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The Power of Little Efforts: Growing Your Business Without Heavy Marketing with Steve Feld
Episode 13 • 19th September 2023 • Business Superfans Podcast • Frederick Dudek (Freddy D)
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Episode 13 with Frederick Dudek (Freddy D)

The Power of Little Efforts: Growing Your Business Without Heavy Marketing with Steve Feld

In this podcast episode, Steve, a seasoned business marketing strategist and executive, discusses the importance of creating superfans through genuine engagement and appreciation of employees and customers. He shares strategies such as personalized onboarding, celebrating milestones, and implementing loyalty programs to foster loyalty and advocacy. Steve also talks about the power of partnerships and the benefits of providing free content to support business growth. Additionally, he introduces his book, “The 100k Book,” which offers strategies for business expansion without significant marketing expenses. The episode emphasizes the impact of simple gestures and strategic planning in building strong, mutually beneficial relationships and achieving long-term success.

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Transcripts

Freddy D:

Our guest today is Steve Felt, MBA, business marketing

Freddy D:

strategist, TEDx presenter, author, award winning business management

Freddy D:

executive, and coffee enthusiast.

Freddy D:

He has worked with over 600 businesses, assisting them in obtaining clarity,

Freddy D:

implementing a solid strategic plan, and getting positive growth results.

Freddy D:

He focuses on the foundation of the business to get the best results.

Freddy D:

He is passionate about having businesses grow, operate efficiently.

Freddy D:

and thrive for long term success.

Freddy D:

Steve has owned, operated, and built up seven businesses, providing

Freddy D:

change management and process improvement to three other companies.

Freddy D:

He has been part of three Fortune 500 companies, operating a division for them.

Freddy D:

Besides having U.

Freddy D:

S.

Freddy D:

experience, he has improved operations for businesses globally, wrote eight books

Freddy D:

for small business owners on business.

Freddy D:

Welcome, Steve.

Steve Feld:

Oh, thanks for having me.

Freddy D:

Besides that outstanding background in some of the businesses

Freddy D:

stuff, tell me about some of the challenges that you've ran into

Freddy D:

in businesses and how they manage their customers, their employees,

Freddy D:

and their business alliances.

Freddy D:

And I'm sure there's a few.

Steve Feld:

Yeah, it's funny.

Steve Feld:

It's like the businesses that are crying the blues.

Steve Feld:

Like we're not getting referrals or we're not seeing repeat customers.

Steve Feld:

It's how are you engaging with them?

Steve Feld:

That's my first question with them.

Steve Feld:

And they all look at me like, what do you mean?

Steve Feld:

There's our problem right there.

Steve Feld:

So once you do the sale, you're probably done one and done.

Steve Feld:

And they're like they do the sale and then we don't hear from

Steve Feld:

them until they need to reorder.

Steve Feld:

I'm like.

Steve Feld:

You're missing some golden opportunities here because I've taught this for

Steve Feld:

years It's like after you do the sale follow up did everything go right?

Steve Feld:

What can we do to improve?

Steve Feld:

You're not getting the negative.

Steve Feld:

You're actually getting pop You're gonna get some feedback to improve your sales

Steve Feld:

cycle and improve your closing strategies Believe it or not, they will tell you.

Steve Feld:

Absolutely.

Steve Feld:

And the sale really begins after the sale.

Steve Feld:

After the sale.

Steve Feld:

Because now you start seeding them for when they have to renew, when they have

Steve Feld:

to replenish, or maybe give referrals.

Steve Feld:

And I've been using referral programs for, I don't even know how long, and one

Steve Feld:

of my businesses, it accounted for 27 percent of my business, was referral.

Steve Feld:

How do I know that?

Steve Feld:

I track it.

Steve Feld:

And there's plenty of ways to do it.

Steve Feld:

But it was a solid referral plan.

Steve Feld:

It wasn't like I'll just have everyone ask, I'll ask everyone, who do you know?

Freddy D:

No, that doesn't work.

Freddy D:

Nobody knows anybody.

Steve Feld:

No one knows anyone, yeah, exactly.

Freddy D:

It's someone says, Oh, I'm looking for someone that,

Freddy D:

they sell a skin care product, and they're basically saying, I'm

Freddy D:

looking for anybody that has skin.

Freddy D:

Ha.

Freddy D:

And it's no.

Freddy D:

If you say, I'm looking for someone that has eczema, for

Freddy D:

example, and I've got a solution.

Freddy D:

Oh, Aunt Lucille could utilize that.

Freddy D:

But, totally agree.

Freddy D:

Totally agree.

Steve Feld:

That's true.

Steve Feld:

And why would someone give up a referral?

Steve Feld:

What are you giving them to incentivize them to give it up?

Steve Feld:

It's their contact.

Steve Feld:

Throw a little bone their way.

Steve Feld:

I used to do these little bounce back coupons and they were a huge hit.

Steve Feld:

It was so simple.

Steve Feld:

So I printed it in my office and I did it with all my, I did a thank you card

Steve Feld:

for everyone who made a purchase every week, Sundays, I just did thank you

Steve Feld:

cards, simple, short and easy, nothing, no novels, and they were, I had them

Steve Feld:

preprinted and I just put one or two lines in there to make it personal.

Steve Feld:

Boom.

Steve Feld:

Done.

Steve Feld:

Simple.

Freddy D:

It's huge.

Freddy D:

It's huge.

Freddy D:

It's what I talk about in my book is, is thank yous.

Freddy D:

One of the chapters is, just showing appreciation and

Freddy D:

gratitude for them doing business.

Freddy D:

And just like you mentioned earlier, follow up is monster.

Freddy D:

It's follow up is really everything.

Freddy D:

And it's amazing how And I think you'll agree, especially is that, there's

Freddy D:

businesses that provide an excellent service, do a great job, and they

Freddy D:

never reach back to that customer.

Steve Feld:

Exactly.

Freddy D:

It's that, and that customer forgets who did the work.

Freddy D:

And so they need the work again and they find somebody else because the other

Freddy D:

previous person never stayed in contact, never followed up, never did anything.

Steve Feld:

That's it.

Steve Feld:

It's the simple little things.

Steve Feld:

Give you an example, like purchasing a car.

Steve Feld:

I purchased a car a couple years ago.

Steve Feld:

So at a certain point, I get an app that tells me about when it's time

Steve Feld:

for fuel and everything else and time for an oil change and tire rotation.

Steve Feld:

Guess what?

Steve Feld:

I don't necessarily see the app and it gives me an alert, but

Steve Feld:

I also get it from the person who sold me the car in an email.

Steve Feld:

In a text.

Steve Feld:

So they're looking at that stuff daily and reaching out to us

Steve Feld:

going, Hey, don't forget your oils probably do right about now.

Steve Feld:

That's a little teeny tiny things that just takes it to another level.

Freddy D:

Yeah, absolutely.

Freddy D:

It's that engagement that, that takes it.

Freddy D:

What are some of the other things that you've seen that organizations with their

Freddy D:

employees don't do a good job of engaging and motivating their employees, which

Freddy D:

really is the frontline of that business.

Steve Feld:

Oh, yeah.

Steve Feld:

I've seen it so many times.

Steve Feld:

I walked into one business and I said, okay, what do you guys do?

Steve Feld:

What are you doing to recognize your employees?

Steve Feld:

They all gave me that look again.

Steve Feld:

What are you talking about?

Steve Feld:

I'm like, okay.

Steve Feld:

So every month we have a executive board meeting.

Steve Feld:

We have executive meetings.

Steve Feld:

We have department head meetings.

Steve Feld:

So at the beginning of every month, we're going to do birthday cards

Steve Feld:

for everyone had birthday cards.

Steve Feld:

So we just sign them.

Steve Feld:

Yeah.

Steve Feld:

Down and dirty and the HR would hand them out with their paychecks or on the day of

Steve Feld:

their birthday So difficult, wasn't it?

Steve Feld:

Just to have sign your name to a birthday card so hard.

Steve Feld:

And whoever knew that person would say something about that person.

Steve Feld:

So now we can all personalize it a little bit.

Steve Feld:

Our morale went up.

Steve Feld:

I know it's hard to believe your morale goes up, your engagement

Steve Feld:

goes up, and now they're willing to talk to you and give you ideas and

Steve Feld:

suggestions about what to, what they see that we can work on to improve.

Freddy D:

Yeah.

Steve Feld:

Would it cost us a pre printed thank you card?

Freddy D:

It's little stuff, and, in my book I talk about people

Freddy D:

will crawl through broken glass for appreciation and recognition.

Freddy D:

Yeah.

Freddy D:

And, that's just a simple thing.

Freddy D:

I actually have birthdays as part of one of my chapters.

Steve Feld:

Yeah.

Freddy D:

And, it's important, an example that I share with people is

Freddy D:

you look at complimentary businesses.

Freddy D:

Okay.

Freddy D:

So we'll just keep it dirt simple, flooring company and a painting company.

Freddy D:

All right.

Freddy D:

And here's an example where things can go well, or they can go really bad.

Freddy D:

And so the painting company gets a customer, does a painting job.

Freddy D:

They do a great painting job and the customer says, okay.

Freddy D:

I love the painting job, but now I realize that my floor really looks horrible.

Freddy D:

So who do you know that can do flooring?

Freddy D:

So the painting guy, we'll just call him Bob.

Freddy D:

Bob says, Oh, you got to talk to my friend John.

Freddy D:

John's got a great flooring company, do excellent work.

Freddy D:

So they contact John and says, and John says, Oh, yeah, we'd be

Freddy D:

happy to take care of it and stuff.

Freddy D:

And he's gonna send Mike.

Freddy D:

Mike is not really happy.

Freddy D:

At the company because he doesn't feel appreciated doesn't feel recognized for

Freddy D:

his extra efforts and stuff like that.

Freddy D:

And Mike goes over begrudgingly and does the job, but it's not his best work.

Freddy D:

So the customer at the house is not happy with the work because it's really

Freddy D:

half assed for lack of a better way of wording it, but an accurate way.

Freddy D:

And so she complains back to the painting guy and is for the recommendation.

Freddy D:

So he looks bad because he's got a bad referral.

Freddy D:

The flooring company looks bad because they did a bad job and it's a double lose.

Steve Feld:

Yeah.

Steve Feld:

Yeah.

Freddy D:

All because that employee was not, as you mentioned, the

Freddy D:

recognized and appreciated.

Steve Feld:

It's just little teeny tiny things.

Steve Feld:

It's, I work with one company.

Steve Feld:

And so what we did was on the onboarding process.

Steve Feld:

I know it's crazy onboarding.

Steve Feld:

So instead of like just throwing them in their desk and showing

Steve Feld:

them where the bathroom is.

Steve Feld:

We actually had them on a full week of schedules with department heads that they

Steve Feld:

got to meet everyone, see everything, but when they finally got to their desk

Steve Feld:

on the third day, not the first day, the third day, we did this intentionally.

Steve Feld:

They get to their desk and they had all the company swag out

Steve Feld:

and big welcome, welcome cards from all the department heads.

Steve Feld:

How does that make you feel being a brand new employee.

Freddy D:

You feel, wow, this company is a cool company.

Freddy D:

I'm excited about this company.

Freddy D:

I made a right decision to join this company.

Freddy D:

And I'm going to tell all my friends, because I, you've just converted that

Freddy D:

employee into a super fan because he's going to tell his family.

Freddy D:

He's going to tell his friends, Hey, I, my third day in a job,

Freddy D:

I had all this welcome stuff.

Freddy D:

I had all these little, water bottles that had, that are branded and all that stuff.

Freddy D:

And man, this is a cool company.

Steve Feld:

Not only that, we used to put birthdays and

Steve Feld:

anniversaries in the newsletter.

Steve Feld:

Or milestones that people had, how long they were working there.

Freddy D:

Yeah.

Steve Feld:

When the companies were worked at, the average tenure was 28 years.

Steve Feld:

That's a big deal.

Steve Feld:

So every time it was like, so and so was here for 22 years.

Steve Feld:

It was a huge deal and people gobbled it up.

Steve Feld:

But it made everyone, not just that one individual.

Steve Feld:

Everybody feel, wow, they really care about me.

Freddy D:

Yeah.

Freddy D:

And the same thing, when you share that to the customers, now the customers

Freddy D:

realize, wow, this is a cool company.

Freddy D:

They take care of their employees and you're that's, it's a simple little

Freddy D:

thing going to the customer, but now you're creating that customer into a

Freddy D:

superfan because they're going around and says, man, this is a cool company.

Freddy D:

They recognize their employees and stuff, matter of fact, it's good that

Freddy D:

I got this newsletter because, I need another thing done by this company

Freddy D:

and it's just that simple little thing can trigger additional business.

Steve Feld:

Yeah, you just brought newsletters.

Steve Feld:

Newsletters to all your current clients, past clients and

Steve Feld:

prospective clients is pure gold.

Steve Feld:

And hard copy will go 10, 000 times farther than an email.

Freddy D:

Oh yeah that's the thing that people are, let me email, let

Freddy D:

me just send them an email or let me just send a text and I'm going like,

Freddy D:

Old fashioned, good old postal mail is still the best because it's a

Freddy D:

physical thing and it gets looked at.

Freddy D:

Email, you don't like the subject line, you don't know who it is,

Freddy D:

you hit delete and it's gone.

Steve Feld:

That's it.

Freddy D:

And postcards actually, you get, you got a higher chance of

Freddy D:

at least someone taking a peek at it before they throw it away, but

Freddy D:

you got, at least you had your 30 seconds that, they looked at it.

Steve Feld:

Exactly.

Steve Feld:

The last company I did it, it was like, it was a total of four pages.

Steve Feld:

It was two pieces of legal paper.

Steve Feld:

That's it.

Steve Feld:

. And they folded it together, fold it in half again, put a little sticky square

Steve Feld:

or circle on it, put labels on it.

Steve Feld:

tHey did it all in house.

Steve Feld:

And you know what?

Steve Feld:

It was a hit.

Steve Feld:

'cause people knew that this company was kinda raw.

Steve Feld:

And they did beat it to, it wasn't high gloss and all this professionalism and

Steve Feld:

there was some typos every now and then we had, we did clean that up because that

Steve Feld:

it doesn't put you down and it worked well and they got lots more business out of it.

Steve Feld:

And the only thing that was selling in it was 1 ad every month.

Steve Feld:

I said, you can only do 1 ad no more.

Steve Feld:

It was whatever your specialist for the next month.

Steve Feld:

Nothing else.

Steve Feld:

And it worked.

Freddy D:

No totally.

Freddy D:

What are some tools that businesses can use that, that, that will help

Freddy D:

them engage their customers and their business partners and eventually

Freddy D:

that converts them into superfans or, which are really brand advocates.

Freddy D:

I just like calling them, business superfans that you've

Freddy D:

recommended to companies to utilize?

Steve Feld:

Yeah, there's so many tools out there.

Steve Feld:

And I always say it has to be something like a reminder tool because that's what

Steve Feld:

it needs to prompt you to take action.

Steve Feld:

And I see that with a lot of companies.

Steve Feld:

I just talked to someone, we installed Trello, which is more

Steve Feld:

of like a project management.

Steve Feld:

You know what, for that company, it worked perfectly.

Steve Feld:

Another company I just spoke with, they use Asana, a project management tool.

Steve Feld:

Great.

Steve Feld:

And there was another program I have there called, I think it was called Remind.

Steve Feld:

And it just gives you your daily what do you need to work on or take care of.

Steve Feld:

Don't forget to send John his postcard, it's his birthday, that kind of stuff.

Steve Feld:

It, you gotta be prompted, because you can't let it forget.

Steve Feld:

You have to be consistent with your message across the board.

Steve Feld:

I can't tell Freddie D, hey, happy birthday this month.

Steve Feld:

And then Freddie's sitting next to Sarah, and then next month, I forget Sarah.

Freddy D:

Yeah, that doesn't work.

Freddy D:

That's a major fail because now Sarah feels slated and she's, she feels

Freddy D:

just negative and you just turn that individual, completely against you.

Steve Feld:

Oh, absolutely.

Steve Feld:

You went the other way.

Steve Feld:

So whatever program, everyone loves different things.

Steve Feld:

I know, this is sound crazy.

Steve Feld:

I'm an outlook kind of guy.

Steve Feld:

I have all my reminders tasks on outlook.

Steve Feld:

I see it every morning.

Steve Feld:

Guess what?

Steve Feld:

I don't remove the reminders.

Freddy D:

And that's a big, that's a big statement right there because there's

Freddy D:

people that just, ah I'll just change it or I'll move it to the next day

Freddy D:

or tomorrow and it just keeps moving down the road, and it never gets done.

Freddy D:

Exactly, it's a reminder for a reason on that day.

Freddy D:

For you to take action.

Freddy D:

And these are small little things.

Freddy D:

It could be just writing a thank you card.

Freddy D:

It could be the birthday cards.

Freddy D:

It could be so many things.

Freddy D:

Pick up the phone and say thank you to a client.

Freddy D:

I don't know how many times I've done that and recommended that to people.

Freddy D:

It's call through your current client list and just say, call out and say, Hey, I

Freddy D:

just wanted to call you and say thank you.

Freddy D:

They all freak out.

Freddy D:

Why are you calling me to say thank you for being one of our clients?

Freddy D:

We appreciate it.

Freddy D:

There's no agenda.

Freddy D:

There's no nothing.

Freddy D:

It's just a thing.

Freddy D:

I have a customer that that does a lot of business with us and

Freddy D:

once a month we we meet and our meetings are 15 to 18 minutes.

Freddy D:

And we talk first couple minutes, just, what's, how was the last month,

Freddy D:

what's happened, what's not happened.

Freddy D:

And then I pivot the conversation and we're talking about, so

Freddy D:

what'd you do the last month?

Freddy D:

Fun.

Freddy D:

Did you go any places, any new restaurants you went to?

Freddy D:

And here's what I'm doing, or here's what I did.

Freddy D:

And I'd say 10 plus minutes were just relationship talking.

Freddy D:

And the business was maximum five minutes of a conversation.

Steve Feld:

That's it.

Steve Feld:

And you plug this in your calendar too.

Steve Feld:

Don't just, I'll get to it when I get to it.

Steve Feld:

No, it's blocked in your calendar to make, we have a zoom, we

Steve Feld:

have a five minutes or yeah.

Freddy D:

Yeah.

Freddy D:

We have a zoom meeting every month.

Freddy D:

And Most of the conversations, we talk about dogs, we talk about this, we talk

Freddy D:

about, some of the trips she wants to do and all that stuff, and she's one of my

Freddy D:

super fans, and I get 50, 000 with the business from this customer per month.

Steve Feld:

Exactly, and it's simple things too, even with your

Steve Feld:

prospects, sending them reminders.

Steve Feld:

Hey, just want to keep you in the loop.

Steve Feld:

A little teeny post though.

Steve Feld:

That's where your postcards are like pure gold because versus an email, they might

Steve Feld:

forgotten you six months ago, but they get a postcard with, and they see your logo or

Steve Feld:

your business name and they remember, Oh, I got something from him, two months ago.

Steve Feld:

I used to have this quarterly mailing program to prospects and I'd have

Steve Feld:

some very rare would a prospect say, please take me off your list.

Steve Feld:

It was so rare.

Steve Feld:

Most of the time I would see whatever I sent him would come back in

Steve Feld:

because I gave him a little we want to welcome back deal, that kind of

Steve Feld:

stuff, name it, whatever you want.

Steve Feld:

Don't say, buy my crap.

Steve Feld:

Name it something that's related to your business and that they understand.

Freddy D:

And how important is a Loyalty program to be able to create superfans.

Steve Feld:

Oh my gosh, we did a loyalty program in a women's boutique

Steve Feld:

Okay, that was the craziest person.

Steve Feld:

So we actually did this loyalty program.

Steve Feld:

You bought X you got Y And then we started taking it up a level because they

Steve Feld:

were on newsletters and all these other things, but then they, the fans, they

Steve Feld:

started, we started doing this thing.

Steve Feld:

We want to hear your testimonials.

Steve Feld:

Oh my God.

Steve Feld:

They started blowing it up.

Steve Feld:

So for every testimonial, we did something else.

Steve Feld:

For them.

Steve Feld:

Get a discount or a trinket or something else.

Steve Feld:

The owner was like, I have to have one person just taking care of all this now.

Steve Feld:

I have to hire one person to take care of all this.

Steve Feld:

And I'm like, is this a bad thing?

Steve Feld:

She goes, are you kidding me?

Steve Feld:

I doubled my revenue just from these little touches, doubled it.

Steve Feld:

So is it worth me to hire one more person to take care of it?

Steve Feld:

She's I could make the hire fast enough.

Freddy D:

Yeah.

Freddy D:

And it's a simple thing.

Freddy D:

It's just a simple loyalty program.

Freddy D:

Like you just said, it's just, it's,

Steve Feld:

It wasn't crazy.

Freddy D:

Yeah.

Freddy D:

Nothing crazy.

Freddy D:

I have meetings at a at a deli and, every time I get 10 meals, there, and

Freddy D:

I meet them, twice a month I go there for a meeting so my 10th one is free.

Freddy D:

And, but we always go there because the food's good.

Freddy D:

And I also appreciate the loyalty program as a way of saying thank

Freddy D:

you for doing business with us.

Steve Feld:

That's it.

Steve Feld:

It's, it doesn't have to get, people make it so complex, like this is

Steve Feld:

going to be such a burden on me.

Steve Feld:

It's not.

Steve Feld:

You got to start with something.

Steve Feld:

What would that be?

Steve Feld:

What's the simplest, like the low hanging fruit that you can get

Steve Feld:

people to repeat purchase from you and you're going to reward them.

Steve Feld:

It's not don't make it so difficult and I see that with some companies

Steve Feld:

they're making it so complex that No one wants to take action.

Steve Feld:

It's like getting a rebate a refund, or, hey, send them this postcard

Steve Feld:

and you'll get, a hundred dollars off or a hundred dollar check.

Steve Feld:

From all things we buy, mostly electronics.

Steve Feld:

Then if you read the fine print, you have to actually dance

Steve Feld:

through hoops, fire hoops,

Freddy D:

Walk on hot coals.

Steve Feld:

Exactly.

Freddy D:

Swim a river full of piranhas.

Steve Feld:

And you're still eight to 12 weeks out.

Steve Feld:

You're making it the barrier so hard to take advantage of your

Steve Feld:

incentive, then people don't do it.

Steve Feld:

And then you think you're winning.

Steve Feld:

You're actually losing because people remember that and they'll

Steve Feld:

tell everyone how horrible it is to get that incentive, right?

Freddy D:

Because it's really not an incentive.

Steve Feld:

It's not an incentive.

Freddy D:

It's not an incentive.

Freddy D:

What are complimentary businesses.

Freddy D:

People don't really talk a lot about complimentary businesses, but really,

Freddy D:

I think that's a topic that, I want to dive into a little bit is how you can

Freddy D:

create business alliance partnerships and those partnerships become superfans to

Freddy D:

promote your business and you're become a superfan to promote their business.

Freddy D:

So talk about that a little bit.

Steve Feld:

We could use a thing called an event chain.

Steve Feld:

So it's like everyone before you that leads up to shopping at your

Steve Feld:

place and then everyone after you is everyone you could refer to them.

Steve Feld:

So it's something that say they offer that you don't offer, but it's complimentary.

Steve Feld:

So for example you've mentioned like the lands, a landscaper is a great,

Steve Feld:

we'll put 'em right in the middle.

Steve Feld:

So who can refer a landscaper?

Steve Feld:

A paving company.

Steve Feld:

Masonists, but could they also be the other way?

Steve Feld:

Yes, absolutely.

Steve Feld:

This is where you've got to put some time in and really think who can refer people

Steve Feld:

to you and you pay them a referral fee and then who can you refer your clients to

Steve Feld:

that will pay you a referral fee, right?

Steve Feld:

It's another income stream and I've heard businesses say I

Steve Feld:

don't want to pay, Freddie D 10 percent for giving me a client.

Steve Feld:

It's a client you didn't have.

Steve Feld:

Freddie D only referred him to you because it was a good alignment, right?

Steve Feld:

Are you on crack?

Steve Feld:

It's stopped the madness pay him his fee and then beg him for more

Freddy D:

Yeah, exactly And you know the opposite that comes into play.

Freddy D:

You've got you know John the painting and Mike the flooring and the flooring

Freddy D:

company is giving John a bunch of referrals there's no giving it back.

Freddy D:

And so basically it's a one way that and at some point in time, the

Freddy D:

flooring guy is going to say, you know what, this relationship isn't

Freddy D:

working because it's one direction.

Freddy D:

I'm the one that's giving, the painting guy, all the referrals,

Freddy D:

and I've got nothing back.

Freddy D:

There's nothing in this for me.

Freddy D:

It doesn't work.

Freddy D:

And that partnership dissolves.

Freddy D:

And that's just it.

Freddy D:

How often does that happen besides?

Steve Feld:

All the time.

Steve Feld:

That's where you have to get the referral fee in because that holds

Steve Feld:

people a little bit more accountable.

Steve Feld:

So it's not so one sided.

Steve Feld:

So if I'm referring business to you all day long, but I'm getting

Steve Feld:

10 percent of everything you close that I referred to you.

Steve Feld:

Guess what?

Steve Feld:

I'm going to keep doing it because to me that's easy money.

Steve Feld:

And 10 percent because that's easy clients.

Steve Feld:

So now we can have that relationship.

Steve Feld:

It's a one-sided relationship.

Freddy D:

But it works.

Freddy D:

It's a one-sided.

Steve Feld:

It works.

Steve Feld:

It would work.

Freddy D:

But if it's, but if there's, if you don't even have that part of it

Freddy D:

and it's one-sided, then it doesn't work.

Steve Feld:

Oh, yeah.

Steve Feld:

If I didn't, if I didn't have the referral agreement with you, then

Steve Feld:

I'm feeding new clients all day and I don't see a penny for my time giving

Steve Feld:

up my contacts or any of this stuff.

Steve Feld:

Now I get a little irked and it would end.

Freddy D:

Yeah,

Steve Feld:

I did it with a CPA one time and we had a great

Steve Feld:

relationships back and forth.

Steve Feld:

We went to one almost.

Steve Feld:

And then one day I'm feeding her and I'm not getting anything in return.

Steve Feld:

I talked to her about it and she goes, yeah, I haven't found anyone like that.

Steve Feld:

I go, great.

Steve Feld:

So I moved to the next CPA.

Freddy D:

There you go.

Freddy D:

That's a perfect example.

Freddy D:

She could have created a relationship where, you would've been a superfan

Freddy D:

of her and telling, the great work that she'd done because it was a

Freddy D:

mutually beneficial partnership.

Steve Feld:

And that's it.

Steve Feld:

You got to turn even your vendors, your suppliers, and one of my businesses,

Steve Feld:

I had all my vendors as my super fans, the vendors, the delivery drivers.

Freddy D:

Right

Steve Feld:

And the reason was, I'd give them like little gifts every now and then.

Steve Feld:

Hey, man, it's a hot day.

Steve Feld:

Here's some ice water.

Steve Feld:

I knew you were coming or an icy, something for your neck.

Steve Feld:

And he's okay let me get it back to you.

Steve Feld:

I'm like, no, next time you're going to see me next week.

Steve Feld:

Little teeny tiny things like this.

Steve Feld:

Went so much further.

Steve Feld:

So when I needed, he would tell the delivery driver would tell me what's

Steve Feld:

going on in other stores, who owns them, what's going on, gave me all

Steve Feld:

this info and then I ended up forming a co op with all my competitors.

Freddy D:

There you go.

Steve Feld:

Because I started building a relationship with the

Steve Feld:

delivery drivers, and I turned them in my raging, my raving fans.

Steve Feld:

And then when it came, when the economic downturn hit, all these

Steve Feld:

people are like ready to sell, they got to get out of their business.

Steve Feld:

tHey all come to me because they have the relationship.

Steve Feld:

And it was like, I just bought their databases for like pennies on the dollar.

Steve Feld:

I don't want their equipment because I already knew what they were buying, and

Steve Feld:

I knew all their inventory stuff, right?

Steve Feld:

So build those relationships.

Steve Feld:

Even if it is your competitors it's crazy.

Steve Feld:

People don't want to talk to your competitors.

Steve Feld:

I'm like, I know a lot of my competitors and we have great relationships and we

Steve Feld:

give business to each other because you might do something I don't do, or it's

Steve Feld:

just different, or we've all had the client where it's oil and water, right?

Freddy D:

Yeah,

Steve Feld:

And I've had clients like that or prospects and I go, you know what?

Steve Feld:

I know someone who's better fit for you because they're just

Steve Feld:

like you, they talk in circles.

Steve Feld:

But they'll understand you I don't right and that relationship wouldn't great

Steve Feld:

and I got a referral fee out of it.

Steve Feld:

Why not?

Steve Feld:

So now that coach is chatting me up and always thinking if I come across a client

Steve Feld:

I can't relate to I know who to call.

Freddy D:

Yeah.

Freddy D:

I remember when I was a sales guy in the software industry and there

Freddy D:

was another sales guy, we were both district managers but for two

Freddy D:

different companies and we were like two samurai warriors, we would bow.

Freddy D:

We had respect for one another and we would go into a company

Freddy D:

and one of us would win.

Freddy D:

One of us would lose.

Freddy D:

We would bow on the, on the way back out.

Freddy D:

And one day Don calls me up and says, hey, to buy you lunch.

Freddy D:

I'm going like, huh?

Freddy D:

What?

Freddy D:

But he says, I'm buying.

Freddy D:

Okay.

Freddy D:

I went to lunch with him and it turns out that he was being promoted to

Freddy D:

a corporate accounts position and had enough respect for me that he

Freddy D:

wanted me to take over and join his company and take over his territory.

Freddy D:

He was the number one sales guy, and all because of the fact that just like you

Freddy D:

were talking, we respected one another.

Freddy D:

We communicated with one another and I ended up being the top sales guy in

Freddy D:

that company for a couple of years in a row just because of that relationship.

Freddy D:

And I'm still friends with this guy today.

Freddy D:

And we're talking 20, almost 30 years later.

Steve Feld:

And that's the thing.

Steve Feld:

A lot of people don't realize the relationships are all out there.

Steve Feld:

It's how are you nurturing it?

Steve Feld:

And the same thing with your clients your staff, and of course your vendors.

Steve Feld:

I made sure to get to know all my vendors on a deeper level, not just transactional.

Steve Feld:

And I got a lot of deals from them and I know I made them a lot of money.

Steve Feld:

So it was very reciprocal.

Steve Feld:

But you know what?

Steve Feld:

You have to build the relationship because I knew I needed the vendors.

Steve Feld:

They needed me.

Freddy D:

Yep, and it's very important.

Freddy D:

I had a super fan when I was selling to a tool and die mold shop back in Illinois.

Freddy D:

And when I started working with that company, they were a 40 man company and

Freddy D:

the IT manager, I knew what his goals was.

Freddy D:

He wanted to be the IT manager as the company grew.

Freddy D:

They ended up going from 40 people to 120 people.

Freddy D:

And I remember, it was a sales contest and I called up Bob and said, Hey,

Freddy D:

Bob, I know that we talked about this other workstation towards the end of

Freddy D:

the year, but this contest ends in July, can we make something happen?

Freddy D:

And he goes yeah can you delay payments and I'll give you an order.

Freddy D:

And so I said, yeah, I can get delayed payments till the

Freddy D:

timeframe that they needed.

Freddy D:

So he got me the order.

Freddy D:

I won the prize all because of the relationship that I had with him.

Freddy D:

And he was my superfan because every time I'd sell to some other company,

Freddy D:

I would have them call Bob and Bob would tell about what I've done

Freddy D:

for their company and et cetera.

Freddy D:

And the sale was done and Bob was my closer.

Steve Feld:

That's it.

Steve Feld:

I just did this for a pizzeria.

Steve Feld:

I don't know the owner of the pizzeria.

Steve Feld:

I've been to the pizzeria multiple times.

Steve Feld:

Whenever I'm in a certain part of town, I go to that pizzeria

Steve Feld:

because it's darn good pizza.

Steve Feld:

So I knew someone who lives close to them and they said they've never heard of it.

Steve Feld:

So I referred it to them.

Steve Feld:

They just told me through a text last night that they went and they

Steve Feld:

go, Oh my god, it's one of the best pizzerias I've ever been to.

Steve Feld:

I go, so that's just the power of taking care of your clients.

Steve Feld:

Because every time you go, I walk in there, you feel welcome.

Steve Feld:

You feel it's definitely a family.

Steve Feld:

They're definitely family and they're all from Italy and it's

Steve Feld:

just a fun environment, but you know what, they're happy and they're

Steve Feld:

taking care of their clients.

Steve Feld:

They might have it as a transactional, but they're making it more on a

Steve Feld:

deeper level just by being themselves.

Steve Feld:

Not being something fake, they're not trying to be Pizza

Steve Feld:

Hut and all this other stuff.

Steve Feld:

No, and they know it.

Freddy D:

Yeah, same thing.

Freddy D:

I have a customer in Michigan, they make pot pies and, their business has exploded.

Freddy D:

And I remember working with the woman that owns the company when she was

Freddy D:

starting in their kitchen, she was cooking the pot pies in her kitchen.

Freddy D:

And, she opened up a store during the pandemic.

Freddy D:

And of all things, and now she's taken over the store next to them and, and

Freddy D:

doubled in size all because of the fact that, she does some really cool things.

Freddy D:

She's created a loyalty program.

Freddy D:

She's created a referral program.

Freddy D:

They engage people on the social media sites.

Freddy D:

And every time she's at the farmer's market she takes a little video and

Freddy D:

says, Hey, I'm at the a farmer's market, and so she posts a video, just

Freddy D:

the little things, but she's, engaging and their business is exploding.

Freddy D:

They've got, I think, 4, 000 followers on Facebook, all organic.

Freddy D:

No, no purchases.

Steve Feld:

Good.

Steve Feld:

It's the little things that a lot of companies don't realize it

Steve Feld:

because they're so busy being busy.

Steve Feld:

But if you put a little bit of time out block it and come up with a true

Steve Feld:

plan Just don't wing this stuff.

Steve Feld:

Whatever you do Please don't wing this stuff because you wing it you're

Steve Feld:

not gonna get results and then you're gonna get discouraged and then you're

Steve Feld:

gonna Poo every good idea after that.

Steve Feld:

So you have to come up with the plan the strategic and Tactical plan because

Steve Feld:

that's two different things So focus on your strategic 80 percent of it, 20

Steve Feld:

percent your tactical, and just pull the trigger and watch the magic happen.

Steve Feld:

Block the time out for these little thank you cards.

Steve Feld:

It really will not take you as long as you think.

Steve Feld:

Little time for a huge return.

Freddy D:

Yeah, I started blocking the time out on Sundays for these thank you

Freddy D:

cards, so I started blocking two hours.

Freddy D:

It's gonna take me two hours to do all this, so I did it like

Freddy D:

watch while watching football.

Freddy D:

As I started realizing, it's taking me 30 minutes maximum, and I was

Freddy D:

enjoying it, so I was like, okay.

Freddy D:

You felt good.

Freddy D:

More importantly, you felt good sending them out there.

Steve Feld:

Oh, yeah.

Freddy D:

And so that creates more good energy, and and what you put out, you get

Freddy D:

ten times back, so it absolutely works.

Steve Feld:

Oh, absolutely.

Freddy D:

So Steve, how do people find you?

Steve Feld:

Yeah, they're one of the biggest places, or the biggest places.

Steve Feld:

I'm on all social media platforms, but primarily my website is

Steve Feld:

bizcoachsteve, b i z coachsteve.

Steve Feld:

com.

Steve Feld:

That, and I'm on Facebook, LinkedIn, those are my two primary, I should

Steve Feld:

say, social media channels, because I know where my people, my peeps are.

Steve Feld:

I'm on Instagram, but I don't go there too often.

Steve Feld:

I haven't been on it in a while since I've been out of the country.

Steve Feld:

I had a convention for a few weeks.

Steve Feld:

I know it's horrible.

Freddy D:

So those trips come up.

Steve Feld:

It was a long, I wish I could say it was enjoyable.

Steve Feld:

It was just long.

Steve Feld:

But yeah, I'm back in the game and I do a lot of workshops, presentations and I

Steve Feld:

have plenty of information on my website.

Steve Feld:

So it just helps business owners to help them grow their business.

Steve Feld:

It's free content.

Steve Feld:

You don't have to opt in to Jack, just enjoy.

Freddy D:

Okay.

Freddy D:

Anything that you want to give to our listeners?

Steve Feld:

Yeah, I think we're doing the 10k book.

Steve Feld:

Okay.

Steve Feld:

100k book.

Steve Feld:

I think that's it.

Steve Feld:

Out of all the books I just got the proof in of my ninth book from my editor.

Freddy D:

Oh, wow.

Steve Feld:

We're working on that, but I believe it's the 100k book.

Steve Feld:

It's it's eight simple strategies to grow your business without spending another

Steve Feld:

penny on marketing or advertising.

Steve Feld:

And they're simple to do, obviously for free.

Steve Feld:

You just have to put a little bit of work into it and it

Steve Feld:

details them out in the book.

Freddy D:

Excellent.

Freddy D:

Steve, thank you very much for being on the business superfans podcast.

Freddy D:

It was a pleasure chatting with you.

Freddy D:

And I think our audience has got a lot of valuable nuggets out of this

Freddy D:

show and look forward to having you on the show again in the future.

Steve Feld:

All right.

Steve Feld:

Thank you for having me.

Steve Feld:

I just wish everyone the best business success.

Freddy D:

All right.

Freddy D:

Thank you.

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