Creating engaged readers is the name of the game today, and we're diving deep into how to make that happen. Many authors feel like they're stranded on a desert island, desperately trying to reach out to readers who may not even know they exist. But fear not! We're here to bring authors together with resources, support, and accountability through Author Nation. Joining us is the fantastic Frederick Dudek, an author and soon-to-be podcaster who has a wealth of experience in sales and marketing. We’ll chat about his new book, "Creating Business Super Fans," which is all about turning customers into those super fans who will rave about your work to anyone who’ll listen. So, grab a comfy seat, maybe a snack (you know, for brain fuel), and let’s get into it!

Engaged Writing Creates Engaged Readers so Know Your Ideal Reader

Join Author Nation and Frederick Dudek, a sales & marketing executive with 30+ years of experience, as he shares his top tips for nonfiction authors looking to boost their brand and sell more books.

Discover effective methods for identifying your target audience and conducting content research, as well as strategies for creating products in conjunction with your book. Get feedback from members of your target audience to improve your content, and learn the importance of enjoying the writing process.

By the end of the show, you'll have practical takeaways to refine your marketing approach and reach your target audience more effectively.

Takeaways:

• Identify your target audience and conduct content research
• Create products in conjunction with your book
• Get feedback from members of your target audience
• Enjoy the writing process to benefit your brand and book sales.

Like this? Please like, comment and subscribe!

Takeaways:

• Creating engaged readers is essential for authors feeling isolated in their writing journey.
• Selling is a universal skill we all use daily, whether we realize it or not.
• Follow-up is crucial in sales; many fail simply by not reaching out again after a no.
• The concept of 'super fans' can transform your audience into passionate advocates for your work.
• A successful book should provide actionable insights that are easy to implement for readers.
• Building relationships with readers and customers can significantly enhance your business outcomes.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Freddy D: 00:00:00

Foreign. Hello.

Melody Ann: 00:00:08

Today we are talking about creating engaged readers. This is Author Nation Interviews and I'm your host, Melody Ann.

Many authors are feeling stranded, like they're trying to communicate with the world from a desert island. Author Nation brings authors together and provides resources, support and accountability to succeed. Seed.

Whether you are already published or have a seed of an idea, head over to authornation.online and download our ebook Publishing Possibilities A Guide to making Informed Decisions. The URL is scrolling past you right now and it is in the description. Let's welcome our guest.

Frederick Dudek is an author, soon to be podcaster of a podcast called Business Super Fans. He's a speaker and sales and marketing executive with over 30 years of experience. Experience achieving breakthrough sales and sales.

Sales and performance results in domestic and global business markets. He's led corporate sales and marketing efforts in the SaaS industry. That's service as software. As a service. Pardon me.

And now in the interpretation and translation industry. Let's welcome Frederick. Hello. How are you today? I'm well, thank you. How are you? All right.

I have to, I have to ask you a first question that's a little bit not about what we're talking about, but I'm so curious. I grew up on. I grew up on a farm. But you grew up in a vineyard. And so what was that?

Freddy D: 00:01:36

I didn't grow up there. Let me clarify. I was three months old. I was screaming. I was born in France, Bordeaux. And I was screaming.

They stuck a pacifier in me and said, shut up, you're coming to the United States. And I had no say the matter.

But I was fortunate that as a, as a young child, my parents would go back to France and I would spend time in my grandfather's vineyard and just learned a lot about the culture. And that kind of get turned me on to the, you know, the international travel bug. And I've been traveling since. Yeah.

Melody Ann: 00:02:08

And fine wine.

Freddy D: 00:02:11

Yes, right.

Melody Ann: 00:02:12

Yeah. Which, you know, I, I think it sounds like a dream to live in a vineyard. This is, you know, for me. Right. It's like that.

Freddy D: 00:02:18

Yeah. I mean, I got, I still have pictures. I mean, a lot of it's been sold off and turned into a subdivision, unfortunately. But.

Yeah, but back in the day, you know, it was, it was cool.

And you know, my uncle would take me down into the wine cellar and, you know, look around and right out of the barrel, you know, a little shot of wine and, you know, and I was like, ah, I still smell that cellar. So.

Melody Ann: 00:02:39

Yeah, that sounds wonderful. Where do you make home now?

Freddy D: 00:02:43

Right Now I'm in Cave Creek, Arizona is where I'm. Where I'm set up.

Melody Ann: 00:02:48

All right? And I. I have to ask because sales is one of those things that everyone is either afraid of or. Or they hate or they think it's icky.

And, you know, I want to know, like, how do you approach sales? What do you think of when you think of sales?

Freddy D: 00:03:03

Well, it's an excellent question. And the reality is we're all in sales whether we like it or not.

And I'll just give you a simple example is the fact that, you know, you're debating where you're going to go out to dinner or what you want to eat. It could be pizza, or we can go out to the restaurant, will order in, or we'll go out as an example.

Well, someone's going to have to sell the other person on which one do they want to go? Well, you know what? I really haven't had pizza a long time. Let's just order in. I don't feel like going out. We'll order in and everything else.

So the other person goes, okay, I'm okay with that. You just made a sale. Yes, it's that simple.

You know, kids are the best salespeople on the planet, you know, because if you think about it, you know, they're sitting there and says, okay, you know, mom, can I buy this? Well, I don't know. You have to ask your dad. Well, dad, mom says, I. She. I can buy this if you say it's okay. You know, I'll take out my garbage.

I'll take out the garbage, I'll make my bed, I'll do my homework on time, you know, all this stuff. And then they play the parents back and forth. That's a sales job.

Melody Ann: 00:04:09

Yes, yes.

Freddy D: 00:04:10

And they're great at it because they don't know any better.

Melody Ann: 00:04:13

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:04:14

And they usually get the order.

Melody Ann: 00:04:16

Yes, they usually get their way. And my kids, one of their superpowers was to not give up if they wanted something. Right.

A lot of people, they'll call a potential client once, the client will say no, and then they'll never call back. Well, if you take less sales lessons for my kids, you will not only ask once, you will ask until the answer is yes. Right. So there's another lesson.

Freddy D: 00:04:38

Yeah. The sale usually happens after the 8th. 8Th conversation with somebody. So. Yeah. It doesn't happen just like that.

Melody Ann: 00:04:46

Yes, exactly. No. Thank you so much. And I have to say, the kids are the best salespeople, but I think some of the best sales training can Be being a parent. Right.

Trying to convince your kid to do something they don't want to do. That's a, that's a good sale too, right?

Freddy D: 00:05:01

Right? Yeah, absolutely.

Melody Ann: 00:05:02

Yeah, perfect. What are some of the most challenging things you've had to sell?

Freddy D: 00:05:12

Probably the most challenging is stuff that's intangible, that you can't really put your hands on it. And you know, and getting somebody to understand that, what it'll do for them without them being able to see it, touch it, feel it.

And, and that's, that's takes us a unique way of presenting the aspect.

I used to sell manufacturing software and one of my approaches was I really never talked a lot about the product because at the end of the day, you know, there was other competitors out there. They all do the same job. Okay, this one's blue, that one's green, etc. You know, and this turns left, this one turns right. It's immaterial.

I was always focusing is where did the business want to be in a couple years?

What's their objective and what was their challenges that they're experiencing with the existing technology and then how could this help accomplish their objective?

So we got out of the, you know, the widgets and the features and functions and we started talking business strategy of where they wanted to go, how did wanted to get there and how this could potentially help them to do it and that eliminate a lot of the competition because they were busy talking, well, we can do it this way better and we can do it that way better. And I'm talking about let's make some money and help grow your business. And this is just a vehicle that helps you get there.

Melody Ann: 00:06:43

Yeah. No outcomes, outcomes, outcomes. It's something I say to authors.

It's like, it's great to talk about your book, but you know, instead of saying my book this, my book that, it's outcomes, right?

Freddy D: 00:06:54

Correct.

Melody Ann: 00:06:55

Who will you be when you're finished reading the book? That. That matters, right?

Freddy D: 00:06:58

Same thing in sales. That's, that's exactly the way I sold is.

And you know, companies would, would grow and I mean there's, there's a company that, you know, would, would. Last time I went there, they wouldn't let me in. They held the door closed and I was going, what's up guys?

And go, every time you walk in there, you cost us 100 grand. You know, but it was like, well yeah, but let's review. You start out as a 40 man company.

You bought the building next door, you built the breezeway, you bought the building on the other side and built the breezeway between those two buildings. You own another one in, in the Carolinas. You know, you're about a 200 man company today. You know, it was, but it was, they were just being humorous.

But the reality was, you know.

Yeah, every year I would, they would spend a hundred thousand with me and, and they were my best customers and my best referral source because they were super fan of me and. But I helped them get to where they wanted to go and where their vision was.

Melody Ann: 00:07:52

Lovely. Yeah, I love that. That's holding the door shut. Let's talk about super fans because you, you wrote a book. So let's start with what is a super fan.

Can you define that for us?

Freddy D: 00:08:03

Well, the idea came is, is really taking sports and then, and incorporating into business. So the best way to explain what a super fan is in a sports world is, you know, you look at what's called around the world football.

But in the United States we call it soccer, but it's football, so we'll call world football. And then there's American football and then we've got, you know, baseball and all those games.

But you'll see a fans there that, you know, guys and gals that got their faces painted, they're wearing the jerseys, they got the hats to wave in the banners and all that kind of stuff. That's a, that's a super fan for that team, right?

Melody Ann: 00:08:47

Yes, yes.

Freddy D: 00:08:49

Is that team paying them for that?

Melody Ann: 00:08:51

No. Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:08:53

Are they probably making money from that merchandise that these people are buying?

Melody Ann: 00:08:56

Well, well, the thing is the company's making money from the super fans. The super fans are the ones paying.

Freddy D: 00:09:02

Exactly. That's it. So my idea was, okay, why can't a business go about and create their own super fans that are out there promoting the business?

And so I did a lot of research on this and this was one of my sales styles. And that's why I had mentioned, you know, this one company, they were my super fans. They were my referral source.

I mean, you know, I just real quick is my. One of my records in fastest sales was 30 minutes to sell $60,000 worth of hardware and software.

And the whole, the sale process was the time writing up the order on the computer and faxing it from their fax machine to corporate to get the thing. Because a guy came in and basically says, Jack says I need to get this how much, how fast and what do I need to do?

Melody Ann: 00:09:52

Right.

Freddy D: 00:09:53

And so because my super fan, this, you know, manufacturing company had already promoted me to, to this company.

So from a business aspect, I look at taking your customers, your employees, and your business alliance partners because they're really all intertwined.

If you really stop and think about it and elevate them or convert them into, you know, instead of brand advocates, which is what everybody calls them, I call them business super fans because they want to promote that business. They want to tell everybody, man, I work at this really cool company. They. They take care of me. All this stuff. That's the employee.

The customer says, man, these guys are great in customer service. They take care of us. The business partner says, man, we have a great relationship. We pass business back and forth. That's what it is.

Melody Ann: 00:10:44

Yeah. Brilliant. So your book, Creating Soup, Creating Business Super Fans, that's the name of it. It's been out for about a year now.

So tell me a little bit about that journey.

Freddy D: 00:10:55

Well, that was an interesting. It's something I had wanted to do for a long, long time. And I've started and stopped and started and stopped.

And then I thought about starting, but I didn't. But I stopped and so I didn't get started. And I met some people that basically, you know, that could help in.

In getting something going, could help get it published. And I actually started talking with other people that were involved, book writers and et cetera. And it is like, oh, well, this is really possible.

And so I started down writing something and then I ran it by a couple people and it says, okay, it's not bad, but nothing super exciting, you know, it's not jumping out at me, you know. And so, you know, my ego got punched in the face, you know, but. But, you know, I figured, okay, I start over.

And then that's when this business superfans kind of idea came about. And then I started talking to a few people and it says, that's really pretty cool idea.

And, you know, and my twist was, you know, there's people that, you know are experts and customer engagement, customer retention, but, you know, stop and think about it. That's just a silo conversation.

Then there's people that are employee motivation, employee engagement, and employee retention, but that's another silo, you know, and. And then nobody ever talks about the business partners, the complementary business partners, like a flooring and painting guy.

Nobody ever talks about how to build that partnership. And so I took all three and combined all three, because they're really intertwined. And so then I started, you know, putting some ideas down.

And then I would run it by my companion that and say, you know, what do you think? And she Liked it. And then, you know, I ran it by a couple of friends and then it got to the point where how many words could I throw down per day?

d you do? I says, Well, I did: 1300

And that became my motivation is like, wow, you know, this is turning into something. And, you know, and that was how it all got started.

Melody Ann: 00:13:07

Yeah. And so just so you know, that's. That sounds like a very usual journey to, you know, I want to write a book, start something.

Somebody punches you in the gut with it and you think, I can't write a book. And then imposter syndrome.

And then, you know, if you, if you persevere and you like, look for that right idea, you know, eventually you get, get there. And then once you start writing and getting support. Right. Once you start writing and building that momentum, then things really start to, to happen.

So.

Freddy D: 00:13:38

Right. It starts to gel and then it starts to do. And then you run. Yeah. Yep. What I did is I passed out to a couple.

I actually passed it out to who would be my, my ideal reader. And I got them to read it and give me some feedback on it.

Then they were going like, okay, this is not bad, or, you know, you need to change this, or, you know, you forgot this who area. And it was like, oh, good point. And so, but, and so that created, that created my energy.

Melody Ann: 00:14:07

Yes. Yeah. And, and good on you for getting feedback. That is really, really important. Right.

If you're listening in live or the replay, you can learn more about frederick@frederickdeck.com the link is on the screen right now or it's in the show notes. All right, so who is this book for? Is this corporate sales? Is this, is this for small business? Is this for solopreneurs? Who is this really for?

Freddy D: 00:14:34

The book is geared for solopreneurs and small to medium sized businesses. It talks about, you know, prospecting, how to, you know, how to identify what is your ideal market.

So, you know, one of the things that I did when I started working on the book was, you know, what's my avatar? Who's my market?

And that took a little while to put together, but once I put that together, I kind of knew what direction I wanted to go and who I wanted to talk to.

And so, you know, you've got the, you know, the, you know, I'll just use this industry as one of the industries I target is a home improvement industry. You know, they, you know, they do great work, but you know, they unfortunately, you know, you've, and we can, we can all have experienced this.

We called in somebody to fix something at the house or add something or replace something and we never hear from them again, right? And it's like, dude or do that, you know, that's a customer.

They know people, you know, they, but they, they do a great job and they say, okay, thank you, see you. And you never hear nothing. They don't check up six months later. How's everything going? How's the new kitchen? Or how's the bathroom?

Do you know anybody? Nothing.

And so that was one of my markets that I really wanted to say is, you know, you're leaving money on the table because you've got someone that's super happ. That could become a super fan, but you're not engaging them to convert them into telling all their friends about what you've done.

Melody Ann: 00:16:06

Yeah. Oh, that's, yes, absolutely. And I think authors are the same. I think they struggle with the same thing, right?

You sell a book but you don't follow up. How are you enjoying the book? Did you get to chapter three? Did you notice this point? Did you?

You know, I talk about sending emails out to readers and engaging with them and saying, hey, you know, if you had questions about chapter three, email me back. Now we're having a conversation right now. We're building relationships.

So tell me what's different between, you know, how, you know, being in corporate and having that big sales team and being a solopreneur and having to do it all yourself. Like what are, what are some of the differences?

Freddy D: 00:16:46

Well, the differences is actually there is, there's differences, but then there's a lot of commonality because one of the biggest things, whether it's a large corporate team, corporate organization or it's, you know, the one man band, a solopreneur. The reality is you got to follow up. And that's where people basically award it, frankly is do a face plant because they do not follow up.

They're afraid to follow up.

And, and they look at the phone, says, well, I'll call them, you know, and then in a couple hours, a couple hours go by and they don't make the phone call and well, I'll shoot, I'll just do it tomorrow. And follow up is the secret.

And whether you're, whether you're a one man band or like I say, a solopreneur, small business or Large, you know, corporation with a sales team. Follow up is, is the biggest thing. And speed, speed of the, of the connection.

I've closed more sales in super short amounts of time because I was the first to respond back to the inquiry. Even though they were reaching out to different companies, I was the first to respond, first to acknowledge their need and first to offer a solution.

And, and that sets an expectation for the competitors that if they're not doing it, they got zero chance.

Melody Ann: 00:18:21

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So the secret to sales is in the follow up.

Freddy D: 00:18:27

Absolutely. The follow up. And speed, speed.

You gotta be, you know, because you know, you get an inquiry, someone comes to your website and submits an inquiry for a service, a product, etc. And you don't respond to them for a day. What do you, what's the impression of that person? Well, they don't really care about me.

They're not that interested in my business. If you respond within 15 minutes to that person, they're like, oh, wow, thank you for this.

You know, the first thing that happens is thank you so much for the speedy response. Appreciate it. And you're in. I mean it's, it's really simple. You're in. It's even follow up.

Melody Ann: 00:19:08

Yeah, beautiful. Thank you. And so what, what will we find in the book?

Is it, is it a system that you're explaining step by step or is it like, tell us a little bit about what's in the book.

Freddy D: 00:19:18

Okay, well, the book looks like this. And so there's me, my companionette. Oops, there we go. And we got our faces painted, you know, as, as super fans, just like a sports team.

But each chapter is designed to be self inclusive.

So a lot of books that I read and I have a whole wall full of them, is, you know, you read the whole thing, it's a good story or it's a bunch of stuff. But then it's like, where do I go back for this technique that they.

And you got to flip through and try to find it or you have to highlight it and then you still got to find where your highlight is. So I created this a little bit different.

I broke it into different chapters, but, but each chapter addresses the three groups, which is customers, employees, and business partners. So you know, one of the chapter that I, that I talk about in the book is, well, we talked about follow up, so why follow up is super important.

So I talk about follow ups for customers, I talk about follow ups with customers, I talk about follow up with your business partners. And then there's what's different is there's a lot of bullet points in here of things to do and, and why you should be doing them.

So I've got stories as well as, you know, you know, like a text follow up and, and why you should be doing a text pop, Social media follow up, you know, video follow up.

You know, we've got all these smartphones you can send somebody via instant messaging a quick video, you know, hey Melody, just want to check out and see if you got the information. You got some questions. Poof, it comes up and now it's, it's engaging it and they're going, wow, that's pretty cool. I didn't even think of doing that.

You know, it's all in that one chapter. And then what I did is we. You talked about, you know, the engagement afterwards.

Each chapter ends up with a little bit of a questionnaire that says, okay, how do you rate yourself from 0 to 10 on that chapter and your skill set and, and what are you doing? And then you can go to the scorecard wheel, which is like a dartboard and there's one in the, in the, on the back of the book.

But then you can also download this for free. And you put your dots where you end up from, you know, 0 to 10, 10 being the, you know, the center just like a dartboard.

And then you connect the dots and you realize that your wheel isn't really quite smooth. And so then there's an action plan put in here of the things that you need to do, resources that you need, etc.

To improve in, let's say, my appreciation abilities that I'm doing to my employees.

Melody Ann: 00:21:57

Right, right. So it sounds like it's a really, really. It is a take action book.

Freddy D: 00:22:04

Yes.

Melody Ann: 00:22:04

Which I love. And so can you just back up about the scorecard a little bit?

So the scorecard helps you figure out what areas you're doing well in and what areas you need improvement in. Is that, can you just back up and help us with that a bit?

Freddy D: 00:22:19

That is correct. So you know, you can say, okay, for example, in. Let's just pick one of the areas here. So for example, in recognition. Okay.

Am I recognizing my customers for their business success? Okay. If you're a B2B customer. Okay. Or your business is B2B. I'm sorry. Or am I recognizing my employee? Am I recognizing my business partner?

Which is not a business partner, but a complementary business. I call it really business alliance partner. So think simple analogy. Flooring and painting, they go together.

You get new carpet or new, you paint the New walls, you hate the floor, you replace it. So those are two separate businesses. They're complementary. So my recognizing them am I, you know, for their efforts and referrals and all that stuff.

And they say, probably could do better on a 0. On a 0 to 10, where do I see myself? I see myself at probably a 4 because I don't do it enough. And then I can continue.

And then I say, okay, well, geez, I'm not, you know, I got a lot of work to do. So if I implement some of these things, where do I see myself in 60 days?

And I says, okay, I went from a four to a seven, you know, and that's the intent behind it. And when am I going to do the things, you know?

You know, one of my sayings is people will crawl through broken glass for appreciation and recognition. Tell me I'm wrong.

Melody Ann: 00:23:52

Yeah, people want to be seen, people want to be heard. They want to be validated and appreciated. Right. This is, this is what we, this is what we're all after in the end.

Freddy D: 00:24:02

And so that's. So I, I tell them ways to do that so that they can send their appreciation. Says, okay, I just knocked this one thing off. I did this.

I recognize somebody for their efforts at the, at the, I recognized a customer, a congratulated customer, because, you know, they, they're, they got promoted in, in some department. Etc.

Melody Ann: 00:24:22

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:24:23

And now all of a sudden you say, okay, I went from a four to a seven, and what else can I do? And to improve my appreciation to the people that I need to appreciate.

Melody Ann: 00:24:34

Yeah, that's brilliant. Thank you. That's absolutely brilliant. So I, I want to kind of take this idea of so super fan.

And so when you were writing the book, how, how did you ensure that you were going to engage readers?

Freddy D: 00:24:55

The way I did it is, is basically it's a simple read. So I made sure it's a simple read. And then there's just action items that don't, a lot of them that don't cost money.

It's probably stuff that you knew that you needed to do, but you don't do, you forgot to do.

You know, some of the feedback that I got from the people that I had read it that to give me feedback was, you know, wow, I used to do that and I stopped doing that. And I don't know why I stopped doing that, but I'm going to start doing that again because it used to work. I just got sidetracked.

So those were a lot of the different feedbacks that I got. Was that this isn't hard to implement. As an example, a customer that I consulted, they're in Michigan, they make pot pies.

Actually, they're called Great Lakes Pot Pies.

And she started out in her kitchen and I met her at a Panera Bread and I gave her some business advice and help with some of her digital marketing ideas. And today they opened up a store during the pandemic, by the way, I wrote this book during the pandemic, and they've, they've grown, but.

And they've done well. They've been on TV and all that kind of stuff. But they, they read the book and they was, ah, we never thought of a referral program.

And they put together a referral program and then they put together a loyalty program that I talk about, and that's just skyrocketed their sales to where they bought the building. Not bought, but they moved into the adjacent storefront. So now they're a double storefront. So. Yeah, yeah.

Melody Ann: 00:26:37

And so how did you create super fans for the book as you were writing it?

Freddy D: 00:26:45

Basically helping the businesses, some of the people that I've coached, just like I mentioned, Great Lakes Pop Pies, implement some of the things we talked about.

And, and so they're one of my super fans because not only is their business grown, they've implemented stuff that keeps repeating the business because of the loyalty program that they created, and they created a referral program and stuff. And so they're one of my super fans. So most of my customers that I've done consulting with, they're still my customers 10 years later.

Melody Ann: 00:27:15

Right, right. And so when you were writing the book, did you tell them about the book? Did you, you know, were they, were they excited about it coming out?

Like, tell us a little bit about, were you, you know, emailing them about it? Were you putting it on social media where you, when you're talking to them, where you're like, hey, you know, there's a book coming out.

Like, tell us a little bit about how you kind of built the buzz, built the excitement, and built those, you know, excited your fans into super fans about the book.

Freddy D: 00:27:40

I reached out to a lot of my customers that I was consulting, either in a digital marketing space, helping them grow their space, and those were, you know, you know, one of them is an anchorologist. I think it's pronounced correct. They work with diabetes and all that stuff. Okay. It was a customer of mine for 10 years.

I did all their digital marketing and helping him with his branding and stuff. And, you know, he was, I Sent it to him and, and says hey, I appreciate your feedback. And this guy, you know, speaks all over the world.

I mean he's very well renowned doctor and you know, he gave me some feedback, you know, and actually gave me one of my early test, you know, testimonials and I'll just re read what he basically said is Business Super Fans is a very easy read with practical, valuable, down to earth recommendations from an experienced salesman and entrepreneur.

What might not be so easy for a new or struggling small business person is actually is the actual implementation of the components of this, of the strategies. That is why we don't have enough thriving businesses with their own super fans.

If you are thinking about starting from scratch or reinvigorating your existing business, see if you can put in place these valuable bits of advice and see results.

Melody Ann: 00:28:59

Nice.

Freddy D: 00:28:59

Bloomberg Diabetes Institute.

Melody Ann: 00:29:02

Oh nice. So you used to, you stayed in touch with people while writing the book. You asked for feedback, you know, now their name is in the book. Right?

You've talked about them in the book, they've given a testimony. So to me this sounds like a virtuous circle.

So you've built this, this, you know, I don't just sell something and walk away and I don't just sell a book and walk away. Now I'm starting a conversation and now I'm building a relationship.

And so it sounds to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, the foundation of a super fan is that relationship. It's how they feel about you and how they feel about what you do.

Freddy D: 00:29:38

Yep, yep.

And that's why I'm starting the Business Superfan podcast to take it to another level, to talk about success stories, to talk about challenges of businesses and things that they can do and what worked for somebody else that this guy didn't think of and, and, etc.

But you know, it's, I remember a long time ago when I first got started in the software industry, like a few days ago, like lots of days, there was a, there was a manager that really inspired me about managing people and we were working to do a presentation for the following day and we had prepared, you know, a couple days in advance and this was the night before.

And so we were burning the midnight oil, we were working late at night, you know, getting prepared, making sure, dry rehearsal, blah blah, blah, you know, showbiz. And you know, he comes in with a couple pizzas, some beer and sits down with us, 11 o' clock at night and says, all right, what's going on?

We sat there, we had a, you know, I Ate some pizza in the office, had a few beers, and he says, all right, guys, you know, don't stay up too late, but, you know, do what you guys got to do, you know, tomorrow. So we did. Next morning, I didn't. I. I had my suit in the car, so we just, you know, changed in the office.

Well, actually went to the gym and came to the office. Yeah. And next day was game day, you know, show time. And then when we all got done, he basically came in and says, great job.

You know, Thursday was the. The demo day. He says, I'll see you guys Monday. Get out of here. And, you know, but he appreciated us. He recognized us. He was with us. He encouraged us.

And it was like, you know, that whenever that guy. His name was Tom. Whenever Tom asked for anything, we were all, yeah, we're in, you know, because of the way he treated us.

Melody Ann: 00:31:27

Yes. So respect. Not working you to death. Not. You worked really late Thursday, therefore, you have to work really late Friday. It's.

You worked really late Thursday. Take Friday off and see you on Monday. Right? Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:31:38

Because, you know, you. It's. You know, like I say, people crawl. Crawl through broken glass for appreciation, recognition. He recognized their efforts. He appreciated it.

He showed gratitude. And, you know, we would. We would crawl through broken glass for Tom because he respected us and. And encouraged us to be better than what we were.

Melody Ann: 00:32:01

Yeah. Yeah. I want to go back a little bit. You. You started writing a book, and then you, you know, you. You kind of, as you said, got punched in the gut.

Something happened. It, you know, kind of. Is this really what I want to do?

And then you kind of found your topic, and you started building again, and then you started communicating with people and getting feedback. How did that process. Because one. One thing I believe. Let me back up a little bit.

One thing I believe is if you want engaged readers, be an engaged writer.

Freddy D: 00:32:32

Right?

Melody Ann: 00:32:32

It's one thing I believe. So how did that process of reaching out to people and getting feedback and. And creating this.

This conversation, how did that make you an engaged writer?

Freddy D: 00:32:45

Well, once. Once people started to say, that's a really. That's a good idea. I like. I like where you're going with this. You know, that's.

You know, when I first started talking about, you know, the business superfans idea, and, you know, I was actually meeting with the business coach, and I'm going. I'm struggling with the name. You know, I mean, you know, superfans. Someone else has got superfans. How do I differentiate myself? Blah, blah, blah.

And he Just goes, why don't you just call business superfans? And I went, like, that's the obvious, you know, and the light bulb went off. But I was just brainstorming with a business coach that's a.

That's, you know, a friend, and he's one of my readers and testimonial people. But he was, you know, saying, this is good, and he's a writer, you know, and.

And he was basically saying, you know, you've got a good, good idea here. Run with it.

Melody Ann: 00:33:36

And.

Freddy D: 00:33:36

And so I. Then I talked to somebody else, and I talked to, you know, somebody else.

I went, you know, I did a lot of going out to networking events, and so there's a lot of solopreneurs, and I would ask questions and, you know, what do you think of what if there was a book or method that would help you to create people, that would help promote your business and wouldn't cost you anything, Would that be of some interest to you? You'd be going, yeah, tell me more. You know, okay, well, stay tuned. You know, write their name down. There's. There's a potential.

And that's how I did it.

Melody Ann: 00:34:07

Yeah, no, that's brilliant. And so did. Did you just write the book, or are there other kind of products and services that you've kind of paired with the book?

Freddy D: 00:34:16

I am. I'm launching a community as well. It'll be the business Super Fans accelerator community.

It's partially built, but I just haven't had the time to take it to the next level. I really want to get the. The. The podcast going. The podcast will lead to the community, and the community will be where people have access to me.

And I'm still defining how that's going to be, but so that, you know, we can chat about challenges, accountability, you know, that's one of the things I want to incorporate. This really is okay. If you're going to do this, Jim, when do you plan on having this done, implemented?

Melody Ann: 00:34:54

Let's.

Freddy D: 00:34:54

Let's review what you put together. What's your plan?

And so I want to have that as part of the community so that it's a place where people can come and brainstorm and that people can be held accountable and make it very cost effective for everybody.

Melody Ann: 00:35:10

Yeah, brilliant. Because books are about transformation, and therefore products and services that you add to it are about transformation.

And what you're doing is you're transforming solopreneurs into people who are effective salespeople and know how to build the relationship. So that's. That's brilliant. Thank you so much. I wanted to ask you had a. Because you've been in SaaS and you believe in using tools.

So not only do you have a book about building your business, you actually share a, a whole set of tools for people.

And, and so if, again, if you're listening on the replay or you're watching live, you can learn what these tools are@businesssuperfans.com forward slash tools. That's also in the show notes. But I just wanted to ask you to tell us a little bit about them.

Freddy D: 00:36:01

Okay. Well, some of the tools are, you know, tools that help you engage with your customers or your employees or keeping track of your business.

So, you know, like I, you know, one of the things I talk about is, you know, getting testimonials and how to get testimonials and different tools of testimonials. But one of the simplest tools is taking up your smartphone. You hold it this way, not this way, this way to record a video, okay.

And you just, and you just ask somebody, do you mind if I get a quick testimonial of what you think of the work that I did right here? Because if you just did, let's say you're, you know, you just finished reminding someone who's kitchen, okay? And they spent thousands of dollars.

You know, there's a way that you can take a quick video testimonial and do a quick pan of the kitchen. And that, that couple or that individual, they're super excited because look at their great kitchen.

But then one of the tools I also talk about is, okay, you know, when you're bidding the project, whatever business you're in is to, for example, differentiate yourself and send them a thank you card through the mail, okay? To say thank you for the opportunity to bid on this project, okay. I guarantee the other people aren't doing it.

So right off the bat, you stand out and people go, oh, wow, we got a card. They're really interested in doing this business or, you know, our business.

And then when you are selected, I tell people another tool, send another card as an example to say thank you for selecting us. And here's what's going to happen over the next couple weeks and etc.

Another tool that you can use is a product out of Australia that you can send videos to your customers, you can create videos and you can create a series of them. And it's for use for onboarding customers. So again, you can automate it. And here's a little video.

Hey, thank you for selecting us, blah, blah, blah, here's what to expect. So that's a, that's another tool that can be utilized.

For example, I mean, there's just a multitude of different tools for email engagement, social media engagement that I have listed on the website. There's some that I use personally, CRMs that I use to keep track of when I called somebody, when I need to follow up with somebody, etc.

And a multitude of different other things that, you know, I'm expanding and utilizing myself or I've tested myself and I recommend to streamline the whole, the whole process.

Melody Ann: 00:38:33

Yeah, and I love what you're saying because a lot of people think technology is about distancing us, that technology gets in the way of relationships. But what you're saying is if we use technology to build relationships, then, then we're doing it the right way.

So choose the, choose the tools that help you build relationships. It simplify the process of building relationships. Not tools that separate you from people.

Freddy D: 00:39:03

Correct. That's exactly it.

That's, you know, the, the tools are, you know, as an example, I talk about one of the tools is, you know, email marketing and, and, you know, setting up a series of, you know, there's different tools, but not bombarding people.

Like, you know, the company that I work with, with the inter, you know, the interpreting and translation service, you know, we put out a newsletter, but we do it every 60 days. You know, so it's, we're, we're not trying to be in their face. They know who we are. We're just trying to stay, you know, hey, we're still here.

You know, kind of an approach, a soft approach versus boom, you know, an email every week, you know, you get to the point where people go delete, delete, delete, delete. Because it's in an ending.

Melody Ann: 00:39:52

Yes. Yeah, actually. Wonderful. So just before we wrap up, is there anything we've missed? Any other final words you'd like to say?

Freddy D: 00:40:00

Final words?

I'd just say if you're, if you're writing a book, you know, stand mission, make sure that, you know, if it's a business book primarily, that it's going to take, it's going to help the person read it and more importantly, that it's easy for them to apply the things that you suggest in there.

Because one of the things that I've read in books is it's a great idea, but, man, to get this thing implemented just like, you know, Dr. Groomberger said it was easy to implement. You know, it's, that's something you want to make sure that they can do easily and get to where they want to get to quickly.

Melody Ann: 00:40:42

Yeah. Brilliant. Thank you very much. Really appreciate that. And thank you for joining us today. One more thing, one more thing.

Where can people reach out to you? Sorry, I forgot to ask you. People may want to reach out to you. Where can they get you?

Freddy D: 00:40:55

They can get to me to frederictudek.com they can have my contact information there. And they can reach out, send an email.

The book is available on Amazon in physical and it's also available digitally and, you know, in a multitude of different digital book stores and. Or they can also go to businesssuperfans.com but primarily frederickdudek.com okay, perfect.

Melody Ann: 00:41:23

And all of those are in the description for anyone who's looking for them. And again, sorry about that. I forgot to ask that. Thank you very much for joining us today. Frederick.

Freddy D: 00:41:33

Thank you, Melody.

Melody Ann: 00:41:34

Thank you. And thank you for joining us today as well. Author Nation is a community of authors for authors.

So join us and find your place among other successful nonfiction authors. And next week, we're actually going to be talking to Starlight Mundy about building a community around your book.

Freddy D: 00:42:02

Sa.