Referral Strategies and Strategic Partnerships & Joint Ventures

0:00 The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are solely those of the hosts and their guests and not those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services, or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability explicitor implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing W FOURCY Radio. Welcome to Powerful Business Strategies, where you will find out that everything you have ever learned about growing your business is wrong. Finally, a show where you'll learn the right way to grow your business by learning business and financial strategies that your competition isn't doing. And now here's your host.

0:47 Resident of Next Step CFO Michael Barbarita and joining Michael for today's show as an executive moderator is chooky obia. Yes, this is chooky, and I believe that gratitude is undefeated and growth is about the next step. And it is an honor for me to moderate today's discussion with my good friend Michael. Michael, how are you great. How's it going, Chookey, It's going well, excellent, and yes, my name is Michael bab Rita, President of Next Step CFO, and Next Step CFO is a fractional CFO and strategic implementation firm, and our vision is to ensure overwhelmed business owners achieve the time, freedom and consistent profits to build a legacy and live the life they desire. Our mission is dedicated to guiding small business owners to leveraging their time, exploding their profits, and build a meaningful legacy. This show, Powerful Business Strategies and our book of the same name, is a step toward accomplishing that vision and mission. And so with that, I'd like to hand it back to my co author and moderator for the show, Choky Obio. Michael, thank you.

1:59 Look, we have a number of business owners coast to coast joining us for today's episode, and Michael, I think it would be worthwhile for us to just acknowledge that a number of these business owners have been devastated by the hurricane and again our thoughts and prayers, and we really appreciate in fact, some of these folks are so loyal to the show that they're still joining even with some of the detrimental and devastating effects that they've been dealing with. So thanks to all of you. Now, Michael and I we've planned a really insightful, really robust conversation today. So just a quick disclaimer, Michael and I are both affiliated with a number of different organizations and I currently serve as the managing director of business Development for Vetter Price, which is a global business focused law firm. In addition to that, it is truly inspiring for me to collaborate with Michael to moderate business roundtables really across the country to be honest with business owners all over where we share insights, practical insights from our book, Powerful Business Strategies, and we also document new insights as we work on newer and newer editions of the book.

3:15 But please note that the opinions that will be expressed in the show are our personal opinions based on our personal success and experiences. But my mission as a fearless leader and moderator in our discussion really is to just ask the right questions to help you the listener, learn the best business strategy strategies and then just share with you what the competition isn't doing right, and Michael, I'll toss it back over to you. You've really set the tone for this great work that we do with your leadership, with both your CEO and CFO experience, I know today's topic is one that's really in high demand from a number of small business owners.

3:59 So I'll talk back over to you. Thank you to you. Kena and I too share your concerns and are certainly our prayers for the people who've been devastated by this hurricane in Florida and North Carolina. We've I've actually been in communication with a lot of a couple of business owners down there, uh and it's it's truly devastating, and our prayers are with them. So it seems insignificant. But so today's show is about developing a referral strategy and creating strategic alliances and joint venture relationships. And one of the strategic relationships I built as a ski retailer was with a large ski club in the Boston area. Now, we used to do fashion shows for them and support and promote their ski trips, and they used to endorse us as the ski shop of that club, and we, as a result, had many speaking opportunities to promote our stores and and this worked out tremendously for both sides. Nice. And the concepts I'm going to talk about today is how that you know is basically the same Those kind of concepts that I use to start that relationship are the same concepts I'm going to talk about today.

5:16 Great. So it's remarkable, Michael, and this topic of strategic partnerships and joint ventures just I'm kind of fascinated by it. In fact, we're already getting a number of comments and questions and we'll get to those for those of you sending your comments and questions, But let me team Michael up with just this question. Michael, and you're really picking your wisdom and your brain on this. Can you describe, in your opinion what a referral strategy is? Excellent? Yeah? Well, the thing the thing is, you know you mentioned the word it's a strategy. Yeah, and CHOOKI. When you when you speak to a lot of business owners like we do, you ask them, hey, what's your number one form of lead generation?

5:56 Correct? They typically say referral or word of mouth, and he is referral lead generation. Although great, it's hard to scale because you just never know when somebody is going to refer to you, or when someone's going to speak your name in a positive way and someone's going to become calling. Because we don't know that it is difficult to scale, but it doesn't mean that it's not effective, and it doesn't mean that we're not going to talk about ways that you can scale it in this show. So you know, we do know that referrals just awesome ways to get leads because they're from someone they know, like and trust.

6:38 But the challenge in many cases is the business owner doesn't have a strategy behind controlling those referrals intentionally. So let's get into the heart of this, right Michael. And there are number of business owners listening, and some of them are skeptical, right, you know, they get your point about how this is a strategy. They get the point about how this is something that they really should invest some time and effort in. So question for you, how do you typically go and address these issues with business owners? I mean, who. Maybe they're not necessarily getting referrals and they're not necessarily actually kind of building out a strategy for them, So how can they prepare for their growth?

7:22 Excellent? Well, yeah, the key thing is if you think about it. When a person does business with you, they've exchanged money. They're giving you money in exchange for goods and services, and that's certainly a great thing. And when they're satisfied and they tell someone else, that makes it even better. So the strategy, and first of all, let's define what a strategy is, because a lot of people aren't really clear as to what a strategy is. A strategy, strategies and powerful business strategies is what we talk about on this show, So we should obviously define what a strategy is. A strategy is a series of tactics done over and over again in the same exact order in order to get a predictable result. So with the referral strategy, we have a happy customer, so we want to make it part of our sales process that as soon as that person buys, we know that they're happy, then we implement the referral strategy so we can manage it, track it and make sure it's effective.

8:27 That's a remarkable point, Michael, and I too think you know a lot of times when you're building out a strategy. Business owners who I know both personally and professionally, and I've worked with in the past, they'll sort of they'll execute the referral strategy upfront with people that they've already worked with. Now is that the right way to do that or is it better to execute it when they actually sort of have someone in mind that they want to refer And how would you advise on making sure that you know people are out there you're working for you in some ways, right, I mean this are not employees, but these are satisfied, effective patrons of your business, right, they're out kind of working for you and spreading the good message about your business.

9:15 How do you make sure of that? Yeah, that's a great question. So what I found, Choky, is that the best time to ask for a referrals when the customer is the happiest. Typically typically typically that's at the point of purchase or when they've seen a result of some kind. That's when they're really happy and they want to tell the world about you and brag about how great you are. So that that's where you want to implement that strategy when they're the happiest. It could be at the beginning of the process, and we have a strategy for that I'll talk about later on, but it could be also at the end of the process or where you know you did something great for that. Now, so let me share an example. So here's here's something a car dealership implement that that was incredibly successful, and they did it after the customer was happy. So a person bought a car and the car came back from cleanup.

10:08 It's nice and shiny, it's pretty. The buyer is excited, they've gotten their little walk around. They're ready to take it home. So that's the perfect time to ask for referrals. And let me tell you the strategy that was implemented in this particular dealership that increased their sales by forty percent from justice one referral strategy, and it also increased this is interesting, it also increased their gross profit on those deals by seventy percent versus the people who bought without knowing them. In other words, they were able to get higher prices from the referred business versus walk ins. But here was the strategy. So once the salesperson and the customer did the final walk around, the customer was satisfied before they left, they would take either a twenty fifty or one hundred dollars bill. So let's for this example, let's say they used a fifty dollar bill. So they took a fifty dollar bill nice and Chris, nice and new, and then rip it in half and they say, here you go, mister and missus. Customer, take the half of the fifty dollar bill. Now, if you'd like the other half, go on your phone and think about five people right now who you know that, whether it's now or sometime in the future, may be looking to purchase another car.

11:29 And the customer would just write down the names and contact information, and then the salesman gave the other half of the fifty dollar bill. Now, if they wanted ten referrals, guess what, they pulled out the hundred dollar bill and did the same thing. So here's the you know and the customer you know. After they pulled out their phone, here are ten names and phone numbers. That was an amazing strategy, and they did it with every single delivery of a car. And this example brings up a lot of different impact strategies that we talk about all the time, one being that this strategy increased the number of leads but also the conversion rates. But the point is is that these referral strategies are best implemented at the peak of somebody's happiness when they're purchasing, when the customer service is the greatest, and you ask at that point, and it really does help a lift a lot of businesses.

12:29 So, Michael, how do you recommend applying this strategy with. Those businesses and business owners who maybe just haven't really thought about this before. Right, And they're listening now, and you know, maybe even later they'll listen sort of on the replay and they're saying, you know what, that all sounds good, Right, I want a forty percent increase in sales. How do I even get started? How do I begin? Well? Chokey, when when you listen to shows like this and get the examples we share, it stimulates the mind to think about something that would be of value to your cut to the people who are listening, to the small business owners who are listening their customers. And first of all, the expectation is when you're certain that you're going to deliver on your promise, then you ask someone to refer someone else to give. That's when you ask someone to refer someone else to which you're going to deliver the same value to them. And it may, by the way, it makes that person who referred you look good as well. Yeah. So here's another example of another referral strategy that we've seen. And once again, we have to be certain that we're going to get the outcomes for our clients and they know that they desire because this is a front end of the relationship strategy versus the back end with the car dealership. So in this example, and by the way, a little later on, I want to talk about being confident your product, but I'll get

14:02 to that. But in this example, the company has an expectation of a customer to tell others, and so in their upfront agreements Chooky, it's part of their agreement that they must refer three additional customers that they know that could benefit from the product or service. It's just part of what they do because they expect to produce a good result and the customer expects to get a good result, and so it's part of their process. It's part of their agreement. And if you caught that, it's a way to hold your clients accountable, to help spread the good word about what you're doing. And so and you know, obviously you're not going to hold to take the customer court if they're not obligating that part of it, but you keep reminding them about that, keeping them accountable to make those referrals to you. Now some say some would say, aren't you putting too much pressure on a customer or I'm shy about asking for referrals I can' and to that, here's the thing. If you're confident that you can deliver what you say you deliver, and you're confident that you'll get a good result, then you're helping people. By having a referral strategy. You're helping more people, including the customer who you are asking to make the referrals versus verses.

15:22 Think about the opposite of that, not asking for the referral, not having a referral strategy, being shy when you don't ask for referrals because you think you are being self serving with the customer or you're shy you don't want to be aggressive. Think about all the potential people you are depriving to improve their lives. At the very least you're depriving them of the opportunity to improve their lives. Is helping people proving their lives self serve me? Think about that. The way I look at it is. It's your absolute obligation to be aggressive, to ask for referrals so that you can improve other people's lives. Now, if you don't believe in your product or service, or you think it's just like everyone else's, no better, no worse, then I understand why you're shy, why you don't want to be and I understand why you don't want to be aggressive. And guess what, figure out how to add more value to your product of service and build your own confidence. We have had a couple of shows at least on this in terms of adding more value to your product or service. So go out there, add more value to your product of service, Go back and listen to those shows at Powerful Business Strategies dot com, and

16:55 go out and build your own confidence. And don't over complicate that some simplicity of these powerful referral strategies. Just go out there and do it. Why because you're because you're certain that you're going to deliver the outcome that your clients expect. You're going to help solve their problem. Be the catalyst. Be excited enough to compel others to get excited to tell others about the experience. Don't let fear get in the way of a good strategy. Yes, so now talking about strategic alliances. So now let's discuss strategic alliances and joint venture partnerships. Now here's the challenge in the world of small business, where every resource counts and competition looms at every corner. Growth and sustainability sustainability can seem like an uphill battle in today's competitive forming strategic alliances and joint ventures is more than just a growth strategy. It's a survival tactic for small businesses. It's a real game changer. What if the missing piece in your growth strategy is collaboration. Let's explore the transformative opportunity that strategic alliances and joint venture partnerships bring. Now, there's

18:27 a lot of power in strategic alliances. They're your gateway to shared resources, innovation, and unlocking new markets. Imagine combining forces to amplify your strength and mitigate your weaknesses. Here's some of the benefits through strategic alliances. Envisions slashing your operational costs. And if this time I'll go over that too, Because every time we think of strategic partnerships, we think of revenue generation, where in actuality, I can share a couple of experiences where I actually reduced my cost through pooling resources. So through strategic alliances and envisions, slashing your operational cost, captivating new customer segments, elevating your brand, enriching your product line. Now let's go into a little bit more of an explanation of joint partnerships. So, joint partnerships are your bridge to pulling expertise, sharing risk, doubling down on achieving common goals and shared rewards, and some of the advantages. Once again, by leveraging your combined unparalleled expertise, you can breach new markets, ignite innovation, and track more business growth with a joint venture approach. Have you ever thought someone would make a great strategic partner and then you talk about it with the other partner, get excited

20:00 as well, and then it fizzles out. Have you ever had that situation? You talk with somebody in a one to one situation and they say, yeah, it would be great, Yeah, I think we if we work together, it would be wonderful, And both sides say that, and then there's probably not another discussion about it, or if it is, it's perfunctory in nature. So in crafting your strategic alliance. And in order to successfully implement this strategy, let's dive into the steps that you must owtake. First, identify potential partners who will complement your business strengths and they share your objection objectives.

20:48 So I want you to think about whether they offer products or services before, during, or after your customer journey. Let me say that again. So I want you to think about whether they offer products or services before, during, or after your customer journey. For those businesses that fall into one of those categories, these are your allies. Next, establish clear goals and objectives for the alliance of the partnership. This is where a lot of situations that I mentioned earlier fizzle. This clarity will guide your collaboration toward mutual success.

21:32 Develop a mutually beneficial agreement that outlines each party's contributions and responsibilities. And here is something that is of alter importance and that determines, and that is to determine what success looks like for each party. If you can't identify what success looks like, not only for you, but for the other party, how can you expect it to work? Really, it just won't. You have to identify what success looks like for each party. That way, they have clarity on what the benefits are, on what the endgame is, on what the goals are. You want to ensure that the roles and resources are clearly defined, laying the groundwork for effective collaboration. Lastly, establish open and transparent communication channels. Regular and clear communication is the backbone, literally the backbone of any successful partnership, ensuring that all parties are aligned and can address challenges proactively. So, in other words, have regular meetings. Yeah, that's how you keep those that communication flowing. The reason why your strategic partnerships have failed to get the first or second base because you're not following these steps. So let's talk about success in action. Countless small business owners

23:03 have catapulted to success by embracing strategic alliances and joint ventures, and certainly yours could be next. Keep in mind, the only alliances that work are ones where accountability and revenue targets are established and clarity around execution is defined as well. Now, although you're creating a win win for all involved, always stress how the other party will win by doing their part. Meeting with someone at networking event and then saying would make a great alliance like I said earlier, that's a sure way to fail. Don't do this as for a meeting.

23:43 So you can follow the steps I'm about to give you. And if you want to sustain successful alliances, you have to take a deeper dive with each other. And as you embark on this journey, remember to elevate your current alliances if you have any and other potential ventures that you're working on, because then it's when when you have other ventures, other joint venture partners, the other side gets the feeling that you know what you're talking about, you know how to develop these things, you know how to uh set them up execute. So let's first talk about how to find partners. Consider your client. Uh consider what your client needs before, during, and after the engagement with your product or service. That's step you know, that's a that's a very important point. We mentioned it a little earlier.

24:30 Consider what your clients need before, during, and after the engagement with your product or service. What's that customer journey look like? And by identifying these businesses that serve your target market in a complementary way, that can reveal lucrative opportunities for this collaboration. Now focus on areas where you can test alliances and joint ventures for immediate impact. Now, be very strategic about whom you approach, ensuring the line with your business goals to the biggest long term benefit. And remember you're playing this for the long game. This isn't some kind of short term strategy. This is a long term strategy. Determine your unique value to a potential partner and make your proposals compelling. Now, when making your offer to a potential partner, I like the value you bring to the table. Show them how the partnership will generate profit, and outline the expected results for both sides. Now, always use conservative estimates to build trust and to ensure mutual confidence in the in adventure success plan your implementation methodically, you want to gather the necessary information, assign a responsible team member, and set a reasonable deadline for achieving your goals.

25:57 So establish clear benefits for sets and also understand what the consequences of failure look like as well. It's important to note that also determine the best way to communicate your interest in joint ventures or alliances, whether it's through direct mail, phone calls, or in person meetings. Choose the method that best suits your collective target partners and prepare scripts for each scenario to ensure that your message is clear and also persuasive. And then finally set a start date for your test and determine how you'll measure success. Tracking results will give you will help you refine your approach and maximize the impact of your strategic alliances and joint venture. You got to track results, otherwise you can't follow what's happening. You want to be able to identify what's happening. And by the way, tracking results will also identify where your weaknesses are and so to elevate your small business through strategic alliances and joint ventures. Right now, the future of collaboration starts with you. And so let's build upon that structured approach that we just talked about and develop a referral strategy by incorporating a step by step guide for implementation by using an example. Essentially, I want to walk you through these steps with this example.

27:20 So in this scenario, I'm going to demonstrate how a business can strategically position itself within a customer's journey by leveraging partnerships for mutual benefits. So imagine a homeowner who decides to undertake a complete home renovation project. Their journey involves several steps from planning and design to the final touches. In this example, we're going to focus on an interior design firm speaking to establish strategic alliances and joint ventures within this renovation journey. So let's identify some of the customer's steps that they'll take in this journey. So, first, the homeowner starts with an architect to play in the renovation. Next, there's the interior design firm. So once the structural plans are in place, they seek this interior design firm to plan the aesthetics. Next is the construction company. With the designs ready, a construction company is hired to execute the renovation.

28:30 Next is the furniture store. Following construction, the homeowner looks for furniture that matches the new interior design and to compliment the furniture, the homeowner then seeks out what I'm calling home the core. Then there's the smart home technology providers, because the final step involves integration of smart home technology for the modern touch. Okay, So in this chain and in this example, the Aeria design firm is our focal point. As I mentioned, seeking to establish a network of referrals with companies both upstream and downstream in the renovation journey.

29:12 So Step one is to identify potential partners. So the interior design firm identifies potential partners in both directions of the customer journey architects and construction companies upstream and furniture and home to course stores, and the smart home technology downstream. Step two craft tailored proposals, So the interior design firm creates tailored proposals for each potential partner, highlighting the benefits of the referral chain. Now proposals emphasize enhance customer satisfaction, a seamless project flow, and the potential for increased business through these mutual referrals. Step three and negotiate. With proposals in hand, the interior design firm approaches each potential partner and discusses the specifics of the referral agreement, including any commission structure or reciprocal marketing efforts. Step four finalize the agreements.

30:21 So formalize agreements with each party, clearly defining the referral process, communicating the protocols and the financial arrangements. Step five is to implement a tracking system. You want to implement a system to track the referrals and the outcomes. This is very important. This way you ensure transparency and accountability in the relationship. Step six, Launch the partnership and monitor with everything in place. Officially launched the partnership, and this could include joint marketing efforts such as co branding content or event all showcasing the partnership's benefits to potential customers. Any one of those, and you'll also have to make sure to regularly monitor the partnership's performance, adjusting strategies as needed to ensure that all parties are receiving mutual benefit. There might be adjustments to the original plan that happens, probably more likely than not. Step seven is to nurture and expand continuously nurture the relationship through regular check ins and collaborative opportunities. Now, as the network proves successful, consider expanding by adding new partners or exploring additional services and products that can be offered. By focusing on specific examples within the customer's journey, we've demonstrated how a business can identify

31:51 potential partners, craft compelling proposals, and negotiate mutual beneficial arrangements. You see this structure approach enhances the business's network and significantly improves the customer's experience by providing a seamless journey through trusted partners. Now, implementing this strategy requires careful planning, clear communication, ongoing management, and I understand that's a lot of work, but the rewards include expanded reach, increased business and strength of relationships within the industry. And by adapting a customer centric view and leveraging the interconnectedness of related services, businesses can unlock new growth opportunities and build a strong foundation for long term success. So through strategic alliances and joint ventures, your company can expand its reach and transform the journey into a seamless and satisfying experience for your partners.

32:52 Keep in mind, in unity, there's strength. In partnership, there's endless potential. And so one of the things that I want to double down on, if you will, it's important during your collaboration to assign responsibilities to both you and the partner in the partnership. This is really important because the work shouldn't all be on you. It's a partnership and it's a strategic alliance. So there's going to be things that the strategic partner is going to be good at, and there's going to be things that you're going to be good at. And identifying those strengths and weaknesses and issuing responsibility and tasks to the other party as well as yourself lends itself to a very fair, equitable, and strong partnership. So it is really important because there is a lot of work involved in a strategic partnership. It's not it's not one of these things where one meeting that was the trick, because you know, I mean, as as I talked about earlier, if you're going to have one meeting and everybody's gonna get excited and then nothing happens and it fizzles out, what's the point. So I have a little time to talk about strategic partnership sharing expenses.

34:22 When I was in the frozen cookie dough business, one of the things that I had to have was frozen storage for my inventory. I mean, it couldn't it couldn't sit out in the sun. It was frozen cookie dough, so it had to be in frozen storage. And so with with frozen storage comes minimum you know, minimum pricing where you have to uh store X amount of units to be able to get a price break. Well, when I was starting out, I didn't have I didn't have a lot of inventory. I didn't want to have a lot of inventory until I started selling it. And so what I did was I developed a relationship with a frozen appetizer company, totally different business, but they needed frozen storage, and so we collaborated our efforts and we then found a frozen dessert company and then collaborated our resources and we were able to reduce the cost twenty percent as a result. Where we had our frozen storage was split, it was under one account. We each paid a third, and it made it so cost effective. And so once we established that relationship, we did the same thing with office supplies. We found office supply vendors who had quantity

35:53 discounts if you if you purchased a certain amount. We were able to share a couple of like hind ingredients, and so we're able to buy a palette instead of you know, little packaging. And so there's when we talk about strategic partnerships. We don't just talk about the revenue side. We also talk about the expense side. And they'll be opportunities, So you should keep it in mind not just the revenue side, but the expense side, because there'll be opportunities to share marketing costs, there'll be opportunities to share supply costs, There'll be opportunities potentially to share your material material costs like we did with ingredients. And so with that collaboration and that group, the strength of a group when it comes to buying and the buying power that a group has, it's incredible, absolutely incredible. And so don't just think of strategic partnerships as revenue generation, although they're fantastic at that, They're also think about them to share expenses. And so, CHICKI, one of the things that I talked about in the last three or four shows was the position of market dominance, and so I have a little time today to revisit

37:24 that a little a segment regarding the position of market dominance. So to understand the position of market dominance, you have to understand the conversion formula. And so i'd like to although we have shows totally dedicated to this at Powerful Business Strategies dot com where people can listen, I wanted to give the live listening audience an opportunity to understand what the position of market dominance is and the benefits that it has, because if you go back and listen to the shows, the benefits are just incredible with the right position of market dominance. But to understand the position of market dominance, you need to understand what we call the conversion formula. Now here's the thing about the conversion formula.

38:13 It's a four pot formula that allows you to address the prospect's problem and solution and do so at just the right time, dislike if you're in the prospect's mind. And it must be followed just like any other formula, with all four parts executed in the right order. Otherwise it just doesn't work. So it's got to be followed very precisely. So here's the formula. It starts with what we call the captivate. It's a headline and it happens to be the problem that the customer has that they don't want. It's designed to stop the prospect in their tracks, to interrupt them, if you will. And this headline or problem is the first thing you should say out of your mouth or that a person sees or hears from you or about your business, and it must really identify the problem they have because you only have three to five seconds to keep their attention. But if you identify what that problem is, and we have strategies on how to do that. We have our whole step by step program as to how to go about doing that. But you really have to identify the real problem that the customer has. Whether it's a problem in the industry, or it could be a problem with businesses in your industry in general, but or it could be a particular problem with your product. But if you can identify that problem,

39:44 that's the first step of the conversion formula. The second step is something we call fascinate. Now that you've interrupted the customer, you've captivated them, if you will the with the problem itself. We have to keep their attention and we have to engage them with a sub headline or the second thing they see, which happens to be your solution to that problem that they can't find. You see, these first two parts of the conversion formula is what we call the position of market dominance. It's it's how you enter the conversation that's taking place in the mind of the prospect. So to captivate and fascinate, you enter the emotional triggers that the customer had because people buy emotionally and then back that up logically. So I'm gonna repeat it one more time. These first two parts of the conversion formula are the key to successful marketing. If these two first two parts don't work, the formula will not do its job, and the third and fourth part will not work. And those first two components are called the position of market dominance. And you need to get the position of market dominance right, which is to captivate and fascinate of the conversion formula, the problem and the solution or the conversion formula falls apart. So now educate. Now,

41:15 the third component of the conversion formula is we have to educate them. Now that we've captivated them and got their attention, it's ordinarily difficult to do. We have the time to give the prospect more information on how we go about solving the problem. Remember how I said that people buy based on emotion and then back up that emotion logically. Well, that's the beauty of the conversion formula. With the captivate and the fascinate the problem and the solution, you are hitting the emotional triggers of the prospect. The educate is the logical trigger. The educate allows somebody to explain to a spouse or somebody else if necessary, to make a buying decision, the logic behind the decision. So that third component is really important because it enters, it introduces the logic because what you do during the educate, now that you've captivated and fascinated them, you start to talk more go too more detail on how your goo about solving that problem, and that's the logic behind their purchase.

42:31 And then finally the clothes. You know, we have to end the conversion formula with an offer, and that has to be a compelling offer, and it has to be one that's so resistible that the prospect would be foolish to turn it down. And there's five components of a compelling offer that I'd like to quickly review in a few minutes that I have before we get to compliments. Those five components of a compelling offer. Your offer should include one or more of these components. Number one urgency or scarcity. Urgency you have until Friday to take advantage of this offer. Scarcity, there's only three left. Very important.

43:16 If you provide urgency and scarcity that can be compelling, that can get the customer to react. Next, the second component of a compelling offer is a risk reversal. With a seller in the transaction takes most all the risk. It comes in the form of guarantees. I've said this a few times that we when I was in the ski business, we had a ski performance guarantee. Ski the ski three times, you don't like it, bring it back for a brand new pair. So the eight thousand pair of skis eight came back. Customers love to buy. They love to buy. They hate to be sold, but they love to buy. The third component is adding more value to your product or service, whether it's you know, when I was in the frozen cookie dough business, I added more value by adding a convection of into every sale.

44:05 Think about adding more value. We talked about that at the beginning of the show. How important that is. Fourth is packaging and bundling products and service to together. The pack more products and services you package and bundle together, the more perception of value there is. And then, finally, in difference to the outcome, stay on the same side as the prospect, don't be across the table from them, lock arms with them. Here's an example. So in selling any product, or service. There's always certain steps that people have to follow or certain things that people should know before they buy. So you would say, so, whether you buy from me or someone else, there's at least you must take at least these next five steps. These are the steps you need to take in order to be successful in getting that product or service. So chocky, that's what I have for today. That's our position of market dominance and conversion formula. Time for compliments.

45:08 Absolutely really excited about our business complements segment, and Michael, to put a ribbon around the point as it relates to strategic alliances and joint ventures, which you articulated just so powerful. It was actually taking some notes, Michael, I'll go back and sort of review this really good stuff. The last point about the conversion formula is really interesting in like a sentence or two, and I think this captures some of the questions that we've been getting. How does a business owner combine this idea of a conversion formula with their strategic partnership. So should they in essence maybe even go through some of the steps with their strategic partner? Yeah, well exactly, they should, absolutely should, because the strategic partner will be intrigued on how you go about and do your marketing. Number one. Number two, strategic partnerships also involve marketing exactly, okay, and so anything that involves marketing, the position of market dominance and use of the conversion formula is paramount. And you'll hear that in all of the strategies that we talk about, including strategic partnerships.

46:13 It's just so brilliant. Michael, thank you so much for that. So business compliments, the first business compliment is Bill Roads of Payment Systems of Florida. They help you find the best outsourcing solutions. For payroll and other HR solutions. And above and beyond the very commendable work that Bill and the team do. Michael and I have the opportunity to recently interact with Bill, and look, he's a part of the country that was heavily impacted by the hurricane, and Bill's perspective was to offer much more of a compassion, much more of attention to others who were impacted as opposed.

46:57 To him and his family. It was just really remarkable. I mean, that shows leadership, that shows character, the fact that Bill's not just a great member of the business community there, but also just has the right level of compassion to really drive both the personal and the professionals. So Bill, hats off to you and the team. The next business compliment is Abby Mcaroll and she is with Welcome Home Family Therapy. Really fascinating. They provide this sort of online family therapy sets of services now they're based in California, and what I really appreciate about doctor Abbey and team is just this idea of healing families right and a lot of compliments to her And just to clarify, she's got a lot of social work experience. A lot of compliments to her and the team for the counseling and social experience work that they do. The third business compliment is Donna Aldrich with Go Rascal Mortgage Incorporated. She's a certified mortgage planner and consultant.

47:57 She has some really good insights, by the way, and some practical tips on how credit impacts your ability to qualify and get approved for a mortgage. So some very practical insights and feel free to reach out. To Donna on that. The fourth Jennifer Olsen with Watermelon Mountain Ranch. A great community leader. She does a lot of outreach work. They help to manage New Mexico's largest no kill animal shelter, so doing really good work. And then last but not least, Michael, I mean, we've got a spotlight Bob. McNally and he is with Grin River Associates.

48:40 They provide it consulting and support services to clients really all over New England, so all over the East Coast. I like their commitment. They've got this three S commitments, Support, solution, and security, and part of how they drive that three S commitment is to really come up with a personalized consultation plan for every single one of their clients. So all across the board, all. Of these business owners deserve these spotlighted compliments for the good work that they do and then the impact on their business communities. Michael back to you, Thank you, cheer key. So I want to remind our listeners to listen to any recording that we have of any of our shows. You go to Powerful Business Strategies dot com and to get a copy of the book Powerful Business Strategy, simply go to our website www dot NEXTSTEPCFO dot net. It's totally complimentary and until next Monday at noon Eastern time for Chucky Obio my name is Michael Babarita, and remember, don't keep doing what your competition is doing.

49:45 You have been listening to powerful business strategies finding out that everything you ever learned about growing your business is wrong. Tune in next week and every week at noon Eastern time on W four CY Radio with your host Michael Barbarita of Next Step CFO and moderator Chuguillovio