Do you let people sample your work? In this week’s episode Blair + Theresa are talking about giving people a sample of your work and how they tap into this marketing tool in their businesses.

About the Hosts:

Blair Kaplan Venables is an expert in social media marketing and the president of Blair Kaplan Communications, a British Columbia-based PR agency. She brings fifteen years of experience to her clients which include global wellness, entertainment and lifestyle brands. She is the creator of the Social Media Empowerment Pillars, has helped her customers grow their followers into the tens of thousands in just one month, win integrative marketing awards and more. 

Blair is listed in USA Today as one of the top 10 conscious female leaders to watch in 2022 and Yahoo! listed Blair as a top ten social media expert to watch in 2021. She has spoken on national stages and her expertise has been featured in media outlets including Forbes, CBC Radio, Entrepreneur and Thrive Global. Blair is an international bestselling author and has recently published her second book, ‘The Global Resilience Project.’ She is the co-host of the Dissecting Success podcast and in her free time, you can find Blair growing The Global Resilience Project’s community where users share their stories of overcoming life’s most difficult moments.

www.blairkaplan.ca

You ever wonder what success actually means? How do you get it? And how do you keep it?

We all want it yet sometimes it feels only some of us get to have it.

Hi, Theresa and Blair here we are to badass entrepreneurs, best selling authors, coaches and business mentors who have had success, built success, questioned our own success and reclaimed it. Let's be real for a hot minute. 2020 has been a roller coaster ride, and many of us a start to wonder if the loser things that made them successful. So we got curious, Ron real about what success is truly about?

Can you put it in a box?

How can you get it?

Can people take it away? Or are you the one with the power?

Does it mean the same to all of us? Or are we the ones that create it?

From PGA golf pros to doctors, CEOs, entrepreneurs and spiritual mentors, we get together to meet with successful people from around the globe to dissect success for vibrant conversations and interviews. Make sure you click the subscribe button on the app store because each week we will drop a new episode to bust through the myths around success and dissect its true meaning.

Welcome back to another episode of dissecting success. It's me, Blair Kaplan Venables, and I'm here with the one the only Theresa Lambert. You know, it's really interesting, because we come on these, these these chats to record a conversation. And Teresa and I always have these very interesting conversations. And it's funny because the inspiration from this comes from my childhood, and comes from going to restaurants and not knowing what to order. So me and my friends or me and my family would order the appetizer platter because it gives you like a little sampling of everything like you don't know what you want, you want the chicken fingers do you want the case study as maybe you want brussel sprouts, you're not sure. But there's a option usually on menus, not all menus, but more like kind of chain restaurants where you can get a platter where it gives you a little sampling. And it's interesting because when I got older, my mom and my sister love going on cruises love going on cruises, I don't like it so much, because you don't get a lot of time in one place. But a cruise is like an appetizer platter, you get on a ship, and you stop in a port and you get like a day in one country or one city and then you get on your ship and you go to another one. And a cruise ship reminds me of an appetizer platter. And what's really cool with this is that you get to go and experience these places. And if you like something you'd like to place, you can go back, you can go back. And it's interesting, because you know what, we can actually do this in business as well, especially when you have premium pricing like I've been in business for almost 15 years, like in July, in June, it's going to be 15 years that I've had a business, I'm not entry level, my prices don't reflect entry level. And recently I created an opportunity that gives you a sampling of what I can do for you. And if you see that, you know what I can do for you actually increases your visibility and your business. Why wouldn't you want to pay that full price? If I'm making you money, then you have money to afford me. And so today we're going to dive into how you can work with us and get a sampling of what our current offers are. So Theresa, would you like some case studies?

Not to cancel Yes, but I'll take so olives and chicory version and I know I love appetizers. I also love the moose boosh, I was just having dinner. On Wednesday night I went out here with my new friend Nicole who I have met through Bumble BFF. If anyone is traveling and looking for friends, that's a great place to find friends when you're traveling. As a nomadic entrepreneur, that's a thing. Anyways, we went to this amazing restaurant called Don folios. It's one of the best, supposedly best steak houses in, in Brenda's IRAs. It was amazing. But we waited about two hours for dateable like outside and what they were doing is they were handing out bubbles and they were handing out. They were coming around for empanadas. They were coming around with little treats with with little teasers to keep the people waiting for a table to keep you there. And so when you're talking about the advertiser plateau and samples and all of that, I think it's kind of a bit like that, right? Like we're about to eat in a very beautiful for fun, Osiris is very expensive. Steak House that is well known, and they still gave a sample, even though they're so busy that they have people waiting to be set. And they keep people around. And they and they host people. And I think it's such a hospitality mindset. And I feel like sampling giving people a sample of your work. It's also a hospitality mindset. And it gives people an opportunity to get to experience your work. But it also gives you an experience to, to work with a certain client. So I actually believe it works two ways. And when we go into, like, when we go into bigger contracts with clients that are three months, six months, maybe even 12 months over really helping them elevate their businesses, with, you know, what you and I do with people's businesses, we spend a lot of time with people. And so, giving a sample of your work isn't just to provide a sound modeling experience to possible clients for you. But it's also actually an opportunity for you to get an experience of working with that particular client with that particular business, and how well they follow through or not follow through, which determines ultimately what the results are going to be. So I love the idea of giving samples. And I think that at any level, providing experiences and samples is a really, really vital thing to do to fill your pipeline with qualified clients. And to also really help build the trust and help build the connections and relationships that can really build incredible business opportunities, not just with that one person but with multiple people. So I am a big fan of samples and I'm about to to do a big big sampling offer a big saddling offer that I've never done that I'm really excited to have a 10 day mastermind experience with me for free by application only and there will be limited spots available. And I'm really excited for that.

Oh my gosh, so a ten day Amouse Bouche.

A ten day Amouse Bouche,

what's a whisk? Bucha Wait, what Amouse Bouche I mean,

Amouse Bouche is when you are being given an appetizer that you don't pay for. And it's like a treat before the treat. It's like that happy before the happy. So

Theresa, you're doing a 10 day Amouse Bouche. Tell us more about this Amouse Bouche

Honestly, it is sort of like in the in the creation Island phases right now I am, I will be having an application for it. But the ideal for me really is that I've been really thinking about creating more intimate experiences for people, I've been doing a lot of master classes in the past, I've been having, you know, a lot of people coming to some of my free experiences. And they tend to be like an hour or maybe two hours, right. And there was a sampling of that. That's very specific. And it's very focused on one thing. And as I've transitioned into really supporting people in their business doing some done for you work as well as really focusing on the scaling pieces, there's so many different layers of their business to look at that I'm I'm finding that I want to have a more personalized, I want to provide a more personalized experience, where I can really help business owners entrepreneurs, with their particular business and that particular questions where they are and how helping them scale from, you know, maybe some people are $2,000, and they're ready to scale to 4000 or $5,000. Others might be at five ready to scale to 10 Others might be at 10 regular scale to 2030 $40,000 a month, if we were talking scaling in terms of money, and the thing is, there's different parts to look at in your business at different stages of your business. So this 10 Day mastermind experience, for me is really the opportunity to bring together a really cool group of entrepreneurs. One because I love that connection piece of masterminds and connections that can form out of that are tremendous. But also it gives an opportunity for me to hand out a few of your swooshes 10 days but different kinds of flavors, but it's BB allows me to show the spectrum of support that I provide through what I do with helping people scale their business and and feminine flow and, and really bring in all the pieces that I touch on with clients for a 10 day experience that is personalized to each of the individuals that are in there with the same common goal to ultimately get them set up to scale their business. Yes,

I love that. So when does that kick

off it I have I will have to set the exact dates still, but the applications will open next week sometimes. So just pretty much after this episode drops. So if anyone is interested in that, shoot me a message at Teresa Lambert coaching on my Instagram or via reach out to me through my website, there's a Contact Me button, Teresa lander coaching.com. And you can contact me and just say I've listened to the podcast, I'm interested in this mastermind experience and then I will send you a link and you can apply to be a part of it. And by then I will have the dates but it will be towards the end of October beginning of November probably. Yeah, probably sort of the probably the first 10 days off. It might be the first 10 days of November actually. So yeah, as I'm flying from when it's Irish to Miami, and then I'll be flying from Miami to Costa Rica. So I'll be like jet setting but like, it feels really fun. And so yeah, I'm super excited about it. I mean, I don't know what's going to happen. Listen, I don't know what's going to happen. There'll be a call and then there'll be 10 days of support in a WhatsApp group. So I'm super excited about it. I'm really excited about it. I think it's gonna be a hell of a lot of fun. And I can't wait and stuff. It will be up to 10 entrepreneurs that will be in there that will be able to have this experience with me and get my support for 10 days. Just gonna love businesses.

I love it so moves booth booth. Booth bush with Teresa treasures booth. She went through it together. It's like a tongue twister. I love that. You know it's cool. I was just like, as you're talking thinking about how can people have Blair's Amouse Bouche,

how can people have people have Blairs Amouse Bouche?

Well, I've made a commitment from now I'm going to try until the I'm not going to try because it's do or do not there is no try. Right. But I am going to commit to sending out three newsletters a week, not one every few weeks when I feel like it. You know, I'm one of those marketers who has I say do what I say not what I do. And like I think it's because I have a lot of trouble following my own rules. But because I've started working with an OBM I've put a lot more systems in place, including resetting up my HootSuite, which I'm so excited about. So with that, I am going to be putting out more content. So part of my newsletters, I've restructured it so I share my thoughts. And then I've also shared what I'm reading. So you don't have to subscribe to all the social media and PR newsletters. I read them every day. So I will share in each newsletter, what three articles I think you need to read. But I'm also constantly because I'm digesting so much content, I'm putting it out on social media, my personal LinkedIn, my Blair Kaplan community communications, LinkedIn which I have revived, I have not used that for a couple of years. My Blair Kaplan communications Facebook page, my Twitter, my personal accounts, I'm putting out content, I'm putting out a lot more content. So if anything, you can follow me on social media and digest my content or subscribe to my newsletters. And you can do that if you head to my website. I also post workshops every month for free, where you get a sampling of what can I do you get to see what I can do. I do have offers that are a bit higher. And you know, that range between three and $5,000 a month. And even people who have that budget, I think are a little gun shy because there's a lot of people out there who say Oh, I know social media. Oh, I know PR, but it just from you know, they just do it for themselves. So they think they can do it for business. But there's more to it than that. There's more to it than watching a YouTube video and doing it and my backgrounds in public relations. It's in storytelling and relationship building. And social media is a public relations tool. It's not a sales tool, and I really know how to craft a strategy. So I've tried I'm trying a new offering. And I've had I've had people buy into it, which is exciting. But it's it's not free. It's not a Amouse Bouche, but I would say it's appetizer. It's an appetizer. It's kind of like the appetizer platter at a high end restaurant. So it still does cost a fraction of the money. But you get to experience what it's like to work with me for a month at a fraction of the price where I create a high level strategy for you a high level empowerment plan. So not as detailed as if we work together at on a full scale. And I create seven days worth of content for you. And that's only $1,500 and you get to see if you like working with me and you see a big difference. You can keep working with me at my rate or you can take everything I built for you and implement it yourself. And I help get you started. And so you know that's an offering I was going to just do in September and I ended up going on like a two week trip to Europe. And man I'm not young anymore, right like I used to be able to pack in everywhere. waking minute of like, multitasking and doing all the work. And anyways, I decided to really just decide to extend this offer over the next couple of months to see if you're out there and you want to experience what it's like to work with me. You know, I've created this offer. So that's something new. And I mean, that's a part about being in business, right, we're always creating new things that we're offering. Sometimes something that was free is much is now charged. Sometimes we offer like a sampling, sometimes we do things for free. And that's what's really important in business is that you're always experimenting and trying things out. And a lot of the things that I've been implementing and doing lately is because I work with a coach, and my coach works with a really high end coach. In fact, in November, I'm going to a mastermind with my public relations coach and my business coach, they're co hosting a mastermind in Miami. And if you are listening to this, and you're like, Whoa, like this all sounds really good. I want to do you know, Teresa's 10 day free mastermind or want to sample Blair's, you know what it's like to be in Blair land. You know, you can do our free things, or we can really take your business to the next level. Teresa is a coach, I am a coach. We do joint coaching, we do separate coaching, we're here to help you. I invest heavily in myself so I can up level so I can really take my business to the next level. And what I teach my clients is the stuff I learned the stuff I've implemented and stuff that works. How do you make five figures a month or multiple, five figures a month? How do you create a program? How do you create an empowerment plan? How do you get publicity? How do you have a media bio? Do you have a business plan? Do you have business strategy? You know, Tracy and I not only coach, but we do work for you, we both started re offering the done for you services. So we're both available to you, we both have limited capacity, because you when you when you work with us, you get our creative bandwidth, we become your business. And Theresa and I work really well together really well individually. That's why this podcast exists. So you can try us out for free, you can try us out for a fraction of the price. Or you can work with us and we can really take your business to the next level.

What do you think T? Yeah, I love this. And, uh, you know, I think what I sort of like came through for me, as you were sharing that is a few things. One, if you are out there and you're having a business really think about how can you give people samples of your work, whether those are free samples, or whether those are experiences that that get people through the door, right, I always talk about building a product suite, this would be part of your product suite, this would be an entry level offer. And then as people walk, walk through your business, literally it's getting business in and giving them an idea. And when you start to have high ticket offers that, you know $25,000 Plus, to to work with you, it's sometimes a really great idea to be having the sample offerings, even like what you're doing play, I love that like giving people a month and see what it's like to work with you and you're giving them a strategy and they get this experience. And then from there, they can take an upgrade into your bigger program and they can commit to five 610 12 months of working with you. But I think it's important we give people samples to give people experiences of what it's like to work with us. But the other thing too is we are investing our time into people for that or as you might be choosing to make an investment is often we think about the money. It's going to cop straight Altima like Oh, but I'm going to spend $1,500 and and what am I going to get into? I'm going to spend $10,000, you know, maybe you come and join us for the next momentum cohort that is coming anytime. You know, absolutely. Now's the time to reach out. And I'm excited to you know, fill that program again and get started again, come January with a new group of entrepreneurs, it's going to be epic. But I think the big thing to to think about is, we get so hung up on how much we're spending. This is why most people get so hung up on the investment that we're making the money we're putting in. And I want to encourage you to start thinking about how much it's going to cost you to stay exactly where you are. How much is it going to cost you to continue to not hit the income that you want? How long is it going to like? How much is it going to cost you by not changing things? So so often we procrastinate over spending $1,000 $5,000 10,000 hours, even $20,000. But the thing is, by not choosing to invest by by continuing to do it on your own or figuring it out on yourself. You're wasting time and time is money. So how much is it going to cost you every single month to stay exactly where you are in your business? Or how much is going to cost you to spend 20 hours trying to figure some one thing out through Google and still not getting the answer when you could really have you know Make a sample experience and get a social media strategy done by plab. Taking advantage of that, coming into a 10 day space with me for free, if you apply, you're gonna have to apply and I won't handpick who will be in this. But for then 10 days, you literally have access to me to be able to ask me questions and to implement things in your business and to get feedback and reviews to really be able to scale your business to set you up to be able to do it, you have leverage, by leveraging somebody else's knowledge by leveraging your time by bringing in people. So think about how much is it actually going to cost you to stay where you are. And that might also help you to figure out how much money you have available, or you want to make available to invest. And it's not really just money, it's also your time. But know that at any given time, we always pay a price. Whether we pay a price to accelerate our growth, or whether we pay a price was staying exactly where we are, there is a price that is to be paid and what set price for you. And so it's the same thing for you. Imagine 10 Day sampling of your time or a month of your time, or even hosting monster clauses teasers jumping on a call, like I jumped on a half an hour call with somebody O'Neill, and he had a massive breakthrough. He spends a huge amount at the same thing I'll leave this week that was a sample of my work. But ultimately, that sample will lead to business. And here's the thing, that half an hour could be half an hour that it's worth 25. Or I could have said I'm not going to jump on that call. I'm not gonna spend that half an hour. And guess what comes out of it? Zero. So really think about giving his experiences to people, what you can give, and what they get is going to be from that because it's always a two way road. And by not offering samples and by not investing, you're ultimately staying exactly where you are. So do you want to stay where you are? Or do you want to grow? That's like my question for you.

Do you want to stay where you are? Or do you want to grow? Try the Amouse Bouche. Join our world, and we love you. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of dissecting success. This one was phenomenal. And we can't wait to do it again with you next week.

That's a wrap for another episode of dissecting success. enjoyed this episode. Make sure to subscribe to Blair Kaplan Venables and Theresa Lambert's podcast dissecting success on the App Store.