Ep. 236 Power Prospecting with Ford Saeks
29 Feb 2024 · 34 min
Darren LaCroix and Ford Saeks discuss how speakers, authors, and trainers can find and engage prospects through digital presence and content creation. They cover relationship building strategies and reference Stage Time University and the Game Changers conference.
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Hey there, Mark Brown. What? No Mark Brown. Mark Brown is in India. And so of course I asked my mentor, my brother Ford Sakes, to join us and talk a little bit about power prospecting. Because how can you be unforgettable unless you're actually on stage? Hey, Ford.
Hey, Darren. Glad to be here and thanks for allowing me to fill in for the fabulous Mark Brown.
All right, let's do this.
Anyone can give a presentation. Few deliver unforgettable presentations. What's the difference? You're about to find out. Welcome to the Unforgettable Presentations podcasts with your hosts, world champion speakers and coaches, Mark Brown. Mark Brown.
Your life tells a story and there's someone out there who needs to hear it.
And Darren Lacroix. And Darren Lacroix.
Stage time. Stage time. Stage time.
Ready for some powerful presentation. Ahas. Dive right in.
All right, Ford, thanks for. Thanks for joining me, my friend, my brother, my mentor, always valuable when you show up. So thanks again for doing this. I know we got just a few short minutes here, but I think one of the biggest challenges a lot of speakers have is just how do I find prospects? What's your thoughts?
Well, you know, you and I have been working in Stage Time University for decades. Before that it was get paid to Speak. Before that it was world's Champion Edge. And, you know, we both know for being, you know, successful in the circuit for decades, remaining timely, topical and relevant, that we have to find prospects. And so for those of you listening or watching, what does an ideal prospect look for you look like for you? Are you looking for a keynote? Are you looking for a breakout? Are you looking for just to do on site training? Or maybe you're looking to speak for free and get paid by selling at the back of the room. But in today's episode, we're going to explore how do you find that ideal prospect and what are some of the tangible tactics and strategies that you can use to actually get booked, but you have to be found first.
Nice. And I love that. Timely talk, topical and relevant. You got to hit all three. And for one, things I don't know if you know I'm doing, but I'm focusing to really make my name known here in Vegas, to get conventions and conferences coming here to know about me. So I'm doing all sorts of things. I just did a session with, with Sam Richter too, on using his tool to find local bookings. But let's. We're here for your perspective. And what do you think are, first of all, just what do you think of some of the mistakes that people make trying to find prospects.
Well, I think they first have to, you know, look at the, the cart before the horse or whichever way you want to use it as analogy chicken or the egg. I think what's important is that you have to make sure that you're bookable. And so that involves, you know, your core expertise, your revenue model, are you good on stage and do you have a digital footprint in place? So let's assume that you've got those first four things done. And the fifth thing is, okay, now I actually want to drive people to me. And for those of you listening, if you don't understand what those four things that I just randomly listed, then you need to become a member of stagetime University, because twice a month we meet on business mastery, where we do hot seats and go into exactly how to leverage your revenue model, your core expertise, your stage presence, and obviously your digital footprint, which includes your website, Google reviews, search engine optimization, business directory listings, and social media. So now with that as a premise, how do you find prospects? Well, think about it like a sea. You want to fish where the fish are, and you need to have bait. And so your bait is lead magnets and content. So as a speaker, author, trainer, or expert, you need to be delivering and creating content on a consistent basis so that you have a footprint. So, for example, Darren's presented himself in Vegas because that's where he lives, and he wants to be able to get more bookings because there's thousands of events that are there. And so how well is he optimizing his digital footprint and his content? Now, I do know you are because I see your TikToks and your YouTube videos, and so I know you're doing that. But for those listeners out here, what shows up when someone googles your name? And do you have lead magnets, which are bits and pieces of content that answer your prospects, top challenges, and then that allows you to make an introduction. So, for example, pick a topic. Maybe you're in communication, change leadership, sales, marketing, communication. I might have already said that. But, you know, team building. Whatever your topic is, you have to ask yourself, what are the top 25 questions or more that my ideal client is willing to pay to make go away? They're willing to pay for it. And then if you create content related to that in the manner that they want to consume it, meaning, is it a video, is it text, is it a book, is it a special report, is it a video series, is it a video clip? What is it? And then you Connect the dots by getting that content in front of your target prospects. And there's a whole different strategy for LinkedIn versus YouTube and so forth. But overall, as we start here to get this episode going, you've got to have your digital footprint not nailed down, you've got to have your value propositions nailed down and you have to create two to five pieces of content that you can use as bait to put in the water to attract your ideal client to then engage in a conversation. The whole purpose of the bait isn't necessary to get them to write the check, it's to get them to know who you are, build trust and create social proof.
Yeah, I love too what you said. I'm just taking notes here as we go. A reminder to myself included is what are the 25 questions that is top of mind of your customer or client? Like you figure those out and if you don't know step one, figure those out because now you don't know.
Go to AI and ChatGPT and say I'm a keynote speaker on leadership and I want to speak to more organizations that have this criteria. What are the top 25 problems that they have? And you'll get AI to help you solve those problems?
Absolutely. Then there's hey, if it's a tick tock, if you choose to be on TikTok fish where the fish are, which Ford says, if you choose to do TikTok, what's your one minute answer for that question? If you're doing YouTube they'll give you a little longer. Maybe it's two or three minute answer to that question, but our goal is that you give them a new insight from your experience and then they say, wow, I wonder what else they know. I wonder how else they could help me. So if your one minute answer is boring, you just wasted time and you didn't engage me to want to know more from you.
It's true. And so think about it this way. Let's say you're paying attention on LinkedIn in your territory, in your area, maybe LinkedIn groups or just LinkedIn in general and you find a company that just went through a consolidation or maybe they've just acquired another company. Well, that would tell you that they probably have some employee issues. So that's a great way to, to go on LinkedIn and congratulate them for the success. And if you meet the key contacts to say, hey Sandy, I'm an expert on leadership and I have a three minute video that you might want to share with your team. Now keep in mind, if you do that cannot be promotional, you cannot be selling. No calls to action like you normally would. It's strictly a value added, you know, three tips on how to lead millennials, five reasons how, how to motivate frontline staff, three ways to engage top executives. So, again, I'm making that up. But what's the, what's the piece? And if it's value added, you'll pay. They'll pay attention to it. So it's just like this. You're listening to this podcast because at some point, some of Darren and Mark's content got in front of you, or someone said, if you're a speaker, author, trainer, consultant, you need to make this a serious part of your success library. So you tune in. How often do you promote weekly Darren?
Once a week.
Yep. Yeah, so Darren's got his podcast weekly, and so you turn in to be a guest. Now, some episodes, you might look at the title and go, nah, I'm really not interested in that topic. But of course, this topic everybody's interested in. So you need to bookmark it, comment, share it, and connect with me on LinkedIn. That way I know that I, you know, I have an ego here. I want to make sure that I'm adding value to all of you. So the bottom line, though, is if you think about social media as communication tool, they're just databases. And if you show up from a presence of being a value, being of service, the business will come. So it's just like me being on this podcast or having experts on my podcast, it expands my visibility. I'm sure there's several of you that are now viewing this that are fans of Mark's and Darren's. Mark couldn't make it today, so it gives me an opportunity to get introduced to all of Darren's listeners, the billions that he has around the world. And so this allows them to find out who I am. Only if I'm adding value, not selling.
Yeah, nobody's going to pass along, Hey, I listened to this boring podcast. Hey, I watched this boring TikTok video. Everyone wants to go viral with their videos or even articles on LinkedIn. Well, it's only going to go viral if it's value rich, if it's funny, if it's interesting, if it's compelling, if it gives a new perspective. So we got to make that. And by the way, your content should be that way anyway. The social media might be a sound bite from one of your presentations or maybe part of your presentation that you never realized that could stand on its own or at least get people curious enough to think, huh, let me check out more. And then that content that you have that didn't make it into your keynote. If you're an expert and you're serious at helping people, it's just a matter of getting content in. Like Ford saying, fish, where the fish are, where are they? Are they more on LinkedIn? Are they more on TikTok? What's the format they wanted on LinkedIn? What's the format they wanted On TikTok? Look forward. I love watching you at the franchise shows. You're doing shows and you're talking about a balloon. But it was standing out. I mean, I still remember that it was. How do you stand out at a trade show when you're among this sea of things and something that simple? I was like, that's value add for anybody who's at a trade show. Simple, powerful and effective.
And that was one of the videos that got the most views compared to some of the other videos. And I will say, you know, so Darren's referencing the International Franchise association because I'm a keynote speaker in the franchising space and general business associations too. But franchisees are business owners and I help business owners, you know, grow. So it just makes sense to be visible there. Now, I was one of the only, I was the only speaker for the last three years at that conference. And I had other speakers come up to me and go, you have a booth here. So they were speaking and they're like, why do you have a booth? You spend three days here. Well, I booked over six figures from that conference. So yes, I'm a marketer. You know, as you think of yourself as a speaker, author, trainer, I'm going to, or coach or consultant, I'm going to say, put all those titles aside. You need to be an expert. Now, very few of you listening, including Darren and I, are thought leaders. Now, I'm sure on my website somewhere it says, I'm a thought leader. But really, are we really a thought leader? Are we the first people people think of when they think of success or motivation or business growth? Probably not. Now, you can still make a very good seven and eight figure business as an expert, but a thought leader is really a celebrity, top of mind, first person that somebody thinks about. So for those of you listening, don't take offense by that. It doesn't mean that, you know, you aren't moving thought, but you're probably not recognized unless you're in your industry. And you're the first person that somebody thinks about when a certain Topic. So I would say I'm a thought leader in the National Speakers association because I've been in the industry for 34 years. I was the founder of the Million Dollar Speakers Group. I'm in the hall of Fame. I was on the national board for six years. Like, I've paid my dues to become a thought leader in a very small niche, but I'm a big fish in a small pond. I mean, there's only 3,500 members in the National Speakers Association. There's thousands of professional speakers that aren't in that. So in that arena, I'm a big deal. But necessary. It's just like you and Toastmasters. You are a thought leader in Toastmasters, right? You're a world champion of public speaking. You have spoken on the main stage multiple times at the Toastmasters Conference and at chapters all around the globe. So you're a thought leader in that. But I can't say that you're a thought leader in, you know, leadership or it doesn't mean you have to be either.
Right, Right. And I want to go back to something you said, Ford. If you're listening to this, Ford doesn't do a booth everywhere he speaks, but he's chosen franchising as one of his main topics, one of his main expertise. Right.
That's the only where I exhibit a booth other than my agency. That's the only place.
Yeah. So be specific, be clear. He's not doing trade show booths everywhere he goes. But what's that, what's that industry, that niche that you want to be known as? Like you said, these other speakers, they come, they speak, they leave. Why, if this is the area you want to be known, why would you not spend three days, know, shaking hands? Ford, I'm sure you had some hand to handshakes conversations that were planting huge seeds for bringing you in, right?
Well, you know, certainly. So I, I made contacts before the show. I made contacts while I was there. I took pictures of everybody on stage and sent them their picture. So, you know, I do that when I'm at any event. One thing I do when I'm at any event, I take pictures of everybody who's on stage and then I connect with them on LinkedIn and I send a picture saying, hey, congratulations. And they always jump back. Oh, that was so nice of you. Thank you. Because then, you know, these are people that don't necessarily always get photos. And I'm not talking about the speakers. I'm talking about the marketing director, the CEO, the cmo, the strategic partner that Gets a report. I'm talking about the staff, talking about an industry leader. So I make it a point to connect with people in that group. Now, for those of you thinking, let's shift gears a second, Darren, because your whole title on this was powerful prospecting. One of the things you need to do is once you do those, those foundational elements that we just talked about, you need to then look at what is your, what is your sales funnel look like? Now, we're not talking about click funnels and lead pages on your website. We're talking about or HubSpot. We're talking about what do you, what are the natural touch points that you need to work on between the time someone is a suspect, that they become a qualified prospect, a lead, a client or customer, and then an advocate, what are the touch points? And so you need a system for being able to track people through the different stages. Now, in my case, I use Zoho CRM. You can use three by five cards, a notebook, an Excel file, or there's tons of other CRM systems on the market. That CRM is client relationship management. But you need some type of software so that you can continue to make your calls. I mean, one of the things that if you're an alumni of Stage Time University is I have these little chips right here. I'm trying to get it to focus on the and on it says stagetime University, better habits, better results, game changers. And these chips sit right on my desk every single day And I've got 20 of them. And my goal is to make 20 outreaches per day. And I, when I make an outreach, I move the chip from one stack to the other. Now I used to this years ago with pennies, but I love the Stage Time chips because it reminds me better habits, better results. And you get that by becoming an attendee of Game Changers, which by the way, Darren, I can't believe you haven't mentioned it to the listeners. It's coming up here April 5th and 6th. So if you're listening to this episode and you want to join, I'm sure Darren will share the details in the show notes on how you can join. But if you want to join, Darren and I for two full days and a faculty of other experts, huge experts, join us in Las Vegas on April 5th and 6th, where you're going to get a chance to accelerate your growth. Whether it's your branding, your topic, your stage presence, the use of humor, how to monetize your expertise through podcast and courses, how to prospect, how to sell Regardless if, whether you're a new speaker, a five, six or seven figure earner, there'll be seven figure earners in the room. And then there are going to be people that work a corporate job that are just looking at this to figure out how they can transition and be the speaker of their dreams. So now, keep in mind, everybody, this isn't a shameless plug. We're giving you resources. So some of your resources we've already given you are be active on social media, use chat, GPT, and then we're also saying, get coach. So while you want to be a listener of this podcast, we also encourage you to step up your game and really change the game. At Game Changers.
This year's theme is more the chips came from last year. This year's theme is more bookings, Higher fees.
More.
More bookings, Higher fees. When I thought about what do most of my friends want in the speaking world? They want more bookings, they want higher fees. So you can check it out@stagetimelive.com and you can use Ford's discount code. Ford will give you 25% off. Ford F O R D 25. By the way, the price is going up, so, yeah, the sooner the better. If you want to join us, save your seat. We do it. It's our 17th Ford, 17th annual convention and conference. I think you've been with us.
Darren started when he was 6.
Everybody, I think you've been with us for 15 out of 17. And Ford, going back to LinkedIn, I have learned from you. So what I've been doing is not only finding the conventions and conferences coming into town, but I've been going to casinos where their catering managers sometimes get asked, hey, do you know any local speakers? So, Ford, I've been collecting business cards and been. First thing I got, Ford in my mind, first thing I do, go and connect on LinkedIn with each of them. And now I'm also putting together a mailing. I'm gonna. I'm gonna mail them a brochure that I'm making about all in and have a casino chip in the middle of it too.
Well, I am so proud of you doing that because this is the list of business cards and contacts for the last three months. So these are people that I'm supposed to send books to or that I collected their cards. So. So, you know, it's always. We always gotta do one better, Darren. So.
Yes, that's okay.
My business card. Card's right there.
I'm down again. I have better habits because of you. You know, and sometimes we think, well, does it matter? Yeah, it all adds up. It's the seeds that we plant. It's. Then they get curious. They go, follow up. And Ford, I will tell you that Regina came up with the idea. I don't think I have one within reach, but I have new, new casino chips that say all in on them. On the other side, I have a QR code to my demo video. And I'm telling you, when I speak to people face to face, and I just say, hey, you know, I bring it up, I tell a couple of Vegas stories to get them curious that they don't know the answer to. Like, Ford, I don't know if you knew this or not, but when Mark Davis, the owner of the Raiders, paid the relocation fee to move the the Raiders from LA or from Oakland to Las Vegas, that he spent 350 million just for permission to relocate them the next day, Forbes magazine valued the franchise at $2.9 billion. He was all in. He made a risk. He didn't know what it would be valued at. And now it actually went from number 31 value for out of 32 franchises, it's now like number nine. And it's now worth 6.1 billion.
Billion.
So I don't give the answer. I kind of tease them that. But then I say, hey, check it out. Remember to live your life all in. And people take it, and they're like, oh, that's cool. I've never given anyone a business card. And they said, oh, that's cool. And then they look at it and they, you know, and they keep it. Which that's. Hello. You know, I look at Ford, you know, that we teach in storytelling. You got to elicit emotion. So that's an adaption I've made for marketing. What marketing can I do? That elicits emotion and gets an emotional reaction. Just like Bombbomb. Videos work well for me as well. Anyway, I'm learning someday I'll steal the pebble from your hand.
It's modeling, and you don't have to steal anything. You have open to anything. I have.
Nice. So, look, if you want to be on stage, you've got to do prospecting. And we gotta learn to love it. I don't love it, but I'm learning to love it. And it's not as much of this big, overwhelming waste of time task. I see that I'm building relationships that they're paying off, that it does matter. So other thoughts on power prospecting? And that's gonna. That's your subject At Game changers, right?
Yes, it is.
Nice.
As of right now it is. No, I'm just teasing everybody. Darren tells me what to do and then I do it. He says jump. I say, how high? He says bark. I go roof. Okay, so while I'm standing on one leg and barking like a dog, I would say you should be on a lot of podcasts. So if you're an expert and you don't have your own podcast, you should be on at least two to three podcasts a week to get positioned as an expert, to get understand how to answer questions in short sound bites, and to be able to allow the host to ask another question. Sometimes I go long, but I know what I'm doing and I know why I'm doing it. So it's. It's okay. I tell my team, if you know the rules, you can break the rules because it's all context specific. But now let's talk about using a podcast for prospecting. So I have a. I go live every week on Fortify. Fortify Live. And I'll just play the stinger for it.
Welcome to Fordify Live with your host, Ford Sakes.
And so, so I go live on Fordify Wednesdays, 11 o', clock, but I record those episodes ahead of time. But let me tell you how I use it for prospecting. I was just at the IFA when people came to my booth. I didn't say, oh, do you need a keynote speaker for your next conference? I said, wow, congratulations on your growth. Charles from Growing over a thousand Tropical Smoothie Cafes. I'd love to interview you for my podcast. He'd say, sure. Wow. Rob Goggins, the CEO of Great clips. I'd love to interview for my podcast. Wow. Peter Cuneo, the CEO, former CEO of Marvel Studios that took his company from $3 million to $4 billion in growth and wow. John Hewitt from Jackson Hewitt. Have you ever been in a Walmart and you see Jackson Hewitt tax? Well, this is John Hewitt from Jackson Hewitt. You know, got him on my podcast. So I go after C level executives to interview him on my podcast, build a relationship with them. We add value. The pod, the episodes are great value, but really it's to build that relationship with that C level professional. Because it's easier for me to get 30 to 45 minutes with a CEO to find out all their needs, then to call them and say, I'd like to become a speaker for your next conference. So I use my pot. Sorry, that's. I shouldn't appropriate any voices. Gotta be careful now. I say everything so politically correct. And for those of you listening, this is for educational informational purposes only. If you love the podcast, let Darren know. If you hate it, just leave the comments on me. Don't, don't bother him with it, or especially don't bother Mark Brown with it. Okay, so bottom line is I use my podcast for prospecting. And the more experts I've gotten, the easier it is now to get experts. And I don't have a lot of views. I mean, I've got a fair amount of views on my podcast. I have what's called the business growth show, which is the audio version of my video. The video goes live Wednesdays on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn. I put a notice out on Twitter and Instagram. And so I go live with a prerecorded then broadcast live episode and then the audio becomes my podcast. Well, that becomes content. Those are all lead magnets. All those episodes are lead magnets and that allows me to share it just like I have a lead magnet. If those of you are listening, get your pen out. If you're driving, don't, don't do this while you're driving. If you go to profit rich results.com forward/AI-training Again AI, there's nothing to buy. You put, you put your name and email in. You're going to get a 60 minute video training on how to unleash the power and unlock the power of AI and AI tools like co pilot and Gemini and chat GPT along with others. And it's for free. Now if I'm on a podcast like this, I can give the link out profits results.com forward/AI-training and that allows listeners to go, oh, there's game changers. I need to go in April. I need to join Darren and his team and Game changers. And he gave you out stage time live with the Coupon Cord Code Board 25. Or you can go to profferichresults.comai-training or you can go online and watch my show. So when you're on a podcast, the idea is add value, but where relevant, give your audience a way to learn more. Just like we, Darren and I are doing live right here. We're saying, hey, here's some great ideas on prospecting, but you should spend two days with us in Las Vegas with the other faculty. This is really great about using AI for prospecting, but you probably need 60 minutes of training to understand really how to leverage the tool.
Yeah, we got to think next steps. So it's not just being on A podcast. It's being on a podcast delivering value and getting people to want more and then giving them the value. Verbal URL Ford. I found this that my all in one decision changes everything. And then on the back I have the Vegas Keynote.com and the QR code that goes to my demo video or my demo page.
Only one. There's only one more thing I would do the next time you reorder that.
Yes.
Put your name on it.
Yeah, there's not a lot of room.
No, but on the back where you have the, the, the two rounded parts.
Yeah.
So right where your fingers are. Turn it over and look at it.
Yep, I see it.
So where it says Vegas Keynote underneath it, you can put Darren Lacroix. Now a chip like that is a curiosity chip. So even without his name, it doesn't need his name. So that's not a fail, everybody. If he didn't have a website, that would be a fail. If he didn't have a QR code, that'd be a fail. If he just had the QR code without the website, that would be a fail. But he's got the link and he's got the QR code. And let me pull that up on my phone to see what that looks like right now.
And what I do, Ford, is I just ordered 100 chips and then I tweak it and another hundred because until I'm out there using it, I'm not exactly sure what needs to be on it. How does it need to look? So I do short run. You know, great speeches aren't written, they're rewritten. Great, great. Casino chips aren't created, they're recreated.
Okay, so I'm going to give you a little critique on this. Right, so we're looking@vegas keynote.com, the keynote experience, all in one decision changes everything. Watch now. Actually, I don't have anything to say. It looks good. The problem solution.
I'm going to write the date down.
Yeah, you should do that.
Well, but, but you've given me feedback and I've tweaked. So you're the, you're part of the re. You're the biggest part of the reason there is no quick, high level stuff. Wait till you watch.
Here's what I would do. Here's the only thing I would do on this. At the bottom where you have contact us, you've got 1-888-52-84451. First question, what happens if I call that Regina picks up number two on your address, you've got stagetimeuniversity.com with spaces. You don't have spaces in the URL. Otherwise it's going to look like university.com. so I know it's a minor thing, but just don't put spaces in it. Number three, I need you to put a local number with the 888 number. Do you have a Google voice phone number?
We have a local number.
Use the local number along with the 888. Because studies have shown no one cares about long distance anymore, and 888 numbers were to avoid long distance. But if there's a local number, logically, people will pick the local number thinking they're going to get away from the. Because this could be a huge company. They don't want to talk to a bunch of agents. They want to talk to you. So anywhere where you have an 888 number, also put the local number. But this is really, really nice. It goes straight to the page that it needs to go to. It's really nice. You got a forwarding domain and I'm really proud of you.
Well, hanging around with you is. Has definitely helped that a thousand times, thousand percent. If you're listening to this power prospecting, it's that job. We've got to learn to love and have fun with it. But if we're. If we're holding, which I did a year and a half ago, I was like, I just wanted. I just wanted to be so popular on social media. People came to me, okay, it's not reality, and it wasn't working years ago. Prior to Covid, I was speaking so much, even for free, that naturally I just got business because I was speaking so much for free or for a fee. After Covid, not so much. So I'm diving back in. That's what I love about game changers. It's like I want to be around the people who are doing it in the 2024 way, not the same way as it was even two years ago. It's different than. That's why I love this event because we got Sam Richter, we got Maureen, we got Jennifer Lear, who's a speaker bureau that she's in the thick of it. And we get to sit there, have lunch with each other, network with each other. Join us April 5 and 6. Use Ford's code. Ford 25. Just going back. You gotta have the. You gotta be timely, topical and relevant, which is easier said than done. And if you're not sure, get some feedback from. From a qualified business coach. Create some lead magnets, create some content. What are your 25 questions that you're so Ford, what's just in to give an example for franchising, what's a couple of the questions that franchisors have or problems that they have that you help them with?
Well, the two biggest thing in franchising is the franchisors, the people who are the brand wants a franchisee, the people who bought the franchise to be more accountable take responsibility for their own result. So any content related to accountability and leadership or motivating a frontline staff that's minimum wage or reducing turnover is going to be accepted really well. At the same time, the local franchisee or multi unit owner or multi brand owner is looking for ways to generate more business. So as of this episode, I have been speaking now to qsr, which is quick serve restaurants. They don't call them fast food in the industry, they call them qsr. I think it just kind of like, it's kind of like network marketing. So mlm, they call it network marketing, but I speak to QSR brands, Fast Casual for full service dining. Well, those are business consumer brands. Those are very different than, let's say Precision Door or Garage Living or Mosquito Pest Authority. You know, they're different types of businesses. So you want to tailor your content to the needs of your particular customers and which means you have to understand their customer. Otherwise, again, that goes back to those five things I said in the beginning. Your core expertise, like, do you know the top challenges in your industry? Do you know the publications? Do you know the trade shows? Do you know the competitors? Do you know the influencers? So if you're listening to this episode and you're trying to prospect. Yeah. Again, cart before the horse. I would go back and look at what do you really know about the industries or the sandbox that you want to play in.
Nice. All right. So learn to love your prospecting. Ford Sakes, thanks for joining us. Stagetimelive.com if you want to join us at Game Changers.
And for those of you listening, I keep messing them up by using sound effects. Back to you, Darren.
Yeah, and use Ford's code. Ford 25. The only time once a year where we get the whole faculty together. Chris McGuire will be there. Mark Brown, Ed Tate, Sam Richter, Maureen Zappala, Ford Sakes and a couple of other experts join us. Thanks for being here, Ford. Appreciate your time.
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