Episode 11: Conversation Domination

Hey everybody. This is Alex Branning and it is time for episode 11. I can’t believe how quickly this is going. I’m having so much fun. Today we are talking about conversation domination. Last week I talked about how to dominate your city. I went over the plan for you to become the most well known person in your city that does what you do. Today I’m going to talk about how you can dominate the conversation around your prospects and clients so that you become top of mind when people think about what it is that you do. Here we go.

All right, so let’s go over this. I am just loving this concept. I’m really feeling like I’m in my groove right now. And this is something that I’m passionate about because it has an immediate impact on your business, on your growth, on your referrals. A lot of the things that I’ve been talking about are coming together now as we’re kind of continuing to go on this journey together with this marketing podcast. Earlier in my podcasts, around episode three and four I brought up a villain, the Wing It Guy. Who just kind of wings it and just figures out, you know what? I’m going to do this today or I’m going to launch an ad here and Wing It, it may be you. You might be more closely related to the Wing It marketing guy than you are to having your really solid marketing plan. You might be trying to throw things up against a wall to see what sticks.

To really dominate when it comes to your prospects and clients, you have to plan out what it is that you do. You have to be very conscious of the steps that you’re taking. And so if you’re listening to this right now and you’re in a position where you meet people on a regular basis they’re forgetting you or forgetting what you do or they even worse, they keep referring business to your competitors, this is a podcast that could really change your business and in effect, change your life. Because when you become that guy, the one stop shop, you are the guy that people go to. When people mention what it is that you do, you’re the only person that people refer, that’s a game changer. Now you can almost predict how much business you’re going to be getting on a month to month basis.

For me, little background, I lived in the Lancaster and Palmdale area for 25 years. So I was there for a long, long time. And my business was there for a long time because I was a custom development house I didn’t really focus on local business. It wasn’t the right fit for me. We were doing 25 to $50,000 website projects with Billabong and Crocs and Chrysler and this level of clientele. So the local smaller businesses didn’t fit my business model at the time.

Then I started working with my business coach Eric Lofholm. He showed me a new way to do business where I worked with small fish and helped them become whales building up recurring revenue and having income coming that I could count on and I shifted my business model. I say all that to tell you this, when I started that process four years ago, I was a nobody in my town and the people that I was working with, I was really just working with a lot of designers and other people that were bringing me in to these high level clients and so, even though I was in business for 12 or 13 years I still had to kind of start from scratch when it came to me building my own brand and business and client list.

And so, there was a lot of people that would meet me, they would learn what it is that I do and they wouldn’t refer me because I didn’t know how to ask them to. And so, what I’m going to be teaching you here is four long years of lessons boiled down into where we are now. As of right now, my business is really global. I work with small businesses all over the world. We have about 300 active accounts, getting close to 400. And we get referrals almost every single day and it’s only because I was able to build a brand around the branning group and around me, where people looked to me as support, educational, taking care of clients and being able to get the results they want.

Well how did I get that branding around me? What does that look like? It doesn’t just happen. You don’t just snap your fingers and bam, people go, “Wow, Alex is the guy.” It doesn’t just happen. Yes, the results have to be there but I also had to have a very strong messaging component. So, it starts with the law of familiarity. I mentioned this before, I want to really dive into it now. The law of familiarity states that as people get more familiar with you, they become more trusting of you. In other words, the more people see your face, the more they trust you.

You can see this with celebrities. I’ll give you an example. Even though I have never personally met Aaron Rodgers, I have his bobble head here on my desk. I’m a huge fan. Even though, I’ve never personally met Aaron Rodgers, I see his face a lot. He’s a celebrity, I know who he is. I know what he does. If he came to me and said, “Alex, I have a business idea and I want your help with it,” it would be very hard for me to say no to that.

Also on the same token, if Perry Marshall, who I had the pleasure of meeting at a local conference up here in Redding, California. He wrote the 80/20 sales book. I have another one of his books, The Ultimate Google Ad Worth Guide. I mean, he’s just all over my book case. The man’s a genius. If he came to me and said, “Alex, I have a coaching package that’s just right for you. Here’s the price. I want to coach with you.” I would almost cut a check right there on the spot, seriously.  Because it’s Perry Marshall and he wants to work with me and that’s cool. And even though I have to pay for it, I know him, I’m familiar with him and I want to work with him.

And so what does it take to get to that level? Why do people send me clients? It’s the law of familiarity. People see me a lot. They see me. I’m on their Facebook. I’m on their Instagram, their LinkedIn, their Pinterest. I send them mail, so I’m in their mailbox. I send them emails, so I’m in their email inbox. They hear from me a lot and I’m producing value at a consistent rate so it’s not just me begging for work. Which I rarely do. Although there is a time and place for it. But what it really boils down to, is they see me, they become familiar with me, they know how I can help people and it’s a really good way for me to stay in the conversation. They become very familiar with me, who I am and how I can help.

And so, when I make offers to people, by the way I’m constantly making offers, I talk about that in List Building 101. People see those offers and some of them are a fit for them, some of them aren’t, but almost every single time I send an email, I can count on somebody taking advantage of the offer that I’m making and I make money every single email that I send because it’s law of familiarity, number one, I’m making irresistible offers and I’m staying in the conversation. So the law of familiarity is huge.

Here’s my second main point for this. For yourself, you want to create a multichannel platform with consistent messaging. You know one of the things that Eric Lolfholm has taught me through example is creating a platform. He calls his digital Eric. I’ll call mine digital Alex. I had the digital Alex platform where I follow people around, but my messaging is very consistent. Every week on my Facebook page, I am making posts related to my podcast. Those posts also show up on my Instagram. They show up on my LinkedIn. I mean, I talk about the content that’s in my podcast. I’m also posting about other things. I’m putting out free stuff. I’m consistently talking up the same thing though across Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and my email inbox, when I send mail. It’s all very similar. I talk about the same things across my multiple channels. On my website, for example it’s all the same thing.

And people respond differently on different platforms. That’s one of the things as you do social media marketing, it’s one of the things to keep in mind is that there are different expectations. For example, on Facebook you can expect people to like or react to your status, however on LinkedIn you just don’t get the same engagement. Number one, because you don’t get the same kind of reach but number two, people are on that platform and they have a different expectation for what the experience is going to be.

The third point that I want to make is about consistency and this is where a lot of people fall flat on their face. You know, consistency is so key and you really need to make sure that whatever your regular posting is, stay on that schedule. And so, if your regular posting is daily, do that. For me, on my Facebook page and my Instagram, it’s at least twice a day. For LinkedIn, it’s at least once and then I post daily in the multiple Facebook groups that I offer that I’m running. And so, I’m posting on a regular basis. I have a regular consistent posting schedule. Now for me, I have a team and so, it’s a little easier for me because I don’t necessarily have to worry about coming up with content all on my own. I have a team that helps me do that. However, whatever your regular is even if it’s just once day, three times a week. So that’s three posts a week. If that’s your regular do that and stay consistent on it. It is so important to do that. So consistency is key.

Now if you’re listening to this and going, “Alex, man I wish there was a book that I could read on how to dominate the conversation.” Well I have good news for you. I have a free resource. It is a book called Expert Secrets. It’s written by Russell Bronson. He dives deep into this. He talks about the multichannel platform. He talks about how you can set yourself up as an expert. He talks about the different offers that you can make. I mean, there’s a lot of stuff here.

In the first chapter, what he calls Secret Number One, he talks about the charismatic leader, the attractive character. That is such an important, if you only read one chapter in this entire book that’s the one chapter that you should read. It’s just a game changer for you and it’s going to give you a ton of things to think on and chew on. If you’re listening to this podcast going, “Alex, there is absolutely no way I can come up with that much content.” Reach out to me. I have a team of people that can help you. It’s very cost effective. Reach out to me we can do your social media marketing for you. Come up with your custom posts, et cetera. Reach out at alexbranning.com.

I want to work with you, no matter where you are at. So, go to my website alexbranning.com and on there there’s a Work With Me button. Click that. Let’s chat. I want to help you. Let’s start forming a game plan for you to dominate the conversation. Here’s what’s going to happen at the end of this when you’ve got this down. Your audience is never going to forget you because you are going to be there all the time. Now the important thing is, number one, making sure that you stay in the conversation by having a multichannel platform so that no matter, where your people are going they follow you, but it’s also important to consistently put out high value content. That is key. And so, if you’re stuck on that, let’s work together on this. So, alexbranning.com. Go there. Let’s start working together.

Thank you, so much for being part of this podcast. I have so much fun putting it on and I love all the positive comments that I’m getting from it. Have a great rest of your day.

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