and do some business deals. So I had to figure out a way to attract clients online, B2B high ticket, and not just once or twice, but repeatably, predictably. And that's what we figured out, and I call it my AI funneling system. We use a combination of tools, and the same effect somebody has when they actually attract a client through a referral, we try to create that online. So we create an education process to create that know, like, and trust factor with your B2B high-ticket audience to create that nurture relationship, to create that friendliness before you actually get them on a sales call. So they already have that relationship with you so that it becomes much easier for you to convert them from cold to sold using a unique mechanism. And we actually— I actually really enjoyed using this system because I was able to build my personal fortune and able to change my family's life. I was able to move to Dubai all by myself by the age of 22. And there was definitely a lot of transformation I have seen in my clients' businesses while I'm using the same system. And that's what we try to implement in other B2B high-ticket businesses. So if you have a B2B client and you would like to get them on a sales call, as long as you have a legit service and you can actually deliver good results and you have a high lifetime value, we can help by creating a unique lead generation strategy coupled with a journey for you to convert them and build that relationship and get them on a qualified sales calls, but it's not really salesy. But you have that relationship effect to, to be able to convert them from cold to sold in a very short span. And that's what I specialize in.

Yeah. Even though you say the terms a short span, the reality is it is likely a little bit more, I would say, involved. But I think that a lot of marketers have dreams of just putting an ad in front of someone and then immediately collecting money, which I know that as you and I chatted, we want to think a little bit more holistically around the user journey. And holistically is not even the right word. It's more empathically about where consumers— and I use the word consumer broadly, just anyone that might be within your customer avatar, your customer profile. If we're empathic about what's going on in their world right now, chances are they've likely been sold at for years on end. And so already, Nick, the world today is not like it was, say, back in 2016 or 2017, that, you know, you could just have a really, really short funnel. We need to be thinking a little bit differently about our relationship with our potential clients.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You're spot on, Josh. And that's one of the reasons we supplement a lot with content creation. You got to be solving their problems. All day, every day. Otherwise, it's very tough to create that trust. Yes, there is a percentage of people, actually, to be precise, there is this thing where 3% of the market is always in immense pain. So whoever says that they can solve it, they're happy to give you the money. And this is where the opportunity of fast sales comes in. But I'm not a huge fan of that. I'm a huge fan of actually transforming people, getting them unique results before they actually have a conversation with you, or creating different belief systems, creating different mechanisms which can actually solve specific problem for them. It could be not a tangible outcome, but it could be even a mindset shift that would actually build that trust overall. So my goal is basically with my clients having them create multiple pieces of content which can actually build that relationship with the potential clients they have as a lead list, them appearing on podcasts, them actually solving specific problems for their niche industry, and, you know, publishing it simply on YouTube and converting that into a newsletter and just having that nurturing happening can create— because in B2B people don't buy impulse. There is only two things you could do in B2B sales. You actually need to make them more money or you need to save them more money. So that's how I like overall. So you got to create a lot of assets which can prove the fact that you can either make them more money or you can save them more money which they're already spending on. So that way you could create that trust factor. And the more they see you, like there is a typical 7 to 15 touchpoints they would need to even consider talking to you or becoming a lead. So that omnipresence is really important, and that nurturing is really important when you're trying to build that trust overall. Josh, you're spot on. Yeah.

Um, Nick, um, in terms of, you know, getting awareness, um, when we think about that initial, like, initial discovery, um, what do you see working well? My, my sensitivity is that we live in a world where we're swimming in content. And so how is it, or what kind of content is it, that you see resonating with or connecting with audiences today versus maybe things that might just come across as noise?

Yeah, for sure. I think this is a very, very important thing to discuss about because, like you said, Josh, there is so much noise happening and everybody is just throttling out content and it's just getting insane. And, you know, the, the content world is just getting crazier and crazier. What I personally have seen and observed when we have delivered over half a billion for our clients in results in a very short span is direct response marketing always wins. But at the same time, you don't want to be too aggressive or you don't want to be spammy or you don't want to sound like you're desperate. That's the thing you should absolutely avoid. But if you could call out clear audience and explain the exact outcome they are trying to achieve and clearly explain your mechanism to help them achieve that outcome and you give them a clear call to action to learn more, kind of do a journey with you, go on a walk with you on a short video to understand how you could work with them. That always works the best when it comes to advertising perspective. But when it comes to content, how I like it is basically describing your ideal client's problem the way they would describe it. That's what gets the attention first. Then obviously, then the retention comes from actually solving it, meaning not just fluffing about it, but actually talking about the problem the way they would describe it, and then actually trying to solve that problem. If you can't 100% solve it, that's fine. At least give them a percentage of solution. At least give them a unique belief, uh, you know, on how you are looking at it, what's your perspective, what has been your take on, what's your opinion on that specific problem and how you have actually dodged that bullet overall so they could actually build a unique relationship when they're actually consuming that content. So I would personally look for terms on how they would describe their own problems. And how do you know these terms? You can use any AI assistant on Zoom calls you typically take and hear out most of the common pain points they're describing, problems they would describe, and different solutions they have tried which couldn't work overall, or the problems they are struggling with. And you could literally pull that out from your call summaries and then, you know, use AI to give you new suggestions to create topics around what they would describe as their problems. And it's so easy to just let your ego create content, but then if you just speak to nobody other than yourself, then you're wondering why you're not viral enough.

Yeah. Yeah. And really, I do love this approach of just being a bit more empathic. And I'll say, Nick, in a world where in a world, um, where I think if we think about the sales funnel world, a lot of it to me, and I think, you know, to other folks I've worked with, like, you know, they're unfortunately, I think there, there have been historically some bad players in there. Um, Nick, um, what I can share about my engagements with you is they have felt incredibly, um, thoughtful, right? And so, you know, funnels are not inherently bad. It's unfortunately, I think that there are a lot of aggressive marketers that were attracted to them and I think that have given to some, you know, funnels at least a raised eyebrow, if not, you know, completely like, oh boy, here comes a funnel person. But your approach again is just to, again, to be far more empathetic. Can you maybe share a little bit more about your— I'd say, you know, if it's a mission purpose values aspect to this, do you mind sharing what fuels you?

Yeah, for sure. I would love to cover that. And I agree with what you said. That is a funnel is like, again, it's like a tool, right? Like when you look at a gun, you can't say if it's good or bad. It's more about who is using it for what purpose, right? Let's say if there is a Navy guy using it on some Iranian terrorist, then obviously we need him to be using that gun. But if there is some guy killing random people in a Walmart, then it's not good for him to use that tool. So, you know, funnel is basically a tool. You know, it's a functionality which can allow you to convert attention into leads, appointments, and sales. The person who is using it and for the purpose he's using it will determine if it's used in a good or bad way. And just like anything is used in good or bad form, emails are used in good or bad form, LinkedIn is used, content is used. Similarly, funnels have been misused, obviously, just like anything online. Now coming back, what my approach is and what my intentions are, you know, I like the 4-step process in the B2B sales, which works very well, which is attract, book, close, and deliver. You have a unique mechanism to attract the leads who you could do the best business with consistently. You need to give them enough value so that they can convert into booked appointments for you and you should be able to convert them into qualified sales with clear expectations. This is probably the most important thing. You don't want to just missell anything just to take that cash and this business won't last long enough and you should be able to deliver your promise consistently and retain them on a longer term. This is what I believe in. Now coming back, what's my intention? What's my purpose? Again, I like to— if I could play big, I just don't want to play small. That's how I think. I like to challenge my life at a very early stage in my career. I had a privilege to hang out with a lot of old folks who had a very secured government job. The common thing I have seen between them is they all had the money, they have great education for their kids and great lifestyle, but they are very, very disappointed about the way they live their life. Settling for a 9-to-5 job which had a comfortable paycheck, they didn't take enough risk. So I decided I just want to challenge my fullest potential. So that's how I ended up building my own company, getting my financial freedom, moving to Dubai, running my own podcast, getting on stages, you know, to receive prestigious $100 million awards. In terms of results which we have achieved for our clients and whatnot. So I completely believe in doing whatever it takes to achieve your fullest potential, and I try to live up to my fullest potential. That doesn't mean I perform 10 on 10 every day. That just means I'm trying to give my best. And when I look at any business, there are constraints for entrepreneurs and the businesses. I just like to analyze them very clearly and try to help them dissolve that constraints so that they can achieve their fullest potential. And there is different type of skills and beliefs which are required to achieve that. And that's what I like to coach my clients with and help them implement those systems with us overall. So my intention is, is do it anyways. You always have an excuse to not to do it, but you got to do it regardless. And that's how you win.

For established business owners and leaders, Nick, what does it look like? How do you work with them and what do you ultimately co-create together?

Yeah, for sure. So there is definitely a lot of business owners who are having a positive cash-flowing business. They might be withdrawing $10,000, $20,000, $30,000, $50,000 per month from the business where it's actually cash-flowing very, very well. And they might be like, oh, you know, this is my business and that's pretty much it. Like, you know, it's a cash cow, it's making me money and that's it. But when I look at a business like that and I analyze the situation, you know, the market cap is huge and they are only taking like a very tiny percentage. Like it's almost negligible. They are like a peanut in the ocean overall. So it's very small comparatively on what they can achieve. Then if they have the appetite, then what we help them is number one, refine that message. Most of the businesses, unfortunately, even to date, who are even at a multimillion-dollar run rate, they are still, still till date dependent on only referrals, networking events, and, you know, like walk-in communities, trade shows, and very traditional approach of business, which I think is fine. Absolutely. You should be doing that. But what I believe is, again, think about if you're not using online banking in 2024. How dumb would that be if you just write a check, go to the bank every time you need to make a transaction? How would that make you feel? You're just like an old person. Like, that's just not convenient, right? To get the functionality done, to send money, you can use online transactions. So to attract clients, you could use online, you know, acquisition systems as well. So how we actually come in is we come in, we help them first of all refine their message, get them very clear on who is their audience, who can make them the most amount of money and get the best results. That's what I look for, a common determination between who had paid you the most amount of money and who was most satisfied with the service. Who is that audience? Let's go 80% of them. Just drill on that one audience. Then get the messaging right. What is the one message which can actually get their attention and so that they could actually start having a conversation with you? Then it's all about building an acquisition system and finding your way out to be in front of them. So it could be a podcast, a LinkedIn message, a cold email, Advertising, omnipresence, LinkedIn post, whatever it is, whatever it takes to be in front of them, we've got to be doing that consistently, repeatably, predictably. And as they see your message and it resonates with them, because again, you need 7 to 15 touchpoints before anybody clicks on your ad, especially in the B2B space. You got to have that long-term perspective. You can't just turn an ad on or send a cold email and expect yourself to get results. And as long as you're doing that, your message will convert them into appointment. And if you have right intention, people can sense it from 10 miles away. They would like to do business with you if you have the right intention. Intention. Otherwise they would just— it would just not. And I like to personally make sure that we are rowing to the same direction. That's the biggest thing for me. If I don't have an ethic fit, I do not work with anybody. So I always look for that functionality overall. So once they start booking appointments and getting sales coming in, then it's all numbers. Meaning let's say if your lifetime value of customer is $50,000 and you close 1 out of every 5 sales calls, then every sales call you're hosting is worth $10,000. So if I am your business, if I have a voice as a business, and you are my employee technically because you're the CEO, I would urge you to spend most of your working time on sales calls because that would bring the blood into the— yeah, that would just increase the revenue. And that's how I look at it. And then I try to maximize my clients' calendars with qualified appointments, and they convert them into great business clients who convert into case studies that is remarketed again to everybody who's in the lead list. And then this, this cycle continues to pump more and more business together.

Now, your website funnelingmedia.com, Nick, to someone that's been listening to our conversation, um, what would you recommend they do next step?

First of all, if they are a B2B business and if they have a high enough ticket, meaning $3,000 and over, they sell on Zoom, meaning they only do phone sales. It's not some online ordering course thing. You got to be selling on Zoom and you have a real product, meaning you actually can deliver a certain outcome. This is not just some goofy, let me help you with some mindset, like I will create new belief system. Like, no, you should deliver a tangible outcome to your clients. Which we could market on a mass scale, and you should at least have $50 a day advertising budget. If you qualify for these 4 things which I've just mentioned, you could just apply from funnelingmedia.com like Josh mentioned, and one of me or one of my teammates will actually hop on a conversation with you if your application is approved, and then we could see if you're a good fit. We will create a personalized roadmap from where you are at a revenue standpoint and where you want to go and create a personalized game plan for you, completely for free by the way. To give you a customized game plan. Now after that game plan is very clear to you, if we come in that game plan, only if, we will actually show you how it would look like to work with us. If we do not come into the game plan, we have definitely free recommendations for you which you could probably achieve yourself because most of the times, like 70% of the times, I see a pattern like, hey, for example, in your case, Josh, you know, we actually talked about a specific thing which you could do and you were like, wow, we have done it and it was really, really smart. So I like to kind of do those little things on calls where we could really unlock a very, very minimal input but a great output for them overall. So that's what we would love to do. And I'm happy to explore if somebody is interested.

Nick Tsai, again, you are the founder and CEO of Funneling Media. Your website, funnelingmedia.com. Nick, thank you so much for joining us.

Yeah, appreciate that, Josh. Thanks so much for your time.

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