Mastering the Art of Word of Mouth Marketing with Joe Blackburn

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. Brought to you by the HubSpot. Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Success Story Podcast. Today, we'll be breaking down how to master the art of word-of-mouth marketing. To drop these vibe bonds, I brought Joe Blackburn into EO Fire Studios. Joe is founder of The Lion and leads multi-million dollar teams to develop strategies that bridge the gap from standard growth to expansive success. In today's foundation, we'll talk about word-of-mouth referrals, how to get them naturally, the importance of word-of-mouth marketing.

0:37We'll talk about tactics for achieving clarity in sales goals while having a winning mindset and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Joe and our sponsors. The Next Wave, your chief AI officer, hosted by Matt Wolf and Nathan Lands, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Matt and Nathan are leading AI creators in your guiding light in the AI and technology frontier. AI technology is transforming the way we do business and the media landscape is fragmented. The Next Wave strives to be the leading podcast on AI technology and how you can apply it to growing your business.

1:14Listen to The Next Wave wherever you get your podcasts. Many EO Fire listeners have launched non-food franchises and Franbridge Consulting has guided them. Franbridge's founder and frequent EO Fire guest, John Ostenson, has done more placements than any other in the country and his service is free. Sign up for a consultation with John or get a free copy of his book, Non-Food Franchising, at FranBridgeConsulting.com. Joe, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Well, what's up, Fire Nation? I think most people believe that system and processes are your savior.

1:54And I believe that this is a people business and every business is a people business. So the only thing that will save you is your effectiveness with people. Fire Nation, you can have the best systems and processes in the world, but if you can't relate, resonate, communicate with customers and clients, you will lose, period, end of story. And that's why today we're talking about mastering the art of word-of-mouth marketing. And let's be honest, word-of-mouth marketing and word-of-mouth referrals, Joe, are incredibly powerful. So I want to start by talking about the best techniques for building real relationships with both clients and prospects that naturally lead to word of mouth referrals.

2:34I mean, the first thing you have to do is actually care about the person you're talking to. So getting to know someone, what's important to them. And a lot of times we'll start a conversation, you know, I'll get to all the other stuff, but it's, hey, before we get to that, what's the most important thing in your life? What's the most important thing to you? whether it's your wealth, your business, your family, or all the above. And that generally opens up a different conversation than us just trying to sell something to someone. So I really want to talk about the fact that we need to master the word of mouth marketing if we're going to be effective with these techniques, with these tactics.

3:08So if we're really buying what you're laying down, you know, if we're buying the fact that word of mouth referrals are incredibly powerful, and I think we are because most people have seen it in real life. They've experienced it. you know they've all gone and and had that best friend say you have to watch this movie it was the best movie i've ever seen and guess what you did you watched that movie so talk about the importance of mastering this word of mouth marketing well the most important thing is people pay you for how they feel and they stay for how they feel so you have to be able to deliver a service model and an experience that they actually enjoy being a part of and want to tell people about.

3:48And quite frankly, the products or anything that, you know, you consider your platform, that's just hygiene. That should be good. They should, you know, they should be thinking, well, I should hope so. I should hope this is good. But where you can really get into the word of mouth is how you make them feel. How responsive are you? How caring are you? What do you know about them? What are the things that you're providing to them that go above and beyond what they're used to? and what you really want to start doing then is listening to them so that when they talk about what they enjoy or who they spend time with or whatever it is they're doing, you pick up on that.

4:23We call that sourcing, by the way, and then you can meet their needs by pivoting into what that is or you can ask for an introduction. I mean, we don't really even say referrals. You should be asking for introductions. So if I was working with you and you mentioned you know, John, I would say, Hey, you know, John, you've mentioned John a couple of times. I'd really like to meet him. What's the best way versus me saying, who do you know, or, you know, making that person do work. Like I don't want work, neither do you. So it's really about getting to know someone on a deep level and then meeting their need of connectedness around, you know, if, if I'm your client, it has to feel really good.

5:06And then I can be trained, quite frankly, to start making introductions to other people that are just like me. I'm going to ask you for a couple, but I want to just start with one. Think back over the last, let's say, three to six months. So potentially this year, 2024. What are some of your favorite specific examples of this in action? Walk us through a real life story. Well, I actually just had one this morning where I have a client in my immersion and And they have a business partner that's in real estate. And what I'll do there is I'll listen to them, what they're developing, whether it's contracting or they're developing a whole neighborhood.

5:46They'll start to talk about the problems they're having around getting the development, getting the funding and doing all those things. But they start to mention the other person and they mention them by name. And so what I'll do is I'll say, hey, you've mentioned Ryan. I'd really like to meet them. I don't really need to talk business. I just want to, you know, I want to meet them. And why I say that is because if I say, can you introduce me to Ryan so I can do business with them, they're going to become defensive. And I'm, you know, like I said, I'm in the people business. So if I, if, you know, and this person didn't push back, but if they did, they'd say, well, why, why do you want to meet them?

6:20You know, what's your motive is what they're saying. And what I would say is I'm in the people business. I just, I meet people and I help people. So that's going to lead to a really good introduction of someone that's doing a multimillion dollar development. And they're going to need our services, whether it's their service team, their sales team, their leadership team. But before I can even get to that, I got to get to know them. There's a know, like, and trust bridge. And then there's business. And a lot of people jump out of the bushes and expect a purchase to be made or a relationship to get started.

6:51But you've got to cross that bridge first. That was a great example. I did warn you I was going to ask for more than one because I really like the variety? Because for me, my listeners, when they can really put themselves in the feet of these real world examples, they become real. So give us another one. I'll share a couple there because I've got some successful people that didn't used to do anything around word of mouth. I've got a client that is out in the West, so to speak. We call him the Stormin Mormon. And so you can guess where he's at. You know, he was an insurance financial services and did kind of the normal thing.

7:24He did some networking and would cold call and had a little bit of a sales team and everything and built a pretty good business. But he really wanted to move up and do more consultative planning and bigger insurance cases and different things like that. And when we talk about word of mouth and how people feel, really what you want to do is go out and be social with people. So keep social social. So he's gotten to where I teach something called pillars, which is get someone to pay you, introduce you, like you, listen to you. And if you do a great job and you have great hygiene, they will give you an unsolicited referral.

7:57But part of that experience is doing the things that you're passionate about with people you like. So he's started to build a wealth management business around really what I would call the core four. He loves a snowmobile. He loves to hunt. He loves to play golf and he loves to ride razors. Like they, apparently they ride razors out there in the desert. I've done it once and once is enough for me, but he's actually started to bring in millions of dollars by just doing fun things with clients. You know, some people are the CEO of their business. That's the, you know, the chief executive officer.

8:27You also have to be thinking like the chief entertainment officer. So he's starting, you know, he started with the traditional outreach, what I would call cold, but now he basically, and we were actually talking about this yesterday, he basically spends all of his time doing the things he likes and getting introduced to what we would consider high net worth individuals and bringing them in as new clients. So that's what you would want to do at a high level to get word of mouth. Because if we went out and rode razors or we went elk hunting, the idea would be, well, now who else can we get to come do this with us?

9:02You know, it's almost like price of admission for the next event is bringing someone just like you. And you can't be salesy or cheesy when you do that, but you have, It's almost an art form of identifying who those other people are and then providing them with that experience. And again, the business side of it, that's hygiene. It should be good. So this is more, if you're going to generate word of mouth, people have to have something to talk about. What's happening is you're creating an ecosystem of experiences for the clients that you can play to within your business and have your team play to.

9:38so that you're constantly doing things that they enjoy while providing great service. It was once said FedEx service with Ritz-Carlton experience, and that's really the idea behind it. Fire Nation, I love these examples because, again, I want you to be able to put yourself in the position of these individuals and make it real for you. Even if it's not an exact replica, you might not be from Utah. You might not be called the Stormin Mormon. But guess what? but you can still relate to what these people are doing in their business that's working. And we have maybe another one or two coming up in a little bit.

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12:52John has served as an Inc. 500 franchisor and is a multi-brand franchisee himself, and he helps more entrepreneurs than any other consultant in the country. Sign up for a free consultation call with John today, or get a free copy of his book, Non-Food Franchising, at FranBridgeConsulting.com. That's FranBridgeConsulting.com. Joe, we're back. And one thing that I really feel like a lot of entrepreneurs are missing is clarity when it comes to sales goals. And obviously, if they don't have that, they probably don't have a winning mindset because the two kind of go hand in hand. So share some tips, share some tactics for achieving clarity in sales goals while maintaining a winning mindset.

13:36The first thing that you have to do as far as goals is before you even set them is get get a vision. You want to get a long-term vision of where it is you want to be. So we ask people to look out 10 years. Give us your dream 10 years from now. What does that look like? What does your family look like? What does your business look like? What, you know, what does your wealth look like? And once you do that, it makes today's problems a little smaller and a little more manageable. Then we'll bring them down to one year. So one year from now, specifically, what are your goals? And they have, you know, you've probably heard targeted goals or smart goals, and that's fine, but they really do have to have a dollar amount and a deadline.

14:20So if you can get crystal clear on setting goals with a deadline and work backwards from that at a year's pace, and then break that down into a quarter, we call those big bites, by the way, What do I have to do in the next 90 days? And then work on your mindset. So working on your mindset, and I don't talk about things I don't do. I do affirmations. I believe in affirmations. I think that you have an internal litigator that fights against you to procrastinate and do the things you know you should be doing and not do them. And you set your goals, and then you tell yourself that they've already happened, and your mind's like a heat-sinking missile.

15:02it will get closer to the target. It may not hit it that on every time, but getting crystal clear on what those are. So it could be revenue, number of accounts, new employees, whatever it is for your business. It has to be very specific. If you have a general, I'd like to make more money. I'd like to make more calls. That's not going to work. You know, I have a saying that says people lie, numbers don't, and people normally lie about their numbers to themselves. We soften it. We make it easier on ourselves that we're doing better. So the more specificity in that, that you can do, the closer you'll get to hitting them.

15:36And I'm sure everyone's heard this. You should probably stretch your goals because if you hit within range and your, your stated goal is the top part, you're going to underperform that. So you can stretch it 125, 150 % to be closer to your actual goal. So that's, that's something that we do. We do it in all of our, our coaching engagements. and we say write your goals down every day. I mean, that's kind of 40 or 50 years old, but if you don't write your goals down, they'll escape you. I mean, if you're not controlling your mind, someone else will. Wow, Fire Nation, that's gonna hurt to the core because I know there's a lot of people listening right now who are not in control.

16:16You don't feel like you're in control. That's one reason you're listening to this podcast for the strategies, the tactics, the mindset to get in control and we're here for you, Fire Nation. For those of you that are on your way, you know how great it feels to be in control or to be gaining control. And Joe, you believe in affirmations, goals, mindset. I mean, we were just talking about that. But you also believe in continuous learning and self-improvement as a path to becoming a master in sales. Tell us more. I believe you're the product. So if the product is you, you have to constantly be refining yourself, whether that's through reading, learning, being in, you know, If you saw me, John, you would know that I'm a specimen of physicality, but it's more about taking care of yourself, becoming more interesting, learning, growing your mind.

17:07Because as we know in business, things change on a dime. So the platform side of our businesses are always changing and evolving. Where I see some people stumble is they don't do that with themselves. They're stagnant in who they are and what their skill set is, and they're not constantly getting better at the things they do. And, you know, you should have a gusher, meaning what you're truly great at. And that can always be expanded and refined. There's always ways to get a little better in every area. And you've got to schedule it. It's not just going to happen, you know, by hope. You have to put routines in place that help you improve.

17:43And if you're going to be at the top of the game, you've got to do that. name one competitive athlete and or someone that's a superstar that does not do that. There's a couple golfers that I feel like might fit that category in some areas of their physical acumen with their beer guts and things along those lines. Are you referring to John Daly? I'm kind of referring to John Daly, but that's actually my point is that those people, you don't really find them anymore. They used to be able to kind of hack it, both figuratively and literally in the golf world. But man, now you look at these guys like Rory McIlroy and these other individuals.

18:16I mean, like Tiger Woods, of course, was always quite a physical specimen, you know, for most of his career. And I mean, it seems like even, you know, those days are kind of gone. So, I mean, it's just a reality, Fire Nation. You need to be in control. And, you know, Joe, as I shared in the past, I mean, of this chat that we've been having, real world examples are amazing. You gave was two before the break. I'd love to really end with a bang. Give us one of your favorite case studies of one of your top clients. I mean, you have so many, you've shared a couple already. What's one last one with a cherry on top?

18:50This one, and I'm glad you asked for this one because it's my favorite and one of my favorite people. I've got a client and he has the heart of a lion, an unbelievable resolve, tons of courage, just didn't really understand how to go about taking his business. He was, I think when I met him, he was doing like 700 ,000 or something like that. And heart of gold, not educated. Um, he, I don't, I don't think he, he graduated high school. I think he got a GED and went to the Marines and just, just a killer by nature, but he wasn't, he was not really growing his business the way he wanted to. And he was good at making connections.

19:35He just, he was going right at people. It was very salesy, a lot of commercials and, and billboards and everything. And one of the things we started working on, we just, we call it five, three, one, it's five coffees, three lunches, and one evening out, just getting around bigger hitters and bigger players and getting to know people in the community. And he took, and he's just one of those people that if you give him the route, he'll do it. If you give him the play, he'll run it. And he just did it consistently. He has no fear of failure and he's grown that to almost 3 million. So in a short period of time, and it's really just the consistency of getting out, getting to know people, finding their need.

20:19And he's in the jewelry business, which you would think is a, Hey, the product is the jury, right? But it's not. He has created a brand for himself. He's expanding into a new geography, a new town. And he's just gotten great at doing that part of it, which builds word of mouth. And even in the store itself, they created a little whiskey bar. They have events. They're doing all the things that you would think of in maybe a service-based business versus a tangible object business. But really, jewelry is the same thing. It's how you feel. You know, how do you feel about spending$50 ,000 on your spouse or your engagement ring or whatever it is?

21:00And he took it and ran with it, and he's just absolutely crushing it. And what it, you know, it kind of goes back to the top question where it was something that you believe about success that other people may not believe. Steve, it proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt, your education or even your intelligence are not the determining factor. And he's a great human and would die for anyone. I mean, he's one of our top lions. He just, he took it and he didn't have the consciousness to even question it. He didn't sit around and worry, is this, how am I going to look when I do? Just did it. And he is an absolute killer.

21:41and I mean, sky's the limit. That dude will be worth$100 million. I mean, Fire Nation, if that doesn't fire you up, what does? So many of you have that opportunity, that potential just bubbling right below the surface. You just need to find a person or a way or a system to unlock that. And Joe, you've dropped value bombs today, brother. Thank you for that. And what is the one thing of everything we've talked about today that you really want to make sure our listeners walk away with from our conversation? You know, what I want them to walk away with is that whatever it is you're out there trying to do, all the skill sets, all the AI, all the, you know, all the things that you could possibly think are threats to your business or whatever it is, is take this into consideration.

22:26You cannot commoditize chemistry. You can't. So the one thing that's going to be left for all of us in business is our ability to have relationships with others. And if you can master word of mouth, if you can get people to pay you, introduce you, like you, listen to you, and eventually give you unsolicited referrals, and that's where you spent 95 % of your time, you will never look back and you can do it in any business anywhere. Joe, if Fire Nation wants to learn more from you, wants to connect with you, what is your call to action for our listeners today? What I would love for them to do is jump on our site, realjoeblackburn.com, and just have a conversation, click on our book a call or whatever that is.

23:02And look, I teach the law of inadvertent sales, so you're not going to get into some big sales conversation. If what I do is a fit, we'll talk. If not, we'll part as friends. So that would be my call to action. Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And you've been hanging out with JB and JLD today. So keep up the heat. And for links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Type Joe in the search bar and the show notes page will pop right up. And Joe, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side.

23:33Thanks, man. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Joe for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, successful entrepreneurs accomplish big goals. That's why I created the Freedom Journal to guide you in accomplishing your number one goal in 100 days. We're talking step by step. Visit thefreedomjournal.com. I'll catch you there or I'll catch you on the flip side. The Next Wave, your chief AI officer, hosted by Matt Wolf and Nathan Lands, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Matt and Nathan are leading AI creators in your guiding light in the AI and technology frontier.

24:09AI technology is transforming the way we do business and the media landscape is fragmented. The Next Wave strives to be the leading podcast on AI technology and how you can apply it to growing your business. Listen to The Next Wave wherever you get your podcasts. Many EO Fire listeners have launched non-food franchises and Frambridge Consulting has guided them. Frambridge's founder and frequent EO Fire guest, John Ostenson has done more placements than any other in the country and his service is free. Sign up for a consultation with John or get a free copy of his book, Non-Food Franchising at FranBridgeConsulting.com.