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Transforming Clients into Raving Advocates for Your IT Services Company, with Stuart Selbst.
Episode 31 • 30th June 2024 • Business Superfans Podcast • Frederick Dudek (Freddy D)
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Episode 31  Frederick Dudek (Freddy D)

Transforming Clients into Raving Advocates for Your IT Services Company, with Stuart Selbst.

In this episode of the Business Superfan Podcast, I had the pleasure of chatting with Stuart Selbst , the Director of Customer Experience at Nothing But Net. Stu shared his journey from owning his own IT company to joining Nothing But Net, where he focuses on creating exceptional client experiences. We discussed the importance of building strong relationships and fostering superfans by understanding clients’ visions and goals. Stu emphasized the value of loyalty programs, recognizing referrals, and creating a community of advocates. His insights highlight the power of meaningful connections and a customer-centric approach in driving long-term business success.

Discover more with our detailed show notes and exclusive content by visiting: https://bit.ly/3XN0Kxa

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Mentioned in this episode:

Business Superfans Accelerator

Attention business owners, are you looking to transform your employees, customers, and business allies relationships and elevate your brand to new heights? Join the Business Superfans Accelerator today. Led by me, Freddie D, this dynamic mentorship program empowers you to turn your stakeholders into passionate superfans. The ultimate brand advocates who actively promote your business. Imagine a community of dedicated supporters promoting your products or services, not just through word of mouth, but as proud champions of your brand. With exclusive access to monthly Q& A sessions, brainstorming opportunities, and valuable resources like online courses, playbooks, and much more. This program is designed to provide you with the tools you need for sustainable, profitable growth. Don't wait. Every moment you delay allows your competition to get ahead. Sign up now at bizsuperfans. community and start unleashing the potential of your superfans today. Your brand's transformation awaits. Let's make business growth your reality.

Business Superfans Accelerator

Business Superfans Accelerator



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

Transcripts

Freddy D:

Stuart Selbst known as Stu serves as a director of client

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experience at Nothing But Net,

where he plays a crucial role in

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overseeing the sales team and ensuring

the success of all of our clients.

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With over three decades of

experience in the it industry

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Stu has an impressive background.

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He has worked in both corporate it and has

also successfully managed his own it firm.

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His experienced extends

beyond national borders.

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As is provided consultancy services to it.

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Firms and software companies, worldwide

stews career highlights include serving

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as COO of a thriving software company.

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Stu is not only a seasoned it

professional, but also a dedicated

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business leader with a genuine passion

for helping others achieve success.

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In addition to his professional

commitments, your organizes, a

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popular monthly networking event,

named the Business and Brews.

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Which fosters connections among local

businesses at nearby craft breweries.

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Residing in Mesa, Arizona Stu

shares his home with his wife,

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Loree, and their cherished feline

companions, Cliff and Chloe.

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And enthusiastic sports fan, Stu

enjoys embracing life and immersing

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himself in the world around him.

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His love for adventure extends to

travel, where he seeks to experience

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all that the world has to offer.

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Stu takes great pleasure in

treating his friends and family to

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mouthwatering barbecue creations.

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Welcome Stuart, or as you'd like

to be called, Stu Selbis, to

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the Business Superfans Podcast.

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How are you this morning?

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Stuart Selbst: I'm good, Freddie.

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I'm good.

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Yeah.

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It's a Friday morning,

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Freddy D: it is a Friday morning.

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It's an exciting Friday morning.

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We're ready for the weekend.

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Stuart Selbst: It is.

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Yeah.

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I'm ready for the weekend.

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I need some downtime.

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This has been a crazy work week,

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Freddy D: Yeah, I can I can relate.

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I can totally relate.

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Share with our audience your story

of how you got to where you are right

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now, which is Director of Customer

Experience for an IT company called

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Nothing But Net, which is a cool name.

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Stuart Selbst: Thanks.

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I'm quite proud of the name.

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So I've been in the IT industry a

long time from working in corporate

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IT in my early 20s to having my

own IT company in the early:

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and selling it and then consulting.

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And when I decided that it was no

longer time for me to be my own boss.

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I bounced around a couple of

companies and I actually saw a

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position open with nothing but that.

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And I know the owner Bob Cox, who's

been a friend of mine for 16 or

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17 years throughout the industry.

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Cause when I was speaking and

consulting in the industry,

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we would run into each other.

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And obviously both being from the

Phoenix area, we would talk about things

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going on and just had a nice rapport.

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So I told him years ago, I said,

someday I'm going to come work with you.

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And so he was advertising on LinkedIn

for a director of sales position,

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and I applied and I called him up

and I said, Hey, Bob, I applied for

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this director of sales position.

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And he's Stu, come on in.

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And so I came in and we

sat down and we talked.

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I'm like, Hey, I really don't think

that we should ever use the title

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director of sales because it comes

across salesy, very old school.

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And I do believe that the the client

experience starts with the sale.

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So I want to direct the client experience.

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So the title is director

of client experience.

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I run sales, marketing customer

success, things along those lines.

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So that's how I really

came into this position.

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But what really drives me here is as

I was interviewing, there were these

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wooden letters, PLJ up on the wall.

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And I asked Bob, I'm like, what's PLJ?

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He's you don't know.

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I said, no.

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He says we've done each other a long time.

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You don't know what PLJ is.

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He says, PLJ is our corporate identity.

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PLJ information systems incorporated

doing business as Nothing But Net.

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So it was PLJ stand for

says peace, love, and joy.

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And I was sold.

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Because that's the concept

of what we're about.

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We're not just an IT service provider.

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We are a service company that does IT

services and we're very engaged in taking

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care of our clients and we want to do

it with peace, love, and joy, right?

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Have a happy day, have a happy world.

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We know things, you're gonna hit speed

bumps along the way, but you know what?

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If we can have a good attitude

about it and, Freddie D,

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you've known me long enough.

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Freddy D: Oh, yeah, we met back

a long time ago, early:

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Stuart Selbst: So my whole philosophy

in life is, be nice to people, I've

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had my ups and downs in life and,

we all have had our ups and downs in

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relationships and whatever, but, the

whole concept of Nothing But Net of the

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peace, joy, and love and having that

literally on the wall of the office

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every single day where you have to see

it makes it ingrained in your thoughts.

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Freddy D: That's an important

thing that you said right there

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is having it up on the wall.

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I think companies, regardless of the

industry, should have a mission statement

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or their whole aspect of what they're

about, so that you see it, because,

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like you just said, it gets ingrained in

your head, and your whole culture, your

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mindset, your belief, it's a game changer.

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Stuart Selbst: Absolutely.

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It goes back to one of the

philosophies that I strongly

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believe in, and EOS, right?

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Traction?

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As, and I'm not a, I'm not an EOS

consultant or whatever, but I do believe

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in it and having been a chief operation

officer and understanding operations.

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But a big part of that is have

your mission up on the wall, right?

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Freddy D: Everybody is on the same page.

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Stuart Selbst: Right, becomes culture,

it becomes embedded, it becomes a second

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nature and, I believe leading by example.

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I think that's the way my boss,

Bob, does that because he is always

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about the peace, love and joy.

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He's always about taking

the higher road and.

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Being the better person and

sometimes, every now and again you'll

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lose the battle, but win the war

because you take the higher road.

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I'm okay with that, I'm okay

getting beat up a little bit, but

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I'm not going to get destroyed.

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Freddy D: Sure.

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It's, think of a rowing team.

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Okay, and everybody's

got to be on the boat.

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Everybody's got to be rowing at the exact

same time and going in the same direction.

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By having that mission statement, up

there where everybody sees it daily.

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It gets everybody in tune on the same page

or basically go back to the rowing boat.

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They're on the rowing boat and they're

all rowing at the exact same time

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going in one direction, now they're

efficient and that's really important.

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Stuart Selbst: Again like you don't

become super efficient in rowing

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or anything, hockey, whatever,

baseball without practicing, and

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it's practicing all the time.

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I use the PLJI the peace,

love, and joy a lot.

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And sometimes.

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Ever so often, I lose my cherub

like demeanor, and I lose the peace,

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love, and joy, and it frustrates me.

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But then I snap back

into why I'm here, okay?

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I'm here to do a job, but the mission of

the organization, is bigger than the job.

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It's bigger than the one person.

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It's bigger than anything that we can do.

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I think that's the reason that we're

a successful organization, and one

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of the reasons that I am here, is

to bring that customer focused,

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consultative approach of technology and

business to the masses, especially the

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businesses in Arizona, and it doesn't

matter the size of the organization.

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But, to consult and just have it

have a sit down with somebody,

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they don't have to become a client.

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Sometimes it's not a good play.

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It's not a good fit.

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Freddy D: But here's a cool thing that

I one of the other individual that I had

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on a previous podcast, Rick Benton talked

about the fact that even though they were

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not a good fit for his previous business.

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He still wanted them to become a

superfan of his organization, because

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even though they didn't do business,

or in your case, you didn't do business

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with some XYZ company, the fact that

they appreciated who you are, they're

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still going to tell other people, and

they're going to be your, your brand

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advocates, or I call superfans, that

are going to be promoting you anyway.

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Stuart Selbst: Absolutely.

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So it's funny you say that because a

couple of months ago I was meeting with

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a company, a nonprofit actually, cause

we do a lot of work in the nonprofit

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space and as I was sitting down with

them and learning about their business

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and their infrastructure and whatnot,

and they're a Mac mostly Macs and

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no servers, no real infrastructure.

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It wasn't a good fit.

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However, the conversations have

been still going on, Hey, Stu,

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we want to do this and this.

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Okay.

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Now fast forward six months later,

I was having a conversation with

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one of their leaders I thought

about what you said six months ago

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and we've really be considering it.

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I don't want to replace all our

computers, but is there a way that we

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could have that same level of security?

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I said, yes.

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We can put everything, everybody

into a remote desktop and we can have

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the servers in the domain and da.

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So now the conversation is now

going to, alright, we want to

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put that into our 2025 budget.

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I went and consulted and had a meeting

with somebody and where it wasn't a

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good fit, they're still a fan of what

we do and wanted to find a way to work

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with us because they had talked to

five other IT companies and they all

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told them the same thing, we don't

work with Macs, we don't do this.

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But they knew to come to me or come

to nothing but net and They'll, will

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come up with a solution that will work.

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So, you're right.

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It's a superfan.

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And it takes a while to build superfans.

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People will be advocates, right?

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Freddy D: Yep.

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Stuart Selbst: But there's a difference

between an advocate and a superfan.

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Freddy D: Yeah.

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Superfan is advocates on steroids.

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Stuart Selbst: Yeah,

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Freddy D: Think of the sports team, and

you've got, the fans, and there's the

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fans, and then there's the superfans,

and the superfans, as you can see

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in my background, got the faces

painted, got the jerseys, got the

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banners, got the hats, got the bumper

sticker, and they're promoting the

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team and are spending their own money

buying the gear, promoting the team.

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Stuart Selbst: So years ago, I did

a presentation in the IT industry

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called Selling IT Services, How Not To

Suck At It, and I did it at different

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conferences and everyone loved it, and

it went on for three or four years.

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Hey, Stu, can you refresh

your presentation?

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But as I was putting it together,

I thought about superfans, right?

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I thought about advocacy for businesses

and there's one company out there that

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has the biggest superfans in the world

where their fans are so dedicated.

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They will tattoo that company's brand on

their body, and that's Harley Davidson.

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Freddy D: Absolutely correct.

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Yep.

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Stuart Selbst: They will brand themselves.

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With that logo, I don't see

anybody putting the nothing

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but net logo on their bodies.

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I would be really happy if someone

ripped off their shirt and said,

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Hey, look at nothing, but net.

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But when you think about that,

how long did it take Harley

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Davidson be to get to that level?

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It was probably 50, 60, 70 years, but

they kept at it from the time they

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started to the time they sold to AMC

and then they bought themselves back.

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You just look at it, but

they're at it every single day.

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One of the things we need to do as small

businesses or leaders is we need to be

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at it every single day talking to our

clients and we always have an excuse.

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All right.

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And one of the things I'm just trying to

shake off is, I manage the sales team and

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whatnot here, but I still need to go and

do some door knocking with my clients.

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I'm just trying to get that

on my schedule right now.

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I look at my calendar and it's

filled with other stuff and I'm

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just going to start canceling crap.

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Freddy D: You're right, but

that's what I'm creating this

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business superfan movement.

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And I like, I'm calling it a

movement because really we need to

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blend all old school ways of doing

things and incorporate new ways

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of doing things and blend the two.

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Now you really got the best of the best

because you're leveraging technology,

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but then you got the old fashioned,

in person touch, in person phone call.

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It's not automated as we are today,

but it's still differentiate.

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It's like sending somebody

a thank you card through the

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mail versus a thank you text.

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Stuart Selbst: But here's the thing

Freddy, and this is something that

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I'm struggling with and people in

our age group probably also struggle

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with this because we're, In the

twilight of our career, right?

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We're not our customer anymore.

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We're not the demographic of our customer.

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Our customers are millennials now.

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People that are making the buying

decisions for it services or consulting

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services or whatever services,

whatever they're millennials.

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The way that we did business and our

parents did business and our grandparents

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did business of the handshake and going

seeing people and bringing the gift and

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the thank you card and things like that.

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I'm not sure that's still valid,

even though in my mind, a nice touch.

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Freddy D: I think it's still

valid because I've gotten people

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that would text me, I'd send them

something, and they would go wow.

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That was really nice.

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I appreciate that it,

because it's different.

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They're not used to it, they're used to

the instant text, and everything else.

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Again, I say you got to blend the

two and that's why I wrote the book,

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Creating Business Superfans and I've set

up, the Business Superfans Accelerator

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community is really to blend old school

with new school, because it works.

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Stuart Selbst: I'm sure it is.

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Freddy D: A multi pronged approach.

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You can send a text, but at the same

time, all of a sudden, they get a

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real card in the mail, for example.

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Or you you send a recorded video

and you send it over to somebody

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to wish them happy birthday.

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And you just click a quick

video and you send it to them.

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Big difference.

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Stuart Selbst: It's that

personal touch, right?

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Because, it goes to

personal feelings, right?

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And Again, this goes way back, and we've

talked about this for years, you and I.

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People do business with people

they like and trust, okay?

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Freddy D: People will also

forget what you said, but they'll

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remember how you made them feel.

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Stuart Selbst: Always remember

how you made them feel.

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So yeah, that's my philosophy.

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I'm with you on that.

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I think building superfans is great.

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I think if using the Harley Davidson

analogy again, I mean we need to all

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find more Harley Davidson kind of people

that are willing to tattoo nothing

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but net on their bodies, or at least

promote them or even wear our barbecue

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aprons that we're giving out the summer.

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Yeah, that's our summer swag,

barbecue aprons with barbecue

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tools, and me and my barbecue.

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Freddy D: So lemme ask a question.

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Stuart Selbst: Yeah.

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Go ahead.

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Freddy D: We're talking about this stuff.

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What do you think IT companies in

general are overlooking in doing to

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creating superfans with their customers?

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Stuart Selbst: It's a good question.

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I can tell you what we do, but

let me make it more broad, because

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I think it's a broader question.

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You're asking IT companies in

general, we're a boutique firm,

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we're very customer focused.

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I think the problem, and I'm

going to call it a problem, maybe

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even a pandemic, so to speak.

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But technology companies are so focused

on the technology, and not the results,

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not the solution, not the people.

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So I think when you lose touch of

who you're serving, and you think

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you're a technology company, like

managed service providers like us,

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we typically do not invent anything.

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Okay, we're not building software.

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We're not creating the

next microprocessor.

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We work with companies like

Microsoft and Intel and.

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Lenovo and Cisco, they're the

ones that are building stuff.

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We're an integrator.

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We're a, we're the service provider.

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We're a reseller.

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Okay.

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What we do as technologists, we're

still going to call us technologists.

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Typically, the industry focuses

too much on the what, not the why,

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You know me, I'm a big Simon Sinek fan.

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So I'll talk about that

golden circle, right?

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The golden , and we try to focus on

our why, like just recently, I went

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through a exercise of breaking down our

unique value prop, our UVP and put in a

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presentation to my boss and my sales team.

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This is what we're about.

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You guys, we broke it down.

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We got granular.

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You should see the whiteboard

in the conference room.

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We got really granular what we did.

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Dude, I even took it to the next level and

did a SWOT analysis for my internal team.

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I wanted to know what everyone thought

about our strengths, our weaknesses,

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our threats, and our opportunities.

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So I did a SWOT analysis with our

team, and I think that's what IT

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companies are missing as a whole.

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You have an advocate for the

customer, which was, let's call it me.

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Okay.

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But then you have 20 technicians that

are just, they want to do the work.

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Freddy D: You made me think of something.

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Yesterday, I was working with one of

my customers and they brought in a

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monitor as I needed an extra monitor.

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So the guy shows up, with his

companionette, okay, to deliver a monitor,

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hooks it up, it's dusty, it's dirty, and

everything else, and he goes I'm sorry,

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it's a dusty monitor, but, the company

got a really good deal on this thing.

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I didn't say a word, I just thought

to myself, That was just absolutely

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horrible experience, because it showed

that he didn't care, zero customer

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service, and totally indifferent.

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Stuart Selbst: So something like that

would never ever happen in our world.

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Okay.

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Even if we had a used monitor that

we were giving to a client, right?

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My team would clean it up, polish

it, put it in a box or at least a bag

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to keep it dust free, lay it down,

test it, make sure it all worked.

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That's the difference, that's the

PLJ,, that's the peace, love, and joy,

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That's how our clients know that we

care, and again, like I said earlier.

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There's going to be times that we

trip over our shoelaces, right?

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They're going to hit a speed bump.

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We're going to screw something

up because we are human, right?

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Just like you described,, you guys,

go above and beyond, my perception

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is the guy really didn't give a crap.

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He was just there to just,

here's the, here's your monitor.

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Bye.

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A couple of squirts of Windex

and a paper towel go a long way.

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But you know what?

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A lot of IT type people do not think

about that, and the funny thing is,

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we're looking at a marketing firm right

now, and I asked for some references.

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I want to check everybody out.

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So they gave me one I talked

to, and it's a very small

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firm in Maine that I spoke to.

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:

One person, managed service

provider in the state of Maine.

353

:

We're having a conversation.

354

:

She's very happy with

this marketing company.

355

:

But the thing that disappoints me a

little bit is the marketing vendor

356

:

gave me a company that doesn't

even come to our demographic.

357

:

We're a 19 person organization

in Phoenix, seventh largest

358

:

city in, oh, we're actually in

Chandler, but Phoenix metro area.

359

:

We're the seventh largest

city in, in the U.

360

:

S.

361

:

Why don't you give me somebody

who's closer to our size in

362

:

a larger city like Denver?

363

:

Or Chicago or something like that to

talk to because they're experiencing

364

:

some of the same issues that we are.

365

:

We're in Phoenix, there's

a lot of competition.

366

:

I want this marketing company

to help me differentiate myself.

367

:

I can tell people we create superfans,

that we do things better, but until

368

:

they know, until they experience the

nothing but net way, they don't know.

369

:

They can just assume and I never

want people to assume something.

370

:

Okay, and I never want to be

salesy even though that's my job.

371

:

I want people to believe in our message.

372

:

I want people to understand that

we are here to serve our community.

373

:

We are here to help our clients

and our prospects and I reached

374

:

out to a prospect today that we're

supposed to meet late next month.

375

:

I asked him, can we meet a little earlier?

376

:

I really want to get to know your

business better and talk about

377

:

the collaborative partnership.

378

:

Not about, hey, can I

sell you IT services?

379

:

Can I sell you some IT stuff.

380

:

No, I want to know more about them.

381

:

Because if I know more about them,

what they do, what their mission is,

382

:

what their passion is, In the back

of my head, because you know me.

383

:

I'm going to try to find a way

to help increase their business.

384

:

I'm going to not only come up with good

solutions from a technology perspective

385

:

of where we should take them, but also

who do I know that can utilize them?

386

:

Who do I know, cause givers gain.

387

:

Freddy D: That goes back when I

was selling manufacturing software.

388

:

You made me think of my old selling

days, and I would never get into the

389

:

features and functions of the software.

390

:

I would be talking to the head guy, the

owner of the company or the president

391

:

of the company, and I'd flat out tell

him, Our product does the job, the other

392

:

product that you're going to look at does

the job, and the other product that you're

393

:

going to look at, they all do the job.

394

:

I ask where do you want

to be in five years?

395

:

What's your strategy?

396

:

What's your vision?

397

:

And we got out of the conversation

of does it turn right?

398

:

Does it turn left?

399

:

Is it blue?

400

:

Is it green?

401

:

Stuart Selbst: Where's it

going to take your business?

402

:

Freddy D: We're looking at how

can I help you grow your business?

403

:

What's your strategy and

what's your timeline?

404

:

How can we help accomplish that goal?

405

:

Then really the sale becomes backwards

because, okay, to reach your goal,

406

:

Stu, that you just told me that

you want to do in three years, you

407

:

want to increase, by 2 million.

408

:

We need to back this up.

409

:

Because you got training, you got to

run systems simultaneously, you can't

410

:

just shut one off, you got to run two

systems temporarily, make sure everything

411

:

is going, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

412

:

Based upon your timeline you

just gave me, Stu, you need to

413

:

issue that PO to me tomorrow.

414

:

Stuart Selbst: Yesterday.

415

:

Yeah.

416

:

No I'm with you.

417

:

A thousand percent.

418

:

Freddy D: Yeah.

419

:

It's a lot of fun because you leave

everybody else behind because they're

420

:

all busy talking about this turns blue

and it does that, and it flips this

421

:

and we're so wonderful about that.

422

:

Stuart Selbst: You don't

talk about features.

423

:

You talk about how it's going to benefit.

424

:

I got two stories that I want to share.

425

:

They're both current clients, just

a fantastic construction company.

426

:

And they've grown so much.

427

:

They've outgrown QuickBooks, right?

428

:

So they're talking to me and

cause they know I come from that

429

:

ERP world and stuff like that.

430

:

I said we can go a

couple of different ways.

431

:

We can go to a Sage cause Sage is really

designed for the construction business.

432

:

However, let's really look to the future.

433

:

Let's look five, seven,

10 years out there.

434

:

I said, let's look at a true ERP system.

435

:

Let's look at NetSuite.

436

:

I'm a big fan of NetSuite.

437

:

We're actually a referral partner to them.

438

:

That's all we do is refer the business.

439

:

He says, okay so we've been working

with NetSuite and them a little bit, and

440

:

he's pretty impressed, but we're going

to evaluate a couple of other things.

441

:

But for him to come to me and

say, Stu, this is where we're at.

442

:

I said, okay let's look at

these different solutions.

443

:

Now we don't sell them, but we have that

trust and they understand that we are

444

:

going to look at how it affects the user

community within the organization, how

445

:

it can from a technological standpoint.

446

:

How it can take their business to

the next level, and what other things

447

:

are they going to need, whether

it's bandwidth or infrastructure,

448

:

whatever, to run these systems.

449

:

Okay.

450

:

So we can plan accordingly.

451

:

That's what I try to get

across to every client.

452

:

Freddy D: You know what?

453

:

That's the unexpected.

454

:

I'll call that the unexpected extra

because you're not getting paid for this,

455

:

but you're helping that business go to

the next level, which in turn is going

456

:

to transform them into your superfan.

457

:

Because the owner of that company knows

other owners of other companies, and

458

:

they're going to be having beers or

conversation or coffee or whatever.

459

:

And that's going to come up and go, Oh

man, you got to talk to my buddy, Stu.

460

:

He'll hook you up.

461

:

Stuart Selbst: And that's

how that came about.

462

:

So a good friend of mine is the

guy's business coach, and he was

463

:

having problems with his IT company.

464

:

He's Oh, you got to talk to Stu.

465

:

With, he didn't miss a beat.

466

:

You got to talk to Stu.

467

:

And we met the next day

and signed on with us.

468

:

The other client that I want to talk

about, he goes, I want to go to the cloud.

469

:

Okay.

470

:

What do you want to put in the cloud?

471

:

I want to put everything in the cloud.

472

:

Okay.

473

:

So we start talking about these things.

474

:

He's got some products with big

databases and stuff like that.

475

:

So we're looking at Azure and I'm like,

you're going to spend 25, 000 a month.

476

:

Now, I don't want to go to the cloud.,

Then we start to narrow it down.

477

:

He just wants to move his file and

print to like SharePoint stuff.

478

:

Okay.

479

:

So he's trying to do it himself

and so it's just funny that

480

:

they know, they have a vision.

481

:

The owners have a vision

of what they want.

482

:

But I try to tell people,

stay in your lane.

483

:

You do what you do best.

484

:

Let us console you.

485

:

You know what?

486

:

Have what I call diarrhea in the mouth.

487

:

Just throw it all up and tell me

what you want to accomplish, and

488

:

then I'll put the pieces together.

489

:

It's like a game of Tetris.

490

:

That's what technology, that's

what being an MSP is about.

491

:

You take the client's vision and

you put the pieces together to

492

:

make it work for their company.

493

:

Yes, there's a cost to that, but if

they try to piecemeal it together.

494

:

Without a complete system or a

complete plan, then they're going

495

:

to trip over their shoelaces, they're

going to fall flat on their face, and

496

:

then it's going to cost them more.

497

:

So that's what I recommend to people,

when you're talking to your technology

498

:

company, if they're engaged in your

business, the way we get engaged with

499

:

our clients, sit down and talk to them,

tell them what they, tell them what

500

:

you need, tell them what you want.

501

:

And it's not just the salesperson,

but, most IT companies should

502

:

have a customer success manager

who's more consultative, right?

503

:

Freddy D: Back to what we were talking

about earlier is what's the company's

504

:

vision, and you're just a component of

helping them accomplish that vision.

505

:

You're just a one piece.

506

:

You're one piece of the puzzle.

507

:

Stuart Selbst: Yep.

508

:

We also have a seat at the table.

509

:

We have a seat at the big boys table.

510

:

We're not sitting on the kiddie

table We're helping them, strategize

511

:

and build process and budget.

512

:

I'm sitting in those meetings with

our clients, or Bob is, and we're

513

:

having those budgetary meetings,

we're doing those quarterly business

514

:

reviews, we're engaging with the

client from a business perspective,

515

:

not just helping them find the AnyKey

or, get their Microsoft Word to print.

516

:

Freddy D: It's really what's

the vision and how can we

517

:

help you get to your vision?

518

:

Stuart Selbst: Absolutely.

519

:

Freddy D: That's, superfan.

520

:

So what's the one thing that

just about every IT company could

521

:

do better to foster superfans?

522

:

Stuart Selbst: This is something

that I'm also working on because

523

:

this is one of our failures.

524

:

We need to Instead of

looking for new business.

525

:

We need to cultivate the

business we have right?

526

:

I don't think IT companies and

I'm gonna blame myself for this.

527

:

I don't think even though we do a

good job of working with our clients,

528

:

I don't think we're engaged enough.

529

:

I call it tripping over my shoelaces

and I just finished off my first

530

:

year here at Nothing But Net.

531

:

I'm coming to a realization that

I've taken the first year to learn

532

:

our systems and learn some of

our clients and things like that.

533

:

Now I really want to step

it up a notch, right?

534

:

I think in the IT business, we're

so focused either on the technology.

535

:

Or finding that new logo to put

up on the wall, the new client or

536

:

the new vendor or whatever, that

we forgot where we came from.

537

:

We forgot the people that I wouldn't

say forget, but I'm going to use

538

:

that word just because it's the one

that came to my mind we're forgetting

539

:

the people that got us there.

540

:

Freddy D: The gold is in

your existing customers.

541

:

That's your base.

542

:

Stuart Selbst: My low hanging fruit.

543

:

That is, those are my superfans.

544

:

Those are the people that

I need to engage with.

545

:

I'll give you an example.

546

:

So we have some very large clients,

and we do a lot of work for them

547

:

and we do some sponsorships of

their events and things like that.

548

:

And they know that we're engaged.

549

:

So one of the things I've worked on for my

:

550

:

Create a loyalty program for our

clients that renew or send referrals

551

:

or whatever it happens to be.

552

:

And so I'm putting the

final touches on it.

553

:

But I think it's a really good plan to

reward our clients for being our clients.

554

:

Freddy D: Yeah, I talk about it

in the book or loyalty program.

555

:

Stuart Selbst: Never read your book.

556

:

I just can read your mind.

557

:

But one of the things I

put in there is a budget.

558

:

For sponsoring their events, right?

559

:

So clients have events, they have open

houses, they have golf tournaments,

560

:

they have things like that.

561

:

And we're asked all the time, and I've got

to go and ask and get permission to, for a

562

:

couple hundred bucks or a couple thousand

dollars or whatever it happens to be.

563

:

This way with my loyalty program, I've

got money I'm setting aside, right?

564

:

MDF funds for helping the clients.

565

:

So I don't have to go and ask permission.

566

:

Client says, Hey, Stu, would you

sponsor our golf tournament for 500?

567

:

Let me look at what you spent.

568

:

Let me look at my kitty.

569

:

You know what?

570

:

500 is outside of the budget based

on your spend, but I can do 250.

571

:

Can you give me a hole sponsor

or something like that for that?

572

:

It's just those kind of

conversations where I'm putting

573

:

the, money where my mouth is.

574

:

When I say I want Superfans, I

want to support our clients, I'm

575

:

putting the money where my mouth is

because, they spend money with me.

576

:

I want to give part of it back

to them to do their events.

577

:

And you know what?

578

:

We're building out a referral program.

579

:

Mary Jane, the receptionist at one

of our clients, she wants to refer

580

:

her dad's business to us or whatever.

581

:

You know what?

582

:

We'll give her a cash reward of up to

a thousand dollars, for the referral.

583

:

And Mary Jane, who probably makes

20 bucks an hour, a nice thousand

584

:

dollar bonus, from nothing but

net, Visa gift card or cash wired.

585

:

Freddy D: Could be a ticket to a,

to see the D backs or whatever.

586

:

Stuart Selbst: Yeah.

587

:

Freddy D: Yeah.

588

:

Baseball team football, hockey, whatever.

589

:

Stuart Selbst: Yeah, so

that's just one of the things.

590

:

And so we also have another thing

for gift cards and stuff like

591

:

that, that I'm putting together.

592

:

It's rewarding people for being our fans.

593

:

And I'm not trying to buy their love.

594

:

My wife would call it buying their love.

595

:

No, it's if you think of me, if you think

highly enough of me, that you're going

596

:

to tell somebody to come meet with me.

597

:

Because you trust me.

598

:

I want to do something nice for you.

599

:

I want to do something, I

want to thank you for that.

600

:

So for the referral that gets a meeting.

601

:

Hey, here's a gift card if we get the

business Here's something a little extra

602

:

because you played a part in our success

603

:

Freddy D: One of the one of my quotes in

the book is people crawl through broken

604

:

glass For appreciation and recognition.

605

:

So what you're doing right there

is you're appreciating them

606

:

for the referral number one.

607

:

And once it converts into a

customer, you're recognizing them

608

:

from that perspective as well.

609

:

So now you've just transformed them

into a superfan, they're going to

610

:

go , wow, he really appreciated

what I gave him and I feel special.

611

:

I want to do this again.

612

:

When we do get those referrals and

stuff like that, I'm going to have one

613

:

of those giant checks printed up, the

whiteboard checks and present it and

614

:

take pictures and social it out because

that way people know that, Hey, Mary

615

:

Jane or Freddie D gave us a referral.

616

:

We got the business because Freddy D

trusts Stu, or nothing but net, and hey

617

:

we're people of our word where we say,

hey, we're going to get, give you a check.

618

:

And even when I had my consulting

company, I got a referral from someone

619

:

and I had a referral program, I actually

wound up cutting them a check for 500.

620

:

Yeah.

621

:

Stuart Selbst: It was, I got the

check, I took a picture of it.

622

:

Freddy D: You hit a point there, it's

sharing it, because if I turn around

623

:

and say, Hey, Stu, really appreciate

that referral, thank you so much,

624

:

okay, you feel wonderful and you got

your little gift and all that stuff,

625

:

but if I turn around and say, Hey,

everybody, I want to take a moment

626

:

to recognize Stu for giving us this

referral and really appreciate him.

627

:

Now, all of a sudden, you feel

like a rock star, because now

628

:

you got edified in public.

629

:

Stuart Selbst: Or in a

newsletter or whatever.

630

:

Yeah.

631

:

Freddy D: Night and day difference,

because now you feel important.

632

:

Stuart Selbst: You feel important.

633

:

You're on top of the world.

634

:

It's like you're wearing a tuxedo.

635

:

Freddy D: So that's how

you create superfans.

636

:

Yeah.

637

:

Exactly the way.

638

:

Cool.

639

:

Stu, it's been a pleasure.

640

:

How can people find you, and

what's the free offer that

641

:

you have for our listeners?

642

:

Stuart Selbst: Nothing's free.

643

:

First of all, they can find

this at NothingButNet.com.

644

:

You can check us out there.

645

:

You can find us on LinkedIn, on

Facebook Twitter or X or whatever.

646

:

So the free offer is anyone who's

listening to this that would like

647

:

for us to give them a second set of

eyes on their network, on their cyber

648

:

security, I will make that offer to them.

649

:

It's typically a 1, 500 evaluation,

but we can run some tools on their

650

:

network just to give them a second look

on things and see where they're at.

651

:

If any of their email addresses are on

the dark web, things along those lines.

652

:

So I would love to do that and

people can get ahold of me directly.

653

:

My direct line to my office

:

654

:

is SSelbst@ NothingButNet.Com

and feel free to reach out.

655

:

Again, you can find me on LinkedIn or on

Twitter or on Facebook and just reach out.

656

:

Again, go to our website, nothingbutnet.

657

:

com.

658

:

You can call us and get ahold of us

and just, ask questions, we're here to

659

:

help, and like I said earlier, not every

business is a perfect fit, at the end of

660

:

the day, we want to help people and we

want to be friends with people and we want

661

:

to build more superfans and I'm willing

to go to the ends of the earth for people.

662

:

At some point, it's going to

have to be a two way street.

663

:

Let me be a superfan of yours, as

well as you being a superfan of mine.

664

:

Freddy D: Yeah, great point.

665

:

And one of the things I tell

people is that, I'll just

666

:

use you and me as an example.

667

:

We may never do business, but if

we don't take the time to learn a

668

:

little bit about each other, we'll

never know the opportunities that

669

:

could potentially happen because you

and I may not do business together,

670

:

but you may know somebody, or I may

know somebody that could use your

671

:

services or, somebody that could use

my services four months from now.

672

:

Stuart Selbst: Absolutely.

673

:

Absolutely.

674

:

And everybody has it and everybody knows

about it and everybody, and sometimes you

675

:

just need a coach, sometimes you just need

someone to push you to that next level.

676

:

I was a business coach for eight years

and people would do really well in

677

:

business and they would get stuck.

678

:

It's almost like having, a coach doesn't

have all the have all the answers, right?

679

:

And if you look at some

professional sports, yeah, look

680

:

at the Chicago Cubs, right?

681

:

Great team, but they're

in the cellar right now.

682

:

Okay.

683

:

And it's not always the coach's fault.

684

:

It's how the coach, is leading and

how the people are responding to it.

685

:

So with you being an author, a

podcaster, a speaker, an advisor, a

686

:

coach, you can't do the work for them.

687

:

You can just advise and

help them build a place.

688

:

And just like in IT, we

do business consulting.

689

:

But sometimes there's no money

in the budget to do something,

690

:

or something along those lines.

691

:

Freddy D: At this point in time, it

could be tomorrow, but if you don't

692

:

stay in contact with them, and that's

why I created the Business Superfan

693

:

Accelerator, which is an online community,

is because exactly what you just said.

694

:

Trying to solve it by yourself, and you

got nobody to talk to, to brainstorm,

695

:

you're not going anywhere, you're going

around in a circle, your blood pressure is

696

:

going up, your stress level is going up,

because you go, I can't figure this out.

697

:

Where if you went into a community,

where you can say, hey, I've got this

698

:

question, does anybody know anybody

that can help with me on this stuff?

699

:

It's a game changer.

700

:

Stuart Selbst: Yeap,Absolutely.

701

:

So it takes a village, right?

702

:

It takes a village to raise kids.

703

:

It takes a village to run a business.

704

:

And I used to say, it's easy to start

a business, but difficult to run it.

705

:

There's so many moving parts and I

don't know, and I was a single solo

706

:

practitioner for a long time back in

the day, and I don't know how I did it.

707

:

I just don't know.

708

:

And I couldn't do it today.

709

:

I couldn't be a solo practitioner today.

710

:

Great.

711

:

Thank you for having me on.

712

:

Appreciate it.

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