Your Iconic Image | Creating Superfans with Author, Frederick Dudek

Marlena Semenza: 00:00:00

Welcome to your iconic image. If you want to take control of your image and be a power player in your space, then this is the show for you.

Here we will arm you with tools and information to help you grow your brand on purpose. I'm your host, Marlena Semenza, photographer and visual strategist. Now let's dive into today's episode.

When Frederick Dudek is not turning ideas into millions of dollars in global sales. The award winning author, speaker and top sales executive spends his time inspiring others to achieve their highest business goals.

Now you can receive the benefit of Frederick's mentorship and experience through his book, Business Superfans. Welcome, Frederick.

Freddy D: 00:00:37

Good morning.

Marlena Semenza: 00:00:38

So first explain to us what exactly is a superfan? How would you define that?

Freddy D: 00:00:43

Well, a super fan in my definition is let's, let's think of a sports team.

So the best way I can explain that is we've all watched football or European soccer or baseball and stuff, and we'll see the fan that's in there and it's got their faces painted, they got the jerseys on, they got the hat hats, they got the banners, they got the bumper stickers on their cars. That's a super fan.

And you know, they're, they're enthralled and, and just energized and their, their energies, you know, contagious and, and they're promoting the, you know, the, the, their team. And if you think about it, is the sports team paying them for that?

Marlena Semenza: 00:01:25

No.

Freddy D: 00:01:27

So are they making money off of the merchandise?

Marlena Semenza: 00:01:30

Of course they are.

Freddy D: 00:01:32

Okay, so they're getting free publicity. They're getting somebody that's talking about the team and all that pr.

They're getting other people sucked into the team to watch the team and everything else.

So the idea came about through my sales experience for many, many years was why can't a business apply the same methodology to create their own super fans for their business to become, to be promoting them? So, you know, there's people talk about brand advocates. Well, you know, I look at it as, okay, brand advocates, cool.

But a super fan is super cool because it's, in my mind, it supersedes the advocate because they're, they're in a sense, fanatics of the business and they're going to be promoting it, talking about it, telling all their friends and family and everything else. Yeah, that's how it all came about.

Marlena Semenza: 00:02:28

And in my head, the term ride or die people kind of came to mind. So then how do we create these for our business?

Freddy D: 00:02:37

Well, that's, that's a really Good question. Because a lot of people have written books on client retention, client engagement and all that aspect.

But really if you think about it, that's a silo. Okay? It's strictly about that. Then there's other people that talk about employees and employee motivation, employee retention and all that stuff.

But really that's another silo. And then nobody talks about the business. What I call business alliance partners, which are complementary businesses that complement one another.

Best example I can say is a painting person and a flooring person. They kind of go together. Okay.

So what I did is through a multitude of research was that I combined all three because at the end of the day all three are intertwined. And, and so that's really the difference.

And so business superfans talks about how to engage those, that group of people which is really, you know, how to handle your customers, how to make sure your employees are engaged, how to make sure your business alliance partners motivated and everything else.

Because if you think about it, let's say I'm a painter and I'm giving the flooring guy a ton of referrals, but they're not going, they're not reciprocated and the flooring guy is not giving me anything back. After some point in time, I'm going to say, you know what, this relationship isn't working. It's one sided.

And so I talk about that, that kind of stuff. It's the same thing with the employee. You know, Sir Richard Branson says it the best.

You know, if you take care of your employees, they'll take care of your customers. So, you know, if you got an employee that's going to do the flooring that the guy that did the, you know, the.

Referred you, the painter to, referred to business and does a poor job, not only does it reflect negatively on your company, it also reflects negatively on the painter. And so that's, that's the things I talk about is, you know, things to do to, to motivate people and to engage them.

But it's, it's a lot more than that. It's not just that part of it. I'm just keeping it short.

Marlena Semenza: 00:04:56

Is it a different strategy to create these superfans depending on the category they fall in, whether they're a business alliance or an employee or a customer?

Freddy D: 00:05:08

Yes and no. Because one of the things I did in, in the book and, and here's, here's the COVID of the book and I'll go kind of go through some of the ch.

So one of the chapters are basically one of them is it all begins with prospecting. So if you're a new business, how do you go and find new clients? How do you create those relationships with those clients?

So that one is focused on really on getting business. Because if you don't have business, well, the rest doesn't matter, right? Then I get into the follow up. Why is it super important?

And the follow up is with clients as well as employees. So if you want to make sure that you're, that they're doing the things that they need to be doing, they're, they're motivated and things like that.

And so follow up with them. Same thing with the business alliance partner. How did the project go? That kind of stuff.

So then we get into, and this is really what I think is really important. One of them is thank you. Builds a bond of trust. And a lot of businesses forget to say thank you. And people don't say thank you to their employees.

Enough. People don't say thank you for, you know, to their partners, business partners enough. And it's, it's such overlooked.

You know, one of the things I talk about in the book is especially for like the home improvement industry, you know, they're notorious. I mean, you've, you've, we've all had work done on our houses or places and we never hear from them again. They're gone.

I mean, we just had, you know, we, I, we had a cleaning person that came in, you know, about three, four months ago. We never heard of them again. Like they never came back.

Reached out and says, hey, you know, it's been three months, you know, are you interested in having your house cleaned again? Zero. Nothing. It's mind boggling. So thank you is to, is to me is paramount.

Marlena Semenza: 00:07:07

Let me just ask you something in that. Do you think that gratitude and follow up are the same thing or they're just kind of two sides of a coin?

Freddy D: 00:07:19

There are two sides of a coin. And I, and I'll talk about gratitude in a, in a moment. Okay. Then the other part is, you know, get personal with birthday greetings.

You know, it's amazing. You know, birthdays are someone's very important day.

And if you acknowledge something and I had this happen, you know, where I sent somebody a birthday card and it was the only card they received and, and they contacted me just, you know, with such emotion that it was, it was just, it blew me away that they were so grateful that I actually thought of them and sent them a card. You know, I'm coaching a, a company right now and today we're gonna have at lunchtime, I'm. I'm going there. We're celebrating an employee's birthday.

And, you know, the owners asked me, well, we wanted to have a business meeting afterwards. I says, are you nuts? You know, this is a birthday. It has nothing to do with business. Keep it light, keep it fun.

Acknowledge the person, because as soon as you switch from birthday, okay, now we're gonna have a meeting, you just negated the whole birthday. And they went like, oh, never looked at it that way. So that's that aspect. The other one is create an environment of appreciation.

One of my personal quotes is that people will crawl through broken glass for appreciation and recognition. Tell me I'm wrong.

Marlena Semenza: 00:08:49

Yeah, and I. I don't think we get it nearly enough.

Freddy D: 00:08:54

No, we don't. And. And it's the. It's the little things. You acknowledge somebody in the little things, and they go, oh, wow. You know, and. And they'll do more.

You know, it's. It's. It's recognizing your customers, it's recognizing your. Your team. It's recognizing a business partner that they did a great job. And.

And so you recommended them. They killed it on a project. Hey, you know, you just made me look good by doing a great job because I recommended you. Thanks. You know, I'm grateful.

You. You knocked it out, so that's important. And the next one is give them what they crave. Recognition.

So, you know, if I turn around and say, you know, John, thanks a lot for the effort that you put in on that stuff. All right, that's fine. John feels great.

If I turn around and says, hey, everybody, I want to take a moment and I want to acknowledge John for doing this particular project. Now, I've done it from everybody. Now I've edified John. Everybody realizes that I appreciate and I recognize John.

So they're going to go, well, you know, I'm in. I'm going to do more so I can get that exposure.

Marlena Semenza: 00:10:07

Right. You know, I.

It's interesting, too, because I recently, I. I know something that happened, that even recognizing what somebody brings to the table or the talent somebody brings to the table or the skill set that somebody brings to the table, acknowledging that and recognizing that really, really goes a long way.

Instead of thinking, you know, if you're a business owner, thinking that you made it all by yourself, because nobody makes it all by themselves, no takes.

Freddy D: 00:10:40

It takes a village. That's, you know, it takes a village. So, you know, that's. To me, those. You know, those are a couple things to thank you.

The appreciation, the Recognition are just, it's easy to do cost nothing and the, the, the, the return on that investment is unsurmountable. So you know, the next thing I, I get into here is retention saves you money.

And you know, it's basically, you know, the cost of onboarding a new customer is phenomenal, you know, in cost. Same thing with an employee.

I mean if you think of the revenue that's lost by losing an employee, not only you lost revenue, you lost revenue of training that employee. Also lost the revenue and productivity of the other employee that's training the new employee that nobody ever thinks about.

And so that's, that's monster. It's the same thing if you have a business alliance partner and that relationship goes, goes out the door.

You know, you're, you're, you're a general contractor as an example and you lose your electrician and you need an electrician. So now you gotta find somebody, gotta make sure that they're qualified and all that stuff. And so your project falls behind.

I mean it's so, you know, it's important to you know, do things that are going to retain the team that you've got put together. You know. And then I get on to is go beyond expectations with unexpected extras. And this is something that is.

Blows my mind how people don't take the time to do that little something extra. I'll share a story that I put into the book. That is when I really realized the power of it. And it happened to me.

We, we ordered some food from a restaurant. We lived in a, in a nice condo area and right across the street was a whole shopping restaurant place. You know, it's pretty cool.

So we, we sold our car for eight months and walked everywhere. And I go there to pick up the food. No food. And you know, so the, the hostess gets the manager and I says, you know, I've called, blah, blah, blah.

And he says well okay, I'll take care of it. We'll get it there. So they, it goes and they make the food comes back, you know, and buys it says go sit the bar.

I'll buy you a beer while you're waiting. Because you know it's, it's a mess up. So it comes back to food. We look at the food and Murphy's law comes in.

Not only did the order wasn't done in the first time, one of the orders is wrong, you know, so it's like, it's, it's tumbling. And so I'm sitting there, he goes, oh my God. He goes, I'll Personally make sure that it's done.

So I sit there, he goes and gets the food, comes back, and he says, hang on a second. He runs back and he brings back a dessert and goes, desserts on. On us. I says, okay, how much do I owe you for the food? And he goes, nothing.

We completely screwed it up. As a matter of fact. He goes, here's a couple tickets for $5, two of you, two tickets for $5 off of both of you for your next meal.

And it was just like. Now, that was, you know, the unexpected extra. And we've, We've. We're super fans of that place. We go there all the time because the food's phenomenal.

But the service and that little extra that he did got me as a customer for life.

Marlena Semenza: 00:14:22

Yeah. And it also seems that by doing that, he also, you know, showed appreciation to you.

Freddy D: 00:14:29

Yeah.

Marlena Semenza: 00:14:30

And so in doing all of this, at what point, let's just say, and it may be obvious, but it may not be at what point in creating these superfans, let's say we have alliances with various people or businesses, at what point do we cut our losses without creating an issue with that business or company? Let's say if we are working, you know, as an alliance partner.

Freddy D: 00:15:00

Very good question. At some point in time, I would say that probably the best way to do that is to just say that you're going in a different direction.

And so it's not, you know, it's a nice, subtle way of just saying, you know, I'm changing my business model a little bit, and so I'm going to be going in another direction, and I appreciate all your efforts. So he's.

Again, you want to, again, appreciate, you're grateful for the partnership and stuff, but, you know, I need to grow and, and the growth is taking me to a different direction, and people will appreciate that and understand that. And therefore, you've not burned that bridge. You've just said, you know, simply said, hey, I'm going into another direction.

And I think we, you know, our. Our partnership, I value it, but it's not going to go where I'm going.

Marlena Semenza: 00:15:54

Does it ever benefit us to. I'm going to use the word confront, but that's. That's not really what I mean. But to.

To speak to them about, you know, listen, I. I've referred 25 people to you, and I've gotten nothing.

Freddy D: 00:16:11

Yeah, we just talked about that. Yes. Completely understand that. I. I would say that in my.

In my experience, in, in the past, I would kind of see what's happening and have a conversation about their business. And, and you know, I had a reseller that I worked with a long time ago that, that weren't selling a lot of our product.

And so I flew out, visited them and, and asked, you know, what's going on? How's your business?

And you know, simply just asked, you know, how is it, how come is it that we're, you know, we get periodic sales but you know, is there a different focus?

And it turned out that their business was really in a different direction and they had our product as if somebody asked for it, they wanted to be able to say that they had it. But it turned out that that really wasn't their focus.

And, and so at that point in time, you know, after a little while, I didn't do it on that point in time, but it just says, you know what, we're going to go in a different direction. And you know, this I, you know, continue and the way you're going, I wish you much success but I need to make some changes.

And they were, they understood because I handled it. It wasn't, you know, confrontational.

It was, you know, businesses were going differently and you're going differently and so wish you all the success and I support you, but I got to do things too.

Marlena Semenza: 00:17:48

Does it benefit us in the beginning to have conversations with whomever it is, whether it be a business alliance or an employee or to set expectations of this is what, you know, this is what I expect to give you and this is what I expect in return?

Freddy D: 00:18:06

I think so, because then you're both walking into the relationship knowing what's, what each other's expecting. And you know, I, in the past, I set up about 60 resellers around the world and different cultures, different languages and all that stuff.

But one of the things I always did was, okay, here's what we're going to do. And I'd spent time with them and how are you going to market our service? How are you going to market our relationship?

And they're, and they're in turn, they asked me, how are you going to support us? And so we, we defined what it was. So both of us knew what each other was expecting.

And that's what really took, you know, the sales for this particular product from 0 to about 3 million net to the company in a less than a three year period. So it's about 6 million in street sales.

But it was because of that we, you know, we talked about strategies that they could be doing and you know, they asked, okay, what kind of Collateral are we going to be providing them and is it going to be localized in their language and stuff like that? So yes, it's very important to have those type of conversations with your business alliance partners.

Marlena Semenza: 00:19:21

So tell us about some of the resources in the book.

Freddy D: 00:19:24

Well, some of the things in the resources. What's unique about the book is it's not a book that you just read and say, okay, thanks, great, nice book.

And, and it sits there on the shelf for the next 20 years. It's designed to be a reference book.

So it not only tells you about why you need to be doing those things, but it then it tells you, each chapter tells you what to do, how to do it and the tools to use to do it.

So that's where I really made a difference because I've, you know, I got a whole bookshelf of a multitude of books and I looked at all of them and said, you know, and how many have I gone back to? You know, pretty much none.

Marlena Semenza: 00:20:09

Sounds like my bookshelf.

Freddy D: 00:20:11

Yeah, I read them, so I did that.

And so each chapter, you know, there's areas where I, you know, into the book where, you know, we talk about, for example, networking and then there's steps to hear, you know, are you a multi session at that level, blah, blah, blah.

And then at the end of each chapter, what's really unique about the book is you have the ability to rate yourself on that particular chapter's topic from a 0 to a 10. And then what we did is we created what I call the Superfans scorecard. And so it's a, it's like a dartboard.

And what you do is, and It's a scale, 0 to, to 30, 31 to 60, 61 to 80 and 91 to 100. You go through and you put in the dots of per each chapter and you'll find out that you're got a little bit of a dilapidated wheel.

Most likely it's not going to be nice and smooth. And so we get into, and there's a multitude of different things that you can actually look to do for each chapter.

And then there's an action guide that goes through and says, okay, you know, what are, what are the action steps? Who's responsible, deadline, resources, barrier and results. And so you've got that ability and that's free, it's in the book.

Or you can go to the businesssuperfans.com website and get it for free. And it's really a guide to help you take action on what's in the Book.

Marlena Semenza: 00:21:48

Book. Love it. And you have an accelerator community and a podcast. Tell us about those things too.

Freddy D: 00:21:54

Yep. Well, the podcast is going to be launching, looking at probably September on it. So I'm still getting all the components put together.

And I want to talk about.

The intent of the podcast is to talk about people that have implemented the different things of the book and bring in experts and, and technology people as well to talk about, you know, how they've implemented the things to create their super fans as well as, since my background is in the software industry, bring in people in the softnesses. Okay, how is your particular software app going to help businesses create their. Their own team of super fans?

And it might be, you know, accounting software, it could be a customer relationship software, it could be, you know, HR, human resources software, marketing software, etc.

And so I want to be able to be talking about those tools, how they work, how to apply them, and people that have utilized that kind of stuff and what's. What the results are. So that's the intent of the podcast and the business superfans accelerator community.

And I'm in the process of putting that together. And the intent is, okay, you read the book. What are you doing about it?

And so it's kind of an accountability and it's going to be kind of a community to where people can interchange ideas.

And then, you know, some people will have access to me personally for coaching or, you know, group coaching on a particular day for an hour or hour and a half via video. And, you know, okay, Johnny, what have you done? Susie, what have you done?

And that kind of stuff and really help build people and create, you know, my own team of super fans that are out there growing their businesses and promoting this book and stuff like that.

Marlena Semenza: 00:23:54

So let me ask you this. If people don't get anything out of this podcast or out of the book except one thing, what do you think the most important thing to get out of it is?

Freddy D: 00:24:05

The most important thing to get out of this is to, I would say, appreciate and recognize people because like I said earlier, people will crawl through broken glass for that. And I think that that's overlooked.

People take, especially managers and organizations and business owners, some of them have the mindset, well, you know, I gave them a job and it's like, dude, or do that. You know, no employees, you got no business. Hello. And I got to put it bluntly, you know, and so I think that that's overlooked in a lot of cases.

We end up taking things for granted, just like we do in our relationships, personal Relationships, we take things, we get to the point where things are expected or take it for granted. And you can't, You've got to express recognition, appreciation. Even if you've been together with somebody for 10, 20 years, it's still important.

Marlena Semenza: 00:25:08

Yeah. And I think people forget that, that even though this is business, these are still relationships.

And so you are going to get out of it what you put into it.

Freddy D: 00:25:19

Yep.

Marlena Semenza: 00:25:19

And if you just like in any, any romantic relationship, if you, it's one sided and it's all about you, that person's not going to stick around very long.

Freddy D: 00:25:29

No, no, that's why I said that's. I'd say that that's the two most important. And then on top of that, which is the last chapter is gratitude. Be grateful.

Be grateful and express gratitude. When someone does something, take a moment to not only appreciate them, but just tell them you're grateful.

You know, they, they made an impact, they did something for you and we overlook gratitude.

Marlena Semenza: 00:25:59

Agreed. Couldn't agree more. Okay, that. With that, my friend, I just have four final questions for you.

Freddy D: 00:26:05

Okay.

Marlena Semenza: 00:26:05

First one, what is the best piece of advice you were ever given?

Freddy D: 00:26:09

Best piece is read books. That's. That changed my life. I. My, one of my first jobs.

Well, actually my first job was I was a gas station attendant back in the day when you pumped gas, cleaned the windshield, checked the oil.

And I met a guy and I recognize him in the book, he taught me and gave me a pamphlet which I still have 40, 50 years later that was about reading books and certain books to read. And I read them all. The think and grow rich, you know, and the magic of thinking big and all that stuff. And it completely changed my life.

Marlena Semenza: 00:26:58

Would you consider yourself a lifelong learner?

Freddy D: 00:27:01

Yeah. Yep. Yep.

Marlena Semenza: 00:27:03

Yeah. Okay. Share with us one thing on your bucket list.

Freddy D: 00:27:09

Get a nice big boat. And I'm looking at a solar powered boat possibly. And cruise around and visit at least 30 to 60 more countries.

So I like to get as close to 100 before I say au revoir.

Marlena Semenza: 00:27:30

Do you have it mapped out yet,.

Freddy D: 00:27:32

Your route could start out in the Caribbean because I haven't been there. I've done all of Europe and I've done some of Asia, Australia, New Zealand, that area. So. But I haven't done that in the Caribbean.

So I want to hit the Caribbean first and then a little bit of some South America and then go from there.

Marlena Semenza: 00:27:55

Nice. So when the toy companies finally get around to making an action figure of you, what two accessories will it come with?

Freddy D: 00:28:01

A laptop and a camera.

Marlena Semenza: 00:28:04

Perfect. And last one, how do people find you? How do people get the book?

Freddy D: 00:28:09

They can find me@ either frederickdudek.com which is F R E D E R I C k D u d e k.com or you can go to businesssuperfans.com and the book can be purchased on Amazon as well as Apple Books as a ebook and a multitude of other ebook places. But if they want a physical copy, Amazon is the place to go. And there's a promotion right now going on for 99 cents for the ebook on Amazon.

And if anybody buys the book and joins the community, they will get three months of free coaching by me.

Marlena Semenza: 00:28:52

Very nice. Well, thank you so very much for being here and sharing all your expertise.

Freddy D: 00:28:57

Well, thank you as well. I appreciate the opportunity to be here.

Marlena Semenza: 00:29:02

Thank you for joining us once again. I'm Marlena Semenza, photographer and visual strategist. Please comment, like or share this episode.

And don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss a thing. For more information on how I can help you create your iconic image, visit marlenasamenza. Com.

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