STREAMING LIVE FROM ASCEND

And everyone here, if you want to, I'll spend a half hour or an hour of my time with you to talk about how will you message what you learned. We don't lack customers because we lack products or solutions. There are a lot of people that love your products and solutions, small businesses. You lack more customers because you don't know how to communicate it effectively in a compelling way that encourages a customer to want to talk to you more, share data with you, get down the road with you, and ultimately trust you with a lot of money and something very important to their culture. And take a leap of faith, because ultimately all the stuff you've learned, all the proposals you build, all the projections you make are at the end of the day yet to be proven when they say yes, right? So I'll start with my introduction I normally do. My name is Paul H. Flowers Jr. I started my career— my first job, I was a Russian intelligence analyst for the NSA. So I'm a nerd officially, and I had fun doing that for less time than I did it, but it's just how that works sometimes, right? And I ended up getting tired of traveling 9 months a year, so I thought I should get a normal job. So I went to work for, at that time, a large insurer, and I saw pretty quickly it was a dirtier business than the one I left. We could increase your costs every year, I'll tell you exactly why, and there was nothing you could do about it. It's a beautiful model, and many of us in this room are part of delivering that outcome, right?

Right?

Every year, the customers. So you have to go and pretend to be sad while you get a raise. I say that a little bit tongue-in-cheek, but you know what I mean. The fact that you're here shows that you have some— you have some discontent with that. I did too. My career was going great. I was on track to run a state. They were lining me up to run a state for an insurance company, and I came home complaining enough nights in a row that my wife said, well, maybe you should do something about it. So she was, uh, I think she regretted that for the next 5 years or so because I quit my job. And then I convinced her to quit her job. She worked for me at the time at the insurer. That's how I met her. They said you're not supposed to date employees, and so I did it anyway. And then I married her quickly. And if you fast forward 18 years and 6 kids later— 16, 14, 11, 9, 7, and 14 months— it's been a fun and exciting ride. I tell her mother all the time how great it's been. And the, uh, my favorite joke— not her favorite joke— is that some people sell a company and buy a boat. I got my vasectomy reversed. And it worked. It took longer than when I was younger, but it worked anyway. So I, I share this with employers, and then I talk about the fact that if you fast forward 18 years and 6 kids later, and, uh, many employers, employers in literally every state, and a bunch of partner offices, and starting a marketing company by accident, because others in the industry asked them to, because our organic growth rate was strong. It has been a fun and exciting ride. What I don't share with them is that in 2016, after having put together my first, uh, $2.5 million or so in revenue, I— and I had an old boss from the insurer where I worked who was retiring, and he said, well, I'll help you build your business. You go out and do the thing you're good at, talking to people and building the company, and I'll do the books and the operations. I hired a new accountant, and in 2016, late that year, he called me and said, you need to come to the office. And I go to the office, and he has paper all over the floor. He says, you're probably going to want to sit down for this. It's okay. And he says, guess what?

You're broke.

You have no money. You can't afford to keep me. Turned out this partner was It didn't hurt any clients, thank God, literally, but it hurt me. I was poor, and I had at that time 3 or 4 kids and one on the way. So I did what any grown man would do in a situation like that. I took a shower and cried a little bit. I was pissed off. I was mad crying. And then I got out and I had to go tell my wife.

We're broke again.

So, uh, that was a tough conversation. And then I ended up— she would— she went to work and somehow she found out there was a thing called Ascend. So we bought tickets with money we didn't have, and I took the 4 best people we had and we went to Ascend. It was in Nashville, and we learned a few things. And it was— I left on a cloud. I was so excited. There are things—

the thing—

the problems that we've been wanting to solve and we've been attempting to solve with things like gap plans, HRAs, whatever, HSAs. Think about the stuff that we talk about in what I call the retail side of this business. The things haven't changed in a long time. We're still talking about HSAs like it's a new thing. They're older than me, you know, and they're okay, you know, but they're not going to solve the problem. Right? So I left on cloud nine. I thought, this is so exciting. And then I go and I start talking to people and, you know, they're like, I've got two heads or something. So how do you go from this excitement? How do you convert it into predictable, consistent organic growth? There's lots of things that get called organic growth that aren't exactly what I'm talking about. Things like you get a referral, that's great, I love that. How predictable is that? Can you build a business plan around that?

No.

So that's a— to me, that's a bonus. I don't plan my year, my next year, and say I'm going to get 4 referrals. Last year, Jessica and I, she added $200,000 rounding out accounts and revenue, and I added $800,000 in new business. Business. And she really did the 800,000 in the business too. I talk to people, I don't do a whole lot else. But, uh, the, the thing that we figured out was that we had to know how to talk to these people and get them to have an open mind to want to learn about what we had to say. Part of that was not going in there saying, great news, I figured out how to fix healthcare. How believable is that? Is it that Paul H. Flowers Jr. figured out how to fix healthcare? Not very. I'm just some guy, right? I've been— I did spend a lot of money to get in the media, six figures. It's a pay-to-play game, you learn over time. So it's really not news, it's entertainment, but it's accessible. So what I really learned conceptually was that it's about value creation. Versus commodities. Those that learn how to create value and communicate that they're creating value get the audience. Those that sell commodities, why should they stop what they're doing? Every CFO— I talk to CFOs, I talk to HR people reluctantly, I try to avoid it, but I do— but I talk to CFOs, and I know that the thought in their mind As soon as I start talking, it's, are you going to waste my time? Is this going to be worth my time? That's the only objection that exists, actually. People have written books with 30 chapters about how to overcome objections. The way to overcome the objection is to quickly show value that matters to the prospect. And so, uh, it's about value creation. The challenge is though that when you go out and you start talking to them They assume you're selling a commodity because our industry is commoditized, right? So everyone assumes you're going in with excitement, you've got a new message, they assume you're going to sell commodity. It's just what it is. So you have to create messaging that stops that. You got to interrupt that pattern and get them to say, okay, hold on, this is, this isn't, this is something different, this is not all the other people. I've had many CFOs say, I don't take meetings like this, but somehow whatever you all said was different. That's on purpose. In the beginning, after I left with pure excitement, I remember I called a winery in California— the kinds of wineries that actually make money. They sell wine in big jugs, uh, they're not vanity projects, and they're in the Valley. So I call this winery. They have a $10 million health plan, and I do a pitch, and the CFO laughs and he says, are you going to save me 30% like everybody else that calls you? And I, I was flat-footed for a second, but I had pulled his 5500, I had looked at it, I had done a little PEPY calculation, figure out what I thought we could do to reduce his costs. I said, no, I'm calling to tell you that you're overpaying by $2.2 million. It's probably worth a conversation to figure out how you might be able to fix that or recapture that revenue. And then he laughed again and said, I'll take that call. That was a very different approach than what I've been doing for years before. And I built a nice business before. Of course, I had to start over, but I built a nice business before just on pure hustle. Out there finding the unhappy clients, you know. All right, he's mad at his broker, right? And then you find out over time those are the worst customers to get. They'll get mad at you too. It's their nature. Their wife's mean to them, so they have to take it out on their broker, you know. You think I'm wrong? You've seen these people. So if you want those customers, I would rather you get them than me. I want a customer who's been with their broker for 10 or 20 years and says, hold on a minute, maybe there is a better way. Before I sold my company, that was our slogan— there is a better way. So, but I— equation versus commodity. How did I figure that out? I talked to CFOs. I took them to lunch or beer or whatever the thing was. And said, would you give me feedback on my thing? They're very alpha people. They tend to be a little introverted but very alpha, so they love the chance to critique me and tell me what I'm doing wrong. So I took them to lunch, beer, whatever, meaning some that I won, some that I lost. And I had this pitch deck that I created. I created the pitch deck because everybody that I met in this ecosystem was very generous. They all gave me decks. I did a little search before I came over today. I have a folder still from 2017 at Ascend, and it was— it says Ascend 2017, and in there is a ton of decks that people gave me. So being the smart person I was, I just kind of strung them all together, and I had a hell of a pitch deck, you know. So I would talk to people for an hour, and, you know, I got some customers out of it. But ultimately, after sitting down with these CFOs and getting their feedback That thing got a lot shorter, and so did my call. My average first call, in person or virtual, is 22 minutes. 80% of them give me data. And what I changed was I took, I took a lot of detail out, of course, because they don't want to know how to become you. They want to have confidence that you know what the hell you're doing. So I need to communicate enough, and I need to do it conceptually so they know I know what the hell I'm doing. But I don't need to train them to be the next me, and they don't really have time or desire to spend learning all that. So it's more about communication of credibility and even hope and curiosity that you can solve this problem. Mission accomplished. The tail starts wagging on the dog, stop petting it or you might get bitten. So I shortened it up, and I still do that every 90 days. I look at my pitch deck and I see how much— what should I take out? It's down to 5 slides. Started so long. So that, that I figured out. You have to be able to communicate value creation, and you have to do it about a problem they actually care about. What is the problem? If you don't know what the actual problem is that you're solving, it's hard to be great at it. What is the problem? The problem is They have an expense, and you have to speak their language. They don't need to learn all the acronyms of our business. We're like the military with acronyms. They don't need all that. They need to talk in their own language about their problem. It's a friend. It's very refreshing for them to find out that you know what their problem is and you might be able to help them solve it. When I'm talking to health systems today, The last 3 plans that I did were, you know, they're all in 8 figures in spend. And when I talk to a health system right now, I'm talking about the fact that the big beautiful bill includes things that are going to reduce reimbursements for them. How big of a hole is that going to create in your profit margin this year? A small system that clears $100 million, I can tell you it's $18 million, $17 to $18. I can talk about how we're going to solve that. With what I do. Now I'm important. Now my message matters. See if— well, so what does a CFO care about? What is the problem that we can help solve? That's different. Your conversations will uncover different problems. We did a plan for a fire unit, $25 million spend. They are on track to— their run rate savings is $750,000 a month this year. So that'll be good savings. 8-ish million bucks, right? If you can do math, it's actually 8-ish if you can't. But, uh, just kidding, but not really. So anyway, uh, their problem is— after I get it, everyone has some common problems. What are those? Healthcare is inflationary in cost and deflationary in quality. That's the problem. In CFO language, business language. That's what they want to solve. It is also— and it has another characteristic that CFOs really hate: unpredictability. How do you budget into the future for something that's very unpredictable? It's very difficult. I can point now to tons of customers who pay significantly less than their peers. I can show them the data. That pay significantly less than their peers. Significant to me is when I meet you, 15, 20 points more. I just don't go around rattling off percentages because I try to not do what others are doing that's not that believable. And I don't believe that that's that believable. Why? CFO's told me so. So I say significant. If they ask, el share. But they prefer to hear something they think is plausible. So they pay significantly less than their peers when they start— when we start working together. Their benefits are richer. Give them a couple of examples: no copays for big drugs, no share of cost for planned medical procedures. That's it. That's what I communicate. Others are going to get down into the weeds because you just learned a bunch. And you're going to start talking about contracting. You're going to start talking about all kinds of stuff. The more you talk about, the slower your deal. Yeah, the more complicated it sounds. People don't want to do complicated things. Do you want to do complicated things? Great salespeople make complicated things simple. So that's it. That's my explanation of the outcomes. And for north of 10 years now, I can point to customers whose trend— many customers, our average trend on our client base has been below 3% a year, 2.9%, but it's still below 3%. Hopefully that holds. So anyway, that, that addresses their concerns. That's why I share it, because I know what the problem is that they're trying to solve. So that your messaging really needs to be built for your audience. And a lot of us are not doing that. We're going in there and we're talking about products and solutions. And then, believe it or not, even with something that's innovative— don't worry, I'm not going to fall out— even with something that's innovative, RBP or whatever you want to fill in the blank with, as soon as you start talking about it in great detail, it's part of the commodity. Are you the only person that can sell RVP? Not at all. Of course not. I don't even sell it and I'm getting customers, lots of them. I don't like it, I know, but all my clients had a big logo on their car. I can get within 10% of what you can do with RVP. No, no, I think— but I'm not saying don't do it. There's places where it probably is a fit. But I'm saying it doesn't actually matter. As soon as you start talking about a specific solution, your value goes down. Because anybody— if anyone else can do it, you're now communicating about a commodity that others do. That makes sense, sadly. So that's, that's an issue we talked about. You create another factor in creating this really good organic growth is you create a movement. Your customers are excited about it. CFOs, I've talked about them being alpha, but they also tend to be more conservative than CEOs, their nature. So they don't want to be first. You hear people talk about early adopters, middle adopters, late adopters. They don't want to be an early adopter usually. So successful messaging around what we're doing really makes them feel like, hold on, I better not miss this. That's how I'm communicating it. Mine says 7:29. She says 5, so we'll go with 7:25. Just kidding, we can do it at 5, we can do it at 4. But keep that in mind. So how do you, how do you create this messaging to create a movement that they feel like they need to not miss the window, instead of going out there and creating messaging that makes them feel like you're going to practice on them or they're going to be the first one? The reality is they're not. A lot of what we're doing, you can look back and people like Tom Emmerich were doing it at Walmart a long time ago. What we're doing is bringing it down market to small and mid-sized employers. That's a lot more acceptable to a CFO's mindset than going in there and saying, hey, I learned some new stuff and it's all like, it's gonna be great, don't worry, your top talent won't quit. Uh, that's— that just doesn't work that well. So something to consider. 80% of your pitch should be about their problem and how you can solve it. I think if you are doing that— I know you read a lot of sales books and people will say the more the prospect talks during presentation, the more likely you are to close it. I don't believe that to be true, and the numbers don't support it. If they spent the whole time talking and you didn't talk much, how do they know if you're good at what you do or not? I think if my wife had a dread disease and a doctor that was the best in the country— I found out who that was and I went there and I sat quietly and he told me exactly how he's going to fix her and save her life— that's a good meeting. Do you agree? So we have to become that. Not, uh, don't believe all that stuff in those sales books. Going in there without my thought that I remind myself a few things before I go into a call. One is connect, then pull. You back your boat up, you hook the boat to the truck, then you drive to the lake. You have to connect it. They have to get to know, like, and trust you a little bit. Which they can't do if they do all the talking. If you do some in your intro pitch about who you are, addresses some of their problem by design— anybody in here that wants to, I'll help you design a great intro pitch, an introduction of who you are. You're selling them before they know you're selling them. And I, I think by the time you're done with a good intro pitch, you know if you've got it. 80%, you know, if you haven't. But you've got to connect, then pull. And they need to know at the end of that conversation, they have to have a feeling like, this person is really good at this, this is an expert. Everybody wants to deal with the expert. And the expert isn't there in there to explain product. The expert is in there to explain concepts And then products come later. Once we have agreement on the problem, then we can get together on how we're going to solve it. And my goal at the end of a meeting— I will finish early for the card person— my goal at the end of an interaction with a prospect is that they think, why not? If that's the outcome, why wouldn't I talk to this person again? Why wouldn't I share a little bit of information? I'm not asking for a massive move forward. I have an average of a 22-minute first call. 80% of them give me some data. Usually they close themselves. I think if you have a great message and you're solving a real problem, I don't believe you have to be a great closer. I believe they'll close themselves and they'll say, well, shoot, I don't see why we wouldn't at least 'Explore this a little bit, share some information with you.' That's the outcome for most of my calls. That 80% that do that, we move to another conversation. The 20% that don't, I don't push them into it because 80% is plenty to work with, and they're going to be more— I've tracked all the data— they're the ones that are going to be worth working with. So my encouragement to you is get— take all this stuff that you've learned and the connections you've made with the people that can help you build the plans that are going to solve the real problem. And then get really good at communicating that to prospects. Sure, implement it with some of your existing stuff. Better than that, use it to grow. Use it to massively grow your business. The market is very thirsty for it, and if you have great messaging, you will get the audience. That is something that we can help with. I'd love to do it whether we make any money together or not. We've helped about 150 groups do it. Some of them have built and sold like we did, with multiple numbers before a comma. And it, it really does— did and does boil down to great messaging and then a predictable, repeatable process. So if you'd like to talk about it send me your info, and I would love to talk to you too. And if we can help in any way, that would be fantastic. Have a great day. All right, thanks so much.

Thanks so much. All right, our next session is another one of our fabulous, fast, and to-the-point spotlight sessions. This is called Your Client's Most Expensive Blind spots. And to cover that, please welcome to the stage the co-founder and CEO of Miko Health, Amil Patel. Come on, Amil, join us and tell us what the most expensive blind spot is.